cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RVUs, SGR, RUC, and Alphabet Soup: Utility of an iPad App to Teach Healthcare Economics.

Rationale and Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an iPad app for teaching healthcare economics milestones. Materials and Methods Institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant survey assessment of radiology residents' knowledge of healthcare economics before and following review of the Healthcare Economics iPad app was undertaken at two residencies. Residents received an electronic link to the pre survey, answered 13 general knowledge questions, rated their knowledge of healthcare economics milestones, and reported any prior economics/business background. During the conference, residents reviewed the app on their iPads. They then received a link to the post survey. Responses were entered using REDCap and a unique yet anonymous code was used to link each resident's pre and post results. A follow-up survey was completed at 3 months using REDCap. Results Sixty-two of 69 (90%) residents completed the pre survey. Mean and median age was 30 years. Thirty-two of 62 (52%) were men and 30/62 (48%) were women. Twenty-nine percent (18/62) were postgraduate year (PGY) 2, 24% (15/62) PGY 3, 19% (12/62) PGY 4, 26% (16/62) PGY 5, and 1.6% (1/62) PGY 6. Thirty-four percent (21/62) reported some economics/business background. Residents' mean self-assessment of their knowledge of healthcare economics milestones was fair on the pre survey, significantly improved on the post survey, and plateaued at 3 months. Fifty-nine residents completed the post survey; 60 completed the 3-month follow-up. Residents demonstrated a significant increase in healthcare economics knowledge on post survey. At 3-month follow-up, significant decreases in gained knowledge were observed only in residents for whom the material was not integrated into the curriculum. Conclusions Teaching with iPad apps offers an alternative, effective way to teach basics of healthcare economics milestones.
Toward a Jurismythos of Thomas Jefferson: The Supreme Court's Use and Abuse of America's Most Controversial Founder

This chapter explores the jurismythos of Thomas Jefferson, a term I have coined to describe the ways in which Supreme Court justices have engaged in myth-making about him in the service of their jurisprudence. I begin by developing a conception of jurismythos and identify three of its key characteristics. I then examine two instances of judicial myth-making: Felix Frankfurter's use of Thomas Jefferson in his Gobitis and Barnette decisions (mandatory flag salutes in public school), and Clarence Thomas's use (or lack thereof) of Jefferson in his Mitchell and Zelman decisions (public aid and vouchers supporting religious schools). I conclude by looking at what is lost, and gained, when we invoke Jefferson in contemporary social problems.
Advancement of Knowledge: A Journey through Space and Time *

Presumably, advancement of knowledge is a primary goal of virtually all "academic" scholars, whether from universities, government agencies, or elsewhere. Likewise, a primary function of academic organizations, such as the Southern Regional Science Association and Regional Science Association International, is to enable scholarly interaction that supports this goal of advancing knowledge. This paper focuses on two important aspects of advancement of knowledge as they relate to the regional science community and its scholarly organizations. The first, interdisciplinary interaction, has always been a key attraction to regional science, but a characteristic that has weakened in recent times. Especially given the nature of many issues studied in regional science, it is important to recommit to expanding the interdisciplinary reach of the discipline. The second, mentoring and supporting development of scholars, especially young scholars, continues to be a strength of the regional science discipline. We must make sure that this characteristic gets passed on to future generations of regional science scholars.
Safety and antitumor activity of chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells in patients with chemotherapy refractory metastatic pancreatic cancer.

3007 Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by an immunosuppressive microenvironment with a scarcity of effector T cells. Adoptive T cell therapy to restore anti-tumor...
Listeria monocytogenes DNA Glycosylase AdlP Affects Flagellar Motility, Biofilm Formation, Virulence, and Stress Responses

ABSTRACT The temperature-dependent alteration of flagellar motility gene expression is critical for the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes to respond to a changing environment. In this study, a genetic determinant, L. monocytogenes f2365_0220 ( lmof2365_0220 ), encoding a putative protein that is structurally similar to the Bacillus cereus alkyl base DNA glycosylase (AlkD), was identified. This determinant was involved in the transcriptional repression of flagellar motility genes and was named adlP (encoding an AlkD-like protein [AdlP]). Deletion of adlP activated the expression of flagellar motility genes at 37°C and disrupted the temperature-dependent inhibition of L. monocytogenes motility. The adlP null strains demonstrated decreased survival in murine macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells and less virulence in mice. Furthermore, the deletion of adlP significantly decreased biofilm formation and impaired the survival of bacteria under several stress conditions, including the presence of a DNA alkylation compound (methyl methanesulfonate), an oxidative agent (H 2 O 2 ), and aminoglycoside antibiotics. Our findings strongly suggest that adlP may encode a bifunctional protein that transcriptionally represses the expression of flagellar motility genes and influences stress responses through its DNA glycosylase activity. IMPORTANCE We discovered a novel protein that we named AlkD-like protein (AdlP). This protein affected flagellar motility, biofilm formation, and virulence. Our data suggest that AdlP may be a bifunctional protein that represses flagellar motility genes and influences stress responses through its DNA glycosylase activity.
Actin Based Pulling Forces in Endocytosis

Endocytosis in yeast requires actin polymerization to overcome the large turgor pressure opposing invagination. While the generation of pushing forces by actin polymerization is understood, it is not clear how actin polymerization generates the required pulling forces. Previous work using a finite element approach has suggested that spatial variation of the polymerization rate could lead to pulling forces1. We extend this work by performing calculations using discrete actin filaments with all subunits explicitly treated. We simulate a growing array of up to 200 actin filaments in a hexagonal network. Each filament interacts with the membrane via an interaction potential that has both attractive and repulsive components. The inner filaments of the array are bound more strongly to the membrane and thus grow more slowly. Elasticity of the actin network is modeled by linear springs connecting the filaments to each other. We calculate the spatial distribution of the filament-generated forces. The time-averaged force of the outer filaments pushes on the membrane, while the time-averaged force of the inner filaments pulls on the membrane. We calculate the total force of the pulling filaments as a function of several model parameters, including the potential depths, the free filament on-rates, the numbers of fast- and slow-growing filaments, and the network rigidity.[1] A. E. Carlsson and P. V. Bayly, Biophys. J. 106:1596-1606(2014).
Memoirs: On the Ciliary Mechanisms and Interrelationships of Lamellibranchs PART I: New Observations on Sorting Mechanisms

Accounts are given of the ciliary feeding mechanisms in: A, Nuculana minuta (Muller);B, Glycymeris glycymeris (L.), and Area tetragona Poli; C, Heteranomia squamula (L.), Monia squama (Gmelin), and Monia patelliformis (L.); D, Pteriahirundo (L.); and E, Solenmargina tus Montagu, Ensis siliqua (L.), Ensis arcuatus (Jeffreys), and Cultellus pellucidus (Pennant). These Lamellibranchs agree in possessing a certain ciliary sorting mechanism on the gills themselves, namely adjoining tracts of frontal cilia beating in opposite directions on the same gill filament or leaflet. In Pteria, Solen, and Ensis, bivalves with plicate and heterorhabdic lamellae, this occurs on the ordinary and apical filaments only, and is complicated by a difference in the direction of the frontal currents in the plical grooves and on the crests, such as is already known in Pecten, Ostrea, and Lima. In Cultellus it is found on both lamellae of the inner demibranch, but on the ascending lamella only of the outer demibranch. The types of frontal ciliation of the gill filaments dealt with in the papers of Part I are given in Table I. Tracts of fine frontal cilia, beating continuously, convey particles intended for consumption, while tracts of coarse cilia, fully active only when stimulated, transport material intended to be rejected. In all, except the Protobranch Nuculana, unwanted material is carried to the ventral edges of the demibranchs, which are generally ungrooved or slightly grooved, rarely deeply grooved. In the Arcidae and Anomiidae the current along the edge is posterior in direction, so that such of the unwanted material as does not fall on the mantle is transported directly to the exterior. In Pteria, Solen, Ensis, and Cultellus the marginal current is oralward, but if the load be heavy much falls on the mantle, and is conveyed posteriorly by its recurrent tracts and finally ejected on sudden closure of the valves. In the Anomiidae the sorting mechanism on the gills was not observed functioning satisfactorily under experimental conditions, in that there was no appreciable transportation of intended food particles dorsally, and it would seem that members of this family feed mainly after the manner of the Ectoproct Polyzoa, that is on particles brought directly to the broad dorsal food grooves by the water current set up by the lateral cilia. In Nuculana minuta the highly specialized method of sorting on the small gills would seem to have been inherited from a form in which the gills played a considerably greater part in the nutrition of the animal than they do in this Protobranch.
Personalized design and virtual evaluation of physician-modified stent grafts for juxta-renal abdominal aortic aneurysms

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of juxtarenal aortic aneurysms (JAA) is particularly challenging owing to the requirement of suprarenal EVAR graft fixation, which has been associated with significant declines in long term renal function. Therefore, the ability to design fenestrated EVAR grafts on a personalized basis in order to ensure visceral and renal perfusion, is highly desirable. The objectives of this study are: a) To demonstrate novel 3D geometric methods to virtually design and deploy EVAR grafts into a virtually designed JAA, by applying a custom surface mesh deformation tool to a patient-specific descending aortic model reconstructed from computed tomographic (CT) images; and b) To virtually evaluate patient-specific renal flow and wall stresses in these patient-specific virtually EVAR geometries, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The presented framework may provide the modern cardiovascular surgeon the ability to leverage non-invasive, pre-operative imaging equipment to personalize and guide EVAR therapeutic strategy. Our CFD studies revealed that virtual EVAR grafting of a patient-specific JAA, with optimal fenestration sites and renal stenting, led to a 179.67±15.95% and 1051.43±18.34% improvement in right and left renal flow rates, respectively, when compared with the baseline patient-specific aortic geometry with renal stenoses, whereas a right and left renal flow improved by 36.44±2.24% and 885.93±12.41%, respectively, relative to the equivalently modeled JAA with renal stenoses, considering averages across the three simulated inflow rate cases. The proposed framework have utility to iteratively optimize suprarenal EVAR fixation length and achieve normal renal wall shear stresses and streamlined juxtarenal hemodynamics.
Epilogue: Moving the Equity Agenda Forward Requires Transformative Action

In the last four decades, we have made tremendous social, technological, and scientific advances. We have the Civil Rights Act. We have explored the moon and are now making plans to explore Mars. We have completely mapped the human genome. We have also made computers smaller, faster, and smarter. Yet, during this same period, we have not been able to close the student achievement gap. How is this possible when the science education research community has produced so much knowledge clearly describing the social, cultural, and institutional factors that obstruct and/or facilitate equal access to educational opportunities (National Academy of the Sciences [NAS] 2010; Rodriguez 2004)?
Supervisory Control for Rotary Kiln Temperature Based on Reinforcement Learning

The burning zone temperature in rotary kiln process is a vitally important controlled variable, on which the sinter quality mainly relies. Boundary conditions such as components of raw material slurry often change during kiln operation, but related offline analysis data delay to reach or even are unknown to the human operator. This causes unsatisfactory performance of the burning zone temperature controller and subsequent unstable production quality. To deal with this problem, a Q-learning-based supervisory control approach for burning zone temperature is proposed, in which the signals of human intervention are regarded as the reinforcement learning signals, so that the set point of burning zone temperature can be duly adjusted to adapt the fluctuations of the boundary conditions. This supervisory control system has been developed in DCS and successfully applied in an alumina rotary kiln. Satisfactory results have shown that the adaptability and performances of the control system have been improved effectively, and remarkable benefit has been obtained.
Interferon-α2b might prolong life and save costs in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B

Source Citation Wong JB, Koff RS, Tine F, Pauker SG. Cost-effectiveness of interferon-α2b treatment for hepatitis B e antigen-positive chronic hepatitis B. Ann Intern Med. 1995 May 1;122:664-75.
First Report of the Soybean Cyst Nematode, Heterodera glycines, in New York

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, is the most damaging pathogen of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), causing more than $1 billion in yield losses annually in the United States (Allen et al. 2017). The SCN distribution map updated in 2014 showed that SCN were detected in all major soybean-producing states in the U.S. except West Virginia and New York (Tylka and Marett 2014). Soybean shows great economic promise in NY and its production area in the region has been expanding rapidly. In coordination with a statewide soybean disease survey, soil samples have been collected from seventeen counties throughout NY since 2013 to search for the presence of SCN. A post-harvest soil sample collected in the fall of 2016 from a soybean field in Cayuga County, NY, was processed using the sugar centrifugal-flotation method to extract nematodes and a few brown and lemon-shaped cysts, similar to those of SCN, were isolated. The lemon-shaped cysts were light to dark brown and had a zigzag patter...
Course preparation assignments: A tool to enhance independent learning, increase student participation, and performance in chemistry courses

Studies have shown that the more ownership students take of their academic work, the greater the level of information retained, knowledge acquired, and general cognitive development. Many teaching techniques that span across sciences, and go beyond standard techniques such as: merely lecturing at students or following written procedures for “cook book-style” laboratory experiments, have surfaced in the last decade. One such method, known as Course Preparation Assignments (CPAs), requires students to read and analyze course material prior to attending class. This approach gives students their first exposure to new content outside of the classroom, while also engaging them in responding to a series of questions that they must answer individually. This prior exposure to course material allows the students to not only complete written assignments with the incentive of earning points, but also forces them to reflect on what they are learning. Prior to adopting the CPA teaching practice, I discovered that very few of my chemistry and biochemistry students completed the reading and homework problems until a few days prior to an examination. Each class or unit that includes a CPA follows a predictable pattern which students adjust to quickly: Read – Think –Write/Draw/Calculate – Discuss the course content. The impact of incorporating CPAs into undergraduate Analytical Chemistry and Principles of Biochemistry lecture courses will be described from this instructor’s point of view. In addition, the advantages and challenges of utilizing this teaching approach at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution, within classes made up of 8-45 students, will be described. Furthermore, the development and use of CPAs for teaching various Chemistry courses, the leading and facilitating of course discussions in class, the grading of assignments, and student perceptions of the approach will be discussed. Indeed, the pedagogical approach generally promotes timely completion of assignments, helps create a more interactive classroom setting, encourages students to ask more questions, facilitates involvement in discussions all of which result in an improved ability to think and reason critically.
Basic LCX Case

The patient is an 82-year-old male with a past medical history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and known coronary artery disease, with prior PCI to proximal RCA with a 3.0 × 12 mm DES and to the distal RCA with a 2.5 × 12 mm DES 3 years ago. A 60–70% calcified LCX lesion was managed medically at that time. He was admitted to another hospital with unstable angina. He underwent coronary angiography that showed patent stents in RCA; however, his calcified LCX has progressed significantly to 95% and therefore was referred to PCI.
Diabetes: Quantifying genetic susceptibility in T1DM - implications for diagnosis after age 30.

Treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) for individuals over the age of 30 years is often delayed. A recent large-scale population analysis used a genetic risk score to define T1DM in the first six decades of life, providing specific insights applicable to those >30 years of age.
PART-II AVERAGE CONDENSING HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT ON HORIZONTAL LOW FINNED TUBES

A theoretical model was developed to predict the average condensing heat transfer coefficient for film condensation on horizontal low finned tubes. In the present study, the tube is divided into th...
Effects of cognitive schemas on children's testimony for a simulated juvenile crime

Abstract This investigation examined immediate and seven-week delayed recall by 104 children (ages 6 to 8 years) for a simulated misdemeanor bicycle theft in which gender-role characteristics and sex of criminal were manipulated (i.e., masculine male, feminine male, feminine female, masculine female). Children recalled criminal appearance, central crime, peripheral crime well; only the latter declined over time. Crime and criminal recall showed a same-sex bias, male-as-criminal preference, and higher rates when thieves exhibited gender-role consistent characteristics. Children relied on their crime, criminal, and gender schemas to help them to process the theft. Criminal justice implications for eyewitness testimony findings are provided.
HIGH RESOLUTION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY EVIDENCE FOR THE DIRECT BONDING OF BONE TO HYDROXYLAPATITE

The bonding of bone to hydroxylapatite has been examined directly in the transmission electron microscope. The bone-hydroxylapatite interface was characterized by using several electron microscopy techniques, including bright and dark field imaging, high resolution imaging and energy dispersive analysis in the scanning-transmission electron microscope. Mechanical grinding, followed by argon ion milling, produced interface regions of unstained and undecalcified rat bone and hydroxylapatite that were transparent to electrons. Thus, the exact location of the interface could be established and the bone at the interface studied. Conventional and high resolution imaging techniques demonstrated direct chemical bonding between bone and hydroxylapatite.
Treatment of Milk with Immobilized Proteases and Oxidoreductases

Commercial enzymatic treatment of milk has been limited primarily to use of milk-clotting enzymes with several exceptions. Lipolytic enzyme preparations have been added to milk in the manufacture of certain cheese varieties (1). Use of trypsin has been suggested for production of soft curd milk and for inhibition of oxidative rancidity in milk (2,3). Finally, cold pasteurization of milk with hydrogen peroxide and subsequent decomposition of peroxide by catalase has been used for a short period of time in the United States cheese industry (4,5). The application of immobilized enzymes in processing and analyses of milk products appears promising because of characteristics of milk systems. Most milk products are fluids during processing stages, and continuous processing systems, i.e. cheese manufacture, are being developed which could utilize immobilized enzymes. In addition, modification of milk constituents, such as fat, with immobilized enzymes would seem feasible and advantageous. We have investigated and are reporting on the characteristics and potential of various immobilized proteases and oxidoreductases for treating milk.
What's the Matter with Cumulative Error?: Killing a Federal Claim in Order to Save It

This note investigates the inefficacy of cumulative error claims raised by state death row inmates in their federal habeas corpus petitions. It surveys modern federal habeas precedents giving rise to cumulative error claims, investigates the various circuit standards used in evaluating these claims, and concludes that these claims fail due to the confluence of vague historical precedent and increasingly restrictive federal habeas law. It recommends constructing a mandatory pre-federal habeas review procedure wherein claims of cumulative error are evaluated on the merits by all the stakeholders in the state criminal justice systems in order to ensure the integrity of that system and the reliability of criminal convictions and sentences.
Microbiomes, Community Ecology, and the Comparative Method.

ABSTRACT Microbiomes contain many levels of biological information, and integrating across the levels creates a holistic understanding of host-microbiome interactions. In my research on the evolution and ecology of avian microbiomes, I use two complementary frameworks: the microbiome as a community and the microbiome as a trait of the host. We draw on classic ecological and evolutionary theory and modern statistical models to advance our understanding in each of these frameworks and then integrate what we have learned into a better understanding of host-associated microbiomes, host evolution, and microbial biodiversity. Ecological theories that bear on processes such as community assembly and metacommunities are well suited for application to microbiomes. Phylogenetic comparative methods can quantify the fit of evolutionary models and detect correlations between traits and correlations between traits and the rate of evolution; these methods allow the inference of evolutionary process from contemporary patterns.
The Social Policy of Denial: Unemployment in Israel

When reality does not match the dream nations tend to suffer. In Israel unemployment compromises social democratic ideals. The country oscillates between bombast and despair. Official data is not trusted. Those who leave Russia on Israeli visas and do not come are "dropouts." Those who leave Israel for other countries are "yordim." Those who go to work every day when there is nothing to do are draining the nation with "hidden unemployment." These are terms of derision. Some of the difficulty with unemployment data and understanding Israeli response to the problem may be for security reasons. Israelis have lived in an almost continuous state of war since 1922. The danger from living under such pressure is that it increases the denial; policy thinking is rigid and bureaucracy grows. Israel has survived because of its capacity for flexibility and innovation. Continued replacement of these qualities by denying economic realities may threaten its survival and peace in the world. The Jerusalem Post of May 9, 1977 has a story headlined: Unemployment up, but 'there are jobs for all who want them,' official says. Similar statements appear frequently in the Israeli press. If they were political sophistry designed to fool a gullible public they could be ignored. This is not the case, Israelis are realists; they are not gulled easily. The headline is true; but it needs to be explained. Unemploy*Revision of paper presented at 27th annual meeting, Society for the Study of Social Problems, Chicago, September, 1977.
The Role of the Carotid Body in Acclimatization to Hypoxia

Ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia (VAH) is the time-dependent increasing hyperventilation that occurs during prolonged exposure to hypoxia. The carotid chemoreceptors are responsible for the acute ventilatory response to hypoxia and they are recognized as critical to at least the initiation of VAH (Forster et al., 1976, 1981: Smith et al., 1984). Beyond the initial acute hypoxic hyperventilation the mechanism of VAH has been controversial. Several mechanisms associated with brain hypoxia have been proposed previously, e.g., acidification of cerebral interstitial fluid in the environment of the central chemoreceptors (Fencl et al., 1979), changes in brain monoamine metablolism (Olson et al., 1983) and suprapontine facilitation of respiratory activity (Tenney and Ou, 1977). It is clear that brain hypoxia alone cannot initiate VAH since it does not proceed normally in the absence of the carotid chemoreceptors (Forster et al., 1976, 1981: Smith et al., 1984). However, it remains unclear as to the role brain hypoxia and acid-base changes play in VAH. Similarly the role of the peripheral chemoreceptors remains unclear. Therefore, we asked the following questions: l) Is brain hypoxia a necessary component of the mechanism of VAH? 2) Does hypocapnic alkalosis play a critical role in VAH? and 3) Can VAH be induced by different modes of carotid body (CB) stimuli?
Auto-GNN: Neural Architecture Search of Graph Neural Networks.

Graph neural networks (GNN) has been successfully applied to operate on the graph-structured data. Given a specific scenario, rich human expertise and tremendous laborious trials are usually required to identify a suitable GNN architecture. It is because the performance of a GNN architecture is significantly affected by the choice of graph convolution components, such as aggregate function and hidden dimension. Neural architecture search (NAS) has shown its potential in discovering effective deep architectures for learning tasks in image and language modeling. However, existing NAS algorithms cannot be directly applied to the GNN search problem. First, the search space of GNN is different from the ones in existing NAS work. Second, the representation learning capacity of GNN architecture changes obviously with slight architecture modifications. It affects the search efficiency of traditional search methods. Third, widely used techniques in NAS such as parameter sharing might become unstable in GNN. To bridge the gap, we propose the automated graph neural networks (AGNN) framework, which aims to find an optimal GNN architecture within a predefined search space. A reinforcement learning based controller is designed to greedily validate architectures via small steps. AGNN has a novel parameter sharing strategy that enables homogeneous architectures to share parameters, based on a carefully-designed homogeneity definition. Experiments on real-world benchmark datasets demonstrate that the GNN architecture identified by AGNN achieves the best performance, comparing with existing handcrafted models and tradistional search methods.
Riddles of the structure and vibrational dynamics of HO3 resolved near the ab initio limit

The hydridotrioxygen (HO3) radical has been investigated in many previous theoretical and experimental studies over several decades, originally because of its possible relevance to the tropospheric HOx cycle but more recently because of its fascinating chemical bonding, geometric structure, and vibrational dynamics. We have executed new, comprehensive research on this vexing molecule via focal point analyses (FPA) to approach the ab initio limit of optimized geometric structures, relative energies, complete quartic force fields, and the entire reaction path for cis-trans isomerization. High-order coupled cluster theory was applied through the CCSDT(Q) and even CCSDTQ(P) levels, and CBS extrapolations were performed using cc-pVXZ (X = 2–6) basis sets. The cis isomer proves to be higher than trans by 0.52 kcal mol−1, but this energetic ordering is achieved only after the CCSDT(Q) milestone is reached; the barrier for cis → trans isomerization is a minute 0.27 kcal mol−1. The FPA central re(O–O) bond length of trans-HO3 is astonishingly long (1.670 A), consistent with the semiexperimental re distance we extracted from microwave rotational constants of 10 isotopologues using FPA vibration-rotation interaction constants (αi). The D0(HO–O2) dissociation energy converges to a mere 2.80 ± 0.25 kcal mol−1. Contrary to expectation for such a weakly bound system, vibrational perturbation theory performs remarkably well with the FPA anharmonic force fields, even for the torsional fundamental near 130 cm−1. Exact numerical procedures are applied to the potential energy function for the torsional reaction path to obtain energy levels, tunneling rates, and radiative lifetimes. The cis → trans isomerization occurs via tunneling with an inherent half-life of 1.4 × 10−11 s and 8.6 × 10−10 s for HO3 and DO3, respectively, thus resolving the mystery of why the cis species has not been observed in previous experiments executed in dissipative environments that allow collisional cooling of the trans-HO3 product. In contrast, the pure ground eigenstate of the cis species in a vacuum is predicted to have a spontaneous radiative lifetime of about 1 h and 5 days for HO3 and DO3, respectively.The hydridotrioxygen (HO3) radical has been investigated in many previous theoretical and experimental studies over several decades, originally because of its possible relevance to the tropospheric HOx cycle but more recently because of its fascinating chemical bonding, geometric structure, and vibrational dynamics. We have executed new, comprehensive research on this vexing molecule via focal point analyses (FPA) to approach the ab initio limit of optimized geometric structures, relative energies, complete quartic force fields, and the entire reaction path for cis-trans isomerization. High-order coupled cluster theory was applied through the CCSDT(Q) and even CCSDTQ(P) levels, and CBS extrapolations were performed using cc-pVXZ (X = 2–6) basis sets. The cis isomer proves to be higher than trans by 0.52 kcal mol−1, but this energetic ordering is achieved only after the CCSDT(Q) milesto...
Does Early Repair of Orbital Fractures Result in Superior Patient Outcomes? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Purpose To date, no clear evidence-based guidelines exist pertaining to the ideal timing to perform surgical treatment of orbital fractures. The purpose of this study was to determine if early treatment of orbital fractures resulted in better patient outcomes. Materials and Methods We designed and implemented a systematic review and meta-analysis to test the null hypothesis of no difference in outcomes between different time intervals between orbital injury and surgical intervention. PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, the Elsevier text mining tool database, and clinicaltrials.gov trial registry were queried. The quality of evidence was based on Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. The predictor variable was the timing of operative repair (early vs late). The outcome variable was complete recovery. Other variables of interest were diplopia, enophthalmos, and preoperative motility restriction. Meta-analyses were performed when definitions of active and control interventions and patient outcomes were deemed similar. In addition, χ2 tests were performed to determine differences in clinical outcomes between early and late operative repair. Results Of the 1,160 articles reviewed, 20 met the inclusion criteria. Surgery performed less than 2 weeks after injury was significantly associated with greater odds of complete recovery of symptoms (odds ratio [OR], 6.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.35-35.06]), as well as a lower incidence of postoperative diplopia (OR, 0.3 [95% CI, 0.1-0.9]) and enophthalmos (OR, 0.2 [95% CI, 0.1-0.9]). Repair performed less than 30 days after injury was associated complete resolution of preoperative motility restriction (OR, 24.6 [95% CI, 1.30-462.34]) as well as diplopia. Conclusions Differences in the timing of surgery and definition of patient outcomes, as well as variations in methods of evaluating postoperative outcomes, potentiate the risk of bias and warrant downgrading of the quality of evidence in a study. The timing of repair varied among 2, 4, and 8 weeks after injury. However, a short time to surgical intervention was significantly associated with resolution of vertical dystopia, postoperative enophthalmos, and motility restriction.
Alterations to the Gastrointestinal Microbiome Associated with Methamphetamine Use among Young Men who have Sex with Men.

Methamphetamine (MA) use is a major public health problem in the United States, especially among people living with HIV (PLWH). Many MA-induced neurotoxic effects are mediated by inflammation and gut microbiota may play a role in this process, yet the effects of MA on the microbiome have not been adequately explored. Therefore, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing on rectal swab samples from 381 men who have sex with men, 48% of whom were PLWH and 41% of whom used MA. We compared microbiome composition between MA users and non-users while testing for potential interactions with HIV and controlling for numerous confounders using inverse probability of treatment weighting. We found that MA use explained significant variation in overall composition (R2 = 0.005, p = 0.008) and was associated with elevated Finegoldia, Parvimonas, Peptoniphilus, and Porphyromonas and reduced Butyricicoccus and Faecalibacterium, among others. Genera including Actinomyces and Streptobacillus interacted with HIV status, such that they were increased in HIV+ MA users. Finegoldia and Peptoniphilus increased with increasing frequency of MA use, among others. In summary, MA use was associated with a microbial imbalance favoring pro-inflammatory bacteria, including some with neuroactive potential and others that have previously been associated with poor HIV outcomes.
Flextime and the Compressed Work Week: Possible Strategies for Smaller Firms to Increase Employmee Performance and Satisfaction

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of flexitime 1 and the compressed workweek' on the performance and satisfaction of employees of small firms. Employees were selected from three small organizations representing the service, retail, and manufacturing areas. A pre-flexitime and pre-compressed workweek questionnaire was administered to each of the employees of the three firms measuring various dimensions of performance and satisfaction. A post questionnaire was administered approximaiely one year later. The results of this study indicate that employees of all three surveyed firms preferred flexitime and the 4110140 workweek over the traditional work schedule in the variables used to measure employee performance and satisfactions.
Racial disparities in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed preexisting racial disparities in the healthcare system. This review discusses racial-ethnic differences in COVID-19 related outcomes with an emphasis on the social determinants of health that are responsible for these disparities. RECENT FINDINGS: Higher hospitalizations and deaths have been reported amongst minority individuals after a COVID-19 infection. Cardiovascular disease and its risk factors are also more common in minority populations and negatively impact clinical outcomes after a COVID-19 illness. The racial disparities seen after COVID-19 infections appear to be driven by multiple preexisting comorbidities, adverse socioeconomic conditions, and lack of access to healthcare. These disadvantages were present before the COVID-19 pandemic. To effectively reduce disparities in outcomes of COVID-19 and the impact of the virus on minority communities, a multifaceted approach will be needed. SUMMARY: Government-backed policies that foster health equity and promote easily accessible testing and fair distribution of COVID-19 therapies and vaccines are necessary to successfully combat racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes.
One-dimensional scattering of two-dimensional fermions near quantum criticality

Forward scattering and backscattering play an exceptional role in the physics of two-dimensional interacting fermions. In a Fermi liquid, both give rise to a nonanalytic ${\ensuremath{\omega}}^{2}ln(\ensuremath{\omega})$ form of the fermionic scattering rate at second order in the interaction. Here we argue that higher powers of $ln(\ensuremath{\omega})$ appear in the backscattering contribution at higher orders. We show that these terms come from ``planar'' processes, which are effectively one-dimensional. This is explicitly demonstrated by extending a Fermi liquid to the limit of $N\ensuremath{\gg}1$ fermionic flavors, when only planar processes survive. We sum the leading logarithms for the case of a two-dimensional Fermi liquid near a nematic transition, and we obtain an expression for the scattering rate at $T=0$ to all orders in the interaction. For a repulsive interaction, the resulting rate is logarithmically suppressed, and the result is valid down to $\ensuremath{\omega}=0$. For an attractive interaction, the ground state is an $s$-wave superconductor with a gap ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{0}$. We show that in this case the scattering rate increases as $\ensuremath{\omega}$ is reduced toward ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{0}$. At $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\ge}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{0}$, the behavior of the scattering rate is rather unconventional as many pairing channels compete near a nematic critical point, and the $s$-wave wins only by a narrow margin. We take superconductivity into consideration and obtain the scattering rate also at smaller $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}_{0}$.
Exposure to epididymal extracellular vesicles enhances immature sperm function and sustains vitality of cryopreserved spermatozoa in the domestic cat model.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by the epididymal epithelium transfer key factors to maturing spermatozoa. Using an in vitro system previously developed in our laboratory, the objective was to (1) characterize the impact of EV exposure on the fertilizing ability and developmental potential of immature sperm cells from the caput epididymidis and (2) examine the benefit of EV exposure to restore vitality of mature spermatozoa from the cauda epididymidis after freezing-thawing. EVs were isolated from entire epididymides and collected into pellets via ultracentrifugation. Immature spermatozoa from adult cats were isolated from the caput epididymis and incubated with EVs prior to in vitro fertilization. Similarly, mature spermatozoa were isolated from the cauda segment and cryopreserved prior to EV exposure and subsequent analysis of motility and developmental potential after fertilization. EV exposure did not affect the percentage of caput sperm penetration; however, it improved the fertilizing ability (faster pronuclear apposition) and the developmental potential (higher proportions of morula-blastocysts) of those immature sperm cells. While EV exposure was beneficial to the frozen-thawed sperm motility, it did not significantly improve the fertilizing ability and the developmental potential. Epididymal EVs contain multiple factors contributing to immature sperm function, specifically enhancing the ability to complete a faster pronuclear apposition with subsequently improved early embryonic development. Supplementation was also beneficial to the motility of spermatozoa that had undergone cryopreservation. Those new findings could lead to new options for male fertility treatment in animal models and humans.
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Women and Girls with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) describes a spectrum of liver damage due to excessive hepatic lipid accumulation. Recent research has demonstrated a high prevalence of NAFLD in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Strong associations independent of BMI have been found between high androgen levels characteristic of PCOS, as well as insulin resistance, and the presence of NAFLD in these women, suggesting that these factors contribute to liver injury more significantly than obesity. Current studies indicate the occurrence of NAFLD in normal weight women with PCOS in addition to the commonly researched women who are overweight and obese. While the majority of studies address NAFLD in adult, premenopausal women (ages 25-40 years), the occurrence of NAFLD in young and adolescent women has gone largely unaddressed. Overall, research in this field lacks diversity; a majority of studies either focus on populations of white women or are missing demographic information entirely. Future studies should include larger, more racially and ethnically inclusive populations and particular attention should be paid to how excess androgens and insulin resistance contribute to the increased risk of NAFLD seen in women with PCOS of varying weights, ages, and ethnicities. Here, we review NAFLD in women with PCOS with subsections focused on the impact of hyperandrogenism, BMI, insulin resistance and age. Most notably, we present the most up-to-date racially and ethnically diverse worldwide prevalence of NAFLD in women with PCOS compared to women without PCOS (51.56% vs. 29.64%, p<0.001, respectively).
Relative levels of M-CSF and GM-CSF influence the specific generation of macrophage populations during infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Members of the CSF cytokine family play important roles in macrophage recruitment and activation. However, the role of M-CSF in pulmonary infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is not clear. In this study, we show the lungs of mice infected with M. tuberculosis displayed a progressive decrease in M-CSF in contrast to increasing levels of GM-CSF. Restoring pulmonary M-CSF levels during infection resulted in a significant decrease in the presence of foamy macrophages and increased expression of CCR7 and MHC class II, specifically on alveolar macrophages. In response to M-CSF, alveolar macrophages also increased their T cell-stimulating capacity and expression of DEC-205. These studies show that the levels of expression of M-CSF and GM-CSF participate in the progression of macrophages into foamy cells and that these cytokines are important factors in the differentiation and regulation of expression of dendritic cell-associated markers on alveolar macrophages. In addition, these studies demonstrate that M-CSF may have a role in the adaptive immune response to infection with M. tuberculosis.
Confidence based active learning for whole object image segmentation

In selective object segmentation, the goal is to extract the entire object of interest without regards to homogeneous regions or object shape. In this paper we present the selective image segmentation problem as a classification problem, and use active learning to train an image feature classifier to identify the object of interest. Since our formulation of this segmentation problem uses human interaction, active learning is used for training to minimize the training effort needed to segment the object. Results using several images with known ground truth are presented to show the efficacy of our approach for segmenting the object of interest in still images. The approach has potential applications in medical image segmentation and content-based image retrieval among others.
Discrete-Event Systems

Discrete Event Systems (DES) are characterized by the occurrence of discrete events asynchronously over time which are responsible for driving all dynamics. Such systems are ubiquitous in modern technological environments, ranging from communication networks and manufacturing to transportation and logistics. This class of event-driven dynamic systems is first compared to traditional time-driven systems described by differential (or difference) equations. We subsequently overview some of the major modeling frameworks for DES, based on automata, Petri nets, and dioid algebras. The use of these models is illustrated through queuing systems, a common class of DES.
Statistical Methods for Assessing Flood Risk and the Climate Change Challenge

Actual and potential effects of climate change and climate variability will increasingly challenge hydrologists, civil engineers and planners concerned with flood risk. In general, it is difficult to understand flood risk in particular areas as available records tend to be limited. Our flood quantile estimators are more uncertain than people realize. If we recognize historical climate variability and climate change in our analyses, we will learn that we know even less. In many cases, it is not even clear whether global warming will increase or decrease flood risk. So the challenge is to use all the information available on past floods and future climate, along with a deep understanding of hydrologic processes, to forecast flood risk in the future.
Targeted Therapy in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: The Implications of HPV for Therapy

Oropharyngeal cancers caused by human papillomaviruses (HPV) have a different epidemiology, prognosis, genetic mutational landscape, response to treatment, and outcome when compared to HPV-negative cancers. In this review, a summary of our current understanding of HPV in head and neck cancer and the important advances that have shown HPV to be an etiological agent are discussed. HPV-positive and HPV-negative tumors are compared discussing clinicopathological factors, prognosis, outcome following treatment, and the molecular and genetic differences. Currently, the standard of care for oropharyngeal cancer is both surgery and post-operative radiotherapy with or without cisplatin or concurrent chemo-radiotherapy. The latter is used more often, especially in cancers of tonsil and base of tongue. However, there is increased interest in trying to de-intensify treatment and in the development of new treatments to target the underlying different molecular pathways of HPV-positive cancers. The current clinical trials involving surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are discussed. The new targeted treatments are also summarized. Although there is currently is no evidence from prospective studies to support a change in the treatment algorithm, the treatment options for patients with HPV-positive disease are likely to change in the future.