cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A simple and sensitive antigen retrieval method for free-floating and slide-mounted tissue sections

The masking of antigens by aldehyde-containing fixatives or by paraffin embedding procedures is a problem for immunohistochemical studies. Enzymatic digestion, formic acid treatment, microwave heating and autoclave heating have been used to deal with this problem, with microwave heating-based antigen retrieval having become widely used as the method of choice. Microwave heating, however, has the shortcoming that it is difficult to precisely control the heating temperature and it is difficult to apply this method of heating to free-floating sections without damaging the sections. We describe here a simple, reliable and sensitive antigen retrieval method that uses water-bath heating. By this method, the temperature can be precisely controlled to yield effective antigen retrieval with minimal tissue damage in free-floating or paraffin-embedded slide-mounted sections. We found that the best results were obtained with a 30 min incubation in a 10-50 mM sodium citrate solution (pH 8.5-9.0) preheated to and maintained at 80 degrees C in a water-bath, followed by 30 min incubation in 0.3-3% nonfat dry milk to reduce nonspecfic staining. This method is highly effective for both 40 microm free floating sections, slide-mounted cryostat sections and paraffin-embedded slide-mounted sections, and it works well for tissue from diverse species (human, rat, mouse, pigeon, and zebra finch) and for diverse antigens (e.g. enkephalin, substance P, huntingtin, GluR1, GFAP, and ubiquitin). This method was also found to enhance immunolabeling in glutaraldehyde-fixed tissue that had been prepared for ultrastructural examination, without having a deleterious effect on the ultrastructure.
Optimal Partitioning Which Maximizes the Sum of the Weighted Averages

We consider an optimal partitioning problem that occurs in the assignment of computer jobs to a multiple cache and in other combinatorial optimization problems: For a given set of n elements, where each element i has a given frequency pi and a specific weight wi, we would like to divide the elements into m mutually exclusive groups such that the sum over all the groups of the average group weight is maximal. We characterize the optimal solution and present an algorithm which is polynomial in n for obtaining the optimal partitioning. Optimal partitioning policies for two groups has an especially simple characterization: There exist two numbers α and β, with minwi < α < β â¤ maxwi, such that all the elements with weight wi satisfying α â¤ wi â¤ β belong to one group and all other elements belong to the other group. A modification of this policy gives the optimal partitioning for an arbitrary number of groups.
“Empowerment in This Dance? You Love This Dance?”: Instructor and Student Together Online

ABSTRACT This article reflects upon my experiences teaching female undergraduates in the online classroom. My students have repeatedly expressed love for sexualized dances performed by women in popular American film and television, including dances from Grease (1978), Dirty Dancing (1987), and Shakira's “She Wolf” (2009b). I have been repeatedly shocked and confused by my students' reactions; I view these dances as objectifying women's bodies in an unhealthy way, whereas my students describe them as demonstrating female empowerment. Although I do expect my students' reactions to be different than mine, their passionate exclamations of “I LOVE this dance! It screams empowerment!” starkly contrast with mine: “This dance? You love THIS dance?” Applying a lens of cultural and feminist theory as expressed in articles by Laura Mulvey (1975), Richard Leppert (2000), Susan Foster (2008), Gina Barreca (2009), and others, this investigation questions both the views of my students and my responses to them.
Autoregulation of myocardial glycogen concentration during intermittent hypoxia

During hypoxia, the heart consumes glycogen to generate ATP. Tolerance of repetitive hypoxia logically requires prompt replenishment of glycogen, a process whose regulation is not fully understood. To examine this, we imposed a defined hypoxic stimulus on the rat heart while varying its workload. In intact rats, hypoxia reduced myocardial glycogen approximately 30% and increased both the fraction of glycogen synthase in its physiologically active (GS I) form (from 0.24 +/- 0.06 to 0.82 +/- 0.07; P < 0.005) and glycogen synthesis (from 0.087 +/- 0.011 to 0.375 +/- 0.046 mumol.g-1.min-1; P < 0.005). Reducing cardiac work (with propranolol or heterotopic transplantation) reduced glycogen breakdown, glycogen synthase activation, and glycogen synthesis in parallel, stepwise fashion in intact rats. Correspondingly, hypoxia increased GS I activity in the perfused heart in vitro, but only under conditions where glycogen was consumed. This suggests myocardial glycogen synthase is activated by systemic hypoxia and catalyzes rapid posthypoxic glycogen synthesis. Hypoxic glycogen synthase activation appears to be a proportionate, wholly intrinsic response to local glycogenolysis, operating to preserve myocardial glycogen stores independent of any extracardiac mediator of carbohydrate metabolism.
Banishing Writer's Block

This article offers suggestions for overcoming writer's block when writing a legal brief. Writers of other documents could apply most of its suggestions.
Can Protein Conformers Be Fractionated by Crystallization

Molecular crystallization typically singles out a specific conformation, or a set of conformations that are identical over large parts and may show some flexibility, from a mixture of equilibrating conformations in solution. To critically evaluate the selectivity of this process, human lactate dehydrogenase isozyme 1 (LDH-1) microcrystals were separately dissolved and subsequently assayed inside capillaries with electrophoretically mediated microanalysis (EMMA) at both the ensemble and the single-molecule level. While fragments from the same crystal exhibited identical enzyme activities, different crystals, even when grown from the same drop of mother liquor, showed markedly different activities. Activities of individual molecules from a crystal were found to be essentially identical, whereas molecules obtained directly from solution showed a 4-fold variation in activity. Furthermore, after storage at 37 °C, the distribution of single-molecule LDH activities from solutions of individual crystals broadened...
Water Crossover Experiments in an Open-Cathode Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

A direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that does not require an external water feed or a powered water-recovery system has potential for wide application in portable electronic devices. This paper provides experimental data for the water recovery rate in a novel DMFC design featuring a hydrophobic cathode gas-diffusion layer that allows for passive water recovery. Water and methanol crossover rates were experimentally characterized by measuring the water vapor and carbon dioxide concentration at the cathode exit with an infrared sensor. The result showed that the mass-transport parameter of water vapor, increases linearly with increasing cell temperature and remains invariant with respect to the cell current density. Water neutrality of the DMFC stack was achieved while the cell operated close to 50 °C and 150 mA/cm2 with a 1M methanol solution. A comprehensive empirical equation based on the experimental results is presented, along with system-level insights into the controllability of water management in designing an open cathode DMFC system.© 2011 ASME
The Role of Intracellular Mycelium in Systemic Infections of Rubus with the Orange-Rust

Basidiospores of the two short cycled strains of the orange-rust, Gymnoconia interstitialis, when sown on young shoots of Rubus, penetrate the epidermis and form a typical penetration hypha.From th...
Intracellular glycogen and electrolyte concentrations in human skeletal muscle.

SummaryThe composition of human skeletal muscle has been examined in 6 normal individuals. Intracellular concentrations of sodium, potassium and phosphate have been calculated and agreed closely with values reported by other workers. Glycogen levels ranged from .528 g% in a fasted patient to 1.57 g% in a patient who had received glucose. Glycogen levels were not directly correlated with the amount of glucose given. There is some evidence (correlation coefficient of −0.776) that in the absence of exogenous supplies, potassium is not deposited in muscle cells when glycogen is deposited. whereas phosphate may be deposited (correlation coefficient of −0.027).
Regulation of Bacterial Gene Expression by Protease-Alleviated Spatial Sequestration (PASS).

In natural microbial systems, conditional spatial sequestration of transcription factors enables cells to respond rapidly to changes in their environment or intracellular state by releasing presynthesized regulatory proteins. Although such a mechanism may be useful for engineering synthetic biology technologies ranging from cell-based biosensors to biosynthetic platforms, to date it remains unknown how or whether such conditional spatial sequestration may be engineered. In particular, based upon seemingly contradictory reports in the literature, it is not clear whether subcellular spatial localization of a transcription factor within the cytoplasm is sufficient to preclude regulation of cognate promoters on plasmid-borne or chromosomal loci. Here, we describe a modular, orthogonal platform for investigating and implementing this mechanism using protease-alleviated spatial sequestration (PASS). In this system, expression of an exogenous protease mediates the proteolytic release of engineered transcriptiona...
Maternal transfer of contaminants and reduced reproductive success of southern toads ( Bufo [Anaxyrus] terrestris ) exposed to coal combustion waste.

Bioaccumulation of contaminants and subsequent maternal transfer to offspring are important factors that affect the reproductive success of wildlife. However, maternal transfer of contaminants has rarely been investigated in amphibians. We examined maternal transfer of trace elements in southern toads (Bufo(Anaxyrus) terrestris) residing in two locations: (1) an active coal combustion waste (CCW) disposal basin and adjacent 40-ha floodplain contaminated with CCW over 35 years ago and (2) an uncontaminated reference site. Our study is among the few to document tissue concentration-dependent maternal transfer of contaminants and associated adverse effects in amphibians. We found that females collected from the CCW-contaminated area had elevated concentrations of Ni, Se, and Sr; these females also transferred elevated levels of Cu, Pb, Se, and Sr to their eggs compared to females from the reference site. Overall reproductive success, estimated as a function of clutch size and offspring viability, was reduced by 27% in clutches collected from parents from the contaminated site compared to the reference site. Offspring viability negatively correlated with female and/or egg concentrations of Se and Ni. Reproductive success negatively correlated with Se and Cu concentrations in females, and Se concentrations in eggs. Our study highlights how exposure to CCW can negatively affect amphibian reproduction.
Analysis on the epidemiological trend and characteristics of tuberculosis among students from 2005-2012 in Zhejiang Province,China

Objective To explore the trend and epidemiological characteristics of tuberculosis among students from 2005 to 2012 in Zhejiang.Methods Information of students with tuberculosis gained from China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention were used for the epidemiological analysis.The number of student was gained from Zhejiang Statistical Yearbook.Results From 2005 to 2012,the decreases of tuberculosis incidence were obvious in both students( from 20.27/100 000 to 17.85/100 000) and the whole population( from 92.90/100 000 to 59.55/100 000).However,the decrease in students was not as much as that of the whole population.There was no significant difference of the incidence of infectious tuberculosis in students( x2= 2.03,P = 0.150),while the incidence of infectious tuberculosis in the whole population was dramatically decreased( x2= 682.28,P 0.001).The seasonal difference was obvious for tuberculosis in students.March,April and May were the peak months.10 952 students with tuberculosis were reported from 2005 to 2012.Male students were 1.52 times of female students( 6 606 /4 346).The age distribution was similar to the normal distribution,with the age of 18 year-old as the center.High school students,Grade 1 and Grade 2 college students with age between 16 and 21 were more likely to suffer from tuberculosis.Conclusions In recent years,infectious tuberculosis in student is increasing in comparison with tuberculosis in the whole population.March,April and May are the major time for incidence of student tuberculosis.In addition,high school students,Grade 1 and Grade 2 college students should be considered as the main targeted population for the control and prevention of tuberculosis in students.
DN TCRαβ Intraepithelial T Cell Development in the Thymus

CD4 − CD8αβ − (double-negative or DN) T lymphocytes expressing a T cell receptor (TCR) composed of a variable α and β chain (DN TCRαβ + ) constitute a substantial population of mature T cells that reside mainly in the intestinal epithelium where they likely have a protective as well as regulatory role to preserve the integrity of this critical barrier. DN TCRαβ + intraepithelial T cells develop in the thymus as mature effector/memory cells with variable major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restriction ranging from classical MHC class I or II to various nonclassical MHC class I specificities. DN TCRαβ + T cells develop in the thymus from precursors that undergo positive selection in response to strong TCR-self-antigen/MHC complex interactions called self-agonist-dependent selection. This article will describe the developmental stages and agonist selection process in the thymus as well as the characteristics of mature DN TCRαβ + intraepithelial T cells that distinguish them from conventional naive CD4 and CD8αβ TCRαβ + cells that reside in lymphoid tissues. Finally, the MHC restriction and antigen specificity of DN TCRαβ + intraepithelial T cells will be discussed in light of their unique location within the mucosal epithelial barrier of the intestine.
Evaluation of numerical techniques for solving the current injection problem in biological tissues

Accurate computational modeling of electric fields in the human head has become important in clinical research to study or influence brain functionality. While existing numerical approaches have been evaluated against simple geometries with known closed form solutions, the relationship between these approaches in more complex geometries has not been studied. Here, we compare the three most commonly used approaches for bioelectric modeling: the finite element method (FEM), the finite difference method (FDM), and the boundary element method (BEM). Using both isotropic and anisotropic conductivity distributions, we construct and compare bioelectric models for a realistic head geometry. Our results suggest that both FEM and FDM are capable of accurately model voltages in the brain, while computations from BEM result in significantly larger errors, due to the increased simplicity and implicit model assumptions.
The Electronic Structure of Crystals: Theoretical Framework

We formulate the problem of understanding the electronic structure of crystals starting from the “exact” Schrodinger equation for the ions and the electrons and introducing the main approximations—namely, the adiabatic and Hartree–Fock approximations—required to reach a single-electron picture. We then discuss qualitatively the main features of the band structure of solids.
Point Spread and Odds Betting: Baseball, Basketball, and American Football

Sports betting is extremely popular and many sports offer a variety of wagering options. These include odds betting (also known as the money line) on the simple proposition of who will win the game, and point spread betting in which the proposition concerns the margin of victory. Studies of betting market efficiency in horse racing have been common, but betting markets for other sports are less well studied. This chapter considers the efficiency of the point spread and odds betting markets for a variety of sports; we find that the markets appear to be weakly efficient in the sense that betting based only on previous results is unlikely to yield profitable strategies.
Acute and Long-term Management of Symptomatic Internal Carotid Artery Dissection in the Setting of Newly Diagnosed Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: To Anticoagulate, or Not to Anticoagulate? (P5.155)

OBJECTIVE: In the following case report, we introduce a clinical scenario involving the immediate and long-term treatment of an acute stroke in the setting of an internal carotid artery (ICA) dissection. The long-term management was further complicated by a new diagnosis of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), in an otherwise healthy 52 year-old male. BACKGROUND: A 52-year old right-handed male presented to a nearby hospital within minutes of completing a triathlon, after developing sudden onset expressive aphasia. A head CT was negative for an intracerebral hemorrhage, while a CT angiogram suggested occlusion of the left ICA extending from the proximal portion to the cavernous segment, and a non-occlusive thrombus along the left distal M1 and proximal M2 segments. He was given a NIHSS of 3, administered intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and transported to Westchester Medical Center. RESULTS: The patient remained neurologically stable post-IV tPA. A brain MRI identified regions of acute ischemia involving the posterior left insular cortex extending into the left parietal lobe, with smaller cortical foci scattered in the left MCA distribution. In addition, there were several foci of gradient signal hypointensity scattered in the brain parenchyma, most notably within the medulla, bilateral cerebellar hemispheres, and scattered foci throughout both cerebral hemispheres, suggestive of amyloid angiopathy. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of CAA is age dependent, with sporadic cases rarely affecting individuals younger than 65 years old. While it is strongly advised that those with CAA avoid antithrombotic therapy for risk of intracerebral hemorrhage, our case poses a unique threat given his age and symptomatic carotid artery occlusion. There are no such guidelines that address antithrombic therapy in the setting of an acute ischemic stroke secondary to extracranial dissection, concurrent with cerebral microhemorrhages. Our patient was initially started on anticoagulation therapy before being discharged on an antiplatelet regimen with plans for repeat imaging. Disclosure: Dr. Danan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Noroozi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Marks has received personal compensation for activities with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as a speaker.
Coastal river plumes: Collisions and coalescence

Abstract Plumes of buoyant river water spread in the ocean from river mouths, and these plumes influence water quality, sediment dispersal, primary productivity, and circulation along the world’s coasts. Most investigations of river plumes have focused on large rivers in a coastal region, for which the physical spreading of the plume is assumed to be independent from the influence of other buoyant plumes. Here we provide new understanding of the spreading patterns of multiple plumes interacting along simplified coastal settings by investigating: (i) the relative likelihood of plume-to-plume interactions at different settings using geophysical scaling, (ii) the diversity of plume frontal collision types and the effects of these collisions on spreading patterns of plume waters using a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model, and (iii) the fundamental differences in plume spreading patterns between coasts with single and multiple rivers using a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. Geophysical scaling suggests that coastal margins with numerous small rivers (watershed areas 2 ), such as found along most active geologic coastal margins, were much more likely to have river plumes that collide and interact than coastal settings with large rivers (watershed areas > 100,000 km 2 ). When two plume fronts meet, several types of collision attributes were found, including refection, subduction and occlusion. We found that the relative differences in pre-collision plume densities and thicknesses strongly influenced the resulting collision types. The three-dimensional spreading of buoyant plumes was found to be influenced by the presence of additional rivers for all modeled scenarios, including those with and without Coriolis and wind. Combined, these results suggest that plume-to-plume interactions are common phenomena for coastal regions offshore of the world’s smaller rivers and for coastal settings with multiple river mouths in close proximity, and that the spreading and fate of river waters in these settings will be strongly influenced by these interactions. We conclude that new investigations are needed to characterize how plumes interact offshore of river mouths to better understand the transport and fate of terrestrial sources of pollution, nutrients and other materials in the ocean.
Extracellular Membrane Potential Measurement of Single Living Cells with Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy

Recently, the existence of multiple micro-domains of extracellular potential around individual cells have been revealed by voltage reporter dye using fluorescence microscopy. One hypothesis is that these long lasting potential patterns play a vital role in regulating important cell activities such as embryonic patterning, regenerative repair and reduction of cancerous disorganization. We used multifunctional Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM) to study these extracellular potential patterns of a single cell with higher spatial resolution.
Comparison of Two Psycho-Educational Interventions Aimed at Preventing HIV and Promoting Sexual Health Among Portuguese Women

ABSTRACTThis study compares the efficacy of 2 psychoeducational interventions—ACCENT skills-based and didactic information only—to prevent HIV among Portuguese women. At posttest and follow-up, participants in both intervention groups (n = 127) were more knowledgeable about HIV than at baseline. Although both intervention groups showed an increase in self-reported condom use over time, differences were marginally stronger in the ACCENT group. Both intervention groups showed more positive results than the non-intervention control group (n = 33). The study suggests that HIV prevention interventions can produce significant changes when they target a set of knowledge, social, and cognitive variables relevant to sexual behavior change.
Prosocial Goal Pursuit in Crowdfunding: Evidence from Kickstarter.com

In reward-based crowdfunding, creators of entrepreneurial projects solicit capital from potential consumers to reach a funding goal and offer future products/services in return. We examine consumers’ contribution patterns using a novel dataset of 28,591 projects collected at 30-minute resolution from Kickstarter.com. Extending past research assuming that economic considerations (such as project quality and campaign success likelihood) drive backers’ decisions, we provide the cleanest field evidence so far that consumers also have prosocial motives to help creators reach their funding goals. We find that projects collect funding faster right before (vs. right after) meeting their funding goals because consumers not only are more likely to fund projects, but also contribute greater amounts of money prior to goal attainment. This effect is amplified when the nature of a project tends to evoke consumers’ prosocial motivation and when a project’s creator is a single person. These results suggest that consumers’ prosocial motives not only play a role in reward-based crowdfunding, but also can outweigh the opposing effects of economic factors including rational herding and certainty about campaign success.
Submarine landslide and tsunami hazards offshore southern Alaska: Seismic strengthening versus rapid sedimentation

The southern Alaskan offshore margin is prone to submarine landslides and tsunami hazards due to seismically active plate boundaries and extreme sedimentation rates from glacially enhanced mountain erosion. We examine the submarine landslide potential with new shear strength measurements acquired by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 341 on the continental slope and Surveyor Fan. These data reveal lower than expected sediment strength. Contrary to other active margins where seismic strengthening enhances slope stability, the high-sedimentation margin offshore southern Alaska behaves like a passive margin from a shear strength perspective. We interpret that seismic strengthening occurs but is offset by high sedimentation rates and overpressure. This conclusion is supported by shear strength outside of the fan that follow an active margin trend. More broadly, seismically active margins with wet-based glaciers are susceptible to submarine landslide hazards because of the combination of high sedimentation rates and earthquake shaking.
The Deposited Insulator/III-V Semiconductor Interface

The development of a MISFET technology using the III-V compounds requires a gate insulator which is highly resistive, mechanically strong, and electronically stable and which produces a low interface state density. Grown oxides on III-V semiconductors have not yet demonstrated these attributes. For example, arsenic and phosphorus oxides rapidly absorb water from the atmosphere and arsenic oxides are thermodynamically unstable in the presence of GaAs, InAs, or InGaAs. The failure of the grown oxides to provide a suitable gate insulator dictates the use of deposited insulators. The use of a deposited insulator is, however, a compromise at best since the uniformity, thickness, and properties of a deposited insulator cannot be controlled as well as with a grown oxide. Also, the heteromorphic nature of the deposited insulator/III-V interface implies the possibility of a nonabrupt interfacial mismatch and its associated trap states. Thus, deposited insulators have inherent bulk and interface problems which require special attention.
Neural Patterning: Arealization of the Cortex

The developmental mechanisms that regulate area patterning of the neocortex are issues currently under intense study. Opinions on the mechanisms that control the process of area patterning, referred to as arealization, have undergone substantial modifications since the beginning of the current millennium. Current findings indicate that signaling molecules expressed by patterning centers positioned near the perimeter of the cortex, particularly fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8), operate in area patterning by generating the graded expression across the neocortex of a growing list of transcription factors (TFs) in cortical progenitors. Mainly through use of gain- and loss-of-function genetic manipulations in mice, roles have been defined for several of these graded TFs in area patterning, and for the morphogens that relate to them. These TFs include COUP-TF1, Emx2, Pax6, and Sp8, and the morphogen best studied in this context is FGF8. In this article, we summarize the roles of these TFs and morphogens, place them into context, and discuss general issues related to the overall theme.
EFFECTS OF CHRONIC HALOPERIDOL TREATMENT ON SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITY IN THE CAUDATE NUCLEUS

The effects of chronic haloperidol (HAL) treatment on the spontaneous activity of rat caudate neurons were determined using extracellular single unit recording techniques. Two types of spontaneous potentials were observed: monophasic and biphasic. Chronic HAL treatment increased the number of active monophasic potentials while it decreased the number of active biphasic units. Monophasic potentials also showed a supersensitivity to dopamine (DA). It is hypothesized that these time-dependent changes in caudate cell activity may correlate with the development of clinical neurologic side-effects induced by neuroleptic treatment.
Why Sell What You Can License?, Contracting Around Statutory Protection of Intellectual Property

Historically, the transfer of goods has been through sale, a model regulated by public legislation. Increasingly, however, the transfer of goods is occurring through licensing, a model regulated by private legislation. Privately-legislated licenses - for such chattels as musical and written works and agricultural goods - are being used to circumvent publicly-legislated restrictions on intellectual property. Private legislation should not circumvent public legislation, and intellectual property owners should not be allowed to circumvent the statutory scheme for protection of intellectual property. Licenses that augment publicly-legislated protection of intellectual property support the traditional role of contracts and should be enforced. Licenses that circumvent public legislation protect neither the public interest nor licensees in the transfer of tangible goods and should not be enforced. The scope of private legislation must be limited to the transfer of goods through the use of licenses, with the primary purpose of augmenting, rather than circumventing, public legislation.
External Debt, Currency Risk, and International Monetary Policy Transmission

I argue that countries’ dollar-denominated net external debt (dollar debt) helps explain the large differences in risk premia across currencies and how U.S. monetary policy affects the global economy. When the U.S. dollar strengthens, the real value of dollar debt increases, weakening the currencies of countries with large amounts of dollar debt and impeding their consumptions. Because the dollar tends to strengthen in bad times, high-dollar-debt currencies are bad hedges and thus have to offer high risk premia. My empirical findings support this idea. First, dollar debt captures exchange-rate and debt-issuance responses to U.S. monetary policy shocks. Second, dollar debt captures the cross-sectional variation in currency risk premia. I develop a general equilibrium model with financial frictions and currency choice of debt denomination that corroborates my findings.
The complex genetic and psychosocial influences on polysubstance misuse

Polysubstance misuse is a costly and complex behavioral phenotype that is concurrent with internalizing and externalizing disorders. Research on genetic and psychosocial influences suggests that a life course framework composed of a transactional etiology sheds light on the complex nature of polysubstance misuse. Further, given the extensive comorbidity with mental illness and behavioral dysregulation, viewing polysubstance misuse as asymmetrical in the population is helpful for guiding broad decision-making around prevention and policy.
Endoscopic and histologic features associated with gastric cancer in familial adenomatous polyposis.

Background and Aims Gastric cancer (GC) is a newly described cancer risk in Western patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Little is known about clinical, endoscopic, and pathologic features associated with FAP-related GC. We compared these features in FAP patients with and without GC. Methods FAP patients were identified through the David G. Jagelman Inherited Colorectal Cancer Registries Cologene database. FAP patients with GC and randomly selected FAP patients without GC who had undergone at least 2 EGDs were analyzed. Demographic, clinical, endoscopic, and pathologic features were compared. Results Ten FAP patients with GC were identified, and 40 age-matched FAP control subjects were selected. No demographic differences were noted between patients and control subjects. All GC cases arose in the proximal stomach among gastric polyposis, with only 2 endoscopically visible. The prevalence of gastric polyposis was similar (100% vs 93%). Endoscopic features associated with GC included a carpeting of gastric polyps (100% vs 22.5%), solitary polyps >20 mm (100% vs 0%), and a polypoid mound of polyps (80% vs 0%; all P Conclusions We identified endoscopic features and advanced pathology present in the stomachs of Western patients with FAP who developed GC. Upper GI surveillance in FAP should include the stomach and awareness of features associated with GC. Optimal approaches to treatment of gastric polyposis and methods of identification of early GC precursors in FAP are needed.
Abstract PR16: New tools for mapping genetic modifiers of cancer risk in the tumor microenvironment

The majority of heritable breast cancer risk is unknown. One potential source of “missing heritability” is genetic modifiers in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Although genetic modifiers in the TME have long been suspected, they have rarely been studied and are largely unknown. Here, we used two new techniques: the Consomic Xenograft Model (CXM) and species-specific RNA-seq (SSRS) to map genetic modifiers in the TME. In CXM, human breast cancer xenografts are implanted in immunodeficient consomic rat strains and tracked for tumor progression. Because the rat strains vary by one chromosome (i.e., consomic), whereas the malignant tumor cells do not differ, any observed changes in tumor phenotypes are due to genetic modifiers in the TME and can be localized to one chromosome. The SSRS method uses probabilistic mapping of RNAseq reads to a joint human and rat transcriptome to assess differential expression (DE) in malignant (human) tumor cells and the nonmalignant (rat) TME. Validation of SSRS revealed >99.4% specificity in calling human or rat reads, which was significantly better than conventional RNA-seq. Using CXM, we found that BN-derived genetic variant(s) on rat chromosome 3 significantly reduced growth of MDA-MB-231-Luc (231Luc+) tumors by 49% (P 4-fold; P Citation Format: Michael J. Flister, Alexander Stoddard, Shirng-Wern Tsaih, Angela Lemke, Jozef Lazar, Howard Jacob. New tools for mapping genetic modifiers of cancer risk in the tumor microenvironment. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Translation of the Cancer Genome; Feb 7-9, 2015; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(22 Suppl 1):Abstract nr PR16.
Simulating Optical System Performance Using Light Fields Generated from Rendering Software

The light field describes the radiance at a point from a ray coming from a particular direction. A scene’s light field is calculated with rendering software to simulate images for camera lenses with different aberrations.
“They Say My Baby’s Head Is Too Small”

In this chapter, we will explore a case involving a 36-year-old woman in Brazil who has been infected with the Zika virus and whose pregnancy is now affected by suspected Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS). At the conclusion of the case discussion, learners will be able to identify sources of information and recommendations to address current global infectious disease outbreaks; apply ethical principles to global public health concerns, such as Zika; analyze the ethical and legal issues surrounding abortion in the setting of a potentially devastating congenital infection, with special attention to the concept of conscientious objection; and explore the concepts of bedside rationing and resource allocation in healthcare and research in a global context.
Stay or Exit: Why Do Nonprofits Maintain Collaborations With Government?:

Although the public-management literature has demonstrated a growing interest in public–nonprofit collaborations, it pays little attention to the sustainability of collaborations. This study propos...
Outbreak of macrolide-resistant mycoplasma pneumoniae in a primary school in Beijing, China in 2018

On 7th June, 2018, a primary school in Beijing, China notified Shunyi CDC of an outbreak of acute respiratory disease characterized by fever and cough among students and resulting in nine hospitalization cases during the preceding 2 weeks. We started an investigation to identify the etiologic agent, find additional cases, develop and implement control measures. We defined probable cases as students, teachers and other staffs in the school developed fever (T ≥ 37.5 °C) with cough or sore throat; or a diagnosis of pneumonia during May 1–June 31, 2018. Confirmed cases were probable cases with Mycoplasma pneumoniae detected in oropharyngeal (OP) swabs by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We searched case by reviewing school absenteeism records and interviewing students, teachers and staff in this school. Oropharyngeal swabs were collected from symptomatic students. Two qPCR) assay, a duplex qPCR assay, and sequencing were performed to determine the pathogen, genotype and macrolide resistance at the gene level, respectively. From May 1st to June 31st, 2018, we identified 55 cases (36 probable and 19 confirmed), of whom 25 (45%) were hospitalized for complications. All cases were students, none of the teachers and other staffs in the school were with similar symptoms. The attack rate (AR) was 3.9% (55/1398) for all students. The cases were mainly male (58%), with an age range of 7–8 years (median: 7 years). 72% (18/25) of inpatients had radiograph findings consistent with pneumonia, and some cases were hospitalized for up to 4 weeks. Pathogen detection results indicated that Mycoplasma pneumonia (M. pneumoniae) P1 type 1 was the causative agent in this outbreak, and the strain harbored one point mutation of A to G at position 2063. The infections by macrolide-resistant M. pneumoniae are not always mild and pneumonia was common and M. pneumoniae could causes serious complications which require long-term hospitalization. In the future infectious disease prevention and control practice, M. pneumoniae should be paid more attention. It is necessary to establish and improve the pathogen and drug resistance surveillance system in order to prevent and control such mutated strains of M. pneumoniae from causing future outbreaks or epidemics in China.
The role of β-carotene and vitamin A in atherogenesis: Evidences from preclinical and clinical studies

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the principal contributor to myocardial infarction, the leading cause of death worldwide. Epidemiological and mechanistic studies indicate that β-carotene and its vitamin A derivatives stimulate lipid catabolism in several tissues to reduce the incidence of obesity, but their roles within ASCVD are elusive. Herein, we review the mechanisms by which β-carotene and vitamin A modulate ASCVD. First, we summarize the current knowledge linking these nutrients with epidemiological studies and lipoprotein metabolism as one of the initiating factors of ASCVD. Next, we focus on different aspects of vitamin A metabolism in immune cells such as the mechanisms of carotenoid uptake and conversion to the vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid. Lastly, we review the effects of retinoic acid on immuno-metabolism, differentiation, and function of macrophages and T cells, the two pillars of the innate and adaptive immune response in ASCVD, respectively. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Carotenoids recent advances in cell and molecular biology edited by Johannes von Lintig and Loredana Quadro.
Life Expectancy and Voting Patterns in 2018 US House of Representative Elections

Abstract Introduction In the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, voters in communities with recent stagnation or decline in life expectancy were more likely to vote for the Republican candidate than in prior Presidential elections. We aimed to assess the association between change in life expectancy and voting patterns in 2018 U.S. House of Representative elections. Methods With data on county-level life expectancy from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and voting data from Harvard Dataverse, we used weighted multivariable linear regression to estimate the association between the change in life expectancy from 1980 to 2014 and the proportion of votes for the Republican candidate in the 2018 House election. Results Among 3,107 U.S counties, change in life expectancy at the county level was negatively associated with Republican share of the vote in 2018 House of Representative elections (parameter estimate −7.3, 95% confidence interval, −8.1 to −6.5). With the inclusion of state, sociodemographic, and economic variables in the model, the association was attenuated and no longer statistically significant (parameter estimate −0.9; 95% CI, −2.2 to 0.4). Conclusion Counties with a less positive trajectory in life expectancy were more likely to vote for Republican candidates in 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections, but the association was mediated by demographic, social and economic factors.
Beyond the adjacency matrix: random line graphs and inference for networks with edge attributes

Any modern network inference paradigm must incorporate multiple aspects of network structure, including information that is often encoded both in vertices and in edges. Methodology for handling vertex attributes has been developed for a number of network models, but comparable techniques for edge-related attributes remain largely unavailable. We address this gap in the literature by extending the latent position random graph model to the line graph of a random graph, which is formed by creating a vertex for each edge in the original random graph, and connecting each pair of edges incident to a common vertex in the original graph. We prove concentration inequalities for the spectrum of a line graph, and then establish that although naive spectral decompositions can fail to extract necessary signal for edge clustering, there exist signal-preserving singular subspaces of the line graph that can be recovered through a carefully-chosen projection. Moreover, we can consistently estimate edge latent positions in a random line graph, even though such graphs are of a random size, typically have high rank, and possess no spectral gap. Our results also demonstrate that the line graph of a stochastic block model exhibits underlying block structure, and we synthesize and test our methods in simulations for cluster recovery and edge covariate inference in stochastic block model graphs.
Toward Facilitating Team Formation and Communication Through Avatar Based Interaction in Desktop-Based Immersive Virtual Environments

Millions of students worldwide have adopted online learning due to the isolation restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, video conferencing platforms have garnered immense popularity as tools for teaching. However, these tools have several limitations compared to real-world encounters, especially in activities involving collaboration and teamwork. A growing number of researchers and educators have turned to avatar-based communication platforms, such as Mozilla Hubs, as alternatives that can complement video conferencing in social and teaching activities. Several previous research efforts have focused on developing tools that implement avatar-based communication systems or have explored creating activities in these 3D virtual spaces, such as poster sessions in scientific conferences or the classroom environment. In this work, we describe our semester-long efforts to develop Mozilla Hubs rooms toward promoting interaction and communication to help students self-form teams in the context of an introductory virtual reality course at the University of Florida. We describe hands-on activities to prepare students to use Mozilla Hubs effectively, including teaching them skills to customize and create avatars. We describe the implementation of three virtual rooms developed based on researchers’ observations and students’ survey responses. By observing students’ behavior and communication patterns in those rooms, we propose a set of guidelines for building virtual rooms that can promote communication, interaction, and teamwork. We discuss the rooms’ design, students’ attendance, and avatar choices. Our findings suggest that highly detailed, small, closed spaces are preferred over large, open spaces with few details when promoting interaction and collaboration among students.
Neonatal acute liver failure with pulmonary yellow hyaline membrane and kernicterus.

ABSTRACT Background Neonatal acute liver failure (NALF) is a rare and life-threatening condition. It causes bilirubin to accumulate to a dangerous level in the body, causing permanent damage to vital organs such as the brain and lungs. In many cases, the etiology of NALF remains unknown. Case presentation We described a case of an 8-day-old baby girl who presented with poor oral intake, lethargy, and jaundice. Her clinical condition rapidly deteriorated with progression to multi-organ failure, and despite intensive resuscitation efforts, she expired. At autopsy, the most significant findings were liver necrosis, yellow hyaline membrane deposition in the lungs, and bilirubin deposition in the brain (kernicterus). Conclusions NALF is a rare and potentially fatal condition necessitating prompt recognition and disease-specific treatment approaches. Toxic accumulation of bilirubin in the lungs can lead to hypoxia and precipitate further ischemic injury to the liver.
Suicide Bombing Terrorism.

Introduction: While suicide bombings in the context of warfare have existed throughout history, there was an exponential rise in such attacks in the decade following the initiation of the War on Terror. The health care implications of such attacks are a growing concern across the emergency response sector, and this study is an epidemiological examination of all terrorism-related bombings sustained from 1970-2019, comparing the rates of fatal injuries (FI) and non-fatal injuries (NFI) between suicide bombing attacks (SBA) versus non-suicide bombing attacks (NSBA). Method: Data collection was performed using a retrospective database search through the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). The GTD database was downloaded and searched using the internal database search functions for all events that occurred from January 1, 1970 - December 31, 2019. Bombing/explosion as a primary “attack type” and explosives as a primary “weapon type” were selected for the purpose of this study, and events were further sub-classified as either “suicide attack” or “non-suicide attack.” Results were exported into an Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Corp.; Redmond, Washington USA) for analysis. Findings: There were 82,217 bombing/explosion terrorist attacks using explosives documented during the study period with 135,807 fatalities and 352,500 NFI. A total of 5,416 events (6.59% of all events) were sub-classified as SBA causing 52,317 FI (38.52% of all FI) and 107,062 NFI (30.37% of all NFI). Mean SBA FI was 9.66 per event and mean SBA NFI was 19.77 per event compared to a mean NSBA FI of 1.09 per event and mean NSBA NFI of 3.20 per event. Conclusion: Suicide bombing attacks are a unique terrorist methodology that can inflict wide-spread psychological damage as well as significantly higher death and injury tolls when compared to more traditional NSBA. They have been increasing in popularity amongst terrorist organizations and groups, and Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM) specialists need to be aware of the unique injury patterns and potential risk mitigation strategies associated with SBA depending on the target type, location, and gender of the perpetrator.
Building a Literacy Community: The Role of Literacy and Social Practice in Early Childhood Programs

This article reports findings from two qualitatively based studies, one conducted at an urban preschool in Northern California and the other at a rural Head Start Center in the Midwest. By presenting detailed data from the two preschool sites, the article describes several ways to strengthen existing literacy practices for children, families, and teachers in both urban and rural early childhood settings. The studies focus on such critical aspects of child and family literacy development as ownership and inclusion, raising important issues for practice and policy in early childhood literacy and language education.