cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lenalidomide Is Active in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Carrying Unfavorable Chromosomal Abnormalities.

Genomic abnormalities, according to the Dohner hierarchical classification, are an important prognostic factor in chronic lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL). Specific chromosomal aberrations, such as a deletion 17p (P53 abnormalities) and deletion 11q (ATM defects), are associated with aggressive disease and inferior response to purine analogue-based chemotherapy. Lenalidomide is an immunomodulatory agent that has demonstrated clinical efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL in 2 separate phase II clinical trials (Chanan-Khan et al. JCO 2006; Ferrajoli et al. Blood 2006 abst). To investigate the clinical activity of lenalidomide in patients with high-risk cytogenetics (17p or 11q abnormalities), we reviewed data from 2 clinical studies. On these studies, lenalidomide was given orally either at 10 mg daily for 28 days followed by 5 mg increments every 28 days to a maximum dose of 25 mg (study A) or given at 25 mg on day 1–21 of each 28 day cycle (study B). The presence of deletion 17p or deletion 11q was demonstrated by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. Clinical responses were assessed using the NCI-WG 1996 criteria. Among the 80 patients treated, 40 patients with deletion 17p or deletion 11q were identified. Their characteristics are described in Table 1. The overall response rate in patients carrying deletion 17p or 11q was 35% (14/40) and responses are depicted in Table 2. Median response duration was 12 months in both studies. Based on our experience, single agent lenalidomide induces complete and partial responses in patients with unfavorable genomic aberrations, a group characterized by a poor outcome in several studies. The activity of this agent warrants further evaluation in this patient population. Table 1 . Characteristics of 40 patients with unfavorable cytogenetics Study A Study B N=24 N=16 Median age, years (range) 63 (49–86) 62 (56–75) Rai stage III/IV 13 (54%) 4 (25%) Median no. of prior therapies (range) 3 (1–15) 3 (1–10) Median beta 2 microglobulin (range) 4.5 (1.9–10.1) 4 (2–10) Table 2 . Responses according to NCI-WG criteria in 40 patients with unfavorable cytogenetics. Response Study A Study B 17p- (N=8) 11q- (N=16) 17p-/11q- (n=24) 17p- (N=6) 11q- (n=10) 17p-/11q- (N=16) CR, n 0 2 2 0 1 1 PR, n 1 4 5 3 3 6 OR, n (%) 1 (13) 6 (38) 7 (29) 3 (50) 4 (40) 7 (44)
Wintertime enhancements of sea salt aerosol in polar regions consistent with a sea ice source from blowing snow

Abstract. Sea salt aerosols (SSA) are generated via air bubbles bursting at the ocean surface as well as by wind mobilization of saline snow and frost flowers over sea-ice-covered areas. The relative magnitude of these sources remains poorly constrained over polar regions, affecting our ability to predict their impact on halogen chemistry, cloud formation, and climate. We implement a blowing snow and a frost flower emission scheme in the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model, which we validate against multiyear (2001–2008) in situ observations of SSA mass concentrations at three sites in the Arctic, two sites in coastal Antarctica, and from the 2008 ICEALOT cruise in the Arctic. A simulation including only open ocean emissions underestimates SSA mass concentrations by factors of 2–10 during winter–spring for all ground-based and ship-based observations. When blowing snow emissions are added, the model is able to reproduce observed wintertime SSA concentrations, with the model bias decreasing from a range of −80 to −34 % for the open ocean simulation to −2 to +9 % for the simulation with blowing snow emissions. We find that the frost flower parameterization cannot fully explain the high wintertime concentrations and displays a seasonal cycle decreasing too rapidly in early spring. Furthermore, the high day-to-day variability of observed SSA is better reproduced by the blowing snow parameterization. Over the Arctic (> 60° N) (Antarctic, > 60° S), we calculate that submicron SSA emissions from blowing snow account for 1.0 Tg yr−1 (2.5 Tg yr−1), while frost flower emissions lead to 0.21 Tg yr−1 (0.25 Tg yr−1) compared to 0.78 Tg yr−1 (1.0 Tg yr−1) from the open ocean. Blowing snow emissions are largest in regions where persistent strong winds occur over sea ice (east of Greenland, over the central Arctic, Beaufort Sea, and the Ross and Weddell seas). In contrast, frost flower emissions are largest where cold air temperatures and open leads are co-located (over the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, coastal regions of Siberia, and off the Ross and Ronne ice shelves). Overall, in situ observations of mass concentrations of SSA suggest that blowing snow is likely to be the dominant SSA source during winter, with frost flowers playing a much smaller role.
A new antithrombotic strategy: inhibition of the C-terminal active site of protein disulfide isomerase.

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) was discovered over fifty years ago as an enzyme that forms disulfide bonds in newly synthesized proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum [1]. Twenty five years ago PDI was shown to be released from activated platelets [2] opening up a new field of research on extracellular functions of this enzyme. PDI was subsequently localized to the platelet surface [3] and shown to mediate platelet aggregation [4, 5]. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Network-wide oscillations in the parkinsonian state: alterations in neuronal activities occur in the premotor cortex in parkinsonian nonhuman primates.

This study begins to fill a gap in knowledge regarding how Parkinson’s disease (PD) may cause abnormal functioning of the premotor cortex. It is novel as the premotor activity is examined in both t...
Chemically stable artificial SEI for Li-ion battery electrodes

The importance of coating's chemical stability in lithium-ion batteries has been demonstrated by this study. It is well known that the mechanical properties determine the cycle life, and chemical stability or chemical degradation rate determines the calendar life. In this study, we used HfO2 coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition as an example to show the chemical stability of the coatings for lithium ion battery electrodes.
Graphene-induced strong quenching of optical phonons in III-V semiconductor heterostructures

We demonstrate that monolayer graphene transferred onto III-V semiconductor heterostructures induces strong quenching of the optical phonons in III-V semiconductor epilayers. Such graphene-induced optical phonon quenching is even stronger than that of thin metal films.
Fast numerical methods for stochastic computations: A review

This paper presents a review of the current state-of-the-art of numerical methods for stochastic computations. The focus is on efficient high-order methods suitable for practical applications, with a particular emphasis on those based on generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) methodology. The framework of gPC is reviewed, along with its Galerkin and collocation approaches for solving stochastic equations. Properties of these methods are summarized by using results from literature. This paper also attempts to present the gPC based methods in a unified framework based on an extension of the classical spectral methods into multi-dimensional random spaces. AMS subject classifications: 41A10, 60H35, 65C30, 65C50
Multistability and Long-Timescale Transients Encoded by Network Structure in a Model of C. elegans Connectome Dynamics.

The neural dynamics of the nematode \emph{C. elegans} are experimentally low-dimensional and may be understood as long-timescale transitions between multiple low-dimensional attractors. Previous modeling work has found that dynamic models of the worm’s full neuronal network are capable of generating reasonable dynamic responses to certain inputs, even when all neurons are treated as identical save for their connectivity. This study investigates such a model of \emph{C. elegans} neuronal dynamics, finding that a wide variety of multistable responses are generated in response to varied inputs. Specifically, we generate bifurcation diagrams for all possible single-neuron inputs, showing the existence of fixed points and limit cycles for different input regimes. The nature of the dynamical response is seen to vary according to the type of neuron receiving input; for example, input into sensory neurons is more likely to drive a bifurcation in the system than input into motor neurons. As a specific example we consider compound input into the neuron pairs PLM and ASK, discovering bistability of a limit cycle and fixed point. The transient timescales in approaching each of these states are much longer than any intrinsic timescales of the system. This suggests consistency of our model with the characterization of dynamics in neural systems as long-timescale transitions between discrete, low-dimensional attractors corresponding to behavioral states.
Sensitization of Nanocrystalline Metal Oxides with a Phosphonate-Functionalized Perylene Diimide for Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation with a CoOx Catalyst.

A planar organic thin film composed of a perylene diimide dye (N,N′-bis(phosphonomethyl)-3,4,9,10-perylenediimide, PMPDI) with photoelectrochemically deposited cobalt oxide (CoOx) catalyst was previously shown to photoelectrochemically oxidize water (DOI: 10.1021/am405598w). Herein, the same PMPDI dye is studied for the sensitization of different nanostructured metal oxide (nano-MOx) films in a dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell architecture. Dye adsorption kinetics and saturation decreases in the order TiO2 > SnO2 ≫ WO3. Despite highest initial dye loading on TiO2 films, photocurrent with hydroquinone (H2Q) sacrificial reductant in pH 7 aqueous solution is much higher on SnO2 films, likely due to a higher driving force for charge injection into the more positive conduction band energy of SnO2. Dyeing conditions and SnO2 film thickness were subsequently optimized to achieve light-harvesting efficiency >99% at the λmax of the dye, and absorbed photon-to-current efficiency of 13% with H2Q, a 2-fold im...
Structures of a DNA Polymerase Inserting Therapeutic Nucleotide Analogues.

Members of the nucleoside analogue class of cancer therapeutics compete with canonical nucleotides to disrupt numerous cellular processes, including nucleotide homeostasis, DNA and RNA synthesis, and nucleotide metabolism. Nucleoside analogues are triphosphorylated and subsequently inserted into genomic DNA, contributing to the efficacy of therapeutic nucleosides in multiple ways. In some cases, the altered base acts as a mutagen, altering the DNA sequence to promote cellular death; in others, insertion of the altered nucleotide triggers DNA repair pathways, which produce lethal levels of cytotoxic intermediates such as single and double stranded DNA breaks. As a prerequisite to many of these biological outcomes, the modified nucleotide must be accommodated in the DNA polymerase active site during nucleotide insertion. Currently, the molecular contacts that mediate DNA polymerase insertion of modified nucleotides remain unknown for multiple therapeutic compounds, despite decades of clinical use. To determ...
Learning from Our Treatment Failures

Barton and Blanchard's report that multicomponent behavioral treatment fails to modify chronic daily headaches is discussed with reference to the effectiveness of behavioral and drug treatments for chronic tension-type headache, the distinction between chronic tension-type headache and chronic migraine, and the psychophysiology of episodic vs. persistent pain (K. A. Barton & E. B. Blanchard, 2001). It is suggested that the treatment of chronic daily headache can be improved through research on the benefits of combined behavioral and drug therapy, the psychophysiology of persistent pain, and methods of preventing episodic headaches from evolving to daily headaches.
Human Health as an Ecosystem Service: A Conceptual Framework

To live in good health and, in many ways, to live at all, people need a wide array of life-support benefits that derive from ecosystems. Collectively these are called ecosystem services, a term referring to the conditions and processes through which ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1981; Daily 1997; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). These processes underpin the production of goods (such as seafood and timber), life-support functions (water purification and flood control), and life-fulfilling conditions (beauty and inspiration), as well as the preservation of options (such as genetic diversity for future use).
Arginine Supplementation in Cardiovascular Disorders

The 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine, awarded to three American Scientists for the discovery of the biological role of nitric oxide (NO), emphasized the unique role of the amino acid l-arginine as the primary source of that gas in the body. Arginine-derived NO is a vasodilator that controls systemic and penile blood flow. It also lowers harmful lipids, enhances immune system response and wound healing, as well as numerous other body functions. Arginine-derived NO plays a singular role in erectile function via the ACh/NO/cGMP pathway. The sole source of l-arginine is in the foods we consume. This chapter details studies where l-arginine supplementation (oral or intravenous) has proven beneficial in clinical treatment of hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart disease, and in boosting erectile function. Caveats are also detailed.
Theory and Practice in Decision Support for Manufacturing Control

Decision support systems for manufacturing control with emphasis on operational control of computerized production system are discussed. Current design of such DSS relies mainly on general data base technology. However, future developments must incorporate artificial intelligence techniques in order to handle effectively decision complexities under the time constraints of the new manufacturing environments. DSS design considerations are reviewed. Additional research effort is required in two main areas: 1. Efficient manufacturing knowledge representation and reasoning; 2. Interface between human decision makers in the manufacturing system, and the computerized DSS.
Contacting and Gating 2-D Nanomaterials

Two-dimensional (2-D) nanomaterials provide opportunities for a wide range of applications. In order to harness their usefulness, understanding and controlling the interface between 2-D crystals and other materials is of paramount importance. For electronic device applications, large contact resistance and difficulty integrating high-quality dielectrics are the most pressing challenges. In this review, we describe the progress and core challenges of various contact and gate engineering approaches in order to guide the direction of future research toward fabricating useful devices based on 2-D nanomaterials.
Characterizing the amyloidogenic protein in patients with light chain amyloidosis using mass spectrometry.

e19534Background: Our group has developed a mass spectrometry (MS) method that can identify circulating monoclonal proteins, based on their unique molecular mass signatures. Given the propensity fo...
What changed public opinion on the same-sex marriage issue? New implications of attribute measures and attribute priming in media agenda setting:

This study explores the attribute agenda-setting effects and attribute priming effects of news coverage on the issue of same-sex marriage. The affective attribute salience of news coverage on the s...
Food Insecurity on College Campuses: Collateral Damage of a Societal Crisis

AbstractThe gravity of food insecurity among college students represents a critical issue for society at large and particularly for the students, faculty, staff, and administrators of higher education institutions. This article addresses what it means to be food insecure and the physical, mental, social, and academic toll it takes on students. The potential damage to society illuminates the seriousness of widening socioeconomic gaps throughout the nation. This complex issue builds upon multiple causes, which intensifies the effects, thereby requiring a variety of solutions. As the trend of food insecurity continues to grow, many campus-level solutions offer processes and programs to alleviate shorter-term challenges. These post-factum solutions serve as bandages on existing wounds, while systemic solutions must target the root causes in hopes of avoiding long-term consequences. The time has arrived for all stakeholders in our nation’s higher education system to become informed on this critical issue and s...
Reflecting on the Evaluation of Visualization Authoring Systems : Position Paper

In this paper, we discuss the challenges one faces when evaluating authoring systems developed to help people design visualization for communication purposes. We reflect on our own experiences in evaluating the visualization authoring systems that we have developed as well as the evaluation methods used in other recent projects. We also examine alternative approaches for evaluating visualization authoring systems that we believe to be more appropriate than traditional comparative studies. We hope that our discussion is informative, not only for researchers who intend to develop novel visualization authoring systems, but also for reviewers assigned to evaluate the research contributions of these systems. Our discussion concludes with opportunities for facilitating the evaluation and adoption of deployed visualization authoring systems.
Repeated anodal trans-spinal direct current stimulation results in long-term reduction of spasticity in mice with spinal cord injury.

Key points Spasticity is a disorder of muscle tone that is associated with lesions of the motor system. This condition involves an overactive spinal reflex loop that resists the passive lengthening of muscles. Previously, we established that application of anodal trans-spinal direct current stimulation (a-tsDCS) for short periods of time to anaesthetized mice sustaining a spinal cord injury leads to an instantaneous reduction of spasticity. However, the long-term effects of repeated a-tsDCS and its mechanism of action remained unknown. In the present study, a-tsDCS was performed for 7 days and this was found to cause long-term reduction in spasticity, increased rate-dependent depression in spinal reflexes, and improved ground and skill locomotion. Pharmacological, molecular and cellular evidence further suggest that a novel mechanism involving Na-K-Cl cotransporter isoform 1 mediates the observed long-term effects of repeated a-tsDCS. Abstract Spasticity can cause pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances; restrict daily activities such as walking, sitting and bathing; and complicate rehabilitation efforts. Thus, spasticity negatively influences an individual's quality of life and novel therapeutic interventions are needed. We previously demonstrated in anaesthetized mice that a short period of trans-spinal subthreshold direct current stimulation (tsDCS) reduces spasticity. In the present study, the long-term effects of repeated tsDCS to attenuate abnormal muscle tone in awake female mice with spinal cord injuries were investigated. A motorized system was used to test velocity-dependent ankle resistance and associated electromyographical activity. Analysis of ground and skill locomotion was also performed, with electrophysiological, molecular and cellular studies being conducted to reveal a potential underlying mechanism of action. A 4 week reduction in spasticity was associated with an increase in rate-dependent depression of spinal reflexes, and ground and skill locomotion were improved following 7 days of anodal-tsDCS (a-tsDCS). Secondary molecular, cellular and pharmacological experiments further demonstrated that the expression of K-Cl co-transporter isoform 2 (KCC2) was not changed in animals with spasticity. However, Na-K-Cl cotransporter isoform 1 (NKCC1) was significantly up-regulated in mice that exhibited spasticity. When mice were treated with a-tsDCS, down regulation of NKCC1 was detected, and this level did not significantly differ from that in the non-injured control mice. Thus, long lasting reduction of spasticity by a-tsDCS via downregulation of NKCC1 may constitute a novel therapy for spasticity following spinal cord injury.
Progress in Nanoporous Templates: Beyond Anodic Aluminum Oxide and Towards Functional Complex Materials

Successful synthesis of ordered porous, multi-component complex materials requires a series of coordinated processes, typically including fabrication of a master template, deposition of materials within the pores to form a negative structure, and a third deposition or etching process to create the final, functional template. Translating the utility and the simplicity of the ordered nanoporous geometry of binary oxide templates to those comprising complex functional oxides used in energy, electronic, and biology applications has been met with numerous critical challenges. This review surveys the current state of commonly used complex material nanoporous template synthesis techniques derived from the base anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) geometry.
Analysing the topographic form of stratovolcanoes

Abstract The goal of this study is to explore “ideal” analytic functional forms that best fit the topographic shape of N = 190 isolated stratovolcanoes from around the world. Using a stochastic model for the piling of lava flows to demonstrate one set of physical processes that give rise to a stratovolcano's topography, we find that although the ideal form fits well for many stratovolcanoes, there exist deviations from this shape—particularly where the edifice is more protuberant than expected. We explore sub-surface factors—such as the emplacement of magma beneath a volcano edifice—that may be responsible for these deviations and estimate the relative contribution of dyke intrusions on the height and shape of a volcanic edifice versus the constructional piling of lava. From this comparison, we are able to gain more insight into the role of important subsurface physical factors, such as chamber depth and total intruded volume. We find that low basal ellipticity is a characteristic of nearly all volcanoes that fit the ideal stratovolcano form. By fitting along each quadrant bisected by either a semi-major or semi-minor ellipse axis, we find that the volcanoes chosen in this study fall into four groups: (1) volcanoes that are axisymmetric and fit the ideal form well, (2) volcanoes that are not axisymmetric but may be fit to the ideal form using different fitting parameters in each quadrant, (3) volcanoes that have axisymmetric protuberant deviations in all quadrants, and (4) volcanoes that have non-axisymmetric protuberant deviations that are only present in a couple of quadrants. We show that, in some cases, the non-axisymmetry of volcanoes in category (2) may be understood as the result of the piling of eruptive products along a regional planar trend. For edifices in categories (3) and (4), we model protuberant deviations as the result of a statistical distribution of elastic tensile dislocations representing dykes, which emanate from a magma reservoir and cause uplift at the surface. We support this interpretation of the “excess” topography in a few case studies where independent geologic and geophysical data corroborate our model results.
Ethical and professionalism issues in dermatopathology: A cross-sectional survey of American Society of Dermatopathology Members

Background Data regarding ethical/professional issues affecting dermatopathologists are lacking despite their importance in establishing policy priorities and educational content for dermatopathology. Methods A 14-item cross-sectional survey about ethical/professional issues in dermatopathology was distributed over e-mail to members of the American Society of Dermatopathology from June to September 2019. Results Two hundred sixteen surveys were completed, with a response rate of 15.3%. Respondents ranked appropriate and fair utilization of healthcare resources (n = 83 or 38.6%) as the most often encountered ethical/professional issue. Conflict of interest was ranked as the most urgent or important ethical/professional issue (n = 83 or 39.3%). One hundred thirty-three (61.6%) respondents felt "somewhat" or "not at all" well equipped to handle ethical dilemmas in practice and 47 (22.8%) respondents identified a major or extreme burden (eg, have considered resigning/retiring) due to ethical challenges. Conclusions Areas of priority in ethics and professionalism issues can guide future policy and educational content in dermatopathology.
Perceptions of Assistive Technology Education From Occupational Therapists Certified as Assistive Technology Professionals.

IMPORTANCE Missing from the recent literature is information about specific categories of assistive technology (AT) education provided in entry-level occupational therapy curricula. OBJECTIVE To examine occupational therapists' perceptions of the AT education received in occupational therapy entry-level programs, specifically the AT categories in which therapists received training. DESIGN Quantitative survey study with Likert-scale, multiple-choice, or ordinal ranking-scale questions and three open-response questions. Format was a web-based Qualtrics survey tool; participants had approximately 2 mo to respond. PARTICIPANTS Occupational therapists certified as Assistive Technology Professionals (ATPs) were recruited through the Rehabilitation and Engineering Society of North America email database (response rate of 21%; N = 148). OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Outcomes may contribute to determining what categories of AT are missing from occupational therapy entry-level curricula and what further education is needed to develop competency. RESULTS Occupational therapists with ATP certification did not perceive their entry-level curricula as having adequately prepared them in the AT categories of technology for learning disabilities (67%), computer access (57%), augmentative and alternative communication (57%), and accessible transportation (52%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This study supports the need for occupational therapy entry-level programs to reexamine the categories and amount of AT training they currently provide. Future research with a larger and more generalized sample could provide more detailed evidence of which AT categories should be provided. WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS This article provides evidence that to use AT in intervention, entry-level occupational therapists require increased training in specific AT categories.
Activation of Meiotic Genes Mediates Ploidy Reduction and Generates Phenotypic Diversity During Cryptococcal Infection

Cryptococcus neoformans is a global human fungal pathogen that causes fatal meningoencephalitis in mostly immunocompromised individuals. During pulmonary infection, cryptococcal cells form big polyploid cells that exhibit increased resistance to host immune attack and are proposed to contribute to the latency of cryptococcal infection. These polyploidy titan cells can generate haploid and aneuploid progeny that may result in systematic infection. What triggers cryptococcal polyploidization and how ploidy reduction is achieved remain open questions. Here we discovered that Cryptococcus cells polyploidize in response to genotoxic stresses that cause DNA double strand breaks. Intriguingly, meiosis-specific genes are activated in C. neoformans and contribute to ploidy reduction, both in vitro and during infection in mice. Strikingly, cryptococcal cells that activated their meiotic genes in mice showed increased phenotypic diversity and were resistant to specific genotoxic stress comparing with sister cells recovered from the same host tissue but without activation of meiotic genes. Our findings support the idea that meiotic genes, in addition to the conventional roles during classic sexual reproduction, contribute to adaptation of eukaryotic cells undergoing dramatic genome changes in response to genotoxic stress. The discovery has additional implication for evolution of sexual reproduction and the paradox of the presence of meiotic machinery in asexual species. Finally, our findings in this eukaryotic microbe mirror the revolutionary discoveries of gametogenesis (polyploidization and meiosis-like process) in cancer cells, suggesting that the gametogenesis process itself could provide a general mechanism for rejuvenation in response to stress to promote individual survival.
Alzheimer's disease: An evolving understanding of noradrenergic involvement and the promising future of electroceutical therapies

Alzheimer's disease (AD) poses a significant global health concern over the next several decades. Multiple hypotheses have been put forth that attempt to explain the underlying pathophysiology of AD. Many of these are briefly reviewed here, but to-date no disease-altering therapy has been achieved. Despite this, recent work expanding on the role of noradrenergic system dysfunction in both the pathogenesis and symptomatic exacerbation of AD has shown promise. The role norepinephrine (NE) plays in AD remains complicated but pre-tangle tau has consistently been shown to arise in the locus coeruleus (LC) of patients with AD decades before symptom onset. The current research reviewed here indicates NE can facilitate neuroprotective and memory-enhancing effects through β adrenergic receptors, while α2A adrenergic receptors may exacerbate amyloid toxicity through a contribution to tau hyperphosphorylation. AD appears to involve a disruption in the balance between these two receptors and their various subtypes. There is also a poorly characterized interplay between the noradrenergic and cholinergic systems. LC deterioration leads to maladaptation in the remaining LC-NE system and subsequently inhibits cholinergic neuron function, eventually leading to the classic cholinergic disruption seen in AD. Understanding AD as a dysfunctional noradrenergic system, provides new avenues for the use of advanced neural stimulation techniques to both study and therapeutically target the earliest stages of neuropathology. Direct LC stimulation and non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) have both demonstrated potential use as AD therapeutics. Significant work remains, though, to better understand the role of the noradrenergic system in AD and how electroceuticals can provide disease-altering treatments.
Staff Reports of Behavioral Expressions of Persons with Dementia in 250 Assisted Living Communities.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Assisted living (AL) residents with dementia commonly exhibit behavioral expressions (BEs), yet no study has examined how AL staff perceive of and respond to BEs in terms of the "ABC" model of antecedents, behaviors and consequences, or how perceptions relate to organizational characteristics. Understanding staff perceptions may inform interventions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A convergent, mixed-methods design was used in a study of health care supervisors from 250 AL communities in seven states who reported 366 cases of resident BEs (one successful and one unsuccessful case). Qualitative analysis identified antecedents, BEs, staff responses, resident outcomes, and disposition (aging in place or discharge). Content analysis identified themes and compared case types. Descriptive statistics examined organizational characteristics associated with identifying antecedents. RESULTS One-quarter of cases recognized antecedents; slightly more were identified in successful (28%) compared to unsuccessful cases (20%); staff in dementia-only and smaller communities identified antecedents more often. Combativeness and anxiety were the most frequently reported BEs. The majority of both types of cases reported staff responses. Medication management was enacted as a response in 40% of cases compared to psychiatric assessment in 33% of cases. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS Staff training is indicated to increase AL staff recognition of antecedents; doing so might reduce use of antipsychotic medications. Psychiatric assessment plays an important role in dementia care in AL and warrants further examination. Results could be helpful for applied behavioral researchers interested in developing ways to improve identification of antecedents of BEs of persons with dementia.
Using point-of-care ultrasound in nursing.

ABSTRACT In this article, the author examines the use of point-of-care ultrasound in nursing practice, including its benefits, clinical implications, and cost-effectiveness for nursing practice and healthcare systems in the long run.
Is Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Reliable After Recent Oncoplastic Breast Reduction

An oncoplastic breast reduction may disrupt normal lymphatic drainage and make subsequent identification of the sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) unreliable. There are little data on the success rate of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) after recent oncoplastic breast reduction, and there is no agreement on whether SLNB should be done at the time of the partial mastectomy and reduction for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The primary goals of this study were to evaluate the identification rate of SLNB after recent oncoplastic or functional breast reduction and to examine recurrence rates in this setting. Results reveal SLNB is feasible in this setting. At least one SLN was found in all patients, and there were no recurrences with an average follow-up of 34 months.
Plasma Chemistry in a Humid AR Radiofrequency (RF) Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) operated in mixtures of noble gas and water vapor have attracted a lot of attention due to their potential applications in water treatment and biomedicine. The importance of plasma-produced H and OH radicals, as well as H 2 O 2 , has been demonstrated in previous studies. To control the density of desired reactive species, a more detailed picture of the rich chemistry in water vapor plasmas is needed. Unfortunately, validated numerical models of plasma chemistry in water vapor containing plasmas remain limited.
EVALUATING THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINATED WATERPIPE TOBACCO IN WATERPIPE USERS

EVALUATING THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINATED WATERPIPE TOBACCO IN WATERPIPE USERS By Caroline O. Cobb, M.S. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012. Major Director: Dr. Thomas Eissenberg Professor Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies Caffeine and nicotine are the two most commonly consumed licit psychoactive drugs in the world. In addition, they are frequently co-administered with over 86% of cigarette smokers reporting caffeine use versus 77% of non-smokers. Research suggests the combination of nicotine and caffeine produces effects that are more rewarding or pleasurable than either drug alone, and this potential reward enhancement may influence patterns of tobacco use initiation and maintenance. Waterpipe tobacco smoking is an alternative tobacco use method that is increasing in prevalence in the U.S. and offers a novel opportunity for nicotine and caffeine coadministration via a caffeinated tobacco product (Tangiers F-Line). Based on previous work, this caffeinated tobacco product was hypothesized to enhance reward-related and cardiovascular effects in waterpipe users relative to tobacco-only waterpipe preparations. Thirty-two waterpipe tobacco smokers who regularly drank caffeinated beverages participated in a four condition, Latin-square ordered, within-subjects study. In each condition, there was a 45-minute doubleblind product administration period that differed by the content of waterpipe product smoked: caffeine and nicotine (Tangiers F-Line), nicotine and no caffeine (Tangiers), reduced (low) nicotine and caffeine (low nicotine Tangiers F-Line), or neither nicotine nor caffeine (Soex). Outcome measures included blood plasma caffeine and nicotine, cardiovascular response, expired air carbon monoxide (CO), puff topography, and subjective ratings. Plasma analyses revealed no detectable levels of caffeine from either caffeinated product, but significant nicotine exposure from all nicotine-containing products. Few differences between conditions were observed for subjective measures. Larger puff volumes were observed for products that contained low or no nicotine, resulting in higher CO concentrations for these conditions. While findings do not address whether caffeine can be delivered via volatilization, they suggest that measurable caffeine exposure was not observed for the products examined and under the conditions explored here. Importantly, study results support continued investigation of the effects of waterpipe tobacco smoking using a placebo-controlled design as well as demonstrate that tobacco dependence and toxicity capabilities are still concerns for these and other waterpipe products.
Identity politics at Grand Ronde: toward an ethnohistory of the tribes of the Willamette Valley, 1855-1901

In the 19th century the federal government and local Indian agents began a series of policies aimed at breaking down tribal distinctions at the Grand Ronde reservation in northwestern Oregon. The 'successes' of these assimilation policies were well documented by contemporary federal officials, missionaries and anthropologists. Today many ethnohistorians continue to write about the history of Grand Ronde as if tribes had dissolved by the end of the 19th century. Over the last 20 years most scholars who have written on 19th century identity at Grand Ronde view identity as a social phenomenon and try to incorporate indigenous perspectives, but they rely on ethnohistorical data consisting mainly of materials written by European and European American missionaries, federal officials and anthropologists, and the people who created most of this ethnohistorical data tended to systematically exclude descriptions of seemingly ambiguous tribal adaptations in favor of descriptions of compliance or noncompliance with standardized rules or theories made according to their own essentialist administrative categories. Some of the biases inherent in this data make it into today’s narratives of tribal identity at Grand Ronde.
QUALITATIVE SYNTHESIS OF CONFIGURATIONS FOR TWO-TERMINAL SYSTEMS BASED ON DESIRED BEHAVIOR

In design, inferring structure from function is a combinatorial generate-and-test problem.Existing methods use prestored domain-specific partial configurations to constrainthe generator. We have found that for certain types of economic and physicalsystems consisting of two-terminal components connected in parallel, it is fruitfulto specify function in terms of desired behavior, and to identify sets of componentswhose resultant behavior matches that desired behavior. In this paper, we present twosynthesis operators called stretch and steepen that operate on qualitatively specifiedpiecewise linear functions that characterize the behavior of components. We are currentlyapplying this model to the domain of financial hedging, where behaviors of thecomponents (stocks, bonds, options, etc.) are specified in terms of two-dimensionalpiecewise linear relationships, and the goal is to synthesize these to produce a constrainedbehavior in response to uncontrollable events.
“I Really Do Feel I'm 1.5!”: The Construction of Self and Community by Young Korean Americans

(1999). “I Really Do Feel I'm 1.5!”: The Construction of Self and Community by Young Korean Americans. Amerasia Journal: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 139-164.
Development and initial validation of a survey to assess students' self-efficacy in medical school.

ABSTRACTSelf-efficacy is a personal belief in one's capability to successfully execute the behaviors necessary to attain designated types of performances. Sometimes described as task-specific self-confidence, self-efficacy is a key component in many contemporary theories of motivation and learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey for measuring students' medical skills self-efficacy and to collect reliability and validity evidence for the instrument. A secondary purpose was to explore differences in students' self-efficacy from year 1 of medical school to year 4. We created 19 survey items based on the 6 core competencies of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and we collected data from 304 medical students. Results from an exploratory factor analysis suggested three interpretable factors: patient care self-efficacy (eight items, Cronbach's α = 0.92), interpersonal skills self-efficacy (three items, Cronbach's α = 0.76), and evidence-based medicine self-efficacy (thr...
Identifying signatures of sexual selection using genomewide selection components analysis

Sexual selection must affect the genome for it to have an evolutionary impact, yet signatures of selection remain elusive. Here we use an individual-based model to investigate the utility of genome-wide selection components analysis, which compares allele frequencies of individuals at different life history stages within a single population to detect selection without requiring a priori knowledge of traits under selection. We modeled a diploid, sexually reproducing population and introduced strong mate choice on a quantitative trait to simulate sexual selection. Genome-wide allele frequencies in adults and offspring were compared using weighted FST values. The average number of outlier peaks (i.e., those with significantly large FST values) with a quantitative trait locus in close proximity (“real” peaks) represented correct diagnoses of loci under selection, whereas peaks above the FST significance threshold without a quantitative trait locus reflected spurious peaks. We found that, even with moderate sample sizes, signatures of strong sexual selection were detectable, but larger sample sizes improved detection rates. The model was better able to detect selection with more neutral markers, and when quantitative trait loci and neutral markers were distributed across multiple chromosomes. Although environmental variation decreased detection rates, the identification of real peaks nevertheless remained feasible. We also found that detection rates can be improved by sampling multiple populations experiencing similar selection regimes. In short, genome-wide selection components analysis is a challenging but feasible approach for the identification of regions of the genome under selection.
Intravenous to oral antibiotic switch therapy.

I.v.-to-p.o. switch therapy has become the mainstay of antibiotic therapy for the majority of patients. I.v.-to-p.o. switch therapy is inappropriate for critically ill patients who require i.v. antibiotic therapy and should not be considered in patients who have the inability to absorb drugs. These exceptions constitute a very small percentage of hospitalized patients for which i.v.-to-p.o. switch therapy is ideal. I.v.-to-p.o. switch therapy is best achieved with antibiotics that have high bioavailability that result in the same blood and tissue concentrations of antibiotic as their intravenous counterpart and have few gastrointestinal side effects. Antibiotics ideal for i.v.-to-p.o. switch programs include chloramphenicol, clindamycin, metronidazole, TMP-SMX, fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, doxycycline, minocycline, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin and linezolid. Antibiotics that may be used in i.v.-to-p.o. switch programs that have lower bioavailability but are effective include beta-lactams and macrolides. For antibiotics with no oral formulation, e.g., carbapenems, equivalent coverage must be provided with an oral antibiotic from an unrelated class. Excluding gastrointestinal malabsorptive disorders, disease state is not a determinant of suitability for i.v.-to-p.o. switch programs. I.v.-to-p.o. switch programs should be used in patients with any infectious disease disorder for which there is effective oral therapy and is not limited to certain infectious diseases. Oral absorption of antibiotics is near normal in all but the most critically ill patients. Therefore, even in sick, hospitalized individuals, p.o. therapy is appropriate. I.v-to-p.o. switch therapy has several important advantages including decreasing drug cost (i.v. vs. p.o.), decreasing length of stay permitting earlier discharge and optimal reimbursement and decreasing or eliminating i.v. line phlebitis and sepsis with its cost implications. Clinicians should consider all patients, except the most critically ill or those unable to absorb oral medications, as candidates for treatment for most or all of their antibiotic treatment with oral antibiotics. (c) 2001 Prous Science. All rights reserved.
Understanding impacts of fisheries bycatch on marine megafauna

Hunting by humans played a major role in extirpating terrestrial megafauna on several continents and megafaunal loss continues today in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Recent declines of large marine vertebrates that are of little or no commercial value, such as sea turtles, seabirds and marine mammals, have focused attention on the ecological impacts of incidental take, or bycatch, in global fisheries. In spite of the recognition of the problem of bycatch, few comprehensive assessments of its effects have been conducted. Many vulnerable species live in pelagic habitats, making surveys logistically complex and expensive. Bycatch data are sparse and our understanding of the demography of the affected populations is often rudimentary. These factors, combined with the large spatial scales that pelagic vertebrates and fishing fleets cover, make accurate and timely bycatch assessments difficult. Here, we review the current research that addresses these challenging questions in the face of uncertainty, analytical limitations and mounting conservation crises.
Two undecidable questions about group actions

It is shown that for invariance under the action of special groups the statements “Every invariant PCA is decomposable into ℵ1 invariant Borel sets” and “Every pair of invariant PCA is reducible by a pair of invariant PCA sets” are independent of the axioms of set theory.
Computer-based training for food services workers at a hospital.

Introduction: Interactive computer-based safety instruction (CBI) was given to 73 workers in the food services department of an urban hospital. Results: Post-test accuracy (95%) improved significantly (p = <0.0001) from the pre-test (74.5 %), d = 1.09. Generalization was confirmed by increased accuracy in answering questions, posed on-the-job, that required application of knowledge to the work setting (from 46% to 79%; p<0.0001). Problematic kitchen conditions such as puddles increased slightly after training, but adjustment for increasing production/workload revealed an overall post-training decline in problems from 0.58 to 0.32 (p = 0.0001, d = 0.89). Work practice improvement was seen in 79% of workers (p<0.0001, d = 1.00). Effect sizes (d) of knowledge, location, and work practice improvements are large and demonstrate that the benefits of CBI extend to the workplace floor. Further, the decrease between knowledge and behavior change (d = 0.09‐0.2) is less than reported following other forms of training. D 2004 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Field Implementation of a Winsor Type I Surfactant/Alcohol Mixture for in Situ Solubilization of a Complex LNAPL as a Single-Phase Microemulsion

A Winsor Type I surfactant/alcohol mixture was used as an in situ flushing agent to solubilize a multicomponent nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) as a single-phase microemulsion (SPME) in a hydraulically isolated test cell at Hill Air Force Base (AFB), Utah. The surfactant (polyoxyethylene(10) oleyl ether) and alcohol (1-pentanol) together comprised 5.5 wt % of the flushing solution. The NAPL was extremely complex, containing more than 200 constituents and a ‘pitch' fraction that was not solvent-extractable. The NAPL removal effectiveness of the SPME flood was evaluated using information from soil cores, partitioning tracer tests, and NAPL constituent breakthrough curves (BTCs) measured at three extraction wells. Soil core data indicated that approximately 90−95% of the most prevalent NAPL constituents were removed from the cell by the SPME flood. A comparison of pre- and postflushing partitioning tracer data indicated that about 72% of the measured NAPL volume was removed by the SPME flood. Integration of N...