cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Grassmannian Spectral Regression for Learning and Classification

Computational performance associated with high dimensional data is a common challenge for real-world action classification systems. Subspace learning, and manifold learning in particular, have received considerable attention as means of finding efficient low-dimensional representations that lead to better classification and efficient processing. A Grassmann manifold is a space that promotes smooth surfaces where points represent subspaces. In this paper, Grassmannian Spectral Regression (GRASP) is presented as a Grassmann inspired subspace learning algorithm that combines the benefits of Grassmann manifolds and spectral regression for fast and accurate classification. GRASP involves embedding high dimensional action subspaces as individual points onto a Grassmann manifold, kernelizing the embeddings onto a projection space, and then applying Spectral Regression for fast and accurate action classification. Furthermore, spatiotemporal action descriptions called Motion History Surfaces and Motion Depth Surfaces are utilized. The effectiveness of GRASP is illustrated for computationally intensive, multi-view and 3D action classification datasets.
Protective Effects of Pertussis Immunoglobulin (P-IGIV) in the Aerosol Challenge Model

Pertussis in infants is often severe, resulting in prolonged hospitalization. Treatment is limited to supportive care. Antibiotics do not significantly alter the course of the disease unless administered during the catarrhal phase. Therapies directed at pertussis toxin, a major virulence factor of Bordetella pertussis, may be beneficial. This study uses the aerosol challenge model to further examine the protective effects of P-IGIV, a new intravenous immunoglobulin product, which has high levels of pertussis toxin antibodies. P-IGIV was prepared as a 4% immunoglobulin G (IgG) solution from the pooled donor plasma from donors immunized with inactivated pertussis toxoid. The IgG pertussis toxin antibody concentration in P-IGIV is >7-fold higher than conventional intravenous immunoglobulin products. In the aerosol challenge model, P-IGIV-treated mice exhibited a dose-dependent decrease in mortality when monitored for 28 days postchallenge. P-IGIV in doses of 2,800, 1,400, and 350 mg/kg significantly reduced mortality compared to saline (P < 0.01)- and human IGIV (P < 0.01)-treated controls. The 50% protective dose of pertussis toxin antibodies in P-IGIV was 147 μg/ml. Recovery of weight gain and normalization of leukocyte counts occurred in all P-IGIV-treated groups but did not exhibit dose-dependent characteristics. Even after 7 days of infection, P-IGIV reversed the effects of pertussis in mice. This study provides further evidence that pertussis toxin antibodies not only play a role in passive protection but can also reverse symptoms of established disease in mice. We feel that P-IGIV deserves further evaluation in children hospitalized with severe pertussis.
Intestinal-type adenocarcinoma of the larynx: Report of a rare aggressive phenotype and discussion of histogenesis.

Background Primary laryngeal adenocarcinomas are uncommon and typically of salivary or seromucinous glands origin. Similarly, metastatic adenocarcinoma, including intestinal origin to the larynx, is a rare occurrence. Methods We present a case of a 63-year-old woman with odynophagia and an epiglottic mass of 2 months' duration. Physical examination revealed a large mass involving the entire epiglottis with extension to the preepiglottic space anteriorly and to the right lateral wall of the oropharyngeal/hypopharyngeal junction. Results Induction chemotherapy was initiated, and, after 4 cycles with no noticeable response, the patient underwent total laryngectomy and bilateral levels II to IV neck dissection. The final pathology diagnosis was primary intestinal-type adenocarcinoma of the larynx. Conclusion We present a primary high-stage intestinal-type adenocarcinoma of the larynx and discuss its putative origin and the clinicopathologic characteristics. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 36: E44–E47, 2014
The Politics of the Death Penalty

Sixteen avuncular men stare at the camera in the book's epilogue. One clutches a Bible, two smile, 11 are black or Hispanic, and all are among the 127 men and women released from death row after reformers uncovered evidence of their innocence. Frank Baumgartner, Suzanna De Boef, and Amber Boydstun will be speaking for many readers when they start their book by writing simply, “It has been shocking” (p. xiii). The phenomenon is also a stunning public policy mystery.
Bandwidth-adaptive Clustering for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, we propose a new clustering approach, bandwidth-adaptive clustering (BAC), for MANETs. BAC forms and maintains clusters using only local topology information. To adapt to network conditions and reduce the message overhead, BAC makes members forward the maintenance messages probabilistically based on available bandwidth. The multi-hop nature and Merge operation of BAC reduce the changes in case of mobility and achieve fewer consistent clusters. By bounding cluster size and the number of hops between members and clusterheads, BAC achieves more control on the number of formed clusters and the compactness of clusters. Simulation results demonstrate BAC's better performance on construction and maintenance of clusters in case of mobility, adaptiveness to network conditions, and effectiveness in reducing message overhead with nearly no performance degradation.
Light-Emitting Diode Displays

The intent of this chapter is to give an overview of issues in LED technology that are important to an engineer considering the use of LEDs for display applications. An attempt has been made to make this chapter self-contained. Due to space limitations, however, many topics are only briefly discussed. Additional information on various portions of LED technology is available in a number of books and review articles1–9 and the reader is referred to these publications if he wishes to pursue the topic further.
Scatter/gather browsing communicates the topic structure of a very large text collection

Scatter/Gather is a cluster-based browsing technique for large text collections. Users are presented with automatically computed summaries of the contents of clusters of similar documents and provided with a method for navigating through these summaries at different levels of granularity. The aim of the technique is to communicate information about the topic structure of very large collections. We tested the effectiveness of Scatter/Gather as a simple pure document retrieval tool, and studied its effects on the incidental learning of topic structure. When compared to interactions involving simple keyword-based search, the results suggest that Scatter/Gather induces a more coherent conceptual image of a text collection, a richer vocabulary for constructing search queries, and communicates the distribution of relevant documents over clusters of documents in the collection.
INTREPID—INformation-theoretic TREe traversal for Protein functional site IDentification

Motivation: Identification of functionally important residues in proteins plays a significant role in biological discovery. Here, we present INTREPID—an information–theoretic approach for functional site identification that exploits the information in large diverse multiple sequence alignments (MSAs). INTREPID uses a traversal of the phylogeny in combination with a positional conservation score, based on Jensen–Shannon divergence, to rank positions in an MSA. While knowledge of protein 3D structure can significantly improve the accuracy of functional site identification, since structural information is not available for a majority of proteins, INTREPID relies solely on sequence information. We evaluated INTREPID on two tasks: predicting catalytic residues and predicting specificity determinants. Results: In catalytic residue prediction, INTREPID provides significant improvements over Evolutionary Trace, ConSurf as well as over a baseline global conservation method on a set of 100 manually curated enzymes from the Catalytic Site Atlas. In particular, INTREPID is able to better predict catalytic positions that are not globally conserved and hence, attains improved sensitivity at high values of specificity. We also investigated the performance of INTREPID as a function of the evolutionary divergence of the protein family. We found that INTREPID is better able to exploit the diversity in such families and that accuracy improves when homologs with very low sequence identity are included in an alignment. In specificity determinant prediction, when subtype information is known, INTREPID-SPEC, a variant of INTREPID, attains accuracies that are competitive with other approaches for this task. Availability: INTREPID is available for 16919 families in the PhyloFacts resource ( http://phylogenomics.berkeley.edu/phylofacts). Contact: sriram_s@cs.berkeley.edu Supplementary information: Relevant online supplementary material is available at http://phylogenomics.berkeley.edu/INTREPID.
Increased Abundance of Distal Sodium Transporters in Rat Kidney during Vasopressin Escape

Hyponatremia is associated with inappropriately elevated vasopressin levels. A brisk natriuresis precedes the escape from this antidiuresis. Thus, the hypothesis was that the abundance of one or more of the sodium transporters of the distal tubule (a site for fine tuning of sodium balance) would be altered during vasopressin escape. Semiquantitative immunoblotting was used to examine the regulation of abundance of several sodium transporters/channels of the thick ascending limb through the collecting duct in the rat model. Osmotic minipumps to infuse dDAVP, the V2-selective vasopressin agonist (5 ng/h) for the entire experiment, were implanted in Male Sprague-Dawley rats. After 4 d, rats were divided into a control (dry AIN-76 diet/ad libitum water) or a water-loaded (gelled-agar-AIN-76 diet/ad libitum water) group. Rats were killed after 1, 2, 3, or 7 additional days. The water-loaded rats were hyponatremic (plasma Na+, 98 to 122 mmol/L) and manifested the expected early natriuresis and diuresis of vasopressin escape. Water loading (with dDAVP infusion) resulted in increased whole-kidney abundances of the thiazide-sensitive Na-Cl co-transporter, the alpha-subunit of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), and the 70-kD dimer of the gamma-subunit of ENaC. No changes were observed for the ss-subunit of ENaC. Similar protein changes have recently been associated with elevated aldosterone levels in rats. However, plasma aldosterone levels were significantly suppressed in this model. These data suggest that several distal sodium reabsorptive mechanisms are upregulated during vasopressin escape; this may help to attenuate the developing hyponatremia resulting from water loading when vasopressin levels are inappropriately elevated.
The relationship between expatriates' personality traits and their adjustment to international assignments

This study investigates the relationship between personality traits of expatriates and their adjustment to international assignments. We focused in particular on the Big Five personality traits: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience. We sampled eighty-three US expatriates in Taiwan and found statistically significant relationships between expatriate adjustment and three personality traits in theoretically reasonable directions. Specifically, our results showed that a US expatriate's general living adjustment in Taiwan is positively related to his or her degree of extroversion and openness to experience. We found that extroversion and agreeableness are both positively related to interaction adjustment (i.e. relationships with local people). Furthermore, a US expatriate's work adjustment is positively related to his or her openness to experience. Unlike prior research on expatriate adjustment, we have examined multiple traits rooted in personality theory, and...
Characterization and Serologic Analysis of the Treponema pallidum Proteome

Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum is the causative agent of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease characterized by widespread tissue dissemination and chronic infection. In this study, we analyzed the proteome of T. pallidum by the isoelectric focusing (IEF) and nonequilibrating pH gel electrophoresis (NEPHGE) forms of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE), coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) analysis. We determined the identity of 148 T. pallidum protein spots, representing 88 T. pallidum polypeptides; 63 of these polypeptides had not been identified previously at the protein level. To examine which of these proteins are important in the antibody response to syphilis, we performed immunoblot analysis using infected rabbit sera or human sera from patients at different stages of syphilis infection. Twenty-nine previously described antigens (predominantly lipoproteins) were detected, as were a number of previously unidentified antigens. The reactivity patterns obtained with sera from infected rabbits and humans were similar; these patterns included a subset of antigens reactive with all serum samples tested, including CfpA, MglB-2, TmpA, TmpB, flagellins, and the 47-kDa, 17-kDa, and 15-kDa lipoproteins. A unique group of antigens specifically reactive with infected human serum was also identified and included the previously described antigen TpF1 and the hypothetical proteins TP0584, TP0608, and TP0965. This combined proteomic and serologic analysis further delineates the antigens potentially useful as vaccine candidates or diagnostic markers and may provide insight into the host-pathogen interactions that occur during T. pallidum infection.
Response of Devils River minnow and other fish in Pinto Creek, Kinney County, Texas during a severe drought

Abstract We collected Devils River minnow (Dionda diaboli) and other fish, water-quality, and habitat data from 19 sites within the headwaters of Pinto Creek (Kinney County) during 2009–2011. We documented where D. diaboli occurred, its relative abundance, and its fish and habitat associations. Dominant species were Gambusia speciosa (54%) and Astyanax mexicanus (28%). Lepomis made up 5% of the fish captured. Densities of D. diaboli were lower than historical values. The headwaters were disjunct habitats for much of study because of drought. We collected D. diaboli at seven locations: six pools and one run just upstream of one of the pools. All fish were associated with thick Chara and low flow (<0.1 m/s). It is unclear whether our data reflect habitat preference or contraction of this population into the available habitat. By July 2011, our study sites were reduced to two pools; neither had D. diaboli.
Shadow Education and Academic Success in Republic of Korea

This study examines the effects of different types of shadow education on academic achievement, using data from a longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of South Korean seventh graders. To control for pre-existing differences between students who used a particular type of shadow education and those who did not, the study employed a series of statistical models including propensity score matching techniques. Results show that the use of a particular type of shadow education (i.e., preparatory cram school) made a small difference in achievement gains in math, whereas other forms (i.e., individual tutoring, correspondence courses, on-line tutoring services, and Educational Broadcasting System [EBS]) made little difference. Limitations, implications, and future research directions are discussed.
New product and process development methods as applied to polymer matrix composites: a perspective influenced by a JTEC study

In an effort to expand the applications for polymer composite structures, a panel was convened to evaluate the status and outlook for manufacturing technology in the USA and Japan, with an eye to finding or developing mechanisms of cooperation. A 10–person team visited approximately 20 Japanese organizations over a 10–day period in December 1992. This paper addresses the general topic of the product realization process with emphasis on examples gleaned from the visit and from research on Japanese Industrial practices. The paper presents a glimpse of developments in Japan while simultaneously exploring the product/process realization process as applicable to the manufacturing of polymer matrix composites.
Management of Postoperative Inflammation: Dexamethasone Versus Flurbiprofen, a Quantitative Study Using the New Flare Cell Meter

A consecutive, random, prospective study was conducted to compare the effect of topical dexamethasone and flurbiprofen drops on postoperative inflammation in patients undergoing extracapsular cataract extraction with lens implantation. Objective, quantitative measurements were made postoperatively, using the Kowa FC-1000 Flare Cell Meter. The two treatments were equally effective.
Meta-Analysis With a Continuous Covariate That Is Differentially Categorized Across Studies

We propose taking advantage of methodology for missing data to estimate relationships and adjust outcomes in a meta-analysis where a continuous covariate is differentially categorized across studies. The proposed method incorporates all available data in an implementation of the expectation-maximization algorithm. We use simulations to demonstrate that the proposed method eliminates bias that would arise by ignoring a covariate and generalizes the meta-analytical approach for incorporating covariates that are not uniformly categorized. The proposed method is illustrated in an application for estimating diarrhea incidence in children aged ≤59 months.
Examining Huntington's disease patient and informant concordance on frontally mediated behaviors.

Introduction: Huntington’s disease (HD) is a genetic, neurodegenerative disease that affects cognitive, psychiatric and motor functioning. Frontal subcortical circuits are impacted by disease pathology, resulting in frontally mediated behavioral dysfunction. The purpose of this study was (a) to examine the relationship between both patient and informant reports of frontally mediated behaviors and disease progression and (b) to determine rate of agreement between patient and informant reports of these behaviors in relation to disease progression. Method: Twenty-six HD patients and their informants participated in the study at the University of South Florida. Patient–informant pairs completed the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) Self and Family ratings forms, respectively. UHDRS (Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale) motor scores were obtained from medical records as an index of disease progression. Results: Only informant report of frontally mediated behaviors of apathy, disinhibition, and execu...
Nationalization of the American States A Test of the Thesis

This paper describes a test of the nationalization thesis that the American states have become similar in their policies and that variance in states' policies has decreased to the point where no significant policy differences remain. A time series analysis of states' expenditures in four policy areas reveals that relative variation remains unchanged and that absolute variation increases in all policy areas during the 1958-1974 period. In addi tion, a time series analysis of the effect of region on policy variation provides no support for the argument that the process of diffusion results in a stable state of policy uniformity across time.
EVALUATION OF SEVEN CASES OF SPLENIC CYSTS

Splenic cyst is still a rare disease, although clinical cases have been increasingly reported these day with a recent advance of various imaging diagnoses. Seven cases of splenic cysts experienced at our department over the last 13 years were examined for clinicopathological features. There were three men and four women, aged from 10 to 71 with a mean of 36.7. Five out of 7 patients had complained of abdominal pain, back pain, abdominal discomfort, vomiting and recognition of an abdominal mass. Six patient underwent surgery: Five splenectomy and one partial splenectomy (cyst enucleation). Morphologies of the resected cysts were mono in four, poly in one, and multiocular in one patient. Histologicaly there were two cases of epidermoid cyst, two cases of lymphangioma, and two cases of false cyst. Splenic cyst has been generally treated by splenectomy, but recently partial splenectomy seems to be preferably employed for preserving the splenic function. Splenic cysts that maldistribute and grow extraparencymally appear to be candidates for the spleen preserving operation.
240 STATINS AUGMENT ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME INHIBITORS IN REDUCING ALBUMINURIA IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS.

Background/Purpose of Study Albuminuria is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease, nephropathy, and death independently of renal function, hypertension, and diabetes. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) in its latest position statement recommends the use ofno-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, b-blockers,or diuretics for the managementof blood pressure in the setting ofalbuminuria or nephropathy, in diabetic patients unableto tolerate angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)inhibitors and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). Even though statins have been shown to reduce albumin excretion, this role has not been thoroughly investigated. Methods We present a case series of eight patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and albuminuria who were started on lisinopril. After a mean dose of 20.6 mg of lisinopril for 6 weeks, a mean reduction of 46.6% in albuminuria was observed across the patient group. Dose-limiting side effects prevented further increases in doses of lisinopril. Treatment for hyperlipidemia and albuminuria prompted the initiation of statin therapy. Patients were started and maintained on 20 mg of simvastatin for 6 weeks. Results After 6 weeks of therapy with simvastatin, the mean total reduction in albuminuria was 75.5% across the group. Thus, an additional mean reduction of 28.9% in albuminuria was noticed after treatment with simvastatin for 6 weeks. The magnitude of reduction in albuminuria did not have a direct correlation to the decrease in LDL cholesterol values. Conclusions Despite earlier data suggesting that statins reduce albuminuria, there are no data proving the additive effects of statins in controlling albuminuria when added to a regimen containing ACE inhibitors. This case series demonstrated that simvastatin, over a short period of time, decreased albumin excretion significantly in patients already on lisinopril. Rigorously conducted clinical trials are necessary but this case series presents insight into the likely role of statins as reliable second-line agents to augment reduction in albuminuria when side effects preclude optimal dosing of ACE inhibitors in patients with diabetes mellitus and renal failure, an extremely common clinical scenario.
Journey Through Trauma

People who are not able to overcome the effects of childhood trauma often waste their human potential on substance abuse and illicit lifestyles; they end up in prison, uneducated, or develop self-destructive behavior. They often struggle with poor learning and social skills and are not able to be successful in life. However, some individuals do succeed. This study interviewed eight individuals who suffered childhood trauma and developed ways of overcoming that trauma to live prosperous, productive, and in many regards, full lives. The stories in this article were written to reveal and celebrate the success of each of these individuals as they moved through childhood trauma to normalized behavior. Adult participants expressed the need for support through spirituality in their lives, as it was lacking in their traumatic childhoods. Resilience can be cultivated in traumatized individuals if we embrace their reality by listening to and believing children’s traumatic stories and if we share neighbor-love through God’s grace by rallying non-judgmental, compassionate clergy, congregations, and community members.
Future Perspectives in the Diagnosis and Management of Unexplained Male Infertility

Unexplained male infertility (UMI) remains a challenge to both the physician and the patient. Currently, the management options for unexplained infertility, beyond assisted reproductive techniques, are typically limited to empiric therapies. This chapter focuses on stem cell biology and gene therapy that may offer potential treatment options for the most severe forms of male infertility, including idiopathic infertility, in the future. While stem cells and gene therapy have made some interesting advances in animal studies, there is still a need for additional research before these developments can be translated to the clinical setting.
The Use of Calcium for Phosphate Control in Chronic Kidney Disease

Abnormal phosphorus metabolism in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with adverse bone and cardiovascular outcomes, as well as higher mortality. Thus, phosphorus control in patients with CKD is an important component of disease management. Use of calcium to bind dietary phosphorus has been a common therapy for decades, but presents concerns over risk of vascular calcifications, cardiovascular events, and death. Calcium balance studies and clinical trials of calcium-based phosphate binders in patients with CKD, have added to the literature to guide the discussion of risks and benefits of using calcium in this patient population.
On Cumulative Sum Procedures and the SPRT with Applications

SUMMARY Both one-sided and two-sided cumulative sum procedures of Page (1954) are shown to be closely related to a sequential probability ratio test (SPRT). The generating functions (Laplace transforms) of cumulative sum procedures are found in terms of the generating functions of a certain SPRT. An example is discussed and some appli- cations are given. Motivated by the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) Page (1954) developed cumulative sum (cusum) procedures for detecting changes in distribution of certain processes. The desire for quick detection of deteriorating quality of a process led him to define cusum procedures and he observed a relationship between the average run length (ARL) of one-sided cusum procedure and the average sample number (ASN) and a hitting probability of the SPRT. Recently it has been observed by Khan (1981) that the properties of Page's two-sided cusum procedure can be studied in terms of certain one-sided cusum procedures. This note considers the relation- ships between the one-sided as well as two-sided cusum procedures and the SPRT much beyond the average run length. In fact, the relationships given here make both one-sided and two-sided cusum theory as a chapter of sequential analysis. To fix ideas, let X1 , X2, . . . be independent and identically distributed (iid) random variables,
Respiratory Adaptations to Exercise

The primary function of the equine respiratory system is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at a rate that is matched to metabolism. Gas exchange requires ventilation, distribution of gas within the lung, perfusion of blood through pulmonary capillaries, matching of ventilation and blood flow, diffusion of gases between air and blood, and transport of gases to and from the muscles. In this article, the author reviews what is known about each of these processes in the resting and exercising horse.
Simply the best: An exploration of advice that small business owners value

Abstract While most networking research focuses on quantity and composition of contacts, this study explores factors underlying the advice and advisors most valued by small business owners. Owners (n = 528) were asked to indicate the formal and informal sources they had relied on for advice during the previous year and to identify which was most beneficial to them, what types of advice they received from their best advisor, and how they communicated. Length of ownership and founder status influenced what type of advisor was most valued by owners. Overall network breadth, owner demographics, and business characteristics were significantly associated with the nature of advice and support this preferred advisor provided, even after controlling for advisor type. Gender, age, and location predicted the extent to which owners communicated with their preferred advisor online, which affected the level of emotional support received. Results suggest the importance of studying the perceived quality of external business advice, and practical implications for facilitating soft support for small business owners.
Parental Factors Associated with Child Post-traumatic Stress Following Injury: A Consideration of Intervention Targets

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are relatively common following pediatric traumatic injury and are related to poor long-term child outcomes. However, due to concerns regarding the efficacy of early child preventive interventions, and difficulty intervening with injured and medicated children soon after the event, it is not feasible to provide early psychological interventions to children exposed to traumatic injury. Parental PTSD symptoms (PTSS) and reactions to the child’s traumatic injury impact child outcomes and provide potential targets for early intervention to reduce child symptom development without involving the child. The authors conducted a review of the literature using Psychoinfo and Pubmed research databases (publication years = 1990-2017) and identified 65 published studies relevant to the topic of the review. The present review considers parent factors (parenting styles, parental post-traumatic pathology (PTS), adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies, and communication regarding the traumatic injury) and their impact on child PTS. We focus specifically on factors amenable to intervention. We further review moderators of these relationships (e.g., child age and gender, parent gender) and conclude that it is unlikely that a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment will be successful. Rather, it is necessary to consider the age and gender of parent child dyads in designing and providing targeted interventions to families following the traumatic injury of a child.
The Riddle: Why Are Some Populist Radical Right Parties More Successful than Others?

The second chapter provides a brief overview of the public and academic debate over the rise and fall of populist radical right parties such as the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). It defines the party family under scrutiny and explains their winning formula ‘for the nation, against the elite’. It briefly outlines how their rise has altered Western European democracies and why their advances are of major interest to scholars, journalists and citizens alike. The state of research is summarized and the lack of innovative data gathering is shown as an obstacle to advances in the study of populist parties. Lastly, the chapter outlines the major research questions and explains why comparative case studies are best suited to explain why populist radical right parties succeed or fail.
Fast-TRKing Drug Development for Rare Molecular Targets

Drug development for rare molecular targets in oncology presents unique challenges. In this issue of Cancer Discovery, Drilon and colleagues report the accelerated development and innovative initial clinical trial strategy of a next-generation TRK inhibitor, LOXO-195, designed to overcome common secondary TRK resistance mutations. Cancer Discov; 7(9); 934-6. ©2017 AACR.See related article by Drilon et al., p. 963.
Social Media and Teaching-Learning: Connecting or Distancing?:

As new ideas and new ways of connecting seemingly surface ever more quickly, faculty face the daunting task of using emerging technology in the teaching-learning endeavor while honoring the presence of teacher with learner. The focus of this column is on using social media as a teaching-learning tool in the shared journey of coming to know, which is so essential for the aspiring nurse. While opportunities for using teaching-learning technologies abound and are ever-changing, faculty are challenged to cocreate a learner-focused journey of coming to know, without allowing the technology to become the focus.
A Highly Integrated Series–Parallel Switched-Capacitor Converter With 12 V Input and Quasi-Resonant Voltage-Mode Regulation

This paper presents an integrated circuit (IC) implementation of a hybrid switched capacitor converter based on a modified series–parallel architecture. The converter operates in a quasi-resonant mode to regulate a nominal 3.7 V output from a 12 V supply. The design uses zero-current detection and nested 1-b regulation to autotune the zero-current switching state, simplify the design of a digital voltage-mode control scheme, and achieve partial zero-voltage switching. The modified architecture is able to operate with single-voltage rated devices without degrading the voltage times current product of the converter. This paper discusses details of level shifting, gate driving, and bootstrapping for an all n-channel powertrain, including a precharge circuit, to facilitate safe startup. The converter IC was designed in 180-nm bulk CMOS with a 5 V option for power devices. It was tested in a flip-chip assembly with a 36 nH 0402 inductor to deliver up to 4.6 W at 87.5% efficiency at a power density of 0.23 W/mm3.
Modeling for Bioterrorism Incidents

A training gap exists in the preparation necessary for first responders, hospital, health department, and law enforcement personnel from local, state, and federal agencies should a bioterrorism event occur. Because of the unique nature of a bioterrorism event, the definition of a “first responder” has evolved to include hospital and public health personnel (1), who may lack an understanding of the overall incident command structure, in general, and the hospital emergency incident command structure, specifically. Additionally, agencies that traditionally rely on their own infrastructure (e.g., public health, law enforcement) to perform their normal functions must rely on new partners to respond to a bioterrorism event. Intensive coordinated planning and training efforts that bring all participant agencies together to understand each other’s roles and responsibilities in a disaster can remedy these disparities.
Photonics Defined Radio: Concept, Architecture and Applications

Photonics defined radio, a new and possibly standardized paradigm, is proposed, converging integrated coherent optics, integrated microwave photonics and photonic DSP, and expected to dominate the designs of future communication and sensing systems. The applications of photonics defined radio are also discussed in brief.
Paradoxes of Plain Thinking: A Review of Common Sense: A Political History by Sophia Rosenfeld

Whatever common sense may be, it includes much else besides practically confirmed truisms. In Common Sense: A Political History, Sophia Rosenfeld describes the backstories of modern common sense, locating its origins in debates among small groups of professors, publishers and pamphleteers in several cities on both sides of the Atlantic during the Age of Revolutions. From the eighteenth century on, champions and enemies of the rising ‘middling’ classes have brandished common sense as an ‘unspectacular instrument’ of non-coercive regulation, to promote or oppose the sovereignty of ‘the people’ by hitching their conflicting claims to an unassailable guarantor of truth. After taking a beating in the first decades of the twentieth century, common sense has been resuscitated and reconstituted, to sell all manner of goods and policies. As a description of the roles that common sense has played in the modern phenomenon of populism, Rosenfeld’s book casts doubt on Hannah Arendt’s claim that common sense is what true democracy creates. At the same time, Common Sense: A Political History corroborates and fills out Antonio Gramsci’s account of good sense and politics.
British Fictions of the Sixties: The Making of the Swinging Decade

Sebastian Groes’s examination of British fiction of the 1960s surveys the broad array of cultural and political forces that influenced the literary experiments of that most experimental of decades....
Estimating Choroidal Melanoma Volume: Comparison of Methods

Purpose To evaluate published methods of estimating choroidal melanoma volume. Design Prospective consecutive case series. Participants Ten consecutive patients with primary choroidal melanoma. Methods After determination of tumor dimensions (largest tumor basal diameter, basal perpendicular diameter, and height), tumor volume was calculated for each tumor by using the 5 published methods. Percent differences in tumor volume were determined for each tumor as calculated by different methods. Main Outcome Measure Choroidal melanoma volume. Results The mean variation in estimated tumor volume expressed as a ratio was 2.33 (range, 1.64–3.84). Conclusions Choroidal melanoma volume calculation methods are inconsistent and caution is needed when volume measures are used for prognostic classification.
Professionalitätsgestaltungen von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern und ihre Schulentwicklungskompetenz

Wie gut Schulen sind und ob sie sich in Richtungen entwickeln kunnen, die der Gesellschaft und dem einzelnen Schuler furderlich sind, hangt selbstverstandlich auch von den Lehrerinnen und Lehrern ab, die sie gestalten. Ihnen und ihrer Ausund Fortbildung gelten uberlegungen und Vorschlage auf vielen Ebenen. Die Kultusministerkonferenz hat sich zuletzt 2004 detailliert zu den Anforderungen an Lehrerinnen und Lehrer geausert und Standards fur die Aus- und Fortbildung gesetzt (KMK 2004). Die Auflistungen dort erwecken den Eindruck, der agute Lehrer“ liese sich durch umfangliche und differenzierte kognitive Instruktionen ausbilden. Die Forschung zum Lehrer als Professionellem sieht das anders (vgl. den uberblick bei Combe/ Kolbe 2004). Wichtig fur erfolgreiches Lehren scheint z.B. die Entwicklung von differenzierten, reaktionsstarken Wahrnehmungsstrukturen und von Kontextsensitivitat zu sein; ein aIngenieursmodell der Wissensanwendung“ (ebd. 839), auf das die obersten Arbeitgeber der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer offensichtlich setzen, ist in der Schulpraxis ohne Chancen. Wie das Wissen, das LehrerInnen haben und haben mussen, in erfolgreichem Unterricht aufgehen kann, ist jeweils von der komplexen sozialen Situation mitbestimmt. aIm professionellen Handeln ist implizites Wissen in Kunnen aufgegangen“ (ebd. 841). Diese Einsicht legt nahe, dass gerade agute Lehrer“ situationsund damit auch personengerechte professionelle Konstrukte finden. Der vorliegende Aufsatz weist darauf hin, dass diese Konstrukte muglicherweise einer Typologie genugen. Dies zumindest ist das Ergebnis der quantitativen Studie, uber die im Folgenden berichtet wird2.
Predictive Approximate Bayesian Computation via Saddle Points

Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) is an important methodology for Bayesian inference when the likelihood function is intractable. Sampling-based ABC algorithms such as rejection- and K2-ABC are inefficient when the parameters have high dimensions, while the regression-based algorithms such as K- and DR-ABC are hard to scale. In this paper, we introduce an optimization-based ABC framework that addresses these deficiencies. Leveraging a generative model for posterior and joint distribution matching, we show that ABC can be framed as saddle point problems, whose objectives can be accessed directly with samples. We present the predictive ABC algorithm (P-ABC), and provide a probabilistically approximately correct (PAC) bound that guarantees its learning consistency. Numerical experiment shows that P-ABC outperforms both K2- and DR-ABC significantly.
Diastereoselective synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted isoindolines and sultams via bronsted acid catalysis.

The bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide (Tf2NH) catalyzed intramolecular hydroamidation of terminal alkynes is reported. The combination of Et3SiH and Tf2NH provides cis-1,3-disubstituted isoindolines and sultams in high yield (up to 98%) and high diastereoselectivity (up to 99 : 1 d.r.).
A Visual Analytics Framework for Spatiotemporal Trade Network Analysis

Economic globalization is increasing connectedness among regions of the world, creating complex interdependencies within various supply chains. Recent studies have indicated that changes and disruptions within such networks can serve as indicators for increased risks of violence and armed conflicts. This is especially true of countries that may not be able to compete for scarce commodities during supply shocks. Thus, network-induced vulnerability to supply disruption is typically exported from wealthier populations to disadvantaged populations. As such, researchers and stakeholders concerned with supply chains, political science, environmental studies, etc. need tools to explore the complex dynamics within global trade networks and how the structure of these networks relates to regional instability. However, the multivariate, spatiotemporal nature of the network structure creates a bottleneck in the extraction and analysis of correlations and anomalies for exploratory data analysis and hypothesis generation. Working closely with experts in political science and sustainability, we have developed a highly coordinated, multi-view framework that utilizes anomaly detection, network analytics, and spatiotemporal visualization methods for exploring the relationship between global trade networks and regional instability. Requirements for analysis and initial research questions to be investigated are elicited from domain experts, and a variety of visual encoding techniques for rapid assessment of analysis and correlations between trade goods, network patterns, and time series signatures are explored. We demonstrate the application of our framework through case studies focusing on armed conflicts in Africa, regional instability measures, and their relationship to international global trade.
Acetaminophen Does Not Reduce Postoperative Opiate Consumption in Patients Undergoing Craniotomy for Cerebral Revascularization: A Randomized Control Trial.

Background Postoperative management in patients undergoing craniotomy is unique and challenging. We utilized a population of patients who underwent bilateral extracranial-to-intracranial (EC-IC bypass) revascularization procedures for moyamoya disease and hypothesized that 1 gram (gm) of intravenous (IV) acetaminophen given immediately after intubation and again 45 minutes prior to the end of craniotomy may be more effective than saline in minimizing opiate consumption and decreasing pain scores. Methods In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover pilot study, 40 craniotomies in 20 patients were studied. A random number generator assigned patients to receive either 1 gram of IV acetaminophen or an equal volume of normal saline immediately after intubation and again 45 minutes prior to the end of their first operation. For the second surgery, patients received the study drug (IV acetaminophen or normal saline) that they did not receive during their first surgery. Results In the IV acetaminophen group, the average 24-hour postoperative fentanyl equivalent consumption was decreased but the difference was not statistically significant: 228 micrograms compared to 312 micrograms in the placebo group (Figure ​(Figure1; p1; p = 0.09). Pain scores did not significantly differ between the IV acetaminophen group and the placebo group in postoperative hours 0-12 (Figure ​(Figure2;2; p = 0.44) or 24 (Figure ​(Figure3; p3; p = 0.77). Open in a separate window Figure 1 Scatter plot demonstrates decreased average 24-hour postoperative fentanyl consumption (measured in fentanyl equivalents) without statistical significance, 228 micrograms as compared to 312 micrograms in the placebo group (p = 0.09) Open in a separate window Figure 2 Scatter plot demonstrates that pain scores, measured by Visual Analogue Scale (0-10), did not significantly differ between the IV acetaminophen group and the placebo group in postoperative hours 0-12 (p = 0.44) IV: intravenous
Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Biliary Drainage

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is the preferred procedure for biliary drainage in benign and malignant obstructions. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage is an emerging technique for when endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography fails. It is a highly versatile procedure with several options of access point, stent direction, and drainage route. Based on the current literature, the cumulative success rate is 88% to 93%, with an overall complication rate of 13% to 20%. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage seems to be an effective and valuable alternative technique after failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography when performed by highly skilled endoscopists.
Hypertension in Pregnancy

The occurrence of hypertension during pregnancy and its effect on pregnancy outcomes are reviewed in this chapter. Data are reviewed on the levels of blood pressure associated with pypertension and the absence or presence of proteinuria and edema. Sources of data on the role of hypertension in pregnancy are critiqued including problems with hospital data the effect of inadequate services the role of antenatal care and the presentation of national and populatation statistics. Characteristics of patients suffering hypertension are summarized and include: age and parity familial aggregation race and smoking. The interaction of patient and environmental characteristics--socioeconomic levle diet season and climate geographical differences and health services--is outlined. Pregnancy outcomes likely when hypertension exists during pregnancy are reviewed and include: birth weight and maturity perinatal mortality maternal mortality and more remote sequelae.
Postoperative Pain Control in Drug Abusing Patients

Opioid addiction is a complex and difficult-to-treat illness [Jaffe JH, Jaffe AB. Opioid-related disorders. In: Sadock BJ, Sadock VA, editors. Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry. 7th ed. New York: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2000. p 1038–63]. The terms addict and addiction, derive from the Latin legal term addictus which describes someone who has surrendered to a debt holder for indefinite servitude until their debt is paid. While not a slave, the addictus was expected to toil long and hard until, if ever, the debt was paid. Clearly, the metaphor is of the drug enslaving the addict and the obligation is incumbent upon the medical profession to enable the addict to pay his or her debt in a compassionate manner.