cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Probing Polytopic Membrane Protein–Substrate Interactions by Luminescence Resonance Energy Transfer

Integral membrane proteins play essential roles in all living systems; however, major technical hurdles challenge analyses of this class of proteins. Biophysical approaches that provide structural information to complement and leverage experimentally determined and computationally predicted structures are urgently needed. Herein we present the application of luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) for investigating the interactions of the polytopic membrane-bound oligosaccharyl transferases (OTases) with partner substrates. Monomeric OTases, such as the PglBs from Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter lari, catalyze transfer of glycans from membrane-associated undecaprenol diphosphate-linked substrates to proteins in the bacterial periplasm. LRET-based distance measurements are enabled by the inclusion of an encoded N-terminal lanthanide-binding tag (LBT), and LRET between the luminescent (LBT)-Tb3+ donor complex and fluorescently labeled peptide and glycan substrates provides discrete distance mea...
Optical Measurements of the Electronic and Elastic Properties of Metal Nanoparticles

Time-resolved and single particle spectroscopy has been used to examine the properties of metal nanoparticles. The results provide information about the elastic constants and the plasmon dephasing times for particles with different sizes and shapes.
Considerations on the Retirement Age

With the rapid aging of the population in China,this paper discusses the necessity and feasibility of delaying retirement age,based on describing the regulation and the present situation of the retirement age.Finally,it provides some policy scenarios for delaying retirement age.
Rational management of chronic abdominal pain

Patients presenting with chronic abdominal pain are a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Recent advances in classification of the various chronic abdominal pain disorders and recent evidence supporting the advantages of adopting a multimodal therapeutic approach can often prove quite helpful.
Restorative Justice as a Form of Collaborative Governance: A Theoretical Analysis of Mediation and Collaboration

Restorative justice challenges the values and processes of many modern retributive criminal justice systems, i.e. mechanisms of governance, through the promotion of values and processes that seek to promote collaboration of socio-political actors. While a series of ethical arguments and understandings serve as a strong basis for the promotion of restorative justice, the practice also argues for addressing the institutions and systems of governance that respond to instances of conflict and crime. This paper argues for an understanding of restorative justice as a practice of collaborative governance. Specifically, restorative justice depends upon three major principles of collaborative governance: civil society, deliberative democracy, and associational democracy. In this project, I review the foundations of restorative justice, and categorize process based and value based conceptions of restorative justice. Specifically, this argument focuses on micro- and macro-level process conceptions of restorative justice. By reviewing the frameworks of civil society, associational democracy, and deliberative democracy – I place restorative justice within the framework of collaborative governance. Ultimately, I argue restorative justice depends on shared values and processes inherent to civil society, associational democracy, and deliberative democracy.
Activity of Lipase during Mashing

Lipase, which is present in the grain of both rice and barley, catalyzes the hydrolysis of triacylglycerides at a lipid-water interface to yield free fatty acids (FFA). In brewing, FFA are generall...
Age-Related Differences in Clinical Features of Neurocysticercosis

Clinical, radiologic, and inflammatory features of neurocysticercosis (NC) in 92 pediatric (<15 years) and 114 adult Mexican patients were compared in a study at three hospitals in Mexico City.
Statistical Modeling of Functional Data

In this chapter we will look at the problem of developing statistical models that capture the essential modes of variability in a given functional dataset.
Updated Outcome and Analysis of Tumor Response in Mobile Spine and Sacral Chordoma Treated With Definitive High-Dose Photon/Proton Radiation Therapy

Purpose Treatment of spine and sacral chordoma generally involves surgical resection, usually in conjunction with radiation therapy. In certain circumstances where resection may result in significant neurologic or organ dysfunction, patients can be treated definitively with radiation therapy alone. Herein, we report the outcome and the assessment of tumor response to definitive radiation therapy. Methods and Materials A retrospective analysis was performed on 40 patients with unresected chordoma treated with photon/proton radiation therapy. Nineteen patients had complete sets of imaging scans. The soft tissue and bone compartments of the tumor were defined separately. Tumor response was evaluated by the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and volumetric analysis. Results With a median follow-up time of 50.3 months, the rates of 5-year local control, overall survival, disease-specific survival, and distant failure were 85.4%, 81.9%, 89.4%, and 20.2%, respectively. Eighty-four computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging scans were reviewed. Among the 19 patients, only 4 local failures occurred, and the median tumor dose was 77.4 GyRBE. Analysis at a median follow-up time of 18 months showed significant volumetric reduction of the total target volume (TTV) and the soft tissue target volume (STTV) within the first 24 months after treatment initiation, followed by further gradual reduction throughout the rest of the follow-up period. The median maximum percentage volumetric regressions of TTV and STTV were 43.2% and 70.4%, respectively. There was only a small reduction in bone target volume over time. In comparison with the modified RECIST, volumetric analysis was more reliable, more reproducible, and could help in measuring minimal changes in the tumor volume. Conclusion These results continue to support the use of high-dose definitive radiation therapy for selected patients with unresected spine and sacral chordomas. Assessment of tumor response to radiation therapy by volumetric analysis is superior to modified RECIST in chordoma patients. Evaluating the soft tissue target volume is an excellent indicator of tumor response.
Marginal zone lymphoma-derived interfollicular diffuse large B-cell lymphoma harboring 20q12 chromosomal deletion and missense mutation of BIRC3 gene: a case report

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) typically leads to effacement of the nodal architecture by an infiltrate of malignant cells. Rarely (<1%), DLBCL can present with an interfollicular pattern (DLBCL-IF) preserving the lymphoid follicles. It has been postulated that DLBCL-IF is derived from marginal zone B cells and may represent a large-cell transformation of marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), however no direct evidence has been provided to date. Here we describe a rare case of a diagnostically challenging DLBCL-IF involving a lymph node in a patient with a prior history of lymphadenopathy for several years and MZL involving skin. A 53-year old man presented to our Dermatology Clinic due to a 1-year history of generalized itching, fatigue of 2–3 month’s duration, nausea and mid back rash that was biopsied. PET (positron emission tomography)/CT (computed tomography) was performed and revealed inguinal, pelvic, retroperitoneal, axillary, and cervical lymphadenopathy. The patient was referred to surgery for excisional biopsy of a right inguinal lymph node. Diagnostic H&E stained slides and ancillary studies were reviewed for the lymph node and skin specimens. B-cell clonality by PCR and sequencing studies were performed on both specimens. We demonstrate that this patient’s MZL and DLBCL-IF are clonally related, strongly suggesting that transformation of MZL to DLBCL had occurred. Furthermore, we identified a novel deletion of the long arm of chromosome 20 (del(20q12)) and a missense mutation in BIRC3 (Baculoviral IAP repeat-containing protein 3) in this patient’s DLBCL that are absent from his MZL, suggesting that these genetic alterations contributed to the large cell transformation. To our knowledge, this is the first report providing molecular evidence for a previously suspected link between MZL and DLBCL-IF. In addition, we describe for the first time del(20q12) and a missense mutation in BIRC3 in DLBCL. Our findings also raise awareness of DLBCL-IF and discuss the diagnostic pitfalls of this rare entity.
Brush and propagating brush discharges on insulating sheets in contact with a grounded conductor

Abstract This is a report of an experimental investigation of the brush and propagating brush discharges on charged insulating surfaces in contact with a grounded backing plate to gain a guide for the risk assessment of ignition by the discharges on insulating coats and liners often used in chemical processes. Based on the result, we provide unified expressions of the charge transferred by brush discharge and of a criterion for the onset of propagating brush discharge with the estimation of their discharge energies for the quantitative analysis of ignition hazards associated with the coats and liners.
Teaching Tolerance in the Music Classroom

The purpose of this article is to discuss the need for teaching tolerance in music classrooms, as well as the role of music educators in preventing discrimination and promoting tolerance of all tar...
Core chemistry influences the toxicity of multicomponent metal oxide nanomaterials, lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, and lithium cobalt oxide to Daphnia magna.

Lithium intercalation compounds such as lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) are used extensively in lithium batteries. Because there is currently little economic incentive for recycling, chances are greater that batteries will end up in landfills or waste in the environment. In addition, the toxicity of these battery materials traditionally has not been part of the design process. Therefore, to determine the environmental impact and the possibility of alternative battery materials, representative complex battery nanomaterials, LCO and NMC, were synthesized, and toxicity was assessed in Daphnia magna. Toxicity was determined by assessing LCO and NMC at concentrations in the range of 0.1 to 25 mg/L. Acute studies (48 h) showed no effect to daphnid survival at 25 mg/L, whereas chronic studies (21 d) show significant impacts to daphnid reproduction and survival at concentrations of 0.25 mg/L for LCO and 1.0 mg/L for NMC. Dissolved metal exposures showed no effect at the amounts measured in suspension, and supernatant controls could not reproduce the effects of the particles, indicating a nanomaterial-specific impact. Genes explored in the present study were actin, glutathione-s-transferase, catalase, 18s, metallothionein, heat shock protein, and vitellogenin. Down-regulation of genes important in metal detoxification, metabolism, and cell maintenance was observed in a dose-dependent manner. The results show that battery material chemical composition can be altered to minimize environmental impacts. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:2493-2502. © 2017 SETAC.
Preschoolers' Understanding of How Others Learn Through Action and Instruction.

It is widely believed that exploration is a mechanism for young children's learning. The present investigation examines preschoolers' beliefs about how learning occurs. We asked 3- to 5-year-olds to articulate how characters in a set of stories learned about a new toy. Younger preschoolers were more likely to overemphasize the role of characters' actions in learning than older children were (Experiment 1, N = 53). Overall performance improved when the stories explicitly stated that characters were originally ignorant and clarified the characters' actions, but general developmental trends remained (Experiment 2, N = 48). These data suggest that explicit metacognitive understanding of the relation between actions and learning is developing during the preschool years, which might have implications for how children learn from exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Ponca City Cogeneration Plant: Model Improvement and Final Decision

This case follows up on the previous Ponca City case, addressing two classic flaws in spreadsheets of pro forma cash flows: (1) the treatment of the terminal value of the plant, and (2) the consistency of the assumptions about inflation. Excerpt UVA-QA-0747 June 30, 2010 PONCA CITY COGENERATION PLANT: MODEL IMPROVEMENT AND FINAL DECISION The base-case spreadsheet from Robert Patrick James was used by members of the project team to study the cogeneration plant project. The numbers it produced suggested that the project looked good to Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OGE the net benefit was a positive $ 1,020 thousands to Natoco. In a meeting about the project, a project analyst commented: “If we don't make it more attractive for Natoco to want us to build it, then they will simply do it themselves. What can we do?” James responded: . . .
Sections Irapeana and Bifolia

Cypripedium californicum is pollinated by Ceratina acantha. Its frequent visits might account for high levels of capsule set in this orchid, but the breeding system has yet to be studied, and the occurrence of autogamy or agamospermy cannot be ruled out. Other visitors include another halictid bee, Lasioglossum nigrescens, and a small syrphid fly, Sphegina occidentalis. Cypripedium guttatum is pollinated by small halictid bees of genus Lasioglossum in China, but none of the implicated bee species are present in North America. Although there are no studies on the pollination of C. yatabeanum, apparent introgression with C. guttatum indicates the existence of at least one common pollinator.
Minimally invasive anterior column realignment for the treatment of adult spinal deformity: A review of the literature

Abstract Surgical treatment of adult spine deformity requires correction in multiple planes. Currently employed open and minimally invasive techniques and instrumentation allow for robust rotational and coronal-plane correction. However, large sagittal deformities frequently require vertebral osteotomies, which can increase morbidity and complications, particularly in an elderly population. Anterior column realignment has emerged as a technique that can provide significant sagittal plane correction through a minimally invasive approach. We will provide an overview of this procedure, technical challenges, risks, outcomes, and review the recent literature on anterior column realignment for the treatment of adult spine deformity.
Chapter 1 - Correlations

The subject of correlations is related to cause-and-effect relations and is a fundamental aspect of research in many fields. Causality has roots in logic and philosophy, and its exploration has resulted in the development of many concepts by diverse thinkers across millennia. These include the universality of cause (Aristotle), the desirability of simplicity (William of Ockham), the methods of generalization (Bacon), the requirement of minimality (Newton), and the determination of true cause (Herschel). In the natural sciences, causality is linked to the understanding of physical phenomena, and this occurs at many levels ranging from the broad and axiomatic to the minutely detailed. Thus, there is a rough hierarchy of categories that may be ranked as Principles, Theories, Laws, Properties, Effects, Equations, Dimensionless Numbers, Criteria, Approximations, Factors, and Curves. Many of these are mathematical descriptions of physical reality and their place in the hierarchy is determined by the level to which they depend on fundamental assumptions. This is a structural feature of science. Correlations are relationships between variables that have some basis on physical processes, but that are not yet developed into a succinct description. The proof of a correlation consists in the uncovering of the physical basis of the phenomenon and its mathematical description.
Advances in Water Resources Systems Engineering: Applications of Machine Learning

There has long existed a dichotomy in the field of water resources systems engineering between simulation and optimization modeling, with each approach having its own advantages and disadvantages. Simulation models provide a means of accurately representing the complex physiochemical, socioeconomic, and legal-administrative behavior of complex water resources systems, but lack the capability of systematically determining optimal water planning and management decisions. Optimization models, on the other hand, excel at automatic determination of optima, while often sacrificing the accurate representation of the underlying water system behavior. Various means of effectively establishing a synergy between simulation and optimization models that accentuates their advantages while minimizing their shortcomings have evolved from the field of artificial intelligence within the province of computer science. Artificial intelligence was defined by John McCarthy in 1955 as “the science and engineering of making intelligent decisions.” Machine learning, as a branch of artificial intelligence, focuses on the development of specific algorithms that allow computerized agents to learn optimal behaviors through interaction with a real or simulated environment. Although there are many aspects of machine learning, the focus here is on agent-based modeling tools for learning optimal decisions and management rule structures for water resources systems under conflicting goals and complex stochastic environments. A wide variety of machine learning tools such as reinforcement learning, artificial neural networks, fuzzy rule-based systems, and evolutionary algorithms are applied herein to complex decision problems in integrated management of multipurpose river-reservoir systems, real-time control of combined sewer systems for pollution reduction, and integrated design and operation of stormwater control systems for sustaining and remediating coastal aquatic ecosystems damaged by intensified urbanization and development.
Acute Hyperglycemia After Influenza Vaccination in a Patient With Type 2 Diabetes

There are 29.1 million people in the United States living with diabetes (1). Except in cases with contraindications, annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all people with diabetes to reduce morbidity, mortality, and health care costs associated with influenza illness (2,3). There were 12 influenza vaccines available for the 2016–2017 influenza season. These vaccines were categorized into inactivated or live, quadrivalent or trivalent, and high-dose or standard-dose formulations (2). Common adverse reactions of pain, soreness, fever, muscle aches, fatigue, redness, or swelling may occur after intramuscular vaccine administration (4). Hyperglycemia is not noted as an adverse reaction in vaccine package inserts; however, reports of its occurrence have been documented in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) (5). Since 1991, there have been 946 reports of hyperglycemia with all available vaccines and 361 reports of hyperglycemia with all types of influenza vaccines. When looking specifically at the trivalent influenza vaccine, there have been 235 reported cases, with 70.6% reported during the first 4 days after vaccine administration (5). In light of these reports, a literature search was performed to obtain more information about acute hyperglycemia after vaccine administration. The search was performed with the advanced search option in PubMed using the terms "hyperglycemia,” “blood sugar,” “blood glucose,” “vaccines,” “influenza vaccine,” “diabetes,” and “immunizations.” The search failed to yield any literature reports specifically related to blood glucose …
Transient Temperature Monitoring of Pharmaceutical Tablets During Compaction Using Infrared Thermography

Manufacturing of pharmaceutical tablets from powders is always accompanied by the conversion of irreversible mechanical work of compaction into heat. The heat is generated due to friction between powder particles, particles and the die wall, plastic deformation of particles, bonding, and other irreversible processes. The resulting temperature increase potentially might have significant effects on a tablet’s mechanical properties, disintegration time, and drug release. In the present work, we show that using infrared thermography as a nondestructive and noncontact process analytical technology (PAT) tool to measure the tablet’s rate of cooling, in contrast to the temperature evolution, can be directly related to the tablet’s thermal diffusivity. Results show the potential capabilities of this technique to discriminate and toward predicting tensile strength of tablets between same formulations produced at same compaction force but experienced different process shear conditions. Correlation of the tablet’s tensile strength, relative density, and rate of cooling at regular regime with respect to different process shear is also discussed.
Scanning the lifeworld : Toward a critical neuroscience of action and interaction

A recent report published in Neuron, a leading journal of neuroscience, by researchers at Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories (Miyawaki et al. 2008) has been the basis for the claim that “new brain analysis technology ... can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor.” 2 This claim was followed by what is now a traditional optimistic prediction made in this case by a close colleague for the media: “These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity. In as little as 10 years, advances in this field of research may make it possible to read a person’s thoughts with some degree of accuracy” (Ibid). At best, however, the technology may allow a scientist to make inferences about whether a person may be experiencing one sample of a certain pre-delineated set of stimuli; and the claims made in the actual research paper were much more modest. The claims made in the media, even by one of the researchers themselves, go far beyond this.
Controlling wave propagation in solids using spatially variable elastic anisotropy

Stress wave propagation in solids may be controlled through spatially variable anisotropy. Recently, there have been significant efforts to guide the incident stress waves in desired trajectories in order to protect a sensitive region within the material. Here we present our work on a composite material in which stress waves are guided through smoothly varying elastic anisotropy, while keeping the mass density homogeneous. The axis of anisotropy corresponds to fiber orientation in fiber reinforced composites. In order to guide the stress waves, the axis of anisotropy should smoothly change direction to convey the energy of incident waves.
The Synthesis ToolKit (STK).

This paper presents a cross-platform C++ programming environment designed for rapid prototyping of music synthesis and audio processing programs. The Synthesis ToolKit offers an array of unit generators for filtering, input/output, etc., as well as examples of new and classic synthesis and effects algorithms for research, teaching, performance, and composition purposes.
Approaches to Increasing Salt Tolerance in Crop Plants

Soil salinity is widely recognized as a major threat to global food security. Salinity and other abiotic stresses, which are expected to be more frequent in future due to disturbances in global climate, pose a serious challenge for plant scientists to ensure food supply for the growing world population. Several approaches have been advocated to address the salinity problem, but the most logical solution to maintain crop productivity in salt-affected areas is to enhance salt tolerance of crop plants. Due to the genetic and physiological complexity associated with salt tolerance, efforts to breed salt-tolerant plants have met with limited success. Although progress has been made in deciphering the genetic basis of salt tolerance, sustained efforts are needed to systematically dissect and utilize the natural variability in the available germplasm for improving crop adaptation in saline environments using modern genomics tools. Wide range of variability for salt tolerance in wild relatives, cultivars of major field crops, and halophytes offers bright prospect for discovery of superior salt-tolerant alleles for crop improvement. With an enhanced understanding of molecular mechanisms and the associated genes for component traits of salt tolerance, it would be possible to breed salt-tolerant plants using an integrated approach involving conventional breeding, physiological analysis, marker-assisted selection, and transgenic technology.
Comprehensive analysis of the predictors of neurobehavioral symptom reporting in veterans.

Objective This study assessed the strength of military-related concussion-, psychological-, and behavioral-related measures to predict neurobehavioral symptom (NBS) reporting in order to help clarify the extent to which persistent NBS reflect lingering effects of concussion vs other psychological/behavioral factors among veterans. Methods Baseline analysis included 351 consecutively enrolled veterans in the Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress Disorders longitudinal cohort study. One hundred eighty-six returned for a follow-up evaluation averaging 24 months post baseline. The Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) was used to measure NBS reporting. Predictor variables included diagnosis of military-related mild traumatic brain injury (M-mTBI), psychological measures, including posttraumatic stress disorder, mood, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders, and behavioral measures, including self-reported current pain and sleep impairment. Hierarchical and multivariable regression analyses examined the relationships between the predictor variables and NSI scores. The k-fold cross-validation assessed generalizability and validity of the regressions. Results Baseline analysis revealed that psychological and behavioral conditions independently accounted for 42.5% of variance in the NSI total score compared to 1.5% for M-mTBI after controlling for psychological and behavioral conditions. Prospective analysis revealed that M-mTBI at baseline did not significantly predict NSI score at follow-up, while psychological and behavioral measures at baseline independently accounted for 24.5% of NSI variance. Posttraumatic stress disorder was the most consistent predictor. Cross-validation analyses supported generalizability of the results. Conclusions Psychological and behavioral-related measures are strong predictors of persistent NBS reporting in veterans, while M-mTBI is negligible. NBS more likely reflect influential comorbidities as opposed to brain injury, per se.
Updates in emergency airway management.

Purpose of reviewHistorically, most evidence supporting emergency airway management strategies have been limited to small series, retrospective analyses and extrapolation from other settings (i.e. the operating room). Over the past year, several large, randomized clinical trials have offered new fin
Phytochemical Screening, Phenolic Compounds Content, Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory, and Antimicrobial Properties of Pachylobus balsamifera Guillaum from Gabon

The goal of this work is to evaluate the antioxidant anti-inflammatory properties, the phenolic compounds content, and antimicrobial potential of water–acetone, water–ethanol, and water extracts of Pachylobus balsamifera . The phenolic compounds content was evaluated to estimate their effect on the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial potential of the plant. Antioxidant activities were examined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis) assays. Antiinflammatory activity was determined by the proteins denaturation inhibition method. All plant extracts were evaluated against six reference strains, eleven clinical isolates, and two fungal strains. Phenols content was highest in the water–acetone and water–ethanol extracts. The water extract showed strong anti-inflammatory effect. The water–acetone extract presented a strong antioxidant property and the highest antimicrobial activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Acinetobacter baumannii , Salmonella Sp., and Neisseria meningitidis . The tested microorganisms showed sensitivity to all extracts of the plant with the exception of Escherichia coli 105182 CIP, Listeria innocua LMG 135668 BHI, Salmonella enterica , Salmonella typhi , and Neisseria gonorrhea . Our results suggest that Pachylobus balsamifera extracts contain antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties.
Generation of Nitric Oxide by Mouse Dendritic Cells and Its Implications for Immune Response Regulation

Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous compound produced by the oxidative metabolism of L-arginine.1 A variety of functions have been ascribed to it, including neurotransmission, and mediation of smooth muscle relaxation.2.3 In the immune system, NO is involved in tumoricidal and microbicidal activity, and inhibition of T cell proliferation.4–7 There are at least three isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), the cell type-specific enzyme which produces NO.8 In cells of the immune system, such as macrophages and neutrophils, NOS activity is induced by a number of proinflammatory mediators such as IFN-γ, IL-1, TNF-α, and microbial cell wall products, such as BCG and LPS.9.10 Dendritic cells (DC) are the most potent known antigen presenting cells capable of activating naive T cells.11 Mature DC in secondary lymphoid tissues express high levels of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and costimulatory molecules. DC residing in nonlymphoid tissue, such as the Langerhans cells in the dermis, typically express lower levels of these molecules. However, in response to stress (such as LPS or inflammatory cytokines), these ‘immature’ cells migrate to T dependent areas in lymphoid tissue, and upregulate expression of MI-IC and costimulatory molecules.12,13 Macrophages, which may share a common ontogeny with DC, respond to these cytokines in part by the generation of nitric oxide.9 However, there are no reports of NO production by DC stimulated by cytokine or LPS. In this study we present evidence that purified mouse bone marrow-derived DC express an inducible NOS which produces NO in response to IFN-γ, LPS, or upon interaction with allogeneic T cells. The synthesis of NO is associated with apoptosis in the DC, and inhibition of proliferation of allogeneic T cells.
Eco-Trajectory Planning with Consideration of Queue along Congested Corridor for Hybrid Electric Vehicles:

At signalized intersections, vehicle speed profile plays a vital role in determining fuel consumption and emissions. With advances of connected and automated vehicle technology, vehicles are able t...
The Impact of Core-Idea Centered Instruction on High School Students’ Understanding of Structure–Property Relationships

Widespread adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has created a need to carefully consider how chemistry curricula should support students in understanding the world in terms of atomic/molecular behavior. We argue that Standards-aligned coursework should be “core-ideas centered” due to evidence that curricula embedded in scaffolded progressions of core ideas can help students develop, organize, and use their knowledge to make molecular-level sense of phenomena. Our team of teachers and researchers has previously proposed a model for developing an integrated, core idea focused introductory chemistry curriculum by adapting the conceptual progressions underpinning the evidence-based undergraduate chemistry course Chemistry, Life, the Universe, and Everything (or CLUE). Here, we examine the efficacy this NGSS-aligned chemistry course (called High School CLUE or HS-CLUE) in helping students connect atomic/molecular structure to observable properties. This study made use of a cross-sectional approach to compare the responses of three student cohorts, each instructed according to a different curriculum, on a three-part structure–properties assessment. There is a positive association between enrollment in HS-CLUE and (1) viewing Lewis structures as models, (2) representing hydrogen bonds as “between” molecules, and (3) constructing scientifically accurate, molecular-level explanations for the difference in boiling point between two substances. These associations were primary drivers for the significant relationship between learning environment enrollment and student responses in the majority of instances examined. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that structuring high school chemistry instruction around validated progressions of core ideas supports students in relating atomic/molecular structure to properties.
Language Style Similarity and Friendship Networks

This paper demonstrates that linguistic similarity predicts network tie formation and that friends exhibit linguistic convergence over time. Study 1 analyzes the linguistic styles and the emerging friendship network in a complete cohort of 285 students. Study 2 analyzes a large-scale dataset of online reviews. Across both studies, we collected data in two waves to examine changes in both friendship networks and linguistic styles. Using the LIWC linguistic framework, we analyze the text of students’ essays and of 1.7 million reviews by 159,651 Yelp reviewers. We find that similarity in linguistic style corresponds to higher likelihood of friendship formation and persistence, and that friendship ties, in turn, correspond with a convergence in linguistic style. We discuss the implications of the co-evolution of linguistic styles and social networks, which contribute to the formation of relational echo chambers.
Mindfulness meditation intervention alters neurophysiological symptoms of anxiety and depression in preadolescents.

Abstract. Mindfulness meditation interventions (MMIs) are formal training programs which utilize mindfulness techniques to improve attentional control and reduce stress and anxiety. Past investigat...
Neuronal Membrane Disruption Occurs Late Following Diffuse Brain Trauma in Rats and Involves a Subpopulation of NeuN Negative Cortical Neurons

The repercussions of traumatic brain injury (TBI) endure years following the initial insult and involve chronic impairments/disabilities. Studies indicate that these morbidities stem from diffuse pathologies, however, knowledge regarding TBI-mediated diffuse pathologies, and in particular, diffuse neuronal membrane disruption, is limited. Membrane disruption has been shown to occur acutely following injury, primarily within neurons, however, the progression of TBI-induced membrane disruption remains undefined. Therefore, the current study investigated this pathology over a longer temporal profile from 6 h to 4 w following diffuse TBI induced using the central fluid percussion injury (CFPI) model in rats. To visualize membrane disruption, animals received an intracerebroventricular infusion of tagged cell-impermeable dextran 2 h prior to experimental endpoints at 6 h, 1 d, 3 d, 1 w, 2 w, or 4 w post-CFPI. The percentage of total neurons demonstrating dextran uptake, indicative of membrane disruption, was quantified within the lateral neocortex layers V and VI from 6 h to 4 w post-injury. We found that membrane disruption displayed a biphasic pattern, where nearly half of the neurons were membrane disrupted sub-acutely, from 6 h to 3 d post-TBI. At 1 w the membrane disrupted population was dramatically reduced to levels indistinguishable from sham controls. However, by 2 and 4 w following CFPI, approximately half of the neurons analyzed displayed membrane disruption. Moreover, our data revealed that a subset of these late membrane disrupted neurons were NeuN negative (NeuN-). Correlative western blot analyses, however, revealed no difference in NeuN protein expression in the lateral neocortex at any time following injury. Furthermore, the NeuN- membrane disrupted neurons did not co-label with traditional markers of astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, or NG2 cells. Immunohistochemistry against NeuN, paired with a hematoxylin and eosin counter-stain, was performed to quantify the possibility of overall NeuN+ neuronal loss following CFPI. A NeuN- population was observed consistently in both sham and injured animals regardless of time post-injury. These data suggest that there is a consistent subpopulation of NeuN- neurons within the lateral neocortex regardless of injury and that these NeuN- neurons are potentially more vulnerable to late membrane disruption. Better understanding of membrane disruption could provide insight into the mechanisms of diffuse pathology and lead to the discovery of novel treatments for TBI.
Importance of the Cardio-Obstetrics Team.

In the USA, maternal mortality has been rising since the 1980s. Cardiovascular disease is recognized as the leading cause of this worrisome trend, and a multidisciplinary approach to the care of patients with cardiovascular conditions during pregnancy is becoming increasingly important. We outline the literature supporting this multidisciplinary approach, highlight our center’s experience in building and expanding an integrated cardio-obstetrics practice, and provide guidance regarding patient selection and management within a combined practice. Antenatal management patterns and delivery planning for patients with cardiovascular disease during pregnancy vary substantially among cardiovascular and obstetric and maternal fetal medicine practices in the USA. The need for multidisciplinary care between cardiologists and obstetricians is evident and has been supported by best practice statements from the American Heart Association, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Cardiac Disease in Pregnancy Study (CARPREG) investigators, whose CARPREG II risk score included “late first antenatal visit” as a predictor of adverse outcomes of pregnancy. We have solid evidence supporting a multidisciplinary approach to the care of patients with cardiac conditions in pregnancy. This approach is optimal because it facilitates a consistent and clear message to the patient (and those caring for each patient) regarding management and risks associated with pregnancy, as well as subsequent risk and postpartum follow-up. We support the extension of clinical collaboration between obstetricians and cardiologists to the research realm and know that working together to investigate the outcomes of moms with heart conditions and their babies will provide clinically meaningful information to support the care of these unique patients.
A Network-Based Approach to Study of Adhd Using Tensor Decomposition of Resting State Fmri Data

Identifying changes in functional connectivity in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can help us understand the neural substrates of this brain disorder. Many studies of ADHD using resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data have been conducted in the past decade with either manually crafted features that do not yield satisfactory performance, or automatically learned features that often lack interpretability. In this work, we present a tensor-based approach to identify brain networks and extract features from rs-fMRI data. Results show the identified networks are interpretable and consistent with our current understanding of ADHD conditions. The extracted features are not only predictive of ADHD score but also discriminative for classification of ADHD subjects from typically developed children.
Delivery of Heterologous Proteins, Enzymes, and Antigens via the Bacterial Type III Secretion System

The Type III Secretion System (T3SS) is a multimeric protein complex composed of over 20 different proteins, utilized by Gram-negative bacteria to infect eukaryotic host cells. The T3SS has been implicated as a virulence factor by which pathogens cause infection and has recently been characterized as a communication tool between bacteria and plant cells in the rhizosphere. The T3SS has been repurposed to be used as a tool for the delivery of non-native or heterologous proteins to eukaryotic cells or the extracellular space for a variety of purposes, including drug discovery and drug delivery. This review covers the methodology of heterologous protein secretion as well as multiple cases of utilizing the T3SS to deliver heterologous proteins or artificial materials. The research covered in this review will serve to outline the scope and limitations of utilizing the T3SS as a tool for protein delivery.
The Politics of Health Care: Health Disparities, the Affordable Care Act, and Solutions for Success

This article explores why racial and income health disparities continue to exist in the United States. Poverty and racism are the primary drivers of the social problem which impact social determinants of health for vulnerable populations. The theoretical frameworks of conflict theory and critical race theory contextualize the causes and provide direction for overhauling public health policy in general and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act) in particular. Although the Affordable Care Act was implemented to increase health coverage, economic and racial health inequities still exist in the United States. Policy recommendations for improving the health and welfare of low-income minorities include: 1) impacting poverty itself by desegregating urban areas of concentrated poverty, and 2) impacting racial discrimination in health care by putting the voices of African-American patients in the forefront to inform culturally relevant policy and practice.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Initiation and Completion Among Adult Males in the United States

Background: Men accounted for 43% of human papillomavirus (HPV)–related cancer cases, but the HPV vaccination rate of adult males remain low. The purposes of this study were to 1) estimate the initiation and completion rate of HPV vaccine, and 2) analyze factors associated with HPV vaccine initiation and completion among adult males. Method: This study analyzed predisposing factors, enabling factors, reinforcing factors, and situational factors associated with the initiation of HPV vaccine among 3228 male adult participants of the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Two binary logistic regressions were estimated based on the Systems Model of Clinical Preventive Care. Results: The initiation rate and completion rate of HPV vaccine among males aged 18 to 33 years old was 14.1% (n = 454) and 35.4% (n = 161), respectively. Among male adults in the United States, the likelihood of initiating HPV vaccine significantly associated with age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.87, P Conclusions: Having primary health care providers and regular checkups are important to male adults to have HPV vaccines. Promoting access to health care resources may improve current vaccination rates among males.
A Lawyer's Obligations to Avoid Assisting in a Crime or Fraud

The American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility recently issued an advisory ethics opinion in which it found that a lawyer has an ethical duty to investigate when a client or prospective client tries to retain a lawyer for a matter that could be legitimate but which further inquiry would reveal to be criminal or fraudulent. In Formal Opinion 491 (2020), the Committee primarily focused on a lawyer's obligations under Model Rule 1.2(d to avoid counseling or assisting a client in crime or fraud in nonlitigation settings. The Committee also considered other duties, such as competence, diligence, communication, honesty, and withdrawal, which the Committee concluded were additional sources of a duty to inquire. In this paper, we evaluate the Committee's analysis and its conclusion that there is a duty to inquire.
Solar Hemispheric Helicity Rules: A New Explanation

Large-scale solar surface magnetic fields are believed to emerge from the deep solar interior due to magnetic buoyancy and are observed as sunspots, embedded in active regions. The geometry and bi-polar nature of the pairwise emergence of sunspots has motivated the consideration of the rising and emerging strong toroidal magnetic flux concentrations in the interior as cylindrical flux tubes. Since magnetic flux is not expected to exist as isolated flux tubes in the deep solar interior, we have investigated the dynamics of more realistic magnetic flux concentrations embedded in a larger-scale diffused field. We find that the presence of a weak large-scale background field, through which the flux tube rises, can significantly alter the dynamics and lead to interesting insights about solar observations of current/magnetic helicity. We further carry out a Monte Carlo study to explore these dynamics quantitatively for a direct comparison with Solar Hemispheric Helicity rules.
Professional Development of the SP Educator

Standardized/simulated patients (SPs) are individuals who been taught how to portray a patient story so authentically that an experienced clinician could not tell the difference. They are the “physical and psychological embodiment of a real patient” giving the learners the opportunity to attend to the whole patient (Barrows HS, Acad Med Philadelphia 68:443–451, 1993). Over almost 60 years, the role of the SP has expanded from patient proxy to faculty proxy, becoming a teacher and evaluator and providing feedback to learners in real time. SP methodology has expanded beyond healthcare education in such areas as law and business. While we have been using and studying SP methodology since Dr. Barrows first imagined its power in the early 1960s (Barrows HS, Acad Med Philadelphia 68:443–451, 1993; Wallace P, Caduceus (Springfield, Ill) 13:5, 1997), the role and value of the Standardized Patient Educator (SPE) is just now being examined and articulated (Pritchard et al., Med Teach 39:1159–1167, 2017 and Dieckmann et al., Clinical simulation: operations, engineering, and management. Academic Press, Burlington, 2008). As an emerging profession (one that has yet be defined or found in career planning guides) having a better understanding of who is working in this complex and ever-evolving role will help others to build successful SPE careers. Professional development helps build knowledge and skills, improves relationships with faculty and learners, and expands the capacity to contribute to the growth of the SPE profession. This chapter will explore what the SPE does, how one develops a career as a SPE, and promotes the profession through leadership and scholarship.
High-fidelity kinetic modeling of instabilities and gyromotion physics in nonuniform low-beta plasmas

A fourth-order accurate continuum kinetic Vlasov solver and a systematic method for constructing customizable kinetic equilibria are demonstrated to be powerful tools for the study of nonuniform collisionless low-beta plasmas. The noise-free methodology is applied to investigate two gradient-driven instabilities in 4D ( x , y , v x , v y ) phase space: the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability and the lower hybrid drift instability. Nonuniform two-species configurations where ion gyroradii are comparable to gradient scale lengths are explored. The approach sheds light on the evolution of the pressure tensor in Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and demonstrates that the associated stress tensor deviates significantly from the gyroviscous stress tensor. Even at high magnetization, first-order approximations to finite-gyromotion physics are shown to be inadequate for the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, as shear scales evolve to become on par with gyromotion scales. The methodology facilitates exploring transport and energy partitioning properties associated with lower hybrid drift instabilities in low-beta plasma configurations. Distribution function features are captured in detail, including the formation of local extrema in the vicinity of particle-wave resonances. The approach enables detailed targeted investigations and advances kinetic simulation capability for plasmas in which gyromotion plays an important role.