cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Voices That Matter Chief Administrative Officers’ Role in the Student Discipline Gap

This study explores how community socioeconomic status (SES), geographical location, and administrator perspectives influence the implementation of exclusionary disciplinary policies. Using Geographical Information Systems mapping technology, in-depth interviewing, and document analysis, this study finds that schools located in high SES sectors have higher rates of exclusionary disciplinary practices, whereas schools located in low SES sectors have lower levels. The findings also indicate five normative values that influence leadership’s decisions to exclude students more frequently. These guiding belief systems include productive efficiency, equality versus equity, the potential of legal liability, prescribing to a cultural deficit ideology, and the notion of strict surveillance.
Ethnic differences in circadian hemodynamic profile.

Since the introduction of 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), some studies, although not all, have suggested the presence of a blunted nocturnal blood pressure decline in black versus white subjects, a difference that may help explain the higher incidence of target organ damage in blacks. To better define ethnic differences in diurnal hemodynamic profiles, we studied ABPM recordings from 275 black (55.6% women) and 246 white (43.1% women) previously untreated subjects, with a similar age distribution (from 20 to 79 years) and a wide range of systolic (100-230 mm Hg) and diastolic (50-130 mm Hg) blood pressures. Average clinic systolic (diastolic) blood pressures were higher in black v white men by 10.2 (7.3) mm Hg; P = .04 (P = .004), with a similar trend in women (P = NS). On ABPM, blacks had higher average values, a difference that was greater during sleep (9.4 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure) than while awake (4.7 mm Hg; P = .003). Average diurnal change in systolic blood pressure (awake minus sleep values) was 13.1 +/- 0.7 v 18.0 +/- 0.6 mm Hg for blacks v whites (P < .001). There was a strong negative correlation between baseline (ie, sleep) blood pressure and the diurnal change (r = -0.58; P < .001), but at each given level, blacks had a lower daytime increment/nocturnal fall (P = .02). Results for diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were similar. The data suggest that the smaller diurnal change in blacks may be related in part to their higher blood pressure levels, but that there is an additional, independent effect of race. This results in a greater 24-h blood pressure load in blacks than whites for each given clinic (daytime) value, and may help explain differences in target organ damage. Future studies investigating the effects of blood pressure on target organs in different populations should consider diurnal profiles in addition to clinic blood pressure.
Dynamic Crustal Uplift Due to Plume Activity

Plume ascent is driven by buoyancy due to density difference from the surrounding material.
Intestinal Enteroids Model Guanylate Cyclase C-Dependent Secretion Induced by Heat-Stable Enterotoxins

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) causes ∼20% of the acute infectious diarrhea (AID) episodes worldwide, often by producing heat-stable enterotoxins (STs), which are peptides structurally homologous to paracrine hormones of the intestinal guanylate cyclase C (GUCY2C) receptor. While molecular mechanisms mediating ST-induced intestinal secretion have been defined, advancements in therapeutics have been hampered for decades by the paucity of disease models that integrate molecular and functional endpoints amenable to high-throughput screening. Here, we reveal that mouse and human intestinal enteroids in three-dimensional ex vivo cultures express the components of the GUCY2C secretory signaling axis. ST and its structural analog, linaclotide, an FDA-approved oral secretagog, induced fluid accumulation quantified simultaneously in scores of enteroid lumens, recapitulating ETEC-induced intestinal secretion. Enteroid secretion depended on canonical molecular signaling events responsible for ETEC-induced diarrhea, including cyclic GMP (cGMP) produced by GUCY2C, activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), and opening of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of CFTR abrogated enteroid fluid secretion, providing proof of concept for the utility of this model to screen antidiarrheal agents. Intestinal enteroids offer a unique model, integrating the GUCY2C signaling axis and luminal fluid secretion, to explore the pathophysiology of, and develop platforms for, high-throughput drug screening to identify novel compounds to prevent and treat ETEC diarrheal disease.
Military to Civilian Nurse: Personal and Professional Reconstruction

Aims and objectives To examine and describe the transition process of military nurses from military nursing practice to civilian nursing practice. A second aim was to identify challenges and facilitators to this transition. Background Serving in the military, and embodying its values, can have a major impact on a person's worldview. These individuals serve not only as nurses but also as part of a larger military culture with a mission to protect. The decision to separate from the military and transition into the civilian workforce carries many challenges capable of influencing nurses’ personal and professional identities. Design Qualitative descriptive. Methods Semi-structured interviews of 10 nurse veterans were conducted in 2015–2016. Data were collected until saturation was reached. Results The transition includes four major phases from military to civilian nurse: Separating from Military Life, Conflict and Chaos, Shifting Sands and Personal and Professional Reconstruction. Duration and progress through each phase varied slightly for individual nurses. Conclusions Both work–role and personal identity transition occur when a nurse leaves the military and enters civilian practice. Military and civilian organisations, in both the USA and other countries, can implement supports to aid these nurses during this personal and professional change. Recommendations from the study group are provided. Relevance to clinical practice The global nursing profession, as well as healthcare organisations that employ nurse veterans, has a commitment and obligation to understand the transition process of nurses who practise within the scope of military nursing and later in civilian nursing environments so that they may be supported and used to the extent of their prior experience. Lessons learned and advice from this group of nurses may positively aid others in their transition experience.
Parental management of adrenal crisis in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

PURPOSE Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) requires parents to inject their child with hydrocortisone intramuscularly during times of illness and adrenal crisis. The purpose of this study was to describe circumstances surrounding adrenal crisis events in children with CAH; to explore parents' perceptions of the consequences of having a child with a life-threatening condition; and to examine a relationship between parents' perceived management ability and the impact CAH has on the family. METHODS In Phase 1 of this mixed-methods, cross-sectional study, 77 parents were asked to complete questionnaires comprising measures of family life in the context of childhood illness. Descriptive statistics were computed with four separate analyses using linear mixed models allowing for correlation between responses from parents of the same family and for the variance to be different for fathers and mothers. The following relationships were examined: (1) parental management ability and type of provider instruction on how to manage adrenal crises; (2) parental management ability and child age; (3) the perceived impact of the condition on the family and management ability; and (4) the age of the child and number of adrenal crisis events. In Phase 2, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit detailed descriptions of parents' experiences in managing crises. RESULTS There was a significant, positive relationship between detailed provider instruction to parents on adrenal crisis management and perceived management ability (p = .02), additionally the stronger the perceived management ability, the less impact CAH had on the family (p < .001). From birth to age 5, parents reported more frequent crisis events and less perceived ability to manage the condition when compared with parents of older children (p = .009). The threat of an adrenal crisis event is a pervasive concern for parents, especially when they are not being properly prepared by providers. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Provider support is needed for these parents throughout childhood, but especially in the first 5 years of life when parents are adjusting to having a child with a life-threatening condition. Identifying gaps in parent education by healthcare providers is necessary to promote positive family outcomes.
Are Business Ethics Relevant

This paper suggests that “the relevance of business ethics” has often been a question of utility, which considers profits, cultural concerns, and social capital regarding organizational health. There are, however, underlying suspicions regarding the relevance of business ethics. In corporate contexts, “ethics” is often conflated with compliance, and becomes the domain of compliance and risk management. This statement is not to disparage compliance officers or their departments. Rather, the point is that there are limits of assigning “ethics” and the valuation of actions as “ethical” to a place or office within corporate contexts. Such approaches will necessarily be reactive to and driven by law, code, and policy.
Quantifying Incremental Development Practices and Their Relationship to Procrastination

We present quantitative analyses performed on character-level program edit and execution data, collected in a junior-level data structures and algorithms course. The goal of this research is to determine whether proposed measures of student behaviors such as incremental development and procrastination during their program development process are significantly related to the correctness of final solutions, the time when work is completed, or the total time spent working on a solution. A dataset of 6.3 million fine-grained events collected from each student's local Eclipse environment is analyzed, including the edits made and events such as running the program or executing software tests. We examine four primary metrics proposed as part of previous work, and also examine variants and refinements that may be more effective. We quantify behaviors such as working early and often, frequency of program and test executions, and incremental writing of software tests. Projects where the author had an earlier mean time of edits were more likely to submit their projects earlier and to earn higher scores for correctness. Similarly earlier median time of edits to software tests was also associated with higher correctness scores. No significant relationships were found with incremental test writing or incremental checking of work using either interactive program launches or running of software tests, contrary to expectations. A preliminary prediction model with 69% accuracy suggests that the underlying metrics may support early prediction of student success on projects. Such metrics also can be used to give targeted feedback to help students improve their development practices.
Defining Other Levels of Significance

Our statistical test is defined by the critical region Δζ > 0. We now show that if we change our critical value from zero to $$d\sqrt {{(I - 1)/2(J - 1)}} \cdot \hat{Q}(R),$$ where d is a positive constant, then the level of significance for our test can be substantially reduced. (Here, as before, the symbol I represents the number of rules, J the number of outcomes, and \(\hat{Q}\)(R) the estimate of the disagreement for the base rule of the system.)
An Immunohistochemical Study of Hemoglobin A, Hemoglobin F, Muramidase, and Transferrin in Erythroid Hyperplasia and Neoplasia

The bone marrow biopsy specimens of 35 patients with benign and malignant erythroid hyperplasias were examined for the presence of hemoglobin A, hemoglobin F, muramidase (lysozyme), and transferrin, using an indirect immunoperoxidase method (PAP) on Zenker's-fixed paraffin-embedded bone marrow biopsy specimens and particles. Five cases of each of the following entities were studied: erythroleukemia and erythremic myelosis, acute granulocytic leukemia with maturation (FAB M2), polycythemia rubra vera, myeloproliferative syndrome in childhood, megaloblastic anemia (B12 and folate deficiency), erythroid hyperplasia (regenerating bone marrow and hemolytic anemia), and Ph' chromosome positive chronic granulocytic leukemia. Hemoglobin A was present in both the early and late erythroid precursors in all conditions. Hemoglobin F was the predominant hemoglobin in early erythroblasts of pernicious anemia and in both early and late erythroid elements in erythroleukemia and erythremic myelosis. Small quantities of hemoglobin F were present in a few isolated clusters in other conditions. Staining for hemoglobin F may be useful in identifying immature erythroid precursors and in distinguishing some cases of dysplastic erythroid hyperplasia from neoplasia. Additionally, these findings suggest that the maturational switch in hemoglobin synthesis operates with distinct pathways under different conditions.
Asynchronous Computation Model for Large-Scale Iterative Computations

Iterative algorithms are widely existed in machine learning and data mining applications. These algorithms have to be implemented in a large-scale distributed environment in order to scale to massive data sets. While synchronous iterations might result in unexpected poor performance due to some particular stragglers in a heterogeneous distributed environment, especially in a cloud environment. To bypass the synchronization barriers in iterative computations, this chapter introduces an asynchronous iteration model, delta-based accumulative iterative computation (DAIC). Different from traditional iterative computations, which iteratively update the result based on the result from the previous iteration, DAIC asynchronously updates the result by accumulating the “changes” between iterations. This chapter presents a general asynchronous computation model to describe DAIC and introduces a distributed framework for asynchronous iteration, Maiter. The experimental results show that Maiter outperforms many other state-of-the-art frameworks.
Generalized perturbation theory for constant power core depletion

The generalized perturbation theory was developed to accommodate constant power core depletion. The resulting adjoint equations are distinguished from the corresponding constant flux depletion system by the coupling of adjacent time intervals in the source of the generalized adjoint flux equation. The method is demonstrated first with an analytic solution to an infinite medium problem. A system of numerical equations is then formulated to be consistent with the number density iteration scheme used to simulate constant power depletion in the code REBUS at Argonne National Laboratory. A two-dimensional (R-Z) fast reactor example similar to that used by previous authors for constant flux depletion is solved here to provide a consistent basis for evaluating the present work. The sensitivity coefficients predicted by constant power depletion perturbation theory are consistently within a few percent of the exact calculation.
Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication

Show Me the Money is a business reporting textbook offering hands-on advice and examples on doing the job of a business journalist. Author Chris Roush draws on his own business journalism background to explain how to cover businesses and industries, and where to find sources of information for stories. He includes examples of business stories demonstrating how reporters take financial information and turn it into relevant facts that explain a topic to readers. With numerous examples of documents and stories in the text, it is an essential guide for doing business journalism. This definitive business journalism text: *provides real-world examples of business articles; *presents complex topics in a form easy to read and understand; *offers examples of where to find news stories in SEC filings ; *discusses, in full-length chapters, how to write stories on mergers and acquisitions, as well as bankruptcy court filings;*gives comprehensive explanations and reviews of corporate financial, balance sheet, and cash flow statements, dissected so reporters at all levels of experience can understand them; *provides tips on finding sources, such as corporate investors and hard-to-find corporate documents; and *gives a comprehensive listing of Web sites for business journalists to use. Show Me the Money is essential for graduate and undergraduate students with an interest in business journalism, and will also serve professional reporters and editors new to the field of business journalism or needing a refresher. In addition, it will be of value to public relations students and professionals, particularly those who are in the corporate communications field.
Cemented Implant Restorations in the Aesthetic Zone: Biological, Functional, and Aesthetic Considerations

Implant treatment in the aesthetic zone can be a challenging clinical situation, which requires high level of communication between the surgeon, the technician, and the restoring dentist. In this chapter, different abutment materials available in the market will be discussed, and the rationale for their applications, advantages, and disadvantages will be reviewed. Additionally, screw-retained and cement-retained implant-supported restorations will be briefly compared, and related clinical considerations will be discussed. Furthermore, abutment design parameters and technician factors will be reviewed. Finally, clinical guidelines will be provided to avoid complications and failures.
Back Pain in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Back pain is common in young people, and for the majority of young people, it is mild, infrequent and may not result in medical consultation. Similar to adults, most adolescent back pain is non-specific in nature, and no obvious cause can be found. Differential diagnoses include inflammatory spine disease, idiopathic pain syndromes, tumour, infection and metabolic, vascular and referred pain. A full clinical history including psychosocial assessment, mechanical factors, lifestyle including sports, family history and psychosocial factors in addition to a full examination is important in all young people presenting with back pain. Management requires a multidisciplinary approach involving physiotherapy and occupational therapy in most cases.
An Efficient Linear Power Amplifier with 2 nd Harmonic Injection

A 2.3GHz hybrid GaN power amplifier (PA) with $2 ^{nd}$ harmonic injection (HI) in the output is studied in terms of efficiency and linearity enhancement under a two-tone signal input. The $2 ^{nd}$ harmonic signal is obtained by frequency doubling of the main RF signal but with opposite phase for ${IMD}_{3}$ cancellation. The HI-PA demonstrates a peak drain efficiency of 80% (assuming 100% efficient $2 f_{0\, }$ injection) at 14.1W output power and more than 10dB reduction in ${IMD}_{3}$ when the injected harmonic phase and amplitude are adjusted for a compromise between efficiency and linearity.
A Review of: “Organ, John F., Daniel J. Decker, Len H. Carpenter, William F. Siemer, and Shawn J. Riley. Thinking Like a Manager: Reflections on Wildlife Management.”: Washington, DC: Wildlife Management Institute, 2006. 106 pp. $10.00 (paper). ASIN B000OP2YI2

Thinking Like a Manager is a unique book that offers students and wildlife professionals a fresh format for considering a complex array of themes associated with the contemporary wildlife managemen...
Peak post-transplant lung function in bilateral lung transplant recipients using a prediction model based on donor and recipient demographic characteristics.

Abstract Rationale There are no reliable methods to predict lung function following lung transplantation. We sought to devise a prediction model of peak pulmonary function testing (PFT) post-transplant based on donor and recipient demographic characteristics. Methods Single center retrospective analysis of bilateral lung transplant recipients between 2011 and 2015 without evidence of allograft dysfunction in the first year was performed. Peak PFT post-transplant was determined by serially measured FEV1 and FVC. Using the NHANES III equation, donor demographic characteristics were used to calculate predicted lung function. Multivariable linear regression helped determine which donor and recipient characteristics affected peak lung function and identify the discrepancy between donor predicted and recipient observed PFT post-transplant. Results 146 donor/recipient patients were analyzed. 80 had obstructive lung disease, 66 had restrictive disease. Peak post-transplant FEV1 and FVC was reached in 64.30 ± 48.96 and 78.14 ± 50.68 weeks, respectively. Spirometry values peaked earlier in restrictive lung disease recipients. Higher peak FEV1 was significantly associated with younger donor age, non-African American donor race, male recipient sex, greater recipient height, underlying obstructive lung disease. Greater absolute differences between donor predicted and observed FEV1 were significantly associated with male donor sex, greater donor height, non-African-American donor race, female recipient sex, greater recipient height. Conclusions Donor and recipient characteristics can help predict lung function post-transplant. Patients without complications in the first year post-transplant may take greater than one year to achieve peak lung function. Such predictions can help guide clinical decision making in the right setting.
Agriculture Insurance for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Resilience in ASEAN

The Sendai Framework, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the need to protect hard-earned development gains from disaster and climate risks, especially in development sectors having socioeconomic impacts. The agriculture sectors in developing countries face increasing vulnerabilities due to climate change impacts like droughts, heavy or low rainfall, increase in temperature, etc. Frequency of such extreme events traps the farmers in persistence poverty, for generations. The role of governance is critical, both prior and post disaster for resilient recovery. Studies in major rice-producing economies like India and Thailand indicate a clear need to develop the crop insurance market given the challenges in sustaining an attractive and effective subsidy-based mechanism. One of the key challenges in the adoption of crop insurance is the user and provider confidence in the product. Reducing basis risk and expanding the market for index-based insurance are the key to addressing this challenge. This study assesses index-based insurance, social protection schemes and other forms of financing in selected rice-producing economies of the ASEAN region. It also highlights other opportunities and integrated approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster resilience in agriculture.
Mining Twitter to Inform the Design of Online Interventions for Hispanic Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Caregivers:

Background/Objective:Hispanics are about 1.5 times as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to experience Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). Eight percent of AD/ADRD caregivers are Hispan...
Using patient-reported outcomes to improve survivorship care.

In this issue of Blood, Yen and colleagues report that adult survivors of pediatric hematologic malignancies have high symptom prevalence and poor patient-reported outcomes (PROs), whether treated with conventional therapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and that the poor PROs correlated with the presence of chronic health conditions.
Looking to the Past to Look Into the Future: Disability Rights:

This year was the anniversary of two important pieces of legislation that affect children and adults with disabilities in the United States: the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Indi...
Basics of observational entropy

These notes provide a brief primer on the basic aspects of "observational entropy" (also known as "quantum coarse-grained entropy"), a general framework for applying the concept of coarse-graining to quantum systems. We review the basic formalism, survey applications to thermodynamics, make a connection to quantum correlations and entanglement entropy, compare to the corresponding classical theory, and discuss a generalization based on POVM measurements.
Clinical Implications of the Epidural Fat Thickness in the Management of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis.

Objective Lumbar epidural lipomatosis is a rare condition defined as the excessive accumulation of epidural fat (EF). We herein investigated the indicators of the posterior compression factors, EF and yellow ligament, to identify the clinical features of lumbar epidural lipomatosis. Methods Five hundred consecutive patients who underwent posterior lumbar decompression surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) were retrospectively reviewed. The EF/SC-L index (the ratio of the anteroposterior length of the EF to that of the spinal canal [SC]) was evaluated at the spinal level that exhibited maximum dural tube compression. The participants were divided into 3 groups: grade I, EF/SC-L index ≤50%; grade II, EF/SC-L index 51%–74%; grade III, EF/SC-L index ≥75%. EF/SC-A (the ratio of the cross-sectional area of EF to that of SC) and YL/SC-A (the ratio of the cross-sectional area of yellow ligament [YL] to that of SC) were calculated. The clinical outcomes were assessed according to the Japan Orthopaedic Association scale for lumbar disease. Results EF/SC-L exhibited a significantly positive correlation with EF/SC-A (r = 0.82, P Conclusions The EF/SC-L index is a simple and reliable indicator to quantitatively evaluate posterior compression in patients with LSS. As the accumulation of EF is associated with worse operative outcomes, the EF/SC-L index should be considered when planning lumbar decompression surgery for patients with LSS.
Considerations in the assessment of help-seeking and mental health service use in suicide prevention research.

OBJECTIVE The connection of individuals at elevated suicide risk to mental healthcare services represents a critical component of suicide prevention efforts. This article provides recommendations for enhancing the assessment of help-seeking and mental health service use within the context of suicide prevention research. METHOD We discuss evidence-based and theoretical rationale for improving current approaches to assessing help-seeking and mental health service use among at-risk individuals. RESULTS Recommendations are offered within three domains: (a) consideration of the spectrum of connection to care, (b) assessment of the degree to which mental healthcare services seek to and effectively target suicidal symptoms, and (c) evaluation of the sources and types of treatment and care sought and received by at-risk individuals. CONCLUSIONS To further our understanding of how to bolster connection to care and improve experiences with mental healthcare services among individuals at elevated suicide risk, it is imperative that stakeholders precisely capture the degree, efficacy/effectiveness, and nature of care sought and received by individuals. In so doing, research gaps might be better identified and, ultimately, mental healthcare services might be better leveraged as tools to prevent suicide and support individuals in creating lives they perceive to be worth living.
Retinocytoma/retinoma: comparative analysis of clinical features in 78 tumors and rate of transformation into retinoblastoma over 20 years.

Purpose To explore clinical features and long-term outcomes in patients with retinocytoma/retinoma. Methods The medical records of patients with retinocytoma/retinoma over a 20-year period were reviewed retrospectively to compare patient age at presentation ( Results Of 2,021 patients with retinoblastoma, 62 (3%; median age, 5 years; 85% white; 58% male) had 78 tumors: 54 retinocytoma (69%) and 24 retinoma (31%). Median basal tumor diameter was 6.0 mm; mean thickness, 2.3 mm. Younger patients ( Conclusions In our study cohort, the rate of retinocytoma/retinoma transformation into retinoblastoma increased from 2 to 10-20 years of age. The only factor predictive of transformation was increasing tumor thickness.
Who delays climate action? Interest groups and coalitions in state legislative struggles in the United States

Abstract Gridlock and rollback in Washington have led to a turn to the states for action on climate change in the U.S. The state of Massachusetts presents a particularly puzzling case, since it was an early leader with binding emissions targets, but the succeeding dozen years saw most ambitious efforts stalled or watered down. We collected 1187 pieces of legislative testimony, 4126 reported lobbying visits, and interviews with and input from over fifty experts. Based on their lobbying reports and testimony in legislative hearings, we systematically characterize the legislative interests of nine main coalitions engaged in Massachusetts energy politics. We find that climate and clean energy advocates have few reliable allies and face four coalitions of opponents from the utilities, real estate, power generators, and fossil fuel and chemical industries. Our analysis indicates the central role utilities play in blocking the most ambitious clean energy legislation, and how they remodel those bills that survive the process into forms favorable to their interests.
Abstract WP201: Racial Disparities among Incident Ischemic Stroke Cases in the District of Columbia: the ASPIRE Study

Background: Racial disparities in ischemic stroke incidence have been found in previous studies with blacks having higher rates compared to whites. Recent data has suggested a decrease in stroke incidence but not necessarily a decrease in race differentials. We sought to document incidence of ischemic stroke and explore race-ethnic differentials in the urban, Washington, DC metro area. METHODS: ASPIRE is a multi-dimensional intervention with a three-pronged approach (community, hospital, EMS) to acute stroke preparedness targeted to increase IV tPA utilization in underserved black communities in DC. Using a comprehensive active and passive surveillance strategy including stroke admission alerts, stroke champions, admission/discharge data and chart review, the ASPIRE research team prospectively identified all hospitalized incident ischemic strokes between January 2008 and July 2012. Direct age-adjusted rates were estimated using age specific proportions from the 2010 census of the DC population for each sex, gender and race subgroup. RESULTS: Over 4.5 years, we captured 691 incident ischemic strokes: mean age 67 yrs +/- 15 yrs; 79% were blacks; and 55% females. Over 45% of the incident ischemic strokes occurred in black-females. Risk factors including hypertension (79%), diabetes (39%), and current smoking (28%) were significantly greater for blacks than whites. The age-adjusted average annual incidence rate per 100,000 was 226 overall: 171 for blacks, 45 for whites; 65 for black-males; 19 for white-males; 106 for black-females; and 26 for white-females CONCLUSION: We report significant racial disparities in the incidence of hospitalized ischemic in the DC metro area despite potential undercounting of non-hospitalized stroke cases, and potential competing mortalities in black men (ie. ICH, homicide, AIDS). This continued excess burden of ischemic stroke, particularly in black females, highlights the ongoing importance of projects such as ASPIRE to continue education and preparedness among those with increased risk.
Male Sling and Artificial Urethral Sphincter for Male Stress Urinary Incontinence Among Certifying American Urologists

Objective To examine case volume characteristics among certifying urologists performing male sling and artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) procedures to evaluate practice patterns in male stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Materials and Methods Six-month case log data of certifying urologists (2003-2013) were obtained from the American Board of Urology. Cases specifying Current Procedural Terminology code for male sling, AUS, and removal or revision of either procedure in males ≥18 years were analyzed. Results Among 1615 urologists (568 certifying and 1047 recertifying) logging at least 1 male incontinence procedure, 2109 (48% of all procedures) male sling and 2284 (52%) AUS cases were identified. The mean age of patients undergoing AUS was 74.9 years and the mean age of patients undergoing sling procedures was 67.3 years ( P P P P Conclusion Overall the number of male incontinence procedures has increased over time, with a growing proportion of male slings. Most slings and AUS cases are performed by a small number of high-volume surgeons.
Analyzing the catalytic role of Asp97 in the methionine aminopeptidase from Escherichia coli

An active site aspartate residue, Asp97, in the methionine aminopeptidase (MetAPs) from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I) was mutated to alanine, glutamate, and asparagine. Asp97 is the lone carboxylate residue bound to the crystallographically determined second metal-binding site in EcMetAP-I. These mutant EcMetAP-I enzymes have been kinetically and spectroscopically characterized. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy analysis revealed that 1.0 +/- 0.1 equivalents of cobalt were associated with each of the Asp97-mutated EcMetAP-Is. The effect on activity after altering Asp97 to alanine, glutamate or asparagine is, in general, due to a approximately 9000-fold decrease in k(ca) towards Met-Gly-Met-Met as compared to the wild-type enzyme. The Co(II) d-d spectra for wild-type, D97E and D97A EcMetAP-I exhibited very little difference in form, in each case, between the monocobalt(II) and dicobalt(II) EcMetAP-I, and only a doubling of intensity was observed upon addition of a second Co(II) ion. In contrast, the electronic absorption spectra of [Co_(D97N EcMetAP-I)] and [CoCo(D97N EcMetAP-I)] were distinct, as were the EPR spectra. On the basis of the observed molar absorptivities, the Co(II) ions binding to the D97E, D97A and D97N EcMetAP-I active sites are pentacoordinate. Combination of these data suggests that mutating the only nonbridging ligand in the second divalent metal-binding site in MetAPs to an alanine, which effectively removes the ability of the enzyme to form a dinuclear site, provides a MetAP enzyme that retains catalytic activity, albeit at extremely low levels. Although mononuclear MetAPs are active, the physiologically relevant form of the enzyme is probably dinuclear, given that the majority of the data reported to date are consistent with weak cooperative binding.
Activation of single neurons in the rat nucleus accumbens during self- stimulation of the ventral tegmental area

Single neurons (n = 76) were recorded in the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) of rats self-stimulating the ipsilateral medial forebrain bundle (MFB) at the level of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Responses evoked by rewarding trains of stimulus pulses fell into five categories. The first category (40% of the sample) was characterized by a single discharge at invariant latency in response to individual pulses of the train, and hence was termed "tightly time locked" (TTL). Two TTL neurons were collision tested, and both showed collision, suggesting that self-stimulation of the VTA may involve antidromic, and thus direct, activation of a substantial number of NAS axons. The second category (26%) was characterized by discharges that varied in latency from pulse to pulse and hence was termed "loosely time locked" (LTL). Responses of the remainder of the sample showed no coupling to individual pulses but were categorized based on general firing patterns during the train: excited (7%), inhibited (4%), and no change (23%). Irrespective of category, immediately after the self-stimulation session, the likelihood of evoked discharge at monosynaptic latency by single pulse stimulation of the ipsilateral fimbria was reduced (relative to pre-session level), concurrent with elevations in mean firing rate and motor activity. NAS neurons thus exhibit vigorous activation, apparently both antidromically and orthodromically, in response to VTA self-stimulation. The responses of certain LTL and TTL neurons increased as a function of pulse number in the train, suggestive of integrative mechanisms important for brain stimulation reward. Conduction velocities of directly activated (TTL) axons (0.41-0.65 m/sec) were slower than those previously reported for first-stage, reward-relevant axons. Nonetheless, an implication of direct activation of NAS (and other MFB) axons is that rewarding stimulation triggers action potentials that could invade all axonal branches, including those between the stimulation site and the soma, and send synaptic signals to target neurons. Such signals from NAS neurons could contribute to the increased motor behavior accompanying MFB self-stimulation, and/or could interact with dopamine-mediated signals projected to the NAS from reward circuitry.
Dynamic programming method for constrained discrete-time optimal control

A dynamic programming method is presented for solving constrained, discrete-time, optimal control problems. The method is based on an efficient algorithm for solving the subproblems of sequential quadratic programming. By using an interior-point method to accommodate inequality constraints, a modification of an existing algorithm for equality constrained problems can be used iteratively to solve the subproblems. Two test problems and two application problems are presented. The application examples include a rest-to-rest maneuver of a flexible structure and a constrained brachistochrone problem.
Holding Back the (Crimson) Tide of Trademark Litigation: The Eleventh Circuit Shields Works of Art from Lanham Act Claims in New Life Art

On June 11, 2012, in University of Alabama Board of Trustees v. New Life Art, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the Lanham Act does not apply to works of art that include others’ trademarks as long as the use of the trademark is artistically relevant to the underlying work and does not explicitly mislead consumers into believing that the trademark holder endorsed or sponsored its use. In so holding, the Eleventh Circuit provided clarity to artists as to what types of trademark uses are permitted in their works. This Comment argues that the Eleventh Circuit’s standard is beneficial to artists and should be adopted by other courts.
Intrinsic Religiosity and Hypertension Among Older North American Seventh-Day Adventists

A unique lifestyle based on religious beliefs has been associated with longevity among North American Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs); however, little is known about how religion is directly associated with hypertension in this group. Identifying and understanding the relationship between hypertension and its predictors is important because hypertension is responsible for half of all cardiovascular-related deaths and one in every seven deaths in the USA. The relationship between intrinsic religiosity and hypertension is examined. Cross-sectional data from the Biopsychosocial Religion and Health Study (N = 9581) were used. The relationship between intrinsic religiosity and hypertension when controlling for demographics, lifestyle variables, and church attendance was examined using binary logistic regression. While lifestyle factors such as vegetarian diet and regular exercise were important predictors of reduced rates of hypertension, even after controlling for these, intrinsic religiosity was just as strongly related to lower hypertension rates as the lifestyle factors. This study is the first to examine the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and hypertension among North American SDAs and demonstrates that in addition to the positive effects of lifestyle choices on health noted in the group, religion may offer direct salutary effects on hypertension. This finding is particularly important because it suggests that religiosity and not just lifestyle is related to lower risk of hypertension, a leading cause of death in the USA.
Effect of a glucokinase inhibitor on energy production and insulin release in pancreatic islets

Glucokinase has exclusively high control strength on glucose usage in the pancreatic beta-cell. However, glucokinase also has extraordinarily high control strength on insulin secretion, which is linked to the phosphate potential, [ATP]/([ADP][Pi]) (F.M. Matschinsky, Y.Liang, P. Kesavan, L. Wang, P. Froguel, G. Velho, D. Cohen, M.A. Permutt, Y. Tanizawa, T.L. Jetton, K. Niswender, and M.A. Magnuson. J. Clin. Invest. 92: 2092-2098, 1993). We propose that the ATP produced via the tricarboxylic acid cycle is approximately constant, irrespective of the glucose level. Furthermore, the component of ATP production that is derived from glycolysis and glycolytically derived NADH, which is shuttled into the mitochondria, is a critical signal controlling the ionic events leading to insulin secretion, as suggested previously (M. J. MacDonald. Diabetes 39: 1461-1466, 1990 and I.D. Dukes, M.S. McIntyre, R.J. Mertz, L.H. Philipson, M.W. Roe, B. Spencer, and J.F. Worley III. J. Biol. Chem. 269: 10979-10982, 1994). To test this hypothesis, glucose usage, oxidation, and insulin secretion were measured in cultured rat islets over a wide range of concentrations of glucose and mannoheptulose, an inhibitor of glucokinase. These data were fit to a mathematical model that predicts that glucokinase will govern the rate of glucose usage and ATP production and will also have a strong, but not complete, control over the rate of glucose oxidation, the phosphate potential, and insulin release. Mannoheptulose caused an inhibition of all three fluxes. The estimates of the mechanistic parameters of the model [maximal velocity (Vmax) and Michaelis constant for glucokinase, Vmax for hexokinase and glucose transport, and the inhibition constant of mannoheptulose to glucokinase] were similar to those obtained in vitro. Thus the data are consistent with a model in which the primary importance of glycolysis in transducing the glucose signal into changes of the phosphate potential imparts to glucokinase a high control strength on glucose-induced insulin secretion.
The challenges of managing vestibular disorders: a qualitative study of clinicians' experiences associated with low referral rates for vestibular rehabilitation.

Summary Aims: To explore clinicians’ perspectives influencing the under-diagnosis and management of patients with vestibular impairment (VI). Methods: Data were collected using open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 18 clinical providers from primary care, neurology, otolaryngology and audiology affiliated with the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia, from January to September 2007. Topics discussed included healthcare experiences for dizzy patients with possible VI, and perceived barriers and facilitators for clinical practice according to published guidelines. The constant comparison method was used for qualitative content analysis. Results: Clinicians rarely, if ever, diagnosed VI themselves or were aware of vestibular rehabilitation as the appropriate treatment for vestibular disorders. They infrequently performed bedside tests for positional nystagmus or vestibular hypofunction to identify VI and almost never performed canalith repositioning. Not uncommonly, they ordered a wide variety of diagnostic tests, such as neuroimaging, cardiac studies and audiograms, prior to make referral to a specialist, if they made referral at all. Perceived barriers to identifying VI in patients and giving treatment consistent with published recommendations commonly included lack of knowledge and training, perceived time constraints in clinic and difficulties with dizzy patients giving vague descriptions of their symptoms. Conclusions: Perceptions of lacking knowledge in caring for patients with possible VI were experienced by clinicians both in primary and specialty care. Clinicians were frequently unaware of the concept of vestibular rehabilitation. Many wanted to learn more to improve healthcare delivery for their patients. Education appears necessary not only for enhancing patient therapeutic benefit, but also for minimising costs for unnecessary physician hours and diagnostic tests.
Fan-shaped gold nanoantennas above reflective substrates for surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) (Presentation Recording)

Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) has been gaining substantial attention by using plasmonic nanoantennas to amplify near-field intensities so that it can extend IR spectroscopy to zeptomolar quantities and ultimately to the sigle-molecule level. Here we report a new nanoantenna for SEIRA detection, consisting of a fan-shaped Au structure positioned at a well-specified distance above a reflective plane with an intervening silica spacer layer. This antenna can be easily tuned to overlap vibrational modes within a broad spectral range from the near-IR into terahertz regimes. Our finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations reveal a maximum SEIRA enhancement factor of 105 in the antenna junction area, which is corresponding to the experimental detection of 20-200 zeptomoles of octadecanethiol, using a standard commercial FTIR spectrometer. Our optimized antenna exhibits an order of magnitude greater SEIRA sensitivity than previous record-setting designs, which opens new opportunities for using infrared spectroscopy to analyze exceptionally small quantities of molecules.
Microdiffraction Experiments and Modeling for Analyzing Multiscale Dislocation Ensembles in Materials

The intensity distribution of Laue diffraction is analyzed as a function of local misorientation. We show how unpaired dislocations alter the white beam Laue patterns for isolated dislocations, for dislocation walls, and for a combination of both. We consider the effect of different statistically and geometrically necessary dislocation densities on the intensity distribution along and perpendicular to the Laue streak. A 3D x-ray crystal microscope is used to analyze the complicated plastic-elastic field in a grain of a Ni polycrystalline sample during in-situ uniaxial pulling. A change of dislocation activity with depth is demonstrated. The dislocation slip systems and their densities are determined at various depths. The model parameters are used to simulate the whole Laue pattern including details about the contours for specific Laue spots; good agreement is found between simulated and experimental contours.
Exploiting Combinatorial Interactions to Expand NLR Specificity

Intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors play central roles in human and plant innate immunity. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Wang et al. (2015) show that a single plant NLR can detect diverse pathogen effectors by partnering with different scaffolding proteins, which can each recognize distinct effector targets.
Insulin and protein synthesis in muscle.

Abstract Insulin stimulates in vitro the incorporation of labeled amino acid into muscle protein. A study of this phenomenon has been carried out in which various incubation conditions have been varied. The insulin stimulatory effect is lost when sodium ion is removed from the medium, when the amino acid concentration of the medium is increased to twice that occurring physiologically, or when the experimental design is modified to minimize the effects of transport or turnover on intracellular specific radioactivity. These studies show that insulin exerts its effect almost entirely on amino acid transport. The incorporation of labeled amino acid into protein should not be equated with protein synthesis without consideration of factors which affect the specific radioactivity of the immediate precursor.