cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cardiac safety of conducted electrical devices in pigs and their effect on pacemaker function

Abstract Objective The aims of this study are to evaluate the cardiac safety of the Stinger S-200 Conducted Energy Weapon Device (CED) (Stinger Systems, Tampa, Fla) on a human-sized pig model and to test the effect of various commercially available CEDs, specifically the Stinger S-200, TASER M26 (Taser International, Scottsdale, Ariz), and TASER X26 on pacemaker function. Methods Two groups of pigs, divided based on weight as group 1 (n = 3, 67.3 ± 4.7 kg) and group 2 (n = 3, 89.3 ± 1.2 kg), were used. In protocol 1, the Stinger S-200 was applied in multiple different orientations to simulate possible field scenarios across the heart. In protocol 2, a single-chamber bipolar lead connected to a pacemaker was placed in the right ventricle of the pig, and different CEDs were applied to test the pacemaker function during CED application. Results In protocol 1, the S-200 was applied a total of 216 times in the 6 pigs, and neither episodes of ventricular fibrillation nor episodes of sustained ventricular tachycardia were noted. In protocol 2, the CED discharges (1) were recognized by the pulse generator and sensed as either high-rate atrial or ventricular activity, (2) did not affect the native rhythm, (3) did not conduct down the lead systems to cause any extra systoles, and (4) had no effect on paced rhythm. Conclusions In this model, the application of the S-200 in various orientations across the heart did not result in any sustained abnormal cardiac rhythms. None of the tested CEDs adversely affected the functioning of the tested pacemaker. Stinger Systems has now replaced the S-200 with the S-200T with a different output.
Protein misfolding and aggregation

Interest in the problem of protein misfolding and aggregation has exploded in recent years for two reasons: (1) the sharp rise in the number and volume of therapeutic proteins produced commercially and (2) the recognition of the central role of protein aggregates in degenerative diseases. The systematic study of protein aggregation presents major challenges to both the experimentalist and the theoretician. Much of the work retains an empirical flavor due to the experimental complexities; the sensitivity of protein aggregation to the slightest change in protein amino acid composition, solvent properties, or protein concentration; and the lack of robust theoretical models of misfolding and aggregation. Novel experimental and computational approaches are being developed, and we anticipate substantial progress will be made in the near future. Several presentations describing the latest advances in protein misfolding and aggregation were given at the American Chemical Society meeting (BIOT division) held in September, 2006 in San Francisco.
Management of penetrating neck injury in the emergency department: a structured literature review

Objective: The management of patients with penetrating neck injuries in the prehospital setting and in the emergency department has evolved with regard to the necessity for spinal immobilisation and the use of multidetector computed tomographic (MDCT) imaging. Questions also arise as to choices of securing a threatened or compromised airway. A structured review of the medical literature was conducted to provide current recommendations for the management of patients with penetrating neck injury. Methods: Databases for PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL and Cochrane EBM Reviews were electronically searched using the subject headings “penetrating neck injury”, “penetrating neck trauma”, “cervical immobilization”, “multi-detector CTA” and “airway management”. The results generated by the search were limited to English language articles and reviewed for relevance to the topic. Results: 122 citations were identified that met the criteria for emphasis on emergency department care, cervical spine immobilisation, use of multidetector CT angiography or airway management. After excluding case series, non-peer reviewed articles and editorials, 20 articles were identified and reviewed. Conclusions: The current literature suggests that prehospital cervical immobilisation may not be necessary unless the patient has focal neurological deficits. Studies show that patients with penetrating neck trauma who are haemodynamically stable and exhibit no “hard signs” of vascular injury may be evaluated initially by MDCT imaging even when platysma violation is present. Airway management is evolving, but traditional laryngoscopy continues to be the mainstay of airway stabilisation.
Accounting for Women’s Orgasm and Sexual Enjoyment in College Hookups and Relationships

This article investigates the determinants of orgasm and sexual enjoyment in hookup and relationship sex among heterosexual college women and seeks to explain why relationship sex is better for wom...
Subsidized Housing, Housing Prices, and the Living Arrangements of Unmarried Mothers

Abstract Although many studies estimate the effects of welfare benefits on mothers’ living arrangements, housing subsidies and prices are rarely the focus. This article uses a new longitudinal birth cohort study, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, to examine the relationship between subsidized housing, housing prices, and the living arrangements of unmarried mothers three years after a nonmarital birth. Results suggest that the availability of subsidized housing is negatively associated with marriage relative to living alone. Eligibility criteria and means testing in subsidized housing may make marriage a costly choice. Housing prices are positively associated with marriage, cohabitation, and living with family members relative to living alone. Economies of scale may be particularly important for single‐earner households when housing prices increase. Failure to control for housing costs and subsidies leads to underestimates of the effects of welfare and unemployment rates on the living arrang...
A case of mixed transcortical aphasia with intact naming.

Altholgh Lichtheim recognized that Wernicke's 'reflex arch' (primary auditory area, to Wernicke's area, to Broca's area, to primary motor area) was important for repetition, he recognized that other areas of the brain (for example, area of concepts or semantic area) must be important in comprehension and voluntary speech. He suggested that Wernicke's area (phonemic area) not only projected to Broca's area (as Wernicke suggested) but that it also projected to the area of concepts. A lesion of this latter pathway or in the area of concepts would produce a syndrome where repetition was intact but comprehension was impaired (e.g. transcortical sensory aphasia). Lichtheim also thought that the area of concepts projected directly to Broca's area and that voluntary speech was mediated by this pathway. Although Lichtheim's model could explain the mechanism underlying transcortical aphasia, his schema could not explain anomic aphasia. Unlike Lichtheim's schema, Kussmaul's schema suggested that the area of concepts projects back to Wernicke's area before projecting to Broca's area. With this schema, a patient with a hypothetical lesion which interrupted the pathway from the area of concepts to Wernicke's area (but did not interrupt the pathway from Wernicke's area to the area of concepts) should be anomic, with normal comprehension and repetition. In order for this latter schema to be plausible there should also be a lesion which interrupts the pathway from Wernicke's area to the area of concepts but does not interrupt the pathway which goes from the area of concepts to Wernicke's area. A patient with this hypothetical lesion should comprehend poorly; however, in spite of poor comprehension, naming and repetition should be intact. We report a patient who demonstrates poor comprehension with intact naming and repetition. This patient could also read aloud but could not comprehend written language. Not only could this patient name objects but he could demonstrate their use. These observations suggest that comprehension of written language is mediated by a different pathway than the recognition of visually presented objects.
Electrical Behavior Of Diffused Impurities In Diamond Single-Crystals

The dependence of the electrical properties on the evolving doping profile during diffusion processes was studied, as well as the role of the vacancies in determining the electrical properties of diamonds. To this aim, B was deposited on diamond single-crystal by physical vapor deposition. The element was then thermally diffused into diamond at 800°C under helium atmosphere. The deposited layer was finally removed and subsequent annealing cycles were carried out. The diffusion profiles were tracked by Nuclear Analysis Techniques. For comparison, the same element was implanted in diamonds at 70 K and at room temperature. Electrical contacts of different metals were deposited on diamond and the current-voltage and the capacity-voltage characteristics were measured. A comparative analysis of the electrical behavior of implanted and diffused samples was carried out, which elucidated the electronic activity of point defects in diamond.
Λ Interactions in Hydrogen

Six cases of DELTA hyperons interacting with protons in a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber were found. The classes of DELTA interactions were DELTA + p yields DELTA + p (4 events) and DELTA + p yields SIGMA /sup +/ + n (2 events). No examples of the DELTA + p yields delta /sup 0/ + p reaction were found. The cross sections are computed for the reactions and for the inverse reactions. (W.D.M.)
Convergence of classes of subpramarts and games which become better with time

In this paper local convergence theorems for subpramarts and GBTs (games which become better with time) are presented. These results are also new for Martingales. Global convergence theorems for subpramarts and GBTs are also proved. These theorems are related to the theory of optimal stopping.
Sunflower ( Helianthus ) Resistance to a Stem Weevil, Cylindrocopturus adspersus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Sunflower species ( Helianthus ) were evaluated for resistance to a stem weevil, Cylindrocopturus adspersus (LeConte). In greenhouse tests, foliar feeding by C. adspersus adults was significantly less in 11 of 18 annual and in 13 of 34 perennial species tested than in commercial hybrid ‘894’. The number of C. adspersus larvae recovered was significantly lower in eight annual and all perennial species than in hybrid 894. Significantly fewer larvae of C. adspersus occurred in 27 perennial species of Helianthus in the field during 3 consecutive years (1981–1983) than occurred in nearby wild H. annuus L. or hybrid 894. However, the number of C. adspersus larvae found in F1 progeny of interspecific crosses between the wild species and cultivated hybrid parental lines in the field was equivalent to the number of larvae found in the cultivated parents.
The metaphysics, ethics and politics of environmentalism

This paper accepts the idea that environmentalism must pay attention to some metaphysical–ethical features of human life. It argues, accordingly, that the normative presumptions of the field are serious and roughly right: we can do something about how we interact with the environment. In particular, it argues that a certain ethical–political controversy has direct bearing on environmental matters.
On essential coexistence of zero and nonzero Lyapunov exponents

We show that there exists a $C^\infty$ volume preserving diffeomorphism $P$ of a compact smooth Riemannian manifold $\mathcal{M}$ of dimension 4, which is close to the identity map and has nonzero Lyapunov exponents on an open and dense subset $\mathcal{G}$ of not full measure and has zero Lyapunov exponent on the complement of $\mathcal{G}$. Moreover, $P|\mathcal{G}$ has countably many disjoint open ergodic components.
Scalp Products and Hair as a Culture Medium for Certain Pathogenic Fungi

In the present work observations were made of the growth of certain pathogenic fungi on hair. Bonar and Dreyer1 used bundles of hair inoculated with trichophyton interdigitale to test antiseptic properties of solutions. Tona2 observed the growth of trichophyton on hair in the test tube. The growth of the various pathogenic fungi (dermatophytes) on a medium of scalp products and hair seems to have received little attention.The medium used consisted of barber shop hair cleansed with water, placed in petri dishes and test tubes and autoclaved. It was found necessary to keep the medium moist with distilled water by adding an amount sufficient to cover the mat of hair. Growth on this medium was compared with that on conservation Sabouraud's. Sabouraud's conservation medium was chosen as a standard because of its simplicity. Bacto products were used in making the media.Transplants were made from 30-day-old growths of the organisms on Sabouraud's proof agar incubated at room temperature.Approximate time of growt...
PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway constitutively suppresses expression of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) tumor suppressor protein in acute myeloid leukemia and breast cancer cells

1229 Programmed cell death 4(PDCD4) is a novel tumor suppressor protein that inhibits cap-dependent mRNA translation and exerts transformation-suppressing activity by inhibiting the helicase activity of eIF4A. Reduced or lack of PDCD4 expression has been associated with resistance to chemotherapy and bad prognostic factor. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) induces growth inhibition, differentiation and apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) characterized by t(15;17),and differentiation arrest. ATRA treatment induce granulocytic differentiation of APL cells in vitro and in vivo, resulting in complete remission (CR) about 90% of APL patients. Recently, we reported that ATRA induces translational suppression through multiple posttranscriptional mechanisms that involves suppression of mRNA translation initiation, a rate limiting step of protein synthesis (Harris&Ozpolat et al, Blood, 104 (5) 2004). We have demonstrated that ATRA inhibits expression of translation initiation factors including IF2, eIF4AI, eIF4G, eIF5, eIF6 but upregulates expression of translation inhibitor DAP5/p97/NAT1 in APL cells. We also demonstrated that ATRA treatment induced marked dose-dependent PDCD4 expression and nuclear translocation of PDCD4 in APL cells (NB4) and PDCD4 is required for terminal granulocytic differentiation induction (Ozpolat&Akar et al, Mol Cancer Res, in press).Currently, the regulation of PDCD4 is not known in AML and solid tumors. Here we investigated the regulation of PDCD4 in acute myeloid leukemia and breast cancer cells. We have shown that ATRA induces PDCD4 protein and mRNA expression in NB4 and HL60 cells. PDCD4 induction is associated with downregulation of phosphorylation (Ser473)Akt (p-Akt). Furthermore, we observed reverse association with p-Akt and PDCD4 expression in other AML cells. ATRA failed to induce PDCD4 expression in U937 and THP-1 myelomonocytic AML cells, which have overactivation of PI3K/Akt pathway. Specific inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway with, PI3K (LY294002) or mTOR inhibitor (rapamycin), induced ATRA-dependent and independent PDCD4 expression in NB4 AML and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. RT-PCR analysis revealed that PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway suppresses PDCD4 expression at the transcriptional level, suggesting that PI3K inhibitors (LY294002 and wortmannin) and rapamycin induced PDCD4 mRNA expression in NB4 cells. Because NF-kB has been shown to be regulated by PI3K/Akt pathway we inhibited NF-kB by a specific inhibitor (JSH-23) and found upregulation of PDCD4 protein, suggesting that PI3K/Akt pathway represses PDCD4 through NF-kB. Overall, data reveals that ATRA induces PDCD4 expression trough downregulation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway which constitutively suppresses PDCD4 in AML and breast cancer cells.
A New Generalization of Dirichlet's Multiple Integral

It causes more and more attention on multiple integral's calculation because of the important application in physics and engineering fields and so on.This paper combined with knowledge about the probability and mathematical statistics,according to order statistics from a uniform distribution on [0,1],gives some new multiple integral formulas and a new generalization of the classic Dirichlet's multiple integral by using of the method of conditional mathematical expectation of order statistics.
Lymphangio-sarcoma arising in chronic lymphedematous extremities. Report of thirteen cases and review of literature.

Information is presented on eleven Mayo Clinic patients with postmastectomy lymphangiosarcoma and on two patients with lymphangiosarcoma in lymphedematous extremities in whom malignant disease was unrelated to surgical treatment. One of the latter two tumors occurred in the arm of a patiemit with congenital lymphedema, and the other in the leg of a patient with long-standing idiopathic lymphedema. Also, the clinical and pathological findings in forty-seven previously reported cases of lymphangiosarcoma occurring in postmastectomy lymphedema are summarized. In addition, data on four previously reported examples of lymphangiosarcoma occurring in chronic lymphedema of the leg are given briefly. Finally, reports on seven cases of probable lymphangiosarcoma are reviewed. The data on the sixty-four accepted examples and on the seven probable examples of this condition are compared. The severe lymphangiomatosis and endothelial hyperplasia of the lymphatic spaces of the subcutaneous tissues would appear to herald the onset and to account for the usual widespread occurrence of the lesions. This latter characteristic, exhibited in the majority of the patients, would appear to explain the poor results of treatment. Despite varying forms and combinations of radical treatment, only twelve of fifty-six patients with postmastectomy lymphedema were alive when last traced. Six of these twelve were known to have had one or more local recurrent or metastatic lesions. Only three of these patients are recorded as surviving after the third year following onset of the disease, one for a period of approximately four years, one for eleven years, and one for twelve years. Of the forty-four patients known or presumed to be dead (six presumed dead), only six survived for more than three years after onset of the disease. One died forty-two months later of a cerebral vascular accident, and one fifty-two months later by suicide. There was no clinical evidence of lymphangiosarcoma in either patient at the time of death.
Factors That Can Influence Animal Research

Animal research involves the collection of data from carefully designed experiments. The validity of the research and the conclusions drawn from the data are influenced by many factors. Some of these factors may confound experimental results and therefore must be carefully considered and, where possible, controlled. This chapter describes potential intrinsic and extrinsic research confounders described in the scientific literature that can influence experimental outcomes. In order to obtain reliable, meaningful results, an attempt should be made to control or standardize all known biological, environmental, and social factors when conducting experiments involving animals.
Tools for Regeneration of the Urban Landscape Social Enterprise as a Link between People and Landscape

Abstract Urban Landscape constitutes a social, cultural and economic asset defined by a historical overlapping of values produced by cultures, tradition and experiences recognizable in their diversity and that have occurred overtime. It represents a key resource for economic development, social cohesion, and liveability in urban areas – and it is an element that can counter unchecked development that critically affects community values and can negatively affect urban quality of life. The Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) Approach “identifies, assesses, protects and manages” urban areas, considering the mutual relation among their physical shapes, spatial organisation, links, natural characters, social, economic and cultural values, variety of stakeholders and different levels of action ( UNESCO, 2011 ). In order to respond to chapter IV of the UNESCO recommendation – asking for tools to make operative this approach – this paper identifies and analyses tools for investigating the social and economic dimensions, dealing with themes such as urban governance and new models of innovative entrepreneurship that encourage and support the protection of the urban landscape and its sustainable development. The methodological approach developed starting from a definition of objectives and indicators derived from the UNESCO recommendation, represents a comparative analysis of some socio-economic tools by means of a performance matrix. The first result of this on-going work is the identification of the social enterprise as an effective socio-economic tool in support of the regeneration of the urban landscape, capable of responding in a satisfactory way to the requests of UNESCO within the wider framework of sustainable development, principally thanks to its capacity to construct new relationships among people as well as between people and the urban landscape.
Counterpossibles in Science: The Case of Relative Computability

I develop a theory of counterfactuals about relative computability, i.e. counterfactuals such as If the validity problem were algorithmically decidable, then the halting problem would also be algorithmically decidable, which is true, and If the validity problem were algorithmically decidable, then arithmetical truth would also be algorithmically decidable, which is false. These counterfactuals are counterpossibles, i.e. they have metaphysically impossible antecedents. They thus pose a challenge to the orthodoxy about counterfactuals, which would treat them as uniformly true. What's more, I argue that these counterpossibles don't just appear in the periphery of relative computability theory but instead they play an ineliminable role in the development of the theory. Finally, I present and discuss a model theory for these counterfactuals that is a straightforward extension of the familiar comparative similarity models.
The 'foremost ornithological mystery of Costa Rica': Amazilia alfaroana Underwood, 1896.

The hummingbird Amazilia alfaroana is known from a single specimen, collected on the Volcan de Miravalles, in north-west Costa Rica, in September 1895. Since the early 20th century, the taxon has been almost always been treated as a subspecies of Indigo-capped Hummingbird A. cyanifrons , which is otherwise endemic to Colombia, although it has also been tentatively suggested that the holotype might represent a hybrid between two unnamed species of trochilids. Our detailed analysis of the specimen reveals species-level differences between A. alfaroana and A. cyanifrons , and no evidence of characters that might suggest a hybrid between two species known to occur in the relevant region. Until molecular techniques have been brought to bear, we believe that A. alfaroana is best treated as a possibly now extinct species.
The ability of Drosophila hybrids to locate food declines with parental divergence.

Hybrids are generally less fit than their parental species, and the mechanisms underlying their fitness reductions can manifest through different traits. For example, hybrids can have physiological, behavioral, or ecological defects, and these defects can generate reproductive isolation between their parental species. However, the rate that mechanisms of postzygotic isolation other than hybrid sterility and inviability evolve has remained largely uninvestigated, despite isolated studies showing that behavioral defects in hybrids are not only possible but might be widespread. Here, we study a fundamental animal behavior – the ability of individuals to find food – and test the rate at which it breaks down in hybrids. We measured the ability of hybrids from 94 pairs of Drosophila species to find food and show that this ability decreases with increasing genetic divergence between the parental species and that male hybrids are more strongly (and negatively) affected than females. Our findings quantify the rate that hybrid dysfunction evolves across the diverse radiation of Drosophila and highlights the need for future investigations of the genetic and neurological mechanisms that affect a hybrid's ability to find a suitable substrate on which to feed and breed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Managing Complexity in Older Patients with CKD.

The increasing number of adults surviving to older ages has led to increasing incidence and prevalence of those diseases common among older adults, including CKD ([1][1]). CKD in older persons rarely occurs in isolation and is frequently concomitant with those diseases that contribute to CKD
Implant Provisionalization: The Key to Definitive Aesthetic Success

Developing implant aesthetics can be elusive to many clinicians. Too often we see practitioners jumping from the implant uncovery to the definitive restoration, only to be questioned by themselves, the patient or their referring colleague: ‘why does it not look correct’ or ‘why does it not feel right when I bite?’ There is no doubt that the fabrication of a provisional implant-supported restoration is a costly procedure both in clinical time and additional cost to the patient. However, when it is avoided, for any reason, there often are complications with the final prosthesis. One must think of the provisional restoration as the prototype from which the definitive restoration evolves; ideally the only difference being is the material from which each is fabricated. Aesthetics and function are always established in this relatively inexpensive plastic material prior to the investment of time and effort being put into the definitive restoration.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for IBS: How Useful, How Often, and How Does It Work?

While dietary and medical treatments are beneficial for specific GI symptoms for some IBS patients, they have an unsatisfactory track record for the full range of GI symptoms for more severe patients. A number of psychological interventions have been developed over the past two decades to help patients’ self-manage symptoms. This review discusses the last 5 years of research on psychological treatments, with a focus on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and hypnosis. Recent systematic reviews indicate that psychological interventions are efficacious and their gains are maintained long-term. Treatment gains are not a function of the number of sessions. Psychological interventions are at least moderately efficacious treatments for IBS symptoms. Of different psychotherapies, CBT and hypnosis appear efficacious in minimal-contact formats (e.g., fewer sessions, phone contact). Research is still needed to identify theoretically relevant active ingredients that underlie treatment effects.
Connecting Physical Geography Content with Career and Life Aspirations

ABSTRACT Students often have a difficult time understanding how general education course content is beneficial to them. Content in geography courses is very diverse but often very relatable for students. This research examined students' perceptions of the link between the content in physical geography and their intended careers and life. A content analysis of paired essays revealed that course content was very relevant to students' intended careers and lives. The process used to create the coding scheme employed for this study and the related results are discussed. Overall, students were able to make a greater connection of the course material to their intended careers and their lives at the end of the semester. These findings suggest that professors should be intentional with helping students relate course content to various careers and life situations in order to improve the applicability of course material.
Violence Risk Assessment

Violence risk assessment is a task central to the general practice of psychiatry. A number of approaches to risk assessment exist, including some based on pure clinical assessment, others based on historical risk factors, and those which combine these approaches. There are a variety of instruments designed to help with this task. Many risk factors for violence have been identified. The single strongest predictor for violence is psychopathy. No matter the experience of the provider or the quality of the instrument, however, the risk of violence cannot be predicted with enough accuracy to justify any single approach. On the other hand, a thorough consideration of the risk factors in any psychiatric interview can reduce risk.
Spinal Vascular Malformations

The conditions usually grouped under the rubric of «vascular malformations of the spinal cord» represent distinct entities that, in fact, have little in common with each other. The three main players – spinal dural fistula (SDF), spinal arteriovenous malformation (SAVM), and spinal pial fistula (SPF) – all differ in demographics, modes of presentation, pathophysiologic and pathoanatomical features (as best determined by spinal angiography), and treatment strategies. For historical and technical reasons, these diseases have been listed together in various classifications schemes, including the enduring Spetzler classification (J Neurosurg 96:145–156, 2002), which is a simple and practical guide that continues to be useful. To this group of diseases are added a number of even rarer conditions such as the epidural fistula, which do not figure in this theme. An overarching classification of both cranial and spinal vascular shunts was also proposed by Rodesch, Lasjaunias and colleagues in 2008 (Rodesch, Neurosurgery 51:374–379; discussion 379–380, 2002), based on embryologic considerations and supported by demographic and clinical similarities between homologous cerebral and spinal shunt subtypes. Despite its physiologic plausibility, the system does not appear to have gained wide acceptance. The prevalent tendency in the literature is to discuss each disease by its unique name, which underscores recognition within the neurovascular community that it is crucial to establish a specific diagnosis for each individual case.
Word recognition: re-thinking prosthetic vision evaluation.

Objective Evaluations of vision prostheses and sensory substitution devices have frequently relied on repeated training and then testing with the same small set of items. These multiple forced-choice tasks produced above chance performance in blind users, but it is unclear if the observed performance represents restoration of vision that transfers to novel, untrained items. Approach Here, we tested the generalizability of the forced-choice paradigm on discrimination of low-resolution word images. Extensive visual training was conducted with the same 10 words used in previous BrainPort tongue stimulation studies. The performance on these 10 words and an additional 50 words was measured before and after the training sessions. Main results The results revealed minimal performance improvement with the untrained words, demonstrating instead pattern discrimination limited mostly to the trained words. Significance These findings highlight the need to reconsider current evaluation practices, in particular, the use of forced-choice paradigms with a few highly trained items. While appropriate for measuring the performance thresholds in acuity or contrast sensitivity of a functioning visual system, performance on such tasks cannot be taken to indicate restored spatial pattern vision.
Introduction: Soils and Their Promotion of Plant Growth

Soil is a complex milieu of physical and biological entities that regulates the availability of nutrients for plant growth. The interactions between the elements of the soil biota and the plants during this process are complex and often rely on feedbacks between the plants and the great diversity of soil organisms that function to regulate processes to support plant growth. The rhizosphere and its mycorrhizal component are important parts of the connection between the plant and soil through its roots. This zone is a ‘hot-spot’ of microbial activity and trophic interactions with other soil organisms. It is here that growth of the plant root is influenced by nutrient availability, induction of root growth stimulating auxins, the interaction with plant pathogens and herbivores. Ecosystem engineers in the form of earthworms and other burrowing fauna are important in altering both the physical structure of soil and rates of decomposition of organic residues. A little researched component of soil is viruses. Their interaction with microbial and faunal communities is introduced here. Many of the soil processes influencing plant growth and the diversity of soil organisms is influenced by human activities ranging from agricultural and forestry practices through urbanization to the influence of pollution from industrial processes. To help us with the understanding of the interactions between biodiversity and function, new molecular tools involving metagenomics and transcriptomics are evolving, and are discussed here as an emerging suite of tools that can be applied to soil ecology. The chapter introduces the detail to come in subsequent chapters of this book.
Information-Theoretic Optimization of Full-Duplex Communication between Digital Phased Arrays

This paper poses full-duplex phase shift keyed communication between two digital phased arrays as an estimation problem and outlines an approach to minimizing the symbol phase estimation error. We develop an information-theoretic bound on the estimation error and a related feasible optimization objective function for the communications link in terms of the transmit and receive beamformers. We also apply a genetic algorithm to search for a transmit/receive aperture partitioning that minimizes the estimation error bound.
Vitamin D and Urinary Tract Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Whether or not Vitamin D deficiency is associated with urinary tract infections (UTI) remains controversial. We retrieved relevant articles from the PubMed, Google Scholar, the Cochrane Library, Med-line and Embase databases up to Mach 1, 2018 for studies investigating the association between Vitamin D and UTI. The meta-analysis of 9 studies included 1921 participants, of which 580 were diagnosed with UTI. They showed that Vitamin D insufficiency was associated with a significantly increased risk of having a UTI (pooled OR=3.01, 95%CI=2.31-3.91), with moderate heterogeneity (I2 =49.5%). Moreover, Vitamin D level was significantly lower in the UTI group (standardized mean difference (SMD)=-1.65, 95%CI=-2.69--0.60, P<0.001). Significant heterogeneity was also detected (I2 =97.9%, P<0.001). Meta-analysis also revealed a significant association between UTI and Vitamin D deficiency in children (OR=4.78, 95%CI=3.08-7.44, P<0.001). This meta-analysis indicated a significant association between Vitamin D insufficiency and increased risk of UTI, especially in children.
Group Summary: Transition Simulation 2

Like the Transition Workshop itself, the projects of this group were widely varied, and prompted much interesting interaction. The common theme of the group was the simulation of complex transition phenomenon for spatial, nonparallel, or changing meanflow effects are important. While we recognize that full spatial simulations are too expensive and difficult to be widely used in the near future, several members of the group pursued projects toward that end. Others used approximate means to capture the important physics of the phenomenon under study.
Serum Cadmium and Lead, Current Wheeze, and Lung Function in a Nationwide Study of Adults in the United States

Background Cadmium and lead are hazardous pollutants. Objective We examined the relation between serum levels of cadmium and lead and current wheeze, current asthma, and lung function in US adults. Methods A cross-sectional study of 13,888 adults aged 20 to 79 years in 2007-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was considered. Multivariable logistic or linear regression was used for the analyses of current wheeze, current asthma, and lung function measures (forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1]% predicted, forced vital capacity [FVC]% predicted, FEV1/FVC% predicted, and fractional exhaled nitric oxide [FeNO]), which were conducted first in all participants, and then separately in never/former smokers and current smokers. Results High levels of serum cadmium were significantly associated with current wheeze in all participants and in current smokers (odds ratio for fourth vs first quartile = 2.84, 95% confidence interval = 2.07-3.90, Pfor linear trend Conclusions Our findings suggest that exposure to cadmium is associated with an increased risk of wheeze and asthma in US adults who currently smoke. Moreover, our results suggest that exposure to cadmium or lead has negative effects on lung function in nonsmoking US adults.
Introduction to Implementation Science for Research on Learning Disabilities

In this overview of implementation science and implementation fidelity in the field of learning disabilities, authors provide a brief summary of current research related to implementation science f...
Amphiregulin activates PTHrP gene expression through the P1-promoter in hypercalcemia inducing lung squamous cell carcinomas

82 Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is the causative factor of the paraneoplastic syndrome humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM), a complication of lung squamous-cell carcinomas (SCC). The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been implicated in activating PTHrP gene expression in lung and breast cancer, as well as cultured keratinocytes. Inhibition of autocrine EGFR signaling has been shown to reduce plasma total calcium concentrations in a lung SCC xenograft model of hypercalcemia. The purpose of this study was to identify the mechanism by which the EGFR is stimulated and how PTHrP gene expression is increased. The tumor-necrosis factor α-converting enzyme (TACE) is the metalloprotease that cleaves EGFR ligands, including amphiregulin (AREG), making them accessible to the EGFR, was detected at high levels in a panel of lung SCCs. These cells were also evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR (QRT-PCR) for mRNA expression of the EGFR ligands; AREG, transforming growth factor-α (TGFα), and heparin binding-epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF). AREG transcript levels were at least 10-fold higher than that of HB-EGF and TGFα, suggesting that AREG is the predominant ligand in lung SCCs. Furthermore, ELISA easily detected AREG in the media of lung SCCs, whereas HB-EGF and TGFα were below the threshold of detection. Exogenous stimulation of lung SCC cells with the prototypical ligand EGF and AREG resulted in a difference in phosphorylation of the EGFR. EGF causes phosphorylation of numerous tyrosine residues, including residue 1045, which is coupled to the ubiquitin pathway and regulates receptor turnover. In contrast, addition of AREG phosphorylated a limited number of tyrosine residues and not 1045. Consistent with this observation, addition of exogenous EGF lead to rapid receptor turnover, whereas stimulation with AREG had no effect on EGFR levels. PTHrP mRNA levels were increased ~10-fold by 3-hours by exogenous EGF and declined after 6-hours. In contrast, addition of AREG generated a prolonged 10-fold increase in PTHrP mRNA up to 10-hours post ligand addition. Finally, we examined how EGFR signaling regulates PTHrP gene expression. We determined that blockade of EGFR signaling does not affect PTHrP mRNA stability, but rather, EGFR signaling regulates PTHrP gene expression through a transcriptional mechanism. Of the three PTHrP promoters (P1, P2, P3), P1-derived transcripts could be completely eliminated by an EGFR inhibitor, and exogenous AREG stimulated P1 mRNA by ~5-fold. Taken together, we provide evidence that autocrine AREG stimulation of EGFR results in prolonged activation of the receptor, transcriptional regulation of the P1 promoter, and high levels of PTHrP gene expression, which together are likely contributing factors to HHM and other cancer-associated bone pathologies.
Desensitization to pegaspargase in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma

Hypersensitivity to pegaspargase is associated with inferior survival in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma. In the past year, drug-supply shortages have led to the lack of an available alternative to pegaspargase. Rather than omit asparaginase from the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma patients with hypersensitivity to pegaspargase, we continued pegaspargase treatments for nine pediatric patients, utilizing a rapid desensitization protocol. There were no adverse events related to the pegaspargase during desensitization, and all patients who were checked had asparaginase serum levels above the threshold of 0.1 IU/mL at 7 to 14 days after pegaspargase therapy.
Relationships among wood‐boring beetles, fungi, and the decomposition of forest biomass

A prevailing paradigm in forest ecology is that wood-boring beetles facilitate wood decay and carbon cycling, but empirical tests have yielded mixed results. We experimentally determined the effects of wood borers on fungal community assembly and wood decay within pine trunks in the southeastern United States. Pine trunks were made either beetle-accessible or inaccessible. Fungal communities were compared using culturing and high-throughput amplicon sequencing (HTAS) of DNA and RNA. Prior to beetle infestation, living pines had diverse fungal endophyte communities. Endophytes were displaced by beetle-associated fungi in beetle-accessible trees, whereas some endophytes persisted as saprotrophs in beetle-excluded trees. Beetles increased fungal diversity several fold. Over forty taxa of Ascomycota were significantly associated with beetles, but beetles were not consistently associated with any known wood-decaying fungi. Instead, increasing ambrosia beetle infestations caused reduced decay, consistent with previous in vitro experiments that showed beetle-associated fungi reduce decay rates by competing with decay fungi. No effect of bark-inhabiting beetles on decay was detected. Platypodines carried significantly more fungal taxa than scolytines. Molecular results were validated by synthetic and biological mock communities and were consistent across methodologies. RNA sequencing confirmed that beetle-associated fungi were biologically active in the wood. Metabarcode sequencing of the LSU/28S marker recovered important fungal symbionts that were missed by ITS2, though community-level effects were similar between markers. In contrast to the current paradigm, our results indicate ambrosia beetles introduce diverse fungal communities that do not extensively decay wood, but instead reduce decay rates by competing with wood decay fungi.
Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

The survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has improved over the past decade [1]. The most significant gains have been in patients without high-risk molecular markers. Despite these gains, multiple myeloma remains fatal and curative strategies are needed.
Temperature regulation as a tool to program synthetic microbial community composition

Engineering of synthetic microbial communities is emerging as a powerful new paradigm for performing various industrially, medically, and environmentally important processes. To reach the fullest potential, however, this approach requires further development in many aspects, a key one being regulating the community composition. Here we leverage well established mechanisms in ecology which govern the relative abundance of multi-species ecosystems and develop a new tool for programming the composition of synthetic microbial communities. Using a simple model system consisting of two microorganisms Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas putida, which occupy different but partially overlapping thermal niches, we demonstrate that temperature regulation can be used to enable coexistence and program the community composition. We first investigate a constant temperature regime and show that different temperatures lead to different community compositions. Next, we invent a new cycling temperature regime and show that it can dynamically tune the microbial community, achieving a wide range of compositions depending on parameters that are readily manipulatable. Our work provides conclusive proof of concept that temperature regulation is a versatile and powerful tool capable of programming compositions of synthetic microbial communities.
Managing the Obese Living Kidney Donor

In the context of the obesity epidemic, an increasing number of obese individuals present for evaluation as living kidney donor candidates. No standardization exists regarding their selection criteria, evaluation, nephrectomy technique, postdonation follow-up requirements, and predonation weight loss strategies. We review the surgical and long-term medical safety profiles of living kidney donation in obese individuals, address considerations in their evaluation and postdonation follow-up, and explore emerging strategies for predonation weight loss. Minimally invasive donor nephrectomy is overall safe in obese individuals, but potentially increases long-term risk of end-stage kidney disease and mortality. Vigilance is needed in the selection, informed consent, counseling, and postdonation follow-up of obese living donors. Lifestyle modification is often inadequate for predonation weight loss, while bariatric surgery is an emerging strategy requiring ongoing studies. Careful evaluation, surgical technique, and medical care can support safe living kidney donation in selected obese candidates.
Effects of Hydroxyethyl starch on hemodynamics and coagulation during cardiopulmonary bypass

Objective To observe the effects of 6%hydroxyethyl starch(Volven 130/0.4)infusion on hemodynamics and coagulation.Methods 60 cases of open heart surgical children under cardiopulmonary bypass were randomly divided into two groups(30 cases for each):The control group(group C)were infused with 400 ml plasma and volven group(group V)were infused with 400 ml Volven before cardiopulmonary bypass.Then mean aterial pressrue(MAP),heart rate(HR),and central venous pressure(CVP)were measured.The venous blood samples were collected before and after infusion for the measurements of the following parameters:haematocrit(HCT),blood sedimentation(BSR),platelet count(PLC),prothrombin time(PT),and activated whole blood clot time(ACT).Those indexes before operation,15 min after bypass,after returning to ICU,and 24 hours after operation were observed.Results HCT and PLC after infusion were significantly lower than that before infusion.BSR after infusion was significantly faster than that before infusion.There were no significant changes in MAP,HR,CVP,PLC,ACT and PT.Conclusion 6%Hydroxyethyl starch infusion is safe and beneficial during cardiopulmonary bypass. Key words: Cardiopulmonary bypass; Hydroxyethyl starch; Hemodynamics; Coagulation
Why is the Hall conductance quantized

Why the Hall conductance is quantized was an open problem in condensed matter theory for much of the past 40 years. Spyridon Michalakis who worked on the solution — published in 2015 — gives a personal take on how the field evolved. Why the Hall conductance is quantized was an open problem in condensed matter theory for much of the past 40 years. Spyridon Michalakis who worked on the solution — published in 2015 — gives a personal take on how the field evolved.