cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A preliminary analysis of the correlation of food-web characteristics with hydrology and nutrient gradients in the southern Everglades

We estimated trophic position and carbon source for three consumers (Florida gar, Lepisosteus platyrhincus; eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki; and riverine grass shrimp, Palaemonetes paludosus) from 20 sites representing gradients of productivity and hydrological disturbance in the southern Florida Everglades, U.S.A. We characterized gross primary productivity at each site using light/dark bottle incubation and stem density of emergent vascular plants. We also documented nutrient availability as total phosphorus (TP) in floc and periphyton, and the density of small fishes. Hydrological disturbance was characterized as the time since a site was last dried and the average number of days per year the sites were inundated for the previous 10 years. Food-web attributes were estimated in both the wet and dry seasons by analysis of δ15N (trophic position) and δ13C (food-web carbon source) from 702 samples of aquatic consumers. An index of carbon source was derived from a two-member mixing model with Seminole ramshorn snails (Planorbelladuryi) as a basal grazing consumer and scuds (amphipods Hyallela azteca) as a basal detritivore. Snails yielded carbon isotopic values similar to green algae and diatoms, while carbon values of scuds were similar to bulk periphyton and floc; carbon isotopic values of cyanobacteria were enriched in C13 compared to all consumers examined. A carbon source similar to scuds dominated at all but one study site, and though the relative contribution of scud-like and snail-like carbon sources was variable, there was no evidence that these contributions were a function of abiotic factors or season. Gar consistently displayed the highest estimated trophic position of the consumers studied, with mosquitofish feeding at a slightly lower level, and grass shrimp feeding at the lowest level. Trophic position was not correlated with any nutrient or productivity parameter, but did increase for grass shrimp and mosquitofish as the time following droughts increased. Trophic position of Florida gar was positively correlated with emergent plant stem density.
CLIC-1 Functions as a Chloride Channel When Expressed and Purified from Bacteria

CLIC-1 is a member of a family of proteins related to the bovine intracellular chloride channel p64 which has been proposed to function as a chloride channel. We expressed CLIC-1 as a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein in bacteria. The fusion protein was purified by glutathione affinity, and CLIC-1 was released from its fusion partner by digestion with thrombin. After further purification, CLIC-1 was reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles by detergent dialysis. Chloride permeability of reconstituted vesicles was assessed using a valinomycin dependent chloride efflux assay, demonstrating increased vesicular chloride permeability with CLIC-1 compared with control. CLIC-1-dependent chloride permeability was inhibited by indanyloxyacetic acid-94 with an apparent IC(50) of 8.6 micrometer. The single channel properties of CLIC-1 were determined using the planar lipid bilayer technique. We found that CLIC-1 forms a voltage-dependent, Cl-selective channel with a rectifying current-voltage relationship and single channel conductances of 161 +/- 7.9 and 67.5 +/- 6.9 picosiemens in symmetric 300 and 150 mm KCl, respectively. The anion selectivity of this activity is Br approximately Cl > I. The open probability of CLIC-1 channels in planar bilayers was decreased by indanyloxyacetic acid-94 with an apparent IC(50) of 86 micrometer at 50 mV. These data convincingly demonstrate that CLIC-1 is capable of forming a novel, chloride-selective channel in the absence of other subunits or proteins.
Lymphedema in women treated for breast cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to discuss the etiologic factors, prevention, and current treatment options for lymphedema, which may occur after breast cancer. Overview: Lymphedema can develop in the breast cancer patient as a result of the interruption of lymphatic flow from postsurgical, postradiation, and infectious causes. It can present at various points after breast cancer treatment and may range from mild to a seriously disabling enlargement. Because lymphedema is permanent, the goal of treatment options is the control of edema, and a multidimensional approach to care is often needed. Clinical implications: In the past, there has been limited research in this area. Because lymphedema is essentially an incurable condition, healthcare providers should be aware of techniques such as sentinel-node biopsy that could significantly decrease its incidence. In addition, it is important that each patient's treatment include education and prevention precautions.
Ultrastructural Analysis of Ectopic Synaptic Boutons Arising From Peripherally Regenerated Primary Afferent Fibers

Ultrastructural analysis of ectopic synaptic boutons arising from peripherally regenerated primary afferent fibers. The central axons of peripherally regenerated Aβ primary sensory neurons were imp...
SOLVING THE CHALLENGES OF THE VIRTUALWORKPLACE FOR INTERNS

New opportunities exist for students who want internships in writing. With these opportunities, however, come new needs and new preparations to make upon entering the workforce. Internships help students determine whether a career is right for them, give valuable insight into the working world, and help sculpt career development with the rich experience and networking available to the motivated intern. But as the workforce becomes more competitive, more stressful, and increasingly dependent on technology, a new kind of internship has become available to the ambitious student: the virtual internship. For writers, virtual internships can create boundless opportunities to exhibit personal drive and self-motivation. They can also create significant amounts of stress due to the lack of conventional socialization that occurs more naturally in a traditional internship. Young writers need tools upon entering the virtual workplace, tools technical writing instructors can help provide in the classroom before sending students into the workforce. In a virtual context, though, these tools are nebulous and harder to find. Without proper preparation, writing internships in the virtual workplace can prove disastrous. Thus, writers in virtual internships must be guided from the beginning in order to make the most of their unique opportunity for work experience.
Biosynthesis of Terpenoid Natural Products in Fungi

Tens of thousands of terpenoid natural products have been isolated from plants and microbial sources. Higher fungi (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) are known to produce an array of well-known terpenoid natural products, including mycotoxins, antibiotics, antitumor compounds, and phytohormones. Except for a few well-studied fungal biosynthetic pathways, the majority of genes and biosynthetic pathways responsible for the biosynthesis of a small number of these secondary metabolites have only been discovered and characterized in the past 5-10 years. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on fungal terpenoid biosynthesis from biochemical, genetic, and genomic viewpoints. Enzymes involved in synthesizing, transferring, and cyclizing the prenyl chains that form the hydrocarbon scaffolds of fungal terpenoid natural products are systematically discussed. Genomic information and functional evidence suggest differences between the terpenome of the two major fungal phyla--the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota--which will be illustrated for each group of terpenoid natural products.
Evaluation of enamel surface modification using PS-OCT after laser treatment to increase resistance to demineralization

At laser intensities below ablation, carbonated hydroxyapatite in enamel is converted into a purer phase hydroxyapatite with increased acid resistance. Previous studies suggested the possibility of achieving the conversion without surface modification. This study attempts to evaluate the thresholds for the modification without additional changes in physical and optical properties of the enamel. Bovine specimens were irradiated using an RF-excited CO 2 laser operating at 9.4-μm with a pulse duration of 26- μs, pulse repetition rates of 100-1000 Hz, with a Gaussian spatial beam profile - 1.4 mm in diameter. After laser treatment, the samples were subjected to acid demineralization for 48 hours to simulate acidic intraoral conditions of a caries attack. The resulting demineralization and erosion were assessed using polarization sensitive OCT (PS-OCT) and 3D digital microscopy. The images from digital microscopy demonstrated a clear delineation between laser protected zones without visual changes and zones with higher levels of demineralization and erosion. Distinct changes in the surface morphology were found within the laser treated area in accordance with the Gaussian spatial beam profile. There was significant protection from the laser in areas that were not visually altered.
Combinatorial Cis-regulation in Saccharomyces Species

Transcriptional control of gene expression requires interactions between the cis-regulatory elements (CREs) controlling gene promoters. We developed a sensitive computational method to identify CRE combinations with conserved spacing that does not require genome alignments. When applied to seven sensu stricto and sensu lato Saccharomyces species, 80% of the predicted interactions displayed some evidence of combinatorial transcriptional behavior in several existing datasets including: (1) chromatin immunoprecipitation data for colocalization of transcription factors, (2) gene expression data for coexpression of predicted regulatory targets, and (3) gene ontology databases for common pathway membership of predicted regulatory targets. We tested several predicted CRE interactions with chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments in a wild-type strain and strains in which a predicted cofactor was deleted. Our experiments confirmed that transcription factor (TF) occupancy at the promoters of the CRE combination target genes depends on the predicted cofactor while occupancy of other promoters is independent of the predicted cofactor. Our method has the additional advantage of identifying regulatory differences between species. By analyzing the S. cerevisiae and S. bayanus genomes, we identified differences in combinatorial cis-regulation between the species and showed that the predicted changes in gene regulation explain several of the species-specific differences seen in gene expression datasets. In some instances, the same CRE combinations appear to regulate genes involved in distinct biological processes in the two different species. The results of this research demonstrate that (1) combinatorial cis-regulation can be inferred by multi-genome analysis and (2) combinatorial cis-regulation can explain differences in gene expression between species.
Prismatic enamel in multituberculate mammals: tests of homology and polarity

The purpose of this study is to investigate the homology and polarity of enamel ultrastructural characters in the Multituberculata, one of the most evolutionarily successful radiations of early mammals. A number of recent studies have documented the morphological characteristics of enamel ultrastructure (variation in the shape, size, and spacing of “prisms”), however, little attempt has been made to analyze the results in a phylogenetic context. These studies have assumed that similar ultrastructural types are homologous to one another, and several have proposed that within multituberculates, small, circular prisms represent the primitive condition relative to large, arc-shaped prisms. We have tested these hypotheses by comparing the distribution of enamel ultrastructural types with a preliminary cladogram derived from an analysis of 22 characters of gross dental morphology for the most completely known Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary multituberculate genera (30 of 41 recognized genera). We conclude that each prism type is homologous in all multituberculates in which it occurs because of its consistency with non-ultrastructural characters used to construct the cladogram. A single exception to this consistent pattern exists, which we interpret as an instance of homoplasy. Neoliotomus has small, circular prisms rather than the large, arc-shaped prisms predicted by its location in the cladogram. Within Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary multituberculates, small, circular prisms are found only in relatively derived ptilodontoids (and Neoliotomus ), whereas large, arc-shaped prisms are found in Paracimexomys, Cimexomys , cimolomyids ( Meniscoessus and Cimolomys ), the relatively primitive ptilodontoid Cimolodon , and all taeniolabidoids except Neoliotomus . The hypothesis that large, arc-shaped prisms represent the derived condition within multituberculates therefore should be rejected.
Gender and the returns to attractiveness

Abstract This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to (1) replicate research that documents a positive association between physical attractiveness and income; (2) examine whether the returns to attractiveness differ for women and men; and 3) explore the role that grooming plays in the attractiveness-income relationship. We find that attractive individuals earn roughly 20 percent more than people of average attractiveness, but this gap is reduced when controlling for grooming, suggesting that the beauty premium can be actively cultivated. Further, while both conventional wisdom and previous research suggest the importance of attractiveness might vary by gender, we find no gender differences in the attractiveness gradient. However, we do find that grooming accounts for the entire attractiveness premium for women, and only half of the premium for men. Our findings underscore the social construction of attractiveness, and in doing so illuminate a key mechanism for attractiveness premia that varies by gender.
A hybrid approach to computing electrostatic forces in fluidized beds of charged particles

In particulate flow devices particles acquire electric charge through triboelectric charging, and resulting electrostatic forces can alter hydrodynamics. To capture this effect, the electrostatic force acting on individual particles in the device should be computed accurately. Electrostatic force is calculated using a hybrid approach consisting of: (1) long-range contributions from an Eulerian electric field solved using the Poisson equation (2) short-range contributions calculated using a truncated pairwise sum and (3) a correction to avoid double counting. Euler-Lagrange simulation of flows incorporating this hybrid approach reveals that bed height oscillations in small fluidized beds of particles with monopolar charge decreases with increasing charge level, which is related to lateral segregation of particles. A ring-like layer of particles, reported in experimental studies, forms at modestly high charge levels. Beds with equal amounts of positively and negatively charged particles are fluidized in a manner similar to uncharged particles. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 2282–2295, 2016
Residues at the subunit interfaces of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that contribute to α-conotoxin M1 binding

The two binding sites in the pentameric nicotinic acetylcholine receptor of subunit composition α2βγδ are formed by nonequivalent α-γ and α-δ subunit interfaces, which produce site selectivity in the binding of agonists and antagonists. We show by sedimentation analysis that 125I-α-conotoxin M1 binds with high affinity to the α-δ subunit dimers, but not to α-γ dimers, nor to α, γ, and δ monomers, a finding consistent with α-conotoxin M1 selectivity for the αδ interface in the intact receptor measured by competition against α-bungarotoxin binding. We also extend previous identification of α-conotoxin M1 determinants in the γ and δ subunits to the α subunit interface by mutagenesis of conserved residues in the α subunit. Most mutations of the α subunit affect affinity similarly at the two sites, but Tyr93Phe, Val188Lys, Tyr190Thr, Tyr198Thr, and Asp152Asn affect affinity in a site-selective manner. Mutant cycle analysis reveals only weak or no interactions between mutant α and non-α subunits, indicating that side chains of the α subunit do not interact with those of the γ or δ subunits in stabilizing α-conotoxin M1. The overall findings suggest different binding configurations of α-conotoxin M1 at the α-δ and α-γ binding interfaces.
The VE-cadherin cytoplasmic domain undergoes proteolytic processing during endocytosis.

VE-cadherin is cleaved by calpain to remove the β-catenin–binding domain upon entry into clathrin-enriched membrane domains. Calpain cleavage of VE-cadherin cytoplasmic tail appears to fate cadheri...
Are loss of control while eating and overeating valid constructs? A critical review of the literature

BACKGROUND Binge eating is a marker of weight gain and obesity, and a hallmark feature of eating disorders. Yet its component constructs - overeating and loss of control (LOC) while eating - are poorly understood and difficult to measure. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to critically review the human literature concerning the validity of LOC and overeating across the age and weight spectrum. DATA SOURCES English-language articles addressing the face, convergent, discriminant and predictive validity of LOC and overeating were included. RESULTS Loss of control and overeating appear to have adequate face validity. Emerging evidence supports the convergent and predictive validity of the LOC construct, given its unique cross-sectional and prospective associations with numerous anthropometric, psychosocial and eating behaviour-related factors. Overeating may be best conceptualized as a marker of excess weight status. LIMITATIONS Binge eating constructs, particularly in the context of subjectively large episodes, are challenging to measure reliably. Few studies addressed overeating in the absence of LOC, thereby limiting conclusions about the validity of the overeating construct independent of LOC. Additional studies addressing the discriminant validity of both constructs are warranted. DISCUSSION Suggestions for future weight-related research and for appropriately defining binge eating in the eating disorders diagnostic scheme are presented.
An efficient computation offloading architecture for the Internet of Things (IoT) devices

Proliferation of the connected Internet of things (IoT) devices and applications like augmented reality have resulted in a paradigm shift in computation requirement and power management of these devices. Furthermore, processing enormous amounts of data generated by ubiquitous IoT devices and meeting real-time deadline requirements of novel IoT applications exacerbate the challenges in IoT design. To address these challenges, in this paper, we propose a computation offloading architecture to process the huge amount of data generated by IoT devices while simultaneously meeting the real-time deadlines of IoT applications. In our proposed architecture, a resource-constrained IoT device requests a relatively resourceful computing device (e.g., a personal computer) in the same local network for computation offloading. Additionally, in our proposed computation offloading architecture, both client and server devices tune their tunable parameters, such as operating frequency and number of active cores, to meet the application's real-time deadline requirements. We compare our proposed computation offloading architecture with contemporary computation offloading models that use cloud computing. Experimental results verify that our proposed architecture provides a performance improvement of 21.4% on average as compared to cloud-based computation offloading schemes.
Predatory Poetics: Reading Weight in Thirteenth-Century Falconry Treatises

AbstractThis essay looks to the material realm of falconry to articulate how poetic language can possess “weight,” which is, for Roman Jakobson, a constitutive category for detecting “poeticity.” I argue that poetic weight entails a negotiation of control among poet, poem, and reader and resembles weight as it is described in medieval falconry manuals. These manuals exalt control of weight as the primary method for training birds to fly beautifully. The makeup of falconry treatises like Frederick II’s De arte venandi cum avibus, including their marginal illuminations and vernacular and verse forms, shows an increasingly explicit awareness of the overlapping artistic aims of both falconry and poetry. Reading these thirteenth-century falconry manuals as poetics treatises, I show how falconry’s paradox of control and release gives language to an otherwise unexpressed medieval understanding of poetic textual encounter.
Supporters and opponents of Donald Trump respond differently to racial cues: An experimental analysis:

A number of recent studies suggest that individuals who exhibit high levels of racial animosity strongly support Donald Trump, while racial liberals strongly oppose him. This paper provides a new experimental analysis of the extent to which supporters and opponents of Trump respond differently to race-related stimuli. Specifically, we examine whether attitudes toward Trump moderate the political impact of racial cues in the environment. We find that white Trump supporters randomly exposed to a black (versus a white) man in the context of soliciting their support for a housing-assistance policy were more opposed to the policy, angrier about the policy, and more likely to blame beneficiaries for their situation. The opposite pattern prevailed among whites with unfavorable opinions of Trump. Our results help provide new insight into how Trump supporters and opponents differ in their responses to the salience of race in American politics.
Linear Algebra Review, Unitary and Orthogonal Groups

A significant background in linear algebra will be assumed in later chapters, and we’ll need a range of specific facts from that subject.
Fat pedagogy and microaggressions: Experiences of professionals working in higher education settings

ABSTRACTFisanick suggests that fat professors feel compelled to overperform, which is an argument that is applicable to all areas of higher education, even beyond the classroom. Directors, coordinators, and administrative assistants in academic departments and units also experience this strain in which overworking and taking on too many responsibilities can somehow overcompensate for the societal belief that someone larger is less credible or knowledgible than someone in a thinner body size. Using a narrative inquiry approach, the authors examine how participants experience microaggressions in a university workplace. The research concludes by highlighting how body weight should be integrated into diversity training and programming.
Designing Registration Caching Free High-Performance MPI Library with Implicit On-Demand Paging (ODP) of InfiniBand

Modern high-performance communication runtime systems have taken advantage of advanced features on highperformance networks (e.g. InfiniBand) to deliver optimal performance. High-performance communication over InfiniBand typically requires the communication buffers to be registered first. However, buffer registration and deregistration are costly operations, which leads to performance degradation if they happen frequently. To hide this overhead, many existing communication runtime choose to design a high-performance registration cache to reduce the number of buffer registrations, but such type of designs still need some amount of buffers to be registered and cached, which leads to multiple issues such as performance overhead, high memory consumption for bookkeeping, and code complexity for maintaining the registration cache. To solve these issues, a recently introduced feature for InfiniBand called Implicit OnDemand Paging (ODP) is getting momentum. This feature enables one process to register its complete memory address space for I/O accesses. To fully take advantage of Implicit-ODP, it is critical to fully understand the behavior and benefits of Implicit-ODP on InfiniBand and performance/memory trade-offs it presents. This paper first presents an analysis of the Implicit-ODP feature and studies its basic performance with InfiniBand verbs-level micro-benchmarks. Then, we describe the design tradeoffs with Implicit-ODP and the various optimizations at MPI runtime. We propose and design communication protocols that can leverage the Implicit-ODP feature at the MPI level. The experimental results at the micro-benchmark level and application level show that our proposed design can deliver comparable performance to the existing pin-down scheme, while it does not need registration cache in the MPI runtime. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to study and analyze the Implicit-ODP feature and design a registration caching free MPI library with it.
Psychopathology and the development of disability.

The objective was to determine the effect of preexisting psychopathology on days missed from work or usual activities (“disability days”) in a large community sample (N=3481). Logistic regression analyses were performed, with the presence or absence of disability days (wave 2) as the dependent variable. The effects of sociodemographic variables, six psychiatric disorders, a high distress score, and chronic physical conditions (wave 1) were studied. Separate analyses were conducted for, the total sample and four subgroups (labor force participants, homemakers, men, and women). The adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for subjects with onset of panic disorder, were 7.3 (95% CI=1.8,28.7); for those with chronic major depressive disorder, 7.2 (95% CI=0.3,160.6); and for those, with chronic high distress, 5.0 (95% CI=2.6,9.9). The relative, odds for developing a disability were greater for those with either type of psychiatric disorder or high distress than for those with any prior physical illness or those with a prior disability day. Disability days experienced by persons with psychopathology result in diminished quality of life, economic losses, and increased need for health services. Improved health services and educational and work adjustments for emotionally disabled persons are recommended.
Malassezia furfur: disseminated infection in premature infants

Three infants, born prematurely, died after clinical illnesses of 67, 65, and 60 days from infection by Malassezia furfur. Each infant had been nourished with lipid emulsions delivered through deep-line catheters. The infections, all discovered at autopsy, were characterized by massive involvement of lungs. Two of the three had endocardial vegetations containing M. furfur; all three had lesions in liver, kidney, and spleen, and two had lesions in adrenal, pancreas, and colon. In addition, one of the infants had acute meningoencephalitis caused by M. furfur. In some of the distant organs, yeast cells of M. furfur were growing in the lumina of small vessels, filling the lumina, but causing no vasculitis or infarction. In addition to these benign collections of yeasts within vessels, there were acute inflammatory lesions as well. These were consolidation, vasculitis, granulomatous inflammation, septic thrombosis, and septic infarction of lung and foci of necrosis and inflammation in kidney and liver. Two previously reported autopsies described neonates with lesions in lung and heart. The authors' three cases for which autopsies were performed had lesions in lung and heart too but, in addition, had dissemination with acute lesions in kidney and liver. Finally, one patient had a severe meningoencephalitis caused by M. furfur.
Building and Evaluating GENCO Bidding Strategies and Unit Commitment Schedules with Genetic Algorithms

Far from being an artifact of the past, the unit commitment (UC) algorithm is essential to making economical decisions in today’s competitive electricity industry. Increasing competition; decreasing obligations-to-serve; and enhanced futures, forwards, and spot market trading in electricity and other related markets make the decision of which units to operate more complex than ever before. Decentralized auction markets currently being implemented in countries like Spain use UC-type models, which should encourage researchers to continue working on finding better and faster solution techniques. UC schedules may be developed for a generation company, a system operator, etc. The need for many flavors of UC algorithms, each considering different inputs and objective functions, is growing. Factors such as historical reliability of units should be considered in designing the UC algorithm. Although a particular schedule may result in the lowest cost, or highest profit, it may depend on generators that have varying availabilities. Traditionally, consumers had very reliable electricity whether they needed it or not. Given a choice in a market-based electricity system, many consumers might choose to pay for a slightly lower level of power availability if it would result in sufficient savings. As the number of inputs and options grows in UC problems, the genetic algorithm (GA) becomes an important tool for searching the large solution space. GA times-to-solution often scale up linearly with the number of units, or hours being considered. Another benefit of using the GA to generate UC schedules is that an entire population of schedules is developed, some of which may be well suited to situations that may arise quickly due to unexpected contingencies.
Needs and Challenges Related to Multilevel Interventions: Physical Activity Examples:

The theme of this commentary is to discuss the need for, and challenges of, conceptualizing, implementing, and evaluating multilevel health behavior change interventions. Ecological models, recommendations from national and international authoritative groups, and growing evidence all support the need for interventions designed to change multiple levels of influence, including individuals, social environments, organizations, built environments, and policies, to achieve population improvements in public health. Though multilevel interventions are becoming more common in practice, they are still under-used, and research on multilevel interventions is relatively rare. Drawing on examples from physical activity, several types of evidence are summarized to demonstrate that multilevel interventions are feasible and can be effective. Serious challenges to implementing and evaluating multilevel interventions include the need for teams with diverse expertise, lack of control over intervention implementation, unpredictability of timelines, managing complex teams over extended periods, and need to apply unfamiliar and less-rigorous study designs and methods. Recommendations are offered for changes in training, funding priorities, and academic incentives that could lead to more and better multilevel interventions.
Size and influence of the decision support networks of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

e18012Background: Little is known about the size and characteristics of informal decision support networks of women diagnosed with breast cancer and whether involvement of informal decision support...
Approaches to Establish Extracardiac Total Cavopulmonary Connections in Animal Models-A Review.

Background:Long-term survival of patients with a single ventricle palliated with a Fontan procedure is still limited. No curative treatment options are available. To investigate the pathophysiology...
Clinical recognition and management of patients with prediabetes

ABSTRACT Objective: Early identification and management of prediabetes is critical to prevent progression to diabetes. We aimed to assess whether prediabetes is appropriately recognized and managed among patients with impaired fasting glucose (IFG). Methods: We carried out an observational study of Olmsted County residents evaluated at the Mayo Clinic between 1999–2017. We randomly selected 108 subjects with biochemical criteria of IFG and 105 normoglycemic subjects. We reviewed their health records at baseline (1999–2004) and during follow up (2005–2017) collecting demographic and clinical data including vitals, diagnoses, laboratory, and medications associated with cardiovascular comorbidities. The main outcome was documentation of any recognition of prediabetes and management recommendations (lifestyle changes and/or medications). Results: At baseline (1999–2004), 26.85% (29/108) of subjects with IFG were recognized as having prediabetes, and of these 75.86% (22/29) received management recommendations with 6.9% (2/29) getting metformin. During follow-up (2005–2017), 26.67% (28/105) of initial cohort of normoglycemic subjects developed incident IFG and of these, 85.71% (24/28) were recognized as having prediabetes, and 58.33% (14/24) received management recommendations. During the entire study period, 62.50% (85/136) were recognized as having prediabetes of which 75.29% (64/85) had documented management recommendations. High body mass index (BMI) (≥35) was associated with increased recognition (odds ratio lOR] 3.66; confidence interval lCI] 1.065, 12.500; P = .0395), and normal BMI ( Conclusion: Despite evidence supporting the efficacy of lifestyle changes and medications in managing prediabetes, this condition is not fully recognized in routine clinical practice. Increased awareness of diagnostic criteria and appropriate management are essential to enhance diabetes prevention. Abbreviations: BMI = body mass index; CI = confidence interval; EHR = electronic health records; FBG = fasting blood glucose; IFG = impaired fasting glucose; IGT = impaired glucose tolerance; OR = odds ratio
X-Ray Diffraction Analyses of Glycosaminoglycans

In a uniaxially oriented fiber of a glycosaminoglycan, the molecules are extended and have symmetrical (usually helical) secondary structures. The long axes of the polymers are more or less parallel. Frequently, the fibers are also polycrystalline with clumps of molecules incorporated into small crystallites, where they make orderly lateral interactions with one another. Although this organization is artificial, its details may help illuminate the state of glycosaminoglycan molecules in solutions and tissues.
Development and screening of brain-targeted lipid-based nanoparticles with enhanced cell penetration and gene delivery properties.

Background The potential of gene therapy for treatment of neurological disorders can be explored using designed lipid-based nanoparticles such as liposomes, which have demonstrated ability to deliver nucleic acid to brain cells. We synthesized liposomes conjugated to cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) (vascular endothelial-cadherin-derived peptide [pVec], pentapeptide QLPVM and HIV-1 trans-activating protein [TAT]) and transferrin (Tf) ligand, and examined the influence of surface modifications on the liposome delivery capacity and transfection efficiency of encapsulated plasmid DNA. The design of liposomes was based on targeting molecular recognition of transferrin receptor overexpressed on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) with enhanced internalization ability of CPPs. Methods CPP-Tf-liposomes were characterized by particle size distribution, zeta potential, protection of encapsulated plasmid DNA, uptake mechanisms and transfection efficiencies. An in vitro triple co-culture BBB model selected the liposomal formulations that were able to cross the in vitro BBB and subsequently, transfect primary neuronal cells. The in vivo biodistribution and biocompatibility of selected formulations were also investigated in mice. Results Liposomal formulations were able to protect the encapsulated plasmid DNA against enzymatic degradation and presented low hemolytic potential and low cytotoxicity at 100 nM phospholipid concentration. Cellular internalization of nanoparticles occurred via multiple endocytosis pathways. CPP-Tf-conjugated liposomes mediated robust transfection of brain endothelial (bEnd.3), primary glial and primary neuronal cells. Liposomes modified with Tf and TAT demonstrated superior ability to cross the barrier layer and subsequently, transfect neuronal cells compared to other formulations. Quantification of fluorescently labeled liposomes and in vivo imaging demonstrated that this system could efficiently overcome the BBB and penetrate the brain of mice (7.7% penetration of injected dose). Conclusion In vitro screening platforms are important tools to enhance the success of brain-targeted gene delivery systems. The potential of TAT-Tf-liposomes as efficient brain-targeted gene carriers in vitro and in vivo was suggested to be related to the presence of selected moieties on the nanoparticle surface.
Structure and Magnetism of Co2Ge Nanoparticles.

The structural and magnetic properties of Co2Ge nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by the cluster-beam deposition (CBD) technique have been investigated. As-made particles with an average size of 5.5 nm exhibit a mixture of hexagonal and orthorhombic crystal structures. Thermomagnetic measurements showed that the as-made particles are superparamagnetic at room temperature with a blocking temperature (TB) of 20 K. When the particles are annealed at 823 K for 12 h, their size is increased to 13 nm and they develop a new orthorhombic crystal structure, with a Curie temperature (TC) of 815 K. This is drastically different from bulk, which are ferromagnetic at cryogenic temperatures only. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements suggest the formation of a new Co-rich orthorhombic phase (OP) with slightly increased c/a ratio in the annealed particles and this is believed to be the reason for the drastic change in their magnetic properties.
Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Flash Density and Thunderstorm Day Distributions over the Contiguous United States Derived from NLDN Measurements: 1993–2018

AbstractThis study employs cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flash data from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) to examine temporal and spatial distributions of lightning flash and t...
Comparative study of Revogene GBS LB assay and GeneXpert GBS LB assay for the detection of group B Streptococcus in prenatal screening samples.

Group B Streptococcal (GBS) infections in the United States are a leading cause of meningitis and sepsis in newborns. The CDC therefore recommends GBS screening for all pregnant women at 35–37 weeks of gestation and administration of intrapartum prophylaxis (in those that tested positive) as an effective means of controlling disease transmission. Several FDA approved molecular diagnostic tests are available for rapid and accurate detection of GBS in antepartum women. In this study, we report a clinical comparison of the Xpert GBS LB assay and a novel FDA-cleared test, Revogene GBS LB assay. A total of 250 vaginal-rectal swabs from women undergoing prenatal screening were submitted to the University of Wisconsin’s clinical microbiology laboratory for GBS testing. We found 96.8% of samples were concordant between the two tests, while 3.2% were discordant with a positive percent agreement of 98.0% and a negative percent agreement of 96.5% between the Revogene GBS LB assay and the GeneXpert GBS LB assay. Overall, we report that both assays perform well for the detection of GBS colonization in pregnant women.
Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development in High-Income Countries

The challenges of sustainable development in industrial countries are quite distinct from those of the developing regions. In these countries, the majority of food is produced on large commercial farms. Farm household incomes are relatively high and often equal or exceed incomes in the non-agricultural sectors for comparable skills and experience. A major economic issue is the financial viability of smaller farms and the ongoing consolidation of land into larger farms. Environmental concerns dominate the sustainability challenges of these systems, due to their reliance on chemical inputs and biotechnology, impacts on water quality and quantity, use of hormones and antibiotics in livestock production, and greenhouse gas emissions. Health and safety of farm workers, rural community viability, and animal welfare are important social challenges.
ECMO OUTCOMES IN PREGNANT AND PERIPARTUM WOMEN

The United States is the only developed country in the world in which peripartum maternal mortality is increasing. ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) has been used with increasing success as a tool to support circulatory or respiratory failure in the non-pregnant patient. The reported data
Risk profile of subcutaneous port placement in small children

Abstract Background/purpose Long-term central venous access is a safe and common procedure in children. However, complications with devices are a reality. Smaller children are thought to have a higher rate of complication after port placement, and some surgeons avoid placing ports with an arbitrary weight cutoff out of concern for surgical site morbidity. Methods We performed a multi-institutional retrospective review of 500 patients less than 5 years of age undergoing port placement at three large volume children's hospitals from 2014 to 2018. Patients were divided by weight greater than or less than 10 kg at the time of insertion. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate for differences in outcomes between the two groups. Results The majority of ports were placed for chemotherapy access (71.8%). Other indications included long-term infusions (18.8%) and difficult chronic IV access (9.4%). Of the 500 charts reviewed, 110 (22%) experienced some documented complication (28.9% 10 kg, p = 0.096). There were no differences between the two groups in terms of the type or timing of complications. Overall, 16.3% of ports required removal prior to the end of therapy owing to a complication. Complication rate per day with the port in place was not different between the two groups ( 10 kg 0.44 complications/1000 port-days, p = 0.068). Conclusion Weight less than 10 kg was not associated with a significantly higher incidence of any type of port complication in our cohort. This suggests that concern for complications should not exclude children less than 10 kg from port placement. Type of study Multi-institutional retrospective review. Level of evidence Level III.
Apparently benign craniocervical signs in achondroplasia: “neurologic leftovers” identified through a retrospective dataset

Achondroplasia is the most common dwarfing disorder. It can result in a variety of sequelae, including neurologic complications, among which high cervical myelopathy is one of particular concern. However, some individuals with achondroplasia appear to have persistent signs by physical examination that, while they might suggest the presence of high cervical myelopathy, remain isolated, non-progressive and apparently benign. To document and quantify these apparently benign craniocervical signs (ABCS) a cohort of 477 individuals with achondroplasia was retrospectively analyzed and information regarding persistent neurologic features suggestive of high cervical myelopathy was recorded in a REDCap database. Within this cohort, 151 individuals (31.7%) had neurologic examinations that were in some manner concerning. Of these, 46 (30.5% of the subpopulation) required cervicomedullary decompressive surgery. The remaining 105 had concerning signs by examination but no apparent evidence for clinically significant cervical myelopathy. Of those 105 individuals, 88 (83.8%; 18.4% of the entire population) remained neurologically intact throughout their follow-up, and without clinical sequelae. It appears that many individuals with achondroplasia, if carefully examined, may demonstrate isolated, initially concerning signs suggestive of cervical myelopathy, but in the vast majority these are benign and do not indicate need for aggressive neurosurgical intervention. Further investigations may help to identify ways to differentiate these benign features from the less common but more problematic true myelopathic ones. We postulate that the “neurologic leftovers” may arise from temporally remote, subtle damage to the spinal cord at the craniocervical junction, which damage otherwise does not reach clinical relevance.
Prognostic implications of prior contrast reaction in patients with emergency premedication before undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Abstract Background Patients with iodinated contrast material (ICM) adverse reactions are at increased risk for breakthrough reactions. Previous studies suggest that the severity of a prior ICM adverse reaction corresponds to the severity of a repeat reaction. Objective We investigated whether the severity of prior ICM adverse reactions in patients receiving emergency premedication therapy prior to PCI predicts outcomes. Methods A retrospective observational study of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) encounters between January 1, 2005, and May 30, 2018, was conducted at Geisinger Medical Center. Patients with ICM adverse reactions premedicated with an emergency premedication regimen prior to PCI were included in the study. PCIs were stratified based on the severity of the index ICM adverse reactions; PCIs with a prior severe reaction were compared to PCIs with a prior mild-moderate reaction. Results We evaluated 604 PCI, of these, 144 (23.8%) had prior severe reactions and 460 (76.2%) had mild-to-moderate reactions. Nine patients had breakthrough reactions, of which seven were of the same or decreased severity in comparison to the index reactions. The overall breakthrough reactions occurred in 1 of 144 patients (0.7%) with an initial severe reaction and in 8 of 460 (1.7%) with an initial mild/moderate reaction (p = 0.69). Outcomes including length of hospital stay and 30-day mortality were similar for PCI with or without severe index ICM reactions. Conclusion Frequency and severity of breakthrough reaction and clinical outcomes in patients treated with emergency premedication regimen prior to PCI were independent of the severity of index ICM reactions.
Arylethynyl Helices Supported by π-Stacking and Halogen Bonding.

Co-crystallization of a pyridyl-containing arylethynyl (AE) moiety with 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene leads to unique, figure-eight shaped helical motifs within the crystal lattice. A slight twist in the AE backbone allows each AE unit to simultaneously interact with haloarene units that are stacked on top of one another. Left-handed (M) and right-handed (P) helices are interspersed in a regular pattern throughout the crystal. The major driving forces for assembly are 1) halogen bonding between the pyridyl nitrogen atoms and the iodine substituents of the haloarene, with N⋅⋅⋅I distances between 2.81 and 2.84 A, and 2) π-π stacking of the haloarenes, with distances of approximately 3.57 A between centroids. Halogen bonding and π-π stacking not only work in concert, but also seem to mutually enhance one another. Calculations suggest that the presence of π-π stacking modestly intensifies the halogen bonding interaction by <0.2 kcal/mol; likewise, halogen bonding to the haloarene enhances the π-π stacking interaction by 0.59 kcal/mol.
Abstract WMP57: Declining Blood Pressure is Associated with Subcortical Microinfarcts in Older Adults

Hypertension is highly prevalent in the elderly population and microinfarcts are the most common vascular brain pathology identified in older adults at autopsy. We investigated the associations bet...
Treatment of Viral Hepatitis Due to Adenovirus in a Liver Transplantation Recipient: The Clinical Use of Cidofovir and Intravenous Immunoglobulin.

Adenovirus (ADV) is a non-enveloped double-stranded DNA virus that can cause severe disease in immunocompromised hosts. We present the case of disseminated adenovirus infection in a liver transplant recipient, confirmed on liver biopsy and treated with cidofovir and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) with monitored serological response.