cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Repair of DNA methylphosphotriesters through a metalloactivated cysteine nucleophile

The Escherichia coli Ada protein repairs methylphosphotriesters in DNA by direct, irreversible methyl transfer to one of its own cysteines. Upon methyl transfer, Ada acquires the ability to bind specific DNA sequences and thereby to induce genes that confer resistance to methylating agents. The amino-terminal domain of Ada, which comprises the methylphosphotriester repair and sequence-specific DNA binding elements, contains a tightly bound zinc ion. Analysis of the zinc binding site by cadmium-113 nuclear magnetic resonance and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that zinc participates in the autocatalytic activation of the active site cysteine and may also function as a conformational switch.
Stress insulin resistance is a marker for mortality in traumatic brain injury.

Background:Both hyper- and hypoglycemia have been associated with poor outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Neither the risks nor benefit of tight glucose control (goal range, 80–110 mg/dL) have been documented in the TBI population.Objective:To analyze whether densely collected blood glucose da
Relating Millon′s Basic Personality Styles and Holland′s Occupational Types

Abstract This study examined the relation between Millon′s (1983) basic personality styles and Holland′s (1985a) occupational types. Subjects were 75 men and 77 women college students who completed the Personality Adjective Check List (Strack, 1987, 1991b), a measure of Millon′s basic personalities designed for use with normal adults, and the Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, 1985c, 1987). Pearson and canonical correlation analyses were conducted separately for men and women. Bivariate correlations were typically modest, ranging from −.34 to .46 across sexes. Two significant canonical variates emerged for both men and women. Meaningful associations were found for essentially all of Millon′s basic personalities and Holland′s types, although the pattern was different for men and women. Millon and Holland appeared most similar along dimensions of social dominance–submissiveness and emotionality (neuroticism)–restraint (conscientiousness).
Public sector reform in the Latin American and Caribbean region—issues and contrasts

Public sector reform in both Latin American and Caribbean countries has become a high priority for governments in their search for a new role for the state. Common principles have included the objective to privatize, or contract out services or responsibilities where the private sector has a comparative advantage while at the same time improving government efficiency in areas that are considered core government functions at different levels of government. These include integrated government financial management, social security and social safety nets, tax administration, provision of basic services (education and health), legal/regulatory reform, and judicial enforcement. Guiding principles in all countries have been predictability, transparency and accountability. While the degree of reform has varied amongst countries, there are a number of distinguishing features of the Commonwealth Caribbean that set its public sector reform experience apart from that of Latin America. These include the legacy of a professional civil service, long-standing democratic institutions and an active civil society, the relatively small size of the countries, and the emphasis on rule of law that can help explain some of the differences in the reform paths taken. Nevertheless, government ownership and commitment to public sector reform has been shown to be the most important element in determining results within the Latin American and Caribbean region.
Inhibitors of MyD88-Dependent Proinflammatory Cytokine Production Identified Utilizing a Novel RNA Interference Screening Approach

Author(s): Cho, John S; Kim, Yun C; Morrison, Sherie L | Abstract: BackgroundThe events required to initiate host defenses against invading pathogens involve complex signaling cascades comprised of numerous adaptor molecules, kinases, and transcriptional elements, ultimately leading to the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). How these signaling cascades are regulated, and the proteins and regulatory elements participating are still poorly understood.ResultsWe report here the development a completely random short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) library coupled with a novel forward genetic screening strategy to identify inhibitors of Toll-like receptor (TLR) dependent proinflammatory responses. We developed a murine macrophage reporter cell line stably transfected with a construct expressing diphtheria toxin-A (DT-A) under the control of the TNF-alpha-promoter. Stimulation of the reporter cell line with the TLR ligand lipopolysaccharide (LPS) resulted in DT-A induced cell death, which could be prevented by the addition of an shRNA targeting the TLR adaptor molecule MyD88. Utilizing this cell line, we screened a completely random lentiviral short hairpin RNA (shRNA) library for sequences that inhibited TLR-mediated TNF-alpha production. Recovery of shRNA sequences from surviving cells led to the identification of unique shRNA sequences that significantly inhibited TLR4-dependent TNF-alpha gene expression. Furthermore, these shRNA sequences specifically blocked TLR2 but not TLR3-dependent TNF-alpha production.ConclusionsThus, we describe the generation of novel tools to facilitate large-scale forward genetic screens in mammalian cells and the identification of potent shRNA inhibitors of TLR2 and TLR4- dependent proinflammatory responses.
Exercise-induced asthma in figure skaters.

Many highly trained athletes experience exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB): studies describing EIB in figure skaters, who may be at increased risk of EIB due to rink temperatures (7 to 10°C), have not been published. We studied professionally coached figure skaters (n=124) for EIB by spirometry at rinkside immediately before a simulated long program and at 0 to 1,5,10, and 15 min postexercise. Postexercise spirometry revealed the presence of EIB (a decrease from baseline in FEV 1 of at least 10%) in 43 skaters, while the remainder (n=81, control group) remained relatively stable. Pre-exercise FEV 1 , FVC, and FEV 1 /FVC ratio were not different between groups. The EIB group had significantly lower FEV 1 vs baseline at each measurement following exercise: baseline, 3.08±0.13; 0 to 1 min postexercise, 2.81 ±0.13 (p
Chloro- and dichloro-3-alkyl-1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)ones

Several chloro- and dichloro-3-alkyl-1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)ones have been prepared by diazotization of methyl anthranilates. A brief study was made of factors affecting the formation of 3-allyl-1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3H)one from methyl anthranilate. Good nmr evidence was obtained to substantiate the previously proposed methyl 2-(3-allyltriazeno)benzoate (VIc) intermediate.
Strain differences in the ability of antithymocyte serum (ATS) to enhance the antibody response of inbred mice to type III pneumococcal polysaccharide

Abstract Treatment with antithymocyte serum (ATS), prepared in burros or rabbits, significantly enhanced the antibody response to Type III pneumococcal polysaccharide (SSS-III) in 5 inbred and 2 hybrid strains of mice. The degree of enhancement attained depended upon the dose of ATS employed. Strains of mice differed with respect to the amount of enhancement produced following treatment with a given dose of the same preparation of ATS.
Bulimia and the basic fault: a psychoanalytic interpretation of the binging-vomiting syndrome.

A psychoanalytic formulation of bulimia based on the work of Balint and Kohut is presented. Its central thesis is that severe bulimics demonstrate a “basic fault” in their ego, specifically an impairment in functions which regulate tension. Because of this deficiency they are subjected to intolerable internal tension which enfeebles their sense of self. The typical bulimic sequence of dieting, binging, vomiting, relaxation, and repudiation is seen as a defensive reparative device which attempts to alleviate internal tension and to bridge the underlying fault. Illustrative case material is included.
A Bayesian max-product EM algorithm for reconstructing structured sparse signals

We present a Bayesian expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for sparse signal reconstruction via belief propagation. The measurements follow an underdetermined linear model where the regression-coefficient vector is the sum of an unknown sparse signal component and a zero-mean white Gaussian component with an unknown variance. We use a hidden Markov tree (HMT) to describe the probabilistic dependence structure of the binary state variables that identify the nonzero signal coefficients and assign a noninformative prior to the nonzero signal coefficients. Our signal reconstruction scheme is based on an EM iteration that aims at maximizing the posterior distribution of the sparse signal component and its state variables given the variance of the random signal component. We employ a max-product algorithm to implement the maximization (M) step of our EM iteration. The variance of the random signal component is a regularization parameter that controls the sparsity of the sparse signal component. We select this tuning parameter by maximizing an unconstrained sparsity selection (USS) objective function. Our numerical examples show that the proposed algorithm achieves a better reconstruction performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
Reading Comprehension Strategies Used by Deaf Middle-School Students:

13 reading strategies of deaf adolescent boys and girls attending residential middle schools were compared. Boys reported the lower-level strategy of reading aloud more often than girls. Both reported top strategies of asking someone to explain (dependent) and rereading and looking at the pictures (independent).
Multivariable cascade control for processes with output constraints

Abstract We present a cascade control strategy to treat output constraints and the switching of controls between automatic and manual in multivariable systems. The inner loop of the cascade is a multivariable IMC controller implemented in a model state feedback form so as to accommodate possible control effort saturation. The inner loop controls the output constrained variables to set points provided by the outer loop. In addition, the inner loop controls as many of the unconstrained process variables as the number of degrees of freedom allows. The outer loop adjusts the set points of the constrained variables, within their constraints, so as to: 1)achieve the set points of the unconstrained process variables, 2) drive excess controls to desired nominal values and 3) force controls which have ceased functioning due to equipment malfunction or due to being placed in manual operation., to their fixed values. Also, the outer loop may adjust unconstrained process variable set points to achieve similar objectives. A single input, two output process, and two, two input, two output processes are used to demonstrate the behavior of the new cascade constraint control algorithm. There is no performance difference between the new algorithm and the traditional override control method for the single input, two output process, with, and without, modeling errors. For the two input, two output processes, with and without deadtimes, the new algorithm successfully accommodates both control effort and process variable constraints. One control effort can be readily transferred between automatic and manual modes while maintaining control of either the output constraint, if it is active, or the unconstrained process variable, if the output constraint is not binding.
Pollutant sorption by desert soils.

The sorption experiments reported upon in this paper were undertaken to provide data for an ecosystem model to predict the potential impact of coal-fired power plants on the cool desert ecosystem found in the Kaiparowits Plateau and the Kaiparowits Basin of northern Arizona and southern Utah. Natural conditions were simulated by passing pollutant-containing air streams over the surface of soil samples.
Machine Translation for Languages Lacking Bitext via Multilingual Gloss Transduction

We propose and evaluate a new paradigm for machine translation of low resource languages via the learned surface transduction and paraphrase of multilingual glosses.
From Split-Pool Libraries to Spatially Addressable Microarrays and Its Application to Functional Proteomic Profiling

Small molecules encoded with peptidonucleic acid (PNA) were used to probe protein function in a microarray format. The PNA tag served to encode the synthetic history of the small molecule and to positionally encode the identity of the small molecule by its location upon hybridization to an oligonucleotide microarray.
Are we becoming more alike? Comparison of substance use in Australia and the United States as seen in the 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004 national household surveys

Introduction. This paper reports the results of the 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004 Australian and US household surveys, with emphasis on changes since 2001. Design and Methods. The US survey data were recalculated to match age groups in the Australian data. Statistically significant changes are reported. Differences in prevalence of use by gender within age group were tested for significance. Results. The past-year use of ‘any illicit drug’, cannabis, cocaine, tranquillisers and injecting drugs decreased between 2001 and 2004 in Australia, but remained stable for all these drugs except ecstasy between 2002 and 2004 in the United States. The use of hallucinogens decreased in both countries. Alcohol and use of many illicit drugs by teenage girls in both countries increased to rates similar to or higher than boys, and teens in both countries reported binge and heavy drinking in the past month. Australians in their 20s had the highest rates of use, but in the United States, past-year use of many drugs was highest ...
Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli have disparate dependences on KsgA for growth and ribosome biogenesis

The KsgA methyltransferase has been conserved throughout evolution, methylating two adenosines in the small subunit rRNA in all three domains of life as well as in eukaryotic organelles that contain ribosomes. Understanding of KsgA’s important role in ribosome biogenesis has been recently expanded in Escherichia coli; these studies help explain why KsgA is so highly conserved and also suggest KsgA’s potential as an antimicrobial drug target. We have analyzed KsgA’s contribution to ribosome biogenesis and cell growth in Staphylococcus aureus. We found that deletion of ksgA in S. aureus led to a cold-sensitive growth phenotype, although KsgA was not as critical for ribosome biogenesis as it was shown to be in E. coli. Additionally, the ksgA knockout strain showed an increased sensitivity to aminoglycoside antibiotics. Overexpression of a catalytically inactive KsgA mutant was deleterious in the knockout strain but not the wild-type strain; this negative phenotype disappeared at low temperature. This work extends the study of KsgA, allowing comparison of this aspect of ribosome biogenesis between a Gram-negative and a Gram-positive organism. Our results in S. aureus are in contrast to results previously described in E. coli, where the catalytically inactive protein showed a negative phenotype in the presence or absence of endogenous KsgA.
Old wine, new wine

One of the fundamental developments in modern public choice theory is Constitutional Eco nomics. This area of research concerns how rules affect economic performance, and how the choice of rules to govern the political sector (as opposed to the working of in-period politics) is an important area of economic and political analysis. The founders and developers of this approach are economists, sociologists, and political scientists, such as Duncan Black, James M. Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, Mancur Olson, William Riker, Charles Rowley, Geoffrey Brennan, James Coleman, Kenneth Shepsle, Robert Tollison and others.1 Of late, a new wave of scholars has taken an interest in this area. For example, Persson and Tabellini (2003) wrote a well-received book on the political economy of constitutions and constitutional rules, which Daron Acemoglu (2005) discusses in a recent review article. So interest in constitutions is growing as modern political economists revisit ground that others, most prominently, James Buchanan, have plowed many times over dating back to the 1960's. It is all to the good that first-class scholars are attracted to the subject of Consti tutional Economics. It is disappointing, however, that these authors do not appear to know much about this earlier work. There are cursory references to Buchanan and Tullock (1962) and Brennan and Buchanan (1980) in Persson and Tabellini, and none at all in Acemoglu. I cannot think of a parallel example of such treatment. For example, would you write a book about macroeconomic theory without fully acknowledging the contributions of John May nard Keynes, or about the evolution of neoclassical economics without mentioning Alfred Marshall, or about the origins of political economy without mentioning Adam Smith? So there is no doubt some unacknowledged old wine in this new literature on constitu tions, as well as some strongly self-acknowledged new wine focused on empirical research
Sentence processing strategies in children with expressive and expressive-receptive specific language impairments

The purpose of this study was to investigate the sentence comprehension strategies used by children with expressive and expressive-receptive specific language impairments (SLI) within a language processing framework. Fourteen children with SLI (ages 6;10-7;11) meeting strict selection criteria were compared to seven age-matched and seven younger normal controls. Children were asked to determine the agent in sentences composed of two nouns and a verb (NVN, NNV, VNN) with animacy of the noun as a second factor. Results of group comparisons revealed that children with E-SLI and ER-SLI differed from each other in the comprehension strategies they employed as well as differing from both age-matched and younger normal language control groups. Children with E-SLI relied exclusively on a first noun as agent strategy across all conditions, whereas children with ER-SLI used animacy cues when available. Additionally, maximum likelihood estimates were calculated to investigate individual patterns of performance under different cue conditions. Results revealed a significant correlation between severity of receptive language abilities and the type of strategy used, with better receptive language skills being highly correlated with children's use of word order cues.
Requirements for systemic risk management in the financial sector: invited talk

The subprime financial crisis of 2008 exposed systemic weaknesses in the financial sector. Emergency liquidity on an enormous scale was required to prevent a collapse of the banking system. There is much discussion now concerning how to monitor and manage the risk of such systemic events.Our objective in this document is to discuss the computational requirements of systemic risk management. At a high level we address the basic functional and non-functional requirements of data and analytics posed by a hypothetical systemic risk regulator. To make our discussion concrete, we will explore the problem of systemic risk management in the residential mortgage markets of the United States.Our requirements discussion is organized around three main categories: data, analytics, and platform. We first review the basic features of data and analytics for the mortgage markets, and then will develop our thoughts concerning requirements for data management, analytics infrastructure, and platform functionality.
Sensitivity of queueing models to the assumption of exponentiality

This study deals with determining the effects on queuing models of assuming that interarrival and service times are exponentially distributed. Steady-state expected value measures of congestion are compared for a variety of GI/G models when assuming an M/M model as an approximation. The majority of this effort involves single-channel queues; however, some multichannel situations are also considered. In addition, effects of the exponential approximation are observed in certain cost-optimization models.
Requirements based system level risk modeling

Space exploration missions are often characterized by multiple phases and each phase in turn satisfies some objective or requirement. The success of the mission is measured by the degree to which these requirements are satisfied. Missions either aim to demonstrate a new technology, or to obtain new science data or a combination of both of these. During the mission design process, numerous trade studies are conducted between cost, performance and risk. At a very high level, the goal is to maximize the probability of achieving the most science return (or demonstrating the most technology) at the least possible cost. We consider the problem of maximizing this probability by quantifying the degree of importance of each requirement and it's probability of being satisfied. The probability of a requirement being satisfied, in turn, is assessed by finding the aggregate of the probability of all the possible events that could prevent it from being satisfied. We assume a complete list of the requirements, the relevant risk elements and their probability of occurrence and the quantified effect of the risk elements on the requirements. In order to assess the degree to which each requirement is satisfied, we need to determine the effect of the various risk elements on the requirement. The complexity arises due to the fact that various risk elements that effect a requirement in question are not necessarily independent. Moreover, in order to compute the weighted average of the requirements, it's important to take into consideration their dependencies. Therefore we carefully define the relationships between the elements within each category (intra-category) and the elements between the two different categories of risk and requirements (inter-category).
Microstructural Abnormalities in Subcortical Reward Circuitry of Subjects with Major Depressive Disorder

Background: Previous studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) have focused on abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal regions. There has been little investigation in MDD of midbrain and subcortical regions central to reward/aversion function, such as the ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra (VTA/SN), and medial forebrain bundle (MFB). Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated the microstructural integrity of this circuitry using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in 22MDD subjects andcompared them with 22 matched healthy control subjects. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values were increased in the right VT and reduced in dorsolateral prefrontal white matter in MDD subjects. Follow-up analysis suggested two distinct subgroups of MDD patients, which exhibited non-overlapping abnormalities in reward/aversion circuitry. The MDD subgroup with abnormal FA values in VT exhibited significantly greater trait anxiety than the subgroup with normal FA values in VT, but the subgroups did not differ in levels of anhedonia, sadness, or overall depression severity. Conclusions/Significance: These findings suggest that MDD may be associated with abnormal microstructure in brain reward/aversion regions, and that there may be at least two subtypes of microstructural abnormalities which each impact core symptoms of depression.
Health-related quality of life: The impact of diagnostic angiography

Abstract Background Little is known regarding the effects of index angiograms on health-related quality of life related to angiographic outcome, that is, positive or negative for coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods A longitudinal, comparative design was used. Ninety-three patients underwent initial angiography and completed questionnaires (Cardiac-Quality of Life Index, Short Form-36 mental and physical, and Cardiac Attitudes Index) before, 1 week and 1 year after angiography. Data were evaluated with linear regression and analysis of variance. Results Fifty-five patients were CHD positive (age 65.3 ± 10.7 years, 49% were female), and 38 patients were CHD negative (age 59.5 ± 12 years, 53% were female). Compared with CHD-positive patients over 1 year, CHD-negative patients reported lower scores on the Cardiac-Quality of Life Index (P Conclusion CHD-negative patients experienced lower health-related quality of life and lower perceived control than CHD-positive patients. After an index angiogram, a negative finding may not be sufficient to relieve negative emotions.
Effect of resin interlayer on fracture behavior of composite laminates

In this work, the effect of resin interlayer on the fracture behavior of composite laminates is evaluated. For cracks in elastic laminates, the closed-form solutions for energy release rate and mode ratio are presented. These solutions are applicable to structures where classical laminated plate theory may be used to predict deflections and strain energies. For a typical graphite/epoxy composite laminate containing a free edge delamination bounded by an isotropic resin interlayer, it is found that the energy release rate is not sensitive to the Young's modulus of the resin interlayer, but the mode ratio is very sensitive. However, the energy release rate is insensitive to the Poisson's ratio of the resin interlayer. It is also found that within a certain range, the thickness of the resin interlayer does not have much effect on the energy release rate. The limitations of the current results are the assumption of elastic deformation and the applicability of classical laminated plate theory.
Florivory: the intersection of pollination and herbivory.

Plants interact with many visitors who consume a variety of plant tissues. While the consequences of herbivory to leaves and shoots are well known, the implications of florivory, the consumption of flowers prior to seed coat formation, have received less attention. Herbivory and florivory can yield different plant, population and community outcomes; thus, it is critical to distinguish between these two types of consumption. Here, we consider the ecological and evolutionary consequences of florivory. A growing number of studies recognize that florivory is common in natural systems and in some cases surpasses leaf herbivory in magnitude and impact. Florivores can affect male and female plant fitness via direct trophic effects and through altered pathways of species interactions. In particular, florivory can affect pollination and have consequences for plant mating and floral sexual system evolution. Plants are not defenceless against florivore damage. Concepts of resistance and tolerance can be applied to plant‐florivore interactions. Moreover, extant theories of plant chemical defence, including optimal defence theory, growth rate hypothesis and growth differentiation‐balance hypothesis, can be used to make testable predictions about when and how plants should defend flowers against florivores. The majority of the predictions remain untested, but they provide a theoretical foundation on which to base future experiments. The approaches to studying florivory that we outline may yield novel insights into floral and defence traits not illuminated by studies of pollination or herbivory alone.
Toughening Behavior of a Two‐Dimensional SiC/SiC Woven Composite at Ambient Temperature: I, Damage Initiation and R‐Curve Behavior

The damage initiation and R-curve behavior for a two-dimensional (2-D) SiC/SiC woven composite are characterized at ambient temperature and related to in situ microscopic observations of damage accumulation and crack advance. Matrix cracking and crack deflection/branching are observed and dominate fracture behavior in the early loading stage such that primary crack extension occurs at apparent stress intensity values as high as 12 MPam1/2. Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), though questionable, was assumed to be valid in the early stages of damage initiation prior to primary crack advance, but was clearly invalid once primary crack extension had occurred. Such a high primary crack extension toughness value is confirmed by a renotch technique whereby the crack wake is removed and the fracture resistance drops close to the initial value. Based on microstructural observations, multiple matrix cracks are found to be arrested at fiber bundles. The key to toughening appears to be associated with the mechanics of crack arrest at fiber bundles in the woven architecture. Toughening mechanisms include multiple matrix cracking (similar to microcracking), crack branching, and crack deflection in the crack frontal zone. Application of models to evaluate toughening based on these mechanisms results in values comparable to experimental data. In the regime of primary crack extension, a J-integral technique was applied to investigate the R-curve behavior and results showed a rising JR-curve which started at 1500 J/m2 and reached 6150 J/m2 after about 13 mm of primary crack extension. There was evidence of substantial crack bridging by fiber tows and fibrous pull-out in this regime of crack advance.
Current options, and long-term results for interventional treatment of pulmonary valvar stenosis.

dilation of the pulmonary valve with a balloonhas become widely accepted as the treatmentof choice for individuals with congenital pulmonaryvalvar stenosis. This technique is safe and effective inpatients of all ages. Currently, balloon valvoplasty isused for a wide spectrum of obstructive pulmonary val-var pathology, including valvar stenosis, dysplasia andatresia. In this review, we will address the history,indications, technique, immediate and long-term out-comes, as well as future outlook, of percutaneous bal-loon valvoplasty for the wide spectrum of congenitalpulmonary valvar disease.
Measurement Of A Financial Model Of The Firm: A Field Study

A financial model of the firm is a useful tool for corporate management in formulating and executing strategic company operations and in understanding past managerial actions. Yet, while financial models have evolved to simultaneously-determined systems which portray the myriad of interdependencies among accounting variables, measurement of their parameters typically relies on simple parsimonious techniques which are theoretically inferior. Accurate measurement of the parameters is important for reliable application of the mode3l, including what if analyses, managerial planning exercises, and production of pro forma reports. This article reports on a field study of the implications associated with using the commonly-employed ordinary least squares technique of parameter measurement for a financial model of the firm. The results show that parameter measurement using this simple estimation method are significantly different from those obtained from a theoretically superior technique. Decomposition of the measurement differences demonstrates an association with characteristics of both the firm and its environment; moreover, the differences are shown to be primarily attributed to the earnings-based relations of the model.
Forsaking Claims of Merit: The Advance of Race-Blindness Entitlement in Fisher v. Texas

This article asserts that the Fisher v. University of Texas case sidelines the issue of equal racial opportunity to put forth the novel contention that the Equal Protection Clause affords a “race-blindness entitlement.” It distinguishes the Fisher lawsuit from earlier “reverse discrimination” cases by explaining how Abigail Fisher forsakes the type of test score-focused meritocracy claims that have been central in other discrimination lawsuits filed by rejected white applicants. The article suggests that the Fisher case is a harbinger of future efforts to convince the Supreme Court that the constitutional rights of white applicants are violated unless the government is somehow completely “race-blind.”
In Search of a Model Investment Law for Africa

The new Model Investment Law For Africa is designed to improve the legal infrastructure for investment in Africa. Investment legislation is not a new phenomenon in Africa. The experience with investment legislation dates back to the early 1940's for some countries and, since independence, investment legislation has become the norm rather than the exception in African countries. Why is it then that the Continent, as a whole, has persistently underperformed in the investment arena? Investment in Africa has been feeble even as the governments have progressively liberalized their investment policies and legislation to attract more investment. What is it that the Model Investment Law can and must do to alter this discouraging historical pattern and allow investment laws to play a meaningful and beneficial role in encouraging investment and spurring economic development in Africa? This Article seeks to address these questions through a historical analysis of the laws and policies of African countries. It suggests that one of the most urgent priorities for the Continent is to eliminate or minimize the deeply entrenched and historic asymmetrical vulnerability dependence in African international economic relations. A special priority must be to alter the "scoop and ship" investment activities associated with natural resource exports.
Plastic reconstruction after bypass surgery and massive weight loss.

Psychological and nonpsychological problems may be caused by the folds of excess skin that result from massive weight loss. Cosmetic surgery can alleviate these problems, but the selection of patients must be meticulous, the expectations of patients must be realistic, and the risks should be well understood.
Adult cell plasticity in vivo : de-differentiation and transdifferentiation are back in style

Some terminally differentiated cells have the capacity to de-differentiate or transdifferentiate under physiological conditions as part of a normal response to injury. Recent insights have been gained into the role of this cell plasticity in maintaining tissue and organ homeostasis, and this has important implications for cell-based therapies.
Evaluating student pharmacists’ perceptions of medication adherence before and after a pillbox simulation

Abstract Objectives To implement a pillbox simulation project and evaluate change in student pharmacists’ perceptions of medication adherence as indicated by pre-simulation and post-simulation survey responses. Methods Two colleges of pharmacy implemented a pillbox simulation project with second, third, and fourth professional year student pharmacists. Participants were required to fill a 7-day multi-dose pillbox and take the complex medication regimen as directed for one month. Participants completed a pre-simulation and post-simulation survey to identify perceptions of medication adherence before and after the simulation. Results Overall, 91 students participated in the pillbox simulation project. In total, 87 (96%) students completed both the pre-simulation and post-simulation surveys and were included in the data analysis. Student ratings on each of the survey items increased following the pillbox simulation. When comparing didactic versus experiential learners, the percent change in survey response increased in both groups for each survey item. Conclusions Following the pillbox simulation project, the student pharmacists’ responses were positive and demonstrated an increase in perception of medication adherence.
Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Facilitating Healing in Crime Victims

While therapeutic jurisprudence is often used to facilitate healing in defendants engaged in the criminal justice system, it is not often used to facilitate healing in the crime victims. This paper explores methods of utilizing TJ to promote healing in crime victims by focusing on those who have the greatest ability to do so — prosecutors and judges.
Socioeconomic status and bone mineral density in adults by race/ethnicity and gender: the Louisiana osteoporosis study

Low bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis have become a public health problem. We found that non-Hispanic white, black, and Asian adults with extremely low education and personal income are more likely to have lower BMD. This relationship is gender-specific. These findings are valuable to guide bone health interventions. The evidence is limited regarding the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and bone mineral density (BMD) for minority populations in the USA, as well as the relationship between SES and BMD for men. This study explored and examined the relationship between SES and BMD by race/ethnicity and gender. Data (n = 6568) from the Louisiana Osteoporosis Study (LOS) was examined, including data for non-Hispanic whites (n = 4153), non-Hispanic blacks (n = 1907), and non-Hispanic Asians (n = 508). General linear models were used to estimate the relationship of SES and BMD (total hip and lumbar spine) stratified by race/ethnicity and gender. Adjustments were made for physiological and behavioral factors. After adjusting for covariates, men with education levels below high school graduate experienced relatively low hip BMD than their counterparts with college or graduate education (p < 0.05). In addition, women reporting a personal annual income under $20,000 had relatively low hip and spine BMD than their counterparts with higher income level(s) (p < 0.05). Establishing a conclusive positive or negative association between BMD and SES proved to be difficult. However, individuals who are at an extreme SES disadvantage are the most vulnerable to have relatively low BMD in the study population. Efforts to promote bone health may benefit from focusing on men with low education levels and women with low individual income.
Re‐creating economic and cultural values in Bulgaria's wine industry: From an economy of quantity to an economy of quality?

The transformation of the Bulgarian wine industry from a state-owned and heavily industrialized enterprise into many privatized wineries and vineyards following the collapse of state socialism involved the question of how to transform an economy of quantity to one of quality. At the heart of this question are contestations around the meanings and values of technology in wine production. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Bulgaria among wine producers and stakeholders of the wine industry since 2008, this article discusses the debates and practices in Bulgarian wine production to understand how different attitudes regarding technology and its uses affect the social construction of “quality.” As a marginal wine-producing country with a compelling Cold War history, the Bulgarian case offers an interesting vantage point from which to think about the cultural economy of the globalized food system. I show how Bulgarian wine producers in the postsocialist era grapple with different systems of value and how technology plays a role in their construction. The resulting contestations and tension over technology in constructing meanings of quality show how technologies and systems of value intersect in interesting ways.
Obesity and synergistic risk factors for chronic kidney disease in African American adults: the Jackson Heart Study.

Background African Americans are at high risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD). Obesity may increase the risk for CKD by exacerbating features of the metabolic syndrome and promoting glomerular hyperfiltration. Whether other factors also affecting these pathways may amplify or mitigate obesity-CKD associations has not been investigated. Methods We studied interactions between obesity and these candidate factors in 2043 African Americans without baseline kidney disease enrolled in the Jackson Heart Study. We quantified obesity as body mass index (BMI), sex-normalized waist circumference and visceral adipose volume measured by abdominal computed tomography at an interim study visit. Interactions were hypothesized with (i) metabolic risk factors (dietary quality and physical activity, both quantified by concordance with American Heart Association guidelines) and (ii) factors exacerbating or mitigating hyperfiltration (dietary protein intake, APOL1 risk status and use of renin-angiotensin system blocking medications). Using multivariable regression, we evaluated associations between obesity measures and incident CKD over the follow-up period, as well as interactions with metabolic and hyperfiltration factors. Results Assessed after a median of 8 years (range 6-11 years), baseline BMI and waist circumference were not associated with incident CKD. Higher visceral adipose volume was independently associated with incident CKD (P = 0.008) in a nonlinear fashion, but this effect was limited to those with lower dietary quality (P = 0.001; P-interaction = 0.04). In additional interaction models, higher waist circumference was associated with greater risk of incident CKD among those with the low-risk APOL1 genotype (P = 0.04) but not those with a high-risk genotype (P-interaction = 0.02). Other proposed factors did not modify obesity-CKD associations. Conclusions. Higher risks associated with metabolically active visceral adipose volume and interactions with dietary quality suggest that metabolic factors may be key determinants of obesity-associated CKD risk. Interactions between obesity and APOL1 genotype should be considered in studies of African Americans.
Renal denervation: Are we on the right path?

When renal sympathetic denervation, an endovascular procedure designed to treat resistant hypertension, failed to meet its efficacy goal in the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial,[1][1] the news was disappointing. See related article, page [681][2] In this issue of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine ,
Cold-season Tornado Risk Communication: Case Studies from November 2016 to February 2017

AbstractCold-season tornadoes, defined here as those occurring during November–February (NDJF), pose many societal risks. Not only do they occur when tornadoes are least common in the United States...
Dean Koontz and the Problem with Power

This final chapter explores a core contradiction within American liberalism: over the course of the past half century, the subject has been tasked with ascetically rooting out Power in its nefarious webs (internal and external) while aesthetically fostering personal power through entrepreneurial selfhood. This paradox, parsed out in detail in the preceding chapters, informs the Foucauldian character of Dean Koontz’s thrillers. Is the goal of American liberalism to abolish Power or to perfect it? Upon considering confluences and contradictions, one might start to imagine the future of the liberal project—or its imminent collapse.
Addressing the Majorana vs. Dirac question with neutrino decays

Abstract The Majorana versus Dirac nature of neutrinos remains an open question. This is due, in part, to the fact that virtually all the experimentally accessible neutrinos are ultra-relativistic. Noting that Majorana neutrinos can behave quite differently from Dirac ones when they are non-relativistic, we show that, at leading order, the angular distribution of the daughters in the decay of a heavy neutrino into a lighter one and a self-conjugate boson is isotropic in the parent's rest frame if the neutrinos are Majorana fermions, independent of the parent's polarization. This result follows from CPT invariance and is independent of the details of the physics responsible for the decay. In contrast, if the neutrinos are Dirac fermions, the angular distribution in such a decay is, in general, not isotropic. We explore the feasibility of using these angular distributions—or, equivalently, the energy distributions of the daughters in the laboratory frame—in order to address the Majorana versus Dirac nature of neutrinos if a fourth, heavier neutrino mass eigenstate reveals itself in the current or next-generation of high-energy colliders, intense meson facilities, or neutrino beam experiments. We also point out how the related decays of a heavy neutrino into charged daughters can be used for the same purpose.
Linking Multiple Program Views Using a Visual Cache

To reduce disorientation in Demos, a non-procedural decision support system, we have built a graphical interface to display models as a hierarchical set of node and arc diagrams. Through empirical studies on user interactions with the diagrams we develop the idea of a visual cache. A visual cache can improve access to information on a display screen by organising multiple views to take advantage of locality in a user's patterns of information search and exploration. The notion of the visual cache may be a useful principle in designing graphic interfaces to avoid disorientation.
Enteric duplication in children.

Enteric duplication is a congenital anomaly with varied clinical presentation that requires surgical resection for definitive treatment. This had been approached with laparotomy for resection, but has changed with minimally invasive technique. The purpose of our study was to determine the demographics, natural history, operative interventions, and outcomes of pediatric enteric duplication cysts in a contemporary cohort. With IRB approval, we performed a retrospective chart review of all patients less than 18 years old treated for enteric duplication between January 2006 and August 2016. Demographics, patient presentation, operative technique, intraoperative findings, hospital course, and follow-up were evaluated. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed; all medians were reported with interquartile range (IQR). Thirty-five patients underwent surgery for enteric duplication, with a median age at surgery of 7 months (2.5–54). Median weight was 7.2 kg (6–20). Most common patient presentations included prenatal diagnosis 37% (n = 13). Thirty-four patients (97%) had their cyst approached via minimally invasive technique (thoracoscopy or laparoscopy) with only three (8%) requiring conversion to an open operation. Median operative time was 85 min (54–133) with 27 (77%) patients requiring bowel resection. Median length of bowel resected was 4.5 cm (3–7). Most common site of duplication was ileocecal (n = 15, 42%). Postoperative median hospital length of stay was 3 days (2–5) and median number of days to regular diet was 3 (1–4). No patients required re-operation during their hospital stay. Median follow-up was 25 days (20–38). In our series, most enteric duplication cysts were diagnosed prenatally. These can be managed via minimally invasive technique with minimal short-term complications, even in neonates and infants.
Staining the Germline in Live Caenorhabditis elegans: Overcoming Challenges by Applying a Fluorescent-dye Feeding Strategy

C. elegans provides a tractable model organism for studying germline cell biology. Microscopy experiments are relatively facile, as this worm is transparent and germline development can be observed in real-time using DIC microscopy and/or fluorescent transgenes. Despite these many tools, robust staining techniques for imaging germ cells in live worms have been more elusive, due to the tough outer cuticle of the worm, which impairs staining efficiency. This limitation has restricted the spectrum of probes that can be used to investigate reproductive cell biology in C. elegans. Building on previous approaches, I recently applied a fluorescent-dye feeding strategy to reproducibly label organelles and monitor physiological changes in germlines of living C. elegans. In this approach, fluorescent dyes are initially introduced into the agar plates and bacterial lawns on which worms are subsequently cultured. After worms are grown on the dyed plates, oocytes show staining patterns consistent with verified transgenic markers. Thus, this approach offers an effective solution for labeling difficult-to-stain tissues in live worms, and establishes an entry point for incorporating new probes and sensors into analyses of C. elegans germline biology.