cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Diabetic emergencies - ketoacidosis, hyperglycaemic hyperosmolar state and hypoglycaemia.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), hyperglycaemic hyperosmolar state (HHS) and hypoglycaemia are serious complications of diabetes mellitus that require prompt recognition, diagnosis and treatment. DKA and HHS are characterized by insulinopaenia and severe hyperglycaemia; clinically, these two conditions differ only by the degree of dehydration and the severity of metabolic acidosis. The overall mortality recorded among children and adults with DKA is 60 years. The estimated annual cost of hospital treatment for patients experiencing hyperglycaemic crises in the USA exceeds US$2 billion. Hypoglycaemia is a frequent and serious adverse effect of antidiabetic therapy that is associated with both immediate and delayed adverse clinical outcomes, as well as increased economic costs. Inpatients who develop hypoglycaemia are likely to experience a long duration of hospital stay and increased mortality. This Review describes the clinical presentation, precipitating causes, diagnosis and acute management of these diabetic emergencies, including a discussion of practical strategies for their prevention.
Teaching Archery with Audio-Visual Aids

(1949). Teaching Archery with Audio-Visual Aids. Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation: Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 244-285.
Darwin and the puzzle of primogeniture : An essay on biases in parental investment after death.

A historical survey of the inheritance practices of farming families in North America and elsewhere indicates that resource allocations among children differed through time and space with regard to sex bias and equality. Tensions between provisioning all children and maintaining a productive economic entity (the farm) were resolved in various ways, depending on population pressures, the family’s relative resource level, and the number and sex of children. Against a backdrop of generalized son preference, parents responded to ecological circumstances by investing in offspring differentially within and between the sexes. Vesting the preponderance of family resources in one heir increased the likelihood of at least one line surviving across several generations, whereas varying degrees of parental investment in emigrating sons or out-marrying daughters might yield boom or bust harvests of grandchildren according to circumstances in more remote locales. Primogeniture (eldest son as primary heir) allowed early identification of heirs and appropriate socialization, as well as more time for parents to contribute to the heir’s reproductive success. Son bias and unigeniture decreased as numbers of children per family declined, as land became less critical to economic success, and as legal changes improved the resource-holding potential of females. We suggest that changing ecological conditions affected parental decisions regarding resource allocation among children at least as much as did changing ideologies of parent-child relations.
Glycine Supplementation to Low Protein, Amino Acid-Supplemented Diets Supports Optimal Performance of Broiler Chicks

Six experiments were conducted to determine the effects of low CP in diets for broilers and to evaluate limiting essential and nonessential amino acids (AA) in these diets. All experiments were conducted with Ross x Ross broilers in brooder batteries from 0 to 17 or 18 d posthatch. Treatments were replicated with 6 pens of either 5 or 6 broilers each. In Experiment (Exp.) 1, corn-soybean meal diets were formulated to 16.18, 17.68, 19.18, 20.68, or 22.18% CP. The 22.18% CP diet provided 1.23% Lys and 0.89% TSAA, met or exceeded all nutrient requirements of young broilers, and served as the positive control (PC) diet in all experiments. Increasing dietary CP linearly increased final BW, daily gain (ADG), and gain:feed (G:F) (P < 0.005). In Exp. 2, additions of crystalline essential (EAA) or nonessential AA (NEAA) were added to the low CP diet to simulate the AA profile of the PC. Daily gain, final BW, and G:F were decreased (P < 0.01) when CP was reduced, but the addition of the NEAA increased final BW, ADG, and G:F (P < 0.07) to the level of broilers fed the PC. Addition of EAA alone was without effect. In Exp. 3, chicks fed diets with supplemental Glu, Ala, Asp, or Pro had reduced daily feed intake (ADFI), ADG, and final BW (P < 0.05) compared with the PC diet. Addition of Gly or the combination of Gly, Glu, Asp, Ala, and Pro to the low CP diet increased G:F (P < 0.01) compared with chicks fed PC, and ADG was not different from that of broilers fed the PC diet. In Exp. 4, chicks were fed either the PC diet, the low CP diet with Gly + Ser concentrations of 1.23, 1.35, 1.47, 1.59, 1.71, 1.83, 1.95, or 2.07%, or a 10th diet that contained 1.23% Gly + Ser and with Glu to equal the N concentration of the 2.07% Gly + Ser diet. Final BW, ADG, and G:F were increased linearly (P < 0.001) as the concentration of dietary Gly + Ser was increased. Chicks fed the low CP diet with 2.07% Gly + Ser had growth performance that was not different from that of chicks fed the PC. The addition of Glu to the low CP diet was without effect. In Exp. 5, chicks were fed the PC with additions of 0, 0.15, or 0.30% Gly or the low CP diet containing 1.60, 1.72, 1.84, 1.96, 2.08, 2.20, or 2.32% Gly + Ser. Glycine addition to the PC had no effect, but Gly addition to the low CP diet increased G:F linearly (P < 0.001). Growth performance of chicks fed the low CP diet with 2.32% Gly + Ser was equal to that of chicks fed the PC diet. In Exp. 6, chicks were fed the PC or the low CP diet containing 1.80, 1.95, 2.10, 2.25, 2.40, 2.55, 2.70, 2.85, or 3.00% Gly + Ser. Glycine addition to the low CP diet increased G:F linearly (P < 0.001). In summary, low CP diets result in optimal growth of broilers with Gly + Ser levels of 2.44%.
Two-Timescale Nonlinear Dynamics and Slow Manifold Determination

Lyapunov exponents and vectors are used to deOne and diagnose two-timescale behavior and to construct a new method for determining the slow manifold associated with such behavior. The slow manifold method is demonstrated on high-gain tracking dynamics. The new method is potentially more accurate compared to a method based on local eigenvectors at the expense of more computation, and is more generally applicable compared to methods that restrict the type of coordinate representation in which the dynamical system is given.
Psychometric Testing of the Sidani and Doran Therapeutic Self-Care Scale in a Home Health Care Population.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Self-care is a central goal of home health (HH) nursing care. The study purpose was to assess psychometric performance of the Therapeutic Self-Care Scale (TSCS) in a U.S. HH population. METHODS TSCS reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha and test-retest analyses ( n = 59). Convergent validity testing and principal components analysis (PCA) were performed. RESULTS After elimination of 2 items, internal consistency reliability was acceptable (α = .804) and test-retest reliability was high (intraclass correlation = .94; p < .001). Convergent validity analyses were inconclusive. PCA found 2 underlying dimensions consistent with a conceptual difference between self-care and self-management. CONCLUSIONS A valid, reliable measure of self-care/management would be useful for measurement of HH nursing outcomes. The TSCS holds promise but needs further refinement before it can serve this purpose.
Genetic testing in Alzheimer's disease. Benefits risks and public policy

1. Genetic research is providing new information about the structure and function of genes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. 2. The ability to perform genetic tests to diagnose or predict disease often exists before the ability to prevent or treat disease. 3. Genetic tests are associated with both benefits and risks, which likely will apply to the Alzheimer's disease population. 4. Safe and effective tests, laboratories of assured quality, competent providers, assured privacy of genetic information, and informed consumers are important prerequisites to the successful integration of genetic tests into health care services.
Most Neural Networks Compute in Steps

Periodic processing in neural networks has been suggested as an organizing principle for robot control (Callatay, 1969). The present paper studies which neural networks can or must have a continuous or rhythmic processing for real-time control of non-stop systems. The properties of each processing mode are reviewed in the following neural networks: linear, with threshold, with classifiers, with latches, self-timed, clock-timed, multi-layered, circular, and recursive. Learning is studied for 3 modifiable types: self-tuned, adaptive and recording. The conclusion is that most neural networks must perform discrete computations.
ACAM: Approximate Computing Based on Adaptive Associative Memory with Online Learning

The Internet of Things (IoT) dramatically increases the amount of data to be processed for many applications including multimedia. Unlike traditional computing environment, the workload of IoT significantly varies overtime. Thus, an efficient runtime profiling is required to extract highly frequent computations and pre-store them for memory-based computing. In this paper, we propose an approximate computing technique using a low-cost adaptive associative memory, named ACAM, which utilizes runtime learning and profiling. To recognize the temporal locality of data in real-world applications, our design exploits a reinforcement learning algorithm with a least recently use (LRU) strategy to select images to be profiled; the profiler is implemented using an approximate concurrent state machine. The profiling results are then stored into ACAM for computation reuse. Since the selected images represent the observed input dataset, we can avoid redundant computations thanks to high hit rates displayed in the associative memory. We evaluate ACAM on the recent AMD Southern Island GPU architecture, and the experimental results shows that the proposed design achieves by 34.7% energy saving for image processing applications with an acceptable quality of service (i.e., PSNR>30dB).
Nondestructive Detection and Quantification of Blueberry Bruising using Near-infrared (NIR) Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging.

Currently, blueberry bruising is evaluated by either human visual/tactile inspection or firmness measurement instruments. These methods are destructive, time-consuming, and subjective. The goal of this paper was to develop a non-destructive approach for blueberry bruising detection and quantification. Experiments were conducted on 300 samples of southern highbush blueberry (Camellia, Rebel, and Star) and on 1500 samples of northern highbush blueberry (Bluecrop, Jersey, and Liberty) for hyperspectral imaging analysis, firmness measurement, and human evaluation. An algorithm was developed to automatically calculate a bruise ratio index (ratio of bruised to whole fruit area) for bruise quantification. The spectra of bruised and healthy tissues were statistically separated and the separation was independent of cultivars. Support vector machine (SVM) classification of the spectra from the regions of interest (ROIs) achieved over 94%, 92%, and 96% accuracy on the training set, independent testing set, and combined set, respectively. The statistical results showed that the bruise ratio index was equivalent to the measured firmness but better than the predicted firmness in regard to effectiveness of bruise quantification, and the bruise ratio index had a strong correlation with human assessment (R2 = 0.78 − 0.83). Therefore, the proposed approach and the bruise ratio index are effective to non-destructively detect and quantify blueberry bruising.
Lobbying Influence and Agenda Setting in Congress

I propose a theory of lobbying influence that assumes that targets of legislative advocacy are biased information-processors when making policy priority choices. Legislators and their staff minimize cognitive effort and maximize information consumption by relying on heuristics about the credibility of interest group coalitions rather than the content of their advocacy claims. I test the theory by recruiting Washington-based congressional staffers to participate in a process-tracing experiment that simulates lobbying influence on health policy. The repeated measures within-subjects design includes two factors: (1) a credible or non-credible interest group coalition (the “who”) and (2) a normative or evidence-based advocacy claim (the “what”). The design nullifies the alternative hypothesis that individual-level policy agenda choices are based entirely on preexisting policy or partisan preferences. Analysis of variance shows that participants prioritize issues advocated by credible coalitions, and issues framed with evidence-based arguments if they adopt a noncompensatory decision strategy.
Downscaling SMAP and SMOS soil moisture with moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer visible and infrared products over southern Arizona

This current study explores satellite-based soil moisture downscaling approaches and applies them to common passive microwave retrievals. Three variations of a second-order polynomial regression were tested based on the surface temperature/greenness index concept and merged information from higher spatial resolution moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer with soil moisture active passive (SMAP) and soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS) products to obtain soil moisture estimates at higher resolutions (1 km). Downscaled products were evaluated at the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW) in southeastern Arizona. Results show slight differences in performance among the three downscaling methods and little improvement between original low-resolution products and downscaled (1 km) products. Spatial analysis over WGEW demonstrates downscaled products were able to decipher small-scale heterogeneities in surface soil moisture, though spatial variability remains low compared to observations with a difference of only 0.06 m3/m3 in spatial standard deviation between observations and the mean between downscaling techniques. Results demonstrate the ability of both SMOS and SMAP to represent soil moisture accurately on the point scale without applying downscaling techniques in the region under study.
Mesoscale evolution of non-graphitizing pyrolytic carbon in aligned carbon nanotube carbon matrix nanocomposites

Polymer-derived pyrolytic carbons (PyCs) are highly desirable building blocks for high-strength low-density ceramic meta-materials, and reinforcement with nanofibers is of interest to address brittleness and tailor multi-functional properties. The properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) make them leading candidates for nanocomposite reinforcement, but how CNT confinement influences the structural evolution of the PyC matrix is unknown. Here, the influence of aligned CNT proximity interactions on nano- and mesoscale structural evolution of phenol-formaldehyde-derived PyCs is established as a function of pyrolysis temperature ( $$T_{\mathrm {p}}$$ ) using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Aligned CNT PyC matrix nanocomposites are found to evolve faster at the mesoscale by plateauing in crystallite size at $$T_{\mathrm {p}}$$ $$\sim$$ 800 $$^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ , which is more than $$200\,\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ below that of unconfined PyCs. Since the aligned CNTs used here exhibit $$\sim$$ 80 nm average separations and $$\sim$$ 8 nm diameters, confinement effects are surprisingly not found to influence PyC structure on the atomic-scale at $$T_{\mathrm {p}}$$ $$\le $$ 1400 $$^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ . Since CNT confinement could lead to anisotropic crystallite growth in PyCs synthesized below $$\sim$$ 1000 $$^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ , and recent modeling indicates that more slender crystallites increase PyC hardness, these results inform fabrication of PyC-based meta-materials with unrivaled specific mechanical properties.
Critical Frameworks for Building Evaluation: User Satisfaction, Environmental Measurements and the Technical Attributes of Building Systems (POE + M)

An integrated approach to building performance evaluation mandates that post-occupancy evaluation subjective tools be matched by metrics (POE + M). While leveraging occupants as sensors to quickly capture indoor environmental quality or IEQ conditions in a work environment is valuable, the addition of measured environmental conditions across all variables, and of carefully captured records of critical workplace attributes that define their physical environments, are equally critical to understanding building occupant comfort, satisfaction, health, and performance. With over 15 years of POE + M field measurements in office workplaces, the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics (CBPD) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has a database of over 1600 workstations with statistically significant findings about the measured and user-perceived quality of the indoor environment, as well as the technical attributes of building systems that contribute to successful, high performance buildings. This chapter provides an overview of the National Environmental Assessment Toolkit (NEAT) developed with the US General Services Administration (GSA), and an array of findings that will catalyze future indoor environmental standards and improve building enclosure, mechanical, lighting, and interior design.
Design and characterization of new β-glucuronidase active site variants with altered substrate specificity.

To isolate and characterize the kinetics of variants of E. coli β-glucuronidase (GUS) having altered substrate specificity. Two small combinatorial libraries of E. coli GUS variants were constructed and screened for improved activities towards the substrate p-nitrophenyl-β-d-galactoside (pNP-gal). Nine of the most active variants were purified and their kinetic parameters were determined. These variants show up to 134-fold improved kcat/KM value towards pNP-gal compared to wild-type GUS, up to 9 × 108-fold shift in specificity from p-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucuronide (pNP-glu) to pNP-gal compared to wild-type, and 103-fold increase in specificity shift compared to a previously evolved GUS variant. The kinetic data collected for nine new GUS variants is invaluable for training computational protein design models that better predict amino acid substitutions which improve activity of enzyme variants having altered substrate specificity.
What makes a task difficult? An empirical study of perceptions of task difficulty

Estimating the difficulty of tasks is imperative for project planning, task assignment, and cost calculation. However, little is known about how and for what purpose software practitioners estimate task difficulty in their day-to-day work. In this paper, we interviewed 15 professionals to understand their needs and perceptions when estimating task difficulty. We find that practitioners do estimate the difficulty of tasks for scheduling and prioritizing their work. Additionally, performing such estimation requires more than one metric, and across more than one domain (i.e. code metrics, process metrics, and task metrics). The use of metrics that encapsulate different aspects of a task allows developers to gain a holistic view of the task and its potential difficulty.
Agranulocytosis Associated with Topiramate: A Case Report and Review of Published Cases.

A 41-year-old female presented to the hospital with sore throat and shortness of breath. She was hypoxic with an oxygen saturation of 87% in room air. Physical examination revealed swollen uvula with exudates. She had been started on topiramate for treatment of migraine few months ago. The dose of topiramate was increased to 100 mg twice daily 2 weeks ago. Complete blood count revealed an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 8 c/mm3. She was intubated and started on broad-spectrum antibiotics. She was transferred to our hospital on the fifth day of hospitalization. On arrival, her absolute neutrophil count was 10 c/mm3. Her agranulocytosis was attributed to topiramate after ruling out other possible causes. ANC improved after topiramate was stopped. ANC increased to 1000 after 5 days of stopping topiramate. We also reviewed published cases of topiramate-associated agranulocytosis. Agranulocytosis is a rare side effect of topiramate, and only 3 case reports have been published so far. In all cases, agranulocytosis developed after months of topiramate therapy and when dose was increased to 200 mg daily suggesting a dose-dependent effect. Next steps would be further research on the pathogenesis of agranulocytosis associated with topiramate and creation of registry for data synthesis.
Geophysical waves and flows: theory and applications in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere

This is a thoughtful and well-written book. First year graduate students in geosciences, at whom it is aimed, can learn how a very wide range of geophysical phenomena can be studied quantitatively ...
The Anticoagulation Clinic

Anticoagulant drug therapy presents significant risks of life-threatening bleeding and treatment failure resulting in thromboembolic complications. Safe and effective anticoagulation relies upon an organized system of care delivery, close collaboration between healthcare teams, effective communication with patients, and anticoagulation management performed by healthcare professionals with specialized training. The anticoagulation management service (AMS) was developed to meet these objectives in efforts to optimize warfarin management. The vitamin K antagonist notorious for its complex pharmacology was the only oral anticoagulant option for more than 50 years, and it took most of that time to sort out how to use it well. The introduction of the direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has not marginalized the AMS. The core AMS functions remain to determine the appropriateness of anticoagulant therapy, manage anticoagulant dosing, provide systematic and ongoing patient monitoring, provide up-front and ongoing patient education, and coordinate with other providers involved in the care of anticoagulated patients. The availability of DOACs has added another critical AMS function which is to assist providers in selecting the correct anticoagulant for an individual patient. This chapter reviews structural elements to support AMS success in the delivery of optimized anticoagulation care.
‘Shelfware’ or Strategic Alignment? An Enquiry into the Design of Enterprise Architecture Programs

Strategic alignment between IT and the business is still considered one of the foremost concerns for IT Management. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is seen as a vehicle to realize strategic alignment, however very little is understood about how EA programs actually go about realizing such a goal. This research analyzes the results from a large case study of an EA program. To analyze the results, the philosophy of design science is used. However, design science is used quite differently than what is found in conventional IS design science research. Rather than using one of the popular frameworks, design science is used as a lens to understand the work practices of EA programs as phenomena of enquiry. A model is presented that shows emergent themes and design perspectives, and the notion of ‘IS Engagement’ is presented as a topic for further exploration in IS research.
Fungal Abscess, Cerebral

Fungal brain abscess is a complication of immunosuppression and is rarely seen in immunocompetent patients, with the exception of Blastomyces dermatitidis . Infection with this fungus is primarily related to occupation, specifically soil-associated occupations such as mining. Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum , and Coccidioides immitis may cause brain abscess(es) in seemingly immunocompetent individuals. The fungi that cause brain abscesses, either solitary or multiple, in immunocompromised hosts are Aspergillus species, Candida species, and rare fungi. The Zygomycetes are a group of ubiquitous molds that cause fungal brain abscesses in immunocompetent diabetic patients with ketoacidosis and in diabetic transplant recipients receiving immunosuppressive therapy. In general, in immunocompromised patients, the risk of a fungal brain abscess increases when pulmonary colonization by a fungus occurs in the setting of retransplantation, hemodialysis, ventilator dependence, and/or multiple operations. Diagnosis of Aspergillus central nervous system (CNS) infection typically requires culture of brain abscess pus or culture of a surgical specimen from a brain biopsy. Aspergillus galactomannan is sensitive for invasive Aspergillus infections and should be sent as part of the routine diagnostic studies. 1,3-Beta- d -glucan is a sensitive diagnostic test for invasive fungal infections. Intracranial mass lesions in immunocompromised patients, detected on computed tomographic or magnetic resonance imaging scan, are less likely to show enhancement due to an inadequate inflammatory response than are similar lesions in nonimmunocompromised patients. Aspergillus brain abscess or abscesses require aggressive management. A combination of aspiration or excision with antifungal therapy is the standard of care. Voriconazole is the preferred antifungal agent. CNS Candida infections are treated with a combination of amphotericin B and flucytosine. Rhinocerebral mucormycosis requires aggressive surgical debridement of devitalized infected tissue in addition to amphotericin B therapy.
A spatially discrete, integral projection model and its application to invasive carp

Abstract Natural resource managers and ecologists often desire an understanding of spatial dynamics such as migration, dispersion, and meta-population dynamics. Network-node models can capture these salient features. Additionally, the state-variable used with many species may be appropriately modeled as a continuous variable (e.g., length) and management activities sometimes can only target individuals of certain sizes. Integral projection models (IPMs) can capture this life history characteristic and allow for the examination of size-specific management. We combined an IPM with a network-node model to capture both of these salient features. We then demonstrated how this model could be used to understand and manage populations of invasive species focusing on grass carp as an example. Grass carp disrupt ecosystems outside of their native range and have spread around much of the world, including North America. The impacts of grass carp include adversely changing aquatic plant communities, which in turn affect a wide range of endpoints ranging from water quality to waterfowl recruitment. We specifically examined two theoretical systems using parameters from the literature. First, we modeled a lake with two tributaries and examined how modified sterile males could be used as a control tool. We found that modified sterile males may be a feasible control tool to limit population growth. Second, we modeled a series of river pools and examined how harvest and deterrents could be used to decrease the risk of expanding grass carp's range within a river system. Within this system, we also compared the impacts of size specific harvest and uniform harvest across all sizes. We found that targeting the largest, spawning populations may be more important than targeting the populations close to the invasion front for reducing the risk of spreading grass carp. We also demonstrate that size of harvested fish was important for controlling populations.
Eating away at climate change – substituting beans for beef to help meet US climate targets

Numerous climate change analyses have highlighted the role of food consumption in achieving the required greenhouse gas reductions. We quantify an idealized example of this role, the greenhouse gas...
Metabolic syndrome is associated with increased cardiac morbidity after infrainguinal bypass surgery irrespective of the use of cardiovascular risk-modifying agents

Abstract Background The burden of metabolic syndrome (MetS) is increasing in the United States and is pervasive among patients with peripheral arterial disease. Whereas MetS has been implicated in the development of all types of cardiovascular disease and adverse outcomes after vascular interventions, little is known about how MetS influences perioperative outcomes of lower extremity bypass surgery and whether any negative effects can be modified by use of cardiovascular risk-modifying medications. Methods We used the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program vascular procedure-targeted database to capture patients undergoing infrainguinal bypass surgery between 2011 and 2015. We defined MetS using the modified MetS criteria: concomitant diabetes, hypertension, and body mass index >30 kg/m2. We used multivariable logistic regression analyses to examine the association between MetS and 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality. We also examined whether preoperative aspirin, statin, and beta blockade modify the effects of MetS on 30-day postoperative outcomes. Results Of 10,053 patients who underwent infrainguinal bypass, 16% (1693) met criteria for MetS. After adjusting for covariates, MetS was significantly (P ≤ .05) associated with higher odds of postoperative myocardial infarction (odds ratio [OR], 1.66), infection (OR, 1.76), renal dysfunction (OR, 2.42), and length of stay (0.34 days). Within the MetS subgroup, there were no significant associations between use of preoperative cardiovascular risk-modifying agents and postoperative outcomes, with the exception of beta blockade and an increase in length of stay (0.33 days). Conclusions Patients with MetS undergoing infrainguinal bypass surgery are at an increased risk of postoperative complications, including myocardial infarction. This elevated risk persists despite medical therapy with preoperative aspirin, statin, and beta blockade.
A Convergent Study of Genetic Variants Associated With Crohn's Disease: Evidence From GWAS, Gene Expression, Methylation, eQTL and TWAS

Crohn's Disease (CD) is one of the predominant forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A combination of genetic and non-genetic risk factors have been reported to contribute to the development of CD. Many high-throughput omics studies have been conducted to identify disease associated risk variants that might contribute to CD, such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and next generation sequencing studies. A pressing need remains to prioritize and characterize candidate genes that underlie the etiology of CD. In this study, we collected a comprehensive multi-dimensional data from GWAS, gene expression, and methylation studies and generated transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) data to further interpret the GWAS association results. We applied our previously developed method called mega-analysis of Odds Ratio (MegaOR) to prioritize CD candidate genes (CDgenes). As a result, we identified consensus sets of CDgenes (62-235 genes) based on the evidence matrix. We demonstrated that these CDgenes were significantly more frequently interact with each other than randomly expected. Functional annotation of these genes highlighted critical immune-related processes such as immune response, MHC class II receptor activity, and immunological disorders. In particular, the constitutive photomorphogenesis 9 (COP9) signalosome related genes were found to be significantly enriched in CDgenes, implying a potential role of COP9 signalosome involved in the pathogenesis of CD. Finally, we found some of the CDgenes shared biological functions with known drug targets of CD, such as the regulation of inflammatory response and the leukocyte adhesion to vascular endothelial cell. In summary, we identified highly confident CDgenes from multi-dimensional evidence, providing insights for the understanding of CD etiology.
Assessment of student pharmacist learning within an interprofessional simulation: A comparison of small group vs. large group debriefing.

Abstract Background Simulation debriefing is a critical component of interprofessional education (IPE). The purpose of this IPE report was to determine if there is a difference in a student pharmacist's ability to articulate areas for improvement and continued growth in interprofessional practice between those who participated in a large group debrief compared to a small group debrief after an interprofessional simulation. Interprofessional education activity One hundred pharmacy students participated in an interprofessional standardized patient simulation. Other participants included medicine or physician assistant, nursing, and physical therapy students. Students were randomly assigned to large or small group debriefing. Students completed a reflection to determine their ability to articulate areas for improvement and continued growth. Discussion Forty-six students in the large group debrief and 49 students in the small group debrief completed a post-simulation reflection. Reflections were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative analysis was based on a scoring rubric used to determine whether the student was able to successfully articulate areas for improvement or continued growth. Reflections were evaluated qualitatively to identify the areas for improvement. There was no difference in the ability to identify an area for improvement or continued growth between the large group debrief compared to the small group debrief. Implications There was no difference in students' post-simulation reflections based on participation in small group or large group debriefing following an interprofessional simulation. Students were able to effectively articulate areas for improvement and continued growth in interprofessional practice.
Real-time Serverless: Enabling Application Performance Guarantees

Today's serverless provides "function-as-a-service" with dynamic scaling and fine-grained resource charging, enabling new cloud applications. Serverless functions are invoked as a best-effort service. We propose an extension to serverless, called real-time serverless that provides an invocation rate guarantee, a service-level objective (SLO) specified by the application, and delivered by the underlying implementation. Real-time serverless allows applications to guarantee real-time performance.We study real-time serverless behavior analytically and empirically to characterize its ability to support bursty, real-time cloud and edge applications efficiently. Finally, we use a case study, traffic monitoring, to illustrate the use and benefits of real-time serverless, on our prototype implementation.
Medicaid Expansion Slowed Rates Of Health Decline For Low-Income Adults In Southern States

Of the fourteen states that have not expanded eligibility for Medicaid, nine are in the southern census region, and two others border that region. Ongoing debate over the merits of Medicaid expansi...
Naturalistic measurement of dual cue attentional bias in moderate to heavy-drinking smokers: A preliminary investigation

Abstract Introduction Although cigarettes and alcohol are frequently used together, few studies have evaluated evidence of attentional bias to both smoking and alcohol cues. Attentional bias (AB) is defined as preferential attention to drug-specific cues and is most often studied in a laboratory with one cue type. AB may be an important mechanism associated with cigarette and alcohol co-use. In this study, we evaluated AB to both smoking and alcohol cues in daily life using ambulatory assessment. Methods Daily smokers (N = 21) who consume moderate to heavy amounts of alcohol completed surveys and a dot probe task four times per day using a personal digital assistant over a period of 1 week. Results Aggregated over subjects, there was evidence of AB to smoking and AB to alcohol cues. When smoking AB was higher than the person-specific average, alcohol AB was elevated, and when alcohol AB was higher than the person-specific average, smoking AB was elevated. AB was not significantly associated with craving for cigarettes or alcohol. Conclusions It is feasible to assess AB for cigarette and alcohol cues using ambulatory assessment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report a within-subject association between AB for two drug cues. The relationship between cigarette and alcohol use is likely dynamic and depends on context and exposure to substance-specific cues. Additionally, a larger sample may be needed to evaluate relationships between AB and craving. Further research on possible cognitive mechanisms that increase the likelihood of co-use can inform targeted interventions.
Opioid dispensation among systemic lupus erythematosus patients who persistently frequent the emergency department.

Objective: To understand prevalence and factors associated with opioid dispensation among systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients who persistently frequent the emergency department (ED) to improve quality of care. Methods: In this retrospective observational cohort study, the authors identified SLE patients who persistently frequented the ED, defined as having three or more ED visits over 12 months, for at least 2 out of 4 years between 2013 and 2016. The authors collected patient-level variables including demographics and long-term opioid therapy (LTOT). Each encounter was categorized as: SLE-, infection-, pain-related, or “other.” Additional encounter-level variables such as healthcare resource utilization and disposition were recorded. The authors used mixed effects multivariate logistic regression to analyze factors associated with (1) opioid administration in the ED and (2) opioid prescription upon discharge from the ED. Results: Seventy-seven SLE patients having 1,143 encounters were identified as persistently frequent ED users. Opioids were administered in the ED for 38 percent of all encounters. Medicaid, LTOT, physician as the ED provider versus advanced-practice providers, more imaging tests, and rheumatology specialty consultation were associated with increased odds of opioid administration in the ED. Opioids were prescribed on discharge for 17 percent of encounters discharged from the ED. African American patients, those on Medicaid, and patients utilizing the ED for SLE-related activity/complications compared to “other” reasons were more likely to receive opioid prescription upon discharge from the ED than their respective counterparts. Conclusion: Opioids are commonly dispensed in the ED for SLE patients. This is true even for patients utilizing the ED for SLE-related disease activity/complications.
A Decision-Making Process for Using Microswitches

This article describes a decision-making process for the appropriate use of microswitches in educational programs serving students with severe handicaps and physical disabilities. Guidelines for the following steps of the decision-making process are provided: (a) determining an educationally valid activity; (b) deciding if the activity should be taught directly; (c) deciding if use of a microswitch is an appropriate adaptation; (d) developing and implementing an individualized instructional program, including determining appropriate positions, motor behaviors, types of microswitches, and instructional procedures; and (e) evaluating the effectiveness of a microswitch for accomplishing an educational objective. Examples of individual student programs are used to illustrate the application of these guidelines.
Quantile Regression: A Robust Alternative to Least Squares

As is usual in applied econometric exercises of the present type, the workhorse of the analyses is least-squares estimation, which is so well-known that it and its properties need no discussion. However, in the course of estimating Engel and demand functions from the BLS-CES surveys, a rather surprising phenomenon has steadily revealed itself, namely, a marked tendency toward asymmetry in the distribution of residuals. The graph in Fig. 3.1 is typical. Quite clearly, the distribution is not symmetrical, but rather is left-skewed (i.e., has a longer tail on the left than on the right) and has peak density well to the right of its OLS mean of 0.
Study of particle lifting mechanisms in an electrostatic discharge plasma

Abstract Although particle-laden electrostatic discharges are widely used in research as well as in industrial applications, the mechanisms of particle lifting for a particle initially at rest in such highly unsteady flows are not well understood. A multiphase plasma flow is modeled by solving the continuum conservation equations and particles as discrete entities in a Lagrangian approach. The gas phase solver is used to study the generation of shock waves and the high temperature plasma kernel. A one-way coupling approach between the two phases is used and various Lagrangian sub-models are developed to study the particle phase evolution in the system. Comparison with shock tube measurements where a planar shock wave perpendicular to the shock tube wall interacts with particles residing on the wall showed that the predominant mechanism of particle lifting is the Saffman force generated on particles due to velocity gradients in the gas boundary layer. A second configuration with an overhead spherical blast wave generated by an electrostatic discharge (ESD) interacting with a polydisperse distribution of spherical particles placed at three wall-electrode distances was considered. The predicted particle lifting heights and velocities are found to compare well with measurements in an ESD configuration initiated by the dielectric breakdown of ambient air.
Confronting the Rights Deficit at Home: Is the Nation Prepared in the Aftermath of Katrina? Confronting the Myth of Efficiency

The author employs story-telling techniques in reflecting on the lack of preparation for major disasters in the United States, and its toll on persons, and how race and wealth often demarcate the line between those best able to recover promptly from devastating events.
Blood Donation by Gay and Bisexual Men - The Need for a Policy Update.

Blood Donation by Gay and Bisexual Men The United Kingdom recently amended its eligibility criteria for blood donation to screen out potential donors on the basis of individualized risk assessment ...
Race matters at the DMV? Public values, administrative racism, and Whiteness in local bureaucratic settings

This paper explores the tension between the formal values of public administration, administrative racism, and Whiteness in the context of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). It asks: (1) Which...
Physiology and Pharmacology of Mammalian Central Neurons in Cell Culture

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the physiology and pharmacology of mammalian central nervous system (CNS) in a sample cell culture. Current day interests in neurobiology focus on the form and function of mammalian CNS neurons; the anatomic complexity of the intact mammalian CNS and the relative inaccessibility of itscellular constituents pose special difficulties for straightforward in vivo research. The study of cell cultures, that is, cultures derived from plating dissociated cells and consisting mainly of cell monolayers, of the mammalian CNS are especially appealing for detailed analysis of cellular behavior, interactions, and pharmacologic responsiveness. But there are limitations in a cell culture study: (1) variability between sets of cultures, (2) lack of the normal organization of neurons into nuclear groups composed of cells with similar synaptic and cellular properties, (3) alteration of the normal anatomic and physiologic relationship between neurons and glial cells, and (4) the relatively unknown impact of altered cellular morphology, necessitated by two dimensional growth, on synaptic integration.
Working with Clay

Prototypical distinctions between men’s and women’s activities and social domains emerge boldly through African art. This situation, however, is not peculiar to African societies. The history of women in Western art from the 15th century to the present demonstrates a close relationship between the social status of women and their public exclusion from the mainstream of art production (Tuchman, 1975:171–202). At the beginning of the Renaissance, women were not considered capable of any significant contribution to the arts, except, perhaps, to the needle arts, and they were excluded from craft associations (Wilkins, 1975:107–115). By linking cultural perceptions to the process of art production, it is possible to examine the origins of expressive culture and its relationship to particular social groups. We can see how the sign value of the art object is transformed when it is exchanged between one subgroup of producers and a broader consumer audience.
The Dynamic Process of Caregiving in Elderly Spouses: A Look at Longitudinal Case Reports

Family caregiving to the elderly has become a source of major concern only in the last decade. Due to the abundance of cross-sectional research, caregiving has been portrayed as a static process. This study was a longitudinal investigation of mental health problems among elderly spouse caregivers. The results revealed an important relationship between mental health problems and the changing caregiving situation. The greatest prevalence of mental health problems was among the group of individuals who had only recently placed their spouse in a nursing home. The second greatest number of problems were found in those caregiving in their home. Four case vignettes served to illustrate common changes in caregiver's mental health.
The prediction of notch and crack strength under static or fatigue loading

Fatigue and static strength notch factors in metal parts, using tensile properties and size effect
The science assistments project: scaffolding scientific inquiry skills

We present our computer-based learning environment, Science Assistments (http://users.wpi.edu/ sci_assistments/; NSF-DRL # 0733286; NSF-DGE #0742503; U.S Dept of Ed # R305A090170), for Physics, Life Science, and Earth Science that scaffolds middle school students' scientific process skills, namely, hypothesisgeneration, design of experiments, data collection, data interpretation, and warranting claims with evidence Our project builds on prior development by the investigators of the Math Assistments project (http://www.assistment.org/) Specifically, we utilized the existing authoring functionality of the Math Assistments system and extended the logging functionality in order to capture students' fine-grained actions within interactive microworlds In addition, we developed a suite of inquiry tools to support students' inquiry in terms of the five skills mentioned above Together, the logging functionality and the inquiry tools provide the basis for adaptive scaffolding of students' inquiry in real time By reacting to students' inquiry strategies in real time, we hypothesize that it will be possible to positively affect both students' science process skills, shown by more goal directed inquiry and more systematic experimentation, measured through log files, as well as students' content learning, as measured by prepost test gains We plan to test our adaptive scaffolding in a series of randomized controlled studies in our four partner schools; the demographics of these students represent a wide range of SES and ethnic backgrounds, and thus, our data should generalize well Goal outcomes include empirical data regarding the efficacy of our system at improving students' science learning, namely, inquiry skills and content learning, across several dependent measures in each content domain.
Prospects for low-activity aluminum structures

High-purity, low-activity powder metallurgy aluminum alloys can be developed for use in a fusion reactor at 300 to 400/sup 0/C using helium as a heat transfer medium. Hot water as a coolant may limit aluminum to 200/sup 0/C. From a heat transfer point of view, based on the dual- or two-temperature design approach, commercial fusion reactor blanket designs appear to be feasible. To meet all of the blanket design requirements feasibility requires quantification of thermal hydraulics, materials, neutronics, and material responses. Also, radiation damage and lifetime analyses are key issues for design qualification. Based on tests performed to date, aluminum appears well suited for experimental fusion reactors operating at wall temperatures below 200/sup 0/C.