cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
"We Just Want to Live Normally": Intersecting Discourses of Public, Private, Poland, and the West

In postcommunist Poland, discourse on "the normal life" provides a view into young Poles' identity as shaped by processes of democratization, marketization, and globalization. In this article, I compare uses of the term "normal" for a group of urban and rural youths during two periods in the 1990s. I show that normal, like public and private, is a "shifter"— because the same term is used in a variety of contexts to describe various situations, it helps to integrate new experiences in a way that maintains a sense of continuity with the past. This discourse reveals young Poles' simultaneous attraction and resistance to idealizations of the West, and it also reflects the different opportunities available to rural and urban residents. These factors, in turn, help to shape young Poles1 orientations toward the future within and beyond the borders of Poland.
ECMO-assisted Rigid Bronchoscopy for Tracheal Obstruction.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in adults is typically reserved for thoracic or cardiac procedures in which insult to the pulmonary circuit has occurred or is anticipated. In this brief report, I describe a case of tracheal obstruction resulting from a retained tracheal stent that was removed th
Survival of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Cells Receptor Signaling to Apoptotic Control Centers

HER2 is overexpressed in a subset of breast cancers and controls an oncogenic signaling network that inhibits tumor cell death through the specific biochemical regulation of apoptotic pathways. In particular, the mitochondrial pathway for apoptosis is important for death induced by inhibitors of HER2. This review focuses on the connections between this oncogenic signaling network and individual components of the mitochondrial pathway. A comprehensive view of this signaling network is crucial for developing novel drugs in this area and to gain an understanding of how these regulatory interactions are altered in drug-refractory cancers.
Gaps and Critical Temperature for Color Superconductivity

Because of a logarithmic enhancement from soft, collinear magnetic gluons, in dense quark matter the gap for a color superconducting condensate with spin zero depends upon the QCD coupling constant g not as $\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}{1/g}^{2}),$ like in Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer (BCS) theory, but as $\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}1/g).$ In weak coupling, the ratio of the transition temperature to the spin-zero gap at zero temperature is the same as in BCS theory. We classify the gaps with spin one, and find that they are of the same order in g as the spin-zero gap.
Monitoring Bacterial Transport by Stable Isotope Enrichment of Cells

Understanding the transport and behavior of bacteria in the environment has broad implications in diverse areas, ranging from agriculture to groundwater quality, risk assessment, and bioremediation. The ability to reliably track and enumerate specific bacterial populations in the context of native communities and environments is key to developing this understanding. We report a novel bacterial tracking approach, based on altering the stable carbon isotope value (delta(13)C) of bacterial cells, which provides specific and sensitive detection and quantification of those cells in environmental samples. This approach was applied to the study of bacterial transport in saturated porous media. The transport of introduced organisms was indicated by mass spectrometric analysis of groundwater samples, where the presence of (13)C-enriched bacteria resulted in increased delta(13)C values of the samples, allowing specific and sensitive detection and enumeration of the bacteria of interest. We demonstrate the ability to produce highly (13)C-enriched bacteria, present data indicating that results obtained with this approach accurately represent intact introduced bacteria, and include field data on the use of this stable isotope approach to monitor in situ bacterial transport. This detection strategy allows sensitive detection of an introduced, unmodified bacterial strain in the presence of the indigenous bacterial community, including itself in its unenriched form.
Mechanism design, machine learning, and pricing problems

Consider a seller with multiple digital goods or services for sale, such as movies, software, or network services, over which buyers may have complicated preferences. In order to sell these items through an incentive-compatible auction mechanism, this mechanism should have the property that each bidder is offered a set of prices that do not depend on the value of her bid. The problem of designing a revenue-maximizing auction is known in the economics literature as the optimal auction design problem [Myerson 1981]. The classical model for optimal auction design assumes a Bayesian setting in which players’ valuations (types) are drawn from some probability distribution that furthermore is known to the mechanism designer. For example, to sell a single item of fixed marginal cost, one should set the price that maximizes the profit margin per sale times the probability a random person would be willing to buy at that price. However, in complex or non-static environments, these assumptions become unrealistic. In these settings, machine learning can provide a natural approach to the design of near-optimal mechanisms without such strong assumptions or degree of prior knowledge. Specifically, notice that while a truthful auction mechanism should have the property that the prices offered to some bidder i do not depend on the value of her bid, they can depend on the amounts bid by other bidders j. From a Machine Learning perspective, this is very similar to thinking of bidders as “examples” and our objective being to use information from examples j 6= i to produce a good prediction with respect to example i. Thus, without presuming a known distribution over bidders (or even that bidders come from any distribution at all) perhaps if the number of bidders is sufficiently large, enough information can be learned from some of them to perform well on the rest. In recent work [Balcan et al. 2007] we formalize this idea and show indeed that sample-complexity techniques from machine learning theory [Anthony and Bartlett 1999; Vapnik 1998] can be adapted to this setting to give quantitative bounds for this kind of approach. More generally, we show that sample complexity analysis can be applied to convert incentivecompatible mechanism design problems to more standard algorithm-design questions, in a wide variety of revenue-maximizing auction settings. Our reductions imply that for these problems, given an algorithm for the non incentivecompatible pricing problem, we can convert it into an algorithm for the incentive-compatible mechanism design problem that is only a factor of (1 + 2) worse, so long as the number of bidders is sufficiently large as a function of an appropriate measure of complexity of the class of allowable pricings. We apply these results to the problem of auctioning a digital good [Goldberg et al. 2001; Goldberg et al. 2006], to the attribute auction problem which includes a wide variety of discriminatory pricing problems [Blum and Hartline
Students’ perceptions of the command, practice, and inclusion styles of teaching

Background: For many physical educators, the Spectrum of Teaching Styles serves as a ‘tool box’ for meeting the different needs of students and goals in physical education. Despite the proliferation in Spectrum research in which researchers have examined teacher experience and student skill, knowledge, and social learning within the styles, little is known of the extent to which students perceive the Spectrum teaching styles. Exploring students' perceptions about the teaching styles will broaden our understanding of the ways students learn, what students identify as the benefits and drawbacks of the teaching styles, the relationships that students perceive between the styles and learning domains, and student style preferences. Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine students' perceptions of physical, cognitive, and social involvement in physical activity lessons conducted in the command, practice, and inclusion styles of teaching and (b) to examine student preference for different t...
Magnetic fields of stars: using stars as tools for understanding the origins of cosmic magnetic fields

I survey the status of research on the detection and quantitative measurement of stellar magnetic fields, and discuss theoretical ideas which try to account for the origins of these magnetic fields, consistent with present observations.
Geochemical evidence for the origin of late Quaternary loess in central Alaska

Loess is extensive in central Alaska, but there are uncertainties about its source and the direction of paleo- winds that deposited it. Both northerly and southerly winds have been inferred. The most likely sources of loess are the Tanana River (south), the Nenana River (southeast), and the Yukon River (north). Late Quaternary loess in central Alaska has immobile trace-element compositions (Cr/Sc, Th/Ta, Th/Sc, Th/U, Eu/Eu*, GdN/YbN) that indicate derivation mostly from the Tanana River. However, other ratios (As/Sb, Zr/Hf, LaN/YbN) and quantitative modeling indicate that the Yukon River was also a source. During the last glacial period, there may have been a longer residence time of the Siberian and Canadian high-pressure cells, along with a strengthened Aleutian low-pressure cell. This would have generated regional-scale northeasterly winds and explains derivation of loess from the Yukon River. However, superim- posed upon this synoptic-scale circulation, there may have been strong, southerly katabatic winds from expanded glaciers on the northern flank of the Alaska Range. These winds could have provided eolian silt from the Tanana River. Yukon River and Tanana River sediments are highly calcareous, whereas Fairbanks-area loess is not. This suggests that carbonate leaching in loess kept ahead of sedimentation and that late Quaternary loess in central Alaska was deposited relatively
Accelerator systems optimizing code

Many accelerator applications need a flexible, rapid, and accurate systems analysis tool capable of performing beamline and subsystem plant optimizations. This paper describes a systems code that has been developed to model ion accelerator systems and perform design evaluation and system level trade studies. The code uses a series of FORTRAN modules incorporated into a graphical user interface (GUI) that constructs the accelerator in a window on a computer screen. The studies provide overall systems level performance and subsystem requirements within the context of a fully integrated device. The code allows for system optimization based on global system parameters, individual element parameters, cost, footprint, or other design constraints. The code has been applied to possible Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) and Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (FMIF) design concepts. Algorithms used, flow charts showing the code logic, and examples of code applications will be given.
Practicality of identifying mitochondria variants from exome and RNAseq data

Background The rapid progress in high throughput sequencing technology has significantly enriched our capability to study mitochondria genomes. Other than performing mitochondria targeted sequencing, an increasingly popular alternative approach is to utilize the off-target reads from exome sequencing to infer mitochondria genomic variants including SNP and heteroplasmy[1-9]. However, the effectiveness and practicality of such an approach has not been tested. Recently, RNAseq data has also been suggested as good source for alternative data mining[10,11], but whether mitochondria variants are minable has not been studied.
Are Sets All There is

Our next goal is to determine whether the basic results of naive set theory in Chapter 2 can be proved on the basis of the axioms of Zermelo. Right at the start we hit a snag: to define the crucial notion of equinumerosity we need functions; to define countable sets we need the specific set N of natural numbers; the fundamental theorem 2.21 of Cantor is about the set 𝓡 of real numbers, etc. Put another way, the results of Chapter 2 are not only about sets, but about points, numbers, functions, Cartesian products and many other mathematical objects which are plainly not sets. Where will we find these objects in the axioms of Zermelo which speak only about sets?
Qualitative Study on Cis-Male Students’ Gender Perspectives in the Couple and Family Therapy Classroom

The purpose of this qualitative study was to hear cis-male participants' voices after completing a gender-training course in a Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education couple and family therapy program. Participants' narratives included reactions and responses to being shaped by the dominant society, their thoughts about self-transformation, and behaviors associated with this change. Moreover, the authors addressed the implications of gender role conflict on males in couple and family therapy training courses.
Gruson & Kutschera, Legal Opinions in International Transactions: Foreign Lawyers' Response to U.S. Opinion Requests

Book review of Legal Opinions in International Transactions: Foreign Lawyers' Response to US Opinion Requests. By Michael Gruson and Michael Kutschera.
Rhabdomyoma of sublingual region

Abstract A case of rhabdomyoma occurring in the sublingual region of an 81-year-old man is reported. The tumor showed a close resemblance to granular-cell myoblastoma, but it was diagnosed as rhabdomyoma because it showed unequivocal cross-striation.
NMR solution structure of a DNA-actinomycin D complex containing a non-hydrogen-bonding pair in the binding site.

The solution structures of two different DNA duplexes (one containing a G-T mismatched base pair and the other a non-hydrogen-bonding G-F pair, where F is difluorotoluene) in complex with the peptide antibiotic actinomycin D (ActD) are presented. Using 1H, 19F NMR, and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that there are three major differences between the complexes: (1) ActD binds to the GF duplex in an orientation that is flipped 180° relative to its position in the GT duplex; (2) whereas the difluorotoluene moiety takes the typical anti glycosidic conformation in the “free” (uncomplexed) GF duplex, it takes the syn conformation in the GF:ActD complex; and (3) in GF:ActD, the difluorotoluene moiety is completely unstacked in the helix; however, the guanine of the G-F pair is stacked quite well with the ActD intercalator and the flanking base on the 5′ side. In GT:ActD, the G-T base pair (although pushed into the major groove from the non-Watson−Crick hydrogen-bonding pattern) stacks favorably with the...
p-type CuRhO2 as a self-healing photoelectrode for water reduction under visible light.

Polycrystalline CuRhO2 is investigated as a photocathode for the splitting of water under visible irradiation. The band edge positions of this material straddle the water oxidation and reduction redox potentials. Thus, photogenerated conduction band electrons are sufficiently energetic to reduce water, while the associated valence band holes are energetically able to oxidize water to O2. Under visible illumination, H2 production is observed with ∼0.2 V underpotential in an air-saturated solution. In contrast, H2 production in an Ar-saturated solution was found to be unstable. This instability is associated with the reduction of the semiconductor forming Cu(s). However, in the presence of air or O2, bulk Cu(s) was not detected, implying that CuRhO2 is self-healing when air is present. This property allows for the stable formation of H2 with ca. 80% Faradaic efficiency.
Foreign Objects With Domestic Meanings: The Feast of Lanterns and the Point Alones Village

During the nineteenth century in Europe and North America Chinese-looking objects such as silks, ceramics, and curios were often considered desirable items that connoted luxury and proper domesticity. In the Monterey Bay area of California the ability of Chinese-made and Chinese-looking objects to stand for exotic luxury was called into question by racial violence and tension between the Chinese and Chinese American residents of the Point Alones village and their non-Chinese neighbors in the cities of Pacific Grove and Monterey. This chapter specifically focuses on how these tensions influenced the meanings that non-Chinese Californians gave to foreign-looking aesthetics and the ways in which they were displayed, celebrated, avoided, and condemned.
The Institutions of European Government

The European Union is simultaneously an international organization and the proto-government for a regional political system, the parameters of which are not yet completely defined. As such, EU institutions as they were originally designed have some characteristics of an international organization, but they have also always had a more governmental nature than most international organizations. Moreover, the institutions have evolved over time and, in the process, have come to resemble those of a national government, although the analogues with legislatures and executives are not at all exact. Understanding the European institutions, therefore, requires understanding that the institutions perform several types of tasks and that both legislative and executive functions are divided between two structures. It also requires understanding the evolutionary path upon which the institutions are embarked. Finally, it requires understanding the importance of the executive, and especially the fragmented nature of the executive, in segmenting conflict and allowing decision making in what might otherwise be difficult political circumstances.
Perspective: On the importance of hydrodynamic interactions in the subcellular dynamics of macromolecules

An outstanding challenge in computational biophysics is the simulation of a living cell at molecular detail. Over the past several years, using Stokesian dynamics, progress has been made in simulating coarse grained molecular models of the cytoplasm. Since macromolecules comprise 20%-40% of the volume of a cell, one would expect that steric interactions dominate macromolecular diffusion. However, the reduction in cellular diffusion rates relative to infinite dilution is due, roughly equally, to steric and hydrodynamic interactions, HI, with nonspecific attractive interactions likely playing rather a minor role. HI not only serve to slow down long time diffusion rates but also cause a considerable reduction in the magnitude of the short time diffusion coefficient relative to that at infinite dilution. More importantly, the long range contribution of the Rotne-Prager-Yamakawa diffusion tensor results in temporal and spatial correlations that persist up to microseconds and for intermolecular distances on the order of protein radii. While HI slow down the bimolecular association rate in the early stages of lipid bilayer formation, they accelerate the rate of large scale assembly of lipid aggregates. This is suggestive of an important role for HI in the self-assembly kinetics of large macromolecular complexes such as tubulin. Since HI are important, questions as to whether continuum models of HI are adequate as well as improved simulation methodologies that will make simulations of more complex cellular processes practical need to be addressed. Nevertheless, the stage is set for the molecular simulations of ever more complex subcellular processes.
Soil carbon and nitrogen responses to nitrogen fertilizer and harvesting rates in switchgrass cropping systems

The environmental sustainability of bioenergy cropping systems depends upon multiple factors such as crop selection, agricultural practices, and the management of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and water resources. Perennial grasses, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), show potential as a sustainable bioenergy source due to high yields on marginal lands with low fertilizer inputs and an extensive root system that may increase sequestration of C and N in subsurface soil horizons. We quantified the C and N stocks in roots, free particulate, and mineral-associated soil organic matter pools in a 4-year-old switchgrass system following conversion from row crop agriculture at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station in southwest Michigan. Crops were fertilized with nitrogen at either 0, 84, or 196 kg N ha−1 and harvested either once or twice annually. Twice-annual harvesting caused a reduction of C and N stocks in the relatively labile roots and free-particulate organic matter pools. Nitrogen fertilizer significantly reduced total soil organic C and N stocks, particularly in the stable, mineral-associated C and N pools at depths greater than 15 cm. The largest total belowground C stocks in biomass and soil occurred in unfertilized plots with annual harvesting. These findings suggest that fertilization in switchgrass agriculture moderates the sequestration potential of the soil C pool.
Influence of droplet size and azoxystrobin insensitivity on frogeye leaf spot management in soybean.

Abstract Field experiments were conducted in 2014 and 2015 to evaluate the influence of droplet size on foliar fungicide efficacy and leaf residue in soybean infected with Cercospora sojina, the fungal agent of frogeye leaf spot. A fungicide premix of azoxystrobin and difenoconazole was applied using two spray nozzles with varying droplet spectra. No significant differences were found among treatments in regards to visual disease ratings, soybean yield, and azoxystrobin leaf residue at 0, 2, 7, and 14 days after application. Results suggest that the potential reduction in coverage from drift-reduction nozzle technology may not negatively affect the efficacy of a tank mix of azoxystrobin and difenoconazole on frogeye leaf spot in soybean.
The clinical experience of citalopram in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: a report of two Persian Gulf War veterans.

Objective To determine the efficacy of the antidepressant citalopram in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method The cases of two Persian Gulf War veterans are described to illustrate the effects of citalopram in treating their PTSD symptoms. Results In these two clinical case studies, citalopram led to remission of some of the PTSD symptoms. Conclusion More controlled studies are warranted to further prove the efficacy of citalopram as an agent of choice for the treatment of PTSD.
Modeling Contact Friction and Joint Friction in Dynamic Robotic Simulation Using the Principle of Maximum Dissipation

We present a unified treatment for modeling Coulomb and viscous friction within multi-rigid body simulation using the principle of maximum dissipation. This principle is used to build two different methods—an event-driven impulse-based method and a time stepping method—for modeling contact. The same principle is used to effect joint friction in articulated mechanisms. Experiments show that the contact models are able to be solved faster and more robustly than alternative models. Experiments on the joint friction model show that it is as accurate as a standard model while permitting much larger simulation step sizes to be employed.
Estimating Ratios of Normalizing Constants

A computational problem arising frequently in Bayesian inference is the computation of normalizing constants for posterior densities from which we can sample. Typically, we are interested in the ratios of such normalizing constants. For example, a Bayes factor is defined as the ratio of posterior odds versus prior odds, where posterior odds is simply a ratio of the normalizing constants of two posterior densities. Mathematically, this problem can be formulated as follows. Let πl (θ), l = 1,2, be two densities, each of which is known up to a normalizing constant:
Genetic and environmental influences on disinhibition, boldness, and meanness as assessed by the triarchic psychopathy measure in 19-20-year-old twins

BackgroundThe Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) provides Disinhibition, Boldness, and Meanness scales for assessing the three trait domains of the triarchic model. Here we examined the genetic and environmental etiology of these three domains, including evaluation of potential sex differences.MethodsA total of 1016 men and women ages 19–20 years were drawn from the University of Southern California Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior twin study.ResultsScores for the three TriPM scales were correlated to differing degrees, with the strongest phenotypic correlation between Disinhibition and Meanness. No sex differences were found in the genetic and environmental influences underlying these three domains, suggesting that the same genes and life experiences contribute to these traits in young men and women. For TriPM Disinhibition and Boldness, genetic factors explained about half or less of the variance, with the rest of the variance being explained by non-shared environmental factors. For TriPM Meanness, on the other hand, genetic, shared environmental, and non-shared environmental factors accounted for the variance. The phenotypic correlation between Disinhibition and Meanness was explained in part by common genes (26%), with the remainder attributable about equally to common shared (39%), and non-shared environmental influences (35%).ConclusionsThese findings contribute to our understanding of psychopathic personality traits by demonstrating the importance of heritable factors for disinhibition and boldness facets of psychopathy, and the importance of shared environmental influences for the meanness facet.
Clinical and Economic Outcomes of Ranolazine Versus Conventional Antianginals Users Among Veterans With Chronic Stable Angina Pectoris

Real-world outcomes in patients with chronic stable angina treated with ranolazine and other antianginal medications as second- or third-line therapy are limited. In a historical cohort study of veterans with chronic stable angina, we compared time with coronary revascularization procedures, hospitalizations, and 1-year healthcare costs between new-users of ranolazine versus conventional antianginals (i.e., calcium channel blockers, β blockers, or long-acting nitrates) as second- or third-line. Weighted regression models calculated adjusted hazard ratios (HR) at up to 8-year follow-up, and adjusted incremental costs in the first year. Weighted groups comprised 4,699 ranolazine users and 31,815 conventional antianginal users. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) occurred more often in ranolazine users compared with conventional antianginal users (HR 1.16; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.08 to 1.25, p <0.001), and coronary artery bypass grafting occurred less often (HR 0.82; 95% CI 0.68 to 1.00, p <0.046). All-cause and atrial fibrillation (AF) hospitalizations were less common with ranolazine users compared with conventional users (all-cause: HR 0.94; 95% CI 0.90 to 0.99, p <0.010; AF:HR 0.74; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.82, p <0.001), and acute coronary syndrome was more common (HR 1.13; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.27, p <0.042). Adjusted 1-year costs were $24,517 in ranolazine users and $24,798 in conventional users (difference, $-280; 95% CI $-1,742 to $1,181, p = 0.71). In conclusion, ranolazine users had lower rates of coronary artery bypass grafting and all-cause and AF hospitalizations, but higher rates of percutaneous coronary intervention and hospitalizations due to acute coronary syndrome compared with conventional antianginal users. Healthcare costs were similar between ranolazine and conventional antianginal users.
Une succession d'empires: Les historicités d'une société maghrébine (1860-1930)

EnglishThrough the study of trans-Mediterranean legal conflicts over the inheritance of a former Tunisian minister who passed away in Florence in 1887, this paper calls for a new interpretation of the history of modern North Africa. Rather than being based on a close reading of colonial primary sources or depending on a single colonial temporality, this new interpretation must incorporate other analytical frameworks. It must also take into account both the overlap of French and Ottoman imperial temporalities that persisted across the Mediterranean until the 1920s, and the increasing number of litigations initiated before the French colonization of Tunisia—legal cases that were still influencing the rationales of North Africans during the colonial period. Analyzing these litigations not only in terms of their colonial context but also according to other temporalities, as well as diversifying our sources, will allow us to nuance the commonplace, often reiterated in scholarly works on colonial North Africa, that there is a dearth of so-called“local”documentation. North African men and women involved in litigations contributed alongside Europeans to the writing of a huge amount of legal evidence and literary argumentations, including in Arabic. Such sources were not always filed in the colonial archive. They are, however, of paramount importance for conceiving a new interpretation of the modern history of North Africa. francaisEn etudiant un conflit juridique transmediterraneen autour de la succession d'un ancien ministre tunisien mort a Florence en 1887, cet article appelle a une ecriture de l'histoire du Maghreb contemporain qui ne soit pas seulement concue a partir de l’etude des sources coloniales europeennes ou selon une temporalite coloniale mais qui puisse emprunter d'autres cadres d'analyse. Il s'agit aussi de prendre en compte le chevauchement des temporalites imperiales francaise et ottomane en Mediterranee jusqu'aux annees 1920, ainsi que la multiplication des litiges nes avant la colonisation de la Tunisie, des dissensions qui continuaient a fournir des raisons d'agir durant la periode coloniale. Reconsiderer ces conflits non pas a l'aune de la colonisation mais selon leurs multiples temporalites et en diversifiant les sources nuancerait largement l'idee d'une absence de sources dites « locales » souvent avancee dans les etudes d'histoire coloniale du Maghreb. Tout autant que les parties prenantes europeennes, les acteurs maghrebins impliques dans des litiges juridiques furent a l'origine d'une profusion documentaire. Ils n'ont cesse de produire des preuves ecrites et des justifications – y compris litteraires – en langue arabe pour appuyer leurs argumentaires. Les archives coloniales n'ont capte qu'une partie de ces ecrits et donc des sources disponibles pour raconter une autre histoire contemporaine du Maghreb.
The Association of Maternal Perceived Stress With Changes in Their Children's Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010) Scores Over Time.

Background Few studies have examined the role of maternal stress in relation to their children's dietary quality and its trajectory over time. Purpose The objective of this longitudinal study was to examine the effect of baseline maternal stress on the change in their 8- to 12-year-old children's dietary quality over 1 year. Methods Mother-child dyads (N = 189) from the greater Los Angeles area participating in the Mothers' and their Children's Health (MATCH) study in 2014-2016 completed assessments at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. At baseline, mothers (mean age = 41.0 years, standard deviation [SD] = 6.1) completed the 10-item Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). At each time point, children (51% female, mean age = 9.6 years, SD = 0.9) completed up to two 24-hr dietary recalls. Dietary data were used to calculate each child's Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) score at each time point. Multilevel models examined the effect of time on the patterns of change in children's HEI-2010 scores over 1 year and the cross-level interaction between baseline maternal PSS score and time on the change in children's HEI-2010 scores. Results On average, there was no significant linear change in child HEI-2010 across 1 year (b = -0.410, p = .586). Controlling for covariates, the rate of change in HEI-2010 differed depending on mother's baseline PSS (i.e., significant cross-level interaction effect) (b = -0.235, p = .035). Conclusions Our results showed that higher-than-average maternal stress at baseline was associated with greater decline in children's dietary quality over 1 year. Family-based dietary interventions that incorporate maternal stress reduction could have positive effects on children's dietary quality.
An ultrastructural study of sympathetic ganglion satellite cells in the rat 1. Normal and x-ray irradiated satellite cells

The ultrastructure of normal and irradiated satellite cells of the rat superior cervical ganglia was studied. Each neuron is closely and completely invested by satellite cell cytoplasm. The satellite cell cytoplasm usually contains a number of mitochondria, granular endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosome-like bodies, filaments, microtubules, lipid droplets, centriole and cilia. The satellite cell also encloses presynaptic nerve endings, and other nerve fibers. X-ray irradiation produces several changes in the satellite cells. These include: (a) increased nuclear density, (b) marked local widening of the perinuclear space, (c) dilation of granular endoplasmic reticulum and loss of attached ribosomes, (d) swelling of mitochondria with disorganization of mitochondrial cristae and loss of matrix, (e) increase in the number of vacuoles, and (f) increase in the number, size and contents of lysosome-like bodies.
Polarity-Header Optical OFDM for IM/DD Communication Systems

Polarity-header optical OFDM modulation for bandlimited noncoherent optical communication systems improves the spectral efficiency, providing a better bit error rate performance and higher achievable data rate compared with benchmark schemes.
Association Between the Use of Thiazide Diuretics and the Risk of Skin Cancers: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

Background: Thiazide diuretics are among the most widely prescribed antihypertensive agents. Given their photosensitizing effects, however, there are concerns that they may increase the risk of skin cancers. In this meta-analysis, we investigated an association between the use of thiazide diuretics and the risk of skin cancers. Methods: We identified studies by searching three electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library) from their inception to October 30, 2017. Nine relevant observational studies (seven case-control and two cohort studies) were included in this study. Since included studies were unlikely to be functionally equal, pooled estimates were calculated using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: The use of thiazide diuretics was associated with an increased risk of squamous cell carcinoma (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.86; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.23 - 2.80) and marginally increased risk of basal cell carcinoma (aOR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.02 - 1.38) and malignant melanoma (aOR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.01 - 1.29). In the subgroup analysis, hydrochlorothiazide or hydrochlorothiazide combination medications were significantly associated with squamous cell carcinoma without significant heterogeneity among studies (aOR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.79 - 2.33; Higgin’s I 2 value = 0.0 %; Q-statistics = 2.7, P value = 0.445). Conclusions: Our results suggested that the use of thiazide diuretics may be associated with an increased risk of skin cancers. This association was most prominent between the use of hydrochlorothiazide or hydrochlorothiazide combination medications and the risk of squamous cell carcinoma. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings. J Clin Med Res. 2019;11(4):247-255 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jocmr3744
Validation of the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5: A developmentally informed assessment tool for youth.

Objective To describe the test construction procedure and evaluate the internal consistency, criterion-referenced validity, and diagnostic accuracy of the Child/Adolescent Self-Report Version of the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5 (RI-5) across 2 independent samples. Method Study 1 examined the clarity, developmental appropriateness, acceptability of individual RI-5 items, and internal consistency and criterion-referenced validity of the full test. The study 1 sample included 486 youth recruited from 2 major US cities who completed the RI-5 and a measure of depression. Study 2 evaluated the reliability and diagnostic accuracy of the RI-5 in 41 treatment-seeking youth who completed the RI-5 and a “gold standard” structured diagnostic interview, the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5—Child/Adolescent Version. Results RI-5 total scale scores showed excellent internal consistency in the 2 samples. Study 1 provided evidence of criterion-referenced validity, in that total scale scores correlated positively with depressive symptoms. Study 2 provided evidence of diagnostic accuracy (including discriminant-groups validity). RI-5 total scores discriminated youth with from youth without PTSD as benchmarked against the structured diagnostic interview. Further, receiver operating characteristic analyses using a total score of 35 provided excellent diagnostic classification accuracy (area under the curve 0.94). Conclusion The developmental appropriateness and diagnostic accuracy of the RI-5 support its utility for clinical assessment, case conceptualization, and treatment planning in different child-serving systems, including schools, juvenile justice, child welfare, and mental health.
Blood Flow Restriction Therapy Preserves Whole Limb Bone and Muscle Following ACL Reconstruction

Objectives:Patients often experience atrophy and bone loss immediately following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Rehabilitation (rehab) combined with blood flow restriction (BFR) t...
Towards Prediction of Non-Radiative Decay Pathways in Organic Compounds I: The Case of Naphthalene Quantum Yields

Many emerging technologies depend on our ability to control and manipulate the excited-state properties of molecular systems. These technologies include fluorescent labeling in biomedical imaging, ...
Synthesis of a long acting nanoformulated emtricitabine ProTide.

While antiretroviral therapy (ART) has revolutionized treatment and prevention of human immunodeficiency virus type one (HIV-1) infection, regimen adherence, viral mutations, drug toxicities and access stigma and fatigue are treatment limitations. These have led to new opportunities for the development of long acting (LA) ART including implantable devices and chemical drug modifications. Herein, medicinal and formulation chemistry were used to develop LA prodrug nanoformulations of emtricitabine (FTC). A potent lipophilic FTC phosphoramidate prodrug (M2FTC) was synthesized then encapsulated into a poloxamer surfactant (NM2FTC). These modifications extended the biology, apparent drug half-life and antiretroviral activities of the formulations. NM2FTC demonstrated a >30-fold increase in macrophage and CD4+ T cell drug uptake with efficient conversion to triphosphates (FTC-TP). Intracellular FTC-TP protected macrophages against an HIV-1 challenge for 30 days. A single intramuscular injection of NM2FTC, at 45 mg/kg native drug equivalents, into Sprague Dawley rats resulted in sustained prodrug levels in blood, liver, spleen and lymph nodes and FTC-TP in lymph node and spleen cells at one month. In contrast, native FTC-TPs was present for one day. These results are an advance in the transformation of FTC into a LA agent.
Examining Concussion Return-to-Play Protocols in Illinois

Purpose In 2011 and 2014 Illinois passed legislation that requires all schools to have concussion return-to-play (RTP) protocols and emergency action plans (EAPs) for athletic activities. The legislation encourages, but does not require, non-school-based youth sports organizations to have such protocols/plans. Our research aims to describe concussion RTP protocols and emergency action plans (EAPs) implemented by non-school-based youth sports organizations in Illinois. Methods Using Internet searches, we created a database of 272 non-school-based Illinois youth sports organizations that manage at least one league of players under 19 years of …
[18F]DCP, First Generation PET Radiotracer for Diagnosis of Radiation Resistant Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract Redox metabolism plays essential functions in the pathology of cancer. As tumor redox profiles uniquely reflect cancer stage and in select cases, therapeutic sensitivity, the capability to image redox molecular features is essential to improve diagnosis, treatment, and overall quality-of-life (QOL) of cancer patients. While a number of radiotracers for imaging redox metabolism have been developed, there are no reports of radiotracers for in vivo imaging of protein oxidation. Here we take the first step towards this goal and describe the synthesis and kinetic properties of a new positron emission tomography (PET) [18F]DCP radiotracer for in vivo imaging of protein sulfenylation. Time course biodistribution and PET/CT studies using xenograft animal models of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Cancer (HNSCC) demonstrate feasibility of diagnosing radiation resistant tumors, which display lower [18F]DCP signal. These findings are consistent with our previous reports of decreased protein sulfenylation in clinical specimens of radiation resistant HNSCC. We anticipate further development and implementation of this concept in clinical practice to improve the diagnosis of patients with radiation resistant tumors and the accuracy of prognosis for patients undergoing radiation treatment. Single Sentence Summary The study introduces a new PET radiotracer for profiling tumor protein oxidation as a prognostic indicator of resistance to radiation therapy.
Bioluminescent Protein-Inhibitor Pair in the Design of a Molecular Aptamer Beacon Biosensing System

Although bioluminescent molecular beacons designed around resonance quenchers have shown higher signal-to-noise ratios and increased sensitivity compared with fluorescent beacon systems, bioluminescence quenching is still comparatively inefficient. A more elegant solution to inefficient quenching can be realized by designing a competitive inhibitor that is structurally very similar to the native substrate, resulting in essentially complete substrate exclusion. In this work, we designed a conjugated anti-interferon-γ (IFN-γ) molecular aptamer beacon (MAB) attached to a bioluminescent protein, Gaussia luciferase (GLuc), and an inhibitor molecule with a similar structure to the native substrate coelenterazine. To prove that a MAB can be more sensitive and have a better signal-to-noise ratio, a bioluminescence-based assay was developed against IFN-γ and provided an optimized, physiologically relevant detection limit of 1.0 nM. We believe that this inhibitor approach may provide a simple alternative strategy to standard resonance quenching in the development of high-performance molecular beacon-based biosensing systems.
Microstructural evolution of Mo-UO2 cermets under high temperature hydrogen environments

Abstract Ceramic-metallic (cermet) materials show promise for use in nuclear thermal propulsion applications due to attractive thermophysical properties including high temperature stability and high thermal conductivity. In this work, molybdenum-uranium dioxide (Mo-UO2) cermet fuel elements were fabricated by means of spark plasma sintering (SPS) and were subsequently exposed to hydrogen at high temperatures (2500 K). Mo-UO2 samples pre- and post-exposure were characterized by means of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Microscopy analyses of the as-produced material displayed microscopic cracking on the interior of the spherical UO2 fuel particles but confirmed that the fuel particles were fully encapsulated in the Mo matrix. The results further showed mass loss, macroscopic swelling, and cracking in the cermet samples which occurred during high temperature hydrogen testing. Nanoscale swelling was evidenced by XRD in the Mo matrix and UO2 fuel structure due to the incorporation of defects and accompanied microstrain.
Abstract B52: Ewing sarcoma: A case study of clonal aneuploidy and DNA damage repair in pediatric cancer

Many tumor types harbor specific chromosome gains or losses. In Ewing sarcoma (ES) chromosome 8 gain is extremely common, indicating that this trisomy drives tumorigenesis. However, in primary cells, whole chromosome gains and losses are universally detrimental. We hypothesize that gain of chromosome 8 suppresses cellular stresses associated with oncogenic transformation in ES. In this study, we induced expression of EWS-FLI1 fusion oncogene, which drives ES, in various primary human mesenchymal progenitor and fibroblast cells. We showed that expression of EWS-FLI1 results in a strong cell cycle-dependent replication stress in euploid mesenchymal progenitor cells and fibroblast cells. As a consequence, proliferation is impaired when EWS-FLI1 is expressed in these cells. However, primary fibroblast cells carrying an extra copy of chromosome 8 (trisomy 8) exhibit much less replication stress, and the impairment of proliferation was also not seen in these cells. The levels of replication-associated DNA damage are lower in the trisomy 8 cells than in the euploid cells in the presence of EWS-FLI1. Then, we applied weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to RNA sequencing data obtained from ES patient tumor tissues in combination of mouse synteny analysis. We identified multiple potential genes and regions on chromosome 8, which are beneficial to ES oncogenesis when gain of extra copies. Above all, we demonstrate that gain of chromosome 8 in Ewing sarcoma facilitates the primary mesenchymal-lineage cells to overcome certain oncogenic stresses and reduces DNA damage associated with tumorigenic processes, which is achieved by cooperative upregulation of multiple gene expression on chromosome 8. Citation Format: Xiaofeng A. Su, Duanduan Ma, James V. Parsons, John M. Replogle, James F. Amatruda, Charles A. Whittaker, Kimberly Stegmaier, Angelika Amon. Ewing sarcoma: A case study of clonal aneuploidy and DNA damage repair in pediatric cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 17-20; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(14 Suppl):Abstract nr B52.
Phenotypic Characterization of Transgenic Mice Expressing Human IGFBP-5

Pulmonary fibrosis is one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality in fibroproliferative disorders such as systemic sclerosis (SSc) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-5 (IGFBP-5) is a conserved member of the IGFBP family of proteins that is overexpressed in SSc and IPF lung tissues. In this study, we investigated the functional role of IGFBP-5 in the development of fibrosis in vivo using a transgenic model. We generated transgenic mice ubiquitously expressing human IGFBP-5 using CRISPR/Cas9 knock-in. Our data show that the heterozygous and homozygous mice are viable and express human IGFBP-5 (hIGFBP-5). Transgenic mice had increased expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) genes, especially Col3a1, Fn, and Lox in lung and skin tissues of mice expressing higher transgene levels. Histologic analysis of the skin tissues showed increased dermal thickness, and the lung histology showed subtle changes in the heterozygous and homozygous mice as compared with the wild-type mice. These changes were more pronounced in animals expressing higher levels of hIGFBP-5. Bleomycin increased ECM gene expression in wild-type mice and accentuated an increase in ECM gene expression in transgenic mice, suggesting that transgene expression exacerbated bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Primary lung fibroblasts cultured from lung tissues of homozygous transgenic mice showed significant increases in ECM gene expression and protein levels, further supporting the observation that IGFBP-5 resulted in a fibrotic phenotype in fibroblasts. In summary, transgenic mice expressing human IGFBP-5 could serve as a useful animal model for examining the function of IGFBP-5 in vivo.