cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to Study Socio-Hydro-Ecological Systems

Urbanization, climate, and ecosystem change represent major challenges for managing water resources. Although water systems are complex, a need exists for a generalized representation of these systems to identify important components and linkages to guide scientific inquiry and aid water management. We developed an integrated Structure-Actor-Water framework (iSAW) to facilitate the understanding of and transitions to sustainable water systems. Our goal was to produce an interdisciplinary framework for water resources research that could address management challenges across scales (e.g., plot to region) and domains (e.g., water supply and quality, transitioning, and urban landscapes). The framework was designed to be generalizable across all human–environment systems, yet with sufficient detail and flexibility to be customized to specific cases. iSAW includes three major components: structure (natural, built, and social), actors (individual and organizational), and water (quality and quantity). Key linkages among these components include: (1) ecological/hydrologic processes, (2) ecosystem/geomorphic feedbacks, (3) planning, design, and policy, (4) perceptions, information, and experience, (5) resource access and risk, and (6) operational water use and management. We illustrate the flexibility and utility of the iSAW framework by applying it to two research and management problems: understanding urban water supply and demand in a changing climate and expanding use of green storm water infrastructure in a semi-arid environment. The applications demonstrate that a generalized conceptual model can identify important components and linkages in complex and diverse water systems and facilitate communication about those systems among researchers from diverse disciplines.
Evaluation of the Multiscale Modeling Framework Using Data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program

In a recently developed approach to climate modeling, called the multiscale modeling framework (MMF), a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model (CRM) is embedded into each grid column of the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM), replacing traditional cloud and radiation parameterizations. This study presents an evaluation of the MMF through a comparison of its output with the output from the CAM and with data from two observational sites operated by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, one at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) in Oklahoma and one at the island of Nauru in the tropical western Pacific (TWP) region. Two sets of one-year-long simulations are considered: one using climatological sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and another using 1999 SST. Each set includes a run with the MMF as well as a CAM run with traditional or standard cloud and radiation treatments. Time series of cloud fraction, precipitation intensity, and downwelling solar radiation flux at the surface are analyzed. For the TWP site, the distributions of these variables from the MMF run are shown to be more consistent with observation than those from the CAM run. This change is attributed to the improved representation of convective clouds in the MMF compared to the conventional climate model. For the SGP, the MMF shows little to no improvement in predicting the same quantities. Possible causes of this lack of improvement are discussed.
Current Radiation Therapy Management Issues in Oral Cavity Cancer

Oral cavity cancer presents a therapeutic challenge to the treating surgeons,radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists. In early-stage disease, surgery or radiation alone often achieves excellent local control. Patients who have risk factors for recurrence after surgery should undergo adjuvant radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. In locally advanced disease, recurrence rates and deaths caused by disease progression continue to be unacceptably high. During the past decade, multiple randomized studies have shown a benefit in the addition of chemotherapy to radiation in the definitive or postoperative setting. Also, hyperfractionated and concomitant boost radiotherapy has shown superior results when compared with conventional once-daily radiotherapy. The addition of chemotherapy to hyperfractionated or concomitant boost radiotherapy also seems to improve outcomes at the cost of increased toxicities. In addition to traditional therapeutic modalities, new targeted agents seem promising to improve outcomes and possibly allow use of decreased doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, thus decreasing the toxicity of treatment.Overall, the management of cancer of the oral cavity is evolving rapidly,and a multidisciplinary approach to the patient who has oral cavity cancer is important to ensure the highest quality of patient care.
Intercomparison of Model Simulations of the Impact of 1997/98 El Nino on South American Summer Monsoon

The simulations of climatology and response of the South American summer monsoon (SASM) to the 1997/98 El Nino are investigated using six atmospheric general circulation models. Results show all models simulate the large-scale features of the SASM reasonably well. However, both stationary and seasonal components of the surface pressure are overestimated, resulting in an excessively strong SASM in the model climatology. The low-level northwesterly jet over eastern foothills of the Andes is not well resolved because of the coarse resolution of the models. Large rainfall simulation biases are found in association with the Andes and the Atlantic ITCZ, indicating model problems in handling steep mountains and parameterization of convective processes. The simulation of the 1997/98 El Nino impact on SASM is examined based on an ensemble of ten two-year (September 1996 - August 1998) integration. Results show that most models can simulate the large-scale tropospheric warming response over the tropical central Pacific, including the dynamic response of Rossby wave propagation of the Pacific-South America (PSA) pattern that influences remote areas. Deficiencies are found in simulating the regional impacts over South America. Model simulation fails to capture the southeastward expansion of anomalously warm tropospheric air. As a result, the upper tropospheric anomalous high over the subtropical Andes is less pronounced, and the enhancement of subtropical westerly jet is displaced 5deg-10deg equatorward compared to the observed. Over the Amazon basin, the shift of Walker cell induced by El Nino is not well represented, showing anomalous easterlies in both upper and lower troposphere.
An evidential distance for intelligent control

This work deals with an evidential approach to intelligent control. Control decisions are determined by analogy to the most "similar"' rules (prototypical decisions) in the knowledge base. These rules map control situations (represented by belief functions) into appropriate control actions. The main focus of this paper is on the derivation of a measure of dissimilarity, or distance, between belief functions corresponding to control situations. The proposed methodology is illustrated by simple examples from an application to the grip control of a multifingered robot hand.
Appropriate Design by Geometric Series

An approximate optimization method is presented that is applicable to rectangular, two-dimensional multistory frames. Using special moment distribution techniques, the optimization of linearized frame “weight” is achieved for an infinite number of iterations. A closed-form exact formula makes it possible to avoid these iterations. Thus, when this program is used, a minicomputer with 4K memory can handle a four-story, four-bay frame subject to assymmetrical loading. The method is programmed in BASIC.
Exactly/Nearly Unbiased Estimation of Autocovariances of a Univariate Time Series With Unknown Mean

This article proposes an exactly/nearly unbiased estimator of the autocovariance function of a univariate time series with unknown mean. The estimator is a linear function of the usual sample autocovariances computed using the observed demeaned data. The idea is to stack the usual sample autocovariances into a vector and show that the expectation of this vector is a linear combination of population autocovariances. A matrix that we label, A, collects the weights in these linear combinations. When the population autocovariances of high lags are zero (small), exactly (nearly) unbiased estimators of the remaining autocovariances can be obtained using the inverse of upper blocks of the A matrix. The A-matrix estimators are shown to be asymptotically equivalent to the usual sample autocovariance estimators. The A-matrix estimators can be used to construct estimators of the autocorrelation function that have less bias than the usual estimators. Simulations show that the A-matrix estimators can substantially reduce bias while not necessarily increasing mean square error. More powerful tests for the null hypothesis of white noise are obtained using the A-matrix estimators.
MIMO equalization analysis for SDM transmission over 2km elliptical-core few-mode fiber for datacenter applications

As intra-datacenter networks (DCN) continue to experience exponential traffic growth, techno-economic reasons, such as cabling footprint reduction, are driving increases in the number of data channels per optical fiber. Optical space division multiplexing (SDM), wherein independent data channels are carried over a single fiber through a multiplicity of spatial modes are thus gaining prominence for intra-DCN transmission. In this paper, we present a time and frequency domain MIMO equalization analysis for experimental space division multiplexed (SDM) transmission of LP01 and LP11e modes over 2km of elliptical core few-mode fiber (EC-FMF). For 19Gbaud dual polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) transmission with coherent detection, we observe polarization mode dispersion (PMD) durations of about 12 and 15 taps at half-baud-rate equalizer tap spacing for LP01 and LP11e modes, respectively. Since modal crosstalk between LP01 and LP11e modes is very low, 2×2 MIMO processing is sufficient for dual-polarization and dual-mode SDM transmission over the EC-FMF. By efficiently enabling channel density gains, the EC-FMF SDM approach can be attractive for next-generation intra-DCN.
Influenza-Associated Encephalopathy and Febrile Convulsions

The transcription of cytokine genes in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) of 23 children (mean age 3.2 years) with influenza (mostly type A) complicated by encephalopathy (11 patients) or febrile convulsions (12 patients) was compared with systemic cytokine responses in 23 (mean age 5.0 years) with influenza but without neurologic complications, in a study at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Non-exponential kinetics and a complete folding pathway of an α-helical heteropeptide: direct observation and comprehensive molecular dynamics.

We have performed a combined experimental and computational study of the folding of a 21-residue α-helix-forming heteropeptide (WH21). Temperature jump kinetics with improved dynamic range at several temperatures revealed non-exponential relaxation that could be well described with two time constants of 20 and 300 ns at 298 K. In the computational part, we performed multi-microsecond molecular dynamics simulations of WH21 in explicit water, using the AMBER03 and OPLS/AA potentials. The simulations were in good agreement with available experimental data on helix content and relaxation times. On the basis of 70 individual transitions, we identified the main pathways of helix unfolding. Three paths were found in both force fields, with unfolding progressing through (1) N-terminus, C-terminus, and center; (2) C-terminus, N-terminus, and center; and (3) C-terminus, center, and N-terminus. An additional fourth path starting in the central region and expanding to the termini was detected only with AMBER03. Inter...
Laboratory Investigation of the First Case of Botulism Caused by Clostridium butyricum Type E Toxin in the United States

We report here the laboratory investigation of the first known case of botulism in the United States caused by Clostridium butyricum type E. This investigation demonstrates the importance of extensive microbiological examination of specimens, which resulted in the isolation of this organism.
What Makes Peasants Revolutionary

The centrality of peasants in modern revolutions was underscored for the first time in contemporary U.S. scholarship by Barrington Moore, Jr. in Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modem World. Eloquently, the opening sentences of Moore's chapter on "The Peasants and Revolution" declared that the "process of modernization begins with peasant revolutions that fail. It culminates during the twentieth century with peasant revolutions that succeed. No longer is it possible to take seriously the view that the peasant is an "object of history," a form of social life over which changes pass but which contributes nothing to the impetus of these changes."' Published in 1966, Social Origins in fact proved uncannily prescient and timely in its emphasis on the revolutionary potential of the peasantry. When Moore's great opus was in preparation during the 1950s and early 1960s, neither Marxism nor orthodox social science paid much heed to the roles of agrarian classes in "the making of the modern world." The peas-
Chloride transport in the rat S1 proximal tubule.

In vivo microperfusion was used to elucidate the modes and regulation of the powerful chloride transport system resident in the rat early (S1) proximal convoluted tubule (PCT). From a complete, glomerular ultrafiltrate-like perfusate, omission of organic solutes reduced chloride absorption by 93 peq.mm-1.min-1 (302 +/- 10 to 209 +/- 24, P < 0.001). From a high-chloride perfusate (a relatively pure NaCl solution devoid of bicarbonate and organic solutes), luminal addition of the active transport inhibitor cyanide reduced chloride absorption by 153 peq.mm-1.min-1 (632 +/- 17 to 479 +/- 9, P < 0.001). Active transport was also estimated directly as 121 +/- 4 peq.mm-1.min-1 using a solution in which sodium isethionate isosmotically replaced bicarbonate and organic solutes, preventing development of a chloride gradient. Intravenous angiotensin II caused a stimulation of chloride absorption from a high-chloride perfusate by 55 peq.mm-1.min-1 (632 +/- 17 to 687 +/- 14, P < 0.05), which was partially cyanide-sens...
Theory of Meaning: Dummett’s Canonical Framework

Since Frege, the idea that sentences are decomposable into distinct components of sense and force has been developed by many others, most notably Richard Hare, Erik Stenius, and Donald Davidson, whose accounts differ very little apart from terminology and notation.1 Frege originally restricted his account to declarative sentences, but later extended it to their corresponding interrogatives. That he explicitly refrained from extending it to imperatives is something that Dummett sees as a serious error (though an easily remedied one), since it leaves Frege’s account open to the charge that it fails to preserve a word’s meaning across different sentence types (1981a: 307-308). As Dummett has provided the most detailed examination of principles associated with this distinction, I shall for the most part confine my discussion to his writings on this topic, though most of what I say will apply to similar accounts, such as Davidson’s paraphrastic analysis of ‘mood’ (1984). The basic idea is simple and straightforward, and for a large range of sentences enjoys considerable intuitive appeal. It is easily brought out by considering a group of sentences like the following: (1) The puzzle is solved. (2) Is the puzzle solved? (3) Solve the puzzle! (4) Would that the puzzle were solved.
Nuclear magnetic resonance and transcutaneous electromagnetic blood flow measurement.

Static and alternating magnetic fields are employed in blood flowmeters using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) principles and electromagnetic induction by a moving conductor (TEM). Both techniques require high steady magnetic fields, obtained either from permanent magnets or from electromagnets. A relatively homogeneous magnetic field is needed for NMR. but, though important for calibration, homogeneity is not critical for TEM. NMR is more complex than TEM since it requires radio-frequency and audio-frequency magnetic fields. However, the TEM method requires surface electrodes in contact with the skin, or needle electrodes placed subcutaneous!y, whereas NMR is contactless. The NMR flowmeter can be calibrated directly, but appropriate and approximate models must be assumed and then solved by computer to quantify blood flow by the TEM flowmeter. Flow in individual vessels is measured a priori in the TEM flowmeter by virtue of the assumed models. To measure flow in individual vessels by NMR, a scanning or ra...
Can we be healthy while our economy is unhealthy

321 NCMed J July/August 2009, Volume 70, Number 4 he last 12 months have been a time of tremendous economicupheaval anduncertainty. Byalmost anymeasure, we are in the midst of an almost unprecedented economic downturn. InMay 2009, North Carolina’s unemployment rate was at 11.1%, the highest since February 1983, when it was 10.2% (see Figure 1, page 322). There are more unemployed people than ever before in North Carolina —double the number fromMarch 2008— and an additional 0.9% are likely to be “discouraged workers” who have given up searching for employment. In addition to being jobless,many are losing their homes: in June 2009, one in every 326 North Carolina households were in foreclosure. Due to decreased household and corporate incomes, the state budget faced up to a $4 billion shortfall. Indeed, most popular media descriptions of our economic condition often include the phrase “since the Great Depression,” underscoring that we are facing conditions not seen in the last 70 years. Although there are some early positive signs, a number of economists remain bearish on our short-term and intermediate economic future.
The Young Vinius

Andrei Vinius spent most of those formative years in Russia (mainly in Moscow, although he stayed in Tula on occasion) before he joined the staff of the tsar’s Foreign Office in 1664. But he undoubtedly visited the Dutch Republic, where he was probably born; thus, in 1653, his father and stepmother were portrayed by the painter Luttichuys in Amsterdam, during a trip in which the 12-year-old Andrei and his siblings likely accompanied them. It seems evident that his father, mother, and stepmother endeavored as much as possible to provide Andrei with an upbringing and education that stood in the Dutch tradition, based on humanist learning and interests. Following a rather novel fashion, his father had Vinius learn the basic theories and concepts of the sciences and their practical applications as well as written Russian, probably with a view of his son succeeding him in the armament plant at Tula (even if Vinius sr was eventually deprived of its ownership), or undertaking similar ventures in mining and manufacturing in the future.
Macrophage integrins modulate response to ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene particles and direct particle-induced osteolysis.

Aseptic loosening due to peri-prosthetic osteolysis is one of the primary causes for failure of artificial joint replacements. Implant-derived wear particles, often ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) microparticles, initiate an inflammatory cascade upon phagocytosis by macrophages, which leads to osteoclast recruitment and activation, ultimately resulting in osteolysis. Investigation into integrin receptors, involved in cellular interactions with biomaterial-adsorbed adhesive proteins, is of interest to understand and modulate inflammatory processes. In this work, we investigate the role of macrophage integrins Mac-1 and RGD-binding integrins in response to UHMWPE wear particles. Using integrin knockout mice as well as integrin blocking techniques, reduction in macrophage phagocytosis and inflammatory cytokine secretion is demonstrated when these receptors are either absent or blocked. Along this line, various opsonizing proteins are shown to differentially modulate microparticle uptake and macrophage secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, using a calvarial osteolysis model it is demonstrated that both Mac-1 integrin and RGD-binding integrins modulate the particle induced osteolysis response to UHMWPE microparticles, with a 40% decrease in the area of osteolysis by the absence or blocking of these integrins, in vivo. Altogether, these findings indicate Mac-1 and RGD-binding integrins are involved in macrophage-directed inflammatory responses to UHMWPE and may serve as therapeutic targets to mitigate wear particle induced peri-prosthetic osteolysis for improved performance of implanted joints.
The Making of a Manifesto: Historiography, Transcription, and the Beginnings of Dada

Hugo Ball's famous “Dadaist Manifesto,” from July 14, 1916, has often been regarded as one of the founding documents of the Dada movement. This essay considers the text from the perspective of its complex publication and reception history, in order to reconstruct the way in which it became the early Dadaist centerpiece it is commonly seen as today. The case of Ball's manifesto, I argue, affords insight into a broader logic of historiographical narrativization that has shaped the scholarly understanding of Dada and its initial development in Zurich 1916: the privileged role ascribed to this particular text testifies, on my analysis, to a more general project of retroactive anchoring, which seeks to locate the official beginning of the movement in an “opening” gesture that can be dated, located, and named. Such a critical reassessment of the manifesto's editorial and historiographical treatment, from the 1960s onward, helps to focus attention, in turn, on a crucial, yet heretofore largely unexplored, dimens...
Contextualizing Myocardial Infarction: Comorbidities and Priorities in Older Adults

Cardiovascular care for older adults has become increasingly complex owing to a rise in the concurrent comorbidity burden that accompanies senescence. Internists, hospitalists, and cardiologists often encounter geriatric patients with multiple chronic conditions needing acute cardiovascular care. Abnormal cardiac biomarker levels in patients with multiple noncardiac conditions are a common reason for older adults to enter the hospital. This type of acute coronary syndrome, defined as a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction or, more precisely, type 2 myocardial infarction, often leads to substantial consternation. Although guideline-based single-disease care may be appropriate in younger individuals, a more cautious approach is needed when considering optimal care strategies for older adults. We discuss a case of an older adult presenting with type 2 myocardial infarction, to highlight a modern-day approach that requires a deliberate shift from an evidence-based focus to a more value-based geriatric mindset.
The Variables Associated With Health Promotion Behaviors Among Urban Black Women

PURPOSE To improve understanding of variables impacting health promotion behaviors among urban Black women. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was used. Urban Black women (N = 132) between the ages of 30 to 64 years participated. SETTING The study was conducted in a U.S. metropolitan region in 2015. MEASURES Health literacy (Newest Vital Sign [NVS]), self-efficacy (New General Self-Efficacy Scale [NGSE]), and readiness for change (Health Risk Instrument [HRI]) were correlated with health promotion behaviors (Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile II [HPLPII]). ANALYSIS Univariate statistics addressed demographic characteristics; bivariate/simultaneous linear regression determined the relationships between the NVS, NGSE, and HRI to health promotion behaviors (HPLPII). RESULTS Demographics: 72.6% completed high school and 25% completed college, and the mean body mass index (BMI) was >32. Positive correlations existed between each variable to health promotion behaviors: NVS (r = .244, p < .002), NGSE (r = .312, p < .001), HRI (r = .440, p < .001), and accounted for 29.8% of variances in health promotion behaviors. Education and health literacy were also correlated (rs = .414, p = .001). CONCLUSIONS Although health literacy, self-efficacy, and readiness for change are associated with health promotion behaviors, readiness for change was the most highly correlated. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The development and incorporation of interventions to promote health promotion behaviors should include readiness for change, health literacy, BMI, and education, especially among urban Black women in order to reduce critical health disparities. Community-based and culturally relevant strategies in promoting health that are integrated into existing lifestyles and designed to impact readiness for change will have the greatest impact on reducing health disparities both in the United States and in countries experiencing rapid urbanization. For example, healthy eating behaviors or increased physical activity may be best adopted when integrated into existing community-based spiritual or cultural events via trusted community leaders. Replication of this study in other populations of Black women will improve the generalizability of this study, both in the United States and globally. However, the addition of other demographic variables, such as a history of chronic conditions, military service, domestic or other violence, spirituality, and the availability of community resources, would strengthen the results in future studies.
VSPEC: A Declarative Requirements Specification Language for VHDL

VHDL allows a designer to describe a digital system by specifying a specific design artifact that implements the desired behavior of the system. However, the operational style used by VHDL forces the designer to make design decisions too early in the design process. In addition, there is no means for specifying non-functional performance constraints such as heat dissipation, propagation delay, clock speed, power consumption and layout area in standard VHDL. Thus, VHDL is not appropriate for high level requirements representation. VSPEC is a Larch interface language for VHDL that solves these problems. VSPEC adds seven clauses to the VHDL entity structure that allow a designer to declaratively describe the data transformation a digital system should perform and performance constraints the system must meet. The designer axiomatically specifies the transformation by defining predicates over entity ports and system state describing input precondition and output postconditions. A constraints section allows the user to specify timing, power, heat, clock speed and layout area constraints. In combination with the architecture declaration, collections of VSPEC specified components can define a high level architecture as interconnected collections of components where requirements of components are known (via a VSPEC description), but implementations are not. This work presents the VSPEC language and associated design methodology.
ANALYSIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NITRO COMPOUNDS FROM ASTRAGALUS SPECIES

I. ABSTRACT Miserotoxin, 3-nitro-1-propyl β-D-glucopyranoside, is the acutely poisonous constituent of a number of Astragalus species. A variety of 3-nitropropanoyl-D-glucopyranoses occur in other members of the Astragalus which are less toxic. No species have been found to contain both miserotoxin and the 3-nitropropanoic acid derivatives. Current methods of analysis, isolation, and characterization are presented along with a summary of the species from which these nitro compounds have been isolated. Suggestions regarding the biosynthesis of the two types of compounds are made.
EIPW: A Knowledge-Based Database Modeling Tool

Reuse of already existing resources and solutions has become a strategy for cost reduction and efficient improvement in the information system development process. Currently, building a repository of reusable artifacts involves explication of human developer’s knowledge, which is a major obstacle in facilitating reuse of knowledge. In this research, we explore knowledge-based and pattern-based approaches that help database designers develop quality conceptual data models based on reusable patterns. Our methodology includes database reverse engineering concepts. We propose new types of reusable instance patterns containing knowledge about an application domain, called entity instance repository (EIR) and relationship instance repository (RIR), which can be automatically generated from prior designs. The knowledge-based system (KBS) with EIR, RIR, and WordNet called EIPW (Entity Instance Pattern WordNet) is developed. The empirical study was conducted to test the efficiency of the KBS and indicated the significant improvement in novice designer performance.
Parameters of Disavowal: Colonial Representation in South Korean Cinema

The colonial experience of the early twentieth century shaped Korea’s culture and identity, leaving a troubling past that was subtly reconstructed in South Korean postcolonial cinema. Relating postcolonial discourses to a reading of Manchurian action films, kisaeng and gangster films, and revenge horror films, Parameters of Disavowal shows how filmmakers reworked, recontextualized, and erased ideas and symbols of colonial power. In particular, Jinsoo An examines how South Korean films privileged certain sites, such as the kisaeng house and the Manchurian frontier, generating unique meanings that challenged the domination of the colonial power, and how horror films indirectly explored both the continuing trauma of colonial violence and lingering emotional ties to the colonial order. Espousing the ideology of nationalism while responding to a new Cold War order that positioned Japan and South Korea as political and economic allies, postcolonial cinema formulated distinctive ways of seeing and imagining the colonial past. “A groundbreaking work that articulates a new methodology of theorizing and analyzing postcolonial cinema.” HYON JOO YOO, author of Cinema at the Crossroads: Nation and the Subject in East Asian Cinema “Jinsoo An’s bold commitment to mining the layers and sometimes contradictions of individual films is remarkable. There is no more sustained and erudite examination of colonialism and film in Korea.” STEVEN CHUNG, author of Split Screen Korea: Shin Sang-ok and Postwar Cinema JINSOO AN is Assistant Professor of Korean Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley.
Knockout of ClC-2 reveals critical functions of adherens junctions in colonic homeostasis and tumorigenicity.

Disruption of adherens junctions in the absence of chloride channel protein-2 revealed critical functions of these junctional structures, including maintenance of colonic homeostasis and differenti...
The uses of naltrexone in dermatologic conditions.

Background Naltrexone in standard and reduced doses is efficacious in many inflammatory and acantholytic disorders. Objective We summarized the current data of naltrexone that are relevant to dermatologic practice. Methods An English language PubMed literature search was performed using the terms naltrexone, low-dose naltrexone, Hailey–Hailey, psoriasis, lichen planopilaris, alopecia, opioid, opioid receptor, treatment, dermatology, monitoring, side effect, skin, pruritus, cutaneous, acantholytic, and Darier. Results Opioid receptors are found throughout the skin and affect cell proliferation, migration, and adhesion. μ Opioid receptors have been found in all layers of the epidermis, while δ receptors are concentrated at cell junctions and can reduce desmoglein expression. Typical doses of naltrexone result in continuous binding to receptors. Low doses result in intermittent blockade with increased ligand and receptor expression, potentiating their effect. Limitations Our review was restricted to the English language literature. Conclusion Naltrexone affects inflammation, cell adhesion, and keratinocyte proliferation and migration. While low-dose naltrexone has demonstrated efficacy in treating patients with Hailey–Hailey disease, further dose-ranging studies are needed. Data suggest that naltrexone could be helpful in the treatment of pruritus and a variety of inflammatory and acantholytic skin diseases that are refractory to other treatments. At higher doses, liver function tests should be monitored on a periodic basis.
The Mechanisms of How Genomic Heterogeneity Impacts Bio-Emergent Properties: The Challenges for Precision Medicine

While the promise of precision medicine has generated excitement and high expectations, there are challenges for some key assumptions on which the concept is based. Since most common and complex diseases belong to adaptive systems where fuzzy inheritance interacts with the dynamic environment during nonlinear somatic cell evolution, both disease progression and treatment response are less predictable if based only on the precision of gene profiles. Although increased voices have expressed their concerns for this neo-reductionist approach (reduction based on big data), few have directly studied the conceptual limitations of precision medicine. In this chapter, we will focus on the relationship between bio-heterogeneity and emergent properties, a subject crucial to understanding why the targeting of lower-level agents (genes and pathways) provides unsatisfactory results at higher levels of this system such as clinical outcomes, which is practically the ultimate goal. Such analyses illustrate that dynamic interactions of heterogeneity in lower-level agents lead to the unpredictability of complex adaptive systems. As a result, stress-induced multiple genomic heterogeneity-mediated evolutionary processes present the greatest challenges for precision medicine.
Developmental changes of seven common cultivars of green peas (Pisum sativum)

53 INTRODUCTION 54 MATERIALS AND METHODS 56 Sample Preparation 56 Sensory Analyses 56 Data Analyses 57 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 58 Instrumental Classification of the Sample Maturity 58 Cultivar Differences 58 Maturity Differences 60 CONCLUSION 66 REFERENCES 67
Shooting for the moon

What was it really like inside NASA's space programmes? The Smithsonian Channel's Apollo's Moon Shot lovingly retells the true stories of the people who created the galaxy's wildest ride, says Chelsea Whyte
Code-Literacy for GIS Librarians: A Discussion of Languages, Use Cases, and Competencies

Geospatial librarianship has always been inherently tied to technology, requiring that GIS librarians have specialized computer literacy. In recent years, the push for open science, transparency, a...
Childhood abuse, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and alcohol misuse among African-American women

The study explored associations among childhood abuse, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and alcohol misuse in a sample of low-income African-American women (N = 172). Using bootstrapping tech...
AN UNUSUAL CAUSE OF CHEST PAIN

Despite the term “atypical chest pain” creating confusion for many, it remains common in medical circles, even among cardiologists to describe non cardiac sources of chest pain. This case highlights such a scenario with a particularly unusual etiology. A 60 year old female was referred for
A Circuit Impedance Measurement Method Based on District Area and Fault Pre-judgment

At present, the research work on the distribution network area mainly focuses on the research of its load prediction and line loss, and the research on the related aspects of the topology of the district area is still lacking. This paper mainly uses the simulation modeling software to estimate the impedance parameters of each branch under the known situation of the network structure of the district area. This paper adds small interference based on Gaussian distribution in the process of post-processing data to reach the actual measurement situation. Then the method is applied to fault location and elimination of distribution network, which has certain significance for the fault elimination of distribution network.
Electromagnetic Waves in Hot and Dense Media

It is known that the finite temperature and density (FTD) corrections increase the electron mass, charge and modify the properties of the emitted radiation. All the signals, travelling through the astronomical bodies, carry over the information of their origin and bring minor details about the structure and composition of the source. It has been noticed that temperatures of the early universe add physically measureable mass to electron and large chemical potential lead to an increase in mass as well. However, the QED coupling is slowly increased with temperature but is decreased with increasing chemical potential in superdense systems. Due to the strong relationship between the properties of electromagnetic signals and composition of the material of the propagating objects, we propose to incorporate the modified signal properties to analyze the astronomical data and its interpretation. Existence of different phases of stellar matter at the quantum scale indicates frequent phase transitions for rapidly rotating superdense materials. This information is related to the fact that the allowed range of temperature and chemical potential for a physical system is determined by the signal properties and properties changes with the material as well..
Deep Ranking in Template-free Protein Structure Prediction

The road to the discovery of the biological activities of a protein molecule in the cell goes through knowledge of its three-dimensional, biologically-active structure(s). Current evidence suggests significant regions of the protein universe are inaccessible by either wet-laboratory structure determination or homology modeling. While great progress has been made by computational approaches in elucidating dark regions of the proteome, inherent challenges remain. In this paper, we advance research on addressing one such a challenge known as model (quality) assessment. In essence, the task involves discriminating relevant structure(s) among many computed for a protein of interest. We propose a method based on deep learning and evaluate it on tertiary structures computed by a popular de-novo platform on benchmark datasets. The method uses novel protein residue-residue distance features, improved residue-residue contacts, together with other features, such as energies and model topology similarity, to estimate the quality of protein models. A detailed evaluation shows that the proposed method outperforms related ones and advances the state of the art in model assessment.
A Comparison Between In-Person and Virtual Fellowship Interviews During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

IMPORTANCE Traditional in-person fellowship interviews require great time and financial commitments. Here, we studied the response of program directors (PDs) and applicants to virtual interviews. Virtual interviews could decrease both financial and time commitments. OBJECTIVE To determine if most applicants and PDs believed that virtual interviews should be used more widely in the future. DESIGN After the 2020 cardiothoracic fellowship match, an e-mail survey was sent to 66 program directors and 107 applicants using the Qualtrics platform. SETTING During the 2020 cardiothoracic fellowship interview cycle, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel for in-person interviews. This forced a transition to virtual interviews. PARTICIPANTS Of 107 applicants emailed, 46 (44%) participated with a completion rate of 87%. sixty-six PDs were contacted and of those, 36 (55%) participated with a 92% survey completion rate. EXPOSURE All survey participants were participants in the 2020 cardiothoracic match. MAIN OUTCOME(S) AND MEASURE(S) (1) The percent of participants who agree that virtual interviews should be continued in the future and the percent of participants who agree that virtual interviews could be replacements for in person interviews. (2) Were virtual interviews perceived to have a negative impact on one's ultimate match? (3) What is the current cost of an in-person interview in travel and lodging for an applicant? RESULTS Fourty-six applicants (44% participation rate) and 36 PDs (55% participation rate) participated in the survey. Seventy-nine percent of program directors and 55% of applicants either agreed or strongly agreed that virtual interviews should be offered in the future. However, just 15% of PDs and 20% of applicants either agreed or strongly agreed that virtual interviews should be offered without the option of an in-person interview. Twenty-five percent of PDs and applicants agreed or strongly agreed that virtual interviews negatively impacted their chance of matching one of their top applicants/programs. The median cost of an in-person interview was $600 (interquatile range 500-725). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Most applicants and PDs agree that virtual interviews should be offered in the future. Twenty-five percent of participants reported that they believed virtual interviews negatively impacted their match. Given the overall acceptance of virtual interviews and the cost of in-person interviews, virtual interviews could be useful to incorporate into future interview seasons.
Autoimmune inner ear disease: A systematic review of management.

Objectives The study systematically reviewed the existing literature on the management of autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED). Study design Systematic review. Methods We performed a literature search of Embase, NCBI, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases from April 1990 to April 2020. Inclusion criteria included studies that were retrospective or prospective in nature evaluating the treatment of AIED with audiometric data measuring hearing outcomes during treatment. Hearing improvement was the primary study outcome and improvement in vestibular symptoms was the secondary study outcome. Results Sixteen of 412 candidate articles were included in our study. Systemic steroid treatment is most commonly described. Alternative treatment modalities included intratympanic steroid treatment, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, golimumab, methylprednisolone, rituximab, and anakinra. Conclusion Systemic corticosteroids are the first line treatment of AIED. Intratympanic steroids are a potential adjuvant or alternative treatment for patients who cannot tolerate or become refractory to steroid treatment. Steroid nonresponders may benefit from biologic therapy. Alternative treatment modalities including nonsteroidal immunosuppressants and biologics have been studied in small cohorts of patients with varying results. Prospective studies investigating the efficacy of biologic and nonsteroidal therapy are warranted. Level of evidence 2.
The Ambitious Entrepreneur: High Growth Strategies of Women-Owned Enterprises

Common categories used in describing entrepreneurs and their firms include: industry, firm size, region, age of firm, capital (labor) intensity, high or low technology, stage of life cycle, gender, and personality type. One of the distinctive features of the entrepreneur, as opposed to the small business manager, is his/her desire to grow the business rapidly. Focusing on women entrepreneurs whose businesses have grown rapidly, the authors examine the strategic growth intentions, commitment level, opportunity costs, structure, and success factors that distinguish their businesses from those of less successful entrepreneurs. Some of the factors examined in the study, which either enhance or reduce the entrepreneur's willingness to make a business grow, include: the strategic origin of the business (how the firm was founded), previous experience of the founder/owner, measurable goals, and the ability to manage conflict effectively. The main purpose of this research is to identify the strategic venues chosen by entrepreneurs and the relation between these venues and the growth of the firm. The entrepreneurs sampled in the study are women from a wide range of industrial sectors; 832 entrepreneurs responded to a survey in which they were asked to describe their growth intentions along nineteen strategic dimensions. The results show three differences between high-growth oriented entrepreneurs and low-growth oriented entrepreneurs. The former are: (1) more likely to select strategies for their firms that permit greater focus on market expansion and new technologies, (2) more determined to own their business, and (3) more open to greater opportunity costs for the success of their firms. High-growth oriented entrepreneurs tend to have a more structured approach to organizing their business. The high-growth-oriented, or "ambitious" entrepreneurs have the following characteristics: strategic intentions that emphasize market growth and technological change, stronger commitment to the success of their business, greater willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the business, earlier planning for the growth of the business, use of the team-based form of organization design, as well as use of a wide range of financing resources for the expansion of the venture. It is recommended that such research expand, and include cross-cultural comparisons of entrepreneurial growth strategies and intentions.(CBS)
Integrating human brain proteomes with genome-wide association data implicates new proteins in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many risk loci for Alzheimer's disease (AD)1,2, but how these loci confer AD risk is unclear. Here, we aimed to identify loci that confer AD risk through their effects on brain protein abundance to provide new insights into AD pathogenesis. To that end, we integrated AD GWAS results with human brain proteomes to perform a proteome-wide association study (PWAS) of AD, followed by Mendelian randomization and colocalization analysis. We identified 11 genes that are consistent with being causal in AD, acting via their cis-regulated brain protein abundance. Nine replicated in a confirmation PWAS and eight represent new AD risk genes not identified before by AD GWAS. Furthermore, we demonstrated that our results were independent of APOE e4. Together, our findings provide new insights into AD pathogenesis and promising targets for further mechanistic and therapeutic studies.
Spatial light modulator approaches for reducing scattered and out-of-focus light

Stray light, including scattered and out-of-focus light, can obscure the imaging of dim structures. We added a spatial light modulator at the field stop of our widefield fluorescence microscope to spatially control the illumination and are pursuing several approaches to reduce stray light. We demonstrate confocal capability and a combined >50x signal-to-background ratio improvement by using existing and novel techniques in illumination modulation and image postprocessing. Our approaches offer a simple and low-cost method for adapting existing microscopes to greatly improve the visibility of dim structures that are obscured by bright neighbors.
Epi)Genetic Mechanisms Underlying the Evolutionary Success of Eusocial Insects.

Eusocial insects, such as bees, ants, and wasps of the Hymenoptera and termites of the Blattodea, are able to generate remarkable diversity in morphology and behavior despite being genetically uniform within a colony. Most eusocial insect species display caste structures in which reproductive ability is possessed by a single or a few queens while all other colony members act as workers. However, in some species, caste structure is somewhat plastic, and individuals may switch from one caste or behavioral phenotype to another in response to certain environmental cues. As different castes normally share a common genetic background, it is believed that much of this observed within-colony diversity results from transcriptional differences between individuals. This suggests that epigenetic mechanisms, featured by modified gene expression without changing genes themselves, may play an important role in eusocial insects. Indeed, epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs, have been shown to influence eusocial insects in multiple aspects, along with typical genetic regulation. This review summarizes the most recent findings regarding such mechanisms and their diverse roles in eusocial insects.