cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Deficiency of Invariant Natural Killer T Cells Does Not Protect Against Obesity but Exacerbates Atherosclerosis in Ldlr−/− Mice

Obesity is a chronic inflammatory state characterized by altered levels of adipose tissue immune cell populations. Natural killer T (NKT) cells are CD1d restricted lymphocyte subsets that recognize lipid antigens whose level decreases in obese adipose tissue. However, studies in mice with deficiency or increased levels of NKT cells have yielded contradictory results, so the exact role of these cells in obesity and adipose tissue inflammation is not yet established. We previously showed that Ldlr-/- mice with excess invariant NKT (iNKT) cells demonstrate significant weight gain, adiposity, metabolic abnormalities, and atherosclerosis. The current study evaluates the effects of NKT cell deficiency on obesity, associated metabolic changes, and atherosclerosis in Jα18-/-Ldlr-/- (lacking iNKT cells) and Cd1d-/-Ldlr-/- (lacking invariant and type II NKT cells) mice, and control mice were fed an obesogenic diet (high fat, sucrose, cholesterol) for 16 weeks. Contrary to expectations, Ja18-/-Ldlr-/- mice gained significantly more weight than Ldlr-/- or Cd1d-/-Ldlr-/- mice, developed hypertriglyceridemia, and had worsened adipose tissue inflammation. All the mice developed insulin resistance and hepatic triglyceride accumulation. Ja18-/-Ldlr-/- mice also had increased atherosclerotic lesion area. Our findings suggest that iNKT cells exacerbates the metabolic, inflammatory, and atherosclerotic features of diet-induced obesity. Further work is required to unravel the paradox of an apparently similar effect of iNKT cell surplus and depletion on obesity.
Treatment of Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Treatment directed at the progressive phase of multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most difficult (Table 1). Immunosuppressive therapies, such as total lymphoid irradiation (TLI), cyclosporine, methotrexate, 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA), cyclophosphamide, mitoxantrone, azathioprine, interferon (IFN), steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), and plasma exchange have shown some positive clinical effects in progressive disease. However, all of these nonspecific immunosuppressants suffer from the same basic defect; they may temporarily halt a rapidly progressive downhill course, but it is difficult, or dangerous, to employ them for more than a few months to 1 or 2 years. Thus, because MS is an illness of decades, not months, immunosuppressive therapy is only at best a temporary solution.
The surface deformation and mechanical behavior of nanostructured alloys

Abstract: Many mechanical properties such as fatigue and wear resistance are highly sensitive to the surface condition and properties of the material. As such, processes based on surface deformation are important methods for improving mechanical properties. The latest development of surface severe plastic deformation (S2PD), namely a family of processes that entail repeated impacts against the workpiece surface by a stream of high-energy balls, has resulted in significant progress in this direction. In this chapter the fundamentals and mechanical properties derived from S2PD processing are reviewed. The topics discussed include development of deformation fields, formation of the nanocrystalline surface layer, evolution of the work-hardened surface region, profiles of macroscopic residual stresses, presence of the microstructure gradient, evolution of surface roughness, enhancements in mechanical properties (i.e., tensile properties, fatigue limits, and wear resistance), and mechanisms associated with the improved mechanical properties. The perspectives of future developments are also discussed.
The Impact of Individual Investors’ Financial Literacy on Assessments of Conflicts of Interest

This research examines how individual investors’ financial literacy impacts their assessments of incentive-based conflicts of interest. Fundamental to many aspects of financial accounting, prior research suggests that less-sophisticated investors may be at a disadvantage in understanding the influence of incentives. I begin by documenting investors’ financial literacy skills using a relatively large sample of participants (n>1,000), benchmarked against national samples of financial capability skills in the United States. With replications of two financial accounting experiments, I then document that investors with higher financial literacy are more sensitive to others’ incentives and more likely to incorporate that understanding into their judgments than are investors with lower financial literacy or non-investors. This research extends the financial literacy literature by considering more detailed, accounting-based financial disclosures, and the accounting literature on the effect of individual cognitive characteristics by assessing conditions under which results from prior research using graduate business students would replicate to a broader range of individual investors.
Eliminating interchangeable values in constraint satisfaction problems

Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) involve finding values for variables subject to constraints on which combinations of values are permitted. This paper develops a concept of interchangeability of CSP values. Fully Interchangeable values can be substituted for one another in solutions to the problem. Removing all but one of a set of fully interchangeable values can simplify the search space for the problem without effectively losing solutions. Refinements of the interchangeability concept extend its applicability. Basic properties of interchangeablity and complexity parameters are established. A hierarchy of local interchangeability is defined that permits recognition of some interchangeable values with polynomial time local computation. Computing local interchangeability at any level in this hierarchy to remove values before backtrack search is guaranteed to be cost effective for some CSPs. Several forms of weak interchangeability are defined that permit eliminating values without losing all solutions. Interchangeability can be introduced by grouping values or variables, and can be recalculated dynamically during search. The idea of interchangeability can be abstracted to encompass any means of recovering the solutions involving one value from the solutions involving another.
Adaptive acquisition of novobiocin resistance in Pasteurella multocida strains of avian origin.

Naturally occurring strains of Pasteurella multocida are atypically susceptible to hydrophobic antibiotics such as novobiocin, despite their Gram-negative cell envelope ultrastructure. Four strains adaptively resistant to 1000 μg/ml of novobiocin were obtained by sequentially subculturing cell surface hydrophobic variants of avian origin in the presence of increasing antibiotic concentrations. Adaptive novobiocin resistance was accompanied in all cases by the concomitant acquisition of resistance to coumermycin, a hydrophobic antibiotic possessing the same mechanism of action, but not to the functionally disparate hydrophobic antibiotic rifamycin. The acquisition of resistance was not accompanied by alterations in the lipid composition of the cell envelope. Subsequent growth of adaptively resistant strains in the absence of novobiocin did not result in the restoration of susceptibility to either novobiocin or coumermycin. Acquisition of adaptive resistance in encapsulated parental strains resulted in an inability to synthesize capsular material and enhanced cell surface hydrophobicity; however, parental encapsulation and decreased cell surface hydrophobicity were restored upon removal of novobiocin. These data suggest that acquisition of adaptive resistance to novobiocin conferred in this manner is the result of a stable genetic event affecting the mechanistic target of both novobiocin and coumermycin rather than a physiological adaptation involving outer membrane impermeability.
Processing of Random Data

The processing of random data is always an elaborate method for producing a new random number, or numbers. For instance, estimating a mean of a set of random data means adding up the numbers and then dividing by the number of points used. Every time this process is performed with a different sample from the random data set, a different number is attained. In a similar fashion, estimating the bandwidth of a random signal would vary from estimate to estimate if a new data set is used each time.
Semiclassical transition state theory based on fourth order vibrational perturbation theory: Model system studies beyond symmetric Eckart barrier

The following one-dimensional model potential barriers are studied to compute the tunneling probabilities using semiclassical transition state theory (SCTST) based on fourth order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT4): (i) Morse barrier, (ii) asymmetric Eckart barrier, (iii) adjacent well barrier, and (iv) first order approximation to the symmetric Eckart barrier. The current investigation extends a previous study performed for the symmetric Eckart barrier. The performance of VPT4-SCTST is investigated for a broad range of energies, including the very deep tunneling regime (approximately 1% of the barrier height), and the results are compared to the exact quantum mechanical treatment, as well as to the popular second order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT2)-SCTST approach. While the VPT4-SCTST results are in excellent agreement with their quantum mechanical counterparts for a wide range of energies above and below the barrier, it is found for systems (ii) and (iv) that higher order terms (in n+12 ) in energy expansion are important for similarly excellent agreement in the deep tunneling regime. For the asymmetric Eckart barrier, the convergence properties of SCTST are analyzed in terms of its analytically known Siegert eigenvalues. A simple empirical modification of VPT2-SCTST advocated in the aforementioned previous work for the symmetric Eckart barrier is also tested here for the new model systems, and it is shown not to provide a uniformly systematic improvement.
Histoplasmosis Following Systemic Immunomodulatory Therapy for Ocular Inflammation.

Purpose Histoplasmosis is a known complication of systemic immunosuppressive therapy, particularly among patients who are receiving tumor necrosis factor α inhibitors. There are limited data on the development of disseminated or pulmonary histoplasmosis among patients who are receiving systemic immunosuppressive medication for noninfectious ocular inflammation. Design Retrospective case series. Methods We reviewed all patients with uveitis or scleritis who subsequently developed pulmonary or disseminated histoplasmosis at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota between September 1, 1994 and July 1, 2017, with a 3:1 age- and sex-matched control cohort who did not develop histoplasmosis. This was a single institutional study examining patients that developed histoplasmosis after the initiation of systemic immunomodulatory therapy (IMT). Patients had to develop either disseminated or pulmonary histoplasmosis while receiving systemic immunosuppressive therapy and have an ophthalmic examination at Mayo Clinic Rochester. The control group was comprised of patients who received systemic IMT for ocular inflammation but did not develop histoplasmosis. Results Nine cases of histoplasmosis were identified: 2 disseminated and 7 pulmonary. Both patients with disseminated histoplasmosis were taking tumor necrosis factor α inhibitors. Seven of the 9 patients received systemic antifungal medication, including both disseminated cases. Over a median follow-up of 4.4 years, none of the patients died, and there were no recurrences of histoplasmosis. When compared to the control cohort, there was no correlation between length of time on IMT and the risk of histoplasmosis. Conclusions Ocular inflammation patients on systemic immunomodulatory therapy may develop pulmonary or disseminated histoplasmosis. Most cases require treatment with systemic antifungal medication, but it might not be necessary to stop systemic immunomodulatory medication for ocular inflammation. Ophthalmologists should be aware that patients receiving systemic immunomodulatory therapy have a higher risk of developing Histoplasma infections. Prompt diagnosis and treatment using the expertise of an infectious diseases specialist may ensure low mortality for these patients.
Breast carcinoma metastatic to the bilateral orbits.

An 83-year-old woman with recently diagnosed breast cancer presented with progressive injection and globe dystopia of the left eye for 10 days (Figure 1a). Ocular rotations were diminished bilatera...
МАТЕМАТИЧНА МОДЕЛЬ ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ СИСТЕМИ ВІДНОВЛЕННЯ АВТОМОБІЛЬНОЇ І СПЕЦІАЛЬНОЇ ТЕХНІКИ ВІЙСЬКОВОГО ПРИЗНАЧЕННЯ

Для оценки эффективности функционирования системы восстановления автомобильной и специальной техники (А и СТ) использовано математическое моделирование её функционирования с использованием теории массового обслуживания. В качестве входящих показателей модели системы восстановления использовались: возможности ремонтных органов во время выполнения задач; укомплектованность ремонтниками и ремонтными средствами, обеспеченность материальными средствами для восстановления А и СТ; состав органов управления системой, их оснащенность; интенсивность информационного обмена в системе управления. Исходными показателями модели системы восстановления А и СТ есть: количество А и СТ, которая вышла из строя; возможности по ремонту и эвакуации техники; распределение неисправной техники по видам ремонта, которые, в свою очередь есть входящими данными для разработки методики оценки эффективности функционирования системы восстановления А и СТ.
Alterations in brain neurocircuitry following treatment with the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel in rats

Abstract Human and animal studies suggest that both traumatic nerve injury and toxic challenge with chemotherapeutic agents involves the reorganization of neural circuits in the brain. However, there have been no prospective studies, human or animal, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify changes in brain neural circuitry that accompany the development of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (i.e. within days following cessation of chemotherapy treatment and without the confound cancer). To this end, different MRI protocols were used to ascertain whether a reorganization of brain neural circuits is observed in otherwise normal rats exposed to the taxane chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel. We conducted an imaging study to evaluate the impact of a well-established paclitaxel dosing regimen, validated to induce allodynia in control rats within eight days of treatment, on brain neural circuitry. Rats received either paclitaxel (2 mg/kg/day i.p; cumulative dose of 8 mg/kg) or its vehicle four times on alternate days (i.e. day 0, 2, 4, 6). Following the cessation of treatments (i.e. on day 8), all rats were tested for responsiveness to cold followed by diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging and assessment of resting state functional connectivity. Imaging data were analyzed using a 3D MRI rat with 173 segmented and annotated brain areas. Paclitaxel-treated rats were more sensitive to a cold stimulus compared to controls. Diffusion weighted imaging identified brain areas involved in the emotional and motivational response to chronic pain that were impacted by paclitaxel treatment. Affected brain regions included the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus and the striatum/nucleus accumbens. This putative reorganization of gray matter microarchitecture formed a continuum of brain areas stretching from the basal medial/lateral forebrain to the midbrain. Resting state functional connectivity showed reorganization between the periaqueductal gray, a key node in nociceptive neural circuitry, and connections to the brainstem. Our results, employing different imaging modalities to assess the central nervous system effects of chemotherapy, fit the theory that chronic pain is regulated by emotion and motivation and influences activity in the periaqueductal gray and brainstem to modulate pain perception.
Variable Damping Control of the Robotic Ankle Joint to Improve Trade-off between Performance and Stability

This paper presents a variable damping control strategy to improve trade-off between agility/performance and stability in the control of the ankle exoskeleton robot. Depending on the user’s intent of movement, the proposed variable damping controller determines the robotic ankle damping from negative to positive damping values. The range of damping values is determined by incorporating the knowledge of human ankle damping in order to always secure stability of the ankle joint of the coupled human-robot system. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed controller, we performed a set of human experiments with three different robotic damping conditions: fixed positive damping, fixed negative damping, and variable damping. Comparison of the two fixed damping conditions confirmed that there exists a clear trade-off between ankle agility and stability. Further, analysis of the variable damping condition demonstrated that humans could get benefits of not only positive damping to stabilize the ankle but also negative damping to enhance the agility of ankle movement as necessary during dynamic ankle movement. On average, the variable damping condition improved the agility of ankle movement by 76% and stability by 37% compared to the constant positive damping condition and the constant negative damping condition, respectively. Outcomes of this study would allow us to design a robotic controller that significantly improves agility/performance of the human-robot system without compromising its coupled stability.
Antithrombotic therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing coronary artery stenting.

Purpose Updates to the primary literature and clinical practice guidelines on use of antithrombotic combinations for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and stenting are reviewed. Summary Up to 8% of patients undergoing PCI have AF and thus require both antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapies, which put them at increased risk for bleeding. Current literature suggests that using a single antiplatelet agent in combination with oral anticoagulation with a direct-acting oral anticoagulant (i.e., dual therapy) is effective and associated with less bleeding risk than triple therapy (dual antiplatelet therapy plus an oral anticoagulant) in patients with AF undergoing PCI with stent placement. The most recently studied dual therapy regimens consist of clopidogrel in combination with apixaban, rivaroxaban, or dabigatran. Guidelines recommend use of an oral anticoagulant plus clopidogrel and aspirin for a short period of time. In general, aspirin should be discontinued in most patients at discharge. In patients with a high risk of thrombosis, aspirin can be continued for up to 1 month. Dual therapy should be continued for 12 months, with oral anticoagulant monotherapy continued thereafter. Conclusion A review of current literature on antithrombotic therapy in patients with AF undergoing PCI and subsequent coronary artery stenting indicates that the favored regimen is dual therapy consisting of clopidogrel with rivaroxaban, apixaban, dabigatran, or a vitamin K antagonist. Aspirin may be used in the periprocedural period but should be discontinued thereafter to reduce the risk of bleeding. Decisions regarding specific agents and duration of treatment should be based on thrombotic risk, bleeding risk, and patient preference.
Advanced Practice Providers

As a medical professional in advanced practice, the required curriculum of education and clinical training is mainly a general framework needed to obtain certification to practice. In the field of radiology as an advanced practitioner much of the training for the role is provided with the supervision of the radiologists while performing the daily clinical and procedural responsibilities. The goal of the chapter is to provide more information regarding several advanced provider roles in radiology while aiming to entice more professionals to join the continuously evolving field of radiology.
Thyroid cancer diagnosis in the era of precision imaging

Thyroid cancer affects 1.3% of the population with increasing rates of incidence over the last decade (approximately 2% per year). Although the overall prognosis is good in the differentiated subtypes, there has been a slow but steady increase in rate of deaths associated with thyroid cancer (approximately 0.7% per year over the last decade). Thyroid cancer is usually detected when: (I) patients feel a lump in the neck; (II) a routine clinical exam is performed; (III) an incidental thyroid nodule is identified on diagnostic imaging (e.g., CT neck or chest, carotid ultrasound, PET scan acquired for non-thyroid pathology). Identification of suspicious thyroid nodules results in further diagnostic work-up including laboratory assessment, further imaging, and biopsy. Accurate diagnosis is required for clinical staging and optimal patient treatment design. In this review, we aim to discuss utility of various imaging modalities and their role in thyroid cancer diagnosis and management. Additionally, we aim to highlight emerging diagnostic techniques that aim to improve diagnostic specificity and accuracy in thyroid cancer, thus paving way for precision medicine.
Geographical Enrichment of Historical Landscapes: Spatial Integration, Geo-Narrative, Spatial Narrative, and Deep Mapping

This chapter reviews cartographic and phenomenological views of landscape; argues for opportunities to traverse freely between the two seemly disjoint perspectives to landscape understanding, and discusses four geospatial approaches to enrich historical landscapes geographically. Innovations and advances in Geographical Information Science and Technology (GIST) not only facilitate the spatial integration of geographic features and perspectives in landscape interpretation but expand the traditional authoritative and demarcated mapping of the land into collective constructs of contingent personal experiences over space and time. The discussion applies Montello’s figurative, vista, environmental and geographic spaces to frame the transition of landscape concepts from phenomenological to cartographic perspectives. GIST methods of spatial integration, geo-narrative, spatial narrative, and deep mapping incorporate geographic features, feelings, events, and senses to enrich the representation, analysis, and communication of historical landscape. Recent developments in unmanned aviation vehicle (UAV) surveys, virtual reality, and augmented reality give great promises for further geographic enrichments to historical landscapes with holistic syntheses of cartographic and phenomenological perspectives. The chapter concludes with challenges to formalize the methodology and epistemology for studying historical landscape processes and transformation.
TiTUS: Sampling and Summarizing Transmission Trees with Multi-strain Infections

The combination of genomic and epidemiological data hold the potential to enable accurate pathogen transmission history inference. However, the inference of outbreak transmission histories remains challenging due to various factors such as within-host pathogen diversity and multi-strain infections. Current computational methods ignore within-host diversity and/or multi-strain infections, often failing to accurately infer the transmission history. Thus, there is a need for efficient computational methods for transmission tree inference that accommodate the complexities of real data. We formulate the Direct Transmission Inference (DTI) problem for inferring transmission trees that support multi-strain infections given a timed phylogeny and additional epidemiological data. We establish hardness for the decision and counting version of the DTI problem. We introduce TiTUS, a method that uses SATISFIABILITY to almost uniformly sample from the space of transmission trees. We introduce criteria that prioritizes parsimonious transmission trees that we subsequently summarize using a novel consensus tree approach. We demonstrate the ability of our method to accurately reconstruct transmission trees on simulated data as well as a documented HIV transmission chain.
Dust mitigation technology for lunar exploration utilizing an electron beam

Abstract Dust mobilized on the lunar surface due to natural processes and/or human activities can readily stick to spacesuits, optical devices, and mechanical components, for example. This may lead to dust hazards that have been considered as one of the technical challenges for future lunar exploration. Several dust mitigation technologies have been investigated over the past years. Here we present a new method utilizing an electron beam to shed dust off of surfaces. Recent studies on electrostatic dust lofting have shown that the emission and absorption of secondary electrons or photoelectrons inside microcavities forming between dust particles can cause the buildup of substantial negative charges on the surrounding particles. The subsequent repulsive forces between these particles can cause their release from the surface. Fine-sized lunar simulant particles (JSC-1A,
Sequences in Partitions, Double q -Series and the Mock Theta Function ρ 3 (q)

The object of this paper is to build on a previous study related to Schur’s 1926 partition theorem done by Andrews, Bringmann and Mahlburg. We present generalizations of the double series considered by them. Two particular infinite families are identified. Beyond the main theorems, applications are made to Rogers-Ramanujan identities and mock theta functions.
Horus: A Modular GPU Emulator Framework

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are widely used to run general-purpose computing workloads. Three approaches currently exist to observe the dynamic behaviour of these workloads: real hardware, architectural simulators, and functional simulators (or emulators). However, the rapid evolution of GPU hardware and software stacks means that, in reality, using hardware is the only option to study current GPU workloads. Unfortunately, GPU toolchain support for advanced characterization capabilities is still far behind CPU toolchains like Pin. In this paper, we present an early glimpse of Horus, an emulator for NVIDIA GPUs. Although it is not the first such emulator, Horus is being engineered using a novel methodology to keep pace with the rapid changes in GPU hardware. Horus is highly modular, and is the first to utilize a specially designed DSL for specifying formal semantics for GPU instruction sets (NVIDIA PTX). A semantics compiler uses these semantics to generate the emulator. Horus also features a well-defined interface by which utility functions – instrumentation, new instruction support, analysis tools – can be coupled with the main emulator to increase reuse while studying the dynamic behaviour of GPU kernels. Horus is now mature enough to run all the Polybench and Rodinia benchmarks correctly.
Current strategies for managing intestinal failure-associated liver disease.

Introduction: Intestinal failure-associated liver disease (IFALD) refers to hepatic dysfunction that results from prolonged parenteral nutrition (PN) use. IFALD is multifactorial in origin and remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Prior to 2004, IFALD was associated with mortality as high as 90% in infants who remained on PN greater than 1 year. The advent of new strategies for intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE) administration and improved catheter care now allow many patients to remain on PN and recover from this once fatal condition. Several additional treatment modalities are often used to further improve outcomes for IFALD patients and they are reviewed here.Areas covered: The etiology of IFALD is presented, as well as the rationale behind the use of ILEs that contain fish oil. Other management strategies are addressed, including the effects of several pharmacologic and nutritional interventions.Expert opinion: Like its etiology, the management of IFALD is multifactorial. Prompt recognition of patients at risk, avoiding macronutrient excess, and preventing central line associated bloodstream infections will improve outcomes. In patients who develop IFALD, the use of fish oil monotherapy seems to be efficacious. The most effective intervention, however, continues to be discontinuation of PN and achieving full enteral feedings.
Evaluating YouTube as a Resource for Trigeminal Neuralgia Patient Education

Purpose The objective of this study was to examine the educational value of YouTube as a source of patient information regarding trigeminal neuralgia and its treatment. We also sought to determine the degree of bias that is present in the top videos regarding this condition. Materials and Methods We selected 6 search terms related to trigeminal neuralgia to examine on YouTube for quality and bias using the DISCERN criteria. Filtering by relevance and total view count, we determined the top 20 results for each search term and evaluated all videos for overall educational quality and creator bias. We categorized the type of content creator and compared overall DISCERN scores and bias scores between creator type and search term. Results There were 80 unique and 40 duplicate videos. There were 10,745,574 total views across all videos, with an average view count of 89,546. The mean DISCERN score for all videos was 1.7, and the mean bias score was 2.2. Based on individual search terms, the highest mean DISCERN score was for trigeminal neuralgia surgery (2.1) and the highest mean bias score was for tic douloureux (2.8). Among creator types, medical professionals had significantly higher overall (2.2) and bias (2.6) scores. Conclusions Overall, YouTube is a relatively poor source of unbiased information about trigeminal neuralgia. Among the existing content, medical professionals provide educational material that is the highest quality and the most unbiased.
Toward Formal Verification of a Map Copy Method

The goal of this research is to contribute a new component to challenge existing automated verification tools. This component is a generic copy capability extension to an existing map concept. It is designed with proper formal specifications and loop invariants so that it is amenable to verification. The map concept and the extension both avoid explicit references and aliasing. The copy capability is implemented using a loop that goes through the entire map, pulling out each value in the map to copy, and then placing that value back into the original map and its copy, thereby keeping the original map the same while creating the copy. Verification of the extension using the RESOLVE verifying compiler successfully generates verification conditions, though they are not proved automatically at this time. The copy extension can serve as an instructive example to teach Computer Science students about formal verification of iterative code with loop invariants.
A 3-D hydrogel based system for hematopoietic differentiation and its use in modeling down syndrome associated transient myeloproliferative disorder

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide an extraordinary tool for disease modeling owing to their potential to differentiate into the desired cell type. The differentiation of iPSCs is typically performed on 2-dimensional monolayers of stromal cell or animal tissue derived extracellular matrices. Recent advancements in disease modeling have utilized iPSCs in 3-dimensional (3D) cultures to study diseases such as muscular dystrophy, cardiomyopathy, and pulmonary fibrosis. However, these approaches are yet to be explored in modeling the hematological malignancies. Transient myeloproliferative disorder (TMD) is a preleukemic stage, which is induced in 10-20% of children with trisomy 21 possessing the pathognomonic mutation in the transcription factor GATA1. In this study, we established a synthetic 3D iPSC culture system for modeling TMD via hematopoietic differentiation of customized iPSCs. A chemically cross-linkable PEG hydrogel decorated with integrin binding peptide was found to be permissive of hematopoietic differentiation of iPSCs. It provided a cost-effective system for the generation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) with higher yield of early HSPCs compared to traditional 2D culture on Matrigel coated dishes. Characterization of the HSPCs produced from the iPSC lines cultured in 3D showed that the erythroid population was reduced whereas the megakaryoid and myeloid populations were significantly increased in GATA1 mutant trisomic line compared to disomic or trisomic lines with wild-type GATA1, consistent with TMD characteristics. In conclusion, we have identified a cost-effective tunable 3D hydrogel system to model TMD.
Basketry, cordage, and perishable artifact manufacture at Bonneville Estates Rockshelter: Diachronic technological variation

Abstract As a technologically-complex material class, perishable artifacts have the potential to address a multitude of socio-economic activities and behaviors; however, their application to these subjects are limited by poor preservation and small sample sizes. This study presents a novel approach to analysis that incorporates the chaine operatoire of basketry and cordage, demonstrating the efficacy of applying statistics to characterize technological organization. To illustrate the utility of this approach, this study provides a diachronic analysis of basketry, cordage, and related manufacturing waste from Bonneville Estates Rockshelter (BER), a multi-layered “dry cave” archaeological site in the eastern Great Basin dating from the late Pleistocene through the Holocene. The relationship between people and the environment as well as social interaction among hunter-gatherers are addressed by considering the timing, changes, and seasonality of perishables at BER. Changes in basketry manufacture and the importance of net hunting throughout the Holocene emphasize temporal variation in community participation in subsistence activities. Debris from textile production demonstrates that BER also functioned as a multi-seasonal manufacturing and repair site. By comparing functional and technological-stylistic attributes, this study characterizes the complex ways gender influenced the manufacture and use of a material class traditionally associated with feminine work in hunter-gatherer communities.
Eating Disorders in Asian American Women: Integrating Multiculturalism and Feminism

SUMMARY This paper discusses factors that contribute to the development of eating disorders in Asian American women. We provide a conceptual framework for understanding how culture interplays with risk factors at societal, familial, and individual levels. Because of the complex interplay of factors associated with the development of eating disorders in Asian American women, treatment efforts should target risk factors along each of the aforementioned domains. Clinical issues in treating Asian American women are discussed and treatment recommendations are provided.
Dependency Pairs for Rewriting with Non-free Constructors

A method based on dependency pairs for showing termination of functional programs on data structures generated by constructors with relations is proposed. A functional program is specified as an equational rewrite system, where the rewrite system specifies the program and the equations express the relations on the constructors that generate the data structures. Unlike previous approaches, relations on constructors can be collapsing, including idempotency and identity relations. Relations among constructors may be partitioned into two parts: (i) equations that cannot be oriented into terminating rewrite rules, and (ii) equations that can be oriented into terminating rewrite rules, in which case an equivalent convergent system for them is generated. The dependency pair method is extended to normalized rewriting, where constructor-terms in the redex are normalized first. The method has been applied to several examples, including the Calculus of Communicating Systems and the Propositional Sequent Calculus. Various refinements, such as dependency graphs, narrowing, etc., which increase the power of the dependency pair method, are presented for normalized rewriting.
Piecewise linear reasoning

This paper describes a new technique called piecewise linear reasoning (PLR) for analyzing dynamic systems describable by finite sets of ordinary differential equations. Current qualitative reasoning programs derive the abstract behavior of a system by simulating handcrafted "qualitative" versions of the differential equations that characterize it and summarizing the results. PLR infers more detailed information by constructing and examining piecewise linear approximations of the original equations. All evidence that PLR can provide useful information to engineers, its analyses of the Lienard and van der Pol equations are presented.
Human Enhancement uses of Biotechnology, Ethics, The Ethics of Enhancement

Introduction Treatment–Enhancement Distinction Professional Domain Accounts Normalcy Accounts Disease-Based Accounts Enhancement as a Form of Cheating Enhancement as an Abuse of Medicine Keywords: biotechnology; ethics
Does Fear Motivate Critical Evaluations of Political Arguments? Emotion and Dual-Processing Models of Persuasion

Under what conditions are individuals persuaded by political arguments encountered in the news? In this project, we integrate recent political science research on the effects of fear on persuasion with dual process models of persuasion from cognitive psychology and the Extended Parallel Processing Model developed in the fear appeal literature. These models predict that anxiety motivates a mixture of systematic and heuristic processing when individuals evaluate a persuasive message. Two experimental studies demonstrate that in an anxious state, individuals appear to rely on easy to use heuristics like source cues to gauge the effectiveness of the proposed solution. The second experimental study offers evidence that personal involvement with the issue may moderate this effect, with highly involved individuals choosing to engage in systematic processing when anxious. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings as well as avenues for additional research.
[21] Measurement of the immune system in response to psychological intervention

Publisher Summary The field of psychoneuroimmunology examines how the brain and behavior can influence health and the susceptibility to disease through the immune system. For decades a cause-and-effect relationship between emotional state and disease has been suspected. Solomon and Amkraut have described numerous clinical observations that psychological and emotional factors alter resistance to infectious diseases. Also, Ader has shown conditioning to influence the immune system.There are several different ways of measuring the activity of the immune system. The method described in this chapter was developed for human blood lymphocyte measurement. The method provides an overview of changes in the immune system in an accurate and rapid way. The ratios of T cells, T-nonhelper cells, T-helper cells, and B cells are given by this method.
Evaluation of magnetic resonance imaging relaxation time in wrist cartilage with scapholunate ligament injury

Objective: The overall goal of this research is to identify completely non-invasive in vivo markers of cartilage degeneration following wrist injury in order to facilitate assessment and treatment of wrist injuries and prevention of osteoarthritis as a result of injury. In this study, the transverse relaxation time, T2, from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the wrist cartilage of subjects exhibiting unilateral scapholunate dissociation was analyzed to evaluate changes in the biochemical status of the cartilage in the wrist following injury. Methods: Data collection consisted of MRI scans of the wrist using 2 separate 3T scanners. Fourteen subjects were analyzed, each subject completed scans to evaluate T2 relaxation times on both their injured and contralateral (normal) wrist. Scans were conducted with a maximum of 0.390625 mm/pixel in-plane pixel size and 1 mm slice thickness. A series of four time echo scans ranging from 15-80 ms were collected. T2 relaxation time for each subject was calculated by registering these echo time scans and fitting the corresponding intensity values to an exponential decay curve. Results: The T2 results from all subjects indicated no statistically significant changes with presence of injury. The use of two separate MRI scanners of the same strength of magnet coil did not cause a significant change in measurement values. Conclusions: Our data suggests that either T2 relaxation time does not change with the presence of scapholunate injury in the wrist or that the change was insufficient to be detected in this study. The results from this study may function as a baseline for future studies examining the potential positive effect surgical repair has on T2 relaxation times.
Effects of the teratogenic folic acid antagonist, 9-methyl pteroylglutamic acid, on hydroxyproline levels in fetal rat limbs

Pregnant rats were subjected to either a folic-acid-deficient regimen that produces multiple congenital skeletal malformations, or a control folic-acid-supplemented regimen. Fetal limbs were extirpated on days 16 and 18 of gestation, pooled from each litter, homogenized, and aliquots set aside for hydroxyproline, protein and DNA determinations. We found that (1) the amount of protein recovered per treated limb was approximately half that of controls on both days, (2) the amount of protein recovered per treated or controlday-18 limb was twice that of a day-16 limb, (3) treated limbs constituted the same percentage of total body weight as in controls on day 16, but a smaller percentage than in controls on day 18, and (4) the concentration of hydroxyproline (μg/mg protein) was significantly less for treated limbs than for controls on day 18 of gestation. We noted also that: (1) lowest hydroxyproline concentrations were found in limbs from treated fetuses with gross limb malformations, (2) intermediate concentrations were found in limbs of treated fetuses not exhibiting gross limb malformations, and (3) highest concentrations were found in control limbs. We suggest that the treatment resulted in (1) a decreased rate of accumulation of protein in limbs prior to day 16, but not from day 16 to day 18, (2) a decreased rate of accumulation of some non-protein component(s) in treated limbs from day 16 to day 18, and (3) an altered collagen metabolism.
Run Timing, Spawn Timing, and Spawning Distribution of Hatchery- and Natural-Origin Spring Chinook Salmon in the Imnaha River, Oregon

Abstract We evaluated 16 years (1990–2005) of weir collection and spawning ground survey data to examine differences in run timing, spawn timing, and spawning distribution between naturally and hatchery-reared Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Imnaha River, Oregon, and to look for changes in these variables over time. We compared run timing based on arrival time at the weir and found that naturally reared Chinook salmon arrived earlier than hatchery-reared fish in all 16 years. Carcasses of naturally reared fish of either or both sexes were recovered on the spawning grounds earlier than carcasses of hatchery-reared fish for all years combined and during 5 of 16 years, indicating earlier spawning by naturally reared fish. We compared spawning distribution using the percent of female carcasses recovered in each spawning ground survey reach. The percent recovery of the carcasses of naturally reared females was greater in reaches above the weir than below the weir and these carcasses were farther...
A THEORY OF EX POST VERSUS EX ANTE PRICE DETERMINATION

The traditional theory of exchange implicitly assumes instantaneous exchange at the contractually determined price. However, actual exchange may entail payment before or after supply as well as determination of effective price ex ante or ex post of supply. The paper demonstrates that the market determination of price timing arises in conjunction with the resolution of mutual uncertainty among buyers and sellers concerning product quality and product cost. The conditions are identified under which ex post pricing will result rather than the more traditional ex ante pricing. The theory accounts for the simultaneous use of ex post and ex ante pricing in a single market. Legal service pricing is used to illustrate the theoretical principles derived in the paper.
Investigation of Unsupervised Pattern Learning Techniques for Bootstrap Construction of a Medical Treatment Lexicon

Dictionaries of biomedical concepts (e.g. diseases, medical treatments) are critical source of background knowledge for systems doing biomedical information retrieval, extraction, and automated discovery. However, the rapid pace of biomedical research and the lack of constraints on usage ensure that such dictionaries are incomplete. Focusing on medical treatment concepts (e.g. drugs, medical procedures and medical devices), we have developed an unsupervised, iterative pattern learning approach for constructing a comprehensive dictionary of medical treatment terms from randomized clinical trial (RCT) abstracts. We have investigated different methods of seeding, either with a seed pattern or seed instances (terms), and have compared different ranking methods for ranking extracted context patterns and instances. When used to identify treatment concepts from 100 randomly chosen, manually annotated RCT abstracts, our medical treatment dictionary shows better performance (precision:0.40, recall: 0.92 and F-measure: 0.54) over the most widely used manually created medical treatment terminology (precision: 0.41, recall: 0.52 and F-measure: 0.42).
X-irradiation of the giant amoeba, Pelomyxa illinoisensis. II. Further studies on recovery following supralethal exposure†‡

BS>Living, nonirradiated, centrifeged giant amoebae were separated into light and heavy halves which were then injected by fusion into different supralethally x-irradiated cells. Heavy, centrifugal portions of cells centrifuged for 10 minutes nt forces which ranged from 700 g to 30,000 g brought about recovery from supralethal x-ray injury. These heavy portions contained the nuclei and most of the mitochondria. The percentage of light halves capable of preventing death after fusion decreased in a linear manner from the 92% produced by noncentrifuged, nonirradiated whole protoplasm to some 3% produced by light halves centrifuged at 5000 g. Light halves of cells centrifuged at forces grenter than fhis were even less capable of preventing death. The nonirradiated nuclei do not appear to be required by the lethally irradiated cell for recovery providing nonirradiated cytoplasm is present. Exposed nuclei recover and divide repentedly after fnsion. The need of lethally irradiated cells for nonirradiated mitochondria appears to be negligible. Cell division occurred at normal time intervals in the irradiated cells which received nonirradiated heavy hanlves. Many of the light halves centri-fuged at the lower forces also produced this result. The 0.1 to 0.3 mu particulates which do not stain with acidfuchsin, and/or the cytoplasmmore » which contains them, appear to have the capacity to prevent death in supralethally x-irradiated organisms. The migration of these particulates out of the light portions into the heavy portions during centrifugation is closely correlated with the loss in therapeutic value of the light portions. (auth)« less