cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prokaryotic Argonaute Uses an All-in-One Mechanism to Provide Host Defense.

In this issue, Swarts et al. (2017) discover that prokaryotic Argonaute proteins generate their own DNA guide strands through a newly characterized, unguided "chopping" activity. Double-stranded chopping products are selectively loaded onto Argonaute, enabling DNA-guided defense against foreign DNA.
Practice Patterns Among Eye Care Providers at US Teaching Hospitals With Regard to Assessing and Educating Patients About Smoking.

Purpose To investigate practice patterns of eye care providers at academic medical centers in the United States (US) with regard to assessing patients' smoking status and exposure, educating patients regarding ocular risks of smoking, and counseling patients about smoking cessation. Design Cross-sectional survey. Methods An anonymous survey including multiple choice and Likert-style questions was constructed on http://www.surveymonkey.com and emailed to the coordinators of all 113 US ophthalmology residency programs, with a request to forward to all faculty, fellows, residents, and optometrists at their institution. Main outcome measures include proportion of eye care providers who assess patients' smoking status, educate patients regarding ocular risks of smoking, and discuss with patients smoking cessation options. Results Of the 292 respondents, 229 (78%) "always" or "periodically" ask patients about their smoking status, 251 (86%) "seldom" or "never" ask patients about secondhand smoke exposure, 245 (84%) "always" or "periodically" educate patients about ocular diseases associated with smoking, 142 (49%) "seldom" or "never" ask patients who smoke about their willingness to quit smoking, and 249 (85%) "seldom" or "never" discuss potential methods and resources to assist with smoking cessation. Conclusions Most eye care providers assess patients' smoking status and educate patients regarding ocular risks of smoking. However, approximately half do not ask, or seldom ask, about patients' willingness to quit smoking, and most do not discuss smoking cessation options.
Egg Freezing and the Feminist Quest for Equality in the Workplace

This chapter examines how non-medical egg freezing fits into the feminist quest for equality in the workplace. After describing current American trends in the use of non-medical egg freezing, as well as current trends in women’s employment and delayed childbearing, I examine the argument that egg freezing could potentially function as “reproductive affirmative action” for women pursuing careers, leveling the reproductive playing field by elongating the time women have to pursue education and careers while still allowing them to conceive using their own eggs. I challenge this argument’s reliance on a fiction of planning and control, as well as its willingness to shift the burden of work-family conflict to individual women. I argue that this fiction of planning and control fits too conveniently with the opportunity to profit from a procedure that carries health risks and a relatively low probability of success. I also argue that shifting the burden to individual women to accommodate work structures is not preferable to changing work structures to accommodate women, primarily because deflecting responsibility for a needed structural change does little to create lasting justice. Rather than providing reproductive affirmative action, egg freezing may work at cross-purposes with ongoing efforts to make real structural changes in the American workplace.
Students Identified as Seriously Emotionally Disturbed in School-Based Day Treatment: Cognitive, Psychiatric, and Special Education Characteristics:

In the continuum of services for students with emotional and behavioral problems, school-based day treatment programs are at the point at which maximum collaboration and coordination between school and mental health is typically involved. With shared diagnostic and program responsibility, a mutually identified student cohort, and frequent interaction across agency boundaries, this interface between school and mental health presents a unique opportunity to examine diagnostic similarities and differences between the two systems. Archival record searches were conducted to gather data regarding the diagnostic and treatment histories of 85 children and adolescents served in two exemplary school-based day treatment programs in California. Findings suggest a significant lag time between first symptoms, referral for services, and treatment; marked instability of psychiatric diagnoses over time; and lack of concordance between DSM diagnoses and IDEA SED characteristics. These data raise serious concerns regarding ...
Predictive propulsion and power control for large transient power loads in a More Electric Aircraft

This paper develops a rate-based model predictive controller for handling large power load transients through coordination of the engine and hybrid power subsystems in an aircraft. Simulations on a nonlinear model of a small UAV show that constraint enforcement is improved when the controller is able to coordinate the subsystems within the aircraft and anticipate changes in the power load.
Facilitating morphosyntactic and semantic prediction among second language speakers of German

ABSTRACTUsing two visual priming experiments, the present study investigates whether presenting facilitative semantic (i.e. colour) and morphosyntactic (i.e. grammatical gender) information in a prime image prior to reading a target sentence facilitates naming of a sentence-final target image among L1 German and L1 English-L2 German speakers. In Experiment 1, L1 and L2 German speakers used both semantic and gender cues to predict the sentence-final target image. In Experiment 2, a new group of L2 German speakers used gender cues to predict, but this effect was stronger when gender information was provided via a gender-marked indefinite article and adjective in the prime, than when the prime contained only the gender-marked article. These results suggest that if L2 speakers are able to overcome unstable and often inaccurate L2 gender assignment, they can use gender cues in a native-like manner for prediction, but that multiple gender-marked cues may be necessary for such prediction to occur.
Air Ambulance Delivery and Administration of Four-factor Prothrombin Complex Concentrate Is Feasible and Decreases Time to Anticoagulation Reversal.

OBJECTIVES The objective was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and preliminary efficacy of four-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4-factor PCC) administration by an air ambulance service prior to or during transfer of patients with warfarin-associated major hemorrhage to a tertiary care center for definitive management (interventional arm) compared to patients receiving 4-factor PCC following transfer by air ambulance or ground without 4-factor PCC treatment (conventional arm). METHODS This was a retrospective chart review of patients presenting to a large academic medical center. All patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) treated with 4-factor PCC from April 1, 2014, through June 30, 2016, were identified. For this study, only transfer patients with an International Normalized Ratio (INR) > 1.5 actively treated with warfarin were included. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with an INR ≤ 1.5 upon tertiary care hospital arrival, and the secondary efficacy outcome was difference in time to achievement of INR ≤ 1.5. Additional safety and efficacy objectives included difference in thromboembolic complications, length of stay, intensive care unit length of stay, and inpatient mortality between groups. RESULTS Of the 72 included patients, a higher proportion of patients in the interventional group had an INR ≤ 1.5 on ED arrival (proportion difference = 0.82, 95% confidence interval = 0.64-0.92, p < 0.0001) and significantly reduced time to observed INR ≤ 1.5 (181 minutes vs. 541 minutes, p = 0.001). No differences were observed in thromboembolic complications or patient-centered outcomes with the exception of mortality, which was significantly higher in patients in the interventional group. This group was also observed to have lower Glasgow Coma Scale score and higher intubation rates prior to transfer and treatment. CONCLUSIONS Dispatch of an air ambulance carrying 4-factor PCC with administration prior to transfer is feasible and leads to more rapid improvement in INR among patients with warfarin-associated major hemorrhage.
Achievement Unlocked: Effective Curriculum Interventions With Low-Income Students:

This article explores the world of curriculum intervention for gifted students from low-income and culturally diverse backgrounds. It delineates both general and specific approaches to practices that can be used in classrooms and beyond. Affective and conative concerns are addressed as they have an impact on motivation and learning. Efforts toward more positive intervention at these levels are both necessary and important to future student success and satisfaction. Breaking the cycle of poverty in respect to educational disadvantages can and should be consistently addressed and overcome.
Superalloys for Aerospace Application

The present and future uses of the superalloys in aerospace are outlined. The properties of super-alloys in the 1000° to 1900°F range are listed, including fabrication methods and oxidation protection. Compositions of various superalloys are tabulated, and oxidation-resistance coatings are illustrated.
Robotic skills can be aided by laparoscopic training

General Surgery is currently the fastest growing specialty with regards to robotic surgical system utilization. Contrary to the experience in laparoscopy, simulator training for robotic surgery is not widely employed partly because robotic surgical simulators are expensive. We sought to determine the effect of a robotic simulation curriculum and whether robotic surgical skills could be derived from those psychomotor skills attained in laparoscopic training. Twenty-seven trainees with no prior robotic experience and limited laparoscopy exposure were randomly assigned to one of three training groups: no simulator training, training on a fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery (FLS™) standard box trainer, and training on a robotic computer based simulator (da Vinci Skills Simulator™). Baseline robotic surgical skills were assessed on the clinical robot docked to a standard FLS trainer box on two tasks—intracorporeal knot tying and peg transfer. Subjects subsequently underwent four 1-h long training sessions in their assigned training environment over a course of several weeks. Robotic surgical skills were reassessed on the robot on the same two tasks used to assess skills prior to training. FLS training resulted in a greater score improvement than no training for both knot and peg scores. FLS training was also determined to result in greater score improvement than robotic simulator training for knot tying. There was no significant difference in peg transfer or knot tying scores when comparing robotic simulator training and no training. Robotic surgical skills can be in part derived from psychomotor skills developed in a laparoscopic trainer, especially for complex skills such as intracorporeal knot tying. Acquisition of robotic surgical skills may be enhanced by practice on a laparoscopic simulator using the FLS curriculum. This may be especially helpful when a robotic simulator is not available or is poorly accessible.
NeuroDOT: A new neuroimaging toolbox for DOT

NeuroDOT provides a MATLAB-based self-contained toolbox that addresses common challenges in processing of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and diffuse optical tomography (DOT) data and supports multiple common pre-processing and analytical pipelines.
Staged Percutaneous Intervention for Concurrent Chronic Total Occlusions in Patients With ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BackgroundStudies have shown that chronic total occlusion (CTO) in a noninfarct‐related artery in patients with ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction is linked to increased mortality. It remai...
A protocol for measuring cue reactivity in a rat model of cocaine use disorder

Cocaine use disorder (CUD) follows a trajectory of repetitive self-administration during which previously neutral stimuli gain incentive value. Cue reactivity, the sensitivity to cues previously linked with the drug-taking experience, plays a prominent role in human craving during abstinence. Cue reactivity can be assessed as the attentional orientation toward drug-associated cues that is measurable as appetitive approach behavior in both preclinical and human studies. Herein describes an assessment of cue reactivity in rats trained to self-administer cocaine. Cocaine self-administration is paired with the presentation of discrete cues that act as conditioned reinforcers (i.e., house light, stimulus light, infusion pump sounds). Following a period of abstinence, lever presses in the cocaine self-administration context accompanied by the discrete cues previously paired with cocaine infusion are measured as cue reactivity. This model is useful to explore neurobiological mechanisms underlying cue reactivity processes as well as to assess pharmacotherapies to suppress cue reactivity and therefore, modify relapse vulnerability. Advantages of the model include its translational relevance, and its face and predictive validities. The primary limitation of the model is that the cue reactivity task can only be performed infrequently and must only be used in short duration (e.g., 1 hour), otherwise rats will begin to extinguish the pairing of the discrete cues with the cocaine stimulus. The model is extendable to any positively reinforcing stimulus paired with discrete cues; though particularly applicable to drugs of abuse, this model may hold future applications in fields such as obesity, where palatable food rewards can act as positively reinforcing stimuli.
Mustersehen als Provokationsmittel zur Auslösung epileptischer Phänomene

Bericht uber einen Fall von amaurotischer Idiotie mit Epilepsie, der im 8. Lebensjahr beobachtet wurde. Er hatte eine optische Mustersensitivitat, die zur Auslosung epileptischer Phanomene mit Anfallssucht fuhrt. Die Diagnose erscheint durch die Sektion eines alteren Bruders weitgehend gesichert: Amaurotische Idiotie, myoklonische Variante, protrahierte Verlaufsform, Tod mit 9 Jahren. Der genauer untersuchte jungste der 3 Sohne leidet an einer Epilepsie vom Grade einer Idiotie mit den gleichen Krankheitssymptomen wie sein Bruder. Hinzu kommt ein ausgepragter Drang zum Anstarren karierter Muster. Beim Betrachten verhalt sich der Junge still, bewegt nicht Kopf und Augen und zeigt ein Lacheln. Farben oder Entfernung des Musters spielen keine wesentliche Rolle. Die Muster werden so lange angestarrt, bis ein Anfall auftritt. Im EEG schiesen beim Mustersehen generalisierte spike and wave-Entladungen auf. Eine sichere Fotosensibilitat ist sonst nicht nachweisbar. Auch der Vater des Probanden zeigt im EEG eine leichte Rhythmusverlangsamung (7/sec), und bei Betrachten eines karierten Musters eine leichte paroxysmale Dysrhythmie ohne Fotosensibilitat. Die Mutter und der alteste Sohn sind klinisch und hirnelektrisch unauffallig.
Maintaining Organizational Integrity

Prior to conducting these 12 field studies, I had the opportunity to dissect disaster responses in many places. Often, the emergent organizational system was integrated and effective, at least reasonably so. In other instances, qualities of fragmentation, conflict, and duplication characterized the response. While the coordination function can be performed, in part at least, by officials within any one of several local emergency service agencies, the place where things worked the best had strong emergency management agencies. Hence, for many years I had been puzzled by this variability and by the strategies that successful directors had used to maintain the integrity of their organization despite heightened competition for scarce resources, within the community, changing definitions of federal contributions and priorities, and a host of other dynamics that intensified the strained intergovernmental system within which they functioned.
It’s Not Personal: A Review and Theoretical Integration of Research on Vicarious Workplace Mistreatment:

Recent advancements in the area of workplace mistreatment have begun to challenge our view of who is affected by this phenomenon. Whereas it was initially assumed that mistreatment affected a small...
Magnesium for Automotive Lightweighting: Status and Challenges

Cast and wrought magnesium have long been identified as a key pathway to automotive lightweighting and improved energy efficiency. However, adoption in the automotive market remains low. This talk will look at the application of magnesium components into various vehicle subsystems from 2012 through today and identify the technical challenges that currently limit full adoption.
La cambiante imagen de Napoleón en España: del retrato imperial a la bestia apocalíptica y su desmemoria

La guerrra contra Napoleon significo la subita y rapidas transformacion de su imagen entre los espanoles quienes, con motivo de la alianza politica, habian seguido su fulgurante carrera a traves de lso textos de los diarios y las estampas. Tras la batalla de Bailen y la retirada temporal de los franceses de Madrid comienza una nueva personificacion caricaturesca de Bonaparte de notable influencia inglesa. Entre la imagineria que se creo exprofeso tuvo enorme impacto entre los espanoles la alentada por Rudolf Ackerman, editor londinenese que decidio dedicar una aprte de su produccion a la causa espanola. Veinte anos mas tarde, en 1834, la silueta de Napoleon se entendia como la de un personaje extraordinario entre los mismos espanoles.
Peers and police peer misconduct

Understanding how misconduct spreads among people in positions of public trust is an essential first step for tackling the problem. A new study of London’s Metropolitan Police finds that transferring police officers with a history of misconduct into a new work group increases the likelihood that the new peers will also engage in misconduct.
Ecofriendly and Innovative Processing of Hemp Hurds Fibers for Tissue and Towel Paper

An innovative approach for preparing hemp fibers from hemp hurds for use in tissue and towel grades of paper is described. Hemp hurds are a low value by-product of industrial hemp processing that are generally used for animal bed litter. Tissue paper was fabricated from hemp hurd fibers by following three pulping processes: autohydrolysis (hydrothermal), sodium carbonate-based defibration, and high yield kraft pulping, and benchmarked against hardwood pulp. To meet industrial standards, hardwood and hemp pulp fibers were mixed at a dry mass ratio of 75:25, from which tissue paper sheets were prepared. Desirable tissue paper properties, such as water absorption, burst resistance, softness, and tensile strength (dry and wet), were measured and compared. Characterization of morphological and chemical properties of tissue handsheets was conducted with SEM and time-of-flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). The combined kraft pulped hardwood and autohydrolyzed hemp pulp fibers displayed improvements in tensile index, burst resistance, and softness of tissue handsheets compared to only kraft hardwood pulp handsheets without adversely impacting water absorption. Hardwood fibers showed a sparse distribution of surface lignin compared to hemp fibers using the same defibration. This technology can lead to a variety of eco-friendly tissue paper products that are not only highly energy efficient, but avoid harsh chemical processing.
Hydrogen & hydrogen energy creating the universe: Spin-Top Theory

Abstract Using the Spin-Top Theory of the universe, and the available information about the universe, the characteristics of the universe-seed (or U-Seed), creation of the universe and its life cycle have been estimated. With the explosion of the U-Seed, made of hydrogen, hydrogen and its thermonuclear reaction products start spreading, and forming an ever growing ellipsoid on the way out, while circling the universe center (U-Center). Then, as a result of the gravitational pull, heavenly bodies start moving towards and eventually reaching the universe center (U-Center) to reform the U-Seed. During this expansion and contraction periods, the universe boundaries and the pertinent times have been calculated. It is shown that a universe cycle is about 148 billion years, and it repeats itself forever.
Thoracic underreplication in Drosophila species estimates a minimum genome size and the dynamics of added DNA

Many cells in the thorax of Drosophila were found to stall during replication, a phenomenon known as underreplication. Unlike underreplication in nuclei of salivary and follicle cells, this stall occurs with less than one complete round of replication. This stall point allows precise estimations of early-replicating euchromatin and late-replicating heterochromatin regions, providing a powerful tool to investigate the dynamics of structural change across the genome. We measure underreplication in 132 species across the Drosophila genus and leverage these data to propose a model for estimating the rate at which additional DNA is accumulated as heterochromatin and euchromatin and also predict the minimum genome size for Drosophila. According to comparative phylogenetic approaches, the rates of change of heterochromatin differ strikingly between Drosophila subgenera. Although these subgenera differ in karyotype, there were no differences by chromosome number, suggesting other structural changes may influence accumulation of heterochromatin. Measurements were taken for both sexes, allowing the visualization of genome size and heterochromatin changes for the hypothetical path of XY sex chromosome differentiation. Additionally, the model presented here estimates a minimum genome size in Sophophora remarkably close to the smallest insect genome measured to date, in a species over 200 million years diverged from Drosophila.
Technological impact of biomedical research: The role of basicness and novelty

Abstract An ongoing interest in innovation studies is to understand how knowledge generated from scientific research can be used in the development of technologies. While previous inquiries have devoted to studying the scientific capacity of technologies and institutional factors facilitating technology transfer, little is known about the intrinsic characteristics of scientific publications that gain direct technological impact. Here we focus on two features, namely basicness and novelty. Using a corpus of 3.8 million papers published between 1980 and 1999, we find that basic science papers and novel papers are substantially more likely to achieve direct technological impact. Further analysis that limits to papers with technological impact reveals that basic science and novel science have more patent citations, experience shorter time lag, and have impact in broader technological fields.
Automatic Identification of Brain Independent Components in Electroencephalography Data Collected while Standing in a Virtually Immersive Environment - A Deep Learning-Based Approach

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a commonly used method for monitoring brain activity. Automating an EEG signal processing pipeline is imperative to the exploration of real-time brain computer interface (BCI) applications. EEG analysis demands substantial training and time for removal of distinct unwanted independent components (ICs), generated via independent component analysis, corresponding to artifacts. The considerable subject-wise variations across these components motivates defining a procedural way to identify and eliminate these artifacts. We propose DeepIC-virtual, a convolutional neural network (CNN) deep learning classifier to automatically identify brain components in the ICs extracted from the subject’s EEG data gathered while they are being immersed in a virtual reality (VR) environment. This work examined the feasibility of DL techniques to provide automated ICs classification on noisy and visually engaging upright stance EEG data. We collected the EEG data for six subjects while they were standing upright in a VR testing setup simulating pseudo-randomized variations in height and depth conditions and induced perturbations. An extensive 1432 IC representation images data set was generated and manually labelled via an expert as brain components or one of the six distinct removable artifacts. The supervised CNN architecture was utilized to categorize good brain ICs and bad artifactual ICs via generated images of topographical maps. Our model categorizing good versus bad IC topographical maps resulted in a binary classification accuracy and area under curve of 89.20% and 0.93 respectively. Despite significant imbalance, only 1 out of the 57 present brain ICs in the withheld testing set was miss-classified as an artifact. These results will hopefully encourage clinicians to integrate BCI methods and neurofeedback to control anxiety and provide a treatment of acrophobia, given the viability of automatic classification of artifactual ICs.
Restricted Versus Liberal Fluid Management Pros and Cons

Perioperative maintenance of adequate intravascular volume status is important to achieve optimal outcomes after surgery, but there are controversies regarding the appropriate volume of fluid therapy. Multiple small and some larger randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that liberal fluid management is associated with higher risk for poor postoperative outcomes, including postoperative ileus, increased length of stay, and overall morbidity. However, restrictive fluid regimens have not uniformly shown to be beneficial, with some studies showing increased risk for postoperative complications, especially acute kidney injury. To reconcile these conflicting findings, it is important to critically analyze the available data, while acknowledging differences in definitions, patient populations, and treatments. While some patients may benefit from goal directed fluid therapy, many patients can be optimally managed with a balanced fluid protocol aiming at maintenance of normovolemia.
A hybrid approach to predict daily NO2 concentrations at city block scale

Abstract Estimating the ambient concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is challenging because NO2 generated by local fossil fuel combustion varies greatly in concentration across space and time. This study demonstrates an integrated hybrid approach combining dispersion modeling and land use regression (LUR) to predict daily NO2 concentrations at a high spatial resolution (e.g., 50 m) in the New York tri-state area. The daily concentration of traffic-related NO2 was estimated at the Environmental Protection Agency's NO2 monitoring sites in the study area for the years 2015–2017, using the Research LINE source (R-LINE) model with inputs of traffic data provided by the Highway Performance and Management System and meteorological data provided by the NOAA Integrated Surface Database. We used the R-LINE-predicted daily concentrations of NO2 to build mixed-effects regression models, including additional variables representing land use features, geographic characteristics, weather, and other predictors. The mixed model was selected by the Elastic Net method. Each model's performance was evaluated using the out-of-sample coefficient of determination (R2) and the square root of mean squared error (RMSE) from ten-fold cross-validation (CV). The mixed model showed a good prediction performance (CV R2: 0.75–0.79, RMSE: 3.9–4.0 ppb). R-LINE outputs improved the overall, spatial, and temporal CV R2 by 10.0%, 18.9% and 7.7% respectively. Given the output of R-LINE is point-based and has a flexible spatial resolution, this hybrid approach allows prediction of daily NO2 at an extremely high spatial resolution such as city blocks.
Demand for Constitutional Decentralization

Increasingly, decentralization has proven to be a policy fix selected by developing countries whose new governments represent a significant regime change. This analysis adds to the literature on decentralization by identifying the extent to which factors that lead to divergent policy preferences result in greater definition of decentralization in a given constitution. The principle of subsidiarity suggests that the more localities and regions vary from each other, either in terms of population, language, religion, or resource endowments, the more likely these populations’ policy preferences differ. This implies that the benefits of subsidiarity, and hence, decentralization are greater in such contexts. As a result, pressures for decentralization on constitutional drafters should increase with a country’s size, population, terrain ruggedness, number of ethnicities and religions, and regional variance in wealth. I test several aspects of this hypothesis, based upon initial data from 48 Muslim countries’ constitutions. Beyond the noteworthy conclusion that population is more important than territorial size in determining constitutional definition of subnational government, the results also suggest linguistic divides play an important role in determining the heterogeneity of policy preferences within a given nation, more so than simple ethnic diversity.
Development of a Model to Estimate the Association Between Delay in Cancer Treatment and Local Tumor Control and Risk of Metastases.

Importance The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to treatment delays for many patients with cancer. While published guidelines provide suggestions on which cases are appropriate for treatment delay, there are no good quantitative estimates on the association of delays with tumor control or risk of new metastases. Objectives To develop a simplified mathematical model of tumor growth, control, and new metastases for cancers with varying doubling times and metastatic potential and to estimate tumor control probability (TCP) and metastases risk as a function of treatment delay interval. Design, Setting, and Participants This decision analytical model describes a quantitative model for 3 tumors (ie, head and neck, colorectal, and non–small cell lung cancers). Using accepted ranges of tumor doubling times and metastatic development from the clinical literature from 2001 to 2020, estimates of tumor growth, TCP, and new metastases were analyzed for various treatment delay intervals. Main Outcomes and Measures Risk estimates for potential decreases in local TCP and increases in new metastases with each interval of treatment delay. Results For fast-growing head and neck tumors with a 2-month treatment delay, there was an estimated 4.8% (95% CI, 3.4%-6.4%) increase in local tumor control risk and a 0.49% (0.47%-0.51%) increase in new distal metastases risk. A 6-month delay was associated with an estimated 21.3% (13.4-30.4) increase in local tumor control risk and a 6.0% (5.2-6.8) increase in distal metastases risk. For intermediate-growing colorectal tumors, there was a 2.1% (0.7%-3.5%) increase in local tumor control risk and a 2.7% (2.6%-2.8%) increase in distal metastases risk at 2 months and a 7.6% (2.2%-14.2%) increase in local tumor control risk and a 24.7% (21.9%-27.8%) increase in distal metastases risk at 6 months. For slower-growing lung tumors, there was a 1.2% (0.0%-2.8%) increase in local tumor control risk and a 0.19% (0.18%-0.20%) increase in distal metastases risk at 2 months, and a 4.3% (0.0%-10.6%) increase in local tumor control risk and a 1.9% (1.6%-2.2%) increase in distal metastases risk at 6 months. Conclusions and Relevance This study proposed a model to quantify the association of treatment delays with local tumor control and risk of new metastases. The detrimental associations were greatest for tumors with faster rates of proliferation and metastasis. The associations were smaller, but still substantial, for slower-growing tumors.
Smoking Behaviors of General Educational Development (GED) Recipients

Cigarette smoking is inversely associated with education, and despite this gradient effect, individuals with a General Educational Development (GED) diploma, obtained through a high school equivale...
Point-of-care assessment of combined umbilical arterial and venous lactate: A potential screening test for neonatal acidosis.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between point-of-care (POC) measurement of combined umbilical arterial and venous (CUAV) lactate and umbilical artery (UA) lactate to determine whether POC assessment of this sample could be an alternative screening modality for neonatal acidosis and aid prediction of neonatal morbidity. METHODS In this cross-sectional pilot study, UA and CUAV cord blood samples were collected from live, singleton neonates delivered between June and August 2019, at a tertiary care center. UA samples were analyzed for pH and lactate using a blood gas analyzer. CUAV lactate was also assessed on a blood gas analyzer and at the POC. Linear regression was used to determine the correlation between these samples. RESULTS A total of 152 neonates were included. There was a statistically significant correlation between CUAV lactate concentrations and UA lactate concentrations (R2 = 0.744). Additionally, CUAV lactate concentration measured at the POC was significantly correlated with that measured on a traditional blood gas analyzer (R2 = 0.928). CONCLUSION POC testing of CUAV lactate is reliable and closely correlated with UA lactate concentrations, making POC testing of CUAV lactate a potential screening test for neonatal acidosis. More data are needed to establish standardization of this test relative to its predictive value in clinical neonatal outcomes.
Variation in Type 2 Diabetes-Related Phenotypes among Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mouse Strains

We recently have found that apolipoprotein E-deficient (Apoe-/-) mice with the C57BL/6 background develop type 2 diabetes when fed a Western diet for 12 weeks. In the present study we constructed multiple Apoe-/- mouse strains to find diabetes-related phenotyptic variations that might be linked to atherosclerosis development. Evaluation of both early and advanced lesion formation in aortic root revealed that C57BL/6, SWR/J, and SM/J Apoe-/- mice were susceptible to atherosclerosis and that C3H/HeJ and BALB/cJ Apoe-/- mice were relatively resistant. On a chow diet, fasting plasma glucose varied among strains with C3H/HeJ having the highest (171.1 ± 9.7 mg/dl) and BALB/cJ the lowest level (104.0 ± 6.6 mg/dl). On a Western diet, fasting plasma glucose rose significantly in all strains, with C57BL/6, C3H/HeJ and SWR/J exceeding 250 mg/dl. BALB/cJ and C3H/HeJ were more tolerant to glucose loading than the other 3 strains. C57BL/6 was sensitive to insulin while other strains were not. Non-fasting blood glucose was significantly lower in C3H/HeJ and BALB/cJ than C57BL/6, SM/J, and SWR/J. Glucose loading induced the 1st and the 2nd phase of insulin secretion in BALB/cJ, but the 2nd phase was not observed in other strains. Morphological analysis showed that BALB/cJ had the largest islet area (1,421,493 ± 61,244 μm2) and C57BL/6 had the smallest one (747,635 ± 41,798 μm2). This study has demonstrated strain-specific variations in the metabolic and atherosclerotic phenotypes, thus laying the basis for future genetic characterization.
Chemosensitivity testing with cis-platinum(II) diamminedichloride: I. A new concept in the treatment of carcinoma of the cervix

Abstract A relatively simple, clinically applicable approach for determining the in vivo sensitivity of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix to cis -platinum(II) diamminedichloride (DDP) is described. Histologic and cytologic characteristics in sequential cervical biopsies were employed to evaluate the sensitivity of tumor to platinum therapy. The remarkable similarity in histologic response of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix when treated by platinum or radiation therapy suggests that this system might help to identify the patient who would most benefit from systemic platinum chemotherapy, just as it has been useful in identifying patients who can benefit from radiation therapy.
ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR OF DISTRIBUTION DENSITIES IN MODELS WITH STOCHASTIC VOLATILITY. I

We study the asymptotic behavior of distribution densities arising in stock price models with stochastic volatility. The main objects of our interest in the present paper are the density of time averages of a geometric Brownian motion and the density of the stock price process in the Hull–White model. We find explicit formulas for leading terms in asymptotic expansions of these densities and give error estimates. As an application of our results, sharp asymptotic formulas for the price of an Asian option are obtained.
Development of a Leisure Experience Battery for Adolescents: Parsimony, Stability, and Validity

This study reports the development of a battery of scales measuring selected dimensions of leisure experience of adolescents. Four leisure dimensions were included in the battery: boredom, awarenes...
Pair Correlation of Zeros and Primes in Short Intervals

In 1943, A. Selberg [15] Deduced From The Riemann Hypothesis (Rh) that $$\int\limits_{\rm{1}}^{\rm{X}} {{{\left( {\psi \left( {\left( {{\rm{1 + }}\delta } \right){\rm{x}}} \right){\rm{ - }}\psi \left( {\rm{x}} \right){\rm{ - }}\delta {\rm{x}}} \right)}^2}{{\rm{x}}^{{\rm{ - 2}}}}{\rm{dx}} \ll \delta {{\left( {{\mathop{\rm l}\nolimits} {\rm{ogX}}} \right)}^2}}$$ (1) for X–1 ≤ δ ≤ X–1/4, X ≥ 2. Selberg was concerned with small values of δ and the constraint δ ≤ X–1/4 was imposed more for convenience than out of necessity. For Larger δ we have the following result.
Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for dopa-responsive dystonia in a 6-year-old child

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive metabolic disease that results in the decreased production of catecholamines. Standard treatment relies on combinations of levodopa and carbidopa, anticholinergic agents, serotonergic agonists, and monamine oxidase B inhibitors. Unfortunately, severely affected children often require escalating doses of medication and suffer from dyskinesias as well as significant on/off symptomatology. The authors present a case of medically intractable dopa-responsive dystonia in a 6-year-old boy whose condition significantly improved with bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation. This case is unique in its novel approach to tyrosine hydroxylase deficiency and the young age of the patient.
Graph parallel actor language --- a programming language for parallel graph algorithms

We introduce a domain-specific language, GRAph PArallel Actor Language, that enables parallel graph algorithms to be written in a natural, high-level form. GRAPAL is based on our GraphStep compute model, which enables a wide range of parallel graph algorithms that are high-level, deterministic, free from race conditions, and free from deadlock. Programs written in GRAPAL are easy for a compiler and runtime to map to efficient parallel field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations. We show that the GRAPAL compiler can verify that the structure of operations conforms to the GraphStep model. We allocate many small processing elements in each FPGA that take advantage of the high on-chip memory bandwidth (5x the sequential processor) and process one graph edge per clock cycle per processing element. We show how to automatically choose parameters for the logic architecture so the high-level GRAPAL programming model is independent of the target FPGA architecture. We compare our GRAPAL applications mapped to a platform with four 65 nm Virtex-5 SX95T FPGAs to sequential programs run on a single 65 nm Xeon 5160. Our implementation achieves a total mean speedup of 8x with a maximum speedup of 28x. The speedup per chip is 2x with a maximum of 7x. The ratio of energy used by our GRAPAL implementation over the sequential implementation has a mean of 1/10 with a minimum of 1/80.
Optimization of Automobile Assembly Process to Reduce Assembly Time

ABSTRACTThe automobile manufacturing industry is undergoing a significant restructuring. Every automaker is investing heavily for adapting new manufacturing processes as well as assembly techniques which will reduce the overall operating costs while consistently maintaining the quality of the product. In general, assembly lines are being designed and developed with a goal to synchronize workers, machines, tools and components. It is important to have an optimized assembly operation sequence in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of an assembly line. This research paper will focus on developing an optimal vehicle assembly sequence based on the liaisons and precedence graphs concepts [3, 5]. In general, a liaison establishes the connectivity between different components in an assembly based on their connectivity with respect to each other. Using the existing liaisons, multiple feasible precedence graphs can be generated which in turn lead to the development of multiple feasible assembly sequences. Th...
Peroral endoscopic myotomy: A short-term comparison with the standard laparoscopic approach.

Background We report our short-term experience with peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) and compare perioperative outcomes with laparoscopic Heller myotomy (LHM) for achalasia. Methods Patients from an institutional review board–approved protocol underwent POEM and were followed prospectively. Comparisons were made, in a prospective esophageal database, with patients who underwent LHM over the same period. Results We studied 18 patients who underwent POEM and compared them to 21 who underwent LHM. Demographics, preoperative Eckardt scores, motility data, and prior intervention history were comparable. Operative time, myotomy length, and complication rates (1 perforation in each group) were equal. Postoperative pain was significantly different by visual analogue score (POEM 3.9 ± 0.6 versus LHM 5.7 ± 0.4, P = .02) and analgesic use (POEM 26.0 ± 13.7 versus LHM 90.0 ± 48.5 mg morphine, P = .02). Return to activities of daily living was significantly faster in the POEM group (2.2 ± 0.6 vs 6.4 ± 1.0 days, P = .03). Postoperative dysphagia and Eckardt scores were equally successful in both groups. Conclusion POEM results in similar relief of dysphagia with less postoperative pain and quicker return to normal activities.
Insulin Regulates Prolactin Secretion and Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Levels in Pituitary Cells

The regulation of PRL production in GH3 rat pituitary tumor cells and normal rat pituitary cells exposed to insulin was studied. Cells were treated with semisynthetic human insulin for up to 5 days. Insulin (0.7 nM) stimulated PRL production by 30%, and cortisol (100 nM) suppressed it by 80% in GH3 cells. Insulin (3.5 nM) partially blocked the suppression of PRL secretion induced by up to 100 nM cortisol. Equimolar doses of insulin-like growth factor I failed to consistently stimulate either basal PRL secretion into the medium or cortisolsuppressed PRL in GH3 cells. A 65 nM concentration of insulinlike growth factor I was required to stimulate basal PRL secretion in GH3 cells. Relative levels of PRL mRNA sequences in both GH3 cells and normal rat pituitary cells were stimulated by insulin. When cells were incubated with cortisol (10 nM), PRL mRNA levels were suppressed to 40% of control values. Simultaneous incubation of cells with insulin (3.5 nM) partially reversed the cortisol-induced suppression of PR...
Rehabilitation in the Renal Population: Barriers to Access

Administrative data suggest familiar socioeconomic, race, sex, and age disparities in renal patients' receipt of services such as cardiac rehabilitation. Dialysis facility characteristics and disparities in access to transplantation, home-based dialysis, and more frequent dialysis also may influence patients' access to rehabilitation opportunities. Tested models exist for interdisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation, exercise/physical conditioning programs, and psychosocial interventions, and several of these programs consider the special needs of particular age groups. Recognition of the importance of physical activity/exercise and depressed mood as predictors of patient outcomes, and research addressing the concept of frailty, effectively may increase the salience of rehabilitation objectives throughout the renal community.
Utility of combining two diagnostic tests

Methods for evaluating a single diagnostic test with reference to the disease prevalence in a given population include sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy. Patient disease status and, ultimately, the treatment course is determined by the outcome of these diagnostics. The advantage of ordering a single diagnostic test, or series of diagnostic tests is a concern of physicians. How much information is gained from using the results of two diagnostic tests, each designed to detect the same disease? Combining tests may be the optimal methodology for determining the disease status of the patient. We propose a systematic strategy for optimizing (minimizing alpha and/or beta errors) the combination of two diagnostic tests. This strategy is then illustrated by the use of data from Doppler ultrasound and ocular pneumoplethysmography in detecting carotid artery disease.
Elevated immunoglobulin G4 level is associated with reduced colectomy-free survival in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis

Abstract Background and aim Patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and elevated immunoglobulin (Ig) G4 have been shown to have more severe disease with a shorter time to orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of PSC and UC in patients with elevated serum IgG4. Methods We analyzed data from 50 patients with PSC and known serum levels of IgG4. They were divided into groups called high IgG4 (> 112 IU/L; n = 10) or normal IgG4 (n = 40). We compared the requirement of OLT and colectomy between groups. Results High IgG4 was found in 10 PSC patients (20%). UC was associated in 9/10 patients with high IgG4 vs. 32/40 patients with normal IgG4 (p = 0.67). Patients with high IgG4 were younger at PSC diagnosis (28.1 ± 13.9 vs. 37.6 ± 13.4 years, P = 0.04), more likely to have backwash ileitis (7/9 vs. 12/32, P Conclusions Elevated IgG4 was seen in a small number of PSC patients. Most of these patients had associated UC, were younger at the time of PSC diagnosis, more likely to have backwash ileitis and had reduced colectomy-free survival than patients with normal IgG4.
How Does Identity Shape the Experiences of Women of Color Engineering Students

This study seeks to understand the experiences of women of color engineering students who persist and identify some of the dilemmas they face. Evidence emerged that students formulate multiple identities to help them persist in their engineering programs. We assess the role that identity plays in the experiences of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) women of color. This paper applies a multiple identities framework and presents students' experiences through the lenses of three emergent identities: academic, social, and intellectual. We discuss possible implications of the findings for academic and social support programs in higher education. We also identify some implications for precollege instruction.