cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, β-Lipotropin, and Endorphin-Related Peptides in Health and Disease

IT HAS been clear for some time that the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and β-lipotropin (β-LPH) appear to be linked, both being present in high concentrations in patients with disorders of hypersecretion (Cushing's syndrome, Addison's disease) and low in patients with disorders of hyposecretion (secondary adrenal insufficiency). Other molecular species also appear to be associated with ACTH secretion; for example, molecules larger than ACTH but with ACTH immunoreactivity have been found in many cases of "ectopic" ACTH secretion. Recent studies into the biosynthesis of ACTH and β-LPH appear to explain these interrelationships and hold forth the promise of important advances in our understanding of the relationship between the hypothalamus, pituitary, and the adrenal gland in man. Early chemical studies have recognized the existence of several peptides that are structurally related to ACTH in the pituitary gland of many species including man. These include β-LPH, α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), and β-MSH.
Neospora caninum expresses an unusual single-domain Kazal protease inhibitor that is discharged into the parasitophorous vacuole

Serine protease inhibitors have been implicated in viral and parasite pathogenesis through their ability to inhibit apoptosis, provide protection against digestive enzymes in the gut and dictate host range specificity. Two Kazal family serine protease inhibitors from the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii (TgPI-1 and TgPI-2) have been characterised previously. Here, we describe the identification and initial characterisation of a novel Kazal inhibitor, NcPI-S, from a closely related apicomplexan parasite, Neospora caninum. Unlike the multidomain inhibitors identified in T. gondii, NcPI-S is a single domain inhibitor bearing a methionine in the position (P1) that typically dictates specificity for target proteases. Based on this, NcPI-S was predicted to inhibit elastase, chymotrypsin and subtilisin. However, we found that recombinant NcPI-S inhibited subtilisin very well, with little or no activity against elastase or chymotrypsin. NcPI-S localises to the dense granules and is secreted into the parasitophorous vacuole. Finally, antibodies raised against recombinant NcPI-S recognise two polypeptides in an N. caninum lysate, one with a molecular mass ∼11 kDa and another at ∼20 kDa. This, along with mass spectrometry analysis of recombinant NcPI-S, suggests that the inhibitor is expressed as a dimer in the parasite.
Estimation of a Conditional Mean in a Linear Regression Model after a Preliminary Test on Regression Coefficient

Consider the two linear regression models of Yij on Xij, namely Yij = βio + βij, Xij + Eij = 1, 2,…, ni, i = 1, 2, where Eij are assumed to be normally distributed with zero mean and common unknown variance σ2. The problem of estimating the conditional mean of Y1 for a given value of X1 is considered when it is a priori suspected that β10 = β20 and β11 = β21. The preliminary test estimator is proposed. The exact expressions for the bias and the mean square error of the estimator are derived. The relative efficiency of the new estimator to the usual least square estimator based on the first regression alone is computed and is used to determine the appropriate value of the significance level of the preliminary test β10 = β20 and β11 = β21.
The Contribution of Gas-Phase Reactions in the Pt-Catalyzed Conversion of Ethane-Oxygen Mixtures

This paper presents an analysis of the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane on platinum-containing monoliths. The purpose of the work is to make a quantitative assessment of the extent to which homogeneous gas-phase reactions contribute to the overall conversion of the ethane. In making the analysis, extensive use is made of kinetic information obtained and compiled by A. M. Dean and associates for elementary homogeneous reaction steps and by L. D. Schmidt and associates for elementary surface reactions. A critical part of the analysis is concerned with accounting for the heat effects and for the reactor temperature gradient resulting therefrom. This is absolutely essential for meeting the objective of this investigation. The rise in temperature as the gases proceed through the reactor is responsible for a very substantial contribution of homogeneous gas-phase reactions in the chemical transformation occurring. One can view the process as a sequential one in which ethane is first oxidized on the platinum surface to CO, CO2, and H2O in the front region of the monolith. The formation of these products causes a substantial temperature increase that drives the dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene (and acetylene) in the gas phase. The heat required to sustain these endothermic reactions in the tail end of the reaction zone is supplied by exothermic gas-phase oxidation reactions that form additional H2O and CO. Overall, the system can be viewed as one in which the catalyst initiates gas-phase chemistry through the acceleration of exothermic reactions at the front of the reactor which increase the downstream temperature to the point where gas-phase reactions occur readily.
Do People Have Insight Into Their Abilities? A Metasynthesis:

Having insight into one’s abilities is essential, yet it remains unclear whether people generally perceive their skills accurately or inaccurately. In the present analysis, we examined the overall correspondence between self-evaluations of ability (e.g., academic ability, intelligence, language competence, medical skills, sports ability, and vocational skills) and objective performance measures (e.g., standardized test scores, grades, and supervisor evaluations) across 22 meta-analyses, in addition to considering factors that moderate this relationship. Although individual meta-analytic effects ranged from .09 to .63, the mean correlation between ability self-evaluations and performance outcomes across meta-analyses was moderate (M = .29, SD = .11). Further, the relation was stronger when self-evaluations were specific to a given domain rather than broad and when performance tasks were objective, familiar, or low in complexity. Taken together, these findings indicate that people have only moderate insight into their abilities but also underscore the contextual factors that enable accurate self-perception of ability.
Functional Domains in the Carnitine Transporter OCTN2, Defective in Primary Carnitine Deficiency

Primary carnitine deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder of fatty acid oxidation characterized by hypoketotic hypoglycemia and skeletal and cardiac myopathy. It is caused by mutations in the Na+-dependent organic cation transporter, OCTN2. To define the domains involved in carnitine recognition, we evaluated chimeric transporters created by swapping homologous domains between OCTN1, which does not transport carnitine, and OCTN2. Substitution of the C terminus of OCTN2 (amino acid residues 342-557) with the corresponding residues of OCTN1 completely abolished carnitine transport. The progressive substitution of the N terminus of OCTN2 with OCTN1 resulted in a decrease in carnitine transport associated with a progressive increase in the Km toward carnitine from 3.9 +/- 0.5 to 141 +/- 19 microM. The largest drop in carnitine transport (and increase in Km toward carnitine) was observed with the substitution of residues 341-454 of OCTN2. An additional chimeric transporter (CHIM-9) in which only residues 341-454 of OCTN2 were substituted by OCTN1 had markedly reduced carnitine transport, with an elevated Km toward carnitine (63 +/- 5 microM). Site-directed mutagenesis and introduction of residues nonconserved between OCTN1 and OCTN2 in the OCTN2 cDNA indicated that the R341A, L409W, L424Y, and T429I substitutions significantly decreased carnitine transport. Single substitutions did not increase the Km toward carnitine. By contrast, the combination of three of these substitutions (R341W + L409W + T429I) greatly decreased carnitine transport and increased the Km toward carnitine (20.2 +/- 4.5 microm). The Arg-341, Leu-409, and Thr-429 residues are all located in predicted transmembrane domains. Involvement of these residues in carnitine transport was further supported by the partial restoration of carnitine transport by the introduction of these OCTN2 residues in the OCTN1 portion of CHIM-9. These studies indicate that multiple domains of the OCTN2 transporter are required for carnitine transport and identify transmembrane residues important for carnitine recognition.
Decision Bias in the Newsvendor Problem with a Known Demand Distribution: Experimental Evidence

In the newsvendor problem a decision maker orders inventory before a one period selling season with stochastic demand. If too much is ordered, stock is left over at the end of the period, whereas if too little is ordered, sales are lost. The expected profit-maximizing order quantity is well known, but little is known about how managers actually make these decisions. We describe two experiments that investigate newsvendor decisions across different profit conditions. Results from these studies demonstrate that choices systematically deviate from those that maximize expected profit. Subjects order too few of high-profit products and too many of low-profit products. These results are not consistent with risk-aversion, risk-seeking preferences, Prospect Theory preferences, waste aversion, stockout aversion, or the consequences of underestimating opportunity costs. Two explanations are consistent with the data. One, subjects behave as if their utility function incorporates a preference to reduce ex-post inventory error, the absolute difference between the chosen quantity and realized demand. Two, subjects suffer from the anchoring and insufficient adjustment bias. Feedback and training did not mitigate inventory order errors. We suggest techniques to improve decision making.
Defect solitons in photonic lattices

Nonlinear defect-modes (defect-solitons) in optically-induced one-dimensional photonic lattices with a single-site repulsive defect are predicted and observed. These defect solitons bifurcate from linear defect modes and are fully stable.
Dependency Grammar Induction via Bitext Projection Constraints

Broad-coverage annotated treebanks necessary to train parsers do not exist for many resource-poor languages. The wide availability of parallel text and accurate parsers in English has opened up the possibility of grammar induction through partial transfer across bitext. We consider generative and discriminative models for dependency grammar induction that use word-level alignments and a source language parser (English) to constrain the space of possible target trees. Unlike previous approaches, our framework does not require full projected parses, allowing partial, approximate transfer through linear expectation constraints on the space of distributions over trees. We consider several types of constraints that range from generic dependency conservation to language-specific annotation rules for auxiliary verb analysis. We evaluate our approach on Bulgarian and Spanish CoNLL shared task data and show that we consistently outperform unsupervised methods and can outperform supervised learning for limited training data.
Solid-State Foaming by Oxide Reduction and Expansion: Tailoring the Foamed Metal Microstructure in the Cu–CuO System with Oxide Content and Annealing Conditions

A new method of introducing porosity into solid metals was investigated using mixtures of Cu and CuO. The process involves distributing oxides through the Cu matrix (e.g., mechanical milling, as used here) and then reducing those oxides during annealing. The most distinguishing characteristic of this process is that pores develop within individual powder particles. In this study, we varied the oxide content (0–7 at% O), annealing temperature (400, 600, and 800 °C), and annealing time (up to 3 h) to investigate their effect on the foamed metal microstructure. In general, we find that the amount of porosity within the powder particles (or bulk part) can be controlled by varying of oxide content and annealing parameters. The maximum porosity of 47.4% corresponds to intermediate conditions of both temperature and oxide content (600 °C and ≈3 at% CuO, respectively). The pore size and grain size are small (<5 μm) in comparison with other solid-state foaming techniques and are not highly sensitive to the annealing parameters used in the present study. The unique mechanisms and opportunities associated with this oxide reduction and expansion process are discussed for the Cu–CuO system as well as extensions to other metal systems.
Relationship between expression of IgA by Peyer's patch cells and functional IgA memory cells.

IgA memory B cells have been operationally defined as precursors that give rise to clones exclusively secreting IgA antibodies upon antigen stimulation in a T-cell dependent splenic fragment culture. B lymphocytes that are sIgA+ account for a small fraction of Peyer's patch lymphocytes, but these can be clearly divided into two subsets. One subset contains the majority of sIgA+ B cells and most of these are in S, G2, or M phase of the cell cycle. These cells are germinal center B cells, as defined by being S kappa low and peanut agglutinin (PNA)high, and contain most of the mRNA alpha. Though these germinal center cells may contain the majority of sIgA+ B cells and may contain precursors for memory cells, preplasma cells, or both, they do not appear to be immediately responsive to stimulation by antigen. Rather, the S kappa high, PNAlow subset of sIgA+ B cells, most of which are in G0 or G1 and have only low levels of mRNA alpha appear to contain most of the clonal precursors that are committed to IgA, i.e., the functional memory cells that give rise to clones exclusively secreting IgA upon stimulation with thymus-dependent antigen in the presence of T cells. There is also a population of Peyer's patch B cells that neither bears detectable sIgA nor has mRNA alpha detectable by cytoplasmic dot blotting but contains a small proportion of the functional IgA memory cells.
BACOM: in silico detection of genomic deletion types and correction of normal cell contamination in copy number data.

Motivation: Identification of somatic DNA copy number alterations (CNAs) and significant consensus events (SCEs) in cancer genomes is a main task in discovering potential cancer-driving genes such as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. The recent development of SNP array technology has facilitated studies on copy number changes at a genome-wide scale with high resolution. However, existing copy number analysis methods are oblivious to normal cell contamination and cannot distinguish between contributions of cancerous and normal cells to the measured copy number signals. This contamination could significantly confound downstream analysis of CNAs and affect the power to detect SCEs in clinical samples. Results: We report here a statistically principled in silico approach, Bayesian Analysis of COpy number Mixtures (BACOM), to accurately estimate genomic deletion type and normal tissue contamination, and accordingly recover the true copy number profile in cancer cells. We tested the proposed method on two simulated datasets, two prostate cancer datasets and The Cancer Genome Atlas high-grade ovarian dataset, and obtained very promising results supported by the ground truth and biological plausibility. Moreover, based on a large number of comparative simulation studies, the proposed method gives significantly improved power to detect SCEs after in silico correction of normal tissue contamination. We develop a cross-platform open-source Java application that implements the whole pipeline of copy number analysis of heterogeneous cancer tissues including relevant processing steps. We also provide an R interface, bacomR, for running BACOM within the R environment, making it straightforward to include in existing data pipelines. Availability: The cross-platform, stand-alone Java application, BACOM, the R interface, bacomR, all source code and the simulation data used in this article are freely available at authors' web site: http://www.cbil.ece.vt.edu/software.htm. Contact: ude.tv@gnaweuy Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Jet mixing in tall tanks: Comparison of methods for predicting blend times

Abstract Grenville and Tilton (1996) presented a simple model that correlates blend time data from jet mixed vessels up to 12,000 m3 in volume. The model is based on the idea that the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate at the end of the jet's free path determines the mixing rate for the whole vessel. Maruyama et al. (1982) and Revill (1992) had previously proposed that the blend time should be proportional to the circulation time of the fluid entrained by the jet. Grenville and Tilton (1997) compared their proposed Jet Turbulence model with the Circulation Time model and found that, over the range of the data studied, both can be used to accurately predict blend times. Extrapolation of the models showed that their predictions diverge as the ratio of fluid depth to vessel diameter increases. In this paper blend time data taken in vessels with aspect ratios of 2, 3 and 4 are included in the analysis. The results show that the Grenville and Tilton (1996) Jet Turbulence model fits all data for 0.2
Viral myocarditis—diagnosis, treatment options, and current controversies

Myocarditis--a frequent cause of dilated cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death--typically results from cardiotropic viral infection followed by active inflammatory destruction of the myocardium. Characterization of this disease has been hampered by its heterogeneous clinical presentations and diverse aetiologies. Advances in cardiac MRI and molecular detection of viruses by endomyocardial biopsy have improved our ability to diagnose and understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of this elusive disease. However, therapeutic options are currently limited for both the acute and chronic phases of myocarditis. Several randomized, controlled trials have demonstrated potential benefit with immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory therapies, but further investigations are warranted. In this Review, we explore the pathophysiology, natural history, and modes of diagnosis of myocarditis, as well as evidence-based treatment strategies. As novel imaging techniques and human in vitro models of the disease emerge, the landscape of therapies for myocarditis is poised to improve.
Judging a Book by Its Cover: The Role of Corporate Form in Social Enterprise Start-Ups

The demand for social goods not met by the government has traditionally been met by the nonprofit sector; over the last decade, however, rising social awareness in the private sector and the use of earned revenue models in the nonprofit sector have led to a new type of organization: the for-profit social enterprise. Many new corporate forms have been born to exploit this new market niche; however, the factors that will determine which of these new species will survive and thrive are unknown. This paper explores the role of corporate form in a small geographical niche of social entrepreneurs with enterprises under two years old. First, contrary to expectations, we find a lack of interest and uptake in specialized corporate forms compared to general ones. Second, once the characteristics of the enterprises have been mapped, the wide within-form variation reinforces the generalist conceptualization of the most popular form. Finally, we develop a scale to compare the forms across the mission-market spectrum and find evidence that justifies the inclusion of existing corporate forms such as the LLC as an essential part of the organizational form discussion in social enterprise.
Modeling middleboxes

The lack of a concise and standard language to describe diverse middlebox functionality and deployment configurations adversely affects current middlebox deployment, as well as middlebox-related research. To alleviate this problem, we present a simple middlebox model that succinctly describes how different middleboxes process packets and illustrate it by representing four common middleboxes. We set up a pilot online repository of middlebox models and prototyped model inference and validation tools.
Peptide-Mediated Transdermal Drug Delivery

The skin offers an attractive interface for systemic delivery of drugs. Several physical and chemical approaches have been developed to overcome the natural transport barrier of the skin for therapeutically effective transdermal drug delivery. This chapter focuses on the use of peptides as novel transdermal drug delivery agents. Peptides offer several advantages over traditional methods in delivering drugs due to the ease of design and use, chemical diversity, and potentially low toxicity and immunogenicity. We discuss the potential of both the cell-penetrating and membrane-penetrating peptides in delivering a wide variety of cargoes ranging from proteins and peptide therapeutics, nanoparticles, and nucleotides across the skin. Although significant progress is evident, several challenges still remain. These are briefly discussed.
Design of an Electric Motor Failure Testbed

Component failures in hazardous and unfamiliar design environments can be critical. One needs to look no further than at the results of component failures in the Mars probe Spirit to see how significant a simple failure may become. However, similarly unusual environments can be found on Earth, such as within the materials processing lines at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In these lines, radioactive materials must be handled with extreme care. Not only do these materials present a radiological hazard, but also they often they represent toxic and corrosive hazards. To limit human contact with these materials, automation systems are desirable, but unlike humans, automation systems do not provide warning of impending failures. Developing the capabilities for automation systems to warn operators of developing incipient failures is crucial to the continued introduction of automation systems into this unusual terrestrial environment. This paper describes the design, fabrication and integration of a testbed intended to develop our knowledge of how failures occur within simple mechanical component systems typically deployed within this environment. The preliminary results suggest that incipient failures are detectable, and that with this knowledge, it may be possible to develop automation technologies that can provide warning of impending failures before the continued operation of the system is jeopardized.© 2004 ASME
OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA AND PROGNOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE CEREBROVASCULAR ACCIDENT

There has been increasing interest in the concept of ischemic preconditioning and its role in cardiovascular protection. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), being characterized by recurrent episodes of apnea and hypoxemia, may represent a natural model for ischemic preconditioning and may be protective
The Impact of Resident Training on Communication with Families in the Intensive Care Unit. Resident and Family Outcomes.

Rationale: In high-acuity settings such as intensive care units (ICUs), the quality of communication with patients’ families is a particularly important component of care. Evidence shows that ICU communication is often inadequate and can negatively impact family outcomes.Objectives: To assess the impact of a communication training program on resident skills in communicating with families in an ICU and on family outcomes.Methods: We conducted a prospective, single-site educational intervention study. The intervention featured a weekly required communication training program (4 h total) during the ICU rotation, which included interactive discussion, and role play with immediate feedback from simulated family members. All internal medicine residents on ICU rotation between July 2012 and July 2014 were invited to participate in the study. Family members who had a meeting with an enrolled resident were approached for a survey or interview. The primary outcome was family ratings of how well residents met their ...
Warp-Based Load/Store Reordering to Improve GPU Data Cache Time Predictability and Performance

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have great potential to improve the performance and energy efficiency for data-parallel real-time applications. However, it is very difficult to compute worst-case execution time (WCET) for current GPUs that are design for improving the average-case throughput, not for time predictability. In this paper, we propose a warp-based load/store reordering mechanism to improve the time predictability of GPU data caching without incurring much performance overhead. This mechanism can be used in conjunction with dynamic warp scheduling to achieve better performance than a pure round-robin based scheduling while enabling accurate static timing analysis to bound the worst-case GPU L1 data cache misses.
Migraine and Epilepsy: Infantile Onset

The coexistence of classical migraine, visual phenomena and seizures and occipital spike-wave complexes in the EEG are reported in 14 children from the Department of Neurological Sciences, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
The Myth of Man in the Hebraic Epic

The thematic in the epic genre is based on a perspective acquired in the past of a community, tribe or nation. The genre is often ahistorical, its content frequently beyond verification. Consciously or unconsciously, the epic will suspend all objective criteria and will dwell on its own self-contained materials. Thus its true correspondence is to the expectations of the community rather than to factual evidence. In its own creative fashion the epic genre will amplify, exaggerate, delete or reduce materials, subordinating them to the process of its own evolution. Here the epic genre approaches the timelessness of myth. In its mythopoesis, its aspiration to creative autonomy, the epic genre achieves its timeless quality. Mythical patterns are submerged in the epic materials themselves, and evolve around a historical memory — often a tradition rooted in pre-history.
Dongbei, Manchukuo, Manchuria: Territory, Artifacts, and the Multiple Bodies of Sovereignty in Northeast Asia

Evaluations of the state of sovereignty typically resonate with the unified singularity of a nation-state apparatus. In reality, a state’s juridico-political boundaries seldom match its proclaimed territory. This is especially true in times of political turmoil when multiple powers claim ownership over the same region. One state’s boundaries may include a territory overlapping with that of another state, and one geographical region may involve plural claims of sovereignty. This chapter examines such conditions through the lens of material culture studies, with a focus on the contested northeastern region of China. Three case studies, dating to the period between the 1920s and 1950s, reveal differently constructed claims of sovereignty that propelled different bodies of sovereignty carried out in the hands of Chinese, apanese, and American researchers.
Farming and public goods production in Caenorhabditis elegans populations.

The ecological and evolutionary dynamics of populations are shaped by the strategies they use to produce and use resources. However, our understanding of the interplay between the genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors driving these strategies is limited. Here, we report on a Caenorhabditis elegans–Escherichia coli (worm–bacteria) experimental system in which the worm-foraging behavior leads to a redistribution of the bacterial food source, resulting in a growth advantage for both organisms, similar to that achieved via farming. We show experimentally and theoretically that the increased resource growth represents a public good that can benefit all other consumers, regardless of whether or not they are producers. Mutant worms that cannot farm bacteria benefit from farming by other worms in direct proportion to the fraction of farmers in the worm population. The farming behavior can therefore be exploited if it is associated with either energetic or survival costs. However, when the individuals compete for resources with their own type, these costs can result in an increased population density. Altogether, our findings reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism of public good production resulting from the foraging behavior of C. elegans, which has important population-level consequences. This powerful system may provide broad insight into exploration–exploitation tradeoffs, the resultant ecoevolutionary dynamics, and the underlying genetic and neurobehavioral driving forces of multispecies interactions.
Social Media and Social Networking

Information can travel at the speed of light, and social media and social networking services make it possible to actually deliver that information at lightning speed to and for billions of people around the planet. This chapter introduces these two concepts, along with various services that facilitate them and a number of issues stemming from their introduction and use. The chapter first describes how social media and social networking services and systems are defined and studied. In doing so, it points out how being social—something that is fundamental to humankind—has taken shape in the online world. The chapter then dives deeper into some of the issues introduced by and studied within the context of social media/networking. These include privacy, identity construction, impression making, communication, social capital, knowledge sharing, access, and digital inequality.
Surgical and multimodality approaches to liver metastases.

Although liver metastases may provide the first evidence of cancer progression, they almost always indicate general dissemination of malignancy. Treatment options for hepatic metastases include surgical resection, administration of regional chemotherapy, systemic chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and various innovative strategies to achieve specific drug targeting. In spite of all advances, surgery is currently the only therapy that prolongs survival or even provides the chance of cure. Technical standards constitute no longer a limiting factor in the use of hepatic resection for malignant disease. Although hepatic resection remains a major procedure, current mortality rates of 0%–6% justify widespread use of this type of surgery (Foster and Lundy 1981; Gayowski et al. 1994). Consequently, it is now even more important to establish accurate guidelines defining the indications of hepatic resection for malignant disease.
Reflectance Confocal Microscopy for Margin Assessment and Management of Lentigo Maligna

Lentigo maligna (LM) is a form of melanoma in situ and represents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge due to its poorly defined, irregular borders; propensity for subclinical extension; and location on the background of severely sun-damaged skin. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a non-invasive optical imaging tool that allows clinicians to detect LM and assess margin status in vivo. RCM is very accurate for diagnosing LM and guiding biopsies, with sensitivities ranging from 93 to 100% and specificities 71–82%. It has also been used pre-operatively to map lesions, intra-operatively for real-time evaluation of surgical margins, and post treatment to monitor for recurrence. The advent of newer technologies, including RCM, has advanced our ability to better diagnose and manage LM. RCM offers clinicians the ability to guide biopsies, accurately detect subclinical disease, and readily map LM margins. Future research is aimed at using RCM to allow clinicians to better spare healthy tissue and to reduce disease recurrence without subjecting patients to the lost time, cost, and potential morbidity associated with multiple surgeries.
Ecoevolutionary Dynamics of Carbon Cycling in the Anthropocene

Climate change is altering natural selection globally, which could shift the evolutionary trajectories of traits central to the carbon (C) cycle. Here, we examine the components necessary for the evolution of C cycling traits to substantially drive changes in global C cycling and integrate these components into a framework of ecoevolutionary dynamics. Recent evidence points to the evolution of C cycling traits during the Anthropocene and the potential to significantly affect atmospheric CO2. We identify directions for further collaboration between evolutionary, ecosystem, and climate scientists to study these ecoevolutionary feedback dynamics and determine whether this evolution will ultimately accelerate or decelerate the current trend in rising atmospheric CO2.
The border between Queensland and New South Wales: A study of political geography in a Federal Union

(1955). The border between Queensland and New South Wales. Australian Geographer: Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 3-18.
Analysis of nonlocal phonon thermal conductivity simulations showing the ballistic to diffusive crossover

Simulations [e.g., X. W. Zhou et al., Phys. Rev. B 79, 115201 (2009)] show nonlocal effects of the ballistic/diffusive crossover. The local temperature has nonlinear spatial variation not contained in the local Fourier law $\stackrel{P\vec}{j}(\stackrel{P\vec}{r})=\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\kappa}\stackrel{P\vec}{\ensuremath{\nabla}}T(\stackrel{P\vec}{r})$. The heat current $\stackrel{P\vec}{j}(\stackrel{P\vec}{r})$ depends not just on the local temperature gradient $\stackrel{P\vec}{\ensuremath{\nabla}}T(\stackrel{P\vec}{r})$ but also on temperatures at points ${\stackrel{P\vec}{r}}^{\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{'}}$ within phonon mean free paths, which can be micrometers long. This paper uses the Peierls-Boltzmann transport theory in nonlocal form to analyze the spatial variation $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}T(\stackrel{P\vec}{r})$. The relaxation-time approximation (RTA) is used because the full solution is very challenging. Improved methods of extrapolation to obtain the bulk thermal conductivity $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ are proposed. Callaway invented an approximate method of correcting RTA for the $\stackrel{P\vec}{q}$ (phonon wave vector or crystal momentum) conservation of N (Normal as opposed to Umklapp) anharmonic collisions. This method is generalized to the nonlocal case where $\ensuremath{\kappa}(\stackrel{P\vec}{k})$ depends on the wave vector of the current $\stackrel{P\vec}{j}(\stackrel{P\vec}{k})$ and temperature gradient $i\stackrel{P\vec}{k}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}T(\stackrel{P\vec}{k})$.
Patients From Appalachia Have Reduced Access to Liver Transplantation After Wait-Listing

Background:The Appalachian region is medically underserved and characterized by high morbidity and mortality. We investigated disparities among patients listed for liver transplantation (LT) in wai...
Fair fares? How flat and variable fares affect transit equity in Los Angeles

Abstract Transit agencies typically structure fares in one of five ways: 1) flat, 2) adjusted by distance traveled, 3) varied by time of day, 4) varied by mode, and/or 5) discounted based on rider characteristics. Despite the fact that each fare structure imposes different cost burdens on low-income versus higher-income riders, the relative equity of different fare structures has not been systematically evaluated. Using detailed travel-diary data from California, this paper investigates how varied transit use by low- and higher-income transit riders translates into divergent equity outcomes under six evaluated fare structures. Analysis reveals that low-income transit riders travel shorter distances, rely disproportionately on local rather than longer-distance modes, and make a higher share of transit trips during off-peak periods compared to higher-income riders. As a result, low-income riders pay far higher per-mile transit fares compared to more affluent riders in all but two of the tested fare scenarios. While flat fares are the least equitable, varying fares by distance, time-of-day, mode, or rider does not guarantee fare equity. Judged by riders’ ability to pay, the benefits riders receive from a transit trip, and the cost of providing transit service, non-capped distance-based fares combined with time-of-day pricing result in the most equitable fare structure. Given robust technology to implement variable fares, transit agencies should reevaluate current fare structures and reform fare policies to ensure that all riders pay their fair share for transit.
Ehrlichiosis masquerading as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Ehrlichiosis is a rare tickborne illness that can manifest from an asymptomatic, self-limiting disease to a severe presentation with encephalopathy and renal failure. Ehrlichiosis is diagnosed largely based on patient history with confirmatory tests including peripheral blood smear, serology and PCR. Empiric treatment is warranted in patients with suspected tick bites as a delay in treatment can result in multiorgan failure. We discuss a case of ehrlichiosis that presented with the classic pentad of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). A history of a tick bite was elicited and intravenous doxycycline 100 mg two times a day was initiated. Tick panel results revealed a positive Ehrlichia chaffeensis IgG and IgM titres, consistent with human monocytic ehrlichiosis. Autoimmune workup and antibodies to Borreliaburgdorferi were negative, and ADAMTS13 activity assay results were inconsistent with TTP. The patient completed 14 days of intravenous doxycycline and had an uneventful recovery.
“What if she was your mother?” Toward better responses

Critical care physicians may hear a surrogate decision-maker ask, "What would you do if she was your mother?" or "What if your father was this sick?" These kinds of questions ask more of the critical care physician than the surrogate might realize. There are deep-seated ethical, professional, and personal complexities that can challenge critical care physicians to answer these questions with honesty. This essay offers practical guidance for critical care physicians who aim to respond to such queries with honesty and beneficence. We discuss a variety of motivations that can accompany this unique kind of question from a surrogate. The surrogate may be seeking moral guidance-the true question being, "What should I do?" We offer a number of questions that the critical care physician might ask of the surrogate in order to attend to both the surrogate's moral dilemma and the patient's values and preferences for medical interventions. We also offer a number of questions to promote contemplation of these issues by the critical care physician herself. We argue that until the critical care physician: discovers the surrogate's motivation, connects this motivation to patient preferences, and asks herself important questions regarding death and dying, the physician's responses will not adequately attend to the issues prompted by such questions.
Citrate therapy for calcium phosphate stones

Purpose of reviewCalcium phosphate (CaP) stones represent an increasingly encountered form of recurrent nephrolithiasis, but current prophylactic medical regimens are suboptimal. Although hypocitraturia is a well-described risk factor for CaP stones, strategies that enhance citrate excretion have no
Blueberry Supplementation Mitigates Altered Brain Plasticity and Behavior after Traumatic Brain Injury in Rats.

Scope Traumatic brain injury (TBI) compromises neuronal function required for hippocampal synaptic plasticity and cognitive function. Despite the high consumption of blueberries, information about its effects on brain plasticity and function under conditions of brain trauma is limited. The efficacy of dietary blueberry (BB) supplementation to mitigate the effects of TBI on plasticity markers and associated behavioral function in a rodent model of concussive injury are assessed. Methods and results Rats were maintained on a diet supplemented with blueberry (BB, 5% w/w) for 2 weeks after TBI. It is found that BB supplementation mitigated a loss of spatial learning and memory performance after TBI, and reduced the effects of TBI on anxiety-like behavior. BB supplementation prevents a reduction of molecules associated with the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) system action on learning and memory such as cyclic-AMP response element binding factor (CREB), calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII). In addition, BB supplementation reverses an increase of the lipid peroxidation byproduct 4-hydroxy-nonenal (4-HNE) after TBI. Importantly, synaptic and neuronal signaling regulators change in proportion with the memory performance, suggesting an association between plasticity markers and behavior. Conclusion Data herein indicate that BB supplementation has a beneficial effect in mitigating the acute aspects of the TBI pathology.
Lacrimal tissue resection in Fasanella Servat operation and the correlation to dry eye

Purpose: Fasanella-Servat operation (FSO) was previously reported to be associated with post-operative dry eyes due to accessory lacrimal gland resection during the surgery.We performed a retrospective, cohort study to determine the frequency of lacrimal tissue resection during FSO and its correlation with post-operative eye dryness and keratopathy.Methods: Review of all patients who underwent FSO at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Hospital over a two-year period (2013-2015). Patients were included only if they had adequate histopathological specimens of the resected tissue obtained during surgery. Outcomes included the study of the pathological specimen for the presence of lacrimal tissue; Post-operative dry eye symptoms and pre- and post-operative corneal epitheliopathy.Results: 46 patients with a total of 58 eyelid resections were studied.Eight eyelids (13.7%) were found to have lacrimal tissue present in the pathology specimens.Postoperatively, nine patients reported some symptoms of dry eye and new-onset keratopathy was noted in four eyes (6.8%), only one of which had lacrimal tissue present in histopathology specimen obtained from surgery.Discussion: Previous studies found lacrimal tissue present in up to 43% of specimens resected during FSO. Our data found a lower rate of lacrimal tissue resection during FSO, and did not find an association between lacrimal tissue resection and post-operative dryness or epitheliopathy.Conclusion: Our study is one of few to examine histopathological resections from the FSO.We found that lacrimal tissue is not frequently resected during FSO, and when it is resected, there is no increased incidence of post-operative dryness or keratopathy.
Acute Pancreatitis: Exploring Nutrition Implications

Diseases of the pancreas vary by type, etiology, pathophysiology, and outcomes. One of the principle therapeutic considerations in all types of pancreatic diseases is nutrition. This review will consider acute pancreatitis (AP). Choice of patient, type and composition of nutrition, and timing of initiation will be discussed as components for achieving the maximum benefits of nutrition therapy in AP. The paradigm of nutrition therapy in AP has shifted to early enteral and/or oral nutrition based on disease severity to help mitigate the underlying inflammatory cascade of events leading to AP, beginning with anatomic and functional intestinal changes. Additionally, newer research investigating the inflammatory changes that instigate, maintain, and propagate AP will be discussed in terms of the nutrition effects on systemic inflammation. Nutrition therapy can mitigate the inflammatory changes in the intestinal tract and help with intestinal motility, bacterial overgrowth and translocation. It can help maintain intestinal bacterial composition and abundance similar to predisease levels. This review will also discuss the changes in the intestinal microbiome and effects of probiotics in AP.
"Unsteady Gait": An Unusual Presentation of Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis.

Intramedullary tuberculoma (IMT) is a rare form of spinal cord tuberculosis (TB). Unlike Pott's spine, IMT is without osseous involvement and is indolent. These features may account for why the diagnosis is often overlooked as a cause of compressive myelopathy. Our case is unique in that we discuss an unusual presentation of a patient who presented with gait disturbance as the first symptom of spinal cord TB without foci of TB infection elsewhere. The patient's neurological symptoms improved with surgery and multidrug-resistant antituberculosis treatment. Although MRI is the preferred modality to characterize IMT, findings may be nonspecific, ultimately requiring biopsy. When IMT is diagnosed and managed appropriately, it carries a good prognosis. An interdisciplinary approach would provide the best outcomes.
Oral administration of a dual ETA/ETB receptor antagonist promotes neuroprotection in a rodent model of glaucoma

Abstract Purpose Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease associated with elevated intraocular pressure and characterized by optic nerve axonal degeneration, cupping of the optic disc and loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The endothelin (ET) system of vasoactive peptides (ET-1, ET-2, ET-3) and their G-protein coupled receptors (ETA and ETB receptors) have been shown to be contributors to the pathophysiology of glaucoma. The purpose of this study was to determine if administration of the endothelin receptor antagonist, macitentan, after the onset of IOP elevation, was neuroprotective to retinal ganglion cells in ocular hypertensive rats. Methods Brown Norway rats were subjected to the Morrison model of ocular hypertension by injection of hypertonic saline through episcleral veins. Macitentan (5 and 10 mg/kg body wt/day) was administered orally following the elevation of IOP and rats with IOP elevation were maintained for 4 weeks. RGC function was determined by pattern electroretinography at 2 and 4 weeks post IOP elevation. Rats were euthanized by approved humane methods and retinal flat-mounts generated were immunostained with RGC-selective markers RBPMS and Brn3a. RGC counts were conducted in a masked manner. Results A significant protection of retinal ganglion cells against cell loss was found following oral administration of macitentan (5 and 10 mg/kg body wt/day) in rats with elevated intraocular pressure. In addition, treatment with macitentan was able to preserve RGC function as measured by pattern ERG analysis. Conclusions Macitentan was able to promote neuroprotection independent of IOP-lowering suggesting that this could complement existing treatments to prevent neurodegeneration during ocular hypertension. The findings presented have implications for the use of macitentan as an oral formulation to promote neuroprotection in glaucoma patients.
Actin-Membrane Release Initiates Cell Protrusions

Despite the well-established role of actin polymerization as a driving mechanism for cell protrusion, upregulated actin polymerization alone does not initiate protrusions. Using a combination of theoretical modeling and quantitative live-cell imaging experiments, we show that local depletion of actin-membrane links is needed for protrusion initiation. Specifically, we show that the actin-membrane linker ezrin is depleted prior to protrusion onset and that perturbation of ezrin's affinity for actin modulates protrusion frequency and efficiency. We also show how actin-membrane release works in concert with actin polymerization, leading to a comprehensive model for actin-driven shape changes. Actin-membrane release plays a similar role in protrusions driven by intracellular pressure. Thus, our findings suggest that protrusion initiation might be governed by a universal regulatory mechanism, whereas the mechanism of force generation determines the shape and expansion properties of the protrusion.