cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 3763: Impact Of Race And Ethnicity On Stroke Risk Factors And Care: Echocardiographic Risk Stratification And Discharge Disposition

Background: Hispanic Americans (HA) and African Americans (AA) are known to have greater incidence of stroke and may have more severe deficits than non-Hispanic whites (NHW). AA and HA are known to have higher incidences of hypertension compared to NHW. Little has been published on the use of echocardiography to determine racial and ethnic distribution of risk factors Recently published information indicates that while minorities have equal access to rehabilitative services, minorities with stroke have longer hospital stays and poorer functional outcomes compared to NHW, leading to potential increased healthcare needs post-discharge. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that HA and AA are more likely than NHW to have evidence of hypertensive pathology on echocardiographic evaluation. We further hypothesize that HA, due to social and cultural differences, are more likely to discharge home and less likely than AA and NHW to utilize skilled nursing facilities (SNF) or long term acute care facilities (LTAC). Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients at a single institution with a diagnosis of TIA, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke admitted from January 2004 to January 2007 (N=1480). Demographic information, co-morbid conditions, diagnostic test results, and information regarding discharge were collected. We used descriptive statistics to characterize the groups, and association between ethnicity and echocardiogram evaluation and discharge disposition was tested by Chi-square analysis. Results: TTE and TEE were used equally across ethnic groups. AA had more evidence of hypertensive pathology on echocardiographic imaging compared to NHW and HA (95% vs. 43% and 40%, respectively, p Conclusions: HA have more embolic sources as a potential cause for stroke compared to either NHW or AA. This may have impact on the diagnostic utilization of TTE and TEE. Hypertensive echochardiographic changes are common in AA, emphasizing the need for primary prevention. HA are more likely to discharge home, rather than to a SNF or LTAC facility. This finding may indicate a need for additional home care services and education regarding home care of stroke patients for this population.
Immigration and the Welfare State in Comparison: Differences in the Incorporation of Immigrant Minorities in Germany and the United States

"Immigration and the Welfare State in Comparison'1 was the topic of a German-American conference at the Freie Universitat Berlin (FUB), Germany, from December 12-14, 1996, sponsored by the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. and the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW). The organizers, Hermann Kurthen (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) in collaboration with Jiirgen Fijalkowski (FUB-Forschungsstelle Arbeitsmigration, Fliichtlingsbewegungen und Minderheitenpolitik), and Gert G. Wagner (DIW Berlin, Socio-Economic Panel) brought together eigh? teen German and American experts for a frank exchange of ideas that crossed the borders of disciplines, such as sociology, political science, demography, economics, and law. Such a broad approach seems timely considering the complexity of the issues at hand and the prominent response recent welfare reforms have evoked. Conference presentations and discussions centered on the question of how to reconcile immigration and the welfare state without questioning lib? eral citizenship regimes and securing continuing immigrant incorporation (meaning integration without assimilation). This leitmotiv implied a consen? sus among participants that in both countries controlled immigration, liber? al admission criteria, welfare coverage of immigrants, and support for immi? grant minority integration should continue because they are adequate, bene? ficial, and just. Assimilation, segregation and other forms of exclusion or the denial of migration are not feasible alternatives rather they are recipes to fos? ter political conflicts, social unrest, and cultural marginalization of immigrant minorities in the short and long run. For a number of reasons, most developed Western societies today witness a fierce debate about what and how many social services a state should pro-
Complete Biological Control of Lepidosaphes beckii on Texas Citrus with Aphytis lepidosaphes

The purple scale, Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman), has been reduced from the 4th most important pest of Texas citrus to an incidental pest by the introduced parasite, Aphytis lepidosaphes Compere. The evidence of complete biological control is the scarcity of the purple scale during 1971–73 and the ability of the parasite to suppress the relatively small numbers of scales that increase following applications of carbaryl, sulfur, and azinphosmethyl.
Weed Control in a Newly Established Organic Vineyard

Consumer demand for organic and sustainably produced products has increased the interest in organic wine grape (Vitis vinifera) production. However, organic production can be challenging, and weed management is a critical issue during the establishment of an organic vineyard. In 2009, the effectiveness of five cover crop treatments and cultivation regimes was evaluated for two years for weed control in a newly established organic vineyard of ‘Pinot noir precoce’ and ‘Madeleine angevine’ grape cultivars in northwestern Washington State. Alleyway management treatments were cultivation in alleyways with hand weeding in the vine row (control), grass cover crop which included perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne ssp. perenne) and red fescue (Festuca rubra ssp. arenaria) seeded in the alleyway and in-row tillage with a specialty offset-type cultivator, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) cover crop with in-row string-trimming, austrian winter pea (Pisum sativum ssp. sativum var. arvense) cover crop with in-row string-trimming, and winter wheat–austrian winter pea cover crop mix with in-row string-trimming. In 2009, weed dry biomass was lowest in the alleyway of the control (0.8 g m) and offset cultivator treatments (6.3 g m) on 3 Aug. and tended to be lowest in the alleyway of the control (4.8 g m) and offset cultivator treatments (16.0 g m) on 27 Sept. In the second year of establishment (2010), winter wheat and austrian winter pea were eliminated from the plots by mid-July, and white clover (Trifolium repens) and perennial ryegrass were the dominant weed species and accounted for a majority of the total weeds. On average over the two-year period, the control treatment required the most time for alleyway management (92 h ha) followed by the offset cultivator treatment (64 h ha), while the winter wheat, austrian winter pea, and winter wheat–austrian winter pea mixture required 32 to 42 h ha. ‘Madeline angevine’ produced more shoot growth than ‘Pinot noir precoce’ in Sept. 2010 (42.3 and 25.9 cm respectively), and shoot growth of both cultivars in the control treatment was significantly longer (125.0 cm) than under any other treatment (55.4 to 93.0 cm), illustrating the importance of weed control during vineyard establishment. In this study, the most effective weed management regime, although also the most time consuming, included a vegetative-free zone around the vines (e.g., in-row) maintained by hand weeding and a cultivated alleyway.
Glucide metabolism disorders (excluding glycogen myopathies)

Glucide metabolism comprises pathways for transport, intermediate metabolism, utilization, and storage of carbohydrates. Defects affect multiple organs and present as systemic diseases. Neurological symptoms result from hypoglycemia, lactic acidosis, or inadequate storage of complex glucide molecules in neurological tissues. In glycogen storage disorders hypoglycemia indicates hepatic involvement, weakness and muscle cramps muscle involvement. Hypoglycemia is also the leading neurological symptom in disorders of gluconeogenesis. Disorders of galactose and fructose metabolism are rare, detectable by neonatal screening, and manifest following dietary intake of these sugars. Rare defects within the pentose metabolism constitute a new area of inborn metabolic disorders and may present with neurological symptoms. Treatment of these disorders involves the avoidance of fasting, dietary treatment eliminating specific carbohydrates, and enzyme replacement therapy in individual glycogen storage diseases.GLUT1 deficiency syndrome, a specific disorder of glucose transport into brain, results in global developmental delay, early-onset epilepsy, and a complex movement disorder. Treatment with a high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet provides ketones as an alternative fuel to the brain and restores brain energy metabolism. Recently paroxysmal exertion-induced dyskinesia and stomatin-deficient cryohydrocytosis have been identified as an allelic disorder to GLUT1 deficiency equally responding to a ketogenic diet.
Sphincter and Pelvic Floor Disorders Applications

The first indication of BoNT utility in urology was actually not for the overactive bladder but rather injection into the urethral sphincter in spinal cord injured patients to treat detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia (DSD) (Dykstra et al. 1988). In this chapter, we will focus on BoNT injection into the urethral sphincter and pelvic floor for patients with neurogenic detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia, non-neurogenic sphincter discoordination such as dysfunctional voiding or shy bladder syndrome, and pelvic floor spasticity and pain. Because the number of patients who may be candidates for sphincter or pelvic floor injection are small, and etiology and diagnoses diverse, there are no current registry trials to seek regulatory approval for sphincter BoNT application in most developed countries. Therefore, clinicians should be aware that sphincter BoNT injections are off-label applications of BoNT.
Hell and High Water: Diminished Septic System Performance in Coastal Regions Due to Climate Change

Climate change may affect the ability of soil-based onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) to treat wastewater in coastal regions of the Northeastern United States. Higher temperatures and water tables can affect treatment by reducing the volume of unsaturated soil and oxygen available for treatment, which may result in greater transport of pathogens, nutrients, and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) to groundwater, jeopardizing public and aquatic ecosystem health. The soil treatment area (STA) of an OWTS removes contaminants as wastewater percolates through the soil. Conventional STAs receive wastewater from the septic tank, with infiltration occurring deeper in the soil profile. In contrast, shallow narrow STAs receive pre-treated wastewater that infiltrates higher in the soil profile, which may make them more resilient to climate change. We used intact soil mesocosms to quantify the water quality functions of a conventional and two types of shallow narrow STAs under present climate (PC; 20°C) and climate change (CC; 25°C, 30 cm elevation in water table). Significantly greater removal of BOD5 was observed under CC for all STA types. Phosphorus removal decreased significantly from 75% (PC) to 66% (CC) in the conventional STA, and from 100% to 71–72% in shallow narrow STAs. No fecal coliform bacteria (FCB) were released under PC, whereas up to 17 and 20 CFU 100 mL-1 were released in conventional and shallow narrow STAs, respectively, under CC. Total N removal increased from 14% (PC) to 19% (CC) in the conventional STA, but decreased in shallow narrow STAs, from 6–7% to less than 3.0%. Differences in removal of FCB and total N were not significant. Leaching of N in excess of inputs was also observed in shallow narrow STAs under CC. Our results indicate that climate change can affect contaminant removal from wastewater, with effects dependent on the contaminant and STA type.
Early life predictors of alcohol-related attitudes among 11-year-old never drinkers.

Abstract Alcohol-related attitudes are evident before children have personal experience drinking alcohol and represent key proximal predictors of alcohol use, but relatively little is known about how early life characteristics predict these attitudes. Among late childhood lifetime alcohol abstainers ( M age = 10.67 years; 51% girls), we examine predictors of positive alcohol expectancies and perceived risk of alcohol use. Data from the Millennium Cohort Study, an ongoing nationally representative longitudinal study of children born in the UK, were available from 11,097 children who completed the self-report survey at modal age 11 and reported never drinking alcohol. A sequential structural model suggested that sociodemographic factors were distal predictors of age 11 alcohol attitudes that operated, in part, through family and child risk factors (measured at ages 3 to 7). Alcohol attitudes varied by sociodemographics; for example, boys had higher positive expectancies than girls and White British children had higher positive expectancies and lower perceived risk than Black British and Asian British children. In terms of family factors, parent alcohol problems predicted children's lower perceived risk, and higher parent-child conflict predicted more positive expectancies. For child factors, children's greater cognitive skills predicted higher perceived risk, and internalizing problems predicted more positive expectancies. Indirect effects from sociodemographics through parent-child conflict and internalizing problems predicted positive expectancies; indirect effects through parent alcohol problems and cognitive skills predicted perceived risk. Future research should delve further into mechanisms underlying the development of alcohol attitudes and their potential as malleable targets for prevention.
The Future of the Canadian Energy Industry in a Low Price Commodity Environment

This article, adapted from the LSU Law Center Symposium, Emerging Issues at the Intersection of Energy and Natural Resources (March 4, 2016), reviews, in brief, the decline in petroleum commodity prices; the magnitude and importance of the Canadian exploration and production sector (with particular attention given to its relationship with the United States); the effects of the drop in commodity prices in Canada and the challenges faced by the Canadian energy industry; and possible strategies for Canada to weather the decline and improve its resistance to future price volatility.
Ultrafast Electronic Relaxation through a Conical Intersection: Nonadiabatic Dynamics Disentangled through an Oscillator Strength-Based Diabatization Framework.

We employ surface hopping trajectories to model the short-time dynamics of gas-phase and partially solvated 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)benzonitrile (DMABN), a dual fluorescent molecule that is known to undergo a nonadiabatic transition through a conical intersection. To compare theory vs time-resolved fluorescence measurements, we calculate the mixed quantum–classical density matrix and the ensemble averaged transition dipole moment. We introduce a diabatization scheme based on the oscillator strength to convert the TDDFT adiabatic states into diabatic states of La and Lb character. Somewhat surprisingly, we find that the rate of relaxation reported by emission to the ground state is almost 50% slower than the adiabatic population relaxation. Although our calculated adiabatic rates are largely consistent with previous theoretical calculations and no obvious effects of decoherence are seen, the diabatization procedure introduced here enables an explicit picture of dynamics in the branching plane, raising tantali...
Able to Do the Impossible

The poss-ability principle states that each of an agent’s abilities must be witnessed by a possible exercising thereof; i.e., if S is able to φ, then there must be some possible world in which S (exercises her ability and) φs. As we will see, quite a lot turns on whether the poss-ability principle is true. The poss-ability principle is a premise in some of the main arguments for incompatibilism, a consequence of the leading analyses of ability, and often an unstated but critical assumption working in the background. The thesis that an object is visible (or knowable) only if there is some possible world in which the object is seen (or known) relies, implicitly, on the possability principle, as does the widely held thesis that ‘ought’ implies ‘it is metaphysically possible that’. In this paper I argue against the poss-ability principle by introducing and developing a novel class of counterexamples. I claim that an agent might be able to do what it is metaphysically impossible for her to do. In fact, somewhat more surprisingly, I claim that an agent might be able to do what it is metaphysically impossible tout court to do.
Repairing "Difficult" Patient-Clinician Relationships.

Damaged relationships with patients can be repaired by listening, empathizing, and setting clear limits and goals.
School-Based Experiential Outdoor Education: A Neglected Necessity.

In this research study, we hear the voices of middle school students, preservice teachers, and practicing middle school teachers in support of school-based experiential outdoor education. The benef...
Patient-centered clinical trials

We apply Bayesian decision analysis (BDA) to incorporate patient preferences in the regulatory approval process for new therapies. By assigning weights to type I and type II errors based on patient preferences, the significance level (α) and power (1-β) of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) for a new therapy can be optimized to maximize the value to current and future patients and, consequently, to public health. We find that for weight-loss devices, potentially effective low-risk treatments have optimal αs larger than the traditional one-sided significance level of 5%, whereas potentially less effective and riskier treatments have optimal αs below 5%. Moreover, the optimal RCT design, including trial size, varies with the risk aversion and time-to-access preferences and the medical need of the target population.
2017 SfRBM Discovery Award Lecture Maintenance Of Oxygen And Redox Homeostasis By Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1

In virtually every metazoan species, cells express the transcriptional activator hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) in response to decreased O2 availability. HIF-1 activates the transcription of a large battery of target genes, many of which encode proteins that serve either to increase O2 delivery or to decrease O2 consumption. The latter is likely to represent a primordial function of HIF-1, which is expressed even in animals with bodies that are too simple to require specialized systems for O2 delivery. Studies performed with mouse embryo fibroblasts revealed coordinate, HIF-1-dependent activation of genes that inhibit respiration and stimulate glycolysis. This metabolic reprogramming is required to maintain redox homeostasis: HIF-1-deficient fibroblasts exposed to chronic hypoxia do not switch from respiration to glycolysis and die due to ROS toxicity. More recently, analysis of human breast cancer cells has revealed that hypoxia induces coordinate, HIF-1-dependent transcriptional activation of genes encoding enzymes of the serine synthesis pathway and one-carbon metabolism that increase mitochondrial NADPH production, which is required to detoxify ROS produced under hypoxic conditions. Failure to do so leads to increased cell death and impairs the enrichment of breast cancer stem cells that otherwise occurs in response to hypoxia. Thus, HIF-1 controls both the production and detoxification of ROS under conditions of chronic hypoxia. Different cell types use different strategies to modulate metabolism in order to maintain redox homeostasis under hypoxic conditions. These studies have led to major paradigm shifts in our understanding of oxygen homeostasis: (i) ROS levels do not increase monotonically with increasing pO2; rather, mitochondrial function is optimized for physiological pO2 and any increase or decrease in O2 availability leads to increased ROS levels; and (ii) the switch from oxidative to glycolytic metabolism does not occur in order to maintain energy homeostasis, but rather to maintain redox homeostasis under hypoxic conditions.
Assessment of the Cambodian National Biodigester Program.

Abstract The National Biodigester Program (NBP) was established in 2006 to build and maintain household biodigesters in Cambodia. In its first six years, the program installed almost 20,000 biodigesters and established an in-country network of local financiers, construction companies, skilled masons, bioslurry specialists and after-care technicians accessible to rural users in 14 of 24 Cambodian provinces. Since its initial success, the program's adoption rates have stalled despite increasing government support and high rates of user satisfaction. Building on an initial evaluation of the NBP in 2013, this updated assessment identifies multiple changes in its second implementation phase that have undermined the initial momentum of the program. Abrupt interruptions in institutional support, deteriorating supply side services (access to construction agents, masons, repair services) and reduced access to credit for farmers have eroded the service network that the first implementation phase established. Structural changes in the rural economy may also contribute to declining demand. Government support to another biodigester program which offers a lower investment price, but does not provide after-sales services, has also undercut the long-term implementation strategy of the NBP. The paper finds that despite these programmatic changes, the installed biodigesters continue to perform according to expectation and to be maintained and valued by their users, but the future viability of the program remains uncertain.
Probabilistic planning with non-linear utility functions and worst-case guarantees

Markov Decision Processes are one of the most widely used frameworks to formulate probabilistic planning problems. Since planners are often risk-sensitive in high-stake situations, non-linear utility functions are often introduced to describe their preferences among all possible outcomes. Alternatively, risk-sensitive decision makers often require their plans to satisfy certain worst-case guarantees.We show how to combine these two approaches by considering problems where we maximize the expected utility of the total reward subject to worst-case constraints. We generalize several existing results on the structure of optimal policies to the constrained case, both for finite and infinite horizon problems. We provide a Dynamic Programming algorithm to compute the optimal policy, and we introduce an admissible heuristic to effectively prune the search space. Finally, we use a stochastic shortest path problem on large real-world road networks to demonstrate the practical applicability of our method.
A Framework for Thinking about Traffic Safety Policy

The Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act of 1966 were the legislative results of a successful appeal to do something about the sharp increase in what was referred to as the awful carnage on the nation’s roads and streets. The traffic safety mandate was based on the premise that anything which causes thousands of deaths and injuries each year deserves national attention. Melvin Bergheim of Americans for Democratic Action, appearing before the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, articulated this premise. He asserted that consumers have a right to expect that their government will protect them from harm. He argued that there is an army to protect from outside aggression, a police force to protect from crime, a public health service to protect from disease and there is nothing fundamentally different philosophically about asking the government to protect from slaughter on the highways.1
Life During and After Breast Cancer: Providing Community-based Comprehensive Services to Latinas

Breast cancer can have a significant impact on the emotional and psychological well-being of Latinas who are diagnosed with the disease. Although psychosocial interventions can alleviate the psychological distress experienced by survivors, the benefits of psychosocial support remain elusive for many Latina women due to lack of access to mental health services in their community. To meet the rising need for services among Latina breast cancer survivors, new infrastructures are needed to increase access to culturally congruent and comprehensive mental health services. Within this chapter, we propose that community-based nonprofit organizations can play a key role in the expansion of mental health services for Latina breast cancer survivors. First, we describe the range of psychological concerns of breast cancer survivors to underscore the need for mental health services. Next, we present a model of comprehensive mental health services within the nonprofit sector. The final section provides further infrastructure recommendations for narrowing this critical mental health services disparity.
Spatial and factor analysis of vehicle crashes in Mississippi state

Traffic crash data from 2010 to 2014 were collected by Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) and extracted for the study. Spatial and factor analysis was conducted including geographic distribution of crashes, descriptive statistics of crash data, and probability analysis of crash factors. Geographic Information System was applied for spatial analysis to show the historical crash data statewide distribution, crash distributions on primary and secondary road segments in the public road system, and crash distribution in MDOT maintenance districts. The results show a similar distribution pattern in the three crash severities in Mississippi as in other states. It also shows that large numbers of the crashes happened on specific locations and there are high crash frequencies on highway segments in metropolitan area and urban area. Based on the spatial analysis results, three comparison scenarios were investigated to estimate the probability of each possible causing factor to the crash severity level. The Type III analysis of variance approach was adopted to assess the significance level of each crash factor, and the multinomial logit model approach with maximum likelihood estimate was applied to conduct the probability analysis and evaluate the significance of each crash factor. The strategies that may potentially decrease the crash frequencies at crash severity levels were discussed based on the probability analysis results.
How the entire scientific community can confront gender bias in the workplace

Evidence overwhelmingly shows structural barriers to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and suggests that the onus cannot be on women alone to confront the gender bias in our community. Here, I share my experience as a scientist and a woman who has collected data during more than ten years of scientific training about how best to navigate the academic maze of biases and barriers.
I Got a New Puppy! The Impact of Personal, Opinion, and Objective Tweets on a Journalist’s and a News Organization’s Perceived Credibility

This experimental study examined the impact of posting different types of tweets on a journalist’s perceived credibility. Three-hundred-and-eighty-seven participants were randomly assigned into one...
Fronteras cambiantes en el golfo de Panamá: aportes desde análisis instrumentales de cerámica del sitio Punta Zancadilla (PGL-100), archipiélago de Las Perlas

Throughout his career, Richard Cooke has had clarity about cultural boundary fluctuations in the cultural areas of Panama, proposing that various socioeconomic factors influenced the creation and variation of areas of interaction over time. This research seeks to frame Pedro Gonzalez island, in Pearl Island, in that scenario of constant interaction and change. The results of petrography and X-ray diffraction analysis applied to ceramic samples from different phases of occupation (100 BC-AD 750) are presented here. Cultural affiliations and contacts between the peoples of Gran Cocle and Gran Darien cultural areas are discussed from the perspective of the pre-Columbian insular occupations.
Semantic Web, Data Mining, and Security

Data has become such a critical resource in many organizations that efficiently accessing the data, sharing it, extracting information from it, and making use of that information has become an urgent need. Hence, it is necessary to protect data and information from unauthorized access as well as from malicious corruption. In recent years, many efforts have researched security informatics, which looks at how to integrate security technologies and information technologies.1 The advent of the Web in the mid-1990s resulted in an even greater demand for effectively managing data, information, and knowledge. There is now so much data on the Web that managing it with conventional tools is becoming almost impossible. New tools and techniques are needed to effectively manage this data. Therefore, Tim Berners Lee conceived the Semantic Web to provide interoperability as well as to ensure machine-understandable webpages.2 Furthermore, as information becomes unmanageable, we need data mining techniques to analyze the information and extract the nuggets often previously unknown. Our discussion here focuses on this pressing need and how researchers might integrate security technologies with Semantic Web and data mining information technologies. Along this line, we also discuss inference control and policy specifications as well as privacy-preserving data mining techniques.
Giant Cell Myocarditis: Excellent Outcome after Heart Transplant Using Anti-Thymocyte Globulin

Purpose Giant cell myocarditis (GCM) has a grim prognosis of transplant-free survival of only 70% in 1 year. However, the prognosis of transplanted GCM patients remains unreported. We report an outcome case-series of 7 transplanted patients with excellent outcomes with an aggressive management strategy. Methods Total 7 previously healthy patients underwent heart transplant for GCM. Most patients were >55 years age and 3/7 were females. One death was noted in a median 375 days follow up. Findings are summarized in table 1. Results All patients presented with cardiogenic shock, multiorgan failure, elevated troponin and recurrent ventricular tachycardia (VT) requiring temporary/durable ventricular assist device placement. Except one, all patients underwent transplant in their index hospitalization to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Pre-transplant GCM treatment is not available on one patient (#3 in table 1) who was transferred from another facility for sensitization. Of the other 6 patients, four were diagnosed prior to transplant and received antithymocyte globulin (ATG) for 3-5 days, high dose steroid (methylprednisolone 500mg to 3gram x3 days) followed by prednisone taper and an additional immunosuppressant such as tacrolimus, cyclosporine or mycophenolate. The patients diagnosed with GCM post-transplant and patient #3 received ATG for 5 days followed by intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) for 2 days. All transplanted patients are currently maintained on mycophenolate, tacrolimus and prednisone. No patient had infectious complications or recurrence of GCM on endomyocardial biopsy. No patient had worse than 1R cellular rejection. Patient #5 had recurrent mild grade cellular rejection (1R) complicated with sinus arrest which was treated with ATG and steroids. The patient however passed away from refractory asystole while being admitted for syncope on the 267th day. Conclusion We report an excellent survival rate in our GCM cohort without signs of recurrence, using ATG in the peri-transplant period.
No Fees to Enroll Them All? The State of College Access in México

Although it has one of the less expensive costs of attendance, universal access to higher education in Mexico is still far away from becoming a reality. The federal government along with the public and private educational institutions have implemented different approaches to increase access but the gap among higher and lower strata of the population represented in HEIs seems to be widening. Recently, the federal government proposed to change the Constitution to include higher education as a right and therefore, compulsory. This essay intends to show a brief picture of the state of college access in Mexico as well as the implications of moving to a compulsory system. It ends with a series of recommendations for stakeholders to get involved in addressing the manifold issues pertaining to the state of college access and success in Mexico.
Electronic stopping in molecular dynamics simulations of cascades in 3C–SiC

Abstract We investigate the effect of the electronic stopping power on defect production due to ion irradiation of cubic silicon carbide using molecular dynamics simulations. We simulate 20 keV and 30 keV Si and C ions, with and without the electronic energy loss. The results show that the electronic stopping effects are more profound in the case of C irradiation, where the ratio of the electronic energy loss S e to the nuclear energy loss S n is much larger compared to the ratio for Si ions. These findings indicate that this ratio plays a role in the effect of the electronic stopping on ion irradiation.
Cognitive complaints are associated with smaller right medial temporal gray-matter volume in younger postmenopausal women

OBJECTIVE Menopause is associated with increasing cognitive complaints and older women are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer disease compared to men. However, there is difficulty in early markers of risk using objective performance measures. We investigated the impact of subjective cognitive complaints on the cortical structure in a sample of younger postmenopausal women. METHODS Data for this cross-sectional study were drawn from the baseline visit of a longer double-blind study examining estrogen-cholinergic interactions in normal postmenopausal women. Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging was acquired on 44 women, aged 50-60 years and gray-matter volume was defined by voxel-based morphometry. Subjective measures of cognitive complaints and postmenopausal symptoms were obtained as well as tests of verbal episodic and working memory performance. RESULTS Increased levels of cognitive complaints were associated with lower gray-matter volume in the right medial temporal lobe (r = -0.445, P < 0.002, R = 0.2). Increased depressive symptoms and somatic complaints were also related to increased cognitive complaints and smaller medial temporal volumes but did not mediate the effect of cognitive complaints. In contrast, there was no association between performance on the memory tasks and subjective cognitive ratings, or medial temporal lobe volume. CONCLUSIONS The findings of the present study indicate that the level of reported cognitive complaints in postmenopausal women may be associated with reduced gray-matter volume which may be associated with cortical changes that may increase risk of future cognitive decline. : Video Summary:http://links.lww.com/MENO/A626.
The Shield and Sword of Biosecurity: Balancing the Ethics of Public Safety and Global Preparedness.

As Jennifer Prah Ruger (2020), and Tia Powell and Elizabeth Chuang (2020) assert in their respective target articles, the COVID-19 crisis has brought into view the inadequacies of public health and...
Piezosurgery in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Piezoelectric devices are a revolutionary surgical tool with original application in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and then adapted to multiple other surgical specialties, including orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and otorhinolaryngology. The major advantage for the surgeon is protection of the soft tissues, which are vital for the outcome and patient’s quality of life. This chapter deals with a description of the equipment, principles of use, advantages/disadvantages, and some common clinical applications. With time, the device and its applications have evolved and continue to diversify.
Postinfectious COVID-19 Catatonia: A Report of Two Cases

Neuropsychiatric symptoms are a common complication of COVID-19, with symptoms documented both during acute COVID-19 infection (parainfectious) and persisting or developing after the resolution of respiratory symptoms (postinfectious). Patients have presented with a variety of symptoms such as anosmia, thrombotic events, seizures, cognitive and attention deficits, new-onset anxiety, depression, psychosis, and rarely catatonia. Etiology appears to be related to disruption of regular neurotransmission and hypoxic injury secondary to systemic inflammation and cytokine storm. Although rare, catatonia and each of its subtypes have now been reported as complications of COVID-19 and therefore should be considered known to occur in both the parainfectious and postinfectious states. Diagnosis of catatonia in the context of COVID-19 should be considered when work-up for more common medical causes of encephalopathy are negative, there is no identifiable psychiatric etiology for catatonia, and there is a positive response to benzodiazepines.
A National Study of Racial-Ethnic Differences in COVID-19 Concerns among Older Americans: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.

Objectives Concerns about COVID-19 is an important emotional reaction to the pandemic and represents a key pandemic-related mental health outcome. We provide the first population-based evidence of racial-ethnic differences in COVID-19 concerns among older Americans during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods We analyzed data from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study COVID-19 project. The sample included 2,879 respondents (aged 50 and older) who were interviewed from June to September 2020 and had completed measures on COVID-19 concerns and other key covariates. Ordinary least squares regression models were estimated to assess racial-ethnic differences in COVID-19 concerns. Formal mediation analysis was conducted to test potential mediating roles of exposures to COVID-19 risks, preexisting health status, and socioeconomic resources in accounting for racial-ethnic differences in COVID-19 concerns. Results Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic Americans showed significantly greater concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic than non-Hispanic White Americans. Racial-ethnic minority older adults also had higher proportions of knowing someone who had contracted or died from COVID-19 than White older adults. Unequal exposures to COVID-19 risks by race-ethnicity and, to a lesser degree, preexisting health inequalities accounted for only part of the racial-ethnic differences in COVID-19 concerns. Discussion Our findings call for more research and policy interventions to lessen the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 experienced by older adults of racial-ethnic minority groups.
H2-Uptake Activity of the Mo-Fe Protein

Nitrogenase, consisting of the MoFe and Fe proteins, catalyzes the evolution of H2 when supplied with a low potential reductant and MgATP. During enzymatic reduction of dinitrogen, but not during reduction of other substrates, molecular dihydrogen is a competitive inhibitor. Also, during dinitrogen reduction, HD is produced by a reductive process from gaseous O2 and solvent protons. The evolution of and inhibition by dihydrogen is clearly an enzymatic process but the mechanism of these reactions is still unclear.
The effect of decentralization and communication networks on a set of ISR-gathering assets

Synchronization of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) activities to maximize the utilization of limited resources (both in terms of quantity and capability) has become critically important to military forces. In centralized frameworks, a single node is responsible for determining and disseminating decisions (e.g., tasks assignments) to all nodes in the network. This requires a robust and reliable communication network. In decentralized frameworks, processing of information and decision making occur at different nodes in the network, reducing the communication requirements. This research studies the degradation of solution quality (i.e., potential information gain) as a centralized system synchronizing ISR activities moves to a decentralized framework. The mathematical programming model of previous work1 has been extended for multi-perspective optimization in which each collection asset develops its own decisions to support mission objectives based only on its perspective of the environment. Different communication strategy are considered. Collection assets are part of the same communication network (i.e., a connected component) if: (1) a fully connected network exists between the assets in the connected component, or (2) a path (consisting of one or more communication links) between every asset in the connected component exists. Multiple connected components may exist among the available collection assets supporting a mission. Information is only exchanged when assets are part of the same network. The potential location of assets that are not part of a connected component can be considered (with a suitable decay factor as a function of time) as part of the optimization model.
Coordination failure and the politics of tribes: Jordanian elections under SNTV

We often question how electoral rules will impact elections around the world. I take up this important question in Jordan, which has the single non-transferable vote system. A paramount expectation from the larger literature is that district magnitude (M) will be a key determinant of the number of candidates with the number of candidates reduced to approximately M + 1. However, using district-level returns, I find that the effective number of candidates regularly departs from our theoretical expectations of M + 1 candidates. I further explore Jordan's unique case with an analysis of both district level characteristics and elite level sources of this coordination failure. On the one hand, even under authoritarian conditions, the relationship between the number of candidates and district magnitude is consistent with the larger literature. On the other hand, there is wide variation across districts, even among small magnitude ones, suggesting other factors at play that dampen the reductive effect of electoral institutions on the number of candidates. In particular, I argue it is the regime's strategic manipulation of the electoral rules that undermines strategic coordination and subverts the expected effects of both institutional and sociological factors on the number of electoral competitors. In addition, the tribal nature of Jordanian politics, and specifically the inability of tribal elites to limit entry, is a significant source of the large number of candidates.
ON GENERAL PURPOSE PROGRAMS FOR FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GEOMETRIC AND MATERIAL NONLINEARITIES

Abstract A summary of the state-of-the-art in nonlinear finite element analysis is made by describing a nonlinear theory and presenting some case studies. The formulation is applicable to problems of large displacement and small strains. The paper then focuses on the general purpose program. The concept and development of a general purpose program is described. A discussion is then made of the different sizes of problems which can be solved by such a program. These sizes are dependent on the available computer core. The conclusion is made that the general purpose program is a powerful means of implementing finite element analysis over a wide spectrum of problems in structural mechanics.
A Management Information System for Local Governments

We find two reasons to develop an improved management information system for local governments. One is the apparent inability of current local government management information systems to warn of imminent financial collapse or to indicate the degree of financial weakness of a local government. Another reason is the need for information that will promote the most efficient use of resources in providing public services. During the 1970s certain local governments were unable to meet their obligations. Their current obligations exceeded current revenues. The nation was made aware of the crisis when New York City defaulted on some of its loan obligations and sought federal assistance. Other local governments have faced similar crises. Cleveland, Ohio, was in default for a short period during 1978 until it sold some of its assets (urban land and an electric power generating plant) to obtain cash and reduced its programs to reduce current outlays. The crises in those large cities have brought national attention to the financial problems of many local governments—urban and rural, large and small.
The vibration-rotation energies of tetrahedral XY4 molecules : Part I. Theory of spherical top molecules

Abstract The theory of vibration-rotational perturbations in tetrahedral XY 4 molecules has been reexamined in the light of the modern theory of angular momentum coupling. It is shown that, even to third order of approximation, the splitting of a vibration rotation level into its tetrahedral sublevels is governed only by perturbation terms of one basic symmetry in all states in which vibrational quanta of ν 1 , ν 3 , and ν 4 are excited and to a certain approximation in many of the infrared active states in which quanta of both ν 2 and ν 3 or ν 4 are excited. The perturbation term is identified as the tetrahedrally symmetric linear combination of fourth rank spherical tensor operators. In dominant approximation the rotational fine structure splitting patterns are characterized solely by the rotational angular momentum of the state. Only the overall extent of the patterns depends on the vibrational and total angular momentum quantum numbers and the vibrational character of the state. In next approximation the basic splitting patterns are all deformed to a certain extent by matrix elements off-diagonal in the rotational angular momentum quantum number. These cannot be neglected if theory is to account for the modern high resolution spectra. The terms of the vibration-rotation Hamiltonian to third order of approximation are classified according to their symmetry. Explicit expressions are given for the pure vibrational energies of the simpler bands. Explicit numerical values are also given for the matrix elements of the rotational sublevels of types A 1 , A 2 , E , F 1 , and F 2 from which the rotational energies of the vibrational ground state and the infrared active fundamentals can be computed. These matrix elements also give the numbers for the basic splitting patterns of the dominant approximation for any state involving combinations of ν 1 , ν 3 , and ν 4 .
International collaboration: birds-of-a-feather session

This birds-of-a-feather session addresses the issue of international collaboration on digital government issues. The objective is to bring together scientists to exchange information on research activities that cross geographic boundaries, and to potentially lead to scientific collaborations among researchers from multiple countries. The thematic emphasis of this session will be on international e-government: sharing e-resources to solve problems that transcend borders.
A Computational Model of Linguistic Humor in Puns

Humor plays an essential role in human interactions. Precisely what makes something funny, however, remains elusive. While research on natural language understanding has made significant advancements in recent years, there has been little direct integration of humor research with computational models of language understanding. In this paper, we propose two information-theoretic measures—ambiguity and distinctiveness—derived from a simple model of sentence processing. We test these measures on a set of puns and regular sentences and show that they correlate significantly with human judgments of funniness. Moreover, within a set of puns, the distinctiveness measure distinguishes exceptionally funny puns from mediocre ones. Our work is the first, to our knowledge, to integrate a computational model of general language understanding and humor theory to quantitatively predict humor at a fine-grained level. We present it as an example of a framework for applying models of language processing to understand higher level linguistic and cognitive phenomena.