cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
André Gorz and the Philosophical Foundation of the Political

Although Andre Gorz (1923–2007) came to be known during recent decades as a leading proponent and innovators of left-wing ecological politics, he had been celebrated during the 1960s and 1970s as an innovative critical Marxist rethinking the politics of class in essays published in Les Temps modernes of which he was then the de facto political editor. I will try to show here that the basis of all of his political thought, then and as it evolved with the times and the circumstances, was philosophical. This philosophical foundation is not always evident to the casual reader who will be impressed by the sharp sociological distinctions and crisp use of economic data by a thinker who had earned his living for three decades as a journalist for a weekly magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur. As he explains in the presentation of a collection of his journalistic writings, his analyses of everyday life attempt to bring to light “the logic, the contradictions and the dead-ends of a system, but show also that which announces its transcendence.”1 This is exactly what Marx set as his own goal when he defined Capital as “a presentation [of the capitalist system] and through the presentation a critique of that system.”2 The unifying thread across all of Gorz’s work is a philosophical theory of alienation and the reasons for overcoming it.
Disturbance Response Grouping of Ecological Sites Increases Utility of Ecological Sites and State-and-Transition Models for Landscape Scale Planning in the Great Basin

On the Ground Ecological sites often occur at scales too small for application in planning large-scale vegetation treatments or post-fire rehabilitation. Disturbance Response Groups (DRGs) are used to scale up ecological sites by grouping ecological sites based on their responses to disturbances. A state-and-transition model (STM) is created for the DRG and refined through field investigations for each ecological site thereby creating STMs that function at both DRG and ecological site scales. The limited availability of ecological site descriptions hinders their use in large-scale management planning and may be a factor associated with the observed lack of application of available STMs Standardization of ecological site mapping tools for GIS platforms would increase the utility of DRGs, STMs, and ecological site descriptions for many land managers in the western United States.
Enhanced visualization of peripheral retinal vasculature with wavefront sensorless adaptive optics optical coherence tomography angiography in diabetic patients

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a promising technique for non-invasive visualization of vessel networks in the human eye. We debut a system capable of acquiring wide field-of-view (>70°) OCT angiograms without mosaicking. Additionally, we report on enhancing the visualization of peripheral microvasculature using wavefront sensorless adaptive optics (WSAO). We employed a fast WSAO algorithm that enabled wavefront correction in <2 s by iterating the mirror shape at the speed of OCT B-scans rather than volumes. Also, we contrasted ∼7° field-of-view OCTA angiograms acquired in the periphery with and without WSAO correction. On average, WSAO improved the sharpness of microvasculature by 65% in healthy eyes and 38% in diseased eyes. Preliminary observations demonstrated that the location of 7° images could be identified directly from the wide field-of-view angiogram. A pilot study on a normal subject and patients with diabetic retinopathy showed the impact of utilizing WSAO for OCTA when visualizing peripheral vasculature pathologies.
Multiple-input bridge converter for connecting multiple renewable energy sources to a DC system

This paper presents a Multiple-Input Single-Output Full Bridge DC-DC converter. This converter will be used to combine energy from multiple renewable energy sources to a single common output for a DC electrical system. System level approach to the design of the converter allows simple and functional solution to the requirement. Theoretical calculations, simulations, layout, and thermal analysis are presented in this report. Experimental data including functionality and performance of the proposed converter are also included in this report. Results show that the proposed MISO converter exhibits full functionality when tested with up to four power sources while outputting a stable 48VDC at 300W maximum output power.
DISTRIBUTION OF LANTHANIDE AND ACTINIDE ELEMENTS BETWEEN MOLTEN LITHIUM HALIDE SALTS AND LIQUID BISMUTH SOLUTIONS.

Abstract Measurements of the equilibrium distribution of several lanthanide and actinide elements between liquid bismuth solutions and a variety of lithium halide salts were made in the temperature range 600–750°C. The salts included molten LiCl, LiBr and several LiFBeF2ThF4 solutions. At each temperature, the distribution coefficients (mole fraction in the bismuth phase divided by mole fraction in the salt phase) for most of the solutes obeyed the relationship D M = (N Li n ) (K M ∗ ) , in which n is the oxidation number of solute Mn+ in the salt phase and NLi is the mole fraction of lithium in the bismuth phase. Under the experimental conditions employed (NLi ranging between 10−5 and 0·3), thorium and protactinium were in the 4+ oxidation state in the salt phase; La, Nd, U, Np, Pu and Cm were tripositive; and Ba and Eu were dipositive. The values of log K M ∗ generally decreased regularly with increasing temperature. The oxidation numbers of Sm, Am and Cf in the salt phase varied between 3+ and 2+, depending on the experimental conditions. Californium existed primarily in the 2+ oxidation state with LiCl as the salt phase, whereas, in fluoride salts, the californium was tripositive. The variation of the distribution coefficients of Sm, Cf and Am with NLi at a given temperature could be expressed as DM = NLi3/(α+βNLi), in which α and β are constants.
Demonstration of athermally synchronized distributed feedback laser with microring filter

We demonstrate an athermally synchronized distributed feedback laser cascaded with microring filters on a silicon photonic platform, with >10dB extinction ratio and a synchronized wavelength shift of 0.02 nm/ ° from 20 to 50 °.
Ultra-low-loss on-chip resonators with sub-milliwatt parametric oscillation threshold

On-chip optical resonators have the promise of revolutionizing numerous fields, including metrology and sensing; however, their optical losses have always lagged behind those of their larger discrete resonator counterparts based on crystalline materials and silica microtoroids. Silicon nitride (Si3N4) ring resonators open up capabilities for frequency comb generation, optical clocks, and high-precision sensing on an integrated platform. However, simultaneously achieving a high quality factor (Q) and high confinement in Si3N4 (critical for nonlinear processes, for example) remains a challenge. Here we show that addressing surface roughness enables overcoming the loss limitations and achieving high-confinement on-chip ring resonators with Q of 37 million for a ring of 2.5 μm width and 67 million for a ring of 10 μm width. We show a clear systematic path for achieving these high Qs, and these techniques can also be used to reduce losses in other material platforms independent of geometry. Furthermore, we demonstrate optical parametric oscillation using the 2.5 μm wide ring with sub-milliwatt pump powers and extract the loss limited by the material absorption in our films to be 0.13±0.05 dB/m, which corresponds to an absorption-limited Q of at least 170 million by comparing two resonators with different degrees of confinement. Our work provides a chip-scale platform for applications such as ultralow-power frequency comb generation, laser stabilization, and sideband-resolved optomechanics.
Marianne Moore’s Gustatory Imagination

Schulze explores the reflection in her poems of Moore’s complex relationship with food. Her favorite terms about the production and consumption of art—gusto, disgust, fastidiousness, taste, and distaste—are terms rooted in food and appetite. In many of her early verses, Moore uses gustatory metaphors to encourage her readers to ingest new art and ideas and avoid the narrowness of appetite that defines “good taste” as exclusionary. Other poems, however, frequently appreciate those who eat little. This essay explores how Moore’s metaphorical uses of food and eating, of gustatory pleasure and corresponding sensual disgust, shift at a critical point in her career and suggests what the shift means to a broader reading of Moore’s evolving modernist ethos.
Speaking for Nature: Hobbes, Latour, and the Democratic Representation of Nonhumans

Environmental theorists have often considered how best to represent nature's interests. This essay develops an approach to the democratic representation of nonhuman nature by examining the relation between Bruno Latour’s account of representation and that of Thomas Hobbes. Both Hobbes and Latour develop a constructivist theory of representation as an ongoing process that partly constitutes what it represents. In this respect, Latour’s account complements the “constructivist turn” in recent democratic theory, and it suggests a promising avenue for representing nonhumans. However, Latour also follows Hobbes in viewing representation as a matter of unifying and replacing the represented. This aspect of Latour’s approach obscures certain key features of representative democracy in pluralist societies. The last part of the essay takes up an aspect of Hobbes’s theory neglected by Latour, the notion of “representation by fiction,” which suggests a way of representing nonhumans that offers more support for representative democracy than other approaches
Inflammation-on-a-Chip: Probing the Immune System Ex Vivo

Inflammation is the typical result of activating the host immune system against pathogens, and it helps to clear microbes from tissues. However, inflammation can occur in the absence of pathogens, contributing to tissue damage and leading to disease. Understanding how immune cells coordinate their activities to initiate, modulate, and terminate inflammation is key to developing effective interventions to preserve health and combat diseases. Towards this goal, inflammation-on-a-chip tools provide unique features that greatly benefit the study of inflammation. They reconstitute tissue environments in microfabricated devices and enable real-time, high-resolution observations and quantification of cellular activities relevant to inflammation. We review here recent advances in inflammation-on-a-chip technologies and highlight the biological insights and clinical applications enabled by these emerging tools.
The Emerging Science of Drug Abuse Prevention

In summary, the field of drug abuse prevention has emerged over the past 15 years as a credible scientific discipline that has produced significant understanding of the underlying psychosocial risks and protective factors associated with drug use onset and progression to abuse. In addition, evidence from randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies of theory-based drug abuse prevention interventions indicates that a growing number of drug abuse prevention programs and policies have demonstrated efficacy in reducing risks and moderating drug abuse behaviors of youths provided the programs in comparison to controls. Based upon this body of research, drug abuse prevention principles have been developed and applied in the practice community. Finally, the field of prevention science is beginning to address the important research questions associated with taking evidence-based drug abuse prevention programs and policies to scale in the prevention practice system at the state and community level.
A Fictitious Domain Method with Operator Splitting for Wave Problems in Mixed Form

We propose a novel operator splitting scheme for time discretization, combined with a new fictitious domain method involving a distributed Lagrange multiplier for the solution of a wave scattering problem. The symmetrized operator splitting scheme decouples the propagation of the wave, and the enforcement of the Dirichlet boundary condition on the obstacle. We employ mixed finite elements for the substeps which propagate the wave. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated via a numerical example.
High Plasma Steroid Levels in the Squirrel Monkey: Deficient Receptors or Metabolism?

Many New World primates such as the squirrel monkey have extraordinarily high plasma steroid hormone levels as compared to humans and Old World primates. To clarify the mechanism(s) under­lying this apparent steroid resistance, glucocorticoid and androgen binding to putative receptors in genital skin fibroblasts from several species was investigated. Differences in either affinity and/or number of binding sites were found but these were small compared to the very large differences in total or free plasma steroid concentrations between Old and New World primate species. In contrast, when the ability of fibroblasts to metabolize testo­sterone was compared, squirrel monkey cells were devoid of 5α-reductase activity which was readily demonstrated in human cells. Together with other data indicating that squirrel monkeys excrete little if any 5α- or 5β-reduced urinary steroid metabolites, these results suggest that inefficient metabolism rather than receptor binding abnormalities may account for the elevated plasma hormone levels in the squirrel monkey.
A Health Needs Assessment of the Filipino American Community in the Greater Las Vegas Area

Abstract Purpose: The number of Filipino Americans in Las Vegas, Nevada, is growing considerably, but no research to date has assessed the specific health needs of this burgeoning population. Thus,...
Baudelaire’s Bedrooms

ABSTRACTBaudelaire’s ‘Le Mauvais Vitrier’ still fascinates scholars because of the narrator’s enigmatic hatred for the eponymous ‘bad glazier.’ Walter Benjamin (2010. The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire, edited by Michael W. Jennings. Translated by Howard Eiland et al. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press) emphasized Baudelaire’s originality in describing the shock of encountering modernity, which might explain the narrator’s actions, while other critics examined this animosity from psychoanalytic angles. This article turns, instead, to the power of space—namely, the architecture of 19th-Century Paris as lived social space—influencing the narrator’s odd behaviour. ‘Le Mauvais Vitrier,’ like several other poems in Le Spleen de Paris, takes place in the private space of the narrator’s bedroom. Surprisingly little has been written about the effect of that space on the narrator, and I address this lacuna, touring the bedrooms depicted in Le Spleen de Paris to show how they represent the architectu...
167) Subjective Age is Associated with Temporal Summation of Mechanical Pain

Subjective age is a multifaceted self-perception of the age one feels relative to one's chronological age, and is conceptualized as a reflection of one's physical, mental, and social health. Markers of poor health are correlated with discrepancies between subjective age and actual chronological age, and individuals with poor overall health, lower grip strength, memory problems, weight gain, and trouble sleeping all report elevated subjective ages relative to healthy populations of similar chronological age. Subjective age may in fact reflect an introspective awareness that takes biopsychosocial factors into account. As such, subjective age has been suggested to be a more robust predictor of overall health and function than chronological age. Therefore, subjective age may be a simple and useful assessment item that corresponds to overall pain sensitivity. To date though, no studies have been conducted to examine whether subjective age can predict pain response in a laboratory setting. Here, among 67 healthy young adults (53.7% female, Mage = 21.66, SD = 3.64 years), subjective age r = .28, p = .02, but not chronological age r = .11, p = .37, was associated with greater mechanical temporal summation. This relationship remained significant after controlling for chronological age in a partial correlation, r = .26, p = .03. The results of the current study suggest that subjective age may be a better predictor of pain sensitization than chronological age, although additional research is needed to probe this relationship across the lifespan.
Nutraceutical and pharmaceutical cocktails did not improve muscle function or reduce histological damage in D2-mdx mice

Despite a compelling rationale and previous evidence to the contrary in short-term investigations, quercetin, nicotinamide riboside, or Lisinopril, alone or in combination, failed to restore muscle...
Establishing a medical student-run opt-out HIV testing initiative in an urban emergency department: Description of a pilot program

Since July 2012, a testing initiative implemented and staffed entirely by first and second year preclinical medical students has trained medical student volunteers to offer and perform OraQuick® rapid HIV-1/2 antibody tests (OrasureTechnologies, Inc., Bethlehem, PA) on an opt-out basis at a University hospital emergency department (ED) in the District of Columbia. This program is unique among current opt-out ED rapid HIV testing programs in the United States in that all logistics, staffing, and procurement of test kits are coordinated and operated solely by preclinical medical students (i.e, students in their first and second years of medical school). This paper will address the conception, development, and implementation of this pilot project. In addition, it will discuss several factors that were essential to its successful implementation and describe how key barriers were overcome.
Abstract LB-A04: Rapid non-uniform adaptation to conformation-specific KRAS G12C inhibition

KRAS GTPases are activated in one-third of cancers and KRAS G12C is the most common activating alteration in lung adenocarcinoma. KRAS G12C inhibitors are in Phase-I clinical trials and early data show only partial responses in lung cancer patients. How cancer cells bypass inhibition, to prevent maximal responses to therapy, is not understood. Because KRAS G12C cycles between an active and inactive conformation, and the inhibitors only bind to the latter, we hypothesized that isogenic cell populations respond non-uniformly. Here we studied the effect of treatment at the single cell level and showed that shortly after treatment, some cancer cells were sequestered in a quiescent state with low KRAS activity, while others reactivated KRAS to resume proliferation. By combining cell fate-specific gene expressions and results from a CRISPR-Cas9 screen, we identified that this rapid divergent response is due to new KRAS G12C produced in response to suppressed MAPK output. Upstream-acting adaptive signals, such as epidermal growth-factor receptor and aurora kinase signaling, maintain new KRAS G12C protein in its active/drug-insensitive state to restore KRAS output. Cells without these adaptive changes (or cells where they are pharmacologically inhibited) remain sensitive to drug treatment, because new KRAS G12C is either not available, or it exists in its inactive/drug-sensitive state. Combined inhibition of these adaptive signals along with KRAS G12C produced more potent antitumor effects in vivo. Our study uncovers a flexible non-uniform fitness mechanism that enables groups of cells within a population to rapidly bypass the effect of treatment. This adaptive process must be overcome to maximize the therapeutic potential of conformation-specific KRAS G12C inhibitors in the clinic. Citation Format: Jenny Xue, Yulei Zhao, Jordan Aronowitz, Trang T Mai, Alberto Vides, Besnik Qeriqi, Dongsung Kim, Chuanchuan Li, Elisa de Stanchina, Linas Mazutis, Davide Risso, Piro Lito. Rapid non-uniform adaptation to conformation-specific KRAS G12C inhibition [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2019 Oct 26-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2019;18(12 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-A04. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.TARG-19-LB-A04
Modelling Social Entrepreneurship: Consideration of the Reacting Forces

The field of social entrepreneurship has taken off with the explosive growth of different versions of the phenomena, like micro-credit, and with greater support, as from Ashoka and the Gates Founda...
The Role of Endoscopic Stent in Management of Postesophagectomy Leaks.

Introduction Anastomotic leak is a dreaded complication following esophagectomy. Conventional management for leaks includes invasive reoperation and even gastrointestinal diversion. Objective The aim of this study was to examine our contemporary outcome of using endoscopic esophageal stenting as primary therapy for management of anastomotic leak following minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE). Methods We reviewed data on 11 patients who developed an esophageal leak following 111 MIE between January 2011 and December 2019. Of the 11 anastomotic leaks, 10 patients had an anastomotic disruption and underwent endoscopic esophageal stenting as primary therapy for management of leaks, while 1 patient had an anastomotic disruption complicated by an associated tracheoesophageal fistula that required surgical reoperation and subsequent colonic interposition. Main outcome measures focused on the 10 patients who were managed with endoscopic stenting, including length of hospital stay following leak management, need for thoracotomy or gastrointestinal diversion for leak, stent complications, and leak-associated mortality. Results Of the 10 patients who underwent endoscopic esophageal stenting as primary therapy for management of leaks, there were 8 males with a median age of 66 years. The median time to diagnosis of anastomotic leak was 10 days postoperatively. One of the ten patients also underwent percutaneous drain placement, while none of the patients required thoracotomy. Median duration of stent placement was 39 (range, 29-105) days. Median length of stay after stent placement was 10 (range, 4-43) days. The median number of stent exchange was 1 (range, 1-3) stent. Gastrointestinal continuity was maintained in all patients. The 90-day leak-associated mortality was 9.1% (1 of 11 patients). Conclusions Endoscopic stenting is an effective primary therapy in the management of postesophagectomy leak and avoids the need for an invasive, reoperative thoracotomy or gastrointestinal diversion procedure.
Independent Validation of Genomic Prediction in Strawberry Over Multiple Cycles

The University of Florida strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa) breeding program has implemented genomic prediction (GP) as a tool for choosing outstanding parents for crosses over the last five seasons. This has allowed the use of some parents one year earlier than with traditional methods, thus reducing the duration of the breeding cycle. However, as the number of breeding cycles increases over time, greater knowledge is needed on how multiple cycles can be used in the practical implementation of GP in strawberry breeding. Advanced selections and cultivars totaling 1,558 unique individuals were tested in field trials for five yield and fruit quality traits over five consecutive years and genotyped for 9,908 SNP markers. Prediction of genomic expected breeding values was carried out using Bayes B models. Independent validation was carried out using separate trials/years as training (TRN) and testing (TST) populations. Single-trial predictive abilities for five polygenic traits averaged 0.35, which was reduced to 0.24 when individuals common across trials were excluded, emphasizing the importance of relatedness among training and testing populations. Training populations including up to four previous breeding cycles increased predictive abilities, likely due to increases in both training population size and relatedness. Predictive ability was also strongly influenced by heritability, but less so by changes in linkage disequilibrium and effective population size. Genotype by year interactions were minimal. A strategy for practical implementation of GP in strawberry breeding is outlined that uses multiple cycles to predict parental performance and accounts for traits not included in GP models when constructing crosses. Given the importance of relatedness to the success of GP in strawberry, future work could focus on the optimization of relatedness in the design of TRN and TST populations to increase predictive ability in the short-term without compromising long-term genetic gains.
Technical note: Stability of tris pH buffer in artificial seawater stored in bags

Abstract. Equimolal tris (2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-propane-1,3-diol) buffer in artificial seawater is a well characterized and commonly used standard for oceanographic pH measurements. We evaluated the stability of tris pH when stored in purportedly gas-impermeable bags across a variety of experimental conditions, including bag type and storage in air vs. seawater over 300 d . Bench-top spectrophotometric pH analysis revealed that the pH of tris stored in bags decreased at a rate of 0.0058±0.0011 yr−1 (mean slope ±95 % confidence interval of slope). The upper and lower bounds of expected pH change at t=365 d , calculated using the averages and confidence intervals of slope and intercept of measured pH change vs. time data, were − 0.0042 and − 0.0076 from initial pH. Analyses of total dissolved inorganic carbon confirmed that a combination of CO2 infiltration and/or microbial respiration led to the observed decrease in pH. Eliminating the change in pH of bagged tris remains a goal, yet the rate of pH change is lower than many processes of interest and demonstrates the potential of bagged tris for sensor calibration and validation of autonomous in situ pH measurements.
Reckoning with Racism: A Challenge for Deliberative Democracy

Drawing upon four recently published books, one booklet, and a dialogue guide, this review aims to deepen understanding of both scholars and practitioners about how to reckon with racism in the midst of overlapping and intersecting crises. The works reviewed here extend calls made within deliberative democracy scholarship and activist practice to disrupt harmful patterns of dialogic engagement. Several of these works also challenge reductionist conceptions of civility that perpetuate systemic inequality, even as they uphold deliberative democracy’s long-held commitment to honor the human dignity of participants across dialogic contexts. By putting the community organizers, activists, clergy, scholars, and professors who author these works in conversation with one another, this review promotes potentially transformative approaches to dialogue and deliberation about racial injustice. In the end, this review urges readers to imagine how these potentially transformative approaches can be adapted to virtual settings given the legacies of physical distancing measures wrought by the global health pandemic.
Clinical Outcomes Following Acute Residential Psychiatric Treatment in Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescents.

Importance Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals, who have a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, are at increased risk of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, self-injurious behavior, and suicidality, relative to cisgender peers. Objective To examine mental health outcomes among TGD vs cisgender adolescents in residential treatment. Design, Setting, and Participants This cohort study’s longitudinal design was used to compare groups at treatment entry and discharge, and 1-month postdischarge follow-up. The setting was an adolescent acute residential treatment program for psychiatric disorders. Participants were TGD or cisgender adolescents enrolled in the treatment program. Statistical analysis was performed October 2019 to March 2021. Exposure Adolescents participated in a 2-week acute residential treatment program for psychiatric disorders. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were depressive (the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [CES-D]) and anxiety (the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children [MASC]) symptoms, and emotional dysregulation (the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale [DERS]), measured at treatment entry and discharge, and postdischarge follow-up. Age of depression onset, suicidality, self-injury, and childhood trauma also were assessed at treatment entry. Results Of 200 adolescent participants who completed treatment entry and discharge assessments, the mean (SD) age was 16.2 (1.5) years; 109 reported being assigned female at birth (54.5%), 35 were TGD (17.5%), and 66 (49.3%) completed 1-month follow-up. TGD participants had an earlier mean (SD) age of depression onset (TGD: 10.8 [2.4] years vs cisgender: 11.9 [2.3] years; difference: 1.07 years; 95% CI, 0.14-2.01 years;P = .02), higher mean (SD) suicidality scores (TGD: 44.4 [23.1] vs cisgender: 28.5 [25.4]; difference: 16.0; 95% CI, 6.4-25.5;P = .001), more self-injurious behavior (mean [SD] RBQ-A score for TGD: 3.1 [2.5] vs cisgender: 1.7 [1.9]; difference: 1.42; 95% CI, 0.69-2.21;P = .001) and more childhood trauma (eg, mean [SD] CTQ-SF score for emotional abuse in TGD: 12.7 [5.4] vs cisgender: 9.8 [4.7]; difference: 2.85; 95% CI, 1.06-4.64;P = .002). The TGD group also had higher symptom scores (CES-D mean difference: 7.69; 95% CI, 3.30 to 12.08;P Conclusions and Relevance This cohort study found mental health disparities in TGD youth relative to cisgender youth, with worse scores observed across assessment time points. For all participants, primary clinical outcome measures were significantly lower at treatment discharge than at entry, with no significant differences between discharge and 1-month follow-up. Given the substantial degree of mental health disparities reported in TGD individuals, these findings warrant focused clinical attention to optimize treatment outcomes in gender minority populations.
Differential mRNA expression of cyclic-AMP response element binding protein and neuronal nitric oxide synthase in the dorsal medulla of salt-sensitive and salt resistant Dahl rats

The purpose of this study was to examine the mRNA levels of cyclic-AMP response element binding protein (CREB) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in the dorsal medulla of Dahl salt sensitive...
Cassini Mission-to-Saturn Spacecraft overview & CDS preparations for end-of-mission Proximal Orbits

In November 2016, the Cassini Mission-to-Saturn Spacecraft will enter a new mission regime, bringing the orbiter closer to Saturn's gaseous surface than ever before. This unique orbital profile will call for the vehicle to fly at very high speeds in a ballistic trajectory with shorter orbits than previously flown, within the vicinity of the “F” and “D” Rings of the Saturnian system. This mission phase is called the “F-Ring/Proximal Orbit” segment where a close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan will place the spacecraft in an orientation which resides near the outside edge of Saturn's F-Ring, positioning the vehicle in the proper flight path to complete the final 42 orbits of Cassini's mission. After 20 F-Ring orbits, a second close flyby of Titan will place the spacecraft between the innermost D-Ring and Saturn, where it will continue to collect new and unique science data for the remaining 22 orbits, before a third and final distant flyby of this moon alters Cassini's flight path to an impact trajectory with Saturn's surface, plunging the vehicle into the planet's atmosphere and ending the spacecraft's very successful 20-year mission, on September 15, 2017. Environmental assessments indicate that the D-Ring contains a significantly higher dust level than previously encountered by the spacecraft, while the F-Ring contains relatively little dust. Although Cassini was built to withstand dust and micrometeoroid impacts, high dust levels still pose a hazard to the vehicle during ring flyby events, and also cause a higher incidence of “bit flips” on the spacecraft's two Solid State Recorders (SSR) within the Command & Data Subsystem (CDS). Since these devices contain copies of the computer and instrument flight software (FSW), in addition to stored (recorded) science data, bit flip occurrences are autonomously repaired where possible. A high incidence of flipped bits could corrupt the SSR's stored science data significantly, and cause autonomous repairs in the FSW region, which if activated often enough, can interrupt science data collection to a significant degree and inhibit instrument FSW load retrieval from the SSR when required, as well as contribute to the likelihood of SSR memory failures. Additionally, cosmic ray-induced bit flips can occur on uplinked commands sent from the Ground to the spacecraft, such as the November 2010 Safing event where Cassini executed its Spacecraft Safing Response upon receipt of a corrupted uplink command, causing the autonomous Fault Protection (FP) to activate, which consumes a portion of Cassini's carefully budgeted propellant residual. Also of concern for the Proximal Orbits is the possibility of high radiation levels which contribute to Solid State Power Switch trips on the 192 switches aboard Cassini; several of which activate FP. In the presence of this adverse environment where very short orbits require minimized fault recovery time to maximize science capture, preparatory measures have been taken to address anomalous events quickly and are detailed in this paper.
Optimization to Improve Lateral Stability of Tractor Semi-Trailers During Steady State Cornering

Decreasing the propensity for rollover during steady state cornering of tractor semi-trailers is a key advantage to the trucking industry. This will be referred to as increasing the lateral stability during steady state cornering and may be accomplished by changes in design and loading variables which influence the behavior of a vehicle. To better understand the effects of such changes, a computer program was written to optimize certain design variables and thus maximize the lateral acceleration where an incipient loss of lateral stability occurs. The vehicle model used in the present investigation extends that developed by Law [1] and presented in Law and Janajreh [2]. The original model included the effects of tire flexibility, nonlinear roll-compliant suspensions, and fifth wheel lash. This model was modified to include (a) additional effects of displacement due to both lateral and vertical tire flexibility, and (b) provisions for determining off-tracking. This improved model was used as a basis for an optimization routine that initially maximizes the payload capacity, subject to legal peraxle load constraints, by determining an optimum set of tractor and semi-trailer adjustments in the placement of the fifth wheel and the trailer axles. After this initial step, an optimization routine is implemented which maximizes the rollover indicator, a practical measure of rollover propensity. The rollover indicator is calculated as an average of two components including (a) the minimum acceleration for which there is no valid solution to the equations of equilibrium (or critical lateral acceleration) where rollover is imminent and (b) the acceleration at which inside wheel lift-off first occurs. The rollover indicator is maximized in the optimization routine by the choice of appropriate values of various design variables. These include load placement, tire stiffness, vehicle track, and others. The tractor semi-trailer considered in the optimization was equipped with new single tires. Michelin Americas Research and Development Corporation provided parameter data for the vehicle.
Theoretical treatise on molecular structure and geometry

Publisher Summary The long-standing dispute concerning the concepts of molecular geometry, structure, and shape constitutes a classic example of a discord between the fundamentalist and pragmatic points of view. To a scientist who adopts the purist's stance, these concepts are artifacts that have no place in the rigorous quantum–mechanical theory of matter. Isolated molecules in stationary states have no shapes and possess no discernible geometries or structures, at least in the conventional sense. The “classic-type” notion of molecular structure is not derivable from the postulates of quantum mechanics and has to be added if usual descriptions of molecules in terms of atoms and bonds are sought. In other words, such a notion of molecular structure is “a concept involving a convention, an agreed upon definition.” Other concepts that rely on the body-fixed rather than space-fixed view of molecules fare no better. For example, despite some claims to the contrary, the notion of potential energy hypersurfaces cannot be consistently extended beyond the Born–Oppenheimer approximation
Recognizing social gestures with a wrist-worn smartband

The ability to recognize social gestures opens the door for the development of enhanced pervasive computing applications that are responsive to users' social interactions. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of using a smartband for social gesture recognition. We apply logistic regression, a supervised machine learning technique, to accelerometer data collected in a study of 32 users performing 12 social gestures. Our experimental results show promise for recognizing social gestures with a smartband; our simple approach achieves an average accuracy of 86% for classification of social gestures.
Anthracycline-induced inhibition of a calcium action potential in differentiated murine neuroblastoma cells

Abstract The effects of some anthracyclines on a Ca 2+ -dependent action potential have been studied in differentiated murine neuroblastoma cells (N1E-115 clone). The differentiated neuroblastoma cell possesses characteristics of an electrically excitable cell and can generate propagated potential spikes in which Ca 2+ is the inward charge carrier. This was shown by the fact that action potentials recorded from differentiated neuroblastoma cells in the presence of 10 -7 g of tetrodotoxin per ml, which inhibits active Na + channels, had a spike amplitude that depended upon the extracellular Ca 2+ concentration in a manner close to that predicted by the Nernst equation. The peak potential changed 28.9 mV/decade change in extracellular Ca 2+ . Local application to a cell of 10 -8 m doxorubicin produced inhibition of this Ca 2+ -dependent action potential within 5 s of drug application and a maximum inhibition of 13% 60 s after drug application. There was almost complete recovery to the initial spike amplitude value within 10 min after removing drug. The same concentration of doxorubicin also produced complete inhibition, without recovery, of a Ca 2+ -dependent after-discharge which followed the initial action potential in about half the cells studied. Increasing concentrations of doxorubicin produced dose-dependent inhibition of the initial Ca 2+ -dependent action potential. Cells exposed to 10 -5 m doxorubicin showed 88% inhibition of the Ca 2+ -dependent action potential with no recovery even 10 min after removing the drug. Daunomycin, 10 -6 m, produced 90% inhibition of the Ca 2+ -dependent action potential. Daunomycin aglycone (10 -6 m), which lacks antitumor activity, had no significant effect on the Ca 2+ -dependent action potential. The rapid onset of the drug-induced response together with the low concentrations of anthracyclines needed to inhibit voltage-dependent Ca 2+ channels in the neuroblastoma cells suggest a direct effect of anthracyclines on the cell surface membrane. The findings are discussed in light of the possible role of Ca 2+ in cancer cells.
Retinal degeneration in transgenic mice with photoreceptor-specific expression of a dominant-negative fibroblast growth factor receptor

Mutant cDNAs coding for dominant-negative forms of the fibroblast growth factor receptors 1 (FGFR-1) and 2 (FGFR-2) that lack tyrosine kinase activity were ligated to a 2.2 kb DNA fragment containing the bovine rhodopsin promoter and used to generate transgenic mice. Six independent lines were generated with the FGFR-1 construct, and five were generated with the FGFR-2 construct. Five of the six FGFR-1 mutant lines and all five FGFR-2 mutant lines showed transgene expression in the retina by reverse transcription-PCR. By both in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, mutant FGFRs were found to be expressed specifically in photoreceptors of transgene-positive FGFR-1 and FGFR-2 mice. Lines expressing the FGFR-2 mutant showed progressive photoreceptor degeneration; the retinas showed minimal or no abnormalities at 1 month, but by 2 months they showed focal areas of thinning of the outer nuclear layer and disruption of photoreceptors. By 2-4 months, areas of complete loss of photoreceptors were seen. These abnormalities were not seen in control littermates not expressing the transgene. Mice from two FGFR-1 mutant lines showed focal areas of thinning of the outer nuclear layer and numerous photoreceptors with fragmented chromatin, whereas the other FGFR-1 lines showed minimal or no abnormalities. These data indicate that perturbation of FGF signaling in photoreceptors is associated with progressive photoreceptor degeneration, suggesting that one or more of the FGFs may act as a survival factor for photoreceptor cells.
Multiple translational products from a Mycoplasma hyorhinis gene expressed in Escherichia coli.

We analyzed protein expression from a cloned Mycoplasma hyorhinis genomic fragment that produces in Escherichia coli a set of related polypeptides of 110, 100, 65, and 55 kilodaltons from a coding region of just over 3.0 kilobases. Expression of these multiple products resulted from a mechanism operating at the translational level but not from truncation at UGA termination codons, which are known to encode tryptophan in several mycoplasma species. The structural relatedness of the proteins was demonstrated by two-dimensional tryptic peptic mapping, but their generation by posttranslational processing was ruled out by pulse-chase labeling analysis. Examination of proteins expressed from plasmid constructs and tryptic peptide analysis of these polypeptides and the original set of proteins revealed that they share carboxy-terminal regions, an observation inconsistent with truncation at UGA codons. Expression of proteins from this cloned fragment was not dependent on vector sequences and was observed when the coding region was placed under control of a T7 promoter, suggesting that all products were translated from a single message. Expression of related products in mycoplasmas was examined by immunoblot analysis of M. hyorhinis proteins with antiserum against overexpressed recombinant proteins. A single 115-kilodalton mycoplasma protein was detected, which is larger than any of the related proteins expressed in E. coli. Our analysis indicated that translation initiation sites are used in E. coli that are not active in mycoplasmas, thereby defining differences between the translational regulatory signals of mycoplasmas and eubacteria. Images
Values of H0 from Models of the Gravitational Lens 0957+561

The lensed double QSO 0957+561 has a well-measured time delay and hence is useful for a global determination of H0. Uncertainty in the mass distribution of the lens is the largest source of uncertainty in the derived H0. We investigate the range of H0 produced by a set of lens models intended to mimic the full range of astrophysically plausible mass distributions, using as constraints the numerous multiply imaged sources that have been detected. We obtain the first adequate fit to all the observations only if we include effects from the galaxy cluster beyond a constant local magnification and shear. Both the lens galaxy and the surrounding cluster must depart from circular symmetry as well. Lens models that are consistent with observations to 95% confidence level (CL) indicate H0 = 104(1 - ) km s-1 Mpc-1. Previous weak-lensing measurements constrain the mean mass density within 30'' of G1 to be = 0.26 ? 0.16 (95% CL), implying H0 = 77 km s-1 Mpc-1 (95% CL). The best-fitting models span the range 65?80 km s-1 Mpc-1. Further observations will shrink the confidence interval for both the mass model and . The range of H0 allowed by the full gamut of our lens models is substantially larger than that implied by limiting consideration to simple power-law density profiles. We therefore caution against using simple isothermal or power-law mass models to derive H0 from other time-delay systems. High signal-to-noise ratio imaging of multiple or extended lensed features will greatly reduce the H0 uncertainties when fitting complex models to time-delay lenses.
Transfer from pediatric to adult health care: effects on diabetes outcomes

The transfer from pediatric to adult diabetes health care for emerging adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) has received increasing attention in the literature. This review analyzes the effect of this health care transfer on the outcomes of diabetes care visit attendance, glycemic control, and acute diabetes-related complications, and assesses the methodological strength of the studies reporting observational and interventional data. Observational studies, often limited by incomplete data, report a decline in diabetes care visits but an improvement or no change in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) after transfer to adult care. Results from studies reporting a transition intervention are restricted by lack of appropriate control groups and the collection of data both before and after transfer of care. Very few methodologically strong studies are available to guide clinicians with the transition from pediatric to adult care, and these shortcomings should be addressed in future studies designed to facilitate and improve the care of emerging adults with T1D.
Acute Kidney Injury After CABG Versus PCI: An Observational Study Using 2 Cohorts

Abstract Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a known complication after coronary revascularization, but few studies have directly compared the incidence of AKI after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) or after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in similar patients. Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate whether multivessel CABG compared with PCI as an initial revascularization strategy is associated with a higher risk for AKI. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients undergoing first documented coronary revascularization was conducted using 2 complementary cohorts: 1) Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a diverse, integrated health care delivery system; and 2) Medicare beneficiaries, a large, nationally representative older cohort. AKI was defined in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California cohort by an increase in serum creatinine of ≥0.3 mg/dl or ≥150% above baseline and in the Medicare cohort by discharge diagnosis codes and the use of dialysis. Results The incidence of AKI was 20.4% in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California cohort and 6.2% in the Medicare cohort. The incidence of AKI requiring dialysis was Conclusions AKI is common after multivessel coronary revascularization and is more likely after CABG than after PCI. The risk for AKI should be considered when choosing a coronary revascularization strategy, and ways to prevent AKI after coronary revascularization are needed.
Quantum electrodynamics in an optical cavity

Observations of a vacuum-field induced normal-mode splitting, photon antibunching, sub-Poissonian photon statistics and optical bistability are reported for a small number of Cesium atoms strongly coupled to a single mode optical cavity.