cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fermilab Main Ring Power Supply Control Programs

The Fermilab Main Ring Power Supply System consists of 60 3-MW SCR power supplies controlled and regulated by two linked minicomputers.1 This paper describes the computer operation - the algorithms, programming techniques and timing.
Distinctiveness, use, and value of midwestern oak savannas and woodlands as avian habitats

Abstract Oak savannas and woodlands historically covered millions of hectares in the midwestern United States but are rare today. We evaluated the ecological distinctiveness and conservation value of savannas and woodlands by examining bird distributions across a fire-maintained woody-vegetation gradient in northwest Indiana encompassing five habitats—open habitats with low canopy cover, savannas, woodlands, scrublands, and forests—during migration, breeding, and overwintering. Savannas and woodlands were significantly different in overall bird species composition from open and forest habitats but were often intermediate between open and forest in guild densities. Few bird species were consistently and highly concentrated in savannas or woodlands, and the Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) was the only species significantly more abundant in savannas and woodlands than in open, scrub, and forest habitats. Fire frequency over a 15-year interval was a significant predictor of bird community c...
Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist circulates in experimental inflammation and in human disease.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) is a 22-Kd protein that shares homology with IL-1 beta, binds to the IL-1 receptor, but has no known agonist properties. This inhibitor appears to be the first cytokine whose sole function is to block the actions of another cytokine. Exogenous IL-1ra administration has been shown to reduce mortality in experimental septic shock. We now report that IL-1ra is endogenously produced and circulates in experimental inflammation and in clinical disease. After experimental endotoxemia in human volunteers, IL-1ra concentrations increase from a baseline concentration of 460 +/- 200 pg mL-1 to 14,870 +/- 290 pg mL-1 at 3 hours (P less than .05). IL-1ra is also detectable in all plasma samples from critically ill patients with a mean concentration of 8,680 +/- 2,060 pg mL-1 (range 320 to 55,370 pgs mL-1). In nonhuman primates, Escherichia coli septic shock induces elevated plasma levels of IL-4ra (P less than .05). However, in animals that eventually succumb to septic shock, Il-1ra appears in quantities presumed inadequate to block the pathologic sequelae associated with high IL-1 beta levels. The findings suggest that IL-1ra may play a role in modulating the systemic host responses to a variety of nonlethal disease states by altering the balance between cytokines and their antagonists.
Evaluation of Dosimetric Effect Caused by Slowing MLC Leaves for Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT)

This study is to report 1) the sensitivity of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) QA method for clinical volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans with multi-leaf collimator (MLC) leaf errors that will not trigger MLC interlock during beam delivery; 2) the effect of non-beam-hold MLC leaf errors on the quality of VMAT plan dose delivery. Eleven VMAT plans were selected and modified using an in-house developed software. For each control point of a VMAT arc, MLC leaves with the highest speed (1.87-1.95 cm/s) were set to move at the maximal allowable speed (2.3 cm/s), which resulted in a leaf position difference of less than 2 mm. The modified plans were considered as ‘standard’ plans, and the original plans were treated as the ‘slowing MLC’ plans for simulating ‘standard’ plans with leaves moving at relatively lower speed. The measurement of each ‘slowing MLC’ plan using MapCHECK ® 2 was compared with calculated planar dose of the ‘standard’ plan with respect to absolute dose Van Dyk distance-to-agreement (DTA) comparisons using 3%/3 mm and 2%/2 mm criteria. All ‘slowing MLC’ plans passed the 90% pass rate threshold using 3%/3 mm criteria while one brain and three anal VMAT cases were below 90% with 2%/2 mm criteria. For ten out of eleven cases, DVH comparisons between ‘standard’ and ‘slowing MLC’ plans demonstrated minimal dosimetric changes in targets and organs-at-risk. For highly modulated VMAT plans, pass rate threshold using 3%/3 mm criteria is not sensitive in detecting MLC leaf errors that will not trigger the MLC leaf interlock. However, the consequential effects of non-beam hold MLC errors on target and OAR doses are negligible, which supports the reliability of current patient-specific IMRT quality assurance (QA) method for VMAT plans. Keywords: VMAT, MLC, MapCHECK2, quality assurance, DVH
Physical Examination Findings Among Children and Adolescents With Obesity: An Evidence-Based Review

Overweight and obesity affects 1 in 3 US children and adolescents. Clinical recommendations have largely focused on screening guidelines and counseling strategies. However, the physical examination of the child or adolescent with obesity can provide the clinician with additional information to guide management decisions. This expert-based review focuses on physical examination findings specific to children and adolescents with obesity. For each physical examination element, the authors define the finding and its prevalence among pediatric patients with obesity, discuss the importance and relevance of the finding, describe known techniques to assess severity, and review evidence regarding the need for additional evaluation. The recommendations presented represent a comprehensive review of current evidence as well as expert opinion. The goal of this review is to highlight the importance of conducting a targeted physical examination during pediatric weight management visits.
A Class Act? Social Class Affirmative Action

It is often suggested that affirmative action should be on the basis of social class, instead of or in addition to racial and ethnic preferences, and many universities and colleges have instituted "class" affirmative action in their undergraduate and graduate admissions. Class rather than race seems attractive, because if the goal is to help the underprivileged, it is more straightforward to give preferences to the underprivileged, rather than to groups whose members are not all underprivileged, while many underprivileged people are not members of such groups. Also, racial preferences are often criticized for the stigma they impose on their beneficiaries, and for promoting racial politics, whereas class affirmative action might be less obvious, less stigmatizing, and less divisive. But there are serious drawbacks to class affirmative action. Some of the drawbacks are common to any preferences that favour the less qualified over the more qualified. But some reasons for wariness are specific to class affirmative action. In higher education in particular, who will receive class preference? For example, what about immigrants and their children, who make up a substantial fraction of the underprivileged? In general, social class is much more difficult than race or ethnicity to define. This very difficulty would confer enormous discretion and power on faculties and administrators who undertake to bestow class preferences: discretion that would invite abuse for political and other ends. At the same time, the moral and social case for class preference is shakier than for racial affirmative action. Although America is not a classless society, nor may such a thing exist anywhere, people from around the world have "voted with their feet" to seek opportunity and a better life in America. In contrast with its history of racial injustice, America may have less to atone for and less to worry about for the future where social mobility is concerned. If the goal is to increase educational opportunity, the more urgent priorities might include controlling spiraling tuition costs and allocating scholarship budgets on the basis of need. It is far from clear whether preferential treatment is necessary to increase educational access for the less privileged, or whether the call for class preferences reflects a mindset inimical to impartial standards, inimical to academic standards in particular, and prone to group preferences as a first rather than a last resort.
Long-term generation of colony-forming cells in liquid culture of CD34+ cord blood cells in the presence of recombinant human stem cell factor

Human cord blood was used as a source of progenitor and stem cells to evaluate the effect of recombinant human stem-cell factor (SCF) on colony formation and the generation of colony-forming cells (CFC) under highly defined, serum-deprived conditions. SCF interacted with a number of hematopoietic growth factors to stimulate colony growth and was particularly effective in stimulating the formation of mixed-cell colonies from CD34+ soybean agglutinin negative (SBA-) cells. In suspension culture of CD34+, SBA- cells, SCF alone was unable to maintain cell numbers or CFC but, in combination with interleukin-3 (IL- 3), increased input numbers of cells by 10-fold and increased CFC of all kinds by nearly 20-fold. This included erythroid burst-forming cells (BFU-E), granulocyte/macrophage (GM) CFC, and mixed-cell CFC. In contrast, CD34- SBA- cells neither gave rise to CFC nor were maintained by combinations of growth factors including SCF. SCF interacted with erythropoietin (Epo) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to maintain large numbers of cells as well as to generate a twofold to threefold increase in CFC in the case of Epo, and a 10-fold increase in CFC in the case of G-CSF. With Epo, the predominant CFC generated were BFU-E and erythroid CFC and many of the cells in suspension were erythroblasts. In contrast, SCF plus G-CSF resulted in large numbers of granulocytes at various stages of maturation and the CFC generated were almost exclusively granulocytic-CFC. IL-1 and IL-6, alone or in combination with SCF, showed little or no ability to increase cell numbers or generate CFC. In summary, SCF interacts with a variety of hematopoietic growth factors to promote colony formation, particularly mixed-cell colony formation, and also, in suspension culture, SCF interacts with IL-3, G-CSF, and Epo to generate large numbers of differentiated cells as well as a variety of CFC for up to 1 month.
Consequences of parameterization and structure of applied demographic models: a comment on Pardini et al. (2009)

Correcting the problems in the model of A. petiolata presented in Pardini et al. (2009) changes its dynamics and thus the management recommendations. As with any model, our revised model's-management predictions are conditional on model parameterization. Thus, managers should carefully consider at what spatial scales it is appropriate to infer management recommendations given the data used to build the model (e.g., is a management plan developed from a population in Missouri equally relevant to populations in Georgia, Maine, and Oregon?). In agreement with PDCK's conclusions, we found their A. petiolata study population to exhibit complex dynamics (two-point cycling) at lower efficacies of either rosette or adult management, and stable equilibria at higher management efficacies. This could have important implications for A. petiolata management techniques such as biological control if the biocontrol agents' population dynamics are dependent on A. petiolata density. While the predictions generated in our reanalysis represent an improvement over the original model, they should be tempered by the limited scope of the data used to parameterize the model. Running the model through previously published parameter ranges results in qualitatively different dynamics than those predicted in PDCK. Because of the tremendous spatiotemporal variability in A. petiolata demographic rates and the species' large geographical range, more general management recommendations will only arise from a larger set of demographic data that has greater coverage in space and time. Our revision of the model of Pardini et al. (2009) should therefore be considered as a subset of many possible models of A. petiolata population dynamics.
Lipoprotein uptake and degradation by cultured human arterial smooth muscle cells.

The multipotential smooth muscle cell (SMC) is the predominant cell in intima and media of large arteries, proliferating early in the development of atheroma to become the lipid-laden foam cell. Homogeneous cultures of human SMC have now been successfully grown from explants of normal pieces of artery obtained during surgery. In contrast to previous results with rat SMC, human SMC preferentially bind and take up large, lipid-rich lipoproteins (I125 labeled low density and very low density lipoproteins) (LDL and VLDL), in comparison to smaller, high density lipoproteins (HDL). This species selectivity appears to be related to differences both in cells and in lipoproteins. Specific binding of lipoproteins by SMC, analyzed by release of radioactive protein from the cell surfaces by trypsin, accounted for approximately half of the protein radioactivity associated with the cell layer during the first few hours of incubation. Specific binding appears to be related to the presence of apoprotein B on the lipoproteins. Lipoproteins progressively accumulate within cells as a function of incubation time. Lipoprotein degradation, assessed by appearance of TCA soluble, non-iodide radioactivity in the incubation medium, increased rapidly after an initial delay of 2 to 4 hours. Cells grown under hypoxic (5% O2) conditions instead of the usual room air showed impaired degradation of lipoproteins. These results suggest that there are receptors on arterial SMC, highly specific for different lipoproteins (as shown for skin fibroblasts). This tissue culture system may be useful for assessment of the effects of a variety of hormones, metabolites, and drugs on the handling of lipoproteins by arterial smooth muscle cells.
Controlling the Polarization of Small-diameter VCSELs through Asymmetric Etch of the Bottom Mirror Perimeter

Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are considered to be the choice of transmitters for future optical and optoelectronic systems.
Multiclass routing

An alternative to minimum-cost routing control, called multiclass routing, is presented. Multiclass routing was developed as an extension to a suite of link and network protocols for a mobile-radio environment. These protocols were based on the design of a packet radio that uses spread spectrum whose parameters are controllable in real time. In particular, a link-control protocol takes advantage of these real-time-controllable parameters to establish optimal gains for use on links. Multiclass routing uses these link gains and other link quality measures in the first decision criterion in selecting routes. Minimum-length is the second criterion. The rules for multiclass route updating are presented, followed by a discussion of special allowances of which the minimum-length criterion provides opportunities to take advantage. A comprehensive comparison with the minimum-cost approach is then made. >
Cryptococcus neoformans: an ascomycete.

ConclusionsThese observations would seem to indicate that Cryptococcus neofor-mans and Lipomyces starkeyi may be one and the same organism, and that it is frequently isolated from the soil. Thus an...
Suspected Sex Pheromone Glands in Three Economically Important Species of Dacus

Recent work demonstrated the presence of a sex pheromone gland associated with the rectum of the male Queensland fruit fly, Dacus tryotni (Froggatt), which produced substances attractive to female files. Similar rectal gland complexes, which are described, also are present in at least 2 other species of male tephritids, the oriental fruit fly, D. dorsalis Hendel, and the olive fruit fly, D. oleae (Gmelin), which correspond closely in their anatomical and histological makeup to that described for D. tryoni . The gland consists of a reservoir occupying the right lateral posterior one-third of the rectal sac, and a small bulbular secretary sac opening into the reservoir at its base. Both structures are lined by folded layers of large epithelial cells. In a 3rd species, the melon fly, D. cucurbitae Coquillett, a rectal gland also is present, hut is situated ventro-laterally off of the rectal sac. It forms a distinct chamber connected to the rectal sac but remains separated from the lumen of this structure by bands of longitudinal and circular muscles. Internally, the epithelial lining consists of large epithelial cells greatly folded upon one another.
Student self-confidence with clinical nursing competencies in a high-dose simulation clinical teaching model

Objective: This paper describes undergraduate nursing students’ assessment of confidence in clinical practice within a modelthat uses a “high-dose” of clinical simulation to replace 50% of the traditional clinical experience hours in an upper division bachelor’s degree program. We assessed changes in self-reported confidence between the middle and end of a two-year nursingcurriculum. Design: Longitudinal design. We surveyed undergraduate nursing students to assess their perceived self-confidence in carryingout eight core competencies associated with generalist nursing practice with the Assessment of Nursing Education Scale (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2009) at the mid-point (semester 2) and end of program (semester 4). Methods: Data were analyzed Generalized Linear models. To account for changes over time, we included program track(traditional BSN or 15-month accelerated second degree program) and gender (male/female) as co-variates in the models. Results: One hundred and twenty-two students completed the ANE at the two time points. Results for analysis of student confidence over time showed significant improvement on each of the eight domains of generalist nursing practice. There was nosignificant effect of gender or program type on student’s perceived self-confidence. Conclusions: Overall significant improvement in students’ self-assessed confidence from program mid-point to end-point lends support to the efficacy of a clinical teaching model that uses a high dose of simulation to substitute for traditional clinical hours.
A hundred years later: Zou Xueping's documentaries and the legacies of China's New Culture Movement

ABSTRACTOne of the ambitious goals of the famous New Culture Movement launched in 1915 was the democratization of cultural production in China. This meant promoting independent and critical works by writers and artists of all sorts. The movement met stiff, sometimes overwhelming, resistance both before and after 1949. Since the early 1950s, socialist state-directed cultural production has dominated, but the legacies and goals of the original New Culture Movement continue to resurface. This essay locates recent efforts of Zou Xueping, a young, female, independent, documentary filmmaker, in the larger context of the century-old determination to foster the democratization of Chinese cultural production. Zou does this by returning to her home village in Shandong to explore the relationship between past and present. On the one hand, she asks very old people to remember the awful traumas of the Great Famine of the late 1950s and early 1960s, while on the other she mobilizes very young people to take direct acti...
Borrowing Support for War: The Effect of War Finance on Public Attitudes toward Conflict

How does the way states finance wars affect public support for conflict? Most existing research has focused on costs as casualties rather than financial burdens, and arguments that do speak to the cost in treasure either minimize potential differences between the two main forms of war finance—debt and taxes—or imply that war taxes do not dent support for war among a populace rallying around the fiscal flag. Using original experiments conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, we evaluate the relationship between war finance and support for war. We find that how states finance wars has an important effect on support for war and that the gap in support resulting from different modes of war finance holds across the main democracies engaging in conflict, regardless of the type of war or individuals’ party identification. The findings have important implications for theories of democratic accountability in wartime and the conduct of conflict, since borrowing shields the public from the direct costs...
Management of Ruptured Posterior Urethra in Childhood

Seven boys with fracture(s) of the bony pelvis and associated partial or complete rupture of the posterior urethra were managed by the time-honored technique of early suprapubic cystostomy and concomitant primary realignment of the urethra over a catheter. Of the 4 children who had a functionally significant urethral stricture 3 were cured within a few months by 1 or 2 simple urethral dilatations and 1 by subsequent transperineal lysis of the angulated urethra from its surrounding fibrous tissue. Followup data for 8 to 22 years (mean 14 years) indicate that all 7 patients void with an excellent stream and are continent, free of infection and potent. In fact, 3 of the 4 married boys have fathered children.
Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide stimulates cholecystokinin secretion in STC-1 cells

Secretion of cholecystokinin (CCK) from the endocrine cells of small intestinal mucosa and the murine intestinal tumor cell line STC-1 is known to involve both adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP)-and Ca(2+)-dependent signal transduction pathways. However, the endogenous stimulant(s) that acts through the cAMP-dependent cascade has not been identified. We determined the effect of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) on CCK secretion and cAMP production and its interaction with other CCK secretagogues in STC-1 cells. At concentrations > 10 nM, PACAP-27 stimulated the release of large intestinal CCK from STC-1 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The stimulatory effect of PACAP-27 was enhanced by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX). PACAP-27, PACAP-38, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), with or without IBMX, were equally effective and potent to elicit CCK release with similar half-maximal doses and maximal levels of stimulation. Both forms of PACAP and VIP stimulated a transient but not significant increase in the cellular cAMP level. In the presence of IBMX, all three peptides increased significantly the cellular cAMP level between 2 and 5 min, but PACAP produced a two times higher level than VIP. The stimulatory effect of PACAP-27 on CCK release was also potentiated by bombesin and KCl but without a synergistic production of cAMP. With or without IBMX, PACAP-27-stimulated CCK secretion was not affected by the Ca2+ channel blocker diltiazem (1 microM), the cell-permeable Ca2+ chelator 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA-AM; 25 microM), or by downregulation of protein kinase C. The stimulatory effects of KCl and bombesin were either reduced or abolished by these treatments. The synergistic effect of bombesin with PACAP was abolished by diltiazem and BAPTA-AM but not by downregulation of protein kinase C, whereas KCl remained synergistic with PACAP after these treatments. Taken together, these results indicate that PACAP may be a neuromodulator of CCK secretion that acts through activation of adenylate cyclase and may function as a coregulator with other CCK secretagogues that are known to increase intracellular Ca2+ concentration.
Renal Replacement Therapy in Diabetic Patients

We evaluated in a retrospective study the outcome of 67 adult patients with end stage renal disease from diabetes mellitus accepted for renal replacement therapy between 1977–1989. 39 pts were insulin-dependent (IDDM), 28 pts non insulin dependent (NIDDM). The patients were treated with HD (43 pts), CAPD (24 pts), 5 pts on HD were transplanted. Patients with IDDM aged 33.6 years, the duration of DM is 18.3 years, duration of nephropathy 6.9 years and their 1-year survival 78.86 % and 3-year survival 54.37 %. The pts with NIDDM aged 59 years, duration of DM is 13,4 years, duration of nephropathy 4.7 years, their 1-year survival 88.27 % and 3-years survival 66.58 %. The causes of death in 38 pts out of 67 included 20 pts who died from cardiac and cerebro-vascular disease, 10 pts from infections and 8 pts from other diseases.
Palliative Development and the Great Theories of Development

This book has emphasized the key role of the state in producing economic development in the Third World. States in the Global South need to build physical infrastructure, develop human infrastructure, and do so in a way that does not compromise their financial sovereignty and lead to dependency on international creditors. The State also needs to re-prioritize Palliative Development along with Transformational Development — by stimulating small labor intensive enterprises that provide services and employment to the local population. Such development strategies are very inexpensive and avoid debt and dependency on international creditors. Such a strategy provides many of the demand-increasing benefits of import substitution, without the distortions of traditional inward-looking IS policies. This chapter completes the analysis by considering the larger theoretical impact of our findings. We discuss how the present arguments interface with the classic arguments of development sociology and heterodox development economics. Most of this non-neoclassical literature has emphasized the inherent limits of neoliberalism, the specifications of the successful creation of a developmentalist state, and the role of trade and globalization in promoting growth, or increasing the capacity of nations in the global South to survive in the face of global competition.
The importance of the savings device in precautionary savings: Empirical evidence from rural Bangladesh

We test if precautionary behavior in the consumption decisions of rural households differs across the forms of savings. Using monthly panel data from Bangladesh, we find that, on average, the savings device does not matter but that the effect of income on savings indeed depends on the savings device. Precautionary savings in the form of staple grain are relatively constant across income quartiles, while nongrain precautionary savings vary across income quartiles. Previous studies, which treat these two types of savings devices as fungible, misdiagnose the reasons for, and by extension the market failures behind, a large percentage of the precautionary savings held by rural households.
Simple and Inexpensive 3D Printed Filter Fluorometer Designs: User-Friendly Instrument Models for Laboratory Learning and Outreach Activities

In this work, a versatile and user-friendly selection of stereolithography (STL) files and computer-aided design (CAD) models are shared to assist educators and students in the production of simple and inexpensive 3D printed filter fluorometer instruments. These devices are effective resources for supporting active learners in the exploration of instrument design and performance. In contrast to sophisticated commercial-grade fluorometers, the models provided here are open source, customizable for a variety of applications, and easily assembled by students in activities that directly confront the “black box” perception of analytical instrumentation. In order to aid beginner CAD and 3D printer users, these models are compatible with accessible software packages, such as 123D Design and Inventor Professional. Additionally, CAD tutorials and extensive slicer settings are supplied to assist educators and students in modifying digital designs and obtaining reliable 3D prints. The provided filter fluorometer mod...
Predicting Incident Coronary Heart Disease Many Markers at a Time.

After a decade of genome-wide association studies (GWASs), there are now thousands of common genetic variants associated with common clinic outcomes, subphenotypes, and human traits.1 As predicted from the common disease-common variant hypothesis, GWAS has established that each common genetic variant associated with a clinical outcome of interest confers only a small proportion of the overall risk attributable to genetics. From these findings, many studies have generated genetic risk scores, a summation across multiple loci, as an estimate of individual-level risk. The hope is that these scores can be used in clinical settings to target patients for prevention, intervention, and treatment strategies. Article, see p 531 There are multiple approaches to calculating genetic risk scores.2 The most straightforward calculation is the summation of the number of risk alleles a participant or patient has for a particular clinical outcome of interest. A common variation of this approach includes weighting the risk alleles by expected impact or effect size based on the previous studies. The genetic risk score is an appealing summation of risk, but there are many caveats and nuances related to its calculation, including the availability and quality of source data for the variants used in calculating the score, their associated effect sizes used in weighting, and their general sensitivity and specificity in predicting individual-level risk. With numerous established risk loci, coronary heart disease is an excellent example of how GWASs have transformed …
In Vitro-In Vivo Extrapolation of Intestinal Availability for Carboxylesterase Substrates Using Portal Vein-Cannulated Monkey.

Abstract Prediction of intestinal availability (F a F g ) of carboxylesterase (CES) substrates is of critical importance in designing oral prodrugs with optimal properties, projecting human pharmacokinetics and dose, and estimating drug-drug interaction potentials. A set of ester prodrugs were evaluated using in vitro permeability (parallel artificial membrane permeability assay and Madin–Darby canine kidney cell line-low efflux) and intestinal stability (intestine S9) assays, as well as in vivo portal vein–cannulated cynomolgus monkey. In vitro–in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) of F a F g was developed with a number of modeling approaches, including a full physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model as well as a simplified competitive-rate analytical solution. Both methods converged as in the PBPK simulations enterocyte blood flow behaved as a sink, a key assumption in the competitive-rate analysis. For this specific compound set, the straightforward analytical solution therefore can be used to generate in vivo predictions. Strong IVIVE of F a F g was observed for cynomolgus monkey with R 2 of 0.71-0.93. The results suggested in vitro assays can be used to predict in vivo F a F g for CES substrates with high confidence.
Long-term aspirin use and intratumoral gene expression in prostate cancer.

106Background: Pharmacoepidemiologic studies suggest prognostic benefits of aspirin in prostate cancer. We hypothesized that prostate cancer tissue from regular aspirin users at cancer diagnosis compared to nonusers is characterized by specific transcriptional changes. Methods: We analyzed tumor whole-transcriptome data from men diagnosed with prostate cancer during prospective follow up of the Physicians Health Study 1 (PHS1, n1 = 150), initially a randomized-controlled trial of aspirin for prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. We compared the expression of putative aspirin target genes (PTGS2, CTNNB1, MYC, AXIN2, PTGER3) between regular aspirin users ( ≥ 3 x 324 mg/week) and non-users at cancer diagnosis. We used Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to identify Gene Ontology biological process gene sets (total, 3609) associated with aspirin use. Leading edge genes of ≥ 3 functionally related gene sets were summarized in a meta-gene score. Results were validated among prostate cancer patients from the...
Delaware and Financial Risk

I argue that financial risk poses unique challenges that justify a differential application of corporate law oversight standards. The steps in my argument are as follows. First, I show how modern firms with significant exposure to financial risk are different in fundamental ways that matter crucially to the application of oversight standards. Second, I argue that, notwithstanding these differences, the major Delaware oversight cases were correctly decided, though the result might have been the opposite if complaints had been framed differently, with relevant and important facts. Third, I argue that the federal case involving the JPMorgan “London Whale” episode was wrongly decided. Unlike other scholars who have discussed director duties in the aftermath of the financial crisis, I am not arguing for any change in the oversight standards themselves. Instead, my argument is that Delaware law already provides ample support and justification for holding directors to a higher standard with respect to the oversight of financial risk. The complexities of financial risk pose unique challenges that the Delaware courts should take into account when assessing director oversight failures. Such an approach would not subject directors to unwarranted exposure for oversight failures, or have negative implications for business, and it would not change Delaware’s approach to cases that do not involve financial risk. The Delaware courts have demonstrated a capacity to respond to changes in the corporate contract, notably in Caremark itself, where Chancellor Allen recognized that the modern corporate practice of oversight had changed, and that the courts should change accordingly. Director oversight of financial risk is merely the most recent area in need of this kind of incremental judicial change. This chapter will appear in a forthcoming book, “The Corporate Contract in Changing Times,” co-edited by Professors Steven Davidoff Solomon and Randall Thomas.
Enzyme Replacement Therapy with Elosulfase alfa for Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (Morquio A Syndrome): Milestones and Challenges

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (Morquio A syndrome) is an inherited, autosomal recessive disease caused by a deficiency of N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate sulfatase (GALNS), which results in excessive lysosomal storage of keratan sulfate and chondroitin-6-sulfate in many tissues and organs. This accumulation causes a systemic skeletal dysplasia and leads to multiple clinical manifestations, including impaired endurance and respiratory function. Elosulfase alfa (trade name Vimizim®) otherwise known as BMN 110 is an enzyme replacement drug that was developed by BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. and approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014 for the treatment of Morquio A syndrome.Areas covered: This paper reviews the pre-clinical trials, seven landmark clinical trials to evaluate safety and efficacy of elosulfase alfa in the treatment of Morquio A syndrome, their milestones, challenges, and current accessibility to the treatment.Expert opinion: Genetic hete...
Detecting Behavioral Deficits in Rats After Traumatic Brain Injury

With the increasing incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in both civilian and military populations, TBI is now considered a chronic disease; however, few studies have investigated the long-term effects of injury in rodent models of TBI. Shown here are behavioral measures that are well-established in TBI research for times early after injury, such as two weeks, until two months. Some of these methods have previously been used at later times after injury, up to one year, but by very few laboratories. The methods demonstrated here are a short neurological assessment to test reflexes, a Beam-Balance to test balance, a Beam-Walk to test balance and motor coordination, and a working memory version of the Morris water maze that can be sensitive to deficits in reference memory. Male rats were handled and pre-trained to neurological, balance, and motor coordination tests prior to receiving parasagittal fluid percussion injury (FPI) or sham injury. Rats can be tested on the short neurological assessment (neuroscore), the beam-balance, and the Beam-Walk multiple times, while testing on the water maze can only be done once. This difference is because rats can remember the task, thus confounding the results if repeated testing is attempted in the same animal. When testing from one to three days after injury, significant differences are detected in all three non-cognitive tasks. However, differences in the Beam-Walk task were not detectable at later time points (after 3 months). Deficits were detected at 3 months in the Beam-Balance and at 6 months in the neuroscore. Deficits in working memory were detected out to 12 months after injury, and a deficit in a reference memory first appeared at 12 months. Thus, standard behavioral tests can be useful measures of persistent behavioral deficits after FPI.
Low phase noise pulse rotary wave voltage controlled oscillator

This paper presents a low phase noise, wide tuning range voltage controlled oscillator. The oscillator uses a rotary wave oscillator topology, with pulse regenerative gates used as amplifiers. Pulse gates confer a paticular low-duty cycle pulse waveform whose arrival time is very weakly dependent on amplitude or pulse width. This reduces the root mean square value of Impulse Sensitivity Function, thereby reducing the phase noise. Further, the oscillator rejects common mode supply noise by double inversion of signals in every stage. Timing signals are ground referenced so the supply can be used as a control voltage. The fabricated 2.96 GHz oscillator in GFUS8RF(130nm) has phase noise of −132.2dBc/Hz @ 10MHz offset. The oscillator has a tuning range of 2.64GHz to 2.96GHz with average phase noise of −130.71dBc/Hz @ 10MHz offset.
Electromagnetic showers beyond shower shapes

Abstract Correctly identifying the nature and properties of outgoing particles from high energy collisions at the Large Hadron Collider is a crucial task for all aspects of data analysis. Classical calorimeter-based classification techniques rely on shower shapes — observables that summarize the structure of the particle cascade that forms as the original particle propagates through the layers of material. This work compares shower shape-based methods with computer vision techniques that take advantage of lower level detector information. In a simplified calorimeter geometry, our DenseNet-based architecture matches or outperforms other methods on e + - γ and e + - π + classification tasks. In addition, we demonstrate that key kinematic properties can be inferred directly from the shower representation in image format.
Local, transient heat transfer measurements for flow boiling in a microchannel with a pin fin

Abstract Flow boiling in a microchannel with a pin fin was experimentally studied. Micro resistance temperature detectors (RTD) array was integrated inside a microchannel to enable local transient temperature measurement. The temperature measurements were synchronized with high-speed images to analyze boiling event and the corresponding transient temperature characteristics. Three distinct two-phase flow regimes were observed: bubbly flow, slug flow, and attached vapor cavity. Cyclic temperature fluctuations were observed during slug flow and it was related to local periodic vapor slug activities. In a single cycle, three distinct stages were observed: liquid wetting, film evaporation, and local dry out. These three processes were decomposed to calculate local heat transfer coefficient based on the experimental observation, as h x , y = τ l h l + τ film h film + τ v h v and the result was compared with available models in the literature.
Fiducial placement for recurrent gastric cancer.

Abstract A 53-year-old male was diagnosed with invasive adenocarcinoma of the pre-pyloric region. Imaging studies ruled out metastatic disease. The patient underwent neo-adjuvant chemotherapy followed by a partial gastrectomy. CT scan at 18 months’ post-resection demonstrated right upper quadrant lesions suspicious for metastatic disease. EUS exam shows two round hypoechoic lesions. Fine needle aspiration with suction was performed with on-site cytology confirming malignant cells in the masses. Five gold fiducial markers were placed. Final pathology confirmed adenocarcinoma. The patient was subsequently started on stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with good results. This is the first case report EUS-guided fiducial markers for recurrent gastric cancer post-gastrectomy.
Myth and Mithraism in Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge

In his influential discussion of Joyce’s Ulysses, Eliot wrote that “no one else has built a novel upon such a foundation before: it has never before been necessary” (Ulysses 177). Without denying t...
Therapy of AML

As with any disease, there are three general options for treatment of AML: supportive care only, standard therapy, and investigational therapy. Although, as discussed below, there are instances where the first option is preferable, the natural history of AML typically mitigates against it [1]. Since by definition there is much more information available about standard than about investigational therapy, most patients prefer the former, provided outcome with it is satisfactory. Hence, this review will begin by describing standard therapy, with emphasis on the factors that predict success following its use. Subsequent discussion will focus on investigational options of potential use for patients in whom results with standard therapy are poor.
The CXCL12/CXCR4 and VEGF165/Nrp1 Pathways Have Differential Effects on Pathological Neo-Angiogenesis and Vascular Remodeling in Hemophilic Arthropathy

Introduction: Joint hypervascularity is characteristic to hemophilic arthropathy (HA), which is a hallmark complication in patients with hemophilia. Angiogenesis in the hemophilic joint is triggered by bleeding and results in excessive vascular remodeling with enlarged irregularly shaped vessels that appear fragile, potentially causing re-bleeding. Therefore, targeting angiogenesis may offer novel treatment avenues in HA. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) is an important angiogenic mediator implicated in the pathogenesis of HA, but a complete blockade may cause vascular instability with more bleeding, or inhibition of anti-angiogenic isoforms, thereby decreasing therapeutic efficacy. An alternative approach may be to target the co-receptor Neuropilin 1 (Nrp1) that facilitates binding of the pro-angiogenic isoform VEGF165 to its signaling receptor, VEGFR2. Here, we determine whether blocking the binding of VEGF165 to Nrp1 can curb the pathological vascular remodeling associated with hemophilic joint bleeding. Methods and results: Joint bleeding was induced by subpatellar needle puncture in FVIII-/- mice, resulting in pronounced intra- and peri-articular bleeding, evidenced by a drop in hematocrit from ~45% to 28 ± 10% 2 days after injury. The following antibody treatments were initiated 2 days after injury and were administered at 5 mg/kg, twice weekly for 4 weeks: B20-4 targeting murine VEGF-A, and YW107.4.87 blocking the VEGF165 binding site on Nrp1. The CXCR4 antagonist, AMD3100 (300 µg/day by subcutaneous osmotic pump) was included as positive control as it corrects hypervascularity induced by hemophilic joint bleeding (Wyseure et al . ISTH 2017). Four weeks after injury blood flow in the joint, measured by ultrasound-Power Doppler (PD), was increased 2.8-fold in injured vs uninjured FVIII-/- mice (p Conclusions: Abrogating the VEGF165-Nrp1 interaction was not sufficient to prevent neo-angiogenesis and vessel lumen expansion in a murine hemophilic joint injury model. However, inhibition of Nrp1 did reduce perivascular remodeling that may allow regression of the aberrant vasculature over time, but also may promote further vessel instability and additional hemorrhaging. Thus, inhibition of the CXCL12/CXCR4 pathway affects neo-angiogenesis, whereas inhibition of the VEGF165/Nrp1 pathway predominantly affects perivascular maturation, but not neo-angiogenesis. These findings provide novel insights on the potential benefits and pitfalls of anti-angiogenic treatments in HA. Disclosures von Drygalski: Hematherix LLC: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Honoraria; Novo Nordisk: Honoraria; CSL Behring: Honoraria; Bioverativ: Honoraria; Bayer: Honoraria; Shire: Honoraria. Mosnier: Hematherix LLC: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees.
GPOP: A Scalable Cache- and Memory-efficient Framework for Graph Processing over Parts

The past decade has seen the development of many shared-memory graph processing frameworks intended to reduce the effort of developing high-performance parallel applications. However, many of these frameworks, based on Vertex-centric or Edge-centric paradigms suffer from several issues, such as poor cache utilization, irregular memory accesses, heavy use of synchronization primitives, or theoretical inefficiency, that deteriorate over-all performance and scalability. Recently, we proposed a cache and memory-efficient partition-centric paradigm for computing PageRank [26]. In this article, we generalize this approach to develop a novel Graph Processing Over Parts (GPOP) framework that is cache efficient, scalable, and work efficient. GPOP induces locality in memory accesses by increasing granularity of execution to vertex subsets called “parts,” thereby dramatically improving the cache performance of a variety of graph algorithms. It achieves high scalability by enabling completely lock and atomic free computation. GPOP’s built-in analytical performance model enables it to use a hybrid of source and part-centric communication modes in a way that ensures work efficiency each iteration, while simultaneously boosting high bandwidth sequential memory accesses. Finally, the GPOP framework is designed with programmability in mind. It completely abstracts away underlying parallelism and programming model details from the user and provides an easy to program set of APIs with the ability to selectively continue the active vertex set across iterations. Such functionality is useful for many graph algorithms but not intrinsically supported by the current frameworks. We extensively evaluate the performance of GPOP for a variety of graph algorithms, using several large datasets. We observe that GPOP incurs up to 9×, 6.8×, and 5.5× less L2 cache misses compared to Ligra, GraphMat, and Galois, respectively. In terms of execution time, GPOP is up to 19×, 9.3×, and 3.6× faster than Ligra, GraphMat, and Galois, respectively.
You Can't Have One Without the Other: Innovation and Ethical Dilemmas in Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Medical innovation and ethical dilemmas are intertwined in gastroenterology and hepatology. This narrative review explores direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a touchstone example of how medical innovation breeds ethical dilemmas. A few quandaries—informed consent as well as informed deferral during the first wave of DAA approvals, sobriety restrictions from payors, and high DAA costs for patients—are addressed through the lens of the foundational principles of clinical medical ethics: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and utility. By placing these issues within a medical ethics framework, we hope not only to focus on the solutions that the gastroenterology and hepatology community developed in the advent of DAA therapy, but to highlight an ethical paradigm that can be applied to similar dilemmas that will be faced as new therapies for other gastrointestinal diseases are approved.
JSON Schema Matching: Empirical Observations

Database schema specifies the desired logical organization of the data it stores. A major challenge in database integration is that of schema matching [10, 12], which seeks to determine schema elements in different databases that correspond to the same real world entity. For example, a simple matcher may determine that the attribute ID in one schema is semantically equivalent to Identification in another.