cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A case of Ogilvie’s syndrome associated with electrolyte imbalance in a healthy individual

Ogilvie’s syndrome or acute colonic pseudo-obstruction is a rare and acquired disorder characterized by significant dilatation of the colon. The condition is mainly seen in hospitalized patients with medical or surgical problems. We report the case of a middle aged healthy lady who presented with Ogilvie’s syndrome with associated electrolyte imbalance in the form of hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia. Ogilvie’s syndrome itself is a rare condition, and to the best of our knowledge has not been reported among healthy individuals yet. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.8(1) 2017 100-103
Basic Properties of Quantum Automata

This paper develops a theory of quantum automata and their slightly more general versions, q-automata. Quantum languages and η-quantum languages, 0≤η<1, are studied. Functions that can be realized as probability maps for q-automata are characterized. Quantum grammars are discussed and it is shown that quantum languages are precisely those languages that are induced by a quantum grammar. A quantum pumping lemma is employed to show that there are regular languages that are not η-quantum, 0≤η<1.
Suspended chalcogenide microcavities for ultra-sensitive chemical detection

Here we report on the fabrication and characterization of air-clad on-chip chalcogenide microdisk cavities (Q=32,000) at wavelengths of 2.0–2.5 microns for infrared spectroscopy. In addition, we analyze a method of photothermal sensing that leverages high-thermal confinement in optical microcavities that is theoretically capable of achieving part-perbillion (ppb) level detection of trace gas molecules.
Cancer-associated fibroblasts modulate growth factor signaling and extracellular matrix remodeling to regulate tumor metastasis

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are major components of the surrounding stroma of carcinomas that emerge in the tumor microenvironment as a result of signals derived from the cancer cells. Biochemical cross-talk between cancer cells and CAFs as well as mechanical remodeling of the stromal extracellular matrix (ECM) by CAFs are important contributors to tumor cell migration and invasion, which are critical for cancer progression from a primary tumor to metastatic disease. In this review, we discuss key paracrine signaling pathways between CAFs and cancer cells that promote cancer cell migration and invasion. In addition, we discuss physical changes that CAFs exert on the stromal ECM to facilitate migration and invasion of cancer cells.
Utility of fosfomycin as antibacterial prophylaxis in patients with hematologic malignancies

Prolonged and profound neutropenia is common among hematology and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients as a result of chemotherapy. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) currently recommend antibacterial prophylaxis in patients who are deemed at intermediate or high risk for infection. Specifically, fluoroquinolone prophylaxis should be considered for high-risk neutropenic patients. However, with prolonged and frequent exposure to fluoroquinolones, these high-risk patients may develop resistance to these agents. Patients may also have allergies or other contraindications which prohibit the use of fluoroquinolones for antibacterial prophylaxis. Unfortunately, there is no standard recommendation for alternative antimicrobial therapy in this patient population, as well as there is a lack of data to support the use of potential alternative agents. Currently, Yale-New Haven Hospital utilizes fosfomycin for antibacterial prophylaxis in patients who are not eligible for fluoroquinolone therapy. The primary objective of this study was to assess the incidence of breakthrough infections in this population receiving fosfomycin. Secondary objectives included organisms identified, types of breakthrough infections, resistance patterns, and time from initiation to onset of fever. Of the 42 patients who received fosfomycin, 25 patients with 42 admissions met inclusion criteria. A total of 8 (19%) breakthrough infections occurred during the 42 admissions. Organisms included Klebsiella spp. (5), Streptococcus mitis/viridans (2), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1), and coagulase-negative staphylococcus (1). Infections included the following: bacteremia (7), cellulitis (1), and urine (1). Given the low rate of breakthrough infections, fosfomycin may be a potential alternative option for antibacterial prophylaxis.
A Route Choice Experiment Involving Monetary Payouts and Actual Waiting Times

This paper studies the response of subjects to monetary and direct time costs in an experimental setting using a Pigou-Knight-Downs framework in which subjects choose between a short direct route that becomes increasingly congested as more people travel on it and a more indirect route that does not become congested. This experimental design yields three important new insights. First, some subjects prefer monetary costs, while others prefer time costs. Second, the introduction of subject heterogeneity results in different value of time preferences between subject groups. Finally, there is evidence that subjects from lower socioeconomic families who are currently employed while in school (the subject pool is almost entirely comprised of UCSB students) travel the congested route more often when actual waiting time is involved. * I would like to thank Theodore Bergstrom, Gary Charness, Jon Sonstelie, Rod Garratt, and the UC Santa Barbara Theory Underground seminar group for helpful comments.
Electric grid disaster response management — A systems of systems engineering approach

As customer outage counts escalate and demand for service restoration becomes daunting and dynamic, electric utility restoration resources utilization becomes more and more challenging during natural disasters. System status information exchange between operators, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), restoration analysts, and field crews is handled mainly by the Outage Management System (OMS) and the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) processes. The intrinsic use of OMS and SCADA processes in managing field resources presents strain in restoration efforts. This research employs the concept of a Location Set Covering Problem (LSCP) to solve the problem of a centralized SCADA managing distributed field resource activities. A decentralized SCADA solution with the use of substation nodes in the electric grid network is presented to demonstrate a reduction in travel distance by first responders. This is implemented through a Multi Agent Systems (MAS) approach that combines the use of Specific Points of Contact (SPOCs) with the aid of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the confluence of Regional Mutual Assistance Groups (RMAGs). The proposed multi-agent architecture will be implemented using the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) IntelliGrid layered model. A modified architectural perspective using the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61850 standard is developed to identify the physical and functional architectures and linkages between the constituent systems for improved restoration practices. A System of Systems (SoS) perspective to analyze the subsystems from a logistical, technical, and operational viewpoint is presented using SysML. A unique framework that integrates qualitative and quantitative analysis of response and recovery practices for improved restoration practice by electric utility entities is developed.
Preparation of (R)-β-Hydroxyisobutyric Acid from threo-3-Methyl-l-aspartate

(-)-(R)-β-Hydroxyisobutyric acid N-phenylcarbamate was prepared from threo-3-methyl- l -aspartic acid (Scheme 1). The configuration of threo-3-methyl- l -aspartic acid was confirmed by direct correlation with (S)-methylsuccinic acid. The configurations of the two racemates of 2-bromo-3-methylsuccinic acid have been established.
The relation between mathematics vocabulary and mathematics performance among fourth graders

Abstract The role of mathematics vocabulary in mathematics has received increasing attention in recent years. Most prior relevant research focused on students in preschool and early elementary grades in the United States and often considered mathematics vocabulary as a single construct in relation to one mathematics outcome. In the current study, we explored how different types of mathematics vocabulary emphasized in curriculum are related to different mathematics outcomes among students in 4th grade in China. Data were collected on mathematics vocabulary, general vocabulary, cognitive skills (IQ, working memory, and processing speed), and mathematics (calculation and word problems) among 237 students. Findings showed that after controlling for general vocabulary, IQ, working memory, and processing speed, mathematics vocabulary still made a unique contribution to mathematics performance, but the effects of mathematics vocabulary varied by different types of mathematics outcomes and mathematics vocabulary. That is, mathematics vocabulary made a unique contribution to word problems but not to calculation. Vocabulary related to measurement and geometry was more important to word problems than vocabulary related to numerical operations. Moreover, measurement and geometry vocabulary partially explained the relation between word problems and general vocabulary and IQ and fully explained the relation between word problems and working memory. These findings, taken together, suggest that mathematics vocabulary may not be a unitary construct, but consists of subtypes that relate to different mathematics outcomes among intermediate graders.
Prognostic value of pre-treatment CT texture analysis in combination with change in size of the primary tumor in response to induction chemotherapy for HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Background: To determine the additive value of quantitative radiomic texture features in predicting progression in human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) based on pre-treatment CT. Methods: Retrospective analysis of a single-center cohort of adult patients enrolled in a response-adapted radiation volume de-escalation trial treated with induction chemotherapy. Texture analysis of HPV-positive OPSCC was performed via primary tumor site contouring on pre-treatment contrast-enhanced CT scans. Percent change in size of the tumor in response to induction chemotherapy based on RECIST 1.1 criteria and progression free survival were clinically determined for this cohort. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to compare the accuracy of percent change in tumor size after induction chemotherapy with a combination of change in tumor size and radiomic texture features for predicting tumor progression. Results: Radiomic texture analysis of the primary tumors in 38 patients with OPSCC depicted on pre-treatment neck CT scans using skewness and entropy in combination with percent change in tumor size after induction chemotherapy yielded a statistically significant increase in accuracy for predicting tumor progression over change in tumor size alone, with an area under the curve of 0.80 versus 0.56 (one-tailed P=0.0087). Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that disease progression in patients with HPV-positive OPSCC is more accurately predicted using a combination of texture features on pre-treatment CT scans, along with change in tumor size compared to change in tumor size alone and could therefore serve as a radiomic texture signature.
Neural Variational Identification and Filtering for Stochastic Non-linear Dynamical Systems with Application to Non-intrusive Load Monitoring

In this paper, an algorithm for performing System Identification and inference of the filtering recursion for stochastic non-linear dynamical systems is introduced. Additionally, the algorithm allows for enforcing domain-constraints of the state variable. The algorithm makes use of an approximate inference technique called Variational Inference in conjunction with Deep Neural Networks as the optimization engine. Although general in its nature, the algorithm is evaluated in the context of Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring, the problem of inferring the operational state of individual electrical appliances given aggregate measurements of electrical power collected in a home.
Computational Rationalization: The Inverse Equilibrium Problem

Modeling the purposeful behavior of imperfect agents from a small number of observations is a challenging task. When restricted to the single-agent decision-theoretic setting, inverse optimal control techniques assume that observed behavior is an approximately optimal solution to an unknown decision problem. These techniques learn a utility function that explains the example behavior and can then be used to accurately predict or imitate future behavior in similar observed or unobserved situations. In this work, we consider similar tasks in competitive and cooperative multi-agent domains. Here, unlike single-agent settings, a player cannot myopically maximize its reward — it must speculate on how the other agents may act to influence the game's outcome. Employing the game-theoretic notion of regret and the principle of maximum entropy, we introduce a technique for predicting and generalizing behavior, as well as recovering a reward function in these domains.
APPENDIX 3D Thin-Layer Chromatography

TLC is used extensively in nucleic acid chemistry to monitor the progress of chemical reactions, to assay fractions collected from a larger chromatographic separation (e.g., column chromatography), and to determine optimal conditions prior to column chromatography. This unit describes methods for spotting test compounds onto a TLC plate, developing the plate in a suitable solvent system, visualizing the results, and calculating the retention factor (Rf). Candidate compounds can be co-spotted for identification without relying on Rf values. Curr. Protoc. Nucleic Acid Chem. 34:A.3D.1-A.3D.13. © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: thin-layer chromatography; TLC; nucleosides; nucleotides; separation
Fulminant and rapidly fatal hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in patients with HIV infection: A report of five cases and a review.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is a rare entity and diagnosis can be elusive. Commonly recognized inciting causes include autoimmune disorders, malignancies, and a wide variety of infections. W...
Extreme Anatomy: Gear for the Pioneer

This special issue of The Anatomical Record explores extravagant adaptions that vertebrates have evolved from their base groups to survive in the most challenging environments. The special issue stems from a symposium entitled "Extreme Anatomy: Living beyond the edge," which was held April 23, 2017, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, (now called the American Association for Anatomy), in Chicago, IL. In part 1 of this issue, we encounter fossorial mammals and cave-dwelling fish and salamanders that have reduced visual systems accompanied by a variety of mechanosensory adaptations. In rivers and seas, teeth may not suffice in the pursuit of prey: aquatic vertebrates are adorned with armor or weaponry or elaborate keratinous sieves. As vertebrates exploit a great diversity of niches, selection has favored a dizzying array of specialized sensory and locomotor adaptions for deep diving, rapid flight, and navigation through dark and complex settings. Each special adaptation, some seemingly quite "extreme" deviations from an original Bauplan, becomes a tool for a pioneer-like diversification of vertebrates. Anat Rec, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.
The regulatory role of attention in PTSD from an information processing perspective

Abstract Attentional deployment is one of the primary regulation strategies discussed in prominent information processing models of emotion regulation. Despite its theoretical relevance to emotion regulation, attentional deployment has received relatively little focus in the emotion regulation literature compared with regulatory strategies that occur later in the emotion generative process. It may be especially important to consider the regulatory role of attentional deployment in the pathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because hypervigilance toward threatening information is a hallmark symptom of the disorder and attentional bias to threat has been suggested as a factor contributing to the development and maintenance of PTSD. In examining the regulatory role of attentional deployment in PTSD, it was first necessary to discuss information processing models of PTSD and review the extant literature in the area of PTSD-related attentional biases. Discrepancies in this literature may be the result of failing to consider the role that effortful attentional deployment plays in regulating emotional distress. The relevance of attentional deployment to recent attention-related clinical interventions for PTSD is also discussed.
Traditional Japanese Music in Contemporary Times

Music in Japan is richly varied and includes documented genres dating back more than 1000 years. From classical court music known as gagaku, to the dramatic music plays in kabuki, to contemporary J...
Privacy Regulation and Innovation Policy

Industry players and opponents of privacy regulation claim broadly that privacy regulation will “stifle” innovation. This Article responds by bringing together traditional theories of regulation and innovation policy, and applying them in the context of markets involving personal information. Dire predictions about regulation’s impact on innovation are common in many arenas, but seem to hold particularly great policy sway with regard to information privacy regulation. Here, we seek to bring analytical clarity to the debate about information privacy regulation, by showing how the interplay between misaligned demand signals in personal information markets and failures of supplier appropriability jointly determine the market’s innovation portfolio. Our analysis suggests that the characteristics of personal data do entangle some sorts of privacy regulation with appropriability in ways that can affect innovation incentives. Privacy regulation’s possible effects on innovation do not justify blanket opposition, however, because they depend on details of regulatory design. Moreover, some sorts of privacy regulation designed to address misaligned market demand signals can potentially mitigate failures of appropriability and provide a more socially beneficial portfolio of innovation incentives. Proposals for information privacy regulations should thus be judged on their individual merits, taking both misaligned market demand signals and failures of appropriability into account.
Association Between Sleep Disordered Breathing and Left Ventricular Function: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the ECHO-SOL Ancillary Study.

Background: Prior studies have found that sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is common among those with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. Few epidemiological studies have examined ...
Diagnosis of sleep-disordered breathing

Abstract Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a common disorder with significant adverse health consequences. Unfortunately, SDB remains underdiagnosed, partly because of under-recognition of relevant clinical features and the mistaken attribution of symptoms to other conditions. Sleep medicine education is lacking or under-represented in most medical school curricula. Sleep-related questions are missing from most intake forms or templates of “review of systems” for patients presenting to a general medical practice. We will highlight in this chapter the elements of medical history, physical exam, and review of systems that should raise a suspicion for SDB. We also discuss the role of laboratory testing and portable testing in the diagnosis of SDB of ambulatory and hospitalized patients.
Neutron Scattering from Nitrogen Adsorbed on Basal-Plane-Oriented Graphite

Neutron scattering has been used to investigate the structure of nitrogen adsorbed on Grafoil. At 78\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, the diffraction patterns at the lowest and highest coverages studied are characteristic of systems with short-range but no long-range order. At intermediate coverages the diffraction patterns indicate formation of a two-dimensional triangular lattice in registry with the substrate. At low temperatures and high coverages a more compressed triangular lattice formed.
High-Q Nanomechanical Resonators for Optomechanical Sensing beyond the Standard Quantum Limit

We fabricate high-stress silicon and silicon-nitride based nanomechanical string resonators to study quantum optomechanical interactions. We use phononic band-gap engineering techniques to minimize mechanical energy dissipation in the out-of-plane defect mode of the resonator.
Principles of Care for Young Adults With Co-Occurring Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders

Over 50% of young adults (defined as individuals aged 18-25 years) with substance use disorders (SUDs) have at least 1 co-occurring psychiatric disorder, and the presence of co-occurring disorders worsens SUD outcomes. Treatment of both co-occurring psychiatric disorders and SUDs in young adults is imperative for optimal treatment, yet many barriers exist to achieving this goal. We present a series of evidence-informed principles of care for young adults with co-occurring psychiatric disorders derived by a workgroup of experts convened by Boston Medical Center's Grayken Center for Addiction. The 3 principles are as follows: (1) young adults should receive integrated mental health and addiction care across treatment settings; (2) care should be responsive to the needs of young adults exposed to trauma and other adverse childhood experiences; and (3) treatment programs should regularly assess and respond to the evolving mental health needs, motivations, and treatment goals of young adults with co-occurring disorders. Our guidance for each principle is followed by a review of the evidence supporting that principle, as well as practice considerations for implementation. More research among young adults is critical to identify effective treatments and service systems for those with co-occurring disorders.
The effect of preoperative phenazopyridine on short-term urinary retention following urogynecologic surgery.

Previous studies have found that administration of phenazopyridine decreased short-term urinary retention following surgery but other more recent trials have shown mixed results. This study sought to investigate the potential benefit of preoperative administration of oral phenazopyridine in relation to the prevention of short-term urinary retention following urogynecologic surgery. This is a retrospective cohort study of a convenience sample of women undergoing urogynecologic surgery from June 2016 to March 2019. Following surgery, subjects underwent a standardized retrograde voiding trial. The data had previously been gathered from a prior prospective trial at our institution (Kesty et al. Int Urogynecol J 31(9):1899–1905, 11). Chart review was performed to determine whether patients that received 200 mg of preoperative oral phenazopyridine to better visualize ureteral efflux during cystourethroscopy were more or less likely to pass their postoperative voiding trial. Bivariate statistical analysis was performed as well as a multivariate logistic regression model. A total of 165 subjects were included in the final analysis; 100 who did not receive preoperative phenazopyridine and 65 who did receive phenazopyridine. There was no statistical difference between voiding trial pass rates following urogynecologic surgery between those who did not receive preoperative phenazopyridine compared to those who did [77% (77/100) and 82% (53/65), respectively, p = 0.37)]. The multivariate logistic regression model demonstrated no difference in postoperative voiding trial pass rates among those who received preoperative phenazopyridine compared to those who did not (OR 1.7, 95% CI: 0.53, 5.8). Preoperative administration of oral phenazopyridine does not decrease short-term urinary retention following urogynecologic surgery.
Parallel Hash Table Design for NDP Systems

With the increasing feasibility of die-stacked 3D memory, near-data-processing (NDP) is being widely explored to extract greater performance within a limited power budget. This processing can either be at a fine-grained instruction granularity or at coarse-grained kernel granularity. Allowing both the host processor and processing units in the memory to operate on data concurrently can potentially create coherence and consistency issues. While coherence problems have been solved by including the NDP memory in the coherence domain, porting parallel data structures like hash-table to NDP memory give rise to data structure consistency issues that have not been studied so far, as previous works do not discuss the consistency rules that should be enforced by a NDP memory controller. Instead, there is an implicit assumption that the memory controllers in NDP systems ensure the required order for memory requests. In this position paper, we propose techniques to adapt a traditional parallel hash-table data structure to a NDP system while ensuring improved performance and data structure consistency.
Combined hydrodynamic and gas-grain chemical modeling of hot cores. I. One-dimensional simulations

Context. Gas-grain models have long been employed to simulate hot-core chemistry; however, these simulations have traditionally neglected to couple chemical evolution in tandem with a rigorous physical evolution of a source. This over-simplification particularly lacks an accurate treatment of temperature and spatial distribution, which are needed for realistic simulations of hot cores.Aims. We aim to combine radiation hydrodynamics (RHD) with hot-core chemical kinetics in one dimension to produce a set of astrochemical models that evolve according to explicitly calculated temperature, density, and spatial profiles.Methods. We solve radiation hydrodynamics for three mass-accretion-rate models using Athena++. We then simulate the chemistry using the hot-core chemical kinetic code MAGICKAL according to the physics derived from the RHD treatment.Results. We find that as the mass-accretion rate decreases, the overall gas density of the source decreases. In particular, the gas density for the lowest mass-accretion rate is low enough to restrict the proper formation of many complex organic molecules. We also compare our chemical results in the form of calculated column densities to those of observations toward Sgr B2(N2). We find a generally good agreement for oxygen-bearing species, particularly for the two highest mass-accretion rates.Conclusions. Although we introduce hot-core chemical modeling using a self-consistent physical treatment, the adoption of a two-dimensional model may better reproduce chemistry and physics toward real sources and thus achieve better chemical comparisons with observations.
Protein dynamics from NMR

This review surveys recent investigations of conformational fluctuations of proteins in solution using NMR techniques. Advances in experimental methods have provided more accurate means of characterizing fast and slow internal motions as well as overall diffusion. The information obtained from NMR dynamics experiments provides insights into specific structural changes or configurational energetics associated with function. A variety of applications illustrate that studies of protein dynamics provide insights into protein-protein interactions, target recognition, ligand binding, and enzyme function.
Abstract 1822: HER2/PIK3CAH1047R transgenic tumors develop acquired resistance to triple therapy with trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and PI3K inhibitors via multiple mechanisms

HER2 amplification and activating mutations in PIK3CA, the gene encoding the p110α subunit of PI3K, often co-occur in breast cancer. We generated a transgenic mouse model of HER2-overexpressing (HER2+), PIK3CAH1047R-mutant breast cancer. In these mice, PIK3CAH1047R accelerates HER2-mediated mammary epithelial transformation and metastatic progression, confers stem cell-like properties to HER2-overexpressing cancers and generates resistance to the combination of trastuzumab and pertuzumab (Hanker et al. PNAS 2013). HER2+/PIK3CA tumor growth was inhibited by treatment with the HER2 antibodies trastuzumab and pertuzumab in combination with the pan-PI3K inhibitor BKM120 (TPB). We sought to discover mechanisms of acquired resistance to the triple therapy by long-term treatment of established HER2+/PIK3CA tumors. We used tumor transplants derived from two HER2+/PIK3CA transgenic mice, #564 and #635. Tumor transplants from model 564 were initially growth inhibited by TPB, but did not regress. A subset of 564 transplants (3/11) resumed growth in the presence of continuous TPB therapy. All transplants (n=9) from model 635 regressed to a volume of 5 months) in the presence of the three drugs. Similar to the TPB-resistant tumors, P-S6 was no longer inhibited following TPB treatment in the resistant cell lines. Treatment with the TORC1/2 inhibitor MLN0128 abolished levels of P-S6 in HER2+/PIK3CAH1047R tumors. Combined treatment with MLN0128 and TPB inhibited growth of the drug-resistant tumors. Interestingly, Both TPB-resistant HER2+/PIK3CAH1047R tumor lines displayed resistance to the antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1) in vitro and in vivo, despite maintenance of HER2 overexpression. In addition, HCC1954 cells selected for resistance to TPB in culture were 66-fold less sensitive to T-DM1 than parental cells, despite maintaining equal levels of HER2 by western blot. These data suggest that multiple mechanisms may contribute to resistance to dual HER2 and PI3K blockade, including re-activation of mTOR signaling. We speculate that a similar heterogeneity of resistance mechanisms may occur in HER2+/PIK3CA-mutant metastases in patients. Citation Format: Ariella B Hanker, Benjamin Bulen, Monica Red Brewer, Christian D Young, Kirsten M Farrar, Rebecca S Cook, Thomas P Stricker, Carlos L Arteaga. HER2/PIK3CAH1047R transgenic mammary tumors develop acquired resistance to triple therapy with trastuzumab, pertuzumab and PI3K inhibitors via multiple mechanisms [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PD5-8.
Parental socioeconomic status, child health, and human capital

Abstract Investments in education pay off in the form of higher future earnings, and differences in educational attainments explain a significant fraction of the adult variation in wages, incomes, and other outcomes. But what determines a child's educational success? Most studies point to family background as the primary factor. But why does background matter? While many aspects are no doubt important, research increasingly implicates health as a potentially major factor. The importance of health for education and earnings suggests that if family background affects child health, then poor child health may in turn affect education and future economic status.
Platymonas subcordiformis Channelrhodopsin-2 Function: I. THE PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTION CYCLE.

The photocycle kinetics of Platymonas subcordiformis channelrhodopsin-2 (PsChR2), among the most highly efficient light-gated cation channels and the most blue-shifted channelrhodopsin, was studied by time-resolved absorption spectroscopy in the 340–650-nm range and in the 100-ns to 3-s time window. Global exponential fitting of the time dependence of spectral changes revealed six lifetimes: 0.60 μs, 5.3 μs, 170 μs, 1.4 ms, 6.7 ms, and 1.4 s. The sequential intermediates derived for a single unidirectional cycle scheme based on these lifetimes were found to contain mixtures of K, L, M, O, and P molecular states, named in analogy to photointermediates in the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle. The photochemistry is described by the superposition of two independent parallel photocycles. The analysis revealed that 30% of the photoexcited receptor molecules followed Cycle 1 through the K, M, O, and P states, whereas 70% followed Cycle 2 through the K, L, M, and O states. The recovered state, R, is spectrally close, but not identical, to the dark state on the seconds time scale. The two-cycle model of this high efficiency channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR) opens new perspectives in understanding the mechanism of channelrhodopsin function.
Quasi-optical antenna-mixer-array design for terahertz frequencies

A new quasi-optical antenna-mixer-array design for terahertz frequencies is presented. In the design, antenna and mixer are combined into an entity, based on the technology in which millimeter-wave horn antenna arrays have been fabricated in silicon wafers. It consists of a set of forward- and backward-looking horns made with a set of silicon wafers. The front side is used to receive incoming signal, and the back side is used to feed local oscillator signal. Intermediate frequency is led out from the side of the array. Signal received by the horn array is picked up by antenna probes suspended on thin silicon-oxynitride membranes inside the horns. Mixer diodes will be located on the membranes inside the horns. Modeling of such an antenna-mixer-array design is done on a scaled model at microwave frequencies. The impedance matching, RF and LO isolation, and patterns of the array have been tested and analyzed.
Comparison of 3 surveys for estimating forest grouse population trends

Biologists in Oregon, USA, have routinely collected information on forest grouse populations over a 31-year period (1981–2011) by 3 methods; however, it is unknown how well these methods detected variation in forest grouse abundance over time. We compared brood surveys, collection of hunter-harvested grouse parts (wings and tails), and hunter-harvest surveys to determine which annual survey was most useful as an index to forest grouse population trends in northeastern Oregon. All 3 surveys tracked both dusky (Dendragapus obscurus) and ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) through 2 peaks in abundance separated by 14 years; however, stochastic variation resulting from small sample sizes reduced annual correlations among the methods. Grouse wing and tail collection was more informative than the other 2 indices because it exhibited the least annual variation, as well as provided estimates of both reproductive success and population size. Usefulness of hunter surveys was limited by funding, quality control, and lack of information on reproductive success. Brood surveys were the least useful of these indices because of inadequate sample sizes, particularly for ruffed grouse. The primary advantage of the brood survey was that it was available prior to the hunting season and could potentially help forecast the number of grouse available for the autumn hunting season. We recommend that grouse wing collections be continued, that consistency of hunter surveys be emphasized, and that sample size of brood surveys be increased to provide more reliable data. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.
A Model Allowing Continuous Variation in Electrophoretic Mobility of Neutral Alleles

The infinite-sites model with no recombination is extended to include mutations that affect electrophoretic mobility. The model allows the effect of a single-site mutation to have a continuous effect on mobility. Formulae are obtained for the variance of electrophoretic mobility of alleles after an arbitrary length of time. A special case of the general model is the case of stepwise production of neutral alleles with an arbitrary number of steps.
Airway Extraction In Inspiratory Volumetric Ct Using Scale-Space Particles

Methods: features using unique characteristics of its second-order derivative. Airways are unique in that the present two large positive second-order derivative when moving from lumen to airway wall and a small derivatives along the longitudinal axis. After initially placing the particles in given scale locations within low attenuation structures adjacent to the pulmonary vasculature, their placement is refined in two steps. First, a constraint step moves the particles to locations of minimal local intensity along the direction of the largest variation of the second order derivative (centering the particle within the airway lumen). Second, particles interact with each other in both the spatial and scale dimensions to minimize a global energy. This latter step ensures homogenous sampling along the length of the airway. A final filtering step removes outlier particles that were placed in airway-looking locations in the parenchymal field. The CT is then reformatted orthogonal to the airway axis at each remaining particle location and the wall thickness was measured using phase congruency for 30 rays cast from the particle point. One thousand six hundred seventy one inspiratory CT scans from the COPDGene study were analyzed. For each subject, Pi10 was computed and univariate and multivariate linear regression were used to show the association with FEV1%. The cohort consisted of 870 males and 801 females with a mean age of 61±9 years and a mean tobacco smoke exposure of 46±26 Results: pack-years. The mean FEV1%predicted of the cohort was 73.5%±26.8. Pi10 measured by scale-space particles is associated to FEV1% (r 2 =-0.19, p<0.0001). In a multivariate model adjusted for the percent emphysema (%LAA-950HU), and percent gas trapping (%LAA-856HU on the expiratory CT scans), Pi10 remained a significant predictor of the FEV1% predicted (P<0.0001) (model r =0.62). 2 Scale-space particles is a feasible approach to efficiently sample airway locations in volumetric CT scans. The method is Conclusions: totally automatic and it can be run without supervision. Although, scale space particles does not provide topological information about the airway tree, further processing can be applied to link nearby particles and extract this information Airway Extraction Process
Organic matter content in U.S. Atlantic continental slope sediments: Decoupling the grain-size factor

Abstract Decoupling organic content in sediments from grain size can help define spatial variations in biological productivity transport or preservation in continental margin sediments. Upper slope and upper rise sediments off the eastern United States have organic nitrogen contents similar to or lower than those predicted by grain size, whereas mid-slope sediments between Norfolk Canyon and Cape Fear have much higher organic contents. These elevated values probably result from off-shelf transport, combined with rapid burial and correspondingly reduced rates of remineralization. Low organic contents on the upper slope partly reflect higher rates of remineralization, while lower values on the upper rise presumably result from low input of organic matter and low rates of burial and increased oxic degradation.
Identification of an up-stream promoter of the human parathyroid hormone-related peptide gene.

Previous evidence has suggested that the human PTH-related peptide (PTHRP) gene uses two promoters, one a short down-stream element lying immediately between two 5′ exons (1 and 2) and a second lying in an unknown up-stream location. We approached identification of the up-stream element in three steps. First, Northern analysis carried out using progressively 5′ fragments of the gene as probes identified a candidate region some 2.5 kilobases up-stream of exon 1. Second, a battery of overlapping 5′ cRNA probes was used in RNase protection experiments to identify two previously unrecognized exons, 212 and 93 basepairs in length (termed exons 1A and 1B to distinguish them from the previously designated exon 1, which was termed exon 1C). Third, primer extension experiments were performed with oligonucleotides complementary to each of the 5′ exonic sequences. These experiments identified a transcription start site up-stream of exon 1A and also demonstrated that the 5′ exons of the PTHRP gene could be spliced to...
Leadership dyads in the cruise industry: the impact of cultural congruency

Abstract Multiculturalism continues to permeate the management literature as an imperative issue in today's workplace. The cruise industry is highly diverse, with leaders often interacting with subordinates whose national origin is different from their own. Past research suggests that differences in national culture may significantly impact the process of leadership evaluation and subsequently how subordinates respond to their leaders. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if such a process takes place in the cruise industry. Using a diverse sample of cruise line managers (n=367), a comparison of congruent and incongruent leaders/subordinate dyads was conducted. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine how cultural congruence impacted perceived leadership style (consideration and initiating structure), trust, satisfaction and commitment to the leader. The results indicate that subordinates in congruent dyads evaluated their leaders significantly higher on consideration behaviors, and reported higher levels of trust and satisfaction with their leader, than those in the incongruent group. These findings suggest that national culture systematically impacts how subordinates within the studied sample evaluate, and subsequently feel about their leaders. The results are discussed and recommendations are made for leaders within the cruise environment.
Testimonial Knowledge from Lies

Recently, Dan O’Brien has argued that there are situations in which a hearer can gain testimonial knowledge from a speaker who is lying. In order to make his case, O’Brien presents two examples where a speaker lies to a hearer, but supposedly the hearer comes to have testimonial knowledge on the basis of the lying speaker’s testimony. O’Brien claims that his examples demonstrate that lies can be used to pass on knowledge in a non-inferential fashion. I argue that O’Brien is mistaken. More specifically, I argue that the hearer’s belief in the second example that O’Brien depicts fails to meet two plausible conditions for knowledge. First, the hearer’s belief fails to satisfy the requirements of the epistemic basing relation. Second, the hearer’s belief is not safe.
Identification of vowels in "vowelless" syllables by 3-year-olds

The ability of 3-year-old children to perceive the identity of vowels in full-vowel and silentcenter, consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) syllables was investigated using a two-alternative pointing procedure. Silence replaced the middle 10%, 35%, 65%, or 90% of the steady-state formants of synthetic “bad” and “bud” syllables. Identification of the two full-vowel syllables was 87% correct, whereas performance for the silent-center syllables was somewhat lower (72%, 70%, 67%, and 66% correct for the 10%, 35%, 65%, and 90% deletion stimuli, respectively). The performance of individual children fell into two subgroups: (1) those who performed like adults by maintaining correct vowel identification for all of the silent-center syllables, and (2) those who identified the full-vowel syllables correctly but performed at chance for all of the silent-center syllables. Three additional experiments showed that none of the children performed poorly when noise replaced the gap in the silent-center syllables. These results demonstrate that many 3-year-olds can identify vowels correctly in CVC syllables in the absence of the full spectral properties of steady-state formants.
Notes on the word mahogany

These notes were inspired by F. Bruce Lamb's paper "On Further Defining Mahogany" published earlier in Economic Botany 17: 217-232. 1963). Lamb devotes some of his space to an attack on what I say in a paper of like title, "On Defining Mahogany," which appeared in Language (16: 308-318. 1940). In my paper I had said: "The etymology of mahogany has never been determined, and probably never will be, for want of evidence." Lamb found these words of mine "an intriguing challenge" and he proceeded to give an etymology. But first let me quote more fully from my own paper:
A statistic for measuring the balance of a sample

Consider a finite population which has many auxiliary variables. A statistic, which is a function of the moments of the auxiliary variables, is proposed to measure the balance of a sample. The mean and variance of this statistic are derived.
Analysis of plasma lipids and apolipoproteins in insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent diabetics

Abstract Plasma triglycerides, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and apolipoproteins (apo) A-I, A-II, C-II, and C-III were determined and analyzed in 170 diabetic patients and 46 age-matched healthy normal subjects. The diabetics were separated into two groups: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM, n = 78) and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, n = 92). Significantly increased triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and normal cholesterol levels were found in the diabetics. The lipid profiles were similar in the IDDM and NIDDM groups. Plasma apo A-I, but not apo A-II, was low in both groups of diabetics. However, only in the IDDM subjects was there a statistically significant decrease in apo A-I when compared to normal subjects. The decreased apo A-I level negatively correlated with plasma triglycerides. Apo C-II and apo C-III were slightly increased in the diabetics compared to normal subjects. Apo C-II and apo C-III levels significantly correlated with plasma triglycerides (apo C-II, r = 0.70, P r = 0.71, P
Conformal miniaturization of domains with low domain-wall energy: monoclinic ferroelectric states near the morphotropic phase boundaries.

A theory is developed for intermediate monoclinic (${\mathrm{F}\mathrm{E}}_{m}$) phases near morphotropic phase boundaries in ferroelectrics of complex oxides. It is based on the conformal miniaturization of stress-accommodating tetragonal domains under the condition of low domain-wall energy density. The microdomain-averaged lattice parameters are determined and attributed to the parameters of an adaptive monoclinic phase. The theory is applied to the temperature, electric field, and compositional dependent ${\mathrm{F}\mathrm{E}}_{m}$ lattice parameters. The predictions of the theory are rigidly obeyed over the entire ${\mathrm{F}\mathrm{E}}_{m}$ stability range.
Long-Term Enalapril Therapy for Left Ventricular Dysfunction in Doxorubicin-Treated Survivors of Childhood Cancer

PURPOSE: A common late effect of doxorubicin therapy for childhood cancer is reduced left-ventricular (LV) wall thickness resulting in elevated LV afterload and depressed LV function. Many children are given angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, which have been studied primarily in adults. We document the long-term effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in doxorubicin-treated survivors of childhood cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, we reviewed records of 18 children who had regular echocardiographic examinations during enalapril therapy (mean age at cancer diagnosis, 8 years; mean time between completion of doxorubicin therapy and start of enalapril, 7 years; median follow-up since the start of enalapril, 10 years). RESULTS: Over the first 6 years of enalapril therapy, there was progressive improvement toward normal values in LV dimension, afterload, fractional shortening, and mass, but all these parameters deteriorated between 6 and 10 years. LV wall thickness de...
Somatic Hybridization between Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana plumbaginifolia by Electrofusion of Mesophyll Protoplasts

Summary Leaf mesophyll protoplasts of a streptomycin resistant nitrate reductase deficient mutant of Nicotiana tabacum were fused with leaf mesophyll protoplasts of a wild type variety of N. plumbaginifolia in a simple electrofusion apparatus. Somatic hybrid colonies, and plants were readily recovered after fusion by selection of colonies in medium with nitrate as sole nitrogen source and also containing streptomycin. The value of this simple electrofusion apparatus (Watts and King, 1984) lies in its simplicity of construction and use and also in its ability to deal with literally millions of protoplasts in any one experiment.