cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characteristic Morphologies of the Bicuspid Aortic Valve in Patients with Genetic Syndromes

Background In patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV), complications including progressive aortic stenosis and aortic dilatation develop over time. The morphology of cusp fusion is one of the determinants of the type and severity of these complications. We present the association of morphology of cusp fusion in BAV patients with distinctive genetic syndromes. Methods The Mayo Clinic echocardiography database was retrospectively reviewed to identify patients (age ≤ 22 years) diagnosed with BAV from 1990 to 2016. Cusp fusion morphology was determined from the echocardiographic studies, while coexisting cardiac defects and genetic syndromes were determined from chart review. Results A total of 1,037 patients with BAV were identified: 550 (53%) had an isolated BAV, 299 (29%) had BAV and a coexisting congenital heart defect, and 188 (18%) had BAV and a coexisting genetic syndrome or disorder. There were no differences in distribution of morphology across the three groups. However, right-noncoronary (RN) cusp fusion was the predominant morphology associated with Down syndrome ( P = .002) and right-left (RL) cusp fusion was the predominant morphology associated with Turner syndrome ( P = .02), DiGeorge syndrome ( P = .02), and Shone syndrome ( P = .0007), when compared with valve morphology in patients with isolated BAV. Isolated BAV patients with RN cusp fusion had larger ascending aorta diameter ( P = .001) and higher number of patients with ≥ moderate aortic regurgitation ( P = .02), while those with RL cusp fusion had larger sinus of Valsalva diameter ( P = .0006). Conclusions Morphological subtypes of BAV are associated with different genetic syndromes, suggesting distinct perturbations of developmental pathways in aortic valve malformation.
Globalización y orden político: los orígenes de la integración económica mundial y sus consecuencias*

En este articulo el autor expone diferentes consideraciones sobre la globalizacion,realizando un analisis historico y teorico de la misma. Se sostiene que esta nueva realidad se apoya en varias din...
Sex-stratified analysis of national trends and outcomes in isolated tricuspid valve surgery.

Objective Female sex is a known risk factor for cardiac surgery, and tricuspid valve (TV) disease is more common in women. There are few data on sex-stratified surgical outcomes for isolated TV surgery. An administrative database was used to compare acute in-hospital outcomes between men and women undergoing isolated TV surgery. Methods Patients aged >18 who underwent TV repair or replacement from 2004 to 2013 were identified using the National Inpatient Sample. Patients were excluded if they had congenital heart disease, endocarditis, or were undergoing concomitant cardiac surgeries except coronary bypass. Results were weighted to represent national averages. Sex-stratified analysis was performed using propensity score matching to compare in-hospital mortality, postoperative complications and hospital costs. Results Over 10 years, women represented 58% of the 5005 TV surgeries performed. With propensity matching, hospital mortality (7.9% vs 7.7%; P=0.99) and median length of stay (11 vs 11 days; P=0.99) were similar between men and women. However, median hospital charges were higher for men ($166 000 vs $155 000; P=0.04). Conclusion Isolated TV surgery is rare, but women more commonly undergo the procedure. In-hospital mortality was similar between men and women after propensity matching, but remains markedly high for both men and women in comparison to that reported for left-sided isolated valve surgery.
Reduced Folate Carrier Expression in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Mechanism for Ploidy but not Lineage Differences in Methotrexate Accumulation

Methotrexate (MTX) is one of the most active and widely used agents for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To elucidate the mechanism for higher accumulation of MTX polyglutamates (MTX-PG) in hyperdiploid ALL and lower accumulation in T-lineage ALL, expression of the reduced folate carrier (RFC) was assessed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in ALL blasts isolated from newly diagnosed patients. RFC expression exhibited a 60-fold range among 29 children, with significantly higher expression in hyperdiploid B-lineage ALL (median, 11.3) compared with nonhyperdiploid ALL (median, 2.1; P <.0006), but no significant difference between nonhyperdiploid B-lineage and T-lineage ALL. Furthermore, mRNA levels of RFC (mapped by FISH to chromosome 21) were significantly related to chromosome 21 copy number (P =.0013), with the highest expression in hyperdiploid ALL blasts with 4 copies of chromosome 21. To assess the functional significance of gene copy number, MTX-PG accumulation was compared in ALL blasts isolated from 121 patients treated with either low-dose MTX (LDMTX; n = 60) or high-dose MTX (HDMTX; n = 61). After LDMTX, MTX-PG accumulation was highest in hyperdiploid B-lineage ALL with 4 copies of chromosome 21 (P =.011), but MTX-PG accumulation was not significantly related to chromosome 21 copy number after HDMTX (P =.24). These data show higher RFC expression as a mechanism for greater MTX accumulation in hyperdiploid B-lineage ALL and indicate that lineage differences in MTX-PG accumulation are not due to lower RFC expression in T-lineage ALL.
Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Adolescence is a gradual, transitional period between childhood and adulthood involving changes in social roles—from that of a child to that of an adult—interposed with a multitude of pubertal changes in both body and brain. These transitions involve challenges and opportunities in physical, cognitive, and emotional development. The current chapter provides a broad account of what is understood of vulnerability in physical, cognitive, and emotional development during adolescence and young adulthood, how these vulnerabilities may contribute to health-risk behaviors, and some possible points of resilience against these vulnerabilities.
Environmental Aspects of Food Waste-to-Energy Conversion

Abstract If a food waste-to-energy system is determined to be technically feasible, its environmental performance relative to conventional waste treatment methods must also be demonstrated. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic method for quantifying environmental impacts. A review of LCA studies of food waste conversion is provided to report key parameters that impact environmental performance. Anaerobic digestion is the most technically mature and commercially viable technology and there are a large number of relevant LCA studies and available system data. Understanding of fermentation and transesterification, as well as less developed technologies such as pyrolysis and bioelectrochemical systems, is limited due to the fewer number of commercial deployments for food waste conversion. The use of waste as a feedstock has the inherent advantage of avoiding upstream impacts of alternative biobased feedstock. The provision of coproducts that effectively displace high impact alternative systems, such as fossil-based electricity grids or mineral fertilizers, or the avoidance of waste disposal treatment impacts, such as those associated with landfill treatment of food waste, increases the environmental benefit of food waste-to-energy systems.
Gender differences in employment and economic quality of life following traumatic brain injury.

Objective Due to limited systematic research on gender differences in health and quality of life outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI), the present study sought to contribute to the growing literature on gender differences in postinjury employment while also adding an examination of postinjury economic quality of life, an emerging area in disability research. Method Independent variables included demographic and injury characteristics. Outcome variables included postinjury employment and economic quality of life, measured by the Participation Assessment With Recombined Tools-Objective and the Economic QOL, respectively. Hypotheses that women would experience poorer outcomes in postinjury employment and economic quality of life were tested with logistic and linear regression models. Results Postinjury employment was associated with gender, higher educational attainment, and preinjury employment. Those with greater injury severity and those identifying as Black or African American were less likely to be employed postinjury. For men and women who were unemployed prior to injury, the odds of postinjury employment for men were 184% higher than for women. Men reported significantly greater economic quality of life. Contrary to hypotheses, postinjury employment was inversely related to economic quality of life in the final model. Conclusion The results suggest that if unemployed prior to injury, women with TBI are less likely to be employed postinjury and also experience decreased economic quality of life postinjury, regardless of employment status. Although further research is needed to determine which strategies will improve economic quality of life for women with TBI, clinicians may utilize these preliminary findings to guide treatment and advocacy efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Hypoesthesia after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: The relationship between proprioception and vibration perception deficits in individuals greater than one year post-surgery.

Abstract Background While surgical reconstruction restores mechanical stability following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture, many experience early-onset osteoarthritis despite surgery. Neurophysiological changes are hypothesized to contribute to knee osteoarthritis progression. Proprioceptive deficits have been reported following ACL injury/reconstruction; however, vibration perception threshold (VPT) has been less studied. This study explored relationships between pain, VPT, proprioception, function, and strength following ACL-reconstruction. Methods Twenty individuals (27 ± 6 years; 10 males) (standard deviation) status-post ACL-reconstruction were compared with a control group. Measurements included VPT, proprioception (threshold to detect passive movement), pain, function (Knee Outcome Survey (KOS)) and isometric quadriceps strength. Group differences were assessed using Mann-Whitney U tests, side-to-side differences with Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests, and associations evaluated using Spearman correlations. Results The ACL-reconstruction group had minor functional deficits (15 ± 11%) and resting pain (1.8 ± 1.7). Impaired VPT and proprioception (hypoesthesia) were demonstrated on surgical compared to contralateral and control limbs (p ≤ 0.008). Proprioception was significantly different between contralateral and control knees, but not VPT. Surgical knee proprioceptive deficits and VPT deficits were positively correlated (ρ = 0.462, p = 0.047) but not in controls (ρ = −0.042, p = 0.862). Strength was negatively correlated to pain (ρ = −0.589; p = 0.006), but not to KOS scores, proprioception or VPT (p ≥ 0.099). Conclusion Proprioceptive deficits following ACL injury have been ascribed to loss of afferent input from the torn ligament. Alternatively, multi-modality as well as contralateral sensory deficits suggest a spinal/supraspinal source of neurophysiological findings which may predispose to early osteoarthritis. Level of evidence III.
User Re-Identification Using Clothing Information for Smartphones

With the expected of 2.5 billion people using smartphone by 2019, mobile biometric is a crucial field providing convenient and secure access for users. As most of the security systems only require single authentication, an intruder can gain access after the initial login stage. Human re-identification in mobile device is the task of continuously authenticating the person after initial login. In this paper, we investigate using clothing information for subject re-identification in mobile device. To this aim, we employed two approaches to extract shallow and deep clothing features, followed by a linear support vector machine (SVM) to distinguish genuine from impostors. Each method achieved promising results, with equal error rates below 0.05. Further, a fusion of handcrafted shallow features and data-driven deep features at, feature and score levels, provided 0.034 and 0.032 at EER, confirming the viability of the proposed method for accurate short-term re-identification for mobile use cases.
Thermodynamic assessment of carbon dioxide emission reduction during fossil fuel derived energy production

Abstract Absolute minimum energy penalties are calculated and reported for 5 different CO2 emission reduction technologies: carbon capture and sequestration from point sources, carbon capture and sequestration from air, carbon capture and utilization as structural materials, steam methane reforming with carbon capture and sequestration, and methane pyrolysis. The absolute minimum energy penalties are calculated from minimum work calculations based on classical thermodynamics. These energy penalties represent the thermodynamically defined minimum energetic costs of each process. Real processes have higher energetic costs, as well as additional operating and capital costs. These calculations place each of the technologies in context with respect to each other and to the existing energy infrastructure by specifying lower bounds on the costs of pursuing these technologies on an equivalent energy basis.
Abstract P109: Genetic Correlates of Resilience Among African American Families From the Jackson Heart Study

Background: Research has reported that measures of resilience, such as optimism, social support, and religious coping are positively associated with longevity, but there are limited studies on the ...
Heroin delay discounting and impulsivity: Modulation by DRD1 genetic variation

Background Dopamine D1 receptors (encoded by DRD1) are implicated in drug addiction and high-risk behaviors. Delay discounting (DD) procedures measure decisional balance between choosing smaller/sooner rewards vs larger/later rewards. Individuals with higher DD (rapid discounting) are prone to maladaptive behaviors that provide immediate reinforcement (eg, substance use). DRD1 variants have been linked with increased DD (in healthy volunteers) and opioid abuse. This study determined whether four dopaminergic functional variants modulated heroin DD and impulsivity. Methods Substance use, DD, and genotype data (DRD1 rs686 and rs5326, DRD3 rs6280, COMT rs4680) were obtained from 106 current heroin users. Subjects completed an array of DD choices during two imagined conditions: heroin satiation and withdrawal. Rewards were expressed as $10 heroin bag units, with maximum delayed amount of 30 bags. Delays progressively increased from 3 to 96 hours. Results DRD1 rs686 (A/A, n = 25; G/A, n = 56; G/G, n = 25) was linearly related to the difference in heroin DD (area under the curve; AUC) between the heroin satiation and withdrawal conditions; specifically, G/G homozygotes had a significantly smaller (satiation minus withdrawal) AUC difference score had higher drug-use impulsivity questionnaire scores, relative to A/A homozygotes, with G/A intermediate. DRD3 and COMT variants were not associated with these DD and impulsivity outcomes. Conclusion DRD1 rs686 modulated the difference in heroin DD score between pharmacological states and was associated with drug-use impulsivity. These data support a role of DRD1 in opioid DD and impulsive behaviors.
New Conservatives, Amendments, and Party Loyalty

We explore the extent to which “New Conservatives” — i.e., the Tea Party, Liberty, and Freedom Caucuses — succeeded in shifting policy outcomes rightward by adding conservative amendments to measures that later passed the House. We do so by focusing primarily on data from the 112th through 115th Congresses (2011-2018). We find that while New Conservatives offer many amendments and the House agrees to many of their amendments, there is little evidence that their amendments lead to House passage of legislation that is more conservative than legislation without New Conservative amendments. Our results suggest multiple possible explanations: perhaps, when offering amendments, New Conservatives are more pragmatic than they are sometime credited for being; or perhaps there the process that determines which amendments are voted on is more likely to preclude votes upon, or perhaps even the offering of, New Conservatives’ most conservative amendments. We discuss additional work that might help explain our findings.
Epidemiology of Corneal Diseases

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease and the application of this understanding to the treatment and prevention of health conditions [1]. In essence, epidemiology tells us about the “who,” “when,” “where,” and “how” of human disease. Although the spectrum of corneal disease is wide, there are many conditions that have yet to be studied in depth from an epidemiologic perspective. In this chapter we focus our efforts on diseases – including dry eye, trachoma, and microbial corneal ulceration – where epidemiology has played a significant role in furthering our understanding of the disease burden in populations, risk factors for disease occurrence or progression, natural history, and most importantly, opportunities for prevention.
Validation of a multisubstance online Timeline Followback assessment.

OBJECTIVES The Timeline Followback (TLFB) was originally developed to assess alcohol consumption patterns (American Journal of Public Health, 86, 1996, 966) and has been increasingly modified for Web-based use. Additionally, new modes of substance use administration have emerged, creating a need for an adaptable TLFB tool than can capture data such as cannabis product potency or prescription drug use. Our goal was to validate an online TLFB that reliably assesses a wide range of substances in greater detail. METHODS Using a within-subjects counterbalanced design, daily substance use data were collected from 50 college students over a 14-day retrospective period using both the traditional in-person TLFB and online TLFB (O-TLFB). RESULTS All substance use variables, including detailed measures of cannabis metrics, correlated significantly (r's ranged from .653 to .944, p < .001) between TLFB versions. Further, results demonstrated that both the online TLFB and in-person TLFB demonstrated concurrent validity with both the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Marijuana Dependence Scale (MDS). CONCLUSION Overall, the data suggest that this new O-TLFB demonstrates strong reliability and delivers a versatile and secure tool for substance use assessment that is relevant to a variety of biomedical and psychological research contexts.
Orphan Train Myths and Legal Reality

Beginning in the 19th century, as many as 200,000 children across New York City’s overcrowded boroughs, often from immigrant homes, were removed from their families and relocated to settlements in the American West. Contemporary views have credited this massive relocation as the impetus for American adoption laws, improved foster care practices, child labor law reform and the child welfare movement. To the contrary, records show this forced resettlement of primarily immigrant children slowed and opposed many child welfare reforms. Laws and social views regarding the care and treatment of dependent children have evolved, grown and changed in tandem with the development of America as a whole. American practices and treatment of children have shifted from overt oppression to eliminating oppressive laws in order to define and implement successful child welfare policies and practices. This legal and social evolution has been and continues to be accomplished through various laws, policies and programmatic changes involving adoption, child labor and child welfare programs directed at public and private institutions that care for and interact with dependent children. Part one of this article explores the orphan train movement, emphasizing the historical and legal context of the care of dependent children in the United States beginning in the colonial era and extending through the 19th century. Part two of this article assesses the legal impact of the unique century-specific orphan train movement on child-related laws and legal institutions in the United States. This examination challenges the accepted view that orphan trains contributed to child welfare and posits that, to the contrary, orphan trains were a detriment to the children the movement sought to protect. The forced relocation of 200,000 children, primarily from vulnerable immigrant families, worked against proper recognition of the rights of a child by substituting a “quick fix” for increased immigration and broader economic troubles. This article concludes with recommendations for 21st century child welfare practices and policies that, but for the orphan train movement, might have developed naturally in the United States.
The Effect of Meditation on Health: a Metasynthesis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Meta-analyses have identified benefits of meditation for many specific health outcomes, including depression, diabetes, and smoking. However, the meditation literature lacks a comprehensive synthesis of meta-analyses on meditation–health effects. This study used metasynthesis (i.e., second-order meta-analysis) to derive a comprehensive estimate of the effect of meditation on health. Twenty-eight meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials, which collectively provided 404 meta-analytic effects from over 31,000 participants, met criteria for inclusion. Information on the type of health outcome, meditation, and sample as well as the methodological quality and average intervention length was extracted from each meta-analysis. An unweighted model was used to aggregate data. A medium-sized effect of meditation on health was obtained after aggregating across meta-analyses (d = 0.50, 95% CI [0.42, 0.58]). The effect of meditation was stronger when examining yoga than mindfulness or focused attention, was similar for mental and physical health, and was stronger in younger samples, higher quality studies, and studies with longer interventions. This metasynthesis provides among the most compelling evidence to date that meditation benefits health. Nonetheless, current estimates of meditation–health effects may be inflated as a result of publication bias, low quality studies, and use of inactive control conditions.
Engineering Extracellular Vesicles as Nanotherapeutics for Regenerative Medicine

Long thought of to be vesicles that primarily recycled waste biomolecules from cells, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have now emerged as a new class of nanotherapeutics for regenerative medicine. Recent studies have proven their potential as mediators of cell proliferation, immunomodulation, extracellular matrix organization and angiogenesis, and are currently being used as treatments for a variety of diseases and injuries. They are now being used in combination with a variety of more traditional biomaterials and tissue engineering strategies to stimulate tissue repair and wound healing. However, the clinical translation of EVs has been greatly slowed due to difficulties in EV isolation and purification, as well as their limited yields and functional heterogeneity. Thus, a field of EV engineering has emerged in order to augment the natural properties of EVs and to recapitulate their function in semi-synthetic and synthetic EVs. Here, we have reviewed current technologies and techniques in this growing field of EV engineering while highlighting possible future applications for regenerative medicine.
Laser Interstitial Thermotherapy for Treatment of Symptomatic Peritumoral Edema After Radiosurgery for Meningioma

Background Symptomatic peritumoral edema (PTE) is a known complication after radiosurgical treatment of meningiomas. Although the edema in most patients can be successfully managed conservatively with corticosteroid therapy or bevacizumab, some medically refractory cases may require surgical resection of the underlying lesion when feasible. Laser interstitial thermotherapy (LITT) continues to gain traction as an effective therapeutic modality for the treatment of radiation necrosis where its biggest impact is through the control of peritumoral edema. Case Description A 56-year-old woman with neurofibromatosis 2 presented with a symptomatic, regrowing left frontotemporal lesion that had previously been radiated, then resected with confirmed recurrence of grade I meningioma, and subsequently radiated again for lesion recurrence. Given her history of 2 prior same-side craniotomies, including a complication of wound infection, she was not a candidate for further open surgical resection. Having failed conservative management, she underwent LITT with intraoperative biopsy demonstrating viable grade I meningioma. Postoperatively, she demonstrated radiographic marked, serial reduction of PTE and experienced resolution of her symptoms. Conclusions This case demonstrates that LITT may be a viable alternative treatment for patients with meningioma with symptomatic PTE who have failed medical therapy and require surgical intervention.
Net solar generation potential from urban rooftops in Los Angeles

Abstract Rooftops provide accessible locations for solar energy installations. While rooftop solar arrays can offset in-building electricity needs, they may also stress electric grid operations. Here we present an analysis of net electricity generation potential from distributed rooftop solar in Los Angeles. We integrate spatial and temporal data for property-level electricity demands, rooftop solar generation potential, and grid capacity constraints to estimate the potential for solar to meet on-site demands and supply net exports to the electric grid. In the study area with 1.2 million parcels, rooftop solar could meet 7200 Gigawatt Hours (GWh) of on-site building demands (~29% of demand). Overall potential net generation is negative, meaning buildings use more electricity than they can produce. Yet, cumulative net export potential from solar to grid circuits is 16,400 GWh. Current policies that regulate solar array interconnection to the grid result in unutilized solar power output of 1700 MW. Lower-income and at-risk communities in LA have greater potential for exporting net solar generation to the grid. This potential should be recognized through investments and policy innovations. The method demonstrates the need for considering time-dependent calculations of net solar potential and offers a template for distributed renewable energy planning in cities.
Chickenpox cases monitoring and epidemic strains gene polymorphism analysis in Ningbo, Zhejiang

Objective To analyze the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) epidemiology and the genotype characteristics of epidemic strains in Ningbo from 2009 to 2011.Methods The incidence data of chickenpox cases from Ningbo public health emergency report management system were collected and analyzed.Some vesicle fluid samples from chickenpox cases were collected.The VZV epidemic strains were genotyped by PCR method and the epidemic strains were identified by the restriction enyme Sma Ⅰ.The VZV virus was isolated by MRC-5 cells.Results The reported incidence rates of chickenpox in Ningbo were 23.33/100 000,26.24/100 000 and 36.25/100 000 from 2009 to 2011.Children aged 7-12 years had the highest incidence rate (245.21/100 000).Two seasonal peaks of chickenpox incidence were from May to June and November to December,respectively.The PCR detection result of VZV from 32 vesicle fluid samples showed that 25 samples were positive.Genotype results showed 2 kinds of different genetic types of strain:2 samples were M1 type strains,and the other 23 samples were J type strains.Conclusions Ningbo chickenpox cases mainly occur in late spring to early summer and late autumn to early winter,with the school-age children aged 7-12 years as the main patients.J strains are the major epidemic swain,but also have the local popular Ml type strain. Key words: Chickenpox; Epidemiological analysis ; Herpesvirus 3, human; Genotypes
Optimal risk-averse timing of an asset sale: trending versus mean-reverting price dynamics

This paper studies the optimal risk-averse timing to sell a risky asset. The investor’s risk preference is described by the exponential, power, or log utility. Two stochastic models are considered for the asset price— the geometric Brownian motion and exponential Ornstein–Uhlenbeck models—to account for, respectively, the trending and mean-reverting price dynamics. In all cases, we derive the optimal thresholds and certainty equivalents to sell the asset, and compare them across models and utilities, with emphasis on their dependence on asset price, risk aversion, and quantity. We find that the timing option may render the investor’s value function and certainty equivalent non-concave in price. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the investor’s strategies and the premium associated with optimally timing to sell.
Characterizing Hidden Structures at NSLS-II: Strongly Correlated Electron Systems, Functional Ceramics, Batteries, and Beyond

Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York) launched its high-energy X-ray science program at the inception of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office o...
Combined Use of Wells Scores and D-dimer Levels for the Diagnosis of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism in COVID-19: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Introduction Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are key complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study's primary outcome was assessing the utility of Wells DVT, Wells PE scores, and D-dimers in diagnosing DVT and PE. Secondary outcomes were the risk factors for the development of PE and DVT in COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods We compared COVID-19 patients with a positive and negative lower extremity (LE) duplex. A similar approach was made for patients who underwent imaging for PE. Results The prevalence of PE was 23.8% (26 out of 109 patients), and the prevalence of DVT was 33% (35 out of 106). A D-dimer of 500 ng/mL had a sensitivity of 95.6% and 93.7% for the diagnosis of PE and DVT, respectively. A Wells DVT score of 3 points had a specificity of 92.9% and sensitivity of 8.8% for DVT diagnosis in COVID-19. A Wells PE score of 4 had a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 20% for the diagnosis of PE. The combined approach of using a Wells DVT score of 3 in suspected DVT and a Wells PE score of 4 in suspected PE and D-dimers of 500 ng/ml has a sensitivity of 94.2% and 96.1%, respectively. In the suspected DVT group, male gender (OR 3.88, 95% CI 1.55-9.7, P=0.004), lower body mass index (BMI) (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.86-0.99, P=0.037), antiplatelet use (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.04-0.88, P=0.035), systolic blood pressure ≤100 mmhg (OR 4.96, 95% CI 1.37-17.86, P=0.014), absolute lymphocytes ≤1 (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.07-6.12, P=0.033), D-dimer ≥500 ng/ml (OR 6.42, 95% CI 1.40-29.38, P=0.016), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) ≥20 mg/dl (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.00-5.41, P=0.048), and intubation (OR 3.32, 95% CI 1.26-8.78, P=0.015) were found to be statistically significant for DVT. In the suspected PE group, history of cancer (OR 10.69, 95% CI 1.06-107.74, P=0.044), total WBC count (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.95-1.21, P=0.032), platelets ≥ 400,000 (OR 5.13, 95% CI 1.79-14.68, P=0.002), D-dimer levels ≥ 500 ng/ml (OR 25.47, 95% CI 3.27-197.97, P=0.002), Wells PE score (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.50-4.06, P<0.001), pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria (PERC) score (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.05-3.05, P=0.054), and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.16-3.12, P=0.002) were statistically significant. Conclusions The combined approach of using a Wells DVT score of 3 in suspected DVT and Wells PE score of 4 in suspected PE and D-dimers of 500 ng/ml may be used to diagnose PE and DVT in COVID-19. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurrence in COVID-19 is associated with non-traditional risk factors such as intubation and higher severity of systemic inflammation, and these patients may benefit from more aggressive testing for VTE.
The effect of tasting sheet sensory descriptors on tasting room sales

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the impact that tasting sheet sensory descriptors have on wine sales in tasting rooms that rely on direct-to-consumer sales to sell the majority of their wines, such as those in New York wine regions. Design/methodology/approach – Nine tasting rooms participated in the study that took place on weekends (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) during a six-week period in July and August 2012. Tasting rooms alternated tasting sheets by weekend, one including sensory descriptors and one omitting sensory descriptors. At the end of each weekend, tasting room managers compiled information on daily wine bottle and (in the case of seven wineries) dollar sales. A multivariate statistical model was created to measure the relationship between the treatment (tasting sheet with or without descriptors) and wine sales, controlling for other variables that could influence wine sales. Findings – The authors found that both bottle and dollar sales were higher when tasting sheets withou...
XML Query Languages in Practice: An Evaluation

The popularity of XML as a data representation format has led to significant interest in querying XML documents. Although a "universal" query language is still being designed, two language proposals, XQL and XML-QL, are being implemented and applied. Experience with these early implementations and applications has been instructive in determining the requirements of an XML query language. In this paper, we discuss issues in attempting to query XML, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches, and propose a number of extensions. We hope that this will be helpful both in forming the upcoming XML Query language standard and in supplementing existing languages.
Are Negotiators Overly Optimistic After All? It Depends on the Question and the Negotiation Structure

Some studies suggest that negotiators are overly optimistic (Bazerman & Neale, 1982; Neale & Bazerman, 1983, Thompson 1988, Kramer, Newton, & Pommerenke, 1993) while others suggest they are pessimistic (Kass 2002). This study suggests that the type of performance judgment used in past studies accounts for these seemingly contradictory findings. This study invokes the fixed pie bias to predict that negotiators show undue optimism when predicting distributive performance and undue pessimism when predicting integrative performance. To investigate this model, negotiators engaged in either a purely distributive or integrative negotiation and predicted their performance relative to the other party (inherently zero-sum) and in absolute terms (zero-sum for negotiators engaged in a zero-sum negotiation and integrative for negotiators engaged in an integrative task). Negotiators exhibited undue optimism when predicting performance relative to others regardless of negotiation condition. When predicting performance in absolute terms, negotiators exhibited marked overconfidence when engaged in zero-sum tasks but exhibited marked undue pessimism when engaged in integrative ones. This study also predicted and found that judgments of relative performance constrain indices of overconfidence and undue pessimism relative to absolute performance judgments.
Recent results on the complexity of problems related to Petri nets

In this paper, we examine the complexity of the boundedness, containment, equivalence, and reachability problems for certain subclasses of Petri nets (PNs) (equivalently vector addition systems (VASs), vector addition systems with states (VASSs), or vector replacement systems (VRSs)). Specifically, we consider the complexity of the boundedness problem for general VASSs, fixed dimensional VASSs, and conflict-free VRSs. We consider the complexity of the remaining problems for bounded VASSs, 2-dimensional VASSs, and conflict-free VRSs. Instances in each of these classes are known to have effectively computable semilinear reachability sets (SLSs). In each case, our results are derived by showing how to obtain succinct and sometimes special representations of the associated SLSs. The results discussed here constitute a summary of results obtained elsewhere by the authors. No proofs appear in this document, although we do strive to outline the general strategies involved. Readily available sources for the detailed proofs are indicated.
Electrostatic effects on the folding stability of FKBP12

The roles of electrostatic interactions in protein folding stability have been a matter of debate, largely due to the complexity in the theoretical treatment of these interactions. We have developed computational methods for calculating electrostatic effects on protein folding stability. To rigorously test and further refine these methods, here we carried out experimental studies into electrostatic effects on the folding stability of the human 12-kD FK506 binding protein (FKBP12). This protein has a close homologue, FKBP12.6, with amino acid substitutions in only 18 of their 107 residues. Of the 18 substitutions, 8 involve charged residues. Upon mutating FKBP12 residues at these 8 positions individually into the counterparts in FKBP12.6, the unfolding free energy (ΔGu) of FKBP12 changed by -0.3 to 0.7 kcal/mol. Accumulating stabilizing substitutions resulted in a mutant with a 0.9 kcal/mol increase in stability. Additional charge mutations were grafted from a thermophilic homologue, MtFKBP17, which aligns to FKBP12 with 31% sequence identity over 89 positions. Eleven such charge mutations were studied, with ΔΔGu varying from -2.9 to 0.1 kcal/mol. The predicted electrostatic effects by our computational methods with refinements herein had a root-mean-square deviation of 0.9 kcal/mol from the experimental ΔΔGu values on 16 single mutations of FKBP12. The difference in ΔΔGu between mutations grafted from FKBP12.6 and those from MtFKBP17 suggests that more distant homologues are less able to provide guidance for enhancing folding stability.
Legacy Making Through Illness Blogs: Online Spaces for Young Adults Approaching the End-of-Life

Little is known about young adults with cancer at the end-of-life, but life review and legacy making may be important modalities to process the emotions associated with anticipatory grief. The study analyzed the illness blogs of five young women (aged 25-39 years) at the end-of-life using a narrative approach. Key elements of legacy making and grief processing were explored. The women had varying experiences before their death, but uniform posthumous occurrences with the use of the blog for a space of grief for loved ones. The use of online blogs among adolescents and young adults with advanced cancer is an area of needed further study.
CotB is essential for complete activation of green light-induced genes during complementary chromatic adaptation in Fremyella diplosiphon.

Summary The dramatic modifications of photosynthetic light harvesting antennae called phycobilisomes that occur during complementary chromatic adaptation in cyanobacteria are controlled by two separate photosensory systems. The first system involves the signal transduction components RcaE, RcaF and RcaC, which appear to make up a complex multistep phosphorelay. This system controls the light responsive expression of the cpcB2A2H2I2D2, cpeBA and cpeCDE operons, which encode phycobilisome proteins. The second system, which is not yet characterized, acts in concert with the first but only regulates the light responses of cpeBA and cpeCDE. We have generated and characterized a new mutant class, named the Tan mutants. In at least one member of this class, light-regulated RNA accumulation patterns are altered for cpeBA and cpeCDE, but not for cpcB2A2H2I2D2. Thus this mutant contains a lesion that may impair the operation of the second system. We demonstrate that several Tan mutants are the result of improper expression of the gene cotB. CotB has limited similarity to lyase class proteins, particularly those related to NblB, which is required for degradation of phycobilisomes in other cyanobacteria. Possible roles of CotB in the biogenesis of phycobilisomes are discussed.
CANINE ORAL NONTONSILLAR SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

The records of 33 dogs treated with radiation therapy for nontonsillar oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were reviewed to determine which, if any, prognostic factors affected local tumor recurrence and survival. Information was collected on nine factors: age, sex, anatomic subsite, intraoral location, bone involvement, radiation dose, portal size, and tumor recurrence. Product limit survival estimates indicated than only anatomic subsite was significantly related to disease-free interval. Mean disease-free interval was 12.0, 3.4, and 1.8 months for maxilla, mandible, and soft tissue subsites, respectively. Four factors were significantly associated with survival. The intraoral location (listed in descending survival time: rostral > caudal > rostral and caudal), tumor recurrence (no > yes), relative portal size (less than 100 cm2/m2 > greater than or equal to 100 cm2/m2), and age at diagnosis (less than or equal to 6 years > greater than 6 years) were of prognostic importance. Based on these data, a prospective randomized clinical trial for the treatment of nontonsillar oral SCC would be appropriate.
Effects of IL-1 muteins on cartilage degradation and as inducers of acute inflammation.

IL-1 peptides with N-terminal amino acid mutations were cloned and expressed to help characterize structural requirements for activity. Addition of Thr-Asn to the N-terminus (DP516) or substitution of the first two residues (Ala-Pro) of mature, native IL-1β with Thr-Met (DuP118) had no effect on the potency of the muteins in stimulating proteoglycan breakdown and inhibiting proteoglycan synthesisin vitro, or inducing mouse paw swellingin vivo. When Arg in position 4 of DuP118 was replaced by Glu (Glu-4), proteoglycan-synthesis-inhibitory activity was reduced to 20% and proteoglycan-degrading activity to 2% of that induced by native IL-1β. Glu-4 was much less active in inducing mouse paw swelling and gave maximal swelling about 40% that of native IL-1β. The data suggest that the presence of the positively charged side chain of Arg in position 4 may be important for the activity of IL-1 and may be useful in designing specific IL-1 receptor agonists/antagonists.
A generalized bridge number for links in 3-manifolds

In [Sch] Schubert introduced a new invariant of knots in the 3-sphere, called the bridge number, and showed that, when reduced by 1, it is an additive invariant under the connected sum operation of knots. Several generalizations of Schubert 's theorem can be imagined. Indeed, from Schubert 's perspective the behaviour of bridge number under addition is only a corollary of a more general theorem about bridge number of satellite knots. Boileau and Lickorish have independently observed [B,L] that the following generalization of Schubert 's theorem would be useful. Bridge number as defined by Schubert begins with a projection of the knot (or link) onto a sphere in S 3. Project instead onto a higher genus unknotted surface in S 3. One advantage of this approach is that it allows bridge number to be defined for a link in a 3-manifold other than 5 '3, by projecting the link onto a Heegaard surface for the 3-manifold. Here we explore how such an invariant behaves under connected sum, using a line of argument similar to Jaco 's proof of Haken 's theorem that Heegaard genus is additive [Ja]. A crucial additional ingredient needed is Lemma4.6. Some of the arguments were motivated by [NO], in which, as an aside, a different generalization of Schubert 's theorem is attempted. They want to show that the standard bridge number behaves well under knot decomposition even when the knot is decomposed by spheres intersecting the knot more than twice (e.g. under tangle sums), l Besides recovering a new proof of Schubert 's theorem, more in the spirit of Jaco 's proof of the Haken lemma, we are also able to prove an analogous theorem for bridge number defined with respect to genus one Heegaard splittings of 5'3 or the Lens space and also with respect to irreducible Heegaard splittings of closed nonHaken 3-manifolds.
BRIDGE SAFETY MONITORING USING COUPLED CURRENT DEVICE IMAGES

A new method of global diagnosis for bridge safety monitoring using high-resolution coupled current device (CCD) images is presented. Its advantages are as follows: (a) no sensors need to be attached to the structure, (b) no mathematical modeling is required (such as finite element methods), (c) a probability-based diagnosis approach is used to deal with measurement noise associated with image data, and (d) CCD cameras are affordable now and are expected to continue to drop in price, which will make this new technique workable for implementation. The new method was applied in the laboratory to a bridge structure model, as presented. Experimental results show that the method is able to identify stiffness losses as small as 3 percent for both their presence and their location. It is concluded that the proposed approach is promising for experimentation in the field.
Highly transparent and conducting zinc oxide films deposited by activated reactive evaporation

Highly transparent and conducting undoped zinc oxide films have been obtained with a best resistivity of ∼1.1 × 10-3 Ω cm, a carrier density of ∼1.5 × 1020 cm−3 and a mobility of ∼38 cm2V−1s −1. These were produced by activated reactive evaporation at a deposition rate of 2 to 8A/s with a substrate temperature ≤200° C. The films deposited by this process were found to have resistivities that were thickness independent and also were relatively insensitive to deposition parameters. In terms of conductivity, it was found that films deposited at higher temperatures (T > 300°+ C) were always inferior to the films deposited below 200° C. High temperature vacuum annealing (350° C) significantly degraded the resistivity of the undoped films deposited at low temperature; this was attributable to a drop in both the electron concentration and the mobility. Aluminum doping was found to be able to stabilize the electron concentration while the drop in mobility was found to be related to the choice of substrate.
Function and Assembly of the Bacteriophage T4 DNA Replication Complex INTERACTIONS OF THE T4 POLYMERASE WITH VARIOUS MODEL DNA CONSTRUCTS

Abstract Complexes formed between DNA polymerase and genomic DNA at the replication fork are key elements of the replication machinery. We used sedimentation velocity, fluorescence anisotropy, and surface plasmon resonance to measure the binding interactions between bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase (gp43) and various model DNA constructs. These results provide quantitative insight into how this replication polymerase performs template-directed 5′ → 3′ DNA synthesis and how this function is coordinated with the activities of the other proteins of the replication complex. We find that short (single- and double-stranded) DNA molecules bind a single gp43 polymerase in a nonspecific (overlap) binding mode with moderate affinity (Kd ∼150 nm) and a binding site size of ∼10 nucleotides for single-stranded DNA and ∼13 bp for double-stranded DNA. In contrast, gp43 binds in a site-specific (nonoverlap) mode and significantly more tightly (Kd ∼5 nm) to DNA constructs carrying a primer-template junction, with the polymerase covering ∼5 nucleotides downstream and ∼6–7 bp upstream of the 3′-primer terminus. The rate of this specific binding interaction is close to diffusion-controlled. The affinity of gp43 for the primer-template junction is modulated specifically by dNTP substrates, with the next “correct” dNTP strengthening the interaction and an incorrect dNTP weakening the observed binding. These results are discussed in terms of the individual steps of the polymerase-catalyzed single nucleotide addition cycle and the replication complex assembly process. We suggest that changes in the kinetics and thermodynamics of these steps by auxiliary replication proteins constitute a basic mechanism for protein coupling within the replication complex.