cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chemoprevention of colon cancer by Celecoxib in combination with omega-3 fatty acid rich diet: Strategies to improve the clinical efficacy of selective COX-2 inhibitors

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 46, 2005 2480 Epidemiological and preclinical studies have provided evidence that high dietary saturated fats such as those in Western diets increase the risk of colon cancer development, whereas high dietary fish oil high in ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) reduces the risk. Preclinical studies conducted in our laboratory have affirmed that celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor prevents colon cancer more effectively than the traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other chemopreventive agents in animal models of colon cancer. Although, human clinical trials showed a significant reduction of colonic polyps by celecoxib, however, the efficacy observed in human trials is somewhat lower than the preclinical observations. Thus, it is important to develop strategies to improve the clinical efficacy of celecoxib. Based on this objectivity we examine the efficacy of different levels of celecoxib administered in a diet high in mixed lipids present in average American diet and in a diet high in ω-3 PUFAs as a means of obtaining increased efficacy against colon carcinogenesis. At 7 weeks of age, groups of male F344 rats received s.c. injections of azoxymethane (AOM) at a dose level of 15 mg/kg body weight, once weekly for 2 weeks. Beginning 1 day after the AOM treatment, groups of rats were maintained on experimental diets containing 20% mixed lipids (HFML) or 10% HFML plus 10% fish oil (HFFO) with or without celecoxib at 250, 500 and 1000 ppm and continued on this dietary regimen for 24 weeks. Colonic tumors were evaluated histopathologically. In addition, colonic tumors were also analyzed for COX-2 synthetic activity and expression levels. Animals fed the HFFO diet showed a significantly lower colon tumor incidence and multiplicity when compared to those fed the HFML diet. Administration of celecoxib at 250, 500 and 1000 ppm in HFML and HFFO diets significantly suppressed colon carcinogenesis. Importantly, administration of very low dose level (250 ppm) or celecoxib in HFFO diet is more effective in suppressing colon tumorigenesis than when it is administered in HFML diet. Our results also demonstrate that the inhibition colon tumorigenesis by celecoxib in HFFO diet is associated with inhibition of COX-2 synthetic activity and expression levels in colon tumors. Also, feeding a HFFO diet significantly inhibited total COX activity in colon tumors. Thus, the results of this study strongly support the view that administration of low doses of celecoxib in ω-3 PUFA-rich diet appears to be a promising approach that may evolve into a efficacious strategy in human cancer chemoprevention trials. (Supported by the NCI Grant CA 37663).
Performance of real phase retrieval

This paper analyzes the mean-square error performance of the popular PhaseLift algorithm for phase retrieval, which is the problem of recovering an unknown signal from the magnitudes of a collection of linear measurements of the signal. This problem arises in many physical systems where only magnitudes can be measured. Our analysis approach is based on a novel comparison lemma, which upper bounds the performance of the convex-optimization-based PhaseLift algorithm in terms of an auxiliary convex optimization algorithm which is much more amenable to analysis. An upshot of our analysis is that an n-dimensional unknown signal can be recovered from the magnitudes of cn random linear measurements, where c > 1 is a constant (which empirically appears to be 3). This improves the best known earlier results which could only guarantee signal recovery with O(n log n) magnitude-only measurements. in fact, and more explicitly, we show that the sufficient number of the measurements in the high SNR regime (which corresponds to noiseless phase retrieval) can be derived from solving a deterministic convex optimization in 3 variables.
Obesity and Associated Health Disparities Among Understudied Multiracial, Pacific Islander, and American Indian Adults.

Objective This study examined the state of obesity, diabetes, and associated health disparities among understudied multiracial, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI), and American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) adults. Methods Aggregated data for 184,617 adults from the California Health Interview Survey (2005 to 2011) were analyzed to determine obesity, diabetes, poor/fair health, and physical disability prevalence by racial group. Logistic regressions controlling for age, gender, and key social determinants (education, marital status, poverty, health insurance) generated multiracial, NHOPI, and AIAN adults' odds ratios (ORs) for our targeted health conditions versus non-Hispanic white adults. Results Obesity, diabetes, and other targeted health conditions were highly prevalent among multiracial, NHOPI, and AIAN adults, who displayed significantly greater adjusted odds than non-Hispanic white adults for obesity (ORs = 1.2-1.9), diabetes (ORs = 1.6-2.4), poor/fair health (ORs = 1.4-1.7), and, with the exception of NHOPI adults, physical disability (ORs = 1.5-1.6). Multiracial and AIAN adults with obesity also had significantly higher adjusted odds of diabetes (OR = 1.5-2.6) than non-Hispanic white adults with obesity. Conclusions Multiracial, NHOPI, and AIAN adults experience striking obesity-related disparities versus non-Hispanic white adults, urging further disparities research with these vulnerable minority populations.
Breaking the Chain of Infection in Older Adults: A Review of Risk Factors and Strategies for Preventing Device-Related Infections

Device-related infections (DRIs) are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among older adults. Indwelling devices (urinary catheters, percutaneous feeding tubes, and central venous catheters) are frequently used in this vulnerable population. Indwelling devices provide a portal of entry for pathogenic organisms to invade a susceptible host and cause infection and are an important target for infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship efforts. Within the "Chain of Infection" that leads to DRIs in older adults, multiple opportunities exist to implement interventions that "break the links" and reduce colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms, reduce infections, and improve antimicrobial use.
Zone purification of reactive metals

A description is given for an apparatus and technique used to zone melt reactive, high-melting-point metals by the floating zone method. The use of radioactive tracers to determine the redistribution of solute during zone melting is discussed and results are shown for P32 in iron, Au198 in titanium and zirconium, and Zn65 in titanium. Some tensile results on iron at liquid nitrogen and liquid helium temperatures are given which indicate that the removal of trace impurities markedly increase the low temperature ductility of iron.
State space modeling of three-phase transformers for small-signal analysis of a microgrid

Unlike transmission system where model of different elements are available to study system's stability there is lack of such models while studying microgrid stability, main reason being that microgrid is still an evolving topic. One such element is transformer, transformers have been an integral part of power system, and are still used in microgrid infrastructure hence it is important to model different types of transformers so that such model can be used for better analysis of system whenever needed. This paper investigates small-signal state-space model of different types of three-phase transformers which have been used in distribution system and can be used in a microgrid.
Spirituality Among Older African Americans

Recent changes in gerontology have drawn attention to the role of spirituality among older adults. Demographic trends suggest that the number of African Americans over the age of 65 is increasing, with the largest shift to occur in persons 85 years of age and older. Given the paucity of information available regarding the relationship between spirituality and aging along with the increase in the number of older African Americans, a literature review of these concepts is sorely needed. This paper provides a thorough profile of older African Americans, with a review of historical and cultural factors that have informed the spiritual development of this population. Additionally, attention is given to methodological issues such as definitions, measures, sampling, and research designs at the interface of development and spirituality in this population. The paper also reviews findings to date about the effects of spirituality on physical and mental health among older African Americans.
Somatic Hybridization Between Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. (Tomato) and Solanum ochranthum Dun.

Solanum ochranthum is a recently discovered woody vine-like tropical nightshade found mainly in wet swampy habitats of the northern Andes. S. ochranthum is a member of the section Petota, subsection Potatoe, series Juglandifoha. Species in the series Juglandifoha have a combination of Lycopersicon characters that differentiate them from other Solanum species. S. ochranthum and other members of the series Juglandifoha do not form tubers, have pinnately divided leaves, and have flowers that are yeflow in color, similar to Lycopersicon spp. Flowers of most other species in section Petota, subsection Potatoe, are pink to blue or white. Solanum ochranthum is considered to be a relative of the cultivated tomato Lycopersicon esculentum (Rick 1988; Spooner et al. 1993).
Sensitive electrochemical detection of glucose via a hybrid self-powered biosensing system

Abstract The importance of glucose in many biological processes continues to garner increasing research interest in the design and development of efficient biotechnology for the sensitive and selective monitoring of glucose. Here we report on a novel hybrid self-powered biosensing system with a unique capability to convert the biochemical energy of glucose into electrical power, which is subsequently stored in a 10 pF capacitor serving as the transducing element. The anode and biocathode of the hybrid cell were constructed from a gold-supported nanoporous colloidal platinum structure (Au-co-Pt) and bilirubin oxidase (BOD) modified gold coated Buckypaper (BP-Au-BOD), respectively. The hybrid cell delivered an open circuit voltage and short circuit current of 0.73 V and 0.50 mA, which was ample to drive an energy amplification circuit and generate sufficient power to power an LED via the 10 pF capacitor. The self-powered glucose biosensing system exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity towards glucose oxidation with a linear dynamic range up to 18 mM glucose. The biosensor demonstrated excellent selectivity towards glucose in the presence of interfering species. This presented hybrid self-powered biosensing system holds great promise to develop a self-contained continuous monitoring systems for a variety of biomedicine applications.
Contact toxicity of filter cake and Triplex powders from Ethiopia against Sitophilus oryzae

Abstract Contact toxicity of filter cake and Triplex powders from Ethiopia were evaluated against the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (Linnaeus). The study was aimed at determining the lethal and effective concentrations and times for both powders against S. oryzae. The lethal concentrations for 50 and 99% mortality (LC50 and LC99) of filter cake and Triplex against S. oryzae were determined at 14 d after exposing 10 adults for 12 h to concrete arenas inside Petri dishes treated with filter cake concentrations of 0.5–8 g/m2 and Triplex concentrations of 1–9 g/m2. Lethal times for 50 and 99% mortality (LT50 and LT99) were determined at 14 d after exposing adults for 1–24 h to 3 g/m2 of filter cake and 9 g/m2 of Triplex. Effective concentrations (EC50 and EC99) and times (ET50 and ET99) for 50 and 99% reduction of adult progeny production were determined from reduction in adult progeny production relative to production in control treatments at 42 d after exposure to filter cake and Triplex. LC50 and LC99 values for S. oryzae adults were 0.70 and 8.49 g/m2, respectively, when exposed to filter cake and 2.27 and 21.38 g/m2, respectively, when exposed to Triplex. The corresponding LT50 and LT99 values were 3.13 and 27.21 h, respectively, for filter cake and 4.72 and 38.60 h, respectively, for Triplex. EC50 and EC99 values for progeny reduction were 0.57 and 7.95 g/m2, respectively, for filter cake and 2.77 and 18.82 g/m2, respectively, for Triplex. The corresponding ET50 and ET99 values were 2.57 and 17.73 h, respectively for filter cake and 3.39 and 24.74 h, respectively, for Triplex. S. oryzae exposed to filter cake produced significantly less number of insect damaged kernels and grain weight loss than those exposed to Triplex. Filter cake was more efficacious against S. oryzae than Triplex.
The Reintervention Index: A New Outcome Measure for Comparative Effectiveness of Lower Extremity Revascularization.

Abstract Introduction Reinterventions after lower extremity revascularization (LER) are common. Current outcome measures assessing durability of revascularization rely on freedom from reintervention but do not account for the frequency of repeated LER. The aim of this study is to compare the reintervention index, defined as the mean number of repeat LER, after open and endovascular revascularization. We hypothesized that that endovascular procedures have reduced durability and increased frequency of reinterventions. Methods A retrospective review of the charts of consecutive patients undergoing LER for peripheral artery disease (PAD) in 2013-2014 by multiple specialties in a tertiary care center was performed. Patients were divided into open and endovascular groups based on the first LER procedure performed during the study period. Patient characteristics and outcomes were compared between the 2 groups. Multivariable regression was performed to determine factors associated with reintervention. Results There were 367 patients (Endo = 316, Open = 51). A total of 211 patients underwent 497 reinterventions (reintervention rate = 57.5%, reintervention index = 2.35 ± 2.02 procedures [Range 1-11]). Patients in the open group were more likely to be smokers (P=.018), and to have prior open LER (P=.003) while patients in the endovascular group were older (P Conclusions The reintervention index provides a measure to assess the frequency of repeat LER. Patients with PAD, in this study, are afflicted with similar extent of reinterventions after open and endovascular LER.
Investigating the Relationship between Antioxidants and Fatty Acid Degradation Using a Combination Approach of GC-FID and Square-Wave Voltammetry

Analytical methodology for direct investigation of antioxidant systems continues to be a pressing research area. Consumer demand for natural products requires an increase in natural antioxidants; thus, fast, high-throughput, and cost-effective screening methods are in demand. In this study, square-wave voltammetry and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) were used in conjunction to monitor antioxidant and fatty acid degradation, respectively, during the accelerated degradation of an omega-3 fatty acid sample. Butylated hydroxytoluene, sesamol, and rosemary extract were investigated as antioxidants. It was determined that voltammetry could be used to monitor the reduction in oxidation current, which provides a direct assessment method for the reduction of native antioxidant concentration throughout the accelerated degradation. Furthermore, results showed that voltammetry could be used to monitor fatty acid degradation similarly to the fatty acid methyl ester analysis routinely perfor...
Association of Nematodes with Dogwood Canker and Stem Malformations on Other Trees

Two nematodes, one stylet-bearing and allied to the Aphelenchoides fragariae complex and the non-stylet species Panagrolaimus subelongatus, were isolated from the disrupted bark on main trunks and branches of young flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.) trees exhibiting symptoms of “dogwood canker” disease. Similar nematodes were isolated from burls on the trunks of Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila L.), Higan cherry (Prunus subhirtella Miq.), red oak (Quercus rubra L.) and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), whereas only the Panagrolaimus species was found in abnormal tumorous growths on the trunks of the Green Mountain cultivar of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh. ‘Green Mountain’). Nematodes were recovered 2 months after inoculation into young dogwood stems in June, 1983 but none could be detected after the inoculated trees had been subjected to winter temperatures as low as −22°C (−4°F) even though nematodes in established cankers survived under the same conditions. Inoculations made in July, 1984 into c...
Extending bandwidth for sound power measurements

Sound power is often measured using the intensity-based engineering standard ANSI S12.12-1992. Traditional methods for intensity-based sound power estimation are limited in bandwidth at low frequencies by phase mismatch between microphones and at high frequencies by microphone spacing—with errors occurring well below the spatial Nyquist frequency. The PAGE (Phase and Amplitude Gradient Estimation) method has been used to extend the bandwidth of intensity calculations [Gee et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141(4), EL357–EL362 (2017)]. This paper examines the efficacy of the PAGE method to overcome bandwidth limitations in estimating sound power. Specifically, the sound fields from three sources—a blender, a vacuum cleaner, and a dodecahedron speaker—were measured according to ANSI S12.12-1992. The sound power was computed for each source using both the traditional and PAGE methods. The resulting intensity-based sound power estimates are compared against sound power measurements obtained according to the scientific-grade ISO 3741:1999 standard. The PAGE method increases the bandwidth over which reliable estimates are achievable for intensity-based sound power estimates, even exceeding the spatial Nyquist frequency when phase unwrapping is successful. Thus, using existing equipment, industry professionals can extend the bandwidth of sound power estimates with the PAGE method. [Work supported by NSF.]
Spanish-English Bilingual Children's Relative Use of English Tense and Agreement Morphemes.

Best practice for bilingual speakers involves considering performance in each language the client uses. To support this practice for young clients, a comprehensive understanding of how bilingual children develop skills in each language is needed. To that end, the present work investigates relative use of English tense and agreement (T/A) morphemes—a skill frequently considered as part of a complete language assessment—in Spanish-English developing bilingual preschoolers with varying levels of language ability. Results indicate that developing bilingual children with both typical and weak language skills demonstrate greater use of copula and auxiliary BE relative to third person singular, past tense and auxiliary DO. Findings thus reveal a relative ranking of T/A morphemes in developing bilingual children that differs from that of English monolingual children, who demonstrate relatively later emergence and productivity of auxiliary BE. In turn, findings demonstrate the importance of utilizing appropriate comparisons in clinical practice.
Phenylbutyrate facilitates homeostasis of non-resolving inflammatory macrophages.

Non-resolving inflammatory monocytes/macrophages are critically involved in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases. However, mechanisms of macrophage polarization are not well understood...
Solar Rich and Water Poor: The Case for Solar Desalination in El Paso, Texas

Desalination is an increasingly important water source for the sunny, arid city of El Paso, Texas. As the city’s population grows, El Paso Water, the city’s water utility, has had to drill deeper i...
Oral-velum actions in the articulation of nasal juncture geminates and singletons

Articulatory studies of consonant production generally focus on oral gestures, without further attention to the action of non-oral gestures—such as velum gestures. In large measure, this lacuna has...
Site-1 protease ablation in the osterix-lineage in mice results in bone marrow neutrophilia and hematopoietic stem cell alterations

Site-1 protease (S1P) ablation in the osterix-lineage in mice drastically reduces bone development and downregulates bone marrow-derived skeletal stem cells. Here we show that these mice also suffer from spina bifida occulta with a characteristic lack of bone fusion in the posterior neural arches. Molecular analysis of bone marrow-derived non-red blood cell cells, via single-cell RNA-Seq and protein mass spectrometry, demonstrate that these mice have a much-altered bone marrow with a significant increase in neutrophils and Ly6C-expressing leukocytes. The molecular composition of bone marrow neutrophils is also different as they express more and additional members of the stefin A (Stfa) family of proteins. In vitro, recombinant Stfa1 and Stfa2 proteins have the ability to drastically inhibit osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells, with no effect on adipogenic differentiation. FACS analysis of hematopoietic stem cells show that despite a decrease in hematopoietic stem cells, S1P ablation results in an increased production of granulocyte-macrophage progenitors, the precursors to neutrophils. These observations indicate that S1P has a role in the lineage specification of hematopoietic stem cells and/or their progenitors for development of a normal hematopoietic niche. Our study designates a fundamental requirement of S1P for maintaining a balanced regenerative capacity of the bone marrow niche.
High-frequency oscillatory ventilation as a rescue for severe asthma crisis in a child.

Mechanical ventilation in the asthmatic child may be complicated by dynamic air trapping leading to hemodynamic compromise and cardiac arrest. High-frequency oscillatory ventilation is relatively c...
Acinetobacter baumannii can use multiple siderophores for iron acquisition, but only acinetobactin is required for virulence

Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging pathogen that poses a global health threat due to a lack of therapeutic options for treating drug-resistant strains. In addition to acquiring resistance to last-resort antibiotics, the success of A. baumannii is partially due to its ability to effectively compete with the host for essential metals. Iron is fundamental in shaping host-pathogen interactions, where the host restricts availability of this nutrient in an effort to curtail bacterial proliferation. To circumvent restriction, pathogens possess numerous mechanisms to obtain iron, including through the use of iron-scavenging siderophores. A. baumannii elaborates up to ten distinct siderophores, encoded from three different loci: acinetobactin and pre-acinetobactin (collectively, acinetobactin), baumannoferrins A and B, and fimsbactins A-F. The expression of multiple siderophores is common amongst bacterial pathogens and often linked to virulence, yet the collective contribution of these siderophores to A. baumannii survival and pathogenesis has not been investigated. Here we begin dissecting functional redundancy in the siderophore-based iron acquisition pathways of A. baumannii. Excess iron inhibits overall siderophore production by the bacterium, and the siderophore-associated loci are uniformly upregulated during iron restriction in vitro and in vivo. Further, disrupting all of the siderophore biosynthetic pathways is necessary to drastically reduce total siderophore production by A. baumannii, together suggesting a high degree of functional redundancy between the metabolites. By contrast, inactivation of acinetobactin biosynthesis alone impairs growth on human serum, transferrin, and lactoferrin, and severely attenuates survival of A. baumannii in a murine bacteremia model. These results suggest that whilst A. baumannii synthesizes multiple iron chelators, acinetobactin is critical to supporting growth of the pathogen on host iron sources. Given the acinetobactin locus is highly conserved and required for virulence of A. baumannii, designing therapeutics targeting the biosynthesis and/or transport of this siderophore may represent an effective means of combating this pathogen.
States, Industrial Policies & Antidumping Enforcements in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

The limited aim of this article is to review salient features of CISG, highlighting areas where CISG differs from or is more detailed than the legal norms set forth in the Korean Civil and Commercial Codes, the primary sources of Korean law governing commercial sales. France and other European and Latin American countries with civil tradition legal systems similar to Korea's contributed greatly to the multilateral negotiations which created the CISG text, accordingly many parts of the CISG will appear immediately familiar to Korean jurists. At the same time, because CISG was drafted after deliberation on the unique characteristics of international sales of goods and required accommodation of legal principles derived from dissimilar legal systems, there are a number of significant divergences from existing Korean law." Comparative reference will also be made to the UCC of the United States, to the laws of other civil law countries, and to court and arbitral decisions interpreting CISG where such reference helps clarify the approach of CISG or Korean law to particular issues.
Wild, Native, or Pure: Trout as Genetic Bodies:

Advances in genetics and genomics have raised new questions in trout restoration and management, specifically about species identity and purity, which fish to value, and where these fish belong. Th...
Critical roles of transcriptional coactivator MED1 in the formation and function of mouse adipose tissues

The MED1 subunit has been shown to mediate ligand-dependent binding of the Mediator coactivator complex to multiple nuclear receptors, including the adipogenic PPARγ, and to play an essential role in ectopic PPARγ-induced adipogenesis of mouse embryonic fibroblasts. However, the precise roles of MED1, and its various domains, at various stages of adipogenesis and in adipose tissue have been unclear. Here, after establishing requirements for MED1, including specific domains, for differentiation of 3T3L1 cells and both primary white and brown preadipocytes, we used multiple genetic approaches to assess requirements for MED1 in adipocyte formation, maintenance, and function in mice. We show that MED1 is indeed essential for the differentiation and/or function of both brown and white adipocytes, as its absence in these cells leads to, respectively, defective brown fat function and lipodystrophy. This work establishes MED1 as an essential transcriptional coactivator that ensures homeostatic functions of adipocytes.
Health and Well-Being of Hispanic/Latino Meatpacking Workers in Nebraska: An Application of the Health Belief Model:

Background:Meatpacking is dirty, dangerous, and demanding work. In the United States, the industry predominately employs people from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds and immigrants, with 45% of t...
A Component-Level Model of Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B)

Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) is being employed in numerous peer-to-peer initiatives attempting to expand the capacity of the National Airspace System (NAS) or enable mixed operations of manned and unmanned vehicles. Safety assessments of these initiatives rely, in part, on modeling the accuracy of ADS-B in reporting the position and direction of an ownship and surrounding traffic. Frequently, these initiatives utilize a position uncertainty model that applies a reported ADS-B estimation position uncertainty (EPU) value to a Rayleigh distribution and uses a Gauss-Markov random walk to add error to the ADS-B output of a vehicle. This model of ADS-B state error is easy to implement and apply to numerous problems. However, it has a couple of draw-backs. First, the ADS-B state errors are equally probable in all directions. This is a good assumption in situations where aircraft maneuvering is not constrained. However, in situations where the aircraft maneuvering is constrained such as landing, the error distribution is likely to exhibit directionality and the non-directional model may skew results especially when assessing very low probabilities (e.g., 10(exp -9)) of catastrophic encounters. Second, the model does not account for processing latency in the receiving aircraft. NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) recently examined the feasibility of decreasing the spacing of aircraft on parallel approaches to runways separated by as little as 700 feet. For Monte-Carlo analysis using a high-fidelity simulation of a large transport, LaRC started with a Gauss-Markov model of ADS-B error but then developed a component level model of ADS-B error to increase the fidelity of results.
Pregnancy outcomes after exposure to crisis pregnancy centers among an abortion-seeking sample recruited online.

Introduction More than 2,500 crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which seek to convince people considering abortion to continue their pregnancies, exist in the United States. However, the characteristics of people who visit CPCs and their pregnancy outcomes are largely unknown. This study sought to describe the characteristics of people considering abortion who report visiting CPCs, and whether CPC visit is associated with abortion or continuing the pregnancy 4 weeks later. Methods Between August 2017 to May 2018, we recruited pregnant people searching for abortion services online, and 857 participants completed baseline and 4-week follow-up surveys. We described characteristics associated with visiting a CPC and compared pregnancy and abortion outcomes for those who reported CPC visit to those who did not using mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression. Results Overall, 13.1% of respondents visited a confirmed CPC. Living further away from a CPC was associated with lower odds of a CPC visit. At follow-up, respondents who had visited a CPC were significantly less likely to have had an abortion (29.5%) than those who had not visited a CPC (50.5%). In the adjusted models, respondents who had visited a CPC had higher odds of being pregnant and still seeking abortion (aOR: 2.26, 95% CI: 1.37-3.73) or continuing the pregnancy (aOR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.33-4.15) (versus having had an abortion), than those who had not visited a CPC. Conclusions CPCs may be providing resources to people who are considering continuing their pregnancy and/or they may be misleading people about the care and referrals they provide related to abortion. Pregnant people need access to accurate information, decision support, and resources to make the pregnancy or abortion decision that is best for them.
Evolutionary Dynamics in Molecular Populations of Ligase Ribozymes

The emergence of life depended on the ability of the first biopolymer populations to thrive and approach larger population sizes and longer sequences that could store enough information, as required for a cellular type of life. The evolution of these populations very likely occurred under circumstances under which Muller’s Ratchet in synergism with random drift could have caused large genetic deterioration of the biopolymers. The genetic deterioration of the molecules caused by the accumulation of mutations occurred during the copying process, can drive the populations to extinction unless there is a mechanism to counteract it. To test the effect of the mutation rate and the effective population size on the time to extinction, we used clonal populations of B16-19 ligase ribozymes, evolved with the continuous evolution in vitro system. The experiments were done using populations of 100, 300, 600 and/or 3000 molecules, and at low and high mutation rates. The errorprone Moloney Murine Leukemia virus reverse transcriptase was used with and without the addition of Mn(II). Populations evolved without Mn(II) were of four effective sizes. The times to extinction for those populations were found to be directly related to the effective size of the population. The small populations approached extinction at an average of 24.3 cycles; while the large populations did so at an average of 44.5 cycles. Genotypic characterization of the populations showed the presence of deleterious mutations in the small populations, which are the likely cause of their genetic deterioration and
HIV Afflicted Haitians: New Hope When Seeking Asylum

There is new hope for HIV-positive Haitians who seek asylum in the United States. Historically, these asylum seekers have been limited in the arguments they could advance in order to avoid deportation.1 Recently, however, a team of lawyers used a new and innovative defense and prevailed in Miami-Dade County Immigration Court.2 This successfully presented defense will be referred to as a "reverse" religious persecution argument. Usually, religious persecution cases involve aliens who are persecuted for beliefs that are unpopular in their home countries causing them to seek asylum in the United States.3 The instant case "reversed" the nature of the claim because the affected alien ("Mr. C-J") is not affiliated with a religion that is subject to persecution in Haiti. Rather, he would have been persecuted by Haitian citizens because of the superstitions and fears promulgated by the voodoo religion towards those afflicted with HIV.4 Although there is an argument that this case can be understood as
High Life Cycle Efficacy Explains Fast Energy Payback for Improved Off-Grid Lighting Systems

Summary The energy intensity of fuel-based lighting is substantial given the paltry levels of lighting service, poor economic outcomes, and exposure to public health risks for users throughout the developing world. There is a great opportunity to reduce fossil energy consumption (and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions) while improving public health and economic outcomes for the poor by encouraging upgrading from fuel-based to rechargeable light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. However, switching to efficient lighting requires up-front investments of energy for manufacturing. This study explores life cycle energy performance in the market for modern off-grid lighting (OGL) products in Sub-Saharan Africa and introduces a new metric, life cycle efficacy, which facilitates comparisons and analysis of life cycle energy performance (light output per unit of embodied plus use-phase energy consumption) for lighting technology systems. Combining field insights on technology adoption dynamics with embodied energy estimates for a range of products available in 2012 shows that OGL energy “debts” are “paid back” in 20 to 50 days (substantially faster than kilowatt-scale grid-connected solar electricity systems) with energy return on investment ratios from 10 to 40. This stems from greatly improved life cycle efficacy for off-grid LED lighting (∼20 lumens/watt [lm/W]), compared to fuel-based lighting (∼0.04 lumens/W). Life cycle benefits—not only energy, but also economic and health benefits—depend strongly on product service lifetime (related to quality) and fuel displacement fraction (related to performance). OGL life cycle efficacy increases from longer lifetime and/or improved LED source efficacy lead to better quality and less-expensive lighting available in the developing world with lower energy use than the fuel-based incumbent technology.
Stock return variances: The arrival of information and the reaction of traders

Asset prices are much more volatile during exchange trading hours than during non-trading hours. This paper considers three explanations for this phenomenon: (1) volatility is caused by public information which is more likely to arrive during normal business hours; (2) volatility is caused by private information which affects prices when informed investors trade; and (3) volatility is caused by pricing errors that occur during trading. Although a significant fraction of the daily variance is caused by mispricing, the behavior of returns around exchange holidays suggests that private information is the principle factor behind high trading-time variances.
Congenital tuberculosis: Critical reappraisal of clinical findings and diagnostic procedures

The recent pattern of immigration from Indochina and Latin America to the United States suggests that tuberculosis will remain a significant public health problem. Two infants recently seen with probable congenital tuberculosis prompted critical evaluation of the 24 cases of congenital tuberculosis reported in the English literature since the introduction of isoniazid in 1952. Failure to thrive, jaundice, and central nervous system involvement, all reported in previous reviews and textbooks to be very common, were unusual presenting manifestations. In contrast, hepatomegaly, a finding not mentioned in the recent literature, was common. Diagnostic procedures previously underutilized but found in this review to be useful included liver biopsy, biopsy of skin lesions when present, and cultures of gastric aspirates. Factors which enable differentiation of congenital from early postnatally acquired tuberculosis include (1) the presence of known maternal tuberculosis at delivery, (2) whether infant and mother were separated from birth until the onset of illness, and (3) whether other tuberculous exposure of the infant can be determined. Insufficient data prevent recommendation of a preferred regimen of drugs in addition to isoniazid for the treatment of congenital tuberculosis. However, the responses of our patients suggest that streptomycin can be omitted without hazard. Information regarding the long-term prognosis of survivors is lacking, but early diagnosis and institution of appropriate therapy has markedly decreased the mortality of this previously fatal disorder.
Size and bag limits in recreational fisheries: theoretical and empirical analysis.

Size and bag limits are among the most common forms of regulations for recreational fisheries. In this paper, we theoretically study and compare the short- and long-term impacts of these policies on individual anglers and fish stocks. Particular attention is paid to the issue of release mortality, which can have important consequences for policy effectiveness. Theoretically, we show the conditions under which these policies will be successful in achieving biological objectives. Implications for recreation demand analysis are discussed. We also study these policies using a simulation model of various policy combinations for the Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery.
Ekphrasis, Artists’ Intentions, and Anthropological Polemics in Angle Brackets: Toward a Thicker Description of Digital Documentary Material

Introduction In our contemporary networked information landscape we have many different regimes of descriptive practice. Many, but not all, come from the information field comprising Library and Information Science, Archival Science, Semantic Web, and the like. Others grow out of other forms of communication, both formal and informal. Examples of other forms include social tagging, wikis, ambient metadata given off by location based technology, and search behavior logs on our devices as informal communication cum description.
Network Utility Maximization With Nonconcave Utilities Using Sum-of-Squares Method

The Network Utility Maximization problem has recently been used extensively to analyze and design distributed rate allocation in networks such as the Internet. A major limitation in the state-of-the-art is that user utility functions are assumed to be strictly concave functions, modeling elastic flows. Many applications require inelastic flow models where nonconcave utility functions need to be maximized. It has been an open problem to find the globally optimal rate allocation that solves nonconcave network utility maximization, which is a difficult nonconvex optimization problem. We provide a centralized algorithm for off-line analysis and establishment of a performance benchmark for nonconcave utility maximization. Based on the semialgebraic approach to polynomial optimization, we employ convex sum-of-squares relaxations solved by a sequence of semidefinite programs, to obtain increasingly tighter upper bounds on total achievable utility for polynomial utilities. Surprisingly, in all our experiments, a very low order and often a minimal order relaxation yields not just a bound on attainable network utility, but the globally maximized network utility. When the bound is exact, which can be proved using a sufficient test, we can also recover a globally optimal rate allocation. In addition to polynomial utilities, sigmoidal utilities can be transformed into polynomials and are handled. Furthermore, using two alternative representation theorems for positive polynomials, we present price interpretations in economics terms for these relaxations, extending the classical interpretation of independent congestion pricing on each link to pricing for the simultaneous usage of multiple links.
Exploring Transnational Media Exchange in the 1960s

This paper uses the history of the East German television service (DFF) to examine the emergence and implications of the international exchange of television content in the 1960s.
Problems for contrastive closure: resolved and regained

The standard contextualist solution to the skeptical paradox is intended to provide a way to retain epistemic closure while avoiding the excessive modesty of radical skepticism and the immodesty of Moorean dogmatism. However, contextualism’s opponents charge that its solution suffers from epistemic immodesty comparable to Moorean dogmatism. According to the standard contextualist solution, all contexts where an agent knows some ordinary proposition to be true are contexts where she also knows that the skeptical hypotheses are false. It has been hoped that contrastivist theories of knowledge can mirror the contextualist solution while avoiding this epistemic immodesty. I review the main problems for contrastive closure and argue that none of the arguments currently in the literature pose an insurmountable problem for the contrastivist solution. However, I argue that contrastivist theories of knowledge, like their contextualist rivals, are indeed committed to epistemic immodesty.
Medication errors. How common are they and what can be done to prevent them

Medication errors are common in hospitals, but only about 1 in a 100 actually results in harm to the patient. Conversely, only about 30% of injuries due to drugs in hospitals are associated with a medication error, and are thus preventable. Nonetheless, drugs are used so frequently that the total number of preventable drug injuries that occur is substantial, and these injuries are costly. Changing the systems by which drugs are ordered and administered holds substantial potential for reducing the number of drug-related injuries. Computerised ordering systems, in which orders are written on-line by a physician and the physician can receive feedback on the suitability of the order during the process of making it, appear likely to have an especially large impact on reducing medication errors.
Short-run fluctuations in fertility and mortality in pre-industrial Sweden

Abstract This paper describes and interprets annual Swedish data from 1750 to 1869 on weather, harvests, real wages, birth rates, and death rates using vector autogression. Impulses due to unexplained increases in wealth, whether this occurred through increased real wages, improved agricultural yields, or warmer winters, led in the short run to increased fertility and decreased infant and non-infant mortality, and hence to increased rates of population growth. Unexplained or unanticipated fluctuations in infant mortality led to replacement cycles in fertility within one to three years, although only a negligible cumulative effect on fertility persisted after five to ten years. Fluctuations in deaths among persons older than one year evoked a fertility response several years later, but this replacement response persisted after more than a decade. Although vector autoregression is not designed to account for long-term trends and their consequences, the interrelationships found here among exogenous weather shocks and fluctuations in economic conditions and demographic rates provide support for the homeostatic mechanisms hypothesized by classical economists and discussed by Malthus. The methodology of vector autoregression appears useful for studying historical series on climatic, economic and demographic variables where we do not yet have a sufficient theoretical foundation for specifying and estimating structural models.
TH-C-103-12: Iterative Reconstruction for Dual Energy CT Using Accelerated Barrier Optimization Compressed Sensing (ABOCS)

Purpose: On an onboard cone‐beam CT (CBCT) system, the poly‐energetic beam generated by current commercial x‐ray tubes hardens as it penetrates the object. The beam‐hardening effect results in CT image artifacts of up to 100 HU, especially around dense objects (e.g. bones). With conventional dual energy method, two basis materials images are decomposed from the data with two different x‐ray spectra (e.g. with low and high tube kVp energies), and then are synthesized for a given single energy, which is free of beam‐hardening artifacts. However, noise in the dual energy projections are propagated through the logarithm and decomposition processes, which results in high noise level and severe streaking artifacts in the basis material images, thus severely degraded the image quality of the synthesized. Methods: In this work, we implement a published accelerated barrier optimization compressed sensing (ABOCS) algorithm, which minimized the data fidelity and the total variance (TV) norm of the two basis material images. Results: In both digital and physical head phantom, our proposed approach significantly suppresses the noise signals and the streaking artifacts. In the digital phantom, the root of mean square errors (RMSEs) of the two basis material image are reduced from 0.92 (Al image), 0.14(water image) to 0.08, 0.03. Conclusion: In this work, we proposed an iterative image reconstruction method for dual energy decomposition. In the both digital and physical head phantoms, the proposed method greatly suppressed the streaking artifacts and reduced the noise level.
Cognitive Indicators of Social Anxiety in Youth: A Structural Equation Analysis

Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated significant relationships among various cognitive variables such as negative cognition, self-efficacy, and social anxiety. Unfortunately, few studies focus on the role of cognition among youth, and researchers often fail to use domain-specific measures when examining cognitive variables. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine domain-specific cognitive variables (i.e., socially oriented negative self-referent cognition and social self-efficacy) and their relationships to social anxiety in children and adolescents using structural equation modeling techniques. A community sample of children and adolescents ( n = 245; 55.9% female; 83.3% Caucasian, 9.4% African American, 2% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 2% “other,” and 1.2% not reported) completed questionnaires assessing social cognition and social anxiety symptomology. Three latent variables were created to examine the constructs of socially oriented negative self-referent cognition (as measured by the SONAS scale), social self-efficacy (as measured by the SEQSS-C), and social anxiety (as measured by the SPAI-C and the Brief SA). The resulting measurement model of latent variables fit the data well. Additionally, consistent with the study hypothesis, results indicated that social self-efficacy likely mediates the relationship between socially oriented negative self-referent cognition and social anxiety, and socially oriented negative self-referent cognition yields significant direct and indirect effects on social anxiety. These findings indicate that socially oriented negative cognitions are associated with youth's beliefs about social abilities and the experience of social anxiety. Future directions for research and study limitations, including use of cross-sectional data, are discussed.