cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anxiety disorders in older Puerto Rican primary care patients.

Objective Authors examined the frequency and comorbidity of anxiety disorders among aging Puerto Ricans seen in primary care. Methods A group of 303 middle-aged and older low-socioeconomic-status Puerto Ricans attending primary-care clinics were surveyed, using a Spanish-language diagnostic interview. Results Twenty-four percent of participants met probable DSM criteria for at least one anxiety disorder in the previous year, especially generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobia, and panic attacks. Psychiatric comorbidity was common; the occurrence of most anxiety disorders increased the conditional risk of a comorbid disorder from 5- to 30-fold. Conclusions The present results suggest a need to screen at-risk patients in primary care settings serving this population.
Pancreatic sarcoidosis discovered during Whipple procedure

Pancreatic sarcoidosis is a rare variant of systemic sarcoidosis, with cases described in literature as recently as January 2010. We present here a case of pancreatic involvement with non-caseating granulomas discovered on laparotomy in a patient with a preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. Computer tomography scan without contrast revealed a well-marginated smooth-shaped tumor in the head of the pancreas morphologically consistent with malignancy. During Whipple procedure, the mass was found to be a large lymph node that contained numerous non-caseating granulomas. Radiologically and clinically, non-caseating granulomas of the pancreas are often misdiagnosed as malignant tumor. Special attention given to this differential diagnosis by surgeons, pathologists and clinicians can avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.
Variations in cross-bridge attachment rate and tension with phosphorylation of myosin in mammalian skinned skeletal muscle fibers: Implications for twitch potentiation in intact muscle

The Ca2+ sensitivities of the rate constant of tension redevelopment (ktr; Brenner, B., and E. Eisenberg. 1986. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 83:3542-3546) and isometric force during steady-state activation were examined as functions of myosin light chain 2 (LC2) phosphorylation in skinned single fibers from rabbit and rat fast-twitch skeletal muscles. To measure ktr the fiber was activated with Ca2+ and steady isometric tension was allowed to develop; subsequently, the fiber was rapidly (less than 1 ms) released to a shorter length and then reextended by approximately 200 nm per half sarcomere. This maneuver resulted in the complete dissociation of cross-bridges from actin, so that the subsequent redevelopment of tension was related to the rate of cross-bridge reattachment. The time course of tension redevelopment, which was recorded under sarcomere length control, was best fit by a first-order exponential equation (i.e., tension = C(1 - e-kt) to obtain the value of ktr. In control fibers, ktr increased sigmoidally with increases in [Ca2+]; maximum values of ktr were obtained at pCa 4.5 and were significantly greater in rat superficial vastus lateralis fibers (26.1 +/- 1.2 s-1 at 15 degrees C) than in rabbit psoas fibers (18.7 +/- 1.0 s-1). Phosphorylation of LC2 was accomplished by repeated Ca2+ activations (pCa 4.5) of the fibers in solutions containing 6 microM calmodulin and 0.5 microM myosin light chain kinase, a protocol that resulted in an increase in LC2 phosphorylation from approximately 10% in the control fibers to greater than 80% after treatment. After phosphorylation, ktr was unchanged at maximum or very low levels of Ca2+ activation. However, at intermediate levels of Ca2+ activation, between pCa 5.5 and 6.2, there was a significant increase in ktr such that this portion of the ktr-pCa relationship was shifted to the left. The steady-state isometric tension-pCa relationship, which in control fibers was left shifted with respect to the ktr-pCa relationship, was further left-shifted after LC2 phosphorylation. Phosphorylation of LC2 had no effect upon steady-state tension during maximum Ca2+ activation. In fibers from which troponin C was partially extracted to disrupt molecular cooperativity within the thin filament (Moss et al. 1985. Journal of General Physiology. 86:585-600), the effect of LC2 phosphorylation to increase the Ca2+ sensitivity of steady-state isometric force was no longer evident, although the effect of phosphorylation to increase ktr was unaffected by this maneuver.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Raman Study of Iron–Phosphate Crystalline Compounds and Glasses

Ferrous and ferric phosphate crystalline compounds and glasses were studied using Raman spectroscopy. A comparison of the spectra from crystalline and glassy ortho-, pyro-, and metaphosphates indicates that similar phosphate anions constitute the structures of the respective materials, and some information about the compositional dependence of the phosphate-site distributions in the glasses can be gleaned from relative peak intensities. A correlation exists between the average P–O bond distance and the Raman peak frequencies in the crystalline compounds, and this correlation is used to provide information about the structures of the iron phosphate glasses. For example, the average P–O bond distance is estimated to decrease from about 1.57 A for iron metaphosphate glasses (O/P∼3.0) to 1.54 A for iron orthophosphate glasses (O/P∼4.0). These bond distances are in good agreement with those reported from diffraction studies of similar glasses.
Electrical Properties and Defect Structure of Y2O3

The defect structure of high-purity, polycrystalline HfO2 was investigated by measuring the oxygen partial pressure dependence of the electrical conductivity and the sample weight. From 1000° to 1500°C and above oxygen partial pressures of 10 −6, the conductivity is electronic and proportional to po21/5. The predominant defect is completely ionized hafnium vacancies. At lower oxygen partial pressures a broad shallow minimum in the lower temperature conductivity isotherms indicates the presence of an oxygen pressure independent source of electronic charge carriers. By combining the weight change and conductivity data, mobility values were found to vary from 1.6 × 10−3 to 3 × 10−4 cm2/V-sec. The activation energies for the hole mobilities were calculated to be 0.2 ev above 1300° C and 0.7 ev below this temperature.
Electrospun fine-textured scaffolds for heart tissue constructs

The structural and functional effects of fine-textured matrices with sub-micron features on the growth of cardiac myocytes were examined. Electrospinning was used to fabricate biodegradable non-woven poly(lactide)- and poly(glycolide)-based (PLGA) scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering applications. Post-processing was applied to achieve macro-scale fiber orientation (anisotropy). In vitro studies confirmed a dose-response effect of the poly(glycolide) concentration on the degradation rate and the pH value changes. Different formulations were examined to assess scaffold effects on cell attachment, structure and function. Primary cardiomyocytes (CMs) were cultured on the electrospun scaffolds to form tissue-like constructs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the fine fiber architecture of the non-woven matrix allowed the cardiomyocytes to make extensive use of provided external cues for isotropic or anisotropic growth, and to some extent to crawl inside and pull on fibers. Structural analysis by confocal microscopy indicated that cardiomyocytes had a preference for relatively hydrophobic surfaces. CMs on electrospun poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) scaffolds developed mature contractile machinery (sarcomeres). Functionality (excitability) of the engineered constructs was confirmed by optical imaging of electrical activity using voltage-sensitive dyes. We conclude that engineered cardiac tissue structure and function can be modulated by the chemistry and geometry of the provided nano- and micro-textured surfaces. Electrospinning is a versatile manufacturing technique for design of biomaterials with potentially reorganizable architecture for cell and tissue growth.
Uptake of fertilizer nitrogen and soil nitrogen by rice using 15 N-labelled nitrogen fertilizer.

Data from five field experiments using labelled nitrogen fertilizer were used to determine the relative effects of soil nitrogen and fertilizer nitrogen on rice yield. Yield of grain was closely correlated with total aboveground nitrogen uptake (soil+fertilizer), less closely correlated with soil nitrogen uptake and not significantly correlated with fertilizer nitrogen uptake. When yield increase rather than yield was correlated with fertilizer nitrogen uptake, the correlation coefficient was statistically significant.
An undergraduate parallel processing laboratory

A modest transputer laboratory was established at the Electrical Engineering Department, Louisiana Tech. University. This laboratory is used to introduce undergraduate electrical engineering students to parallel processing. The author discusses course development and then describes five laboratory experiments: introduction to Express, node analysis, event driven profiling, performance analysis, and matrix multiplication. >
Complex Regulation of CDK2 During Phorbol Ester-Induced Hematopoietic Differentiation

Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) treatment of U937 human leukemic cells results in late G1 cell cycle arrest and terminal monocyte/macrophage-like differentiation. The PMA-induced G1 arrest involves a marked decrease in cdk2 activity, which correlates with total cdk2 dephosphorylation. Here, we show that the levels of cyclin A mRNA and protein markedly decrease during PMA-induced differentiation of U937 cells. In contrast, the level of cyclin E protein remains unchanged and in a complex with cdk2 during the entire course of PMA treatment. During the PMA-induced differentiation, cyclin E-associated cdk2 activity drops markedly. Furthermore, the amount of p27Kip1 protein associated with cyclin E/cdk2 greatly increases 24 to 72 hours after PMA treatment. The absence of changes in p27Kip1 mRNA levels by Northern blot suggest that the levels of this protein are controlled by posttranscriptional or posttranslational mechanism(s). These results show that the mechanisms mediating PMA-induced G1 arrest are complex. The inhibition of cdk2 activity is associated with (1) a decrease in cyclin A protein levels, (2) inactivation of cdk2 complexes, and (3) upregulation of p27Kip1 protein.
On the effect of spatial variability and support on validation of remote sensing observations of CO2

Abstract Validation of ground-based and satellite remote sensing CO2 observations involves comparisons among platforms and with in situ airborne measurements. Several factors unrelated to observational errors can lead to mismatches between measurements, and must be assessed to avoid misinterpreting actual differences in observed values as errors. Here we explore the impact of CO2 horizontal variability and differences in the spatial support of measurements. Case studies based on flights over Walnut Grove and Petaluma, California, are used to compare hypothetical airborne, TCCON, GOSAT, and OCO-2 measurements. We find that high CO2 variability can lead to differences in inferred X CO 2 (1) of over 0.5 ppm between airborne and remote sensing observations, due to the spatial mismatch between spiral flight trajectories and atmospheric columns, and (2) of up to 0.3 ppm among remote sensing platforms, due to differences in the spatial support of observations. Horizontal CO2 variability must therefore be considered in intercomparisons aimed at validation of remote sensing observations.
Cervical cancer screening in developing countries at a crossroad: Emerging technologies and policy choices

Cervical cancer (CC) represents the fourth most common malignancy affecting women all over the world and is the second most common in developing areas. In these areas, the burden from disease remains important because of the difficulty in implementing cytology-based screening programmes. The main obstacles inherent to these countries are poverty and a lack of healthcare infrastructures and trained practitioners. With the availability of new technologies, researchers have attempted to find new strategies that are adapted to low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) to promote early diagnosis of cervical pathology. Current evidence suggests that human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is more effective than cytology for CC screening. Therefore, highly sensitive tests have now been developed for primary screening. Rapid molecular methods for detecting HPV DNA have only recently been commercially available. This constitutes a milestone in CC screening in low-resource settings because it may help overcome the great majority of obstacles inherent to previous screening programmes. Despite several advantages, HPV-based screening has a low positive predictive value for CC, so that HPV-positive women need to be triaged with further testing to determine optimal management. Visual inspection tests, cytology and novel biomarkers are some options. In this review, we provide an overview of current and emerging screening approaches for CC. In particular, we discuss the challenge of implementing an efficient cervical screening adapted to LMIC and the opportunity to introduce primary HPV-based screening with the availability of point-of-care (POC) HPV testing. The most adapted screening strategy to LMIC is still a work in progress, but we have reasons to believe that POC HPV testing makes part of the future strategies in association with a triage test that still needs to be defined.
Professional Confidentiality: A Guide for Self-Vigilance

When pharmacists discuss confidentiality, they are usually referring to patient confidentiality. Ever since the 1996 Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, we have changed how we do business from prescription processing to protection of electronic health information. However, pharmacists deal with many other confidential processes. Are we as vigilant about maintaining confidentiality in these areas?
Silicide-Silicon Interface States +

The existence and nature of localized states at metal-semiconductor interfaces are long-standing scientific issues that have not been resolved. As device dimensions continue to shrink and packing density continues to increase, interfaces at silicide-silicon contacts will be increasingly influential in determining the circuit behavior. Characterization of these interfaces, whether as ohmic contacts or rectifying junctions, is a necessity for microelectronics. Therefore, the study of silicide-silicon interfaces are important both scientifically and technologically. In this talk, we shall review the theoretical models of the Schottky barrier and the importance of interface states. We shall then introduce available experimental tools for interface state studies. In particular, we shall discuss the measurement of silicide-silicon interface states by an accurate-phase capacitance spectroscopy (APCS). Some of the devices were fabricated with standard chemical cleaning before metal evaporation. Others were prepared in an UHV chamber with heat cleaning before metal deposition. For palladium suicide diodes, the behavior of both chemically-cleaned and UHV-prepared samples is similar. The peak position of the capacitance spectrum correlates with the barrier height, and the magnitude of the peak decreases by a factor of three after annealing. In the case of nickel suicide diodes, a comparison between epitaxial and non-epitaxial interfaces shows much lower interface state density for the former. Experimental data indicate that suicide formation and interfacial perfection are important in specifying the Fermi level.
Intracellular acidification inhibits opposum kidney cell phosphate uptake

The aim of our study is to examine the effect of intracellular pH (pHi) on inorganic phosphate (Pi) uptake by a proximal tubular cell line, the opposum kidney (OK) cells. The OK cell pHi (7.48 +/- 0.02; n = 12) was altered to levels between 6.5 and 8.5 by the high-K+ nigericin method, and cell uptakes were measured at 7.5 extracellular pH. It was found that pHi acidification suppressed Pi uptake with a decrease in maximal reaction rate, whereas alkalinization had no significant effect. Other Na(+)-dependent transport systems for glucose and amino acid were not affected by these pHi changes. The inhibition of cell Pi uptake by pHi acidification was not prevented by protein synthesis inhibitors (actinomycin D or cycloheximide) or by Na+/H+ exchange inhibitor [5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl)-amiloride]. pHi acidification caused a significant decrease in cellular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) content, and cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor (H-89) also did not prevent inhibition of cell Pi uptake by pHi acidification. However, pHi acidification stimulated protein kinase C (PKC) activity and inhibition of PKC by PKC inhibitors (bisindolylmaleimide, calphostin C, or staurosporine) or prolonged exposure to phorbol ester abrogated the inhibitory effect of pHi acidification on cell Pi uptake. In summary, these studies showed that pHi acidification inhibits Pi uptake in OK cells, probably through PKC activation. These effects of pHi acidification may thus contribute to increase acid excretion in systemic acidosis.
Discussion for the Influence Factor and the Prevention of the Children Adiposis

With advance of standard of living and change of life style,incidence of infant adiposity are improving year after year. So we analyze infection factors and prevention of infant adiposity. Inherit factors,pregnant period norishment,family motivation,west food and drink mode,badness habit of food and drink,action factors,action fashion,nerve centre modulation became important factors of infant adiposity. According to characteristic of infant growth,we constitute technique according to the basic of sport and the key of action rectification and prevention measures according to the leading of food and drink comfiguration modulation and health education. To promote the infant grow up healthily.
178 Neurokinin 3 Receptor antagonist reduces senktide-induced internalization of NEUROKININ 3 RECEPTOR in supraoptic neurons.

Magnocellular neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) of the hypothalamus are known to express neurokinin 3 receptors (NK-3R). Senktide (an NK-3R agonist) stimulated vasopressin (VP) release from explants of the hypopthalamoneurohypophyseal system (HNS) in vitro and induced internalization of NK-3R when injected immediately above SON in vivo. A1 neurons projecting from medulla to SON express substance P (SP), and SP stimulates VP and oxytocin (OT) release from HNS explants. However, pretreatment with an NK-3R antagonist (SB23575) did not prevent SP-stimulated VP release. In order to confirm the antagonistic actions of SB23575 in SON neurons, senktide-induced internalization of NK-3R in SON neurons was evaluated in the presence and absence of SB23575. Rats were surgically prepared with a unilateral cannula located immediately above SON. Four days later, animals were anesthetized with avertin (2,2,2-tribromoethanol), and 60 min later, 2 μL of antagonist (100 μM) or vehicle (PBS) was microinjected above the SON, followed 15 minutes later by injection of senktide (2 μL, 100 nM). Animals were perfused 5 minutes later with 4% paraformaldehye and 3% acrolein; their brains were frozen, sectioned at 30 microns, and stained for NK-3R immunoreactivity. Images were captured using confocal microscopy and the number of NK3-R-IR endosomes was counted in 5.62 μm regions of cytoplasm in 10 SON neurons on each side of the brain. PBS/senktide-treated animals showed an increase in cytoplasmic endosome localization (10.3 P138} 0.42 vs 4.58 ± 0.35 on the nontreated side, p Supported by NIH RO1 NS44835 to CDS and a NIDDK short-term traineeship.
Prostate Cancer Epigenome

Prostate cancer is a major health burden within the ever-increasingly aging US population. The molecular mechanisms involved in prostate cancer are diverse and heterogeneous. In this context, epigenetic changes, both global and gene specific, are now an emerging alternate mechanism in disease initiation and progression. The three major risk factors in prostate cancer: age, geographic ancestry, and environment are all influenced by epigenetics and additional significant insight is required to gain an understanding of the underlying mechanisms. The androgen receptor and its downstream effector pathways, central to prostate cancer initiation and progression, are subject to a multitude of epigenetic alterations. In this review we focus on the global perspective of epigenetics and the use of recent next-generation sequencing platforms to interrogate epigenetic changes in the prostate cancer genome.
Bat Occurrence and Habitat Preference on the Delmarva Peninsula

Abstract White-nose syndrome (WNS) and wind-turbine facilities on the Delmarva Peninsula are emerging threats to the peninsula's current bat fauna. However, until our study, there had been no assessment of bat populations or their habitats in that region. The purpose of our research was to fill this gap by using 28 road-based transects and 24 passive-monitoring sites to acoustically monitor bats across the peninsula. In total, we recorded 4432 bat-call sequences and documented the presence of at least 6 species: Lasiurus borealis (Eastern Red Bat), Eptesicus fuscus (Big Brown Bat), Nycticeius humeralis (Evening Bat), L. cinereus (Hoary Bat), Perimyotis subflavus (Tri-colored Bat), 1 or more species in the genus Myotis, and potentially Lasionycteris noctivagans (Silver-haired Bat). Given the similarity in call structure between Silver-haired and Big Brown Bats, we cannot say with certainty the former were present. Eastern Red Bats, Evening Bats, and Hoary Bats were relatively widespread and abundant; Tri-c...
Development and validation of a rapid test system for detection of pork meat and collagen residues

Mislabeling, contamination, and economic adulteration of meat products with undeclared pork tissues are illegal under regulations promulgated by numerous regulatory agencies. Nonetheless, analysis of the European meat industry has revealed pervasive meat adulteration, necessitating more extensive application of meat authentication testing. As existing methods for meat speciation require specialized equipment and/or training, we developed a detection system based on a lateral flow device (LFD) assay format capable of rapidly (~35min) identifying porcine residues derived from raw meat, cooked meat, and gelatin down to 0.01%, 1.0%, and 2.5% contamination, respectively. Specificity analysis revealed no cross-reactivity with meat derived from chicken, turkey, horse, beef, lamb, or goat. Comparison with a commercial ELISA kit and PCR method revealed similar if not improved sensitivity, with the added feature that the LFD-based system required considerably less time to perform. Accordingly, this test system should aid the food industry and food control authorities in monitoring for adulteration with pork.
Financing the International Organization Conclusions

In its recommendations to the General Assembly, the Preparatory Commission called for financial and budgetary arrangements which would be “so designed as to promote efficient and economical administration, and command the confidence of Members.” As one of the basic sets of requirements for any fiscal system, it behooves us to appraise the extent to which the United Nations has measured up to them, particularly in comparison with its forerunner, the League of Nations.
Spectroscopic determination of thermal impulse in sub-second heating events using lanthanide-doped oxide precursors and phenomenological modeling

Using a mixture of crystalline-Ho:ZrO2, precursor-Dy:Y2O3, and precursor-Eu:ZrO2 nanoparticles we develop thermal impulse sensors capable of measuring equivalent isothermal temperatures and durations during a heating event, with response times of <100 ms, and a temperature range of at least 673 K to 1173 K. In order to determine the temperature and duration from the sensors after the heating event we measure the sensors' fluorescence spectrum, which is then compared with lab based calibration data. By using two precursor materials with different reaction kinetics we are able to extract both temperature and duration. Based on blind sample testing we find that the sensors and calculation method are accurate for measuring temperature and duration, but currently suffer a lack of precision due to difficulties in producing homogeneously heated samples.
Sage on the stage or bore at the board

In preparing this essay, I reviewed some ancient (pre-PowerPoint) texts on lectures to see if things have changed. What I found was not too surprising.Cooper (1981) classified lectures as informati...
Inkjet and Aerosol Jet Printing of Electrochemical Devices for Energy Conversion and Storage

Inkjet and aerosol jet printing have recently emerged as promising fabrication techniques for a broad range of devices for electrochemical energy conversion and storage – batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. If fully realized, these printing techniques may enable device performance advantages accruing from precise micron scale patterning, thin layer deposition, and materials grading. Printing may also allow scalable, low materials waste manufacturing, and conformal integration of power elements into structural elements. This article reviews the fundamental capabilities of inkjet and aerosol jet printing relevant to electrochemical devices, surveys current literature, and presents future challenges which must be tackled to achieve high performance, printed electrochemical energy storage, and conversion devices.
Neuropsychological outcomes from deep brain stimulation—stimulation versus micro-lesion

As one of the most pivotal innovations in neurotherapeutics, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has transformed the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease over the last 30 years (1). The most common targets of DBS used to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include the globus pallidus pars internus (GPi), subthalamic nucleus (STN) and to a lesser extent the ventral-intermediate nucleus of the thalamus (VIM). Since the development of STN DBS for Parkinson’s disease in 1993, numerous studies have demonstrated the many motor benefits of stimulation (2,3). DBS of the STN results in lessening motor fluctuations, reduction of dyskinesias by more than 50%, and marked improvements up to 40–60% in OFF symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia and rigidity, which results in improvement in the patients’ quality of life (4,5). DBS is typically well tolerated but can be associated with side effects. Although reports vary, STN DBS has been associated with multiple areas of cognitive decline, most consistently demonstrated in changes in verbal fluency. In a recent meta-analysis of available data, patients with STN stimulation were found to have mild deficits in psychomotor speed, memory, attention, executive functions, and overall cognition with more moderate declines in both semantic and phonemic verbal fluency (6). The etiology of these cognitive declines is likely multifactorial with a contribution from the underlying neurodegenerative nature of Parkinson’s disease. However, patients with DBS regardless of the target (STN or GPi), show more cognitive decline when compared to patients undergoing treatment with best medical therapy as measured in processing speed, working memory, and other neuropsychological testing (7). Attempts to topographically map the human STN have suggested that placement of the DBS electrodes within the anterior aspect of the ventral STN is related to additional neuropsychological sequelae (8).
The role of plant water storage and hydraulic strategies in relation to soil moisture availability

Plants rely on water storage capacity to increase accessibility of water for transpiration, reduce competition for water with neighboring plants, and buffer water supply during dry periods. The resulting benefits, typically a decrease in plant water stress and increase in productivity, are highly climate dependent and vary with soil moisture, vapor pressure deficit, and solar radiation. This paper analyzes the effects of plant water storage capacity on the relationship between soil moisture and carbon assimilation in woody plants. A resistance-capacitance model is used to examine the role of plant water storage at various soil moisture levels. Hydraulic traits are co-varied according to empirical relationships, and effects of sapwood volume and wood density on carbon assimilation are explored. The time scales of plant water storage and withdrawal are analyzed as a function of plant hydraulic capacitance, water storage capacity, and resistance to transport between water storage tissue and xylem. The effects of plant water storage on carbon assimilation are found to depend strongly on soil moisture levels. The theoretically optimal sapwood volume lies near naturally occurring ranges and increases with increasing soil moisture. The theoretically optimal wood density also lies within expected ranges and decreases with increasing soil moisture. A large portion of sapwood volume appears to be justified by its role in buffering diurnal variability in evaporative demand. The outlined coordination between soil moisture and optimal hydraulic traits is consistent with observed increases in sapwood capacitance and decreases in wood density across increasing rainfall gradients. This coordination provides support for the drought-tolerance vs. drought-avoidance hypothesis.
Crystal Formation in the Renal Tubules of Rats Induced by Ethylene Glycol Administration and Magnesium Deficiency

Many previous studies have employed diet-inducing hypomagnesemic or hyperoxaluric protocols in experiments with rats and other animals to investigate aspects of renal calculus disease. Several early investigators focused on the renal tubules and papillae in an attempt to delineate the earliest histological and ultrastructural stages of hydroxyapatite deposition induced by hypomagnesemic protocols1. Later investigators employed vitamin B6 deficient diets and ethylene glycol administration to induce hyperoxaluria and subsequent renal tubular calcium oxalate crystal formation2, 3, 4. More recently intraperitoneal injection of sodium oxalate has been used to induce calcium oxalate intranephronic calculosis5, 6, 7. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the combined effects of hyperoxaluric and hypomagnesemic protocols in the rat kidney and to describe ultrastructural features of the formation of the experimentally induced crystals.
Multi-frequency LSM for buried object detection

We consider the problem of detecting buried objects by means of a multi-static qualitative electromagnetic inverse scattering method, known as the Linear Sampling Method (LSM), under a sparse aperture antenna arrangement. In particular we propose a so called frequency variation scheme that seeks to exploit frequency diversity to mitigate the well known effects of sub-sampled spatial data when applying this imaging scheme. The proposed objective function is efficiently solved using an Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) approach and is shown to improve imaging performance. We demonstrate this claim here using a simulated 2D transverse electric (TE) forward scattering model.
Parasites! Graphic Exploration of Tropical Disease Drug Development.

Developing drugs for profit is challenged in Parasites!, a patient education comic that highlights the need for unprofitable drugs for tropical diseases.
Nonreversing mirrors elicit behaviour that more accurately predicts performance against live opponents

Mirror image stimulation has a long history of being used to quantify aggressive behaviour but its suitability has recently been questioned because behavioural responses towards a mirror image and towards a real opponent are not always correlated, and are associated with different physiological responses. These discrepancies might result from lateral-display behaviour, which provides a way for animals, particularly fish, to assess fighting ability during early stages of a contest. With a regular mirror, species that prefer head–tail orientation during lateral display are unable to do so, which might lead to aberrant responses that would not accurately reflect behaviour in a real contest. We designed a nonreversing mirror test by connecting two regular mirrors at a 90-degree angle, allowing animals to see and interact with their image in head–tail postures. We compared behavioural indices in three standardized aggression tests (using a regular mirror, a nonreversing mirror or a size-matched, three-dimensional inanimate model) and in real fights to examine which test best predicted aggression in real fights between mangrove rivulus fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus. Individuals tested with both regular and nonreversing mirrors preferred using right-lateral displays, while those tested with a nonreversing mirror delivered more attacks than those tested with the regular mirror and the model. Individuals with higher frequencies of attack towards the nonreversing mirror had higher winning probabilities in real fights. Contests involving individuals that differed considerably in aggression exhibited towards the nonreversing mirror were less intense and shorter in duration. However, individual differences in performance in tests using the regular mirror and model did not predict contest dynamics. These results support the hypothesis that nonreversing mirrors, but not regular mirrors or models, elicit behaviour that corresponds with the fishes' performance during real fights. Our study validated the nonreversing mirror as a new method for quantifying aggression with the potential to broadly impact research ranging from neurobiology and behaviour to population ecology and evolutionary biology.
Multilevel group testing via sparse-graph codes

In this paper, we consider the problem of multi-level group testing, where the goal is to recover a set of K defective items in a set of n items by pooling groups of items and observing the result of each test. The main difference of multilevel group testing with the classical non-adaptive group testing problem is that the result of each test is an integer in the set [L] = {0,1, • • •, L}: if there are i < L defective items in the pool, the result of the test is i, and if there are more than L items in the pool, the result of the test is L. We develop a multilevel group testing algorithm using sparse-graph codes that has low sample and computational complexity. More precisely, with high probability, our algorithm provably recovers (1 — ∊) fraction of the defective items using C(∊, L)K log(n) tests, where C(∊, L) is a constant that only depends on ∊ and the number of levels L, and it can be precisely characterized for arbitrary L and e. Furthermore, the computational complexity of our algorithm is O(K log(n)). As an example, our algorithm is able to recover (1 — 10−3) fraction of the defective items with only 13.8K log(n) measurements for L = 2. We also provide numerical results that show tight agreement with our theoretical results.
Library Preparation and Data Analysis Packages for Rapid Genome Sequencing

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) has quickly become a valuable tool for comparative genetics and genomics and is now regularly carried out in laboratories that are not connected to large sequencing centers. Here we describe an updated version of our protocol for constructing single- and paired-end Illumina sequencing libraries, beginning with purified genomic DNA. The present protocol can also be used for "multiplexing," i.e. the analysis of several samples in a single flowcell lane by generating "barcoded" or "indexed" Illumina sequencing libraries in a way that is independent from Illumina-supported methods. To analyze sequencing results, we suggest several independent approaches but end users should be aware that this is a quickly evolving field and that currently many alignment (or "mapping") and counting algorithms are being developed and tested.
Four-year follow-up of a single arm, phase II clinical trial of ibrutinib with rituximab (IR) in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Ibrutinib has shown significant activity in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (RR-MCL). We report the long-term outcome and safety profile of a single-centre, single arm, open-label, phase 2 study of RR-MCL treated with IR. Overall, the median follow-up time was 47 months (range 1-52 months), median duration on treatment was 16 months (range 1-53 months) and median number of treatment cycles was 17 (range 1-56). Twenty-nine patients (58%) achieved complete remission and of these, 12 patients continue on study. Thirty-eight patients discontinued treatment, 14 due to disease progression (2 transformed). Patients with blastoid morphology, high risk MCL International Prognostic Index score and high Ki67% had inferior survival. The commonest grade 1-2 toxicities were fatigue, diarrhoea, nausea, arthralgias and myalgias. None had long term toxicities. Median progression-free survival was 43 months. Eighteen patients (36%) died (14 deaths were MCL-related). The median overall survival has not been reached. Treatment with IR can provide durable remissions in a subset of patients with RR-MCL, especially those with low Ki67%. The possible benefit of adding other therapies in combination with IR in RR-MCL is under exploration.
Durability of Low Melt Alloys as Thermal Interface Materials

This paper focuses on developing a reliable thermal interface material (TIM) using low melt alloys (LMAs) containing gallium (Ga), indium (In), bismuth (Bi), and tin (Sn). The investigation described herein involved the in situ thermal performance of the LMAs as well as performance evaluation after accelerated life cycle testing, which included isothermal aging at 130°C and thermal cycling from −40°C to 80°C. Three alloys (75.5Ga &24.5In, 100Ga, and 51In, 32.5Bi &16.5Sn) were chosen for testing the thermal performance. Testing methodologies used follow ASTM D5470 protocols and the results are compared with some commercially available TIMs. The LMAs-substrate interaction was investigated by applying the alloys using different surface treatments (copper and tungsten). Measurements show that the alloys did survive extended aging and cycling depending upon the substrate-alloy combinations.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Quantum-Oriented Electrochemistry

Since electrons and protons are quantum particles, their behavior and reactivity should be treated in terms of quantum-mechanical concepts. The first application of quantum-mechanical concepts to electrochemical reactions was made by R. W. Gurney as early as 1931.1
Myelopathy from Waldenström's macroglobulinemia: improvement after Rituximab therapy.

Approximately 20% of patients with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) have neurological complications; primarily peripheral neuropathies and symptoms related to a hyperviscosity syndrome. We report a rare case of a patient presenting with a slowly progressive myelopathy due to WM who had a marked response to Rituximab therapy.
The Cranial and Mandibular Remains

The Shanidar Neandertal sample is noteworthy for the amount of cranial and mandibular material it preserves. Most of the cranium and virtually all of the mandible of Shanidar 1 remain. Shanidar 2 retains much of the maxillae and mandible and major portions of the orbital region and posterior cranial vault. The substantial portions of the Shanidar 4 skull exist, but it has been possible to reassemble only parts of its frontal bone, maxillae, and mandible. Shanidar 5 retains most of his maxillae, orbits, and frontal bone and most of the left parietal and temporal bones. Shanidar 6 preserves only a small piece of its left maxilla, zygomatic bone, and right alveolus and Shanidar 8 retains its left infraorbital foramen. Although only Shanidar 1 presents a largely complete skull, it is possible to obtain an accurate picture of the overall cranial morphology of three of the individuals—Shanidar 1, 2, and 5—and significant information from Shanidar 4. This chapter describes the cranial and mandibular remains of each of the six individuals, discusses the morphological patterns evident in the sample, and presents the morphometric data for all of the crania and the mandibular data. The Shanidar crania and mandibulae provide a picture of a sample with morphological affinities to the Near Eastern and European Neandertals. This is evident primarily in the morphology of the facial skeleton and the temporal and occipital regions. However, within the context of a Neandertal morphological pattern, there are aspects that are unique to the Shanidar sample and there is considerable variation.
Facile synthesis of Pt–Ag octahedral and tetrahedral nanocrystals with enhanced activity and durability toward methanol oxidation

Engineering the surface structure, together with the incorporation of a second metal, is an effective strategy for boosting the catalytic activities of Pt-based catalysts toward various reactions. Here, we report a facile approach to the synthesis of Pt–Ag octahedral and tetrahedral nanocrystals covered by concave surfaces. The presence of the Ag(I) precursor not only facilitated the reduction of the Pt(IV) precursor but also led to the formation of concaved facets on the Pt–Ag nanocrystals. Besides, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) was demonstrated to serve as a co-reductant, in addition to its role as a colloidal stabilizer. Using PVP with different molecular weights, we were able to tune the size of the Pt–Ag nanocrystals in the range of 9–25 and 14–32 nm for the octahedral and tetrahedral shapes, respectively. The Pt–Ag nanocrystals exhibited 4.6- and 2.0-fold enhancements in terms of specific and mass activities, respectively, toward methanol oxidation, when benchmarked against the commercial Pt/C catalyst. After 1000 cycles of the accelerated tests, the specific and mass activities of the Pt–Ag nanocrystals were still 3.6 and 1.6 times as high as those of the original commercial Pt/C.
Bile-Derived Organoids From Patients With Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis Recapitulate Their Inflammatory Immune Profile

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a heterogeneous and progressive fibroinflammatory cholangiopathy with no known etiology or effective treatment. Studies of PSC are limited due to difficulty in accessing the cholangiocyte, the small percentage of these cells in the liver, instability of in vitro culture systems, and reliance on samples from end-stage disease. Here, we demonstrate that stem cells can be isolated from the bile of PSC patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography earlier in their clinical course and maintained long term in vitro as three-dimensional (3D) organoids that express a biliary genetic phenotype. Additionally, bile-derived organoids (BDOs) can be biobanked and samples obtained longitudinally over the course of the disease. These BDOs express known cholangiocyte markers including gamma glutamyl transferase, cytokeratin 19, epithelial cellular adhesion molecule, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, and anion exchanger 2. RNA sequence analysis identified 39 genes whose expression differed in organoids from PSC patients compared to non-PSC controls, including human leukocyte antigen DM alpha chain and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20 (CCL20), immune-related genes previously described in genome-wide association studies of PSC. Incubation of these BDOs with interleukin 17A or tumor necrosis factor alpha led to an immune-reactive phenotype with a significant increase in secretion of proinflammatory mediators, including CCL20, a T-cell chemoattractant. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that bile can be used as a source of biliary-like cells that can be maintained long term in vitro as 3D organoids; these BDOs retain features of cholangiopathies, including the ability to react to inflammatory stimuli by secreting chemokines and propagating an immune-reactive phenotype reflective of the pathogenesis of these diseases; thus, BDOs represent a platform for the study of the pathogenesis and therapy of cholangiopathies, particularly PSC.
Utility of the BMI50 and BMI85 in the Assessment of Short- and Long-Term Change in BMI among Children: A Descriptive Analysis.

ABSTRACTInterpreting change in Body mass index (BMI) among youth by comparison to growth charts can be difficult because of maturation-related changes. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the uti...
Acquired choroidal osteoma

Choroidal osteoma is a choristomatous lesion postulated to be congenital in nature. Described herein is the case of a 16-year- old female presenting with a peripapillary lesion diagnosed as choroidal osteoma on multimodal imaging. Routine fundus photography 18 months before presentation demonstrated a normal retina and choroid without evidence of the lesion. Overall, this report provides evidence that choroidal osteoma may be acquired and not always congenital in origin.
Chemical Reaction Networks and Stochastic Local Search

Stochastic local search can be an effective method for solving a wide variety of optimization and constraint satisfaction problems. Here I show that some stochastic local search algorithms map naturally to stochastic chemical reaction networks. This connection highlights new ways in which stochasticity in chemical reaction networks can be used for search and thus for finding solutions to problems. The central example is a chemical reaction network construction for solving Boolean formula satisfiability problems. Using an efficient general-purpose stochastic chemical reaction network simulator, I show that direct simulation of the networks proposed here can be more efficient, in wall-clock time, than a somewhat outdated but industrial-strength commercial satisfiability solver. While not of use for practical computing, the constructions emphasize that exploiting the stochasticity inherent in chemical reaction network dynamics is not inherently inefficient – and indeed I propose that stochastic local search could be an important aspect of biological computation and should be exploited when engineering future artificial cells.
A Cognitive Approach to Writing Instruction for Children Classified as Mentally Handicapped.

A prevalent view in special education (e.g., Frostig, LeFever, and Whittlesey 1964) is that writing difficulties are due to a more basic problem: deficiencies in general perceptualmotor skills like processing visual information, controlling hand movements, or coordinating visual and motor skills. For example, reversals (e.g., copying a 7 as' or a 6 as ^ ) have been attributed to perceptual difficulties that preclude seeing accu-
Improving the reactivity of hydrazine-bearing MRI probes for in vivo imaging of lung fibrogenesis

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is the pathologic accumulation of extracellular matrix components in lung tissue that result in scarring following chronic lung injury. PF is typically diagnosed by high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and/or invasive biopsy. However, HRCT cannot distinguish old injury from active fibrogenesis. We previously demonstrated that allysine residues on oxidized collagen represent an abundant target during lung fibrogenesis, and that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a small-molecule, gadolinium-containing probe, Gd-Hyd, could specifically detect and stage fibrogenesis in a mouse model. In this work, we present an improved probe, Gd-CHyd, featuring an N,N-dialkyl hydrazine which has an order of magnitude both greater reactivity and affinity for aldehydes. In a paired study in mice with bleomycin induced lung injury we show that the improved reactivity and affinity of Gd-CHyd results in significantly higher lung-to-liver contrast, e.g. 77% higher at 45 min post injection, and slower lung clearance than Gd-Hyd. Gd-CHyd enhanced MRI is >60-fold higher in bleomycin injured mouse lungs compared to uninjured mice. Collectively, our data indicate that enhancing hydrazine reactivity and affinity towards allysine is an effective strategy to significantly improve molecular MRI probes for lung fibrogenesis.