cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cellular components in peritoneal fluid in infertile patients with and without endometriosis.

Cellular components in peritoneal fluid of infertile patients with and without endometriosis were evaluated in 102 patients with Wright's-Giemsa and Papanicolaou stains. The secretory activity of these cells was studied indirectly by assaying acid phosphatase, prostaglandin (PG) F 2α and PGE 2 and complement components C 3c and C 4 . The results showed that macrophages and lymphocytes were the dominant cells in peritoneal fluid of these patients. These cells were significantly increased in endometriosis patients, as compared with control subjects. In addition, peritoneal fluid acid phosphatase, PGF 2α and PGE 2 , and complement components C 3c and C 4 were significantly increased in patients with endometriosis. These cellular changes and their activation in peritoneal fluid may explain infertility associated with endometriosis.
Testing the fading affect bias for healthy coping in the context of death.

ABSTRACTAffect fades faster for unpleasant events than for pleasant events (e.g., Walker, Vogl, & Thompson, 1997), which is referred to as the fading affect bias (FAB; Walker, Skowronski, Gibbons, Vogl, & Thompson, 2003). Although research has generally shown that the FAB is a healthy coping mechanism, this same finding has not been demonstrated at a specific level of analysis accounting for particular event types and related individual differences (e.g., Gibbons et al., 2013). Given the strong unpleasant emotions associated with death (Rask, Kaunonen, & Paunonen-Ilmonen, 2002), the current study examined FAB in the context of death events and participant attitudes toward death. General healthy coping was shown by robust FAB across death and control (i.e., everyday) events and by a negative correlation between negative religious coping and FAB. Although healthy coping at a specific level of analysis was supported by increased FAB for participants who held accepting attitudes toward death when they recalle...
Aberrant Megakaryocytic/Erythroid Progenitors Contributes To Transformation Of Cbfb-SMMHC Induced Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Inv(16)(p13q22) is a recurrent chromosomal rearrangement found in approximately 12% of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases and creates a fusion gene between CBFb and MYH11 . The fusion gene encodes a fusion protein CBFs-SMMHC which causes defects in lymphoid and myeloid differentiation. Previous studies also showed that primitive erythropoiesis is impaired by CBFs-SMMHC, however, CBFs-SMMHC knocked-in cells was able to contribute to adult erythropoiesis in chimeric mice. Expressing CBFs-SMMHC in the hematopoietic cells using a conditional knock-in mouse model ( Cbfb 56M/+ /Mx1-Cre ; 129SvEv strain ) recapitulates inv(16)-associated AML. Previous studies in this model showed that CBFs-SMMHC expression leads to pre-leukemic hematopoietic alterations, and together with additional cooperative mutations, result in spontaneous myeloid leukemia in mice with a 3-6 month latency. We hypothesized that an expanded cell population at the pre-leukemic stage could be the target of additional mutations, and hence the cell of origin of leukemia initiating cells. To further delineate the pre-leukemic progenitors and leukemia initiating cells, we backcrossed Cbfb 56M/+ /Mx1-Cre into C57BL/6 for more than 10 generations. Similar to previous studies in the129SvEv strain, expressing CBFs-SMMHC in adult C57BL/6 mice leads to cell number dependent development of AML. Analysis of pre-leukemic bone marrow as early as 2 weeks after induction revealed a 5.7-fold expansion of Pre-Meg/E cells (Pre-Megakaryocyte/Erythrocyte: Lin - cKit + Sca1 - CD16 -/lo CD150 + CD105 - ) compared to similarly treated control mice. While there was a significant increase in Pre-Meg/E population, we did not find significant increase in their proliferation but observed a 4.7 fold decrease of the erythroid progenitor (EP; Lin - cKit + Sca1 - CD16 -/lo CD105 hi ) subset. Methylcellulose-based colony forming assay showed that pre-leukemic Pre-Meg/E had an impaired differentiation potential for erythroid lineage. In vitro erythroid differentiation assay also showed a partial block of differentiation from pre-leukemic Pre-Meg/E progenitors. These Pre-Meg/E like progenitors were able to induce leukemia in the presence of a known cooperative oncoprotein MPL when transplanted in lethally irradiated congenic recipient mice. In summary, our Results suggest that expression of CBFs-SMMHC impairs adult erythropoiesis at the transition of Pre-Meg/E to EPs, causing an expansion of Pre-Meg/E cells, which can be the target cell of additional mutations contributing to leukemia transformation. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Inelastic Slip-Dislocation Density Constitutive Model for CdTe Single Crystals

The model developed by Haasen and Coworkers is modified to include dislocation arrangement internal variables and slip system interaction as well as a high temperature, time-dependent recovery behavior. The resulting constitutive equations are incorporated in a continuum slip framework and model behavior is compared with experiments on CdTe (Cadmium Telluride) single crystals for the small strain case over a wide range of temperatures. Implementation of the model into a commercial finite element code is discussed.
Divergent Paths in Twentieth-Century Urbanisation

Perhaps the most widely held thesis of recent decades about the social consequences of urbanisation is that of the convergence of social forms. Sjoberg (1965), one of the leading proponents of this view, writes that industrial cities over the world are becoming alike in many aspects of their social structure … as technology becomes increasingly complex, a significant number of structural imperatives become more narrowly defined…. Modern technology … encompasses scientific know-how. In turn, the scientific method seems to support and is itself sustained by an ideology that gives rise to and promotes the democratic process, and such norms as universalism and emphasis on achievement in modern bureaucracies.
Understanding without proofs

The paper describes the analysis part of a running analysis and generation program for natural language. The system is entirely oriented to matching meaningful patterns onto fragmented paragraph length input. Its core Is a choice system based on what I call "semantic density". The system is contrasted with (1) syntax oriented linguistic approaches and (2) theorem proving approaches to the understanding problem. It is argued by means of examples that the present system is not only more workable, but more intuitively acceptable, at least as an understander for the purpose of translation, than deduction-based systems.
Removal of Cr (VI) from tannery effluents with mixed cultures of bacteria and fungi isolated from soils contaminated with tropical tannery effluents

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Aspergilllus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum isolated from tannery effluent-contaminated soil showed resistance to chromium [Cr (VI)] with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 80-120 mg/l in potato dextrose or nutrient agar. This increased to 100-150 mg/l in glucose and yeast extract supplemented mineral salts medium. Significant removal of Cr (VI) occurred in tannery effluents treated with the isolates singly, although reductions were >0.05 mg/l (stipulated limit) in all treatments. Chromium was reduced in glucose, beef and yeast extracts supplemented effluents to non-detectable levels < 0.05 mg/l in all except in E. coli treatment. However, mixed cultures' treatment of non-supplemented effluent reduced Cr (V1) below 0.05 mg/l with the consortium of P. aeruginosa, P. chysogenum and A. niger reaching 99.6-100% removal. Mixed bacterial and fungal culture may be of potential cost effective application in the removal of chromium in tannery wastes.
The Existentialism of the Professional Bureaucrat: Roy Wilkins, the NAACP, and the Institutional Autobiography

(2008). The Existentialism of the Professional Bureaucrat: Roy Wilkins, the NAACP, and the Institutional Autobiography. a/b: Auto/Biography Studies: Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 185-204.
Generation of Monoclonal Antibodies against Immunoglobulin Proteins of the Domestic Ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

The domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) serves as an animal model for the study of several viruses that cause human disease, most notably influenza. Despite the importance of this animal model, characterization of the immune response by flow cytometry (FCM) is severely hampered due to the limited number of commercially available reagents. To begin to address this unmet need and to facilitate more in-depth study of ferret B cells including the identification of antibody-secreting cells, eight unique murine monoclonal antibodies (mAb) with specificity for ferret immunoglobulin (Ig) were generated using conventional B cell hybridoma technology. These mAb were screened for reactivity against ferret peripheral blood mononuclear cells by FCM and demonstrate specificity for CD79β+ B cells. Several of these mAb are specific for the light chain of surface B cell receptor (BCR) and enable segregation of kappa and lambda B cells. Additionally, a mAb that yielded surface staining of nearly all surface BCR positive cells (i.e., pan ferret Ig) was generated. Collectively, these MαF-Ig mAb offer advancement compared to the existing portfolio of polyclonal anti-ferret Ig detection reagents and should be applicable to a wide array of immunologic assays including the identification of antibody-secreting cells by FCM.
Threshold Analysis in Plasmonic Nanolaser with Monolayer Semiconductor as Gain Medium

We have examined the lasing threshold requirements for optically pumped surface plasmon based nanolasers with 2D materials as active medium, which is an excellent research tool as an on-chip nanoscale light source.
Depression symptom dimensions and asymmetrical frontal cortical activity while anticipating reward.

Unipolar depression has been characterized as involving diminished approach motivation and reward sensitivity. A psychophysiological indicator of approach motivation involves an asymmetry in frontal EEG activity, such that greater left relative to right frontal cortical activity indicates increased approach motivation. Consistent with the perspective of reduced approach motivation tendencies, depression has been associated with decreased relative left frontal cortical activity. To date, supporting research has primarily relied on categorical diagnoses or composite symptom counts. However, given the heterogeneity in depression, it is unclear what specific symptom dimensions relate to decreased relative left frontal cortical activity. The present study examined the association between multiple depression symptom dimensions and asymmetrical frontal cortical activity while anticipating reward in separate undergraduate (n = 75) and clinical samples (current major depressive disorder [n = 68] and never depressed controls [n = 67]). All participants completed the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms, a self-report measure of factor-analytically derived symptom dimensions. Frontal cortical activity was assessed during a computerized slot machine task while participants anticipated potential monetary reward or no incentive. In undergraduates with low depression symptoms and never depressed controls, reward trials relative to no-incentive trials elicited greater relative left frontal cortical activity. Furthermore, in both samples across all participants, increased dysphoria and lassitude symptoms were associated with decreased relative left frontal cortical activity while anticipating reward. The present study suggests that depression symptoms consistent with motivational disengagement are associated with decreased relative left frontal cortical activity.
Associations between Familial Rates of Psychiatric Disorders and De Novo Genetic Mutations in Autism

The purpose of this study was to examine the confluence of genetic and familial risk factors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with distinct de novo genetic events. We hypothesized that gene-disrupting mutations would be associated with reduced rates of familial psychiatric disorders relative to structural mutations. Participants included families of children with ASD in four groups: de novo duplication copy number variations (DUP, n = 62), de novo deletion copy number variations (DEL, n = 74), de novo likely gene-disrupting mutations (LGDM, n = 267), and children without a known genetic etiology (NON, n = 2111). Familial rates of psychiatric disorders were calculated from semistructured interviews. Results indicated overall increased rates of psychiatric disorders in DUP families compared to DEL and LGDM families, specific to paternal psychiatric histories, and particularly evident for depressive disorders. Higher rates of depressive disorders in maternal psychiatric histories were observed overall compared to paternal histories and higher rates of anxiety disorders were observed in paternal histories for LGDM families compared to DUP families. These findings support the notion of an additive contribution of genetic etiology and familial factors are associated with ASD risk and highlight critical need for continued work targeting these relationships.
Sets Over a Small Universe

So far, when looking at implementations of generic operations like MEMBER, INSERT, and DELETE, we have been assuming that the set of all possible elements (the ‘universe’) is much larger than the actual number of elements that will be stored. In fact, typically, the space of all possible items (e.g., names represented by strings of 25 characters) is larger than can possibly be stored.
Basic S and L

Publisher Summary This chapter defines a space as hereditarily separable if every subspace has a countable dense subset. It is hereditarily Lindelof if every cover of a subspace has a countable subcover. A partial order is countable chain condition (ccc) if it has no uncountable pairwise incompatible subsets, and a space is ccc if the partial order of its nonempty open sets under reverse inclusion is ccc. A space is hereditarily separable if it has no uncountable left-separated subspace. A space is hereditarily Lindelof if it has no uncountable right-separated subspace. Every Luzin space is hereditarily ccc: a discrete subspace of a space with no isolated points is nowhere dense so a discrete subspace of a Luzin space is countable, and a space is hereditarily ccc if it has no uncountable discrete subsets. Non-separable Luzin spaces give L-subspaces; as a partial converse, some L-spaces have Luzin subspaces.
Iron-binding antioxidant potential of plasma albumin

1. The extracellular proteins caeruloplasmin and transferrin have important antioxidant properties by virtue of the fact that they inhibit iron-dependent free radical production, and ensuing damage to cells. 2. Albumin is a plasma protein which can loosely bind iron, but the redox activity of this iron has not been fully investigated. 3. The ability of albumin to bind iron and to prevent iron-dependent lipid peroxidation in vitro was investigated using liposomes and a rat brain homogenate system. 4. The iron-binding capacity of albumin was found to be substantial, and albumin inhibited lipid peroxidation in a concentration-dependent manner in both systems used. 5. This antioxidant property of albumin may be especially important in the plasma of babies born prematurely, in whom transferrin and caeruloplasmin concentrations are often very low, and in whom non-transferrin-bound iron has been detected in the plasma.
Characterization of degradation process of sucrase-isomaltase in rat jejunum with monoclonal-antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

As shown previously, during degradation of sucrase-isomaltase in rat jejunum, degradation of the sucrase active site occurs before that of isomaltase active site [Goda & Koldovský (1985) Biochem. J. 229, 751-758]. To characterize further the process of sucrase-isomaltase degradation in jejunum, we determined the amounts of immunoreactive sucrase-isomaltase in rat jejunum by using a monoclonal-antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. By employing two alternative monoclonal antibodies (one reacting with the sucrase subunit and the other reacting with the isomaltase subunit), the amount of antigen-containing sucrase subunit and the amount of antigen-containing isomaltase subunit were separately quantified. In both upper and lower jejunum of rats, the amount of antigen-containing isomaltase subunit was always higher than the amount of antigen-containing sucrase subunit. This difference was attributable mainly to a degradation product of sucrase-isomaltase, which was identified as isomaltase monomer. Occlusion of pancreatic ducts for 18 h eliminated the difference between the amount of antigen-containing sucrase subunit and the amount of antigen-containing isomaltase subunit in both upper and lower jejunum. In jejunum of control animals, the molar ratio of sucrase subunit to isomaltase subunit was estimated to be 0.32-0.52, indicating that quite a large proportion of sucrase-isomaltase (48-68%) is present as degradation products (e.g. isomaltase monomer). These results support the model of degradation process of sucrase-isomaltase in brush-border membranes of rat jejunum, whereby degradation of sucrase subunit by the action of pancreatic proteinase(s) precedes degradation of isomaltase subunit.
TCT-593 Predicting Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Testing the Mehran Contrast Induced Nephropathy Score

Acute kidney injury (AKI) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is associated with poor outcomes. Risk scores to assess the risk of AKI post TAVR have not been developed thus far. In this study, we test the performance of the Mehran contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) score as a
µtune: auto-tuned threading for OLDI microservices

Modern On-Line Data Intensive (OLDI) applications have evolved from monolithic systems to instead comprise numerous, distributed microservices interacting via Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs). Microservices face sub-millisecond (sub-ms) RPC latency goals, much tighter than their monolithic counterparts that must meet ≥ 100 ms latency targets. Sub-ms-scale threading and concurrency design effects that were once insignificant for such monolithic services can now come to dominate in the sub-ms-scale microservice regime. We investigate how threading design critically impacts microservice tail latency by developing a taxonomy of threading models--a structured understanding of the implications of how microservices manage concurrency and interact with RPC interfaces under wide-ranging loads. We develop µTune, a system that has two features: (1) a novel framework that abstracts threading model implementation from application code, and (2) an automatic load adaptation system that curtails microservice tail latency by exploiting inherent latency trade-offs revealed in our taxonomy to transition among threading models. We study µTune in the context of four OLDI applications to demonstrate up to 1.9× tail latency improvement over static threading choices and state-of-the-art adaptation techniques.
Obesity in relation to serum persistent organic pollutant concentrations in CHAMACOS women.

Background Environmental exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including persistent organic pollutants (POPs), has been hypothesized to increase risk of obesity. Using data from the Center for Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study, we examined the longitudinal relationship between serum concentrations of a POPs mixture and several obesity measures. Methods Concentrations of 17 POPs were measured in serum collected in 2009-2011 from 468 CHAMACOS women. Anthropometry measurements and personal interviews were completed at up to three study visits between 2009 and 2014. We assessed the relationship of serum POPs concentrations with adiposity measures longitudinally using generalized estimating equation (GEE) models. We implemented Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) to elucidate the effects of joint exposure to the POPs mixture. Results In GEE models, positive associations with BMI were found for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (Q4 vs Q1: adjusted-β = 3.2 kg/m2; 95%CI 1.5,4.9), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (Q4 vs Q1: adjusted-β = 3.6 kg/m2; 95%CI 2.0,5.2), and PBDE-47 (Q4 vs Q1: adjusted-β = 1.9 kg/m2; 95%CI 0.3,3.5), while PBDE-153 was inversely associated (Q4 vs Q1: adjusted-β = -2.8 kg/m2; 95%CI -4.4,-1.2). BKMR results, while largely consistent with single pollutant models, revealed the shape and direction of the exposure-response relationships, as well as interactions among pollutants within the mixture, that could not be discovered by single-pollutant models. Conclusion In summary, we found significant associations of serum POPs with several adiposity measures using both conventional regressions and BKMR. Our results provide support for the chemical obesogen hypothesis, that exposure to EDCs may alter risk for later obesity.
Development of a multi-band sensor for crop temperature measurement

Abstract A system combining a miniature long wavelength infrared (LWIR) camera with a visible, or RGB, camera was developed to capture a field of view and derive a plant-specific temperature measurement. The electronic and software development of the instrument, including calibration, field operation, and post-processing of data, are described. Calibration of the LWIR camera was accurate to 0.65 °C when relating pixel output to a thermal measurement, allowing it to act as a thermal camera. A processing algorithm was developed to identify plants within a visible camera image using a binary mask to identify crop/non-crop components within the field of view. The mask was then used to obtain a crop-only region of interest from the thermal image, over which data were integrated to create a temperature measurement. The instrument was tested against an infrared thermometer on soybean plots during September and October 2016. It was capable of removing shaded areas and soil from thermal images to produce temperature measurements more representative of the crop canopy.
The Ca II Triplet as an Abundance Indicator

How can we accurately determine the metallicity of faint red giant stars in nearby galaxies? The equivalent widths of the broad absorption lines from Ca II at 8498, 8542, and 8662 Angstrom (the calcium triplet) have shown a smooth relationship to metallicity, [Fe/H], in Galactic globular clusters, i.e., old, metal-poor stars. The exact relationship depends on the [Fe/H] scale assumed. The sensitivity of the sum of the equivalent widths, sum{W_{Ca II}}, to [Fe/H] has been well studied for metal-poor stars, but theory and observations show that sum{W_{Ca II}} will become less sensitive to [Fe/H] for young or metal-rich stars, but this needs to be calibrated. Built into the present calibration of sum{W_{Ca II}} to [Fe/H] is also a dependence on the Galactic [Ca/Fe] to [Fe/H] relationship, which is a function of the Galaxy's star formation history and chemical evolution. Our goal is to remove uncertainties in the [Fe/H] scale used in previous calibrations and remove the dependence on galactic evolution. We are obtaining high dispersion spectra to self-consistently calibrate the calcium triplet to give [Ca/H] abundances, and extend the current calibration to near-solar metallicities and to ages as young as 2 Gyr.
Adolescents' and Young Adults' Satisfaction with and Understanding of Medical Notes from a Pediatric Gastroenterology Practice: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study.

Medical note sharing enhances patient−physician relationships, increases medication adherence, and improves self-care. However, many institutions do not release medical notes to adolescents, citing poor understanding and patient harm concerns. We evaluated the results of medical note sharing among adolescents with chronic disease and found high satisfaction and adequate comprehension.
Continuous Flow Analysis to Detect Security Problems.

We introduce a tool that supports continuous flow analysis in order to detect security problems as the user edits. The tool uses abstract interpretation over both byte codes and abstract syntax trees to trace the flow of both type annotations and system states from their sources to security problems. The flow analysis achieves a balance between performance and accuracy in order to detect security vulnerabilities within seconds, and uses incremental update to provide immediate feedback to the programmer. Resource files are used to specify the specific security constraints of an application and to tune the analysis. The system can also provide detailed information to the programmer as to why it flagged a particular problem. The tool is integrated into the Code Bubbles development environment.
Corporate Culture As an Implicit Contract

We develop a measure of corporate culture using coworker connectivity on LinkedIn's platform, and show it is strongly correlated with positive employee relations and satisfaction. Using state-level changes to employment agreements as shocks to explicit contracts, we find that these changes significantly impact employees in weakly connected firms, but have little to no effect on those at strongly connected firms. Our results suggest that firms with strong corporate culture are less dependent on explicit contracts to retain human capital. We document implications for firms' investment decisions and other outcomes.
Functional isolation of pancreatic cancer tumor suppressor activity at 12q21-23

2705 Purpose: The purpose of this work is to isolate novel, functional pancreatic cancer-tumor suppressor (TS) gene(s) located at 12q21-23. This region represents one of the most frequently deleted genomic regions in pancreatic cancer for which no known TS gene has been identified. This region has been finely mapped to two minimal regions of deletion at 12q21.31-.32 and at 12q23.3 (Kimura et al. Cancer Research 58:2456-60, 1998). Methods: To achieve this goal we have preformed genetic complementation studies, using yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs). YACs contain large regions of human DNA (up to 2 Mb) which eliminates the need for subcloning because all of the signals required for gene expression are likely to be included in a single clone. This allows for the genes to be expressed at physiological levels and may provide a better understanding of gene function, than genes introduced with artificial control signals. To carry out this study: 1) A positive control for TS activity (Y807E4-containing the p16 gene) and YACs that map to the two minimal regions of LOH at 12q (Fig 1) were retrofitted with a neomycin resistance gene (NeoR), a mammalian cell selectable marker. 2) Panc-1 and A9 cells were fused to yeast cells containing YACs. 3) NeoR resistant colonies were selected. 4) To help in the identification of potential TS genes we made a custom cDNA composed of 28 genes localized to this region. Results: Evidence for TS activity at 12q21.31-32 include 1) The observation that fusions of Panc-1 cells with YAC 790F8 yielded Panc-1 colony that later failed to grow and no NeoR colonies were observed when 790F8 was fused with A9 cells and 2) Three A9 NeoR colonies were isolated with 909H1 but all three showed selective loss of human DNA based on microsatellite analysis. Evidence for TS activity in region 12q23.3 is two NeoR colonies were isolated with fusions with a YAC which contains only a portion of 12q23.3 (721G9), but not with 948E9, which contains all of region 12q23.3. In parallel we analyzed gene expression pattern of 28 genes that had been localized to this region of the genome. We found that stabilin-2, which is localized to 23q23.3 showed significant down regulation in pancreatic cancer. Electronic mapping places stabilin-2 in the YAC with tumor suppressor activity (Y909H1) but not in the YAC with no tumor suppressor activity (Y721G9). This provides additional support for proposal that stabilin-2 is a tumor suppressor. Conclusions: Functional evidence for tumor suppressor activity at 12q21.31-.32 and at 12q23.3 was detected. Stabilin-2 is a potential candidate for tumor suppressor activity at 12q23.3 and additional evidence for this possibility is currently being tested.
Detection and Mitigation of Attacks in Nonlinear Stochastic System Using Modified χ 2 Detector

A novel attack detection method is presented for a nonlinear system with known dynamics using the measured output in the presence of additive process and measurement noise. False data injection (FDI) and replay attacks are considered using a modified χ2 fault detector. The difference between the measured and the estimated output from an adaptive observer, often known as the innovation signal, is generated and shown to have a Gaussian distribution with non-zero mean. This innovation signal in conjunction with the modified χ2 detector is utilized to detect attacks under a stable controller using the estimated state vector. Unlike FDI attack, where the output estimation signal changes its distribution, replay attack cannot be detected using this detector. Therefore, a modified watermarking approach using injected authentication noise to the estimator is introduced to detect such sophisticated attacks, and this approach is shown not to cause a deterioration in the system performance. Upon detecting the attacks, the observer dynamics are modified using a neural network to estimate the effective attack signal on the system dynamics, and in turn, to mitigate for it to keep the system performance undisturbed.
Abalone Withering Syndrome Disease Dynamics: Infectious Dose and Temporal Stability in Seawater

Withering syndrome (WS) is a chronic bacterial disease that affects numerous northeastern Pacific abalone Haliotis spp. The causative agent of WS is an obligate intracellular Rickettsiales-like bacterium (WS-RLO) that remains unculturable, thereby limiting our understanding of WS disease dynamics. The objectives of our study were to (1) determine the temporal stability of WS-RLO DNA outside of its abalone host in 14°C and 18°C seawater, (2) develop a standardized protocol for exposing abalones to known concentrations of WS-RLO DNA, and (3) calculate the dose of WS-RLO DNA required to generate 50% infection prevalence (ID50) in the highly cultured red abalone Haliotis rufescens. The WS-RLO stability trials were conducted in October 2016, February 2017, and June 2017. A quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis was used to quantify bacterial DNA for 7 d in seawater collected at an abalone farm in southern California, where the pathogen is now endemic. For all trials and temperature treatments, WS-RLO DNA was unstable in seawater for longer than 2 d. To determine an ID50, groups of uninfected juvenile red abalone were subjected to 3-h bath exposures with four concentrations of WS-RLO at 0, 103 , 104 , and 105 DNA copies/mL. Abalone feces were tested biweekly for the presence of WS-RLO DNA, and abalone tissues were sampled 9 weeks postinfection for histological and qPCR analyses. The ID50 results indicated that our protocol was successful in generating WS-RLO infections; a pathogen dose of 2.3 × 103 DNA copies/mL was required to generate a 50% infection prevalence in red abalone tissue. These findings are critical components of disease dynamics that will help assess WS transmission risk within and among abalone populations and facilitate appropriate management and restoration strategies for both wild and cultured abalone species in WS-endemic areas.
Metabolism of Immunoglobulins

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the metabolism of immunoglobulins. Turnover studies with purified radioiodinated immunoglobulin molecules have allowed the definition of the metabolic characteristics of the different immunoglobulin classes in normal humans and experimental animals. A number of physiological factors can be shown to influence immunoglobulin synthesis. The first such factor is the status of the central lymphoid organs. Central lymphoid organs such as the “Bursa of Fabricius” of birds have been shown to be of major importance in the development of immunological capabilities. It is found that if the “Bursa of Fabricius” is removed surgically in ovo or immediately after hatching coupled with subsequent whole body irradiation plasma cells, germinal centers, and antibodies are not produced. The rate of immunoglobulin synthesis is reduced to less than 1% of normal in such bursectomized birds. The catabolism of intact immunoglobulin molecules is determined in part by factors that affect all serum proteins, and in part by factors that are specific for one of the immunoglobulin classes.
Apparent superluminality of lensed gravitational waves

We consider gravitational wave (GW) sources with an associated electromagnetic (EM) counterpart and analyze the time delay between both signals in the presence of lensing. If GWs have wavelengths comparable to the Schwarzschild radius of astrophysical lenses, they must be treated with wave optics, whereas EM waves are typically well within the approximation of geometric optics. With concrete examples, we confirm that the GW signal never arrives before its EM counterpart, if both are emitted at the same time. However, during the inspiral of a binary, peaks of the GW waveform can arrive before their EM counterpart. We stress that this is only an apparent superluminality, since the GW waveform is both distorted and further delayed with respect to light. In any case, measuring the multimessenger time delay and correctly interpreting it has important implications for unveiling the distribution of lenses, testing the nature of gravity, and probing the cosmological expansion history.
Postnatal physiological changes in electrical activity of the diaphragm in extremely preterm infants.

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to describe postnatal physiological changes in maximum values of peak electrical activity of the diaphragm (Edi) in extremely preterm infants during the preterm period. WORKING HYPOTHESIS The amplitude and frequency of neural sigh are different at each postmenstrual age in extremely preterm infants. STUDY DESIGN A retrospective, observational study. PATIENT-SUBJECT SELECTION Edi values were evaluated in 14 extremely preterm infants with neurally-adjusted ventilatory assist. METHODOLOGY Data of Edi peak and Edi minimum were collected from a ventilator. Edi-sigh was defined as the Edi peak value that was more than twice as large as the median Edi peak at each postmenstrual week in each patient. The frequency of Edi-sigh, and median values of Edi-sigh, Edi peak, and Edi minimum were evaluated at each postmenstrual week. The Jonckheere-Terpstra test was used to analyze the trend between postmenstrual weeks and Edi values. RESULTS From 26 to 35 postmenstrual weeks, the number of Edi-sighs per hour significantly increased as postmenstrual weeks increased (P < .001). Furthermore, the median values of Edi-sigh significantly increased as postmenstrual weeks increased (16.9 µV at 26 weeks to 25.4 µV at 35 weeks, P < .001). There were no significant changes in the median values of Edi peak and Edi minimum at each week. CONCLUSIONS The amplitude and frequency of neural sigh in extremely preterm infants increase with the number of postmenstrual weeks.
Black/African American Patients with Pediatric Crohn's Disease Report Less Anxiety and Fatigue than White Patients.

Objectives To compare patient-reported outcomes in black/African American patients with white patients participating in IBD Partners Kids & Teens, in order to identify possible racial healthcare disparities in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as future targets for improvement. Study design This was a cross-sectional analysis comparing patient-reported outcomes in black/African American patients with white patients, aged 9-18 years, with IBD participating in the IBD Partners Kids & Teens cohort from August 2013 to April 2018. Secondary outcomes included number of IBD-related hospitalizations and surgeries, current medication use, and disease activity. Results We included 401 patients with Crohn's disease (white = 378 [94%]; black/African American = 23 [6%]). For children with Crohn's disease, black/African American patients compared with white patients reported less anxiety (40.7 vs 47.5, P = .001) and fatigue (44.3 vs 48.4, P = .047) despite more frequently reported treatment with biologics (91% vs 61%, P = .006) and antibiotics (17% vs 5%, P = .03) and history of hospitalizations (81% vs 52%, P = .02). Conclusions Black/African American children with Crohn's disease were less likely to report anxiety or fatigue than white patients, despite an apparent more severe disease course reflected by greater reported frequency of treatment with biologics and antibiotics and history of hospitalizations.
An Agenda for Quantitative Evaluation of the Nonprofit Sector

The nonprofit sector is growing rapidly. The number of nonprofit organizations has tripled, from 309,000 in 1967, to nearly one million today Total revenues, less than 6 percent of the gross national product in 1975, exceeded 10 percent in 1990 (Herman, 1995). Between 1980 and 1990, the number of employees paid by nonprofits grew by 41 percent, more than double the national rate (Salamon & Anheier, 1995).
Essence of Pacemakers and Its Application After CPB

Placement and utilization of temporary epicardial pacing wires is a fundamental step in the perioperative care of the cardiac surgical patient. Epicardial pacing wires allow for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of dysrhythmias—one of the most common complications of cardiac surgery. Additionally, temporary epicardial pacing provides clinicians with a quick and efficacious means of increasing cardiac output in patients with marginal hemodynamics after cardiopulmonary bypass.
Copyright Principles and Priorities to Foster a Creative Digital Marketplace

Over the course of the last two years, Congress has engaged in a comprehensive review of the Copyright Act. This is the first such review in nearly two generations, and it lays the groundwork for further inquiries and proposals regarding how the law might be amended and how the institution responsible for its administration, the U.S. Copyright Office, might be modernized and restructured to better support a thriving digital marketplace of unprecedented creativity and innovation. A robust, well-functioning, and up-to-date Copyright Act, along with a modern, appropriately resourced Copyright Office, are important to all stakeholders, especially the general public, which is the ultimate beneficiary of the copyright system. We propose the following organizing principles for any further work reviewing or revising the Copyright Act: (1) Stay True to Technology-Neutral Principles and Take the Long View (2) Strengthen the Ability of Authors to Create and to Disseminate Works (3) Value the Input of Creative Upstarts (4) Ensure that Copyright Continues to Nurture Free Speech and Creative Freedom (5) Rely on the Marketplace and Private Ordering Absent Clear Market Failures (6) Value the Entire Body of Copyright Law These principles in turn suggest that Congress prioritize the following areas for action: (1) Copyright Office Modernization (2) Registration and Recordation (3) Mass Digitization and Orphan Works (4) Small Claims (5) Notice and Takedown (6) Streaming Harmonization A focus on and respect for authorship and creativity reflects the values our country was built on, rooted in our Constitution. The public benefits from the resulting intellectual and cultural diversity, from the innovation that is possible through collaboration with the technology industries, as well as from the promotion of a sustainable and innovative economy.
Association of Acute Kidney Injury with Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair.

Introduction Although transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr) is a contrast-free procedure, prior single-center studies have demonstrated a high incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) following TMVr. The main objective of this study was to examine risk factors for AKI, and its association with outcomes in patients undergoing TMVr. Methods We queried the National Readmission Database to identify TMVr procedures performed between January 2014 and December 2017. Complex samples multivariable logistic and linear regression models were used to identify risk factors associated with AKI, as well as to determine the association between AKI and clinical outcomes (in-hospital mortality, index length of stay (LOS), 30-day all-cause readmissions, and 30-day heart failure [HF] readmissions). Results Of 14,623 patients who underwent TMVr during the study period, 2,001 (13.6%) had a diagnosis of AKI. HF, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, fluid/electrolyte disorder, weight loss, nonelective admission, cardiogenic shock, and bleeding/transfusion were independently associated with an increased risk of AKI. In patients undergoing TMVr, AKI was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 4.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.92-8.34), 30-day all-cause readmissions (aOR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.49-2.46), 30-day HF readmissions (aOR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.38-3.84), and longer index LOS (adjusted parameter estimate, 5.78; 95% CI, 5.26-6.41). Conclusion AKI in the setting of TMVr is common and is associated with worse clinical outcomes. Further studies are needed to determine if optimizing renal function prior to TMVr may improve outcomes, as well as to understand the impact of TMVr itself on renal function.
The risk of drug resistance during long-acting antimicrobial therapy

Abstract The emergence of drug resistance during antimicrobial therapy is a major global health problem, especially for chronic infections like HIV, hepatitis B and C, and TB. Sub-optimal adherence to long-term treatment is an important contributor to resistance risk. New long-acting drugs are being developed for weekly, monthly, or less frequent dosing to improve adherence, but may lead to long-term exposure to intermediate drug levels. In this study we analyze the effect of dosing frequency on the risk of resistance evolving in the presence of time-varying drug levels. We find that long-acting therapies can increase, decrease, or have little effect on resistance, depending on the source (pre-existing or de novo) and degree (full or partial) of resistance, and whether the drug is absorbed – as well as cleared – more slowly. For long-acting therapies with slow drug clearance but rapid absorption, and for partially-resistant strains, longer dosing intervals tend to reduce resistance risks even if they don’t improve adherence, and adherence improvements amplify these effects. In other scenarios, long-acting therapies are more susceptible to resistance and must substantially improve adherence to overcome this deficit. If subpopulations of microbes persist and can reactivate during suboptimal treatment, longer-acting therapies may substantially increase the risk of resistance. Our results show that drug kinetics affect selection for resistance in a complicated manner, and that pathogen-specific models are needed to evaluate the benefit of new long-acting therapies.
Marrying into it: Siblings-in-law in the social support networks of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND Although attention has been devoted to social supports provided by parents and siblings of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), much less is known about supports provided by the spouses of these siblings-the so-called siblings-in-law. This study examined the role of the sibling-in-law in the social support networks of their brother/sister-in-law with IDD and factors associated with providing greater amounts of tangible, informational and emotional support. METHOD Siblings-in-law of adults with IDD living predominately in the United States (N = 99) participated in a cross-sectional survey. Measures covered demographic and family background, perspectives towards having a brother/sister-in-law with IDD, supports provided and characteristics of the adult with IDD's social support network. RESULTS Most siblings-in-law reported providing support to their brother/sister-in-law with IDD. Percentages of siblings-in-law providing support were similar to that of the spouse and the spouse's family in the area of emotional support and similar to percentages of paid professionals in tangible and informational supports. Across all three support types, the main predictor of increased sibling-in-law support levels was a decreased ability of the parents-in-law to care for their child with IDD. Other predictors (e.g. distance from brother/sister-in-law with IDD and disability 'insider' status) varied by support type. CONCLUSIONS Findings highlight the role of siblings-in-law in the social support networks of adults with IDD, with implications for policy and practice.
The effects of reionization on Lyα galaxy surveys

Searches for Lya emission lines are among the most effective ways to identify high-redshift galaxies. They are particularly interesting because they probe not only the galaxies themselves but also the ionization state of the intergalactic medium: nearby neutral gas efficiently absorbs Lya photons. The observed linestrengths depend on the amount by which each photon is able to redshift away from line centre before encountering neutral gas and hence on the size distribution of H II regions surrounding the sources. Here, we use an analytic model of that size distribution to study the effects of reionization on the luminosity function of Lyα emitters and their observed spatial distribution. Our model includes the clustering of high-redshift galaxies and thus contains ionized bubbles much larger than those expected around isolated galaxies. As a result, Lya-emitting galaxies remain visible earlier in reionization: we expect the number counts to decline by only a factor of ∼2 (or 10) when the mean ionized fraction falls to x i ∼ 0.75 (or 0.5) in the simplest model. Moreover, the absorption is not uniform across the sky: galaxies remain visible only if they sit inside large bubbles, which become increasingly rare as x i decreases. Thus, the size distribution also affects the apparent clustering of Lya-selected galaxies. On large scales, it traces that of the large bubbles, which in our model are more biased than the galaxies. On small scales, the clustering increases rapidly as x i decreases because large H II regions surround strong galaxy overdensities, so a survey automatically selects only those galaxies with neighbours. The transition between these two regimes occurs at the characteristic bubble size. Hence, large Lya galaxy surveys have the potential to measure directly the size distribution of H n regions during reionization.
Adaptive modifications of carapace outlines in the Cytheroidea(Ostracoda : Crustacea)

Shell outlines of 202 extant cytheroidean ostracods were analysed in dorsal, lateral, and posterior views by elliptic Fourier analysis. The results obtained confirm that the exterior morphology is related to ecological factors as well as phylogenetic constraints. Phytal species living on tall seagrass and benthic species burrowing in sediments are characterized and differentiated from the species crawling on sediments by the presence of slender shells with tapered venters. With reference to reconstruction of ancestral state of outline traits on the molecular phylogeny, the hypothetical ancestor of cytheroidean ostracods is presumed to have had an average-shaped shell. Morphological plasticity of the shell outline was observed in many families. The phytal species living on tall seagrass appear to have evolved convergently with species from other habitats, acquiring slim shell outlines during the Cenozoic period. The present analysis also reveals the phylogenetic constraints on the morphological evolution of the Trachyleberididae in their adaptation to a burrowing habit. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 97, 810–821.