cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ruminal metabolism of plant toxins with emphasis on indolic compounds.

Ruminal bacteria can perform biochemical transformations on plant constituents that may affect the health of ruminant animals. Reactions carried out by ruminal bacteria on oxalates and some pyrrolizidine alkaloids include decarboxylation, hydrolysis and reduction steps. Prior exposure of ruminal bacteria to these substances increases the rate of detoxification, indicating an adaptive response by the bacteria to these substrates. The formation of toxic substances by ruminal bacteria also occurs and may involve similar reactions. Hydrolysis of cyanogenic glycosides and miserotoxins , reduction of nitrate and S-methylcysteine sulfoxide to nitrite and dimethyl disulfide can result in toxicity in ruminants. Similarly, the deamination and decarboxylation reactions associated with the degradation of tryptophan and tryosine result in the formation of 3-methylindole and p-cresol, which are toxic. Formation of 3-methylindole results from fermentation of tryptophan to indoleacetic acid, with subsequent decarboxylation of indoleacetic acid to 3-methylindole by a Lactobacillus sp. The 3-methylindole causes acute pulmonary edema and emphysema in ruminants as a result of mixed function oxidase metabolism in tissues. The 3-methylindole is also the cause of naturally-occurring acute bovine pulmonary edema and emphysema after abrupt pasture change. Inhibition of ruminal 3-methylindole formation by monensin and other antibiotics lowers ruminal 3-methylindole concentrations and prevents acute lung injury in experimental animals.
The New Alr Long Cystoresectoscope System

AbstractA new long cystoresectoscope system recently has become available. This instrument has the distinct advantage of allowing cystoscopy and endoscopic surgery of the lower urinary tract in men with an unusually long urethra, or a semirigid or intracorporeal inflatable prosthesis.
Simulating representation: The devil’s in the detail

This note is a response to Omar Bashir’s 2015 paper “Testing inferences about American politics: A review of the ‘oligarchy’ result,” Research & Politics 2(4).
The Puzzle of Noninvasive Testing in Women: Filling in the Pieces With the CRESCENT Trial (Calcium Imaging and Selective CT Angiography in Comparison to Functional Testing for Suspected Coronary Artery Disease).

In the past 2 years, a tremendous amount of much-needed data has been generated on the effectiveness of anatomic imaging with computed tomographic angiography (CTA) versus functional stress testing for stable patients with symptoms concerning for coronary artery disease (CAD). Between the recent PROMISE trial (Prospective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of Chest Pain),1 SCOT-HEART trial (Scottish Computed Tomography of the Heart),2 and CRESCENT3 trial (Calcium Imaging and Selective CT Angiography in Comparison to Functional Testing for Suspected Coronary Artery Disease), an impressively consistent picture of clinical outcome equivalence, if not superiority, has emerged between anatomic and stress testing. These trials demonstrate that CTA is a safe and effective alternative to stress testing in the population of outpatients with stable chest pain. See Article by Lubbers et al Yet, there has been hope that CTA might be particularly beneficial in women who present with symptoms concerning for coronary ischemia. This group of patients deserves special attention because overwhelming evidence documents that women experience higher rates of false-positive exercise tolerance tests and nuclear stress tests compared with men,4,5 indicating a greater need for improved diagnostic strategies. This need is further reflected in the higher rate of adverse outcomes that women experience compared with their male counterparts6,7 and may, in part, explain the lower rate of obstructive CAD seen on angiography in women.8 With direct visualization of coronary atherosclerosis, it is reasonable to hypothesize that CTA would provide, particularly in women, greater diagnostic efficiency and clinical outcome efficacy than stress testing. Indeed, benefit has already been shown in the more downstream patient population examined in ROMICAT-II (Rule Out Myocardial Infarction/Ischemia Using Computer Assisted Tomography …
Damage tolerance characterization of carbon fiber composites at a component level: A thermoset carbon fiber composite:

This work focuses on the impact damage evaluation of a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoset composite at a component level (beams) as an effort to develop the service strategies for this class of mate...
Dual-Objective Item Selection Criteria in Cognitive Diagnostic Computerized Adaptive Testing.

The development of cognitive diagnostic-computerized adaptive testing (CD-CAT) has provided a new perspective for gaining information about examinees' mastery on a set of cognitive attributes. This study proposes a new item selection method within the framework of dual-objective CD-CAT that simultaneously addresses examinees' attribute mastery status and overall test performance. The new procedure is based on the Jensen-Shannon (JS) divergence, a symmetrized version of the Kullback-Leibler divergence. We show that the JS divergence resolves the noncomparability problem of the dual information index and has close relationships with Shannon entropy, mutual information, and Fisher information. The performance of the JS divergence is evaluated in simulation studies in comparison with the methods available in the literature. Results suggest that the JS divergence achieves parallel or more precise recovery of latent trait variables compared to the existing methods and maintains practical advantages in computation and item pool usage.
Escape from Noise by Rats and Undermatching

Responses of four albino rats on two levers were followed by escape from 111 dB white noise according to pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules. Stable, moderate responding was maintained. There was substantial undermatching of relative response rate to relative reinforcement rate. Several alternative explanations for this deviation from matching are suggested.
Abstract 297: Effects of p53 Stabilization During Heart Failure Progression on Telomere Repeat Binding Factor 2 and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Coactivator-1α in the SHHF Rat

The tumor suppressor protein p53 is a cellular stress sensor and transcription factor classically accepted to target the transcription of genes that induce senescence and apoptosis. Diverse stressors including genomic or telomeric DNA damage, telomere uncapping, hypoxia, oxidative stress, and mechanical stress increase stable cellular p53. In models of heart failure and in human failing hearts, p53 is increased. High p53 has also been suggested to be necessary for the transition from hypertrophy to heart failure. In recent years it has become clear that senescence and apoptosis may not be the only significant deleterious effects of increased cellular p53. It has been suggested that p53 can decrease mitobiogenesis and cellular ATP production by direct repression of PGC1-a expression. Additionally, P53 has been shown to stimulate the expression of Siah1, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that mediates degradation of the telomere binding protein TRF2. TRF2 loss is a form of telomere uncapping that, in cell culture models, causes a subsequent DNA damage response including further p53 stabilization. The relative importance of these p53 linked pathways has yet to be explored in the progression of hypertensive heart failure. Spontaneously Hypertensive Heart Failure rats (SHHF) rats were sacked at four stages during heart failure progression and LV removed for western blot analysis. Compared to young (2-4 month) rats, 14-15 month rats showed significantly increased p53 levels (2.3 fold), normal TRF2 levels, and slightly decreased PGC1-a (.98 fold). Old SHHFs (20-22mo) had p53, TRF2, and PGC1-a levels similar to 14-15 month rats (2.1, 1.09, and.83 fold, respectively). Rats with end stage heart failure showed a significant 4.5 fold increase in p53 expression, with a corresponding decrease in TRF2 (.74 fold, p=.087), and increase in PGC1-a (1.3 fold, nonsignificant). These data are in agreement with previous suggestions that increased p53 is most important during the transition from hypertrophy to heart failure, and suggest that levels of p53 encountered in the SHHF model have little effect on PGC1-a and mitobiogenesis, but may mediate an increase in telomere uncapping during heart failure.
Secretory sphingomyelinase (S-SMase) activity is elevated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The goals of this study were to determine if secretory sphingomyelinase (S-SMase) activity is elevated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to control subjects and to examine the relationships of S-SMase activity with functional status, quality of life, and RA disease activity measurements. We collected data on 33 patients who were diagnosed with RA and 17 non-RA controls who were comparable in terms of age, sex, and race. Demographic, clinical data and self-reported measures of fatigue, pain, and physical function were obtained directly from patients and controls. RA patients also completed quantitative joint assessment using a 28-joint count and functional status and quality of life assessment using the Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (MHAQ). Archived serum samples were used to analyze retrospectively serum S-SMase activity in patients and controls. The mean serum S-SMase activity was 1.4-fold higher in patients with RA (RA 2.8 ± 1.0 nmol/ml/h vs. controls 2.0 ± 0.8 nmol/ml/h; p = 0.014). Spearman’s rho correlations between S-SMase activity and oxidant activity, markers of inflammation and endothelial activation with the exception of P-selectin (rho = 0.40, p = 0.034), measures of disease activity, functional status, and quality of life were not statistically significant in patients with RA. We confirmed that S-SMase activity is higher among RA patients compared to controls, as in other acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Future studies can build on the present findings to understand more fully the biologic role(s) of S-SMase activity in RA.
Suboptimal Scheduling in Switched Systems With Continuous-Time Dynamics: A Least Squares Approach

Two approximate solutions for optimal control of switched systems with autonomous subsystems and continuous-time dynamics are presented. The first solution formulates a policy iteration (PI) algorithm for the switched systems with recursive least squares. To reduce the computational burden imposed by the PI algorithm, a second solution, called single loop PI, is presented. Online and concurrent training algorithms are discussed for implementing each solution. At last, effectiveness of the presented algorithms is evaluated through numerical simulations.
Frequency-Modulated Continuous Flow Analysis Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (FM-CFA-ESI-MS) for Sample Multiplexing

A method for multiplexed sample analysis by mass spectrometry without the need for chemical tagging is presented. In this new method, each sample is pulsed at unique frequencies, mixed, and delivered to the mass spectrometer while maintaining a constant total flow rate. Reconstructed ion currents are then a time-dependent signal consisting of the sum of the ion currents from the various samples. Spectral deconvolution of each reconstructed ion current reveals the identity of each sample, encoded by its unique frequency, and its concentration encoded by the peak height in the frequency domain. This technique is different from other approaches that have been described, which have used modulation techniques to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of a single sample. As proof of concept of this new method, two samples containing up to 9 analytes were multiplexed. The linear dynamic range of the calibration curve was increased with extended acquisition times of the experiment and longer oscillation periods of th...
Catalytic modulation of human cytochromes P450 17A1 and P450 11B2 by phospholipid.

Abstract Unlike most of the drug-metabolizing cytochrome P450s, microsomal P450 17A1 and mitochondrial P450 11B2 catalyze sequential multi-step reactions in steroid biosynthesis. The membrane phospholipid composition might be one parameter that modulates the efficiency and processivity of specific pathways. Here we systematically examined the effects of physiologically relevant phospholipids on the catalysis of purified P450 17A1, P450 11B2, and P450 11B1 in reconstituted assay systems. Both dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC, 18:1) and dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC, 12:0) were found to be very efficient in reconstituting 17-hydroxylase and 1720-lyase reactions of P450 17A1. Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) specifically enhanced 1720-lyase activity up to 2.4-fold in the presence of phosphatidylcholine. On the other hand, P450 11B2-catalyzed production of aldosterone from 11-deoxycorticosterone was very low and from 18-hydroxycorticosterone nil, implying low processivity. DOPC or cardiolipin, which is exclusively located in the inner mitochondrial membrane, maximized aldosterone yield. In sharp contrast, reconstitution of homologous P450 11B1 with DOPC significantly decreased corticosterone formation without affecting the synthesis of 18-hydroxycorticosterone. The intrinsic fluorescence of P450 17A1 and 11B2 increased in the presence of DOPC, DLPC and PE. Acrylamide quenching studies showed that PE decreased solvent accessibility for tryptophan in P450 17A1, as did 20:4 PC or 18:2 PC for P450 11B2. A moderately positive correlation between the proportion of high-spin substrate-bound species and catalytic activity was only observed in the presence of phosphatidylcholines with low-temperature phase transition. These results demonstrate the potential for phospholipids to regulate the activity of steroidogenic P450 activities and thereby steroid hormone biosynthetic pathways.
Evaluating glaucomatous abnormality in peripapillary optical coherence tomography enface visualisation of the retinal nerve fibre layer reflectance

Purpose Optical coherence tomography (OCT) enface visualisation of the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) reflectance has been found to have some advantages over retinal thickness measures. However, it is not yet clear how abnormalities on enface images relate to findings of abnormalities from other clinical measures such as the circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (cRNFLT). We developed a technique to analyse the RNFL reflectance on the OCT enface images, and to investigate its relation with the cRNFLT. Methods Spectralis (www.heidelbergengineering.com) OCT scans of the central retinal ±24° were analysed in the study eye of 31 controls and 33 patients, ages 61 (±9) and 69 (±8) years respectively. Enface slab-images were extracted at 16-24, 24-36, and 24-52 μm from the inner limiting membrane in the temporal raphe, perifoveal and disc regions respectively. Reflectance probability maps were generated for the patients based on the control data. Glaucomatous abnormality was defined on the slab-images when the slab-area with reflectance abnormality was greater than the 95th percentile, and on the cRNFLT when the thickness measure was less than the fifth percentile, of that found in controls. The fraction of slab-image showing reflectance abnormality was compared to cRNFLT in the patient group, using Spearman's rho. Agreement between the findings of abnormality based on cRNFLT and slab-image reflectance was assessed using Cohen's kappa. Results Slab-image and cRNFLT findings were in agreement for 26/33 eyes; four subjects showed cRNFLT abnormality but not slab-image abnormality, and three subjects showed slab-image abnormality but not cRNFLT abnormality. Spearman's rho found rs (31) = -0.82. The reflectance findings and cRNFLT findings were consistent in 27/33 for both the superior temporal (ST) and inferior temporal (IT) sectors, and Cohen's kappa found 0.53 and 0.61 respectively. Conclusion The surface area of enface slab-images showing RNFL reflectance were strongly related to the cRNFLT measures, and the classification of a subject with glaucoma based on enface reflectance findings and cRNFLT findings had a generally good agreement. The larger retinal area assessed by the enface method preserves the spatial location of the RNFL abnormalities, and makes the technique a useful approach for identifying regions of potential RNFL abnormality for targeted perimetry.
Glucose, insulin, and the carotid body chemoreceptors in humans.

Known primarily for its oxygen-sensing capabilities, the carotid body chemoreceptors have recently been implicated, primarily by work in animal models, in the pathophysiology of a number of metabol...
Delincuencia juvenil en Canarias. Análisis de las estadísticas oficiales (2000-2009)

La investigacion que se presenta aporta datos empiricos procedentes de las estadisticas oficiales sobre comision de delitos por parte de los menores en Canarias entre los anos 2000 y 2009, relacionando las cifras obtenidas con la totalidad de la poblacion juvenil canaria entre 14 y 17 anos. Se pretende asi cubrir un vacio importante en el conocimiento empirico sobre este sector de poblacion en Canarias, observando en su justa medida el fenomeno delictivo juvenil en este territorio y aportando cifras desde la criminologia que permitan ajustar el diseno futuro de politicas criminales en este ambito.
Social Ontology and the Objection from Reification

In contrast to atoms, chemical substances, and species, money, touchdowns, and marriages would not exist, were it not for human beings. But, how does the existence of these social entities depend on human beings? According to Searle, the existence of social entities depends on people’s collective recognition that something possesses a particular function, and this recognition brings these social entities to life. The goal of this chapter is to assess this influential proposal. I argue that an important and well-established finding about how people conceive of their social world—which sociologists and psychologists call “reification”—is incompatible with Searle’s proposal about the mode of existence of social entities.
PD manifesto for AI futures

A deep discussion and reflection on the implications surrounding the design, development, and deployment of what are being described as artificially intelligent systems is urgent. We propose that within this context, Participatory Design, not only has much to offer, it has a responsibility to deeply engage. This workshop brings together practitioners and researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to discuss and reflect on the cultural, ethical, political, and social implications surrounding the design, development, and deployment of intelligent systems and to explore participatory design approaches, tools, and guidelines that should ground the design of intelligent systems.
Touch engages visual spatial contextual processing

The spatial context in which we view a visual stimulus strongly determines how we perceive the stimulus. In the visual tilt illusion, the perceived orientation of a visual grating is affected by the orientation signals in its surrounding context. Conceivably, the spatial context in which a visual grating is perceived can be defined by interactive multisensory information rather than visual signals alone. Here, we tested the hypothesis that tactile signals engage the neural mechanisms supporting visual contextual modulation. Because tactile signals also convey orientation information and touch can selectively interact with visual orientation perception, we predicted that tactile signals would modulate the visual tilt illusion. We applied a bias-free method to measure the tilt illusion while testing visual-only, tactile-only or visuo-tactile contextual surrounds. We found that a tactile context can influence visual tilt perception. Moreover, combining visual and tactile orientation information in the surround results in a larger tilt illusion relative to the illusion achieved with the visual-only surround. These results demonstrate that the visual tilt illusion is subject to multisensory influences and imply that non-visual signals access the neural circuits whose computations underlie the contextual modulation of vision.
Normal Values for Left Ventricular Strain and Synchrony in Children Based on Speckle Tracking Echocardiography

Strain and synchrony are associated with clinical outcomes in children with heart diseases. Robust normative data for these values, measured by 2-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2DSTE), are limited. Therefore, we aimed to derive normal ranges and z-scores of 2DSTE strain and synchrony parameters in children. Subjects were
Multifractality of Posture Modulates Multisensory Perception of Stand-On-Ability

By definition, perception is a multisensory process that unfolds in time as a complex sequence of exploratory activities of the organism. In such a system perception and action are integrated, and multiple energy arrays are available simultaneously. Perception of affordances interweaves sensory and motor activities into meaningful behavior given task constraints. The present contribution offers insight into the manner in which perception and action usher the organism through competent functional apprehension of its surroundings. We propose that the tensegrity structure of the body, manifested via multifractality of exploratory bodily movements informs perception of affordances. The affordance of stand-on-ability of ground surfaces served as the experimental paradigm. Observers viewed a surface set to a discrete angle and attempted to match it haptically with a continuously adjustable surface occluded by a curtain, or felt an occluded surface set to a discrete angle then matched it visually with a continuously adjustable visible surface. The complex intertwining of perception and action was demonstrated by the interactions of multifractality of postural sway with multiple energy arrays, responses, and changing geometric task demands.
Successional trends and processes on a glacial foreland in Southern Iceland studied by repeated species counts

Primary succession on glacial forelands is increasingly relevant as rapid glacial retreat is exposing growing land areas to plant colonization. We investigated temporal trends, controls, and outcomes in floral succession on a subarctic glacial foreland. Specifically, we examined changes in community composition (mosses, low shrubs, forbs, trees, and graminoids) over long-term (decadal) and short-term (< 10 years) scales and attempted to identify the underlying processes responsible for the observed successional patterns. The study area was the foreland of the Skaftafellsjӧkull, located in Vatnajӧkull National Park near the south coast of Iceland. We established nine transect lines at varying distances from the ice front representing surfaces of age ranging from less than one decade to over 100 years. Each transect consisted of five measurement stations of 1 m2 where we measured vegetative cover (VC), species richness (SR), and species density (SD) and calculated species evenness (SE). Measurements were made initially in 2007 and repeated at the same geographic coordinates in 2014. VC increased with distance from the ice front from 16% to over 90%. SR and SD increased from the youngest pioneer community through a mid-successional stage corresponding to an age of over 60 but less than 100 years. Increased VC but declining SR, SD, and SE characterized the oldest (over 100 years) bryophyte-dominated surfaces. Species turnover, which involved forbs almost exclusively, increased moderately from early through mid-successional sites and declined on older sites. Comparison of the measurements made in 2014 to those made in 2007 demonstrates increased SR at mid-successional sites while SD remained relatively constant. At a small scale, colonization is controlled by local factors such as microtopography and aspect, particularly in proximity to the glacier. At the landscape level, changes in VC and community structure are controlled by time and nutrient availability. Low nutrient levels and limited site availability favor bryophyte dominance on the oldest surfaces. The greatest community-level changes observed over the 7-year interval were increases in surface cover by mosses and low shrubs, particularly in mid-successional and older sites. These changes suggest that the community on the oldest surfaces has not yet reached equilibrium.
Different Sources, Different Responses? How Local Sociopolitical Pressures Affect Risk Assessment

Prior research in the field of organizational theory has overlooked how changes in sociopolitical environment affect intermediate organizational outcomes, such as risk assessments. The current chap...
Impact of compliance with an enhanced recovery after surgery pathway on patient outcomes in open gynecologic surgery

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate if varying levels of compliance with an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol impacted post-operative outcomes (length of stay, complications, readmissions, and re-operations) in gynecologic surgery at a tertiary center. Methods We included 584 patients who had open gynecologic surgery between November 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016. Patients were categorized into subgroups according to their date of surgery from the time of the ERAS protocol implementation. Patients were categorized by their per cent compliance into two groups: Results Overall compliance was 72.3%. Patients with compliance ≥80% had significantly less complications (P Conclusions Compliance with an ERAS pathway exceeding 80% was associated with lower complication rates and shorter length of stay without impacting on re-operations or readmissions.
Crash Themes in Automated Vehicles: A Topic Modeling Analysis of the California Department of Motor Vehicles Automated Vehicle Crash Database

Automated vehicle technology promises to reduce the societal impact of traffic crashes. Early investigations of this technology suggest that significant safety issues remain during control transfers between the automation and human drivers and automation interactions with the transportation system. In order to address these issues, it is critical to understand both the behavior of human drivers during these events and the environments where they occur. This article analyzes automated vehicle crash narratives from the California Department of Motor Vehicles automated vehicle crash database to identify safety concerns and gaps between crash types and current areas of focus in the current research. The database was analyzed using probabilistic topic modeling of open-ended crash narratives. Topic modeling analysis identified five themes in the database: driver-initiated transition crashes, sideswipe crashes during left-side overtakes, and rear-end collisions while the vehicle was stopped at an intersection, in a turn lane, and when the crash involved oncoming traffic. Many crashes represented by the driver-initiated transitions topic were also associated with the side-swipe collisions. A substantial portion of the side-swipe collisions also involved motorcycles. These findings highlight previously raised safety concerns with transitions of control and interactions between vehicles in automated mode and the transportation social network. In response to these findings, future empirical work should focus on driver-initiated transitions, overtakes, silent failures, complex traffic situations, and adverse driving environments. Beyond this future work, the topic modeling analysis method may be used as a tool to monitor emergent safety issues.
Real-time colorectal cancer diagnosis using PR-OCT with deep learning.

A pattern-recognition optical coherence tomography was designed to automate diagnosis of human colorectal tissue in real-time. An area under the ROC of 0.998 is achieved by our initial experience with 18 ex vivo human specimens.
Inferences on late-stage evolution of the Russell Lake Allochthon and the Soapstone Ridge Complex in Georgia, Southern Appalachians, based on chlorite geothermometry

Chlorite is a common mineral in most metamorphosed mafic and ultramafic rocks and the use of chlorite as a geothermometer was applied to rocks from the southern Appalachian Piedmont for this study. In particular, chlorite-bearing rocks from the Russell Lake Allochthon (RLA) and the Soapstone Ridge Complex (SSR) are the focus of this investigation. The RLA is composed of numerous metamorphosed mafic and ultramafic bodies exposed within rocks of the Carolina superterrane which forms part of the peri-Gondwana realm of the Southern Appalachians. The SSR is one of the largest metamorphosed mafic and ultramafic bodies in the southern Appalachians; it is in thrust contact with underlying rocks of the Piedmont domain, which forms part of the Iapetan realm of the Southern Appalachians. The metamorphosed bodies that comprise the RLA are generally small, with outcrop areas generally not exceeding a few square kilometers. In the RLA and SSR, chlorite occurs together with zoned amphiboles. In the RLA, chlorite exhibits low total iron atoms per formula unit and dominantly plots in the ripidolite field. In contrast, SSR chlorites are poorer in total iron and almost all are clinochlores. Results of chlorite geothermometry from rocks of the RLA yield temperatures which range from ~ 280 to ~ 320 °C, whereas chlorites from the SSR yield temperatures which range from ~ 201 to ~ 250 °C. These calculated temperatures indicate that chlorites in the RLA were formed at slightly higher temperatures in comparison to those from the SSR, which may suggest that these bodies were subjected to different late-stage metamorphic conditions and may also have originated under different tectonic settings. The RLA and SSR are approximately 100 km apart and a terrane boundary occurs between them; these bodies were each metamorphosed, and likely evolved, in different regions and each was later thrusted onto its country rocks during the final stages of the assembly of Pangea.
Botulinum Toxin as a Treatment for Feeding Difficulties in Young Children

Objective To determine the effectiveness of intrapyloric botulinum toxin injection (IPBI) for treatment of feeding disorders and associated gastrointestinal symptoms in very young children. Study design A single-center retrospective study of patients 2 months to 5 years old who received IPBI at Boston Children's Hospital from May 2007 to June 2019 was performed. Charts were reviewed for demographic data, comorbidities, symptoms leading to IPBI, oral and tube feeding data, symptom improvement after IPBI, and need for repeat injections. The primary outcome was symptom improvement at the first gastroenterology clinic visit following IPBI. Secondary outcomes included improvement in oral feeding, decreases in tube feeding, and need for repeat injections. The χ2 or Fisher exact tests and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify factors associated with symptomatic improvement. Results A total of 85 patients who received 118 injections were included in the final analysis; 57 patients (67%) had partial or complete improvement in symptoms after IPBI. Among the 55 patients with enteral tubes, there was an improvement in feeding, with more patients receiving at least some oral feeds after IPBI compared with before (26/55 vs 15/55; P = .004) and fewer patients receiving postpyloric feeds after IPBI compared with before (12/55 vs 21/55; P = .01). Twenty-six patients (31%) received repeat IPBI within 1 year, with only 6 patients receiving IPBI more than twice. Conclusions IPBI is safe and effective in young children. Children with enteral tubes show improvement in oral feeding and reduction in need for postpyloric feeding after IPBI.
Design of an embedded system for real-time lane detection based on the linear Hough transform

Modern Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) require the ability to sense and process information in real-time. More specifically, these devices need to accurately and quickly detect lanes in images. The Hough transform (HT) is a very accurate method of finding lines in a still image. In order to meet real-time requirements and low power consumption, a proposed hardware architecture design for the Hough transform in a real-time lane detection system is presented. This design efficiently and aggressively utilizes the DSP and embedded memory blocks in a configurable platform to speed up the HT calculation as well as reduce the resource requirements of the system. The proposed design utilized a parallelpipeline architecture to allow for full area coverage of all line possibilities while optimizing for hardware restrictions. Initial results have shown that the proposed design achieve a normalized processing rate of 6.06 ns per pixel which is suitable for real-time lane detection application.
The Evolving Landscape of Treatment Paradigms for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: A Survey Study of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology Experts.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S) To assess current practice patterns in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer among radiation oncologists specializing in gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies. MATERIALS/METHODS Radiation oncologists specialized in GI malignancies at an ACGME affiliated institution were invited to complete an online survey and select management recommendations for seven locally advanced rectal cancer clinical vignettes, consisting of variable T and N staging, tumor location and high-risk features (presence of enlarged lateral lymph nodes, mesorectal fascia involvement and extramural vascular invasion). Answer choices representing the diversity of current treatment paradigms for rectal cancer included variable sequences of chemotherapy (CHT), radiation (long-course chemoradiation [LC-CRT] or short-course radiation [SCRT]), surgery or non-operative management (NOM). Participation was voluntary and all responses remained anonymous. The survey was open from January to February 2021. RESULTS Of 207 GI experts invited to participate, 36 replied, resulting in a response rate of 17.4% (36/207). For low rectal tumors (cT3N2) without threatened margins, 80.6% (29/36) recommended total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) of which 41.4% (12/29) preferred NOM if a clinical complete response was achieved upon restaging. Of those who chose TNT and surgery (17/29), 76.5% preferred LC-CRT (consolidation CHT [53.8%] vs. induction CHT [46.2%]) and 23.5% preferred SCRT. For mid to upper rectal tumors (cT3N1-2) without threatened margins, 66.6% (24/36) recommended TNT and surgery with 38.9% (14/36) electing for SCRT then consolidation CHT, and 22.2% (8/36) for induction CHT then LC-CRT. After TNT, neoadjuvant LC-CRT (16.7%, 6/36) or neoadjuvant SCRT (11.1%, 4/36) followed by surgery and adjuvant CHT were most favored. In patients with mid to upper rectal tumors and threatened margins, SCRT with consolidation CHT and surgery remained the most accepted treatment paradigm (44.4%, 16/36). LC-CRT followed by consolidation CHT was the preferred choice to maximize likelihood of NOM. For a clinical node negative upper rectal tumor (cT3N0), 38.9% (14/36) recommended SCRT, then surgery with adjuvant CHT, 19.4% (7/36) recommended induction CHT then surgery, and 16.7% (6/36) recommended LC-CRT, then surgery with adjuvant CHT. CONCLUSION Total neoadjuvant therapy has been widely adopted in the management of locally advanced rectal cancer. For mid to upper rectal tumors, most GI experts recommended SCRT, consolidation CHT and surgery. For low rectal tumors, LC-CRT was preferred with significant variability between consolidation versus induction CHT. As compared to mid and upper rectal tumors, clinicians were more likely to recommend NOM following a clinical complete response for low rectal tumors.
Evaluating patient education material regarding unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

Abstract Background Variability in quality and accuracy of information has been well documented in other orthopedic procedures. Given the growing role of the Internet in patient education, it is important to assess the quality of material provided. The purpose of this study was to evaluate online patient education materials regarding unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Method The first 50 websites generated from a search of the term, partial knee replacement , using three search engines, Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, were analyzed for quality, content, and authorship. Categorical data between the three search engines were compared using the Freeman–Halton extension for the Fisher's exact test. Fisher's exact test was used to compare categorical data between the search terms partial knee replacement and unicompartmental knee arthroplasty . Results Most websites mentioned benefits of UKA (69%) but only a minority (39%) mentioned risks. A more technical search term, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty , yielded fewer websites authored by manufacturers/industry and miscellaneous sources (p=0.018 and p=0.039, respectively), more mentions of risks (p=0.0014), and more references to peer-reviewed literature (p=0.0026). Conclusions Overall, online information related to UKA is of questionable quality and may be geared more towards attracting patients than providing high-quality information.
Physiologic Principles and Clinical Use of Hypothermia

Hypothermia has been used to treat a wide variety of diseases for centuries. Lowered body temperature has been used to combat cancer, infections, trauma, central nervous system diseases and as a regional method to produce anesthesia for amputation. {1,2} Although Bigelow demonstrated in 1950 that tolerance to inflow occlusion in hypothermic animals was longer than in their normothermic counterparts, the first clinical application of hypothermia in cardiac surgery was reported by Lewis and Taufic who used surface cooling to 28°C with 5.5 minutes of inflow occlusion to facilitate successful closure of an atrial septal defect in a 5 year old child.{3,4} Despite the introduction of the pump oxygenator in clinical practice by Gibbon in 1954 it was not until 1958 that hypothermia was used in conjunction with the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit for intracardiac repairs.{5,6} The use of the pump oxygenator and hypothermia has allowed the repair of more and more complex cardiac lesions with remarkably low mortality. A better understanding of the underlying physiologic principles of hypothermia will increase its safe clinical application.
The evolution of base sequences in polynucleotides.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the real problems in the evolution of organisms and the understanding of the evolution at other levels of the organization that suggests comparative examination of the chemical structure of the genes. In addition, these discussions of nucleotide sequence leads to a consideration of a variety of subjects, such as extrachromosomal inheritance, the transmission of information, by viral agents, and viral carcinogenesis. All these areas may be considered, as a part of the general problem of the origin and diversification of genetic material. Two major changes have taken place in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), accompanying the evolution of more complex forms, from simple unicellular organisms. These involve changes in the base ratio and an increase in the total amount of DNA per haploid nucleus. With relation to the first process, no over-all pattern can be discerned although there are several generalizations that can be made. In particular, it is clear that wide diversity of base composition is characteristic of the groups of unicellular organisms. A second class of processes could be the acquisition of genetic material from other organisms. In bacteria, sexduction is known to be a relatively promiscuous activity and it does occur in natural populations. Following sexduction or transduction, the integrated episomal genes may add to the genetic composition of the bacterium, particularly if they originated from other bacteria.
Biosynthesis of Secondary Metabolites: Roles of Trace Metals

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the characteristics and functions of secondary metabolites and explains the inclusion of an additional class of substances in this category. It suggests reasons for the need of secondary metabolism for unique quantities of trace metals. Secondary metabolites are defined as natural products that have a restricted taxonomic distribution, possess no obvious function in cell growth, and are synthesized by cells that have stopped dividing. Information gained from examination of both secondary metabolites that have medicinal or poisonous effects as well as those that are pharmacologically inactive has contributed to our understanding of the chemosynthetic functions of non-proliferating microbial cells. The functions applicable to all secondary metabolites include (1) waste products of cellular metabolism, (2) reserve food-storage materials, (3) breakdown products derived from cellular macromolecules, and (4) “safety-valve” shunts of very low molecular-weight precursors into innocuous products. Secondary metabolites are considered to be low molecular weight materials with an upper limit of about 1500. Many attempts have been made to obtain formation of secondary metabolites in cell-free systems. A number of these attempts have been unsuccessful because (1) extracts were prepared at incorrect times during the growth cycle, (2) an incorrect mixture of soluble- and membrane fractions were employed, or (3) a number of sequentially active enzymes are needed but not all of these were present in the cells at the time of fractionation.
Single kinesin molecules studied with a molecular force clamp

Kinesin is a two-headed, ATP-driven motor protein that moves processively along microtubules in discrete steps of 8 nm, probably by advancing each of its heads alternately in sequence. Molecular details of how the chemical energy stored in ATP is coupled to mechanical displacement remain obscure. To shed light on this question, a force clamp was constructed, based on a feedback-driven optical trap capable of maintaining constant loads on single kinesin motors. The instrument provides unprecedented resolution of molecular motion and permits mechanochemical studies under controlled external loads. Analysis of records of kinesin motion under variable ATP concentrations and loads revealed several new features. First, kinesin stepping appears to be tightly coupled to ATP hydrolysis over a wide range of forces, with a single hydrolysis per 8-nm mechanical advance. Second, the kinesin stall force depends on the ATP concentration. Third, increased loads reduce the maximum velocity as expected, but also raise the apparent Michaelis-Menten constant. The kinesin cycle therefore contains at least one load-dependent transition affecting the rate at which ATP molecules bind and subsequently commit to hydrolysis. It is likely that at least one other load-dependent rate exists, affecting turnover number. Together, these findings will necessitate revisions to our understanding of how kinesin motors function.
Abstract 18921: Lipotoxic Induction of Myocardial and Circulating Very Long-chain Ceramides in Patients With Advanced Heart Failure Improves With Mechanical Unloading Through Ventricular Assist Devices

Introduction: Our recent work has demonstrated accumulation of lipotoxic ceramides in animal models of heart failure (HF). Ceramide accumulation and abnormal sphingolipid metabolism might constitute a key link between altered cellular metabolism, apoptosis and cardiac dysfunction. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that changes in circulating and myocardial ceramide species contribute to myocardial dysfunction in advanced HF patients (pts) and improve after hemodynamic correction through LVAD. Methods: Serum and myocardium were collected from 34 pts with HF before, 28 pts after LVAD (15 paired pts) and 22 controls (con). Ceramides were measured by LC/MS. Protein expression was detected by Western blot. To study ceramide metabolism in vitro, AC16 human cardiomyocyte-like cells overexpressing serine palmitoyltransferase-1 (SPT1), the rate limiting enzyme of de novo ceramide synthesis, were cultured. Results: In human HF samples, total ceramides (13.1±1.1 vs. 8.2±1.2 nmol/g in con, p<0.05) and subspecies C16:1, C16...
Carboxypeptidase E (CPE): immunocytochemical localization in the rat central nervous system and pituitary gland

Carboxypeptidase E (CPE, enkephalin convertase, carboxypeptidase H; EC 3.4.17.10) is a carboxypeptidase B-like enzyme proposed to be involved in the synthesis of a variety of peptide hormones and neurotransmitters. In the present study we have localized CPE in the rat central nervous system using specific polyclonal antisera to the purified enzyme. Immunoreactive CPE occurs in a variety of cell somas and neuronal terminals in the central nervous system. The enzyme is most concentrated in the hypothalamus, especially in the median eminence, supraoptic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, and suprachiasmatic nucleus. CPE is also found in axon terminals in the posterior pituitary gland, melanotropes of the intermediate pituitary gland, and select cells of the anterior pituitary gland. Immunoreactivity to CPE in the hippocampus is found in the pyramidal cells and in the inner part of the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus. CPE is also found in the central nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. These results suggest that CPE distribution corresponds to that of many neuropeptides at the fine structural level, thus further implicating CPE in peptide processing.
Representation of multiple sound sources in the owl's auditory space map

The barn owl's inferior colliculus contains a retina-like map of space on which a sound generates a focus of activity whose position corresponds to the location of the sound source. When there is more than one source of sound, the sound waves sum and may generate spurious binaural cues that degrade the auditory image. We investigated the signal conditions under which neurons in the owl's auditory space map are able to resolve two simultaneously active sound sources. We recorded from space map neurons responding to sounds from a pair of speakers separated in azimuth by 45 degrees and mounted on a rotatable arm. Stimuli consisted of a sum of sinusoids or pseudorandom noise bursts emitted simultaneously and at equal overall levels. The characteristics of the sounds in each speaker were varied, and the neuron's response was plotted as a function of the speaker pair's position. When the speakers emitted different sets of summed sinusoids, the cells responded to each speaker separately; that is, the cells were able to resolve two separate targets. However, when the speakers emitted identical summed sinusoids generating binaural cues that were identical to those of a single phantom source between the two speakers, the neurons responded when the speakers were on either side of their receptive fields. By manipulating the amplitude at which each speaker emitted the various frequencies, we could control the position, number, and size of the phantom sources detected by the cell. The cells also resolved two separate sources when they emitted noise bursts that were statistically independent or temporally reversed versions of one another. Since the overall spectra of such waveforms are identical, we suggest that the space map relies on differences between noise bursts that exist over brief time spans.