cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hydroxyapatite pins for external fixation: is there sufficient evidence to prove that coated pins are less likely to be replaced prematurely?

Objective: Several clinical studies have reported that the use of hydroxyapatite- (HA) coated pins enhance external fixation. Although these studies have demonstrated higher extraction torques and lower rates of pin loosening with HA coating, there is little evidence to suggest that these biomechanical advantages translate to a lower rate of pin replacement prior to healing. The research question posed was “Is there sufficient evidence to prove that hydroxyapatite coating lowers the rate of pin replacement for external fixation?” Methods: An electronic search of Medline (Ovid, 1946 - December Week 4 2011), Embase (Ovid, 1980—2011 Week 52), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Issue 4 of 4, October 2011) was conducted to identify all randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials which compared HA-coated pins with non-coated pins for external fixation, with particular emphasis on the premature replacement of pins as a consequence of loosening. Results: The combined search strategies retrieved 72 citations. Four randomized controlled trials (101 patients, 327 HA-coated vs. 354 uncoated pins) were included in this review. None of the studies demonstrated a clear benefit between pin types with respect to premature replacement of pins prior to healing. Conclusion: This review did not find sufficient evidence to validate the preferential use of HA-coated pins over standard pins as a means of avoiding premature replacement of pins used for external fixation. The use of uncoated pins is justifiable, especially within the context of limited financial resources. DOI: 10.3944/AOTT.2015.14.0206
The origins of the Arab state system

(1985). The origins of the Arab state system. The International Spectator: Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 20-32.
Polymerization of Acrylamide Initiated by Hydroxy Terminated Polybutadiene-ceric Ammonium Nitrate Redox System

Amphiphilic copolymer of acrylamide (AAm) and butadiene was synthesized by radical initiation using the hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) macroredox initiator in heterogenous medium in the presence of nitric acid at 35°C in air. The resulting product was characterized by IR, NMR, viscosity and swelling measurements. Imidization of some AAm units was inferred from NMR spectroscopy and swelling measurement. The product adsorbed Ni(II) and Fe(II) ions from aqueous solution and selectively released Ni(II) only. The release pattern for hydrophilic dye was similar to the usual fractional release behavior of drug release observed for hydrogel systems.
Prenatal Presentation of Inguinoscrotal Hernia

Prenatal diagnosis of inguinal hernia is rare and easily confused with other entities, including masses of the scrotum, abdominal wall, and perineum. Pathologic processes of the scrotum rarely result in enlargement beyond 7 cm. Peristalsis can help to indentify bowel within the mass, suggestive of hernia or omphalocele rather than hydroceles or tumors that contain no bowel. Torsions have a double-ring appearance with no testicular blood flow, whereas hydroceles have visible testicles within a fluid-filled scrotum. Doppler evaluation may be helpful, as hernias typically have minimal vascularity, unlike tumors and teratomas, which are vascular with a widely variable appearance. The authors present the sonographic features of a late-presenting fetal mass that was clinically indistinguishable from omphalocele other than its skin thickness and was larger than typically reported for hernias. Skin thickness and subcapsular fluid are useful adjuncts in distinguishing inguinoscrotal hernia from omphalocele in late...
Reduction in salivary α-amylase levels following a mind–body intervention in cancer survivors—An exploratory study

Summary Objective The main aim of this exploratory study was to assess whether salivary α-amylase (sAA) and salivary cortisol levels would be positively modulated by sleep-focused mind–body interventions in female and male cancer survivors. Methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial in which 57 cancer survivors with self-reported sleep disturbance received either a Sleep Hygiene Education (SHE; n = 18) control, or one of two experimental mind–body interventions, namely, Mind–Body Bridging (MBB; n = 19) or Mindfulness Meditation (MM; n = 20). Interventions were three sessions each conducted once per week for three consecutive weeks. Saliva cortisol and sAA were measured at baseline and 1 week after the last session. Participants also completed a sleep scale at the same time points when saliva was collected for biomarker measurement. Results Our study revealed that at post-intervention assessment, mean sAA levels upon awakening (“Waking” sample) declined in MBB compared with that of SHE. Mean Waking cortisol levels did not differ among treatment groups but declined slightly in SHE. Self-reported sleep improved across the three interventions at Post-assessment, with largest improvements in the MBB intervention. Conclusion In this exploratory study, sleep focused mind–body intervention (MBB) attenuated Waking sAA levels, suggesting positive influences of a mind–body intervention on sympathetic activity in cancer survivors with sleep disturbance.
A 7-Yr Climatological Study of Land Breezes over the Florida Spaceport

Abstract Seven years of wind and temperature data from a high-resolution network of 44 towers at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were used to develop an objective method for identifying land breezes, which are defined as seaward-moving wind shift lines in this study. The favored meteorological conditions for land breezes consisted of surface high pressure in the vicinity of the Florida peninsula, mainly clear skies, and light synoptic onshore flow and/or the occurrence of a sea breeze during the afternoon preceding a land breeze. The land breeze characteristics are examined for two events occurring under different weather regimes—one with light synoptic onshore flow and no daytime sea breeze, and another following a daytime sea breeze under a prevailing offshore flow. Land breezes were found to occur over east-central Florida in all months of the year and had varied onset times and circulation depths. Land breezes were most common in the spring and summer months and least com...
High frequency MoS2 nanomechanical resonators

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a layered semiconducting material in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), as thin as a monolayer (consisting of a hexagonal plane of Mo atoms covalently bonded and sandwiched between two planes of S atoms, in a trigonal prismatic structure), has demonstrated unique properties and strong promises for emerging two-dimensional (2D) nanodevices. Here we report on the demonstration of movable and vibrating MoS2 nanodevices, where MoS2 diaphragms as thin as 6 nm (a stack of 9 monolayers) exhibit fundamental-mode nanomechanical resonances up to f0 ~ 60 MHz in the very high frequency (VHF) band, and frequency-quality (Q) factor products up to f0 × Q ~ 2 × 10(10)Hz, all at room temperature. The experimental results from many devices with a wide range of thicknesses and lateral sizes, in combination with theoretical analysis, quantitatively elucidate the elastic transition regimes in these ultrathin MoS2 nanomechanical resonators. We further delineate a roadmap for scaling MoS2 2D resonators and transducers toward microwave frequencies. This study also opens up possibilities for new classes of vibratory devices to exploit strain- and dynamics-engineered ultrathin semiconducting 2D crystals.
Conservation of the Essential Genome Among Caulobacter and Brevundimonas Species

When the genomes of Caulobacter isolates NA1000 and K31 were compared, numerous genome rearrangements were observed. In contrast, similar comparisons of closely related species of other bacterial genera revealed nominal rearrangements. A phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA indicated that K31 is more closely related to Caulobacter henricii CB4 than to other known Caulobacters. Therefore, we sequenced the CB4 genome and compared it to all of the available Caulobacter genomes to study genome rearrangements, discern the conservation of the NA1000 essential genome, and address concerns about using 16S rRNA to group Caulobacter species. We also sequenced the novel bacteria, Brevundimonas DS20, a representative of the genus most closely related to Caulobacter and used it as part of an outgroup for phylogenetic comparisons. We expected to find that there would be fewer rearrangements when comparing more closely related Caulobacters. However, we found that relatedness was not correlated with the amount of observed "genome scrambling." We also discovered that nearly all of the essential genes previously identified for C. crescentus are present in the other Caulobacter genomes and in the Brevundimonas genomes as well. However, a few of these essential genes were only found in NA1000, and some were missing in a combination of one or more species, while other proteins were 100 % identical across species. Also, phylogenetic comparisons of highly conserved genomic regions revealed clades similar to those identified by 16S rRNA-based phylogenies, verifying that 16S rRNA sequence comparisons are a valid method for grouping Caulobacters.
The (Always) Imminent Death of the Law

Throughout the twentieth century, prominent legal thinkers confidently predicted that law as it has been practiced in the West for centuries was archaic and doomed to imminent extinction. Why did they think this, and why were they wrong? And why was "legal indeterminacy" such a source of anxiety to twentieth-century legal thinkers? This essay, given as a lecture at Notre Dame, suggests that the recurring predictions of law's demise and the pervasive angst about indeterminacy were manifestations of debilitating limitations in the philosophical framework within which twentieth-century thinkers understood law (and much else).
Sober Second Thoughts on Van Buren, the Albany Regency, and the Wall Street Conspiracy

HE assault on traditional pro-Jacksonian historiography during the past decade and a half has extended into nearly every aspect of the Jacksonian era. Nowhere has it achieved more apparent success than in the field of banking and politics-the Bank war of the 1830s. During the early decades of the twentieth century American historians described a Bank war of elemental splendor, a struggle between democracy and privilege, between Andrew Jackson and Nicholas Biddle. It was as though Francis P. Blair lived on, and from his Silver Spring mansion sent out the word to middle period historians in terms little changed from his Globe editorials of the 1830s.1 Not everyone concurred, but until recently the dissenters and the banking historians remained barely tolerated. The recent swing of the pendulum more than made up for previous slights to Biddle.2 Jackson's ignorance of finance and Biddle's grasp of central banking became the battle cries of the new Bank war army. And as the President's stature diminished (for not even his best friends could make a financier out of the "Old Hero"), accounts appeared which all but left Jackson out of the Bank war, some sotto voce, others voce piena. In the former category, Lee Benson, in The Concept of Jacksonian Democracy, asserts that Jackson was not primarily responsible for the Bank war, that "he served primarily as an instrument of other men. At present, however," Benson concludes, "that belief is only impressionistic."3 Bray
"Task Interdependence, Work Group Composition and Turnover: A Longitudinal Study"

How do workers in nationally homogeneous work groups respond to foreign nationals in the workplace? Does task interdependency moderate the relationship between change in national composition of wor...
Neighborhood regulation by lncRNA promoters, transcription, and splicing

Mammalian genomes are pervasively transcribed to produce thousands of spliced long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), whose functions remain poorly understood. Because recent evidence has implicated several specific lncRNA loci in the local regulation of gene expression, we sought to determine whether such local regulation is a property of many lncRNA loci. We used genetic manipulations to dissect 12 genomic loci that produce lncRNAs and found that 5 of these loci influence the expression of a neighboring gene in cis. Surprisingly, however, none of these effects required the specific lncRNA transcripts themselves and instead involved general processes associated with their production, including enhancer-like activity of gene promoters, the process of transcription, and the splicing of the transcript. Interestingly, such effects are not limited to lncRNA loci: we found similar effects on local gene expression at 4 of 6 protein-coding loci. These results demonstrate that 'crosstalk' among neighboring genes is a prevalent phenomenon that can involve multiple mechanisms and cis regulatory signals, including a novel role for RNA splicing. These mechanisms may explain the function and evolution of some genomic loci that produce lncRNAs.
The changes of serum ferritin and its relationship with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in type 2diabetes mellitus

Objective To observe changes of levels of serum ferritin in patients with T2DM and its relationship with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methods Serum ferritin levels were measured by chemiluminescence method in 50 T2DM patients without diabetes peripheral neuropathy,50 T2DM patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and 50healthy subjects. Results The levels of serum ferritin were significantly higher in T2DM plus DPN group than in T2DM without DPN group[(678.75± 65.01)vs(468.98±49.26)ng/ml,P0.01];Serum ferritin levels was positively correlated with TC、TG and HbA1c(r=0.54,0.49,0.62,P0.01)。 Conclusion The increase of serum ferritin level is closely related with the occurrence and development of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.It can be used as a testing indexes for diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
Application of Quantum Dots to Multicolor Flow Cytometry

The coupling of quantum dots (QDs) to antibodies heralds a new era of versatility in multicolor flow cytometry. This chapter introduces the properties of QDs (as relevant to flow cytometric applications), the advantages derived from these properties, and the procedure for conjugating antibodies to QDs. Finally, we discuss strategies for choosing the combinations of QDs and antibodies best suited for multicolor experiments.
Cryogenic Microspectrophotometry of Myoglobin

This technique involves the rapid freezing of myoglobin containing tissue through the use of a modified Wollenberger clamp. Myoglobin saturation is estimated by measuring light intensity at three wavelengths and deriving a ratio of these intensities that accounts for light scattering and variations in myoglobin concentration within the cell. In our original system we believed that the spatial resolution was primarily determined by the size of the measuring spot. However, more recent experimental evidence indicates that light scattering plays a more important role than originally appreciated. We estimate that the radius of the catchment volume is approximately that of a dog gracilis myocyte.
Occupy the Zaibatsu : Post-War Japanese Film Noir From Democracy to the (Re)Appearance of the (Old) New Order

Of all the post-war situations in which noir flourished (the United States, Britain, Italy) Japan’s presented the clearest moment in terms of the stark alignment of class forces. What was at first an outbreak of grassroots democracy, as unions encouraged by the US Occupation burgeoned, ultimately gave way to a repression, spearheaded by the US government and Japanese business interests. This repression led, by way of a communist witch hunt justified by the Cold War that made HUAC look tame, to a restoration of the pre-war power of the now more centralized conglomerates (the zaibatsu). As in the United States, the film industry was at the center of both the labor organizing and of the repression that followed. One of the most militant unions was the Toho Studio union which, like the Confederation of Studio Unions in Hollywood, halted production at Japan’s major studio for almost a year, before US planes and tanks helped force the end of the strike.
Abstract 296: Factors Associated with Inadequate Prenatal Care in Women with Pre-Gestational Hypertension

BACKGROUND: Pre-gestational hypertension (HTN) remains a compelling problem, both cardiological and obstetrical. It can increase risk of unfavorable maternal and neonatal outcomes, especially in patients without adequate prenatal care. Little is known about factors associated with inadequate prenatal care in women with pre-gestational HTN, beyond racial and ethnic disparities. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that social factors are associated with inadequate prenatal care in pre-gestational HTN women, beyond race/ethnicity-related disparities. METHODS: A case-control study of adequacy of prenatal care was conducted in 1,635 women with pre-gestational HTN who were living and gave birth in the State of Ohio in 2010. The comprehensive births data for the year 2010 were obtained from the Ohio Department of Health. Cases were identified as those with inadequate prenatal care; controls were identified as those with adequate-plus, adequate, or intermediate care, as defined by the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index (the Kotelchuk Index). Adjusted odds ratios for inadequate care in pre-gestational HTN women in relation to their demographic and socio-economic characteristics were obtained using multivariable logistic regression (SAS software). RESULTS: A total of 14.4% (235 of 1,635) pre-gestational HTN women received inadequate prenatal care. In pre-gestational HTN women, adequacy of prenatal care was statistically significantly associated with their level of educational attainment and marital status, even after adjustment for race and ethnicity. Compared to pre-gestational HTN women with a higher educational level (at least some college or higher), pre-gestational HTN women with a lower educational level (high school or below) were 1.69 times more likely to receive inadequate prenatal care as measured by the Kotelchuk Index (began prenatal care late and/or completed less than 50% of the recommended visits) (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.20-2.38, p<0.01). Unmarried pre-gestational HTN women were statistically significantly more likely to receive inadequate care than their married counterparts (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.09-2.27, p=0.02). Compared to white pre-gestational HTN women, black (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.76-3.62, p<0.001), Asian (OR 3.82, 95% CI 1.50-9.71, p=0.01), and Native American (OR 4.84, 95% CI 1.03-22.87, p=0.04) pre-gestational HTN women were at higher risk of receiving inadequate care. No statistically significant difference between Hispanic and non-Hispanic pre-gestational HTN women was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Although white women with pre-gestational HTN are at lowest risk of receiving inadequate prenatal care, these disparities cannot be attributed to race and ethnicity only. Pre-gestational HTN women with lower educational attainment and unmarried women are at higher risk of receiving inadequate prenatal care. Pre-gestational risk stratification and management of HTN in women during pregnancy by the cardiologist are warranted.
Lissencephaly: Causal Heterogeneity

Clinical, cytogenetic and molecular studies in 65 patients with isolated lissencephaly sequence (ILS) are reported from Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis; Tufts New England Medical Center, Boston; Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle; and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.
Inter-Regional Competition in Retirement Benefit Growth—The Role of the Sub-National Government in Authoritarian China

After the Chinese central government announced a policy of raising retirement benefits in 2005, there ensued a race to the top in pension benefit growth among its 31 provincial units. This study se...
A Lukewarm Defense of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The DMCA is the law that law professors love to hate. In these brief remarks delivered at a Cato Institute symposium, the author offers a "lukewarm" defense of the DMCA. While the DMCA is not a great law, nor even necessarily a good one, there's a method to the madness of the DMCA. The law reflects an intellectually coherent effort to maintain the enforceability of contract rights on the Internet by interfering with the market for contract-breaching devices. Like laws that prohibit the possession of eavesdropping devices and burglar tools, the DMCA tries to reduce rights-violating conduct by interfering with the market for rights-violating tools. This is an imperfect regulatory strategy: rights-violating tools can always be used in legitimate ways, and the DMCA may not draw the line between rights-violating tools and legitimate tools in the right place. Despite this, the basic structure of the DMCA may eventually prove to be a respectable model for enforcing intellectual property and contract rights online.
Review of David C. Stove’s Book: Anything Goes: Origins of the Cult of Scientific Irrationalism

What are the implications of Stove's remarkable book? I will summarize my observations. Induction is not the poison that Popper made it out to be. Moreover, science need not be restricted to negative declarations as Popper demanded, but may also seek evidence that affirms. Popper's falsification principle continues to be important to promote error recognition, but it is very partial. Popper's own failure in deductive reasoning shows his limitation. Induction and deduction as a two-piece logic system is still too restrictive for proper error recognition, in my view. You can find this book at Amazon: Anything Goes: Origins of the Cult of Scientific Irrationalism .
New Research Directions in Agricultural Hydrology and Erosion

This paper addresses two rather contrasting areas of research that have developed rapidly during the last 10 years and that promise to have major impact on soil erosion control and agricultural hydrology.
Abstract 2523: Key cluster for prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy; miR-888 cluster

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S. No accurate biomarkers exist and therapeutic options are limited for advanced PCa. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs, act as negative regulators of gene expression. MiRNAs have recently emerged as promising therapeutic tools for cancers. It is poorly understood how they function to promote cancer progression. We found miR-888 was involved with PCa progression. miR-888 belongs to a genomic cluster on human chromosome Xq27.3, linked to hereditary PCa. I hypothesized additional members of this cluster (miR-892c, -890, -892a, -892b, -891b, -891a) function to promote PCa progression. Our lab profiled miR-888 cluster expression in paired syngenic human PCa cell lines (RWPE1 & WPE1-NB26, LNCaP & C4-2, PC3-N & PC3-ML) differing in metastatic status and androgen response. We noted that the miR-888 cluster was preferentially elevated in metastatic PC3-ML and under-expressed in non-aggressive PC3-N cells. I examined miR-888 cluster function in vitro and found that forced expression (via miRNA mimics) of certain miR-888 cluster members, notably miR-888 and miR-891a, promoted cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion in PC3-N cells. Conversely, other cluster members inhibited these activities. Experiments with hormone sensitive LNCaP cells showed similar results in these assays. PC3-ML transfected with miRNA inhibitors exhibited reciprocal effects. In mouse xenograft studies, I used lentiviral vectors to individually overexpress miR-888 and miR-891a in PC3-N cells and injected them subcutaneously into flanks of NOD/SCID mice. The miRNAs accelerated tumor formation and increased tumor size compared to controls. miR-888 may promote tumorigenesis by suppressing the tumor suppressors TIMP2 and SMAD4, which our lab validated as miR-888 targets using luciferase reporter assays. I confirmed by western blot that xenograft tumors overexpressing miR-888 had decreased protein levels for these targets. Studies reveal miRNAs exist in exosomes, small membrane bound vesicles involved in cell-to-cell communication. I postulated that aggressive tumors secrete exosomes with the miR-888 cluster as cargo and promote PCa progression. Indeed, I noted that miR-888 cluster expression is elevated in exosomes isolated from aggressive PC3-ML compared to PC3-N cells as well as in EPS urine exosomes from high-grade PCa patients versus those with low-grade disease. My work indicates miR-888 and miR-891a are novel oncogenic factors in the prostate and may use exosomes to exert their effects. This is the first report to explore the functional role of the miR-888 cluster in any tissue and may lead to promising clinical strategies for PCa. Citation Format: Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Aurora Kerscher. Key cluster for prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy; miR-888 cluster [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2523. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2523
Informant similarities, twin studies, and the assessment of externalizing behavior: A meta-analysis.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine similarity within informant ratings of the externalizing behavior of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. To do this, we conducted a meta-analysis of correlations within ratings completed by mothers, fathers, teachers, and youth. We retrieved n = 204 correlations for MZ twins and n = 267 correlations for DZ twins from n = 54 studies containing n = 55 samples. Results indicated that all four informants were significant negative predictors of within-informant correlations in their ratings of MZ, but not DZ twins. In the case of longitudinal studies and as the age of MZ twins increased, similarity within ratings by mothers was significantly greater than similarity within ratings by fathers. Among participant characteristics, we found that (a) age was a significant negative predictor of similarity within ratings for MZ twins; (b) race was a significant predictor of similarity within ratings for both MZ and DZ twins, but in the opposite direction; and (c) DZ opposite sex twins were a significant negative predictor of within-rating similarity. Among study characteristics for MZ twins, participant group and longitudinal study were significant negative predictors of within-rating similarity, and for both MZ and DZ twin pairs, non-independence in the data was a significant negative predictor of within-rating similarity. For DZ twins, multiple informants were significant positive predictors of within-rating similarity, and in longitudinal studies with DZ twins, similarity within ratings by mothers was significantly greater than similarity within ratings by fathers, and similarity within ratings by fathers was significantly less than similarity within ratings by teachers and youth. For both MZ and DZ twins, the following study characteristics were significant positive predictors of similarity within ratings: study group, number of time points, and multiple constructs. All four informants appeared equally skilled at predicting within-informant correlations for MZ (but not DZ) twins, with participant characteristics having different predictive effects for MZ compared to DZ twins, and study characteristics having comparable predictive effects for both twin types. Overall, these findings suggest effective discrimination on the part of four informants who rated the externalizing behavior of MZ and DZ twins.
Those who can’t, teach: critical science literacy as a queer science of failure

In this paper, I argue that those of us who have left the Sciences proper and moved to feminist studies spaces have continued to do science through our teaching. In a moment when the impulse to do real science is palpitating in our feminist hearts, I suggest that we critically examine the political stakes of our affective attachments and detachments from s/Science(s). I consider what it means to be attached to a Science that earned its epistemic authority through its co-constitution with colonization and slavery. I argue that passion for science may act to strengthen the relationship between Science and Truth and conversely, willful refusal and failure may be used to break the bond. I offer critical science literacy as a practice that can directly challenge the epistemic authority of Science and be read as "doing science" or more broadly as "rewriting knowledge."
Plowshares or Swords? Fostering Common Ground Across Difference

With political polarization challenging forward progress on public policy and planning processes, it is critical to examine possibilities for finding common ground across difference between community participants. In my research on contentious planning processes in the United States, I found four areas of convergence between participants over transportation policy and process related to public process and substantive matters. These convergences warrant planners’ attention because they united stakeholders coming from different vantage points.
Chemisorption of microcystins to a thiol and amine functionalized organosilica

Abstract Microcystins are cyclic heptapeptide toxins produced by cyanobacteria that are frequently detected in surface waters during seasonal blooms. Chemisorption of microcystin through covalent bond formation to the acryloyl group common to all congeners was hypothesized to be a high affinity adsorption mechanism. Sol-gel derived organosilica materials were synthesized as sorbents that could potentially facilitate a Michael addition reaction between an immobilized thiol group on the adsorbent and the acryloyl group of microcystin. Amine groups were also added to the organosilica to catalyze the thiol addition reaction at neutral pH. Adsorption isotherms of microcystin-LR, -LA, and –RR were measured for sol–gel derived sorbents and compared to adsorption by wood-based powdered activated carbon, which has been demonstrated to be an effective adsorbent for microcystin. The amine/thiol containing organosilica demonstrated a broad specificity to remove all three congeners from water. Adsorption capacities for MC-LR from natural water were reduced compared to deionized water, especially for the thiol-amine organosilica media. Adsorption of Cu(II) ions by the amine/thiol organosilica was measured which indicated metal ions were bound, however, the degree of metal ion binding was insufficient to significantly decrease adsorption microcystin. Overall, the reaction of microcystin with a surface thiol appeared to be promoted by an initial physical adsorption event and thiol deprotonation by the amines to create a better nucleophile for the Michael addition reaction.
Parallel Solution Alternatives for Sparse Triangular Systems in Interior Point Methods

The repeated solution of large symmetric sets of linear equations, which constitutes the major computational effort in interior point algorithms, requires efficient implementations of triangular system solvers. In this study, we present some parallel solution alternatives for these sparse triangular linear systems. Several forward and backward solution algorithms are tested, and a scalable buffered backward solution algorithm, which outperforms the other back substitution algorithms, is developed. Performance results are presented from a number of real application problems from the NETLIB suite.
SP 800-82. Guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Distributed Control Systems (DCS), and other control system configurations such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for securing industrial control systems (ICS), including supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems (DCS), and other systems performing control functions. The document provides an overview of ICS and typical system topologies, identifies typical threats and vulnerabilities to these systems, and provides recommended security countermeasures to mitigate the associated risks. Because there are many different types of ICS with varying levels of potential risk and impact, the document provides a list of many different methods and techniques for securing ICS. The document should not be used purely as a checklist to secure a specific system. Readers are encouraged to perform a risk-based assessment on their systems and to tailor the recommended guidelines and solutions to meet their specific security, business and operational requirements. The scope of this document includes ICS that are typically used in the electric, water and wastewater, oil and natural gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, food and beverage, and discrete manufacturing (automotive, aerospace, and durable goods) industries.
Flying and Swimming

Locomotion is, of course, an extremely interesting subject. People are forever fascinated by sports. We cheer gold medal winners. How athletes are trained is certainly a legitimate question for biomechanics. There are people who suffer impairments in locomotion and others who try to help them recover or overcome their handicaps. These people, the sports lovers, educators, patients, orthopedic surgeons, engineers, physical therapists, nurses, prosthesis manufacturers, and hospital managers, will benefit from a good understanding of the biomechanics of locomotion. Then there is the world of animals around us. We see animals walking and crawling on land, flying in air, and swimming in fluid. From man and mice to birds, fishes, and sperms, there is a tremendous variety of questions one may wish to ask about locomotion.
Euclid’s Principle and the Invariance of Areas

In the plane, three distinct lines in general position (in which no lines are parallel and not all three lines intersect at a point) characterize a triangle. For simplicity, if the three lines are ...
Hunting hurricanes

The authors tell us about hunting hurricane using the Scanning Radar Altimeter based on the Linux system and analyzing the data with Yorick
Transcriptome Analyses of Heart and Liver Reveal Novel Pathways for Regulating Songbird Migration

Many birds undertake long biannual voyages during the night. During these times of the year birds drastically reduce their amount of sleep, yet curiously perform as well on tests of physical and cognitive performance than during non-migrating times of the year. This inherent physiological protection disappears when birds are forced to stay awake at other times of the year; thus these protective changes are only associated with the nocturnal migratory state. The goal of the current study was to identify the physiological mechanisms that confer protection against the consequences of sleep loss while simultaneously allowing for the increased physical performance required for migration. We performed RNA-seq analyses of heart and liver collected from birds at different times of day under different migratory states and analyzed these data using differential expression, pathway analysis and WGCNA. We identified changes in gene expression networks implicating multiple systems and pathways. These pathways regulate many aspects of metabolism, immune function, wound repair, and protection of multiple organ systems. Consequently, the circannual program controlling the appearance of the migratory phenotype involves the complex regulation of diverse gene networks associated with the physical demands of migration.
Tail Latency Prediction for Datacenter Applications in Consolidated Environments

Consolidating applications is a practical necessity in today’s datacenters to reduce cost and improve resource utilization. However, resource sharing among different applications may result in high latency in responses to user requests. Due to the lack of a performance model for tail latency of Fork-Join structures, which underlay the workflows of lots of datacenter applications, the current practice is to overprovision resource in an attempt to satisfy as many user requests as possible. However, this practice leads to low resource utilization. Therefore, it is of importance to have a performance model that can accurately predict tail latency in such an environment, especially at high load regions, where resource provisioning is desired at most. In this paper, we propose an analytical solution for the prediction of tail latency of a target application in a consolidated environment where it is mixed with other background applications. The proposed model is validated against simulation through extensive case studies. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed model in tail latency prediction at high load region, yielding all the prediction errors well within 10% at the load of 75% or higher, making the model a valuable tool for resource provisioning and supporting scheduling decisions in datacenter clusters to guarantee user satisfactions.
Plasma Water Treatment and Oxidation of Organic Matter in Water

Low temperature plasma micro-discharges in contact with aqueous solutions which include organic dyes are studied. Plasma treatment of samples over a duration of time encompassing one hour are observed. The Ultraviolet-visible (UV -Vis) spectrum of select samples is analyzed to assess and measure the change in organic dye content. Results are presented which indicate the efficacy of small scale plasma systems to oxidize organic matter in water. The color change in the water is observed and the associated changes in absorbance and reflectance are characterized. With the present system, dye-containing samples were made visibly clear during testing. Further tests with water treatment parameters such as total organic carbon are also being pursued. The efficacy of using plasmas for cleaning water, specifically related to the presence of oil in water is discussed.
Syndemic conditions and medication adherence in older men living with HIV who have sex with men.

For people living with HIV, lack of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a serious problem and frequently results in HIV disease progression. Reasons for non-adherence include concomitant p...
The Role of Surgery in the Management of Brain Metastases

Brain metastases are a common consequence of advanced extracranial malignancy and represent a significant challenge for clinicians. Approach to management combines systemic treatment (including cytotoxic, targeted, and immune therapies) with resection and adjunctive radiotherapy. For large, accessible lesions, prospective trials have supported operative resection, demonstrating extended survival and improved quality of life for good surgical candidates. To ensure optimal postoperative outcomes, neurosurgeons are now able to utilize many different modalities to map eloquent cortical regions and critical white matter structures including functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Intraoperative techniques such as stereotactic navigation and electrocorticography have also contributed to increased precision and safety intraoperatively. The surgical technique has evolved, and a method of en bloc resection has been shown to reduce the likelihood of recurrence and leptomeningeal spread. Following adequate resection, the current practice includes adjunctive radiotherapy in the form of stereotactic radiosurgery and less commonly whole-brain radiation therapy to further improve the rate of local control. This chapter describes the current therapeutic approach to brain metastases and discusses the latest technological advancements and evidence for surgical management of this patient population.
Epigloea diversispora, a new possibly lichenized ascomycete from Oregon, with a key to the World species

Epigloea diversispora is newly described from a coastal mountain summit in western Oregon, U.S.A. The species has minute, shiny, jet black ascocarps appearing on a biofilm of mixed cyanobacteria and algae. The spores are diverse in both shape and septation. Immature spores are initially nonseptate and ellipsoid, then become soleiform, then 1-septate, while mature spores are 3-septate and short fusiform. Lichenization is uncertain, but the species appears to form a loosely lichenized thallus with hyphae dispersed in a partly cyanobacterial and partly algal crust on thin soil, moss, and plant detritus, over rock.
Prevalence and risk factors of e-cigarette use among working-age adults with and without disabilities in 2017-2018.

Abstract Background Despite rapid growth in the use of electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) in the U.S., few studies have examined the national prevalence of ECIG use among adults with disabilities. Objective To assess the national prevalence of and risk factors for ECIG use among working-age (18–64 years) adults with and without disabilities. Methods This observational study relied on a sample of 560,858 working-age adults from the 2017–2018 Behavioral Risk Factor and Surveillance System (BRFSS). We conducted descriptive analyses to estimate the prevalence of ECIG use and multivariate logistic regression models to examine factors associated with ECIG use among adults with and without disabilities. Results ECIG use was more prevalent among adults with a cognitive disability (12.0%), an independent living disability (11.0%), or two or more disabilities (9.2%), compared to adults without disabilities (4.8%). In the multivariate analysis, adults with a cognitive disability (OR = 1.45; p Conclusions Adults with cognitive disabilities and independent living disabilities had more than twice the prevalence of ECIG use compared to adults without disabilities. Future studies should monitor the rising prevalence and risk factors for ECIG use as well as examine longitudinal associations between using ECIGs, dual use with cigarette smoking, and health outcomes among adults with disabilities.
Spatial Concentration and Spillover: Eviction Dynamics in Neighborhoods of Los Angeles, California, 2005–2015

The lack of sufficient affordable housing in Los Angeles, California burdens many renter households with the threat of an eviction. Research has identified individual- and neighborhood-level sociod...
Asleep Fiberoptic Intubations

There are multiple factors to weigh when deciding whether to perform a fiberoptic intubation, and if so, whether this is to be done asleep or awake. When the provider determines that the safest and most appropriate airway management is an asleep fiberoptic intubation, the provider must then decide whether to try to maintain ventilation while intubating or to allow apnea. Maintaining ventilation affords the provider additional time because there is continued active oxygenation and exchange of carbon dioxide, which may be especially beneficial in a more tenuous patient who may not tolerate apnea for long. This chapter provides detailed instructions for performing asleep fiberoptic intubations in several variations: maintaining or not maintaining ventilation, using an intubating oral airway, using a laryngeal mask airway, and/or using an Aintree catheter.
Merchants of Medicines. The Commerce and Coercion of Health in Britain’s Long Eighteenth Century: By Zachary Dorner. Pp. 280, illus., index. University of Chicago Press: Chicago. 2020. £35. ISBN: 978-0-22-670680-1.

The transformation of chemical medicines into global commodities lies at the core of Zachary Dorner’s Merchants of Medicines. The book traces the emergence and development of a long-distance trade ...
General Gastrointestinal Motility Disorders

This chapter covers the following conditions: diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea predominant, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation predominant. This chapter includes drug class, brand/trade names, manufacturer, dosage, indications, contraindications/cautions, adverse effects, drug interactions, pregnancy advice, lactation safety, relative cost of dicyclomine, hyoscyamine, diphenoxylate hydrochloride/atropine sulfate, loperamide, cholestyramine, imipramine, amitriptyline, psyllium, methylcellulose, docusate, magnesium citrate, mineral oil, polyethylene glycol, senna, bisacodyl, castor oil, lubiprostone, linaclotide, plecanatide, prucalopride, rifaximin, alosetron, eluxadoline, tegaserod, and tenapanor.
Innate immune cell dysregulation drives inflammation and disease in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.

Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) is a complex inflammatory disorder that is not generally viewed as a disease involving the adaptive immune system but instead one largely driven by the innate immune system. This article focuses on the cellular dysregulation involving 4 central cell types: eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, and innate lymphoid type 2 cells. AERD can be envisioned as involving a self-perpetuating vicious circle in which mediators produced by a differentiated activated epithelial layer, such as IL-25, IL-33, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin, engage and activate each of these innate immune cells. The activation of these innate immune cells with their production of additional cytokine/chemokine and lipid mediators leads to further recruitment and activation of these innate immune cells. More importantly, numerous mediators produced by these innate immune cells provoke the epithelium to induce further inflammation. This self-perpetuating cycle of inflammation partially explains both current interventions suggested to ameliorate AERD (eg, aspirin desensitization, leukotriene modifiers, anti–IL-5/IL-5 receptor, anti–IL-4 receptor, and anti-IgE) and invites exploration of novel targets as specific therapies for this condition (prostaglandin D2 antagonists or cytokine antagonists [IL-25, IL-33, thymic stromal lymphopoietin]). Several of these interventions currently show promise in small retrospective analyses but now require definite clinical trials.
America’s Johannesburg: Industrialization and racial transformation in Birmingham, by Bobby M. Wilson

Initially published in 2000, Bobby Wilson’s America’s Johannesburg represented one of the first efforts to place Black urban life within the context of race capitalism and the socio-spatial realiti...
Arteriovenous Malformation Radiosurgery

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is an accepted management strategy for many patients with intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVM). The goal of AVM SRS is nidus obliteration without new neurologic deficits from either radiation-related complications or post-SRS hemorrhage. Over the past 30 years, advances in neuroimaging, dose-planning software, and radiation delivery devices have improved patient outcomes after AVM SRS. The most important factor associated with nidus obliteration is the radiation dose delivered to the margin of the AVM. Patients receiving an AVM margin dose of 15 Gy have a 60–70 % chance of obliteration whereas patients receiving ≥20 Gy have an approximately 90 % chance of cure. Radiation-related complications relate to the overall brain radiation exposure, which is a function of treatment volume and prescribed radiation dose. Patients with AVMs in deep locations such as the basal ganglia, thalamus, and brainstem are at greatest risk for radiation-related complications. The primary drawback of AVM SRS when compared to surgical resection is that the patient remains at risk for hemorrhage until the AVM has gone onto complete obliteration. Recent studies have shown that the risk of bleeding is either unchanged or decreased following AVM SRS. The radiosurgery-based AVM score (RBAS) was developed to predict outcomes after AVM SRS. Based on three factors (AVM volume, patient age, AVM location), the RBAS has been validated by numerous centers using the Gamma Knife®, modified LINAC, and the CyberKnife®. The RBAS allows an accurate prediction of outcomes from SRS to assist in the management for individual AVM patients.