cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using CART for advanced prediction of asthma attacks based on telemonitoring data

Advanced prediction of asthma exacerbations may significantly improve patient quality of life and reduce costs of urgent care delivery. Majority of current algorithms predict who is likely to experience asthma exacerbation rather than when it is about to occur. We used data from asthma home-based telemonitoring for advanced prediction of asthma exacerbation. The goal of this project was to develop an algorithm that predicts asthma exacerbation one day in advance based on previous 7-day window. CART was used for predictive modeling. Resulting algorithm had specificity 0.971, sensitivity of 0.647, and accuracy of 0.809. We concluded that machine learning has great potential for advanced prediction of chronic disease exacerbations based on home telemonitoring data.
Abstract 304: Mutational Analysis of M-T7, a Viral Anti-inflammatory Protein, Provides Insight into Its Activity

Viruses express an arsenal of anti-inflammatory proteins that are being developed as immunotherapeutic drugs to treat cardiovascular disease. M-T7, a myxoma viral protein, has been shown to significantly block cell invasion and plaque growth after balloon angioplasty injury and transplantation. The binding target of M-T7 during a myxoma infection is IFNγ, however in vitro , M-T7 has been shown to bind a broad class of chemokines, C, CC, and CXC. To understand the mechanism by which M-T7 disrupts chemokine interactions and inflammatory cell responses, M-T7 mutants were generated and characterized in vitro for changes in cell activation and migration by the chemokine RANTES. Experiments with a balloon angioplasty model monitored changes in vivo . M-T7 mutants were generated to characterize the interactions with chemokines. Protein was expressed in a baculovirus mediated expression system and purified with a Cobalt affinity column. Changes in membrane fluidity were measured with BPP after RANTES activation. As expected, wildtype M-T7 decreased the I ex /I mon fluorescence ratio when compared to RANTES activated saline controls. However, mutants F137D, R171E, and E209I did not alter membrane fluidity. Interestingly, when cells were activated with PMA, F137D had a decreased I ex /I mon ratio (P -/- mice, and treated with 100ng/g of M-T7/mutant. Change in the vascular architecture was monitored at the site of injury by measuring plaque size and the Internal Elastic Lamina. F137D and wildtype decreased plaque, but R171E treated mice had significantly increased plaque (P Of the three mutants, F137D was the most effective in vivo. It differed from the other mutants by reducing the I ex /I mon ratio of PMA activated cells and binding to RANTES was also inhibited when treated with heparin suggesting these two characteristics are important for its in vivo activity. In contrast, R171E, which does not reduce plaque formation, does not reduce PMA induced cell activation and activity is not altered by the addition of heparin.
Fuzziness and Roughness of Non-precise Quantities

Connections between fuzzy sets and rough sets are studied in description of non-precise quantities. Characterization of empirical distribution of non-precise observations in non-precise categories is proposed.
Sovereignty and Status in East Asian International Relations

This book provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of a key concept in East Asian security debates, sovereign autonomy, and how it reproduces hierarchy in the regional order. Park argues that contemporary strategic debates in East Asia are based on shared contextual knowledge - that of international hierarchy - reconstructed in the late-nineteenth century. The mechanism that reproduces this lens of hierarchy is domestic legitimacy politics in which embattled political leaders contest the meaning of sovereign autonomy. Park argues that the idea of status seeking has remained embedded in the concept of sovereign autonomy and endures through distinct and alternative security frames that continue to inform contemporary strategic debates in East Asia. This book makes a significant contribution to debates in international relations theory and security studies about autonomy and status, as well as to the now extensive literature on the nature of East Asian regional order.
Implementation of the PWM pre-calculated technique for elimination harmonic using microcontroller

This paper deals with the problems of harmonic pollution generated by the DC-AC converters and its reduction techniques. The study is carried out on a single-phase pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter with pre-calculated commutation angles. The algorithms are implemented on a PIC 18F4550 microcontroller and allows the obtention of a sinusoidal output current with low distortion, the quality of the output voltage waveform is evaluated by the use of Fourier spectral analysis. The optimization consists on the resolution of a set of equations issued from different criteria such as certain harmonics cancellation or, more generally, on distortion minimization. We prouve here that by accurate switching angle calculations and control, we can completely cancel low order harmonics. This is ensured in the inverter by a high precision algorithms programmed on the microcontroller system.
Reliability of low melt alloys as thermal interface materials

This study describes the interfacial thermal performance of low melting temperature alloys (LMAs) for the application as thermal interface materials (TIMs). The thermal performance of LMAs evaluated in terms of accelerated life cycle testing, which included highly accelerated stress testing (HAST) at 85oC and 85%RH and thermal cycling from −40°C to +125°C. Three lead and cadmium free low melting alloys (75.5Ga &24.5In, 100Ga, and 51In, 32.5Bi &16.5Sn) were tested as candidate LMAs. ASTM D 5470 testing methodologies were used to evaluate thermal performance of LMAs as well as some commercial TIMs (greases, phase change materials). Results showed that the proposed alloys survived 960 hours of highly accelerated stress testing (85°C and 85% RH) and 500 cycles from −40°C to +125°C without significant performance degradation.
Innovative strategies to increase resident scholarly activity and engage faculty support.

As the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) moved to the Next Accreditation System, the emphasis on scholarship increased substantially for trainees as well as faculty. Citations reflecting this new emphasis have become more common. In this article, the authors provide a systematic approach to increase resident participation in scholarly activities. The barriers associated with implementing requirements for scholarly activities have been identified as lack of time, lack of research facilities, lack of mentors, lack of funding and interest among the faculty. 1 2 Review of the literature evaluating interventions to increase resident scholarly activity in training programs, demonstrated that effective interventions included protected research time, research curricula, research directors, dedicated research days and research tracks.3 Combining or bundling interventions appeared to be most successful in attaining the desired outcomes — suggesting that programs may need to provide both increased structure and rigor through multiple pathways.3 While the findings from the literature demonstrate that increases in scholarly activities are attainable through a variety of interventions, there is little guidance provided on how to be successful.2–4 We propose short-term and long-term strategies that can be replicated by other programme directors. 1. Establish a requirement for …
Women in Geoscience: an interview with Claire Parkinson

1. What do you do at NASA?I have two major official roles at NASA: (1) doing sea ice research using satellite data and (2) serving as Project Scientist for the Earth-observing satellite named Aqua....
CONTEXTUAL ISSUES FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF HOME-VISITATION PROGRAMS FOR AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE COMMUNITIES: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TRIBAL MATERNAL, INFANT, AND EARLY CHILDHOOD HOME VISITING PROGRAM

Home-visiting programs have become a key component of evidence-based services for pregnant women, new mothers, their infants, and their families. When Congress authorized the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) in 2010, it set aside 3% of the $1.5 billion in funding to support home-visiting programs operated by tribes, Tribal MIECHV programs have been funded in 14 states and have served over 3,100 families, providing nearly 55,000 home visits to families at risk for poor child, maternal, and family outcomes. In this Introduction to the Special Issue of the Infant Mental Health Journal on the Tribal MIECHV initiative, we provide some key contexts of the work of the Tribal MIECHV grantees as well as an overview of the issues covered in the other articles.
Thermochemical properties of sesquiterpenes in natural products by correlation gas chromatography: Application to bergamotene oil

Abstract The vapor pressures and vaporization enthalpies of the three major components of bergamotene oil have been evaluated by correlation gas chromatography. Three major components were identified by GCMS as E β-caryophyllene, trans α-bergamotene and α-humulene. Two of the components, E β-caryophyllene and α-humulene were also evaluated using commercial caryophyllene samples. Z-caryophyllene, present in the commercial sample was also evaluated. Two sets of hydrocarbon standards, n-alkanes and a series of relatively unrelated cyclic compounds that included adamantane and two alkyl derivatives, (−) α-pinene, diamantane and 1,4-di-t-butylbenzene, were used. Vaporization enthalpies of the targets at T = 298.15 K were reproduced within the specified uncertainties by both sets of standards as were vapor pressures from T = (298.15 to ∼400)K. Above 400 K, vapor pressures diverged. Equations for the evaluation of vapor pressure as a function of temperature are reported for all four compounds investigated.
Equine Infectious Anemia Virus

Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), a macrophage-tropic lentivirus, causes persistent infection in equids and a chronic disseminated disease of worldwide importance in veterinary medicine. EIAV was first identified as the ‘filterable agent’ responsible for the syndrome equine infectious anemia (EIA) in 1904, making EIAV one of the first animal diseases to be assigned a viral etiology and the first identified virus of the lentivirus family. The disease, transmitted via blood-feeding insects or iatrogenic sources such as contaminated syringe needles, is characterized by recurring cycles of viremia and of clinical episodes characterized by fever, anemia, thrombocytopenia, edema, and various wasting symptoms. The uniquely dynamic process is distinguished by a rapid onset of acute disease, intermittent cycles of disease (chronic EIA) at irregular intervals during the first year post infection, and is followed by progression to a long-term inapparent carrier status typically for the remainder of the horse's average 20-year lifespan. EIAV is genetically the simplest of the lentiviruses, encoding only three accessory genes (tat, rev, and S2) in addition to the gag, pol, and env genes common to all retroviruses. A renewed interest in EIAV research developed over the last two decades as a model for both the role of antigenic variation in a persistent retrovirus infection and as an animal model for HIV/AIDS research.
Receptor Oligomerization and Trafficking

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) dimerization is a mechanism for regulating the signaling from several classes of plasma membrane receptors and has been a particularly well-studied mechanism for the regulation of tyrosine kinase (Trk) receptors (reviewed in ref. 1). As reported for Trk and cytokine receptors, some GPCRs may also dimerize in response to agonist (2, 3, 4, 5, 6). However, GPCRs can also form constitutive dimers—often as early as during their biosynthesis (7, 8, 9). Adding to this complexity, GPCRs can form not only homodimers but also heterodimers with altered properties. Ultimately, one main goal is to understand the functional consequences of GPCR dimerization.
CASE STUDIES IN RELIABLE COMPUTING

ABSTRACT The meaning of reliability in computing is discussed. Various techniques for achieving it are presented by example. The examples are taken from numerical analysis, systems programming and a commercial environment. “Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind.” in Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
An object relations perspective on couples group therapy.

This article presents a couples group therapy treatment approach that uses analytic object relations concepts such as transference/countertransference, projective identification, containment, and the holding environment. Object relations theory is seen as the most useful theory with which to view couple interaction because it is based on a two person psychology and focuses on the impact of relational systems on the development of the person. This includes the idea that the person grows within the attachment to another person. Group therapy is seen as a more effective treatment approach because the group is a resilient holding environment that provides an avenue in which projective identifications can be understood and contained, power can be redefined, isolation of the couple can be decreased, and the couple's responses can become more versatile. The model described is illustrated with clinical vignettes from an open-ended couples group.
Phase Separation of Cytoplasma in the Lens

We would like to present our study on the phase separation of cytoplasma in the animal lens with application to cataract diseases. The. following subjects will be discussed: 1) The protein-water mixture does undergo phase separation and shows critical phenomena; 2) the cold cataract, which is the opacification of an excised lens of a young vertebrate upon lowering the temperature, is a manifestation of the phase separation of the lens cytoplasma; 3) the nuclear opacity, which appears in the lens of a galactosemic rat is due to such phase separation; and 4) the diffusivity of protein molecules in the lens cytoplasma can be determined in vivo using the technique of laser light scattering spectroscopy. The protein diffusivity is a direct measure of the susceptibility of the lens to the phase separation.
SharP Unified Memory Allocator: An Intent-Based Memory Allocator for Extreme-Scale Systems

The pre-exascale systems will soon be deployed with a deep, complex memory hierarchy composed of many heterogeneous memories. This presents multiple challenges for users including: how to allocate data objects with locality between memories and devices for the various memories in these systems, which includes DRAM, High-bandwidth Memory (HBM), and non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), and how to perform these allocations while providing portability for their application. Currently, the user can make use of multiple, disjoint libraries to allocate data objects on these memories. However, it is difficult to obtain locality between memories and devices when using libraries that are unaware of each other. This paper presents the Unified Memory Allocator (UMA) of the SHARed data-structure centric Programming abstraction (SharP) library, which provides a unified interface for memory allocations across DRAM, HBM, and NVRAM and is extensible to support future memory types. In addition, the SharP UMA allows for portability between systems by supporting both explicit and implicit, intent-based memory allocations. To demonstrate the ease of use of the SharP UMA, we have extended both Open MPIand OpenSHMEM-Xto support SharP. We validate this work by evaluating the performance implications and intent-based approach with synthetic benchmarks as well as adaptations of the Graph500 benchmark.
The social roots of Asian American partisan attitudes

An important question in the study of Asian American political behavior is why members of this group, who have some Republican predispositions, are strong Democratic supporters. How do Asian Americ...
Water Vapor—The Major Greenhouse GasOpen image in new window

Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas. Its content in the atmosphere depends on water availability and temperature.
Interpretable attention model in transcription factor binding site prediction with deep neural networks

Abstract Due to the complexity of the biological factors that may influence the binding of transcription factors to DNA sequences, prediction of the potential binding sites remains a difficult task in computational biology. The attention mechanism in deep learning has shown its capability to learn from input features with long-range dependencies. Until now, no study has applied this mechanism in deep neural network models with input data from massively parallel sequencing. In this study, we aim to build a model for binding site prediction with the combination of attention mechanism and traditional deep learning techniques, including convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks. The performance of our methods is evaluated on the ENCODE-DREAM in vivo Transcription Factor Binding Site Prediction Challenge datasets. The benchmark shows that our implementation with attention mechanism (called DeepGRN) improves the performance of the deep learning models. Our model achieves better performance in at least 9 of 13 targets than any of the methods participated in the DREAM challenge. Visualization of the attention weights extracted from the trained models reveals how those weights shift when binding signal peaks move along the genomic sequence, which can interpret how the predictions are made. Case studies show that the attention mechanism helps to extract useful features by focusing on regions that are critical to successful prediction while ignoring the irrelevant signals from the input.
Perceptions of Pediatric Primary Care Among Mothers in Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder.

To assess receipt of anticipatory guidance and family-centered care during well-child care (WCC) for children of mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD). Cross-sectional survey of 157 mothers receiving treatment for OUD who had a child < 3 years old and received primary care. Survey items evaluated (1) receipt of anticipatory guidance on 15 topics during WCC for the participant’s child and (2) whether WCC was family-centered. The percentage of participants who reported guidance for each topic and the distribution of responses on family-centered items were calculated. A Pearson correlation was conducted to evaluate the association between the total number of topics for which anticipatory guidance was received and the family centeredness summary score. Receipt of anticipatory guidance varied by topic, ranging from 59% for guidance on childcare to 98% for guidance on safe sleep. Less than two-thirds of mothers reported that their child’s provider “always” knew their child’s medical history (56%), listened carefully (58%), clearly explained things (61%), and respected the mother (62%). Less than half reported that the provider spent enough time with them, and less than one-third reported that they were asked for their viewpoints. Anticipatory guidance and family-centeredness scores were positively correlated (r = 0.22, P = 0.006). Mothers with OUD report gaps in anticipatory guidance on important WCC topics, and limited family-centered care for their children. Further research may focus on refinements to the delivery of care for this population.
Cerebrovascular blood flow in patients with tetralogy of fallot: prediction for early surgical intervention

OBJECTIVES Children with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) require initial intervention at varying times reflecting a spectrum of obstruction to pulmonary blood flow. In utero, fetal patients with right sided obstructive lesions demonstrate increased middle cerebral artery (MCA) pulsatility index (PI). We sought to determine whether MCA flow patterns are associated with the degree of pulmonary obstruction and the consequential need for early surgical intervention (ESI). METHODS We performed a multi-center retrospective study evaluating patients with a prenatal diagnosis of TOF. All echocardiographic fetal studies performed from 16 weeks' gestational age through delivery were reviewed between 2001 and 2015 with subsequent postnatal medical chart review. RESULTS 82 patients met inclusion criteria. Patients who ultimately required ESI (n=30) demonstrated an increased MCA PI z-score (-0.68 vs -1.32, p=0.02) compared to those who did not (n=52). An elevated MCA PI in patients with TOF was associated with ESI after 24 weeks' gestational age (-0.36 vs -1.22, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS Fetal patients with TOF demonstrate altered MCA flow that correlates with need for ESI. This effect is blunted earlier in gestation which may reflect cerebral autoregulation. MCA PI may be a beneficial tool in helping determine perinatal management and counseling for patients with TOF.
Paradoxical reactions in antitubercular therapy

Some patients with tuberculosis will undergo abnormal deterioration after appropriate anti-tuberculosis treatment, manifested by deterioration of the original lesions or new lesions, known as contradictory reactions, in patients co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus(HIV), this phenomenon is called immune reconstruction inflammatory response syndrome.It is generally believed that the contradictory reaction is an excessive inflammatory reaction, which is related to the host immune response and the direct action of Mycobacterium products.Before diagnosing contradictory reactions, factors such as treatment failure, drug resistance, re-infection, surgical impact and adverse drug events should be excluded.Regulating host immune response is the main way to deal with contradictory reactions.Some patients may need more active treatment. Key words: Tuberculosis; Treatment; Paradoxical reaction
Risk Factors for Post–Open-Globe Injury Endophthalmitis:

Purpose:The objective of our project is to use the National Inpatient Sample Database to identify risk factors for endophthalmitis in cases of open-globe injury (OGI).Methods:This is a cross-sectio...
Epidermoid cyst in a patient with Alagille syndrome: Coincidence or connection?

Background Alagille syndrome is a rare genetic syndrome, which arises due to defects in the Notch signaling pathway, resulting in liver, cardiopulmonary, renal, skeletal, and ophthalmologic problems, among others. Epidermoid cysts are rare congenital benign lesions that develop from ectopic ectodermal cell rests formed during neurulation. Case Description A 24-year-old Alagille syndrome patient presented with hearing loss and was found to have a sizable posterior fossa mass. He underwent craniotomy for uneventful resection of the lesion, which was found to be an epidermoid cyst. Conclusion While our case may represent a coincidental occurrence of two pathologies presenting together, given that epidermoid cysts arise from aberrant neurulation, and in light of the crucial role of the Notch signaling pathway both in normal neurogenesis and in the pathogenesis of Alagille syndrome, we hypothesize a possible association between these entities.
Adverse effects of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies on right ventricular function and pulmonary arterial dilatation

Immunologic risk factors contribute to endothelial dysfunction and development of pulmonary vascular disease. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, used as immunotherapies for malignancies, have a wide range of reported immune-related adverse events. We retrospectively describe the impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors on the development of pulmonary vascular injury and right ventricular dysfunction as compared across both computed tomography and transthoracic echocardiography. Twenty-four of 389 patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors at a single academic center between 2015 and 2019 were evaluated. Thirteen (54%) patients were treated with anti-programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1), 8 (33%) with anti-programmed death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) therapy, and 3 (13%) with combination anti-PD-1 and anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) therapy. At a median of 85 days of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, RVfwLS significantly increased from -20.6% to -16.7% (p = 0.002). After a median of 59 days of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, median pulmonary artery to aorta ratio worsened from 0.83 to 0.89 (p = 0.03). There was an correlation of duration of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (β = -0.574, p = 0.003) with percent change in RVfwLS. Patients who received anti-PD-1 therapy (β = -0.796, p = 0.001) showed the greatest correlation of duration of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy with percent change in RVfwLS. Exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors are associated with RV dysfunction and vascular changes as measured by strain and computed tomography, respectively.
Outpatient Surgical Fixation of Proximal Humerus Fractures Can Be Performed Without Increased Rates of Short-Term Complications or Readmissions.

Objective To delineate differences in short-term complications between outpatient versus inpatient open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of proximal humerus fractures. Design Retrospective database review. Setting Hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database. Patients Patients in the NSQIP database with proximal humerus fractures from 2005 - 2017. Intervention Proximal humerus fracture ORIF. Main outcome measurements 30-day Readmission, reoperation, thromboembolic events, and other complications. Results In total, 920 outpatient and 2,490 inpatient ORIF cases were identified. The proportion of outpatient proximal humerus fracture ORIF increased throughout the years from 6.67% in 2007 to 34.89% in 2017. Each outpatient case was propensity-score-matched with one inpatient case by age, gender, functional status, ASA, smoking status, diabetes mellitus type, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and dyspnea on exertion. After matching, there were 920 outpatient and 920 inpatient cases. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in complications including reoperation (1.63% vs. 2.50%), thromboembolic events (0.65% vs. 0.65%), and 30-day readmissions (2.93% vs. 2.69%) between outpatient vs. matched inpatient procedures (all p>0.05). The only significant finding was a lower rate of blood transfusion in outpatient procedures (0.54%) compared to inpatient procedures (4.02%) (p Conclusions The perioperative outcomes assessed here support the conclusion that ORIF for proximal humerus fractures can be performed in the outpatient setting without increased rates of 30-day perioperative complications or readmissions compared to inpatient procedures. However, it is worth noting that the majority of outpatient cases were younger than the average geriatric proximal humerus fracture patient. Level of evidence Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Web-based 3D visualization system for anatomy online instruction

Problem-based instruction is an active learning instructional practice that requires students to use rational and critical thinking skills to generate reasonable solutions to problem-based scenarios. For complex medical conditions such as stroke, degenerative diseases, and traumatic brain injury, students must have a strong command of neuroanatomy and physiology. While virtual and synthetic dissection simulation tools alleviate the need for procuring and maintaining costly resources, like cadavers, these tools are costly, inaccessible to students online, and inadequate in the teaching of practical knowledge needed to solve real-life clinical problems. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many courses have switched to an online format surprising students and faculty. The web-based visualization repository presented is intended to provide medical students with a comprehensive, web-based visual and problem-based learning tool to assist their learning of anatomical and neurophysiological concepts as applied to various medical disorders. The application can be used for online learning, as well as for in-person learning.
Attacking with Their Own Words: The Use of Censored Sources by the Party Media in China

There exists a seemingly contradictory treatment towards foreign news and social media in China. On the one hand, foreign news articles and social media are severely censored. On the other, the Communist Party frequently quotes these censored sources when addressing the public. These behaviors are puzzling. It is natural for authoritarian regimes to hide repressive behaviors, rather than to expose them. The use of foreign news contents is also not necessary for advancing party ideologies because the party’s own words work just as well. To address the puzzle, I ask the following research questions: Why does the party media in China actively quote censored sources when reporting contested foreign affairs? I argue that the party media quote from foreign sources to demonstrate professionalism and to appear credible, while government censorship has effectively framed foreign news sources as generally biased and thus prevents people from trusting them in the first place.
The effects of temperature on the output of a pulsed ruby laser

The output pulse of a laser depends upon certain properties and, it is the intention here to discuss the change in these properties as a function of temperature. The particular parameters of interest are the time taken for population inversion i.e. the time delay between the application of the pulse and the start of laser action, and the pulse length.
IQ’s of Identical Twins Reared Apart

A new analysis of the original data from the four largest studies (Newman, Freeman and Holzinger, 1937; Shields, 1962; Juel-Nielsen, 1965; Burt, 1955) of the intelligence of monozygotic twins reared apart, totaling 122 twin pairs, leads to conclusions not found in the original studies or in previous reviews of them. Statistical analysis of the twin differences reveals no significant differences among the twin samples in the four studies; all of them can thus be viewed statistically as samples from the same population. They can therefore be pooled for more detailed and powerful statistical treatment.
Voltage-dependent facilitation of calcium channels in rat neostriatal neurons

1. Voltage-dependent facilitation of Ca2+ channels was studied in acutely isolated adult rat neostriatal neurons. Particular attention was paid to the facilitation of L-type channels. 2. In the abs...
Heuristic Decision Making

The idea of decision-making shortcuts, or heuristics, originated in psychological work explaining why individuals diverged from rational behavior. Political scientists have viewed shortcuts more positively. Applied to research on voter decision-making processes, scholars have discovered the ubiquitous use of shortcuts by voters. These shortcuts are simplified decision-making strategies that help voters compensate for a lack of detailed political knowledge about candidates and issues. Despite their widespread use, scholars continue to debate over whether these shortcuts are truly useful tools in helping citizens make good choices in the voting booth. Recent work has suggested that one fruitful way to resolve this debate is to consider the influence of political institutions and the ways in which they structure the decision environment. In this essay, we explore the psychological origins of heuristic research, its application to political science, and the ensuing debates over the efficacy of these shortcuts. We end with a discussion of recent research on institutions and the decision-making environment, and how these factors might alter what scholars know about heuristic decision making. Keywords: heuristics; political decision making; political sophistication; voter competence; voter psychology
Collaboration with the nonphysician therapist : a seminar for postgraduate third-year psychiatry residents.

The integration of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy becomes more complex when two clinicians collaborate in providing patient treatment. A course for postgraduate third-year psychiatry residents was developed to review the literature, discuss various treatment models, and delineate the technical skills and treatment issues involved in the collaborative model. This article describes the course content, design, and evaluation at one institution.
Cosmic Ray Astrophysics at Chicago (1947-1960)

Cosmic ray research had a distinguished history at the University of Chicago in the 1930’s through the work of A.H. Compton, M. Schein and their associates. Figure 1 is an old photograph of the participants who attended the International Cosmic Ray Conference at the University in the summer of 1939-a picture which reveals—through the now-famous names of those present—the broad, intellectual interest in both the elementary particle and the astrophysical/geophysical aspects of cosmic rays in the 1930’s (Symposium, 1939). Soon thereafter these fields of research were disrupted by World War II, and it was not until well into 1946 that cosmic ray research again became established throughout the world.
Exercise improves cognition in Parkinson's disease: The PRET‐PD randomized, clinical trial

Background This article reports on the findings of the effect of two structured exercise interventions on secondary cognitive outcomes that were gathered as part of the Progressive Resistance Exercise Training in Parkinson's disease (PD) randomized, controlled trial. Methods This study was a prospective, parallel-group, single-center trial. Fifty-one nondemented patients with mild-to-moderate PD were randomly assigned either to modified Fitness Counts (mFC) or to Progressive Resistance Exercise Training (PRET) and were followed for 24 months. Cognitive outcomes were the Digit Span, Stroop, and Brief Test of Attention (BTA). Results Eighteen patients in mFC and 20 patients in PRET completed the trial. At 12 and at 24 months, no differences between groups were observed. At 12 months, relative to baseline, mFC improved on the Digit Span (estimated change: 0.3; interquartile range: 0, 0.7; P = 0.04) and Stroop (0.3; 0, 0.6; P = 0.04), and PRET improved only on the Digit Span (0.7; 0.3, 1; P < 0.01). At 24 months, relative to baseline, mFC improved on the Digit Span (0.7; 0.3, 1.7; P < 0.01) and Stroop (0.3; 0.1, 0.5; P = 0.03), whereas PRET improved on the Digit Span (0.5; 0.2, 0.8; P < 0.01), Stroop (0.2; −0.1, 0.6; P = 0.048), and BTA (0.3; 0, 0.8; P = 0.048). No neurological or cognitive adverse events were observed. Conclusions This study provides class IV level of evidence that 24 months of PRET or mFC may improve attention and working memory in nondemented patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease. © 2015 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Chapter 10 FRET and FLIM applications in plants

Publisher Summary The Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) have emerged as invaluable tools to study and characterize dynamic protein complexes. This chapter explores the FRET–FLIM techniques with particular emphasis on their applications in plant research. The potential use of new donor–acceptor FRET–FLIM pairs and ways of circumventing the problem of chlorophyll autofluorescence, as a likely cause of false FRET signals are also discussed. The most commonly used protocols for expressing fusion proteins transiently or stably in plant cells are described. The chapter presents simple protocols for protoplast transfection and particle bombardment-mediated gene transfer. FRET-based methods have emerged as convenient tools, not only to study protein–protein interactions and/or protein conformational changes, but also to follow the strength and dynamics of these interactions in real time and in different subcellular compartments. FRET remains one of the few available techniques to study in vivo protein dynamics and associations in real time.
The dectalk system for German: A study of the modification of a text-to-speech converter for a foreign language

This paper describes the development of the German version of the DECtalk system, which was originally designed for the American language by D.H. Klatt. The aim of this paper is not only to provide an overview on the problems and difficulties for German text-to-speech conversion, using the cascade/parallel formant synthesizer and on the use of new algorithms for parameter extraction, but also to provide a study of the modification procedure which is necessary to build a new language version for a text-to-speech system which was designed for a different, language. These experiences are important for the future design of multilingual text-to-speech systems because the modification from one language to another language gives automatically the answer to many questions which are interesting for the design of a multilingual system or at least a system which can be easily modified for another language. The paper describes the most important steps that have to be performed during the modification procedure, i.e. text normalization and letter-to-sound rules, description of the used synthesizer, description of the tools used for speech analysis and comparison of synthetic and natural speech, tuning of the stationary parts of the phonemes, transitions, prosodies and generation of different voices.
DIVINE: discovering variables in executables

This paper addresses the problem of recovering variable-like entities when analyzing executables in the absence of debugging information. We show that variable-like entities can be recovered by iterating Value-Set Analysis (VSA), a combined numeric-analysis and pointer-analysis algorithm, and Aggregate Structure Identification, an algorithm to identify the structure of aggregates. Our initial experiments show that the technique is successful in correctly identifying 88% of the local variables and 89% of the fields of heap-allocated objects. Previous techniques recovered 83% of the local variables, but 0% of the fields of heap-allocated objects. Moreover, the values computed by VSA using the variables recovered by our algorithm would allow any subsequent analysis to do a better job of interpreting instructions that use indirect addressing to access arrays and heap-allocated data objects: indirect operands can be resolved better at 4% to 39% of the sites of writes and up to 8% of the sites of reads. (These are the memory-access operations for which it is the most difficult for an analyzer to obtain useful results.).
Socioeconomic disparities in the presentation of acute bacterial sinusitis complications in children.

Objectives/Hypothesis To identify characteristics and disparities associated with presentation of pediatric acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS) complications. Study Design A cross-sectional study of the 2008 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database. Methods A total of 101,660 children 18 years of age or younger diagnosed with ABS, 696 of whom had orbital or intracranial complications, were identified. Patient and hospital-specific characteristics were investigated for association with childhood ABS complications. Results Orbital and intracranial complications occurred in 0.7% of children with ABS. Such complications were more common in boys (odds ratio [OR]: 1.65, P < .001) and children with chronic rhinosinusitis (OR: 7.89, P < .001), and were associated with presentation to metropolitan teaching (OR: 2.15, P < .001) and nonteaching (OR: 14.39, P< .001) hospitals. Orbital complications were associated with younger age (OR: 0.96, P < .001), whereas intracranial complications were associated with older age (OR: 1.11, P < .001). A dichotomy in socioeconomic background differentiated children with orbital ABS complications from those with intracranial complications. Although orbital complications were associated with higher income (OR: 2.13, P < .001) and private insurance (OR: 1.36, P = .003), intracranial complications were associated with Medicaid (OR: 2.96, P < .001) or no insurance at all (OR: 3.73, P = .001). Conclusions Socioeconomic disparities exist in presentation of ABS complications in children. Although hinted at by the association with urban/metropolitan hospitals, explicit evidence is provided by association of intracranial complications with markers of low socioeconomic status and poor access to healthcare. Efforts to aid early diagnosis and treatment should target providers in metropolitan areas who treat children of lower socioeconomic status. Such interventions will ideally improve outcomes and limit healthcare costs related to the high morbidity of pediatric ABS complications. Level of Evidence 2b Laryngoscope, 124:1700–1706, 2014
The Importance of Novelty in Psychotherapy

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the importance of novelty in psychotherapy. Novelty is defined as fresh understandings, behaviors, and experiences introduced by a therapist to interrupt and alter established problem patterns, and it is central to break through resistances to change and overcome demoralization. Novelty not only activates and arouses the client's interest, but also disorients the client in a positive way and creates perturbations in the client's prior assumptions and established sets. New thoughts promote new experiences, which facilitate new behaviors, which in turn, reinforce the new thoughts and encourage further experiences. Novelty is not just intrinsic to therapist interventions, but instead is relative to clients' understandings. Clients on their part bring their distinctive, culturally derived worldviews to therapy, helping to shape what is novel. Various therapeutic modalities and some of the major inductive and deductive strategies are used to introduce novelty and facilitate change, which include behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and solution-focused and strategic therapies. Although these modalities hardly exhaust the variety of therapeutic schools, they cover a range of commonly encountered approaches to helping. At the level of technique, each operationalizes novelty similarly by facilitating new understandings and new experiences in the context of a supportive relationship.
Analysis and design of lumped-element quadrature couplers with lossy passive elements

The analysis and design of lumped-element quadrature directional couplers is described for monolithic applications. The analysis is carried out using the fourfold symmetry of capacitively and inductively coupled hybrid circuits. S-parameter responses of these two types of couplers are compared when losses and other parasitic effects of typical on-chip passive elements are taken into account. The analysis provides analytical expressions that make it possible to determine the effects that each non-ideality has on overall circuit performance before circuit simulations are performed using a particular process design kit.
Breast Mass Characterization Using 3-Dimensional Automated Ultrasound as an Adjunct to Digital Breast Tomosynthesis A Pilot Study

Objectives The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the effect of 3-dimensional automated ultrasound (3D-AUS) as an adjunct to digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) on radiologists' performance and confidence in discriminating malignant and benign breast masses. Methods Two-view DBT (craniocaudal and mediolateral oblique or lateral) and single-view 3D-AUS images were acquired from 51 patients with subsequently biopsy-proven masses (13 malignant and 38 benign). Six experienced radiologists rated, on a 13-point scale, the likelihood of malignancy of an identified mass, first by reading the DBT images alone, followed immediately by reading the DBT images with automatically coregistered 3D-AUS images. The diagnostic performance of each method was measured using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and changes in sensitivity and specificity with the McNemar test. After each reading, radiologists took a survey to rate their confidence level in using DBT alone versus combined DBT/3D-AUS as potential screening modalities. Results The 6 radiologists had an average area under the ROC curve of 0.92 for both modalities (range, 0.89–0.97 for DBT and 0.90–0.94 for DBT/3D-AUS). With a Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System rating of 4 as the threshold for biopsy recommendation, the average sensitivity of the radiologists increased from 96% to 100% (P > .08) with 3D-AUS, whereas the specificity decreased from 33% to 25% (P > .28). Survey responses indicated increased confidence in potentially using DBT for screening when 3D-AUS was added (P < .05 for each reader). Conclusions In this initial reader study, no significant difference in ROC performance was found with the addition of 3D-AUS to DBT. However, a trend to improved discrimination of malignancy was observed when adding 3D-AUS. Radiologists' confidence also improved with DBT/3DAUS compared to DBT alone.
Trajectory planning with uncertainty in manipulators

An attempt was made to design an online trajectory planner-controller system, which uses a decentralized control of the various subsystems corresponding to the independent degrees of freedom in the system. The controller uses variable structure control modified for uncertain systems. Explicit bounds are developed to determine error bounds in positions and velocities and the tracking capability in the presence of bounded control. These bounds are used by the online trajectory planner to plan various types of motions such as optimal motions or motions in uncertain environments. The establishment of these bounds enables the monitor to plan, predict, and modify trajectories using the nominal linear model and appropriate compensation. >
Natural Variation among Arabidopsis thaliana Accessions for Transcriptome Response to Exogenous Salicylic Acid

Little is known about how gene expression variation within a given species controls phenotypic variation under different treatments or environments. Here, we surveyed the transcriptome response of seven diverse Arabidopsis thaliana accessions in response to two treatments: the presence and absence of exogenously applied salicylic acid (SA), an important signaling molecule in plant defense. A factorial experiment was conducted with three biological replicates per accession with and without applications of SA and sampled at three time points posttreatment. Transcript level data from Affymetrix ATH1 microarrays were analyzed on both per-gene and gene-network levels to detect expression level polymorphisms associated with SA response. Significant variation in transcript levels for response to SA was detected among the accessions, with relatively few genes responding similarly across all accessions and time points. Twenty-five of 54 defined gene networks identified from other microarray studies (pathogen-challenged Columbia [Col-0]) showed a significant response to SA in one or more accessions. A comparison of gene-network relationships in our data to the pathogen-challenged Col-0 data demonstrated a higher-order conservation of linkages between defense response gene networks. Cvi-1 and Mt-0 appeared to have globally different SA responsiveness in comparison to the other five accessions. Expression level polymorphisms for SA response were abundant at both individual gene and gene-network levels in the seven accessions, suggesting that natural variation for SA response is prevalent in Arabidopsis.
An analytic fit to the X2A′ potential surface of CH+2

Abstract A quantum mechanical surface for the ground electronic state of CH + 2 is least-squares fit to an empirical function proposed by Sorbie and Murrell. The fitting procedure appears to be usable for a variety of attractive triatomic surfaces.
Enhancement of fringe visibility by squaring with photorefractive processor

A method for increasing the visibility of Young fringes in Laser Speckle Velocimetry of up to 20 is proposed utilizing optical autocorrelation with photorefractive crystal BaTiO3. 1.