cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The making of giant pumpkins: how selective breeding changed the phloem of Cucurbita maxima from source to sink

Despite the success of breeding programmes focused on increasing fruit size, relatively little is known about the anatomical and physiological changes required to increase reproductive allocation. To address this gap in knowledge, we compared fruit/ovary anatomy, vascular structure and phloem transport of two varieties of giant pumpkins, and their smaller fruited progenitor under controlled environmental conditions. We also modelled carbon transport into the fruit of competitively grown plants using data collected in the field. There was no evidence that changes in leaf area or photosynthetic capacity impacted fruit size. Instead, giant varieties differed in their ovary morphology and contained more phloem on a cross-sectional area basis in their petioles and pedicels than the ancestral variety. These results suggest that sink activity is important in determining fruit size and that giant pumpkins have an enhanced capacity to transport carbon. The strong connection observed between carbon fixation, phloem structure and fruit growth in field-grown plants indicates that breeding for large fruit has led to changes throughout the carbon transport system that could have important implications for how we think about phloem transport velocity and carbon allocation.
Aspirin and salicylate: An old remedy with a new twist.

Salicylic acid was identified in willow bark extracts as an active anti-inflammatory compound over a century ago. Because of its bitter taste, chemical derivatives of salicylic acid (2-hydroxybenzoic acid) were synthesized and tested. Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) eliminated the bitter taste but retained the anti-inflammatory action, and it was introduced for treating human maladies >100 years ago. It has remained the most commonly used drug for relieving pain, inflammatory symptoms, and fever. Aspirin also has established efficacy for preventing myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke, as well as for treating acute myocardial infarction.1 Furthermore, recent epidemiological studies indicate that aspirin use is accompanied by a reduction in cancers, especially colon cancer.2 How does a simple compound exert such broad therapeutic actions? Vane and Botting3 4 discovered that aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs inhibit the synthesis of proinflammatory prostaglandin E2. Subsequently, others demonstrated that aspirin inhibits cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) activity by acetylating serine 530, which is located close to the active site (tyrosine 385 of COX-1), and that acetylation of this serine residue hinders the access of arachidonic acid to the active site.5 6 Aspirin inhibits COX-2 by a similar mechanism but is less potent7 because the substrate channel of COX-2 is larger and more flexible than that of COX-1. …
Experiences with an AR evaluation test bed: Presence, performance, and physiological measurement

This paper discusses an experiment carried out in an AR test bed called “the pit”. Inspired by the well-known VR acrophobia study of Meehan et al. [18], the experimental goals were to explore whether VR presence instruments were useful in AR (and to modify them where appropriate), to compare additional measures to these well-researched techniques, and to determine if findings from VR evaluations can be transferred to AR. An experimental protocol appropriate for AR was developed. The initial experimental findings concern varying immersion factors (frame rate) and their effect on feelings of presence, user performance and behavior. Unlike the VR study, which found differing frame rates to affect presence measures, there were few differences in the five frame rate modes in our study as measured by the qualitative and quantitative instruments, which included physiological responses, a custom presence questionnaire, task performance, and user behavior. The AR presence questionnaire indicated users experienced a high feeling of presence in all frame rate modes. Behavior, performance, and interview results indicated the participants felt anxiety in the pit environment. However, the physiological data did not reflect this anxiety due to factors of user experience and experiment design. Efforts to develop a useful AR test bed and to identify results from a large data set has produced a body of knowledge related to AR evaluation that can inform others seeking to create AR experiments.
Staggered Terms and Black Representation

Courts, the Justice Department, and civil rights groups have charged that staggered terms dilute minority political influence. This assertion is examined in the dual contexts of state senates and city councils. Neither bivariate nor multivariate analyses find use of overlapping terms to be associated with less representation of blacks in senates or southern municipalities. The percent black in the polity translates into black representation at about the same rate in staggered and nonstaggered systems. That staggered terms have been incorporated into the laundry list of discriminatory elements in the absence of comprehensive data raises troubling questions about the policy development process.
Precipitation type and profile classification for GPM-DPR

The dual precipitation radar (DPR) on board the GPM (Global precipitation measurement) core observatory satellite is expected to improve our knowledge of precipitation processes. DPR offers dual frequency observations (Ku and Ka band) along the vertical profiles which allow us to investigate the microphysics using the difference between two frequency observations (measured dual frequency ratio or DFRm). DFRm has been shown in the literature to be rich in information and can be used to perform precipitation classification and hydrometeor identification. In this paper, extensive analysis is focused on validating the classification criteria from DFRm using other auxiliary information such as velocity and linear depolarization ratio (LDR) based on airborne precipitation data. The cross comparisons show good agreement and the proposed classification method provides critical information needed for developing profile classification algorithms.
Coping with The Consequences of Living in Danger: The Case of Palestinian Children and Youth

Since the beginning of the Palestinian Uprising in December 1987, experiences with violence have become a chronic condition for many Palestinian children and youth living in the Israeli-occupied territories. Interviews were conducted with 20 Palestinian mothers with children aged 5-8 and 20 mothers with children aged 12-15 living in the West Bank. These semi-structured interviews explored: (1) mothers' perceptions of danger for their children; (2) children's experiences with violence; and (3) behavioural and personality changes of their children. The Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist was also administered to the mothers to assess behavioural and developmental problems among their children. The results reveal that younger children suffer more personality and behavioural changes than older children and youth. The adherence to ideology appeared to buffer experiences of violence for adolescents.
Myelodysplastic Syndromes: It Is All in the Genes

REFERENCES 1. Hershman DL, Wilde ET, Wright JD, et al: Uptake and economic impact of first-cycle colony-stimulating factor use during adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 30:806-812, 2012 2. Mukherjee S: The Emperor of All Maladies. New York, NY, Scribner, 2010, pp 423-429 3. Henderson IC, Berry DA, Demetri GD, et al: Improved outcomes from adding sequential paclitaxel but not from escalating doxorubicin dose in an adjuvant chemotherapy regimen for patients with node-positive primary breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 21:976-983, 2003 4. Giordano SH, Duan Z, Kuo Y-F, et al: Impact of a scientific presentation on community treatment patterns for primary breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 98:382-388, 2006 5. Citron ML, Berry DA, Cirrincione C, et al: Randomized trial of dose-dense versus conventionally scheduled and sequential versus concurrent combination chemotherapy as postoperative adjuvant treatment of node-positive primary breast cancer: First report of Intergroup Trial C9741/Cancer and Leukemia Group B Trial 9741. J Clin Oncol 21:1431-1439, 2003 6. Muss HB, Berry DA, Cirrincione C, et al: Toxicity of older and younger patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy for node-positive breast cancer: The Cancer and Leukemia Group B Experience. J Clin Oncol 25:3699-3704, 2007 7. Piccart-Gebhart MJ: Mathematics and oncology: A match for life? J Clin Oncol 21:1425-1428, 2003 8. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG): Effects of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for early breast cancer on recurrence and 15-year survival: An overview of the randomised trials. Lancet 365:1687-1717, 2005 9. Venturini M, Del Mastro L, Aitini E, et al: Dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy in early breast cancer patients: Results from a randomized trial. J Natl Cancer Inst 97:1724-1733, 2005 10. Berry DA, Cirrincione C, Henderson IC, et al: Estrogen-receptor status and outcomes of modern chemotherapy for patients with node-positive breast cancer. JAMA 295:1658-1667, 2006 11. Bonilla L, Ben-Aharon I, Vidal L, et al: Dose-dense chemotherapy in nonmetastatic breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Natl Cancer Inst 102:1845-1854, 2010 12. Citron ML: Dose-dense chemotherapy: Principles, clinical results and future perspectives. Breast Care (Basel) 3:251-255, 2008 13. Hershman D, Neugut AI, Jacobson JS, et al: Acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome following use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors during breast cancer adjuvant chemotherapy. J Natl Cancer Inst 99:196-205, 2007 14. Smith TJ, Hillner BE: Bending the cost curve in cancer care. N Engl J Med 364:2060-2065, 2011 15. Goldhirsch A, Wood WC, Coates AS, et al: Strategies for subtypes: Dealing with the diversity of breast cancer—Highlights of the St. Gallen International Expert Consensus on the Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer 2011. Ann Oncol 22:1736-1747, 2011
An Empirical Investigation of Attitude Theory for Tourist Destinations: a Comparison of Visitors and Nonvisitors:

This study empirically investigates attitude structure, the relationship between cognition, affect, and behavioral intention, for three Mediterranean destinations. Specifically, the study compares a traditional and extended model of attitude structures between visitor and nonvisitor segments. The findings suggest that some relationships hypothesized in the tra ditional attitude model are not supported for either visitors or nonvisitors. The extended model, however, is fully supported for visitors and partly supported for nonvisitors. It is concluded that some modifications should be made to attitude theory for tourism destina tion selection behavior. The study also reveals some practical implications for promoting and positioning tourism destinations.
Perceptual grouping based on fuzzy sets

The authors propose a new approach based on fuzzy sets for detecting relations among points, line segments, and elliptic arc segments. Appropriate constraints defining the relations are extracted. A suitable fuzzy membership function is assigned to each constraint. Then the constraints are combined by fuzzy set operations to describe meaningful relations. According to these meaningful relations, a perceptual grouping is executed. Grouping methods are described on the basis of collinear and coelliptic relations. A measure of the significance of grouping for high-level vision processing is discussed. A prototype system for perceptual grouping from image data was implemented using a frame-based knowledge representation scheme, and experimental results for real image data are presented. >
Military Service and the Civilian Labor Force: Time- and Income-Based Evidence

The average American military enlistee is likely to differ from the average civilian in employment ambitions and prospects. Current research on veteran wages, however, only examines the effect of military service on average earnings. We employ quantile regression techniques to estimate the effect of military service for the above- and below-average earnings that veterans may experience. We draw data from two longitudinal surveys, one including veterans who served during 1980–1994 and the other including veterans of the early 21st-century wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For the 21st-century cohort, we find that military service appears to increase wages at and below the median wage but decrease earnings at the high end of the distribution, although these benefits may take several years after service and entry into the civilian labor market to appear.
Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Economic Mobility and Materialism on Impulsive Spending:

AbstractThis research illustrates how perceived economic mobility moderates the linkage between materialism and impulsive spending. Using various data sources, four studies show that materialistic consumers do not easily engage in impulsive spending when they perceive high economic mobility, whereas they tend to spend impulsively when they perceive low economic mobility. However, perceived economic mobility functions in the opposite manner when the purchase is a means to achieve financial success. The authors trace this effect to the self-regulation process of materialistic consumers, such that when perceiving high economic mobility, these consumers regulate their behavior toward long-term financial success, sacrificing the pleasure of acquisitions in the present. By elucidating the important role that perceived economic mobility plays in impulsive spending, the current research sheds new light on consumer research and offers managerial and public policy implications.
A FAST COMPUTATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR LARGE-SCALE MOVING HORIZON ESTIMATION

Abstract Moving Horizon Estimation (MHE) is an efficient optimization-based strategy for state estimation. Despite the attractiveness of this method, its application in industrial settings has been rather limited. This has been mainly due to the difficulty to solve, in real-time, the associated dynamic optimization problems. In this work, a fast MHE algorithm able to overcome this bottleneck is proposed. The framework exploits the advantages of simultaneous collocation- based formulations and makes use of large-scale nonlinear programming algorithms and sensitivity concepts. The approach is demonstrated on a full-scale polymer process, where accurate state estimates are obtained and on-line calculation times are reduced dramatically.
On Some Properties of Shortest Hamiltonian Circuits

(1965). On Some Properties of Shortest Hamiltonian Circuits. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 72, No. 9, pp. 977-980.
Ventriculo-bronchial fistula: a rare cause of intermittent massive hemoptysis.

Abstract A 44-year-old man presented with massive hemoptysis. Bronchoscopy followed by surgical exploration revealed a left ventriculo-bronchial fistula related to previous ventricular surgery. Repair was successful.
Aortic Root Replacement for Pseudoaneurysm Arising from Freestyle Aortic Bioprosthesis

A 70-year-old female presented with a new systolic murmur and shortness of breath three years after undergoing aortic root replacement using a 27-mm Medtronic Freestyle® stentless full root bioprosthesis (Medtronic, Inc., Fridley, Minnesota, USA). A large complex aortic root pseudoaneurysm was identified on contrasted computed tomography of the chest and transesophageal echocardiogram. We describe the redo aortic root replacement using a customized Dacron tube/valve composite graft with a proximal “skirt” and a modified Cabrol technique.
A COMTEMPORARY VIEW OF UTERINE TUBAL PLASTIC SURGERY.

Reports on uterine tubal plastic surgery generally lack many of the details necessary for valid comparative analysis. Certain ground rules must be observed in compiling surveys of experience in this field if meaningful data are to be developed. Every patient subjected to exploratory laparotomy for planned tubal plasty should be included, whether or not reconstruction is attempted. Operative procedures must be described in detail. In the majority of cases “combined tubal plasty” is performed, and failure to record all the necessary information makes it impossible to give proper credit for success.
Rating Severity of Aircraft Separation Violations from Logic of Relative Collision Probability in Event Reenactment

Rating the severity of losses of standard separation between aircraft in controlled airspace is a critical practice by FAA safety analysts in the measurement of aviation safety performance. The current practice in use by FAA safety analysts of using three categories is simple, but precludes making comparisons from data aggregated across the full range of separations. The proposed model rectifies this shortcoming by providing an approach to rating severity based on a relative collision probability estimate for an event that is replayed with quantitative separation variability based on published estimates. The model incorporates: (1) consideration of event reenactment of given horizontal and vertical separation with specified variability in each dimension, (2) probability density of co-location of the two aircraft to account for the overlap in aircraft variability for the event reenactment (formally the convolution or aggregation of co-location densities), and (3) size of each aircraft involved in horizonta...
Cardioprotection and Hemodynamics of Exogenous Creatine Phosphate for Coronary Artery Bypass Graf Patients

Objective:This study was designed to evaluate the cardioprotection and hemodynamics of exogenous creatine phosphate (CP)for coronary artery bypass graf(CABG)patients. Methods:One hundred patients needing to receive CABG or CABG plus valve replacement were double-blin dedly random- ized to control group(n=50)and CP group(n=50).The automatic recovery rate of heart beats after cardiac resuscitation was observed.The changes of postoperative arrhythmia rate,postoperative serum CK-MB,cTnI and hemodynamics and the dosage of dopamine in both groups were recorded within 12 hours after proudure. Results:The automatic recovery rate of heart beats was higher in CP than that in control group(84% vs 62%,P＜0.05). The changes of postoperative arrhythmia rate(18% vs 31%).Serum CK-MB and cTnI were lower in CP than those in control group at 10 minutes and the end of procedure,and 6,12 hours after procedure(all P＜0.05),The frequency and dosages of do- pamine admimistration were not significantly different between groups(P＞0.05).The preoperative cardiac index was higher in CP than in control group(2.13±0.59 vs 1.58±0.51,P＜0.05),systemic vascular resistance index and pulmonary vascular resistance index were lower in CP than in control group(271.50±84.29 vs 331.30±97.90,18.95±5.70 vs 23.83±9.02,all P＜0.05). Conclusion:Exogenous creatine phosphate shows positive myocardial protection and stable hemodynamics in the CABG pa- tients.
In situ passive sampling of sediments in the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site: Replicability, comparison with ex situ measurements, and use of data

Superfund sites with sediments contaminated by hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) can be difficult to characterize because of the complex nature of sorption to sediments. Porewater concentrations, which are often used to model transport of HOCs from the sediment bed into overlying water, benthic organisms, and the larger food web, are traditionally estimated using sediment concentrations and sorption coefficients estimated using equilibrium partitioning (EqP) theory. However, researchers have begun using polymeric samplers to determine porewater concentrations since this method does not require knowledge of the sediment's sorption properties. In this work, polyethylene passive samplers were deployed into sediments in the field (in situ passive sampling) and mixed with sediments in the laboratory (ex situ active sampling) that were contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The results show that porewater concentrations based on in situ and ex situ sampling generally agreed within a factor of two, but in situ concentrations were consistently lower than ex situ porewater concentrations. Imprecision arising from in situ passive sampling procedures does not explain this bias suggesting that field processes like bioirrigation may cause the differences observed between in situ and ex situ polymeric samplers.
Fatalism as a Metaphysical Thesis

Even though fatalism has been an intermittent topic of philosophy since Greek antiquity, this paper argues that fate ought to be of little concern to metaphysicians. Fatalism is neither an interesting metaphysical thesis in its own right, nor can it be identified with theses that are, such as realism about the future or determinism.
A Novel Triple Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant (UCBT) Strategy To Promote NK Cell Immunotherapy (Unit 1) with a Fully Ablative Preparative Regimen Followed by a Double UCBT in Patients with Refractory AML.

Abstract Treatment options for refractory AML are usually ineffective. Previously, we tested adoptive transfer of haploidentical peripheral blood (PB) derived NK cells without transplantation and demonstrated correlation between in vivo NK cell expansion and those who achieved a complete remission. This therapy is limited by: the inability to expand NK cells in most patients, prolonged neutropenia in some patients and inconsistent efficacy. UCB, in contrast to adult PB, is rich in NK precursors with CD34+/CD7−, CD34+/CD7+ and CD34−/CD7+ phenotypes. We hypothesized that UCB-derived NK cells may show better in vivo expansion than adult derived NK cells after cytoreduction. Therefore, we tested our triple UCBT strategy in patients with refractory relapsed AML who were
Giant proliferating trichilemmal cyst arising from a nevus sebaceus growing for 30 years.

Nevus sebaceus of Jadassohn, a congenital cutaneous hamartoma, has the potential to develop into various epidermal adnexal-origin neoplasms. While the most common neoplasms are trichoblastoma or syringocystadenoma, proliferating trichilemmal cysts are exceptionally rare. We report a case of a 63-year-old Cuban male with a giant proliferating trichilemmal cyst arising from a nevus sebaceus on the right shoulder which had been growing for 30 years. Proliferating trichilemmal cysts arising from nevus sebaceus cases are difficult to diagnose clinically and histologically as they are very rare and have not been defined by exact diagnostic criteria. Our case creates awareness of this particular tumor in nevus sebaceus and shares clinical and histological diagnostic information that can be used to make a proper diagnosis.
Jaycees Reconsidered: Judge Richard S. Arnold and the Freedom of Association

In Roberts v. United States Jaycees, the Supreme Court reversed Judge Richard S. Arnold's decision for the Court of Appeals and held­ - without dissent - that the First Amendment did not shield the Jaycees' men-only membership policy from the non-discrimination requirements of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. The claim in this essay is that Judge Arnold's position and decision in the Jaycees case deserved, and still deserve, more thoughtful and sympathetic treatment. Even some of Judge Arnold's many friends and fans tend to treat as something of an embarrassing lapse or anomalous error his conclusion in that case that, because "the First Amendment . . . must[,] on occasion, protect the association of which we disapprove, the Constitution therefore protected the Jaycees' right not to admit women to full membership". In fact, though, it was precisely Judge Arnold's civil-libertarian commitments prompted him to cast a skeptical eye on the efforts of government to pursue its own or the majority's agenda at the expense of constitutionally protected rights. For Judge Arnold, governments constrained by our First Amendment and by a respect for the freedom of speech are limited to persuasion, not coercion, when trying to influence and shape the beliefs and expression of citizens and associations. In his view, the same democratic values that underlie our constitutional commitment to equal protection of the laws are the basis for a no-less-fundamental commitment to limited government and a free civil society. Justice Brennan himself - the author of the Court's opinion in Jaycees and Judge Arnold's former boss - recognized that Judge Arnold has consistently vindicated the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of the press and freedom of speech, even in cases in which the protected expression was controversial, distasteful, or hateful. Judge Arnold's ruling and reasoning in Jaycees, it seems to me, is of a piece with this commendable legacy.
Advancing the technology of monolithic CMOS detectors for use as x-ray imaging spectrometers

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in collaboration with SRI/Sarnoff has been engaged in a multi year effort to advance the technology of monolithic back-thinned CMOS detectors for use as X-ray imaging spectrometers. The long term goal of this campaign is to produce X-ray Active Pixel Sensor (APS) detectors with Fano limited performance over the 0.1-10keV band while incorporating the many benefits of CMOS technology. These benefits include: low power consumption, radiation “hardness”, high levels of integration, and very high read rates. Such devices would be ideal for candidate post 2020 decadal missions such as LYNX and for smaller more immediate applications such as CubeX. Devices from a recent fabrication have been back-thinned, packaged and tested for soft X-ray response. These devices have 16μm pitch, 6 Transistor Pinned Photo Diode (6TPPD) pixels with ∼135μV/electron sensitivity and a highly parallel signal chain. These new detectors are fabricated on 10μm epitaxial silicon and have a 1k by 1k format. We present details of our camera design and device performance with particular emphasis on those aspects of interest to single photon counting X-ray astronomy. These features include read noise, X-ray spectral response and quantum efficiency.
Learning to Trust Diabetes Technology

For many years, I didn’t embrace the technological advancements that were helping so many. It took meeting some of my fellow peers with diabetes at the Students With Diabetes conference in 2011 who used insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to realize the impact that this technology could have on my life. At work and school, I can go about my normal business thanks to these pieces of technology. They are more than just tools to help me survive. They are a part of me and have become essential to helping with my day-to-day aspect of living with diabetes.
Valuation of a Pharmaceutical Licensing Contract

It is quite common for boutique pharma companies, biotech firms, and university labs to license their intellectual property (a new compound) to large pharmaceutical companies. In such cases, the big pharma companies finance and manage the R&D process and, if successful, market the drugs. In exchange for use of their intellectual property, the outlicensing organizations receive licensing contracts that promise some combination of fixed payments, event-specific milestone payments, and revenue- or profit-based royalties. The authors show how to estimate the expected present value of the future cash flows promised by such licensing deals. The complicating factor in such valuations is that the licensing contracts are essentially derivative contracts written on drugs in development, which as the authors showed in a paper published in this journal a year ago, are themselves compound options on marketed drugs. The authors use the valuation example from the earlier paper, along with a proposed licensing deal, and walk the reader through the process of valuing the licensing deal's cash flows.
Behavioural tuning in a tropical amphibian along an altitudinal gradient.

Males of the coqui treefrog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, produce a distinct two-note ‘co-qui' advertisement call from sunset to midnight throughout most of the year. Previous work established that bot...
Evaluating Semantic Similarity for Adverse Drug Event Narratives

We propose a method to evaluate adverse drug event (ADE) narratives using biomedical semantic similarity measures. Automated drug surveillance systems have used social media as a prime resource to detect ADEs. However, the problem of language usage over social media has been a challenge in evaluating the performance of such systems. We address this key issue by using semantic similarity measures and the biomedical vocabularies from the Unified Medical Language System. This is important in comparing results of social media driven approaches against standard reference documents from regulatory agencies.
Was Homo heidelbergensis in South Asia? A test using the Narmada fossil from central India

Substantial archaeological evidence from South Asia confirms the fact that hominin occupation of the Indian subcontinent was widespread by the Middle Pleistocene (Mishra et al., 1995; Petraglia, 2001; Paddayya et al., 2002). Only one South Asian specimen, a partially complete cranium, is considered a definitive hominin from this time period: the Narmada fossil. This specimen was discovered in 1982 (Sonakia, 1984) and subsequently described by de Lumley and Sonakia (1985) and Kennedy et al. (1991). The taxonomic classification of Narmada has been a matter of contention since its discovery. Initially assigned to H. erectus, Narmada has also been classified as a member of the “archaic” grade of H. sapiens (Kennedy and Chiment, 1991; Cameron et al., 2004). Debate over the taxonomic affinity of Narmada is due in part to its insecure dating as well as its mosaic morphology. However, shifting theoretical perspectives on the taxonomy of Middle Pleistocene Homo have also contributed to the debate. While previous studies have sought to determine whether Narmada was H. erectus or H. sapiens, the resurrection of the taxon H. heidelbergensis to encompass many intermediary fossils between these two groups reconfigures the question of Narmada’s taxonomic status. In this study I examine the morphological features of the Narmada fossil using a comparative sample of Middle Pleistocene specimens designated by many as H. heidelbergensis. Early and Late Pleistocene specimens are included, as well as a sample of early Holocene specimens from archaeological sites throughout the subcontinent. Finally, I include a sample of Andaman Islanders for comparison. Narmada’s classification is evaluated using a statistical technique, multinomial logistic regression. This method is comparable to discriminant function analysis which is often used to evaluate the taxonomic affinities of a new specimen. However, unlike discriminant function analysis, multinomial
Strolling down the garden path: error prone tasks in expert problem solving

Problems which Induce performance that has the false appearance of success (garden path problems) may be an Inevitable consequence of the need (In both human and computer problem solving systems) to create abstract knowledge representations In order to make problem solving efficient. An example is presented from a domain of physics problem solving tasks in which a hierarchical organisation of lines of reasoning leads to errors of the garden path type. Several aspects of a possible model of the problem solving process In these tasks are briefly outlined.
Acquired coagulation inhibitor delaying fibrinopeptide release

A 14-yr-old girl Down syndrome developed a unique type of circulating inhibitor causing a mild bleeding tendency and interfering strongly with coagulation tests, including reptilase time, and with the reaction of purified fibrinogen and thrombin. The concentration of all coagulation factors was normal. The inhibitor had no direct effect on thrombin activity or on the aggregation of fibrin monomer in plasma. Chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and neutralization by immune sera revealed that the inhibitor was an immunoglobulin of IgG class with both kappa and lambda determinants. Isolated inhibitor delayed the release of fibrinopeptide A from a normal fibrinogen reacting with thrombin and retarded the onset of visible clotting, but had no effect on the the final degree of clottability. The clinical and laboratory features of this patient resemble those of patients with congenital dysfibrinogenemia associated with abnormal fibrinopeptide release.
The Colors of Manifest Destiny: Filipinos and the American Other(s).

(1998). The Colors of Manifest Destiny: Filipinos and the American Other(s) Amerasia Journal: Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 1-26.
Functional and structural similarity of human DNA primase [4Fe4S] cluster domain constructs

The regulatory subunit of human DNA primase has a C-terminal domain (p58C) that contains a [4Fe4S] cluster and binds DNA. Previous electrochemical analysis of a p58C construct revealed that its affinity for DNA is sensitive to the redox state of the [4Fe4S] cluster. Concerns about the validity of this conclusion have been raised, based in part on differences in X-ray crystal structures of the p58C272-464 construct used for that study and that of a N-terminally shifted p58C266-456 construct and consequently, an assumption that p58C272-464 has abnormal physical and functional properties. To address this controversy, a new p58C266-464 construct containing all residues was crystallized under the conditions previously used for crystallizing p58C272-464, and the solution structures of both constructs were assessed using circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy. In the new crystal structure, p58C266-464 exhibits the same elements of secondary structure near the DNA binding site as observed in the crystal structure of p58C272-464. Moreover, in solution, circular dichroism and 15N,1H-heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR spectra show there are no significant differences in the distribution of secondary structures or in the tertiary structure or the two constructs. To validate that the two constructs have the same functional properties, binding of a primed DNA template was measured using a fluorescence-based DNA binding assay, and the affinities for this substrate were the same (3.4 ± 0.5 μM and 2.7 ± 0.3 μM, respectively). The electrochemical properties of p58C266-464 were also measured and this p58C construct was able to engage in redox switching on DNA with the same efficiency as p58C272-464. Together, these results show that although p58C can be stabilized in different conformations in the crystalline state, in solution there is effectively no difference in the structure and functional properties of p58C constructs of different lengths.
Indirect effects of threat on the contact-prejudice relationship: A meta analysis

Abstract. This meta-analysis examines propositions derived from Intergroup Threat Theory (ITT; Stephan, Ybarra, & Morrison, 2009) regarding the role of symbolic and realistic threats on the relatio...
Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine

Ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1 or KadcylaTM) is an antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) designed to deliver the antimitotic mertansine (DM1) drug to epithelial cancer cells overexpressing the oncoprotein HER2. T-DM1 has been approved in many countries for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients and has recently entered a phase 3 clinical trial for advanced HER2-positive gastric cancer patients. The success of T-DM1 lies in the optimization of drug delivery to the targeted cells by the antibody, while the nonreducible thioether bonds holding DM1 molecules to the antibody increase tolerability by preventing systemic release of DM1 molecules. When internalized by the targeted cell, DM1 molecules are activated and bind to tubulins, thereby inhibiting cell proliferation. Cytotoxicity of T-DM1 also arises upon binding of trastuzumab to HER2 by promoting antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and inhibiting HER2-dependent signaling pathways.
Reader response: Unintended consequences of Mayo paraneoplastic evaluations

The report of Ebright et al.1 unfortunately provided an outdated and inaccurate representation of the current state of neural autoantibody testing offered by the Mayo Clinic Neuroimmunology Laboratory.
Epstein-Barr Virus Infection Promotes Epithelial Cell Growth by Attenuating Differentiation-Dependent Exit from the Cell Cycle.

ABSTRACT Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpesvirus that is associated with lymphomas as well as nasopharyngeal and gastric carcinomas. Although carcinomas account for almost 90% of EBV-associated cancers, progress in examining EBV’s role in their pathogenesis has been limited by difficulty in establishing latent infection in nontransformed epithelial cells. Recently, EBV infection of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)-immortalized normal oral keratinocytes (NOKs) has emerged as a model that recapitulates aspects of EBV infection in vivo, such as differentiation-associated viral replication. Using uninfected NOKs and NOKs infected with the Akata strain of EBV (NOKs-Akata), we examined changes in gene expression due to EBV infection and differentiation. Latent EBV infection produced very few significant gene expression changes in undifferentiated NOKs but significantly reduced the extent of differentiation-induced gene expression changes. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that differentiation-induced downregulation of the cell cycle and metabolism pathways was markedly attenuated in NOKs-Akata relative to that in uninfected NOKs. We also observed that pathways induced by differentiation were less upregulated in NOKs-Akata. We observed decreased differentiation markers and increased suprabasal MCM7 expression in NOKs-Akata versus NOKs when both were grown in raft cultures, consistent with our transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) results. These effects were also observed in NOKs infected with a replication-defective EBV mutant (AkataΔRZ), implicating mechanisms other than lytic-gene-induced host shutoff. Our results help to define the mechanisms by which EBV infection alters keratinocyte differentiation and provide a basis for understanding the role of EBV in epithelial cancers. IMPORTANCE Latent infection by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an early event in the development of EBV-associated carcinomas. In oral epithelial tissues, EBV establishes a lytic infection of differentiated epithelial cells to facilitate the spread of the virus to new hosts. Because of limitations in existing model systems, the effects of latent EBV infection on undifferentiated and differentiating epithelial cells are poorly understood. Here, we characterize latent infection of an hTERT-immortalized oral epithelial cell line (NOKs). We find that although EBV expresses a latency pattern similar to that seen in EBV-associated carcinomas, infection of undifferentiated NOKs results in differential expression of a small number of host genes. In differentiating NOKs, however, EBV has a more substantial effect, reducing the extent of differentiation and delaying the exit from the cell cycle. This effect may synergize with preexisting cellular abnormalities to prevent exit from the cell cycle, representing a critical step in the development of cancer.
Evaluation of statistical techniques to normalize mass spectrometry-based urinary metabolomics data.

Abstract Human urine recently became a popular medium for metabolomics biomarker discovery because its collection is non-invasive. Sometimes renal dilution of urine can be problematic in this type of urinary biomarker analysis. Currently, various normalization techniques such as creatinine ratio, osmolality, specific gravity, dry mass, urine volume, and area under the curve are used to account for the renal dilution. However, these normalization techniques have their own drawbacks. In this project, mass spectrometry-based urinary metabolomic data obtained from prostate cancer (n = 56), bladder cancer (n = 57) and control (n = 69) groups were analyzed using statistical normalization techniques. The normalization techniques investigated in this study are Creatinine Ratio, Log Value, Linear Baseline, Cyclic Loess, Quantile, Probabilistic Quotient, Auto Scaling, Pareto Scaling, and Variance Stabilizing Normalization. The appropriate summary statistics for comparison of normalization techniques were created using variances, coefficients of variation, and boxplots. For each normalization technique, a principal component analysis was performed to identify clusters based on cancer type. In addition, hypothesis tests were conducted to determine if the normalized biomarkers could be used to differentiate between the cancer types. The results indicate that the determination of statistical significance can be dependent upon which normalization method is utilized. Therefore, careful consideration should go into choosing an appropriate normalization technique as no method had universally superior performance.
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF FALLS AND FALL-RELATED INJURIES AMONG CHILDREN

Objective To study the epidemiology of paediatric falls in Singapore to determine possible risk factors so that public education may be appropriately targeted and effective preventive strategies may be implemented. Methods 10,907 children, aged 0–16 years, who attended the Emergency Departments in the Singapore Health Services network for fall-related injuries from Feb 2002 to Jan 2004, were surveyed as part of the Childhood Injury Surveillance Project. Data on demographics, place of injury, host factors, environmental factors and injury particulars were collected via the use of questionnaire forms, review of in-patient records and coroner’s reports. Results There were 10,907 fall-related visits during the study period with 4 deaths. 62.3% of the patients were male and the median age of the victims was 5.9 years. Other than falls caused by self (18%), the most common cause of falls were falls from an adult bed (11.8%) and on a slippery surface (8.8%). 5591 falls (51.2%) were falls from a height. 883 children (8%) fell from a height of more than 1 m. 10.3% of the children required hospital admission with 19 (0.17%) requiring admission to ICU or high dependency. Of those who required hospital admission, 553 (49.2%) had a head injury and 230 (20.5%) had an upper limb fracture. Conclusions Falls are one of the most common causes of injuries in children and are responsible for a significant number of emergency department visits. The injuries caused can be serious and we need to implement injury prevention strategies to reduce unnecessary falls.
Integrated Security, Safety, and Privacy Risk Assessment Framework for Medical Devices

The substantial improvements and innovations in communication networks and bio-medical technologies have led to the adoption of networked medical devices due to which the attack surface has increased profoundly. Numerous devices in practice were designed and developed years ago without security measures. In such a scenario, the role of regulatory bodies has become evident. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) validates and approves devices before commercialization. In contrast, the European Union (EU) follows a decentralized approach and Notified Bodies (NB) for assuring high standards, safety and quality of medical devices being marketed in Europe. Once the device has gone through stringent regulations including good manufacturing practices, Quality Management System (QMS), labeling, clinical tests, performance standards, adequate storage and packaging practices, a declaration of conformity will be granted, which is a legal binding document stating that the device is conformant with applicable European requirements and can be marketed in Europe. However, such regulations lack a systematic methodology to determine unified security, safety and privacy risk that eventually influence the health of patients. To cover these gaps, this research proposes Integrated Safety, Security, and Privacy (ISSP) Risk Assessment Framework to determine the risk level of the device and required security controls. It is, then applied to a case scenario of an infusion pump and further evaluated by comparing it with current standards and practices. The comparison shows that the framework provides a unified approach to consider different types of risks associated with devices.
Recognizing Differences: The Politics of Meaning in Hesiod’s Theogony

The claim Greek poetry deserves attention in the history of political thought no longer needs justification. That the same poetry warrants interpretive scrutiny similar to more traditional philosop...
22 – Production and Cost

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the relationship between production and costs for a firm. Firms exist because they can increase efficiency in production. Firms are organized in many different ways according to the size of the firm and the number of owners that firm might have. The principal motive of the firm is to earn profits, although several other motives might also affect business decisions. Firms encounter both fixed and variable costs in production in the short run. In the long run, all costs are variable. The firm bears the explicit costs of fixed and variable inputs, and the opportunity costs of production decisions. As production increases, the total cost of production generally increases. The marginal cost of output rises showing that greater levels of production can only be obtained, in the short run, at ever increasing costs. Rising marginal costs mean that average costs display a U-shaped relationship, first falling as production increases and then eventually rising with greater levels of output.
The Gendered Religious Response to State Action on the Coronavirus Pandemic

State action to curtail the spread of the coronavirus has meant advising, and sometimes mandating, houses of worship to close to in-person worship. While mostly cooperative, the religious response has been varied and has exposed a hardened, defiant core. Informed by gendered religious worldviews, religious defiance is led by men and disproportionately supported by men. In this article, we document the extent of the defiance as of late March 2020 with our survey data and then investigate how gendered religious worldviews serve to track men to public roles and women to private ones. We attempt to confirm the nature of these effects with a gendered nationalism item and parallel gender gaps in political participation.
Intramuscular progesterone versus 8% Crinone vaginal gel for luteal phase support following blastocyst cryopreserved single embryo transfer: a retrospective cohort study

The optimal route of progesterone administration for luteal support in cryopreserved embryo transfer (CET) has been the subject of much debate. While most published research has pertained to day 3 transfers, recent data on blastocyst CET has suggested that intramuscular progesterone (IMP) is superior to twice daily vaginal Endometrin suppositories for luteal phase support, resulting in significantly higher ongoing pregnancy rates. This study aimed to determine whether IMP is similarly superior to 8% Crinone vaginal gel for luteal phase support following blastocyst CET. Autologous and donor oocyte blastocyst cryopreserved single embryo transfer (SET) cycles from January 2014–January 2019 utilizing either 50 mg IMP daily or 90 mg 8% Crinone gel twice daily for luteal support were included. The primary outcome was live birth. Secondary outcomes included biochemical pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, and clinical pregnancy. All analyses were adjusted a priori for oocyte age. Log-binomial regression analysis was performed with differences in outcomes reported as relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A total of 1710 cycles were included, of which 1594 utilized IMP and 116 utilized 8% Crinone gel. Demographic and cycles characteristics were similar between the two groups. Compared to cycles utilizing IMP, cycles utilizing Crinone gel resulted in similar rates of live birth (RR 0.91; 95% CI 0.73–1.13), biochemical pregnancy (RR 1.12, 95% CI 0.65–1.92), spontaneous abortion (RR 1.41, 95% CI 0.90–2.20), and clinical pregnancy (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.86–1.17). Compared to cryopreserved blastocyst SET cycles utilizing IMP for luteal support, cycles utilizing 8% Crinone gel resulted in similar likelihood of live birth.