cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Magnetic resonance imaging of the galactosemic dog eye using magnetization transfer contrast

Magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a technique that generates high contrast images based on characteristic tissue differences resulting from the interaction of water and macromolecules. In this study, the feasibility of applying this technique to documenting the progression of osmotic sugar cataract formation was investigated in male beagles, initially 6 or 24 month old, fed a diet containing 30% galactose. MTC enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was periodically conducted on these animal's eyes at 2-Tesla. The lens MR images were compared to photographs obtained by photo-slit lamp and retroillumination photography. The MTC technique provided improved image details of the lens and anterior segment that documented osmotic changes from initial cortical vacuole formation to cortical and nuclear changes associated with advanced sugar cataracts. The latter could not be observed by photo-slit lamp or retroillumination photography.
Myocardial Infarction Superimposed on Aging: MMP-9 Deletion Promotes M2 Macrophage Polarization

In this study, we examined the combined effect of aging and myocardial infarction on left ventricular remodeling, focusing on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9-dependent mechanisms. We enrolled 55 C57BL/6J wild type (WT) and 85 MMP-9 Null (Null) mice of both sexes at 11-36 months of age and evaluated their response at Day 7 post-myocardial infarction. Plasma MMP-9 levels positively linked to age in WT mice (r = .46, p = .001). MMP-9 deletion improved survival (76% for WT vs 88% for Null, p = .021). Post-myocardial infarction, there was a progressive increase in left ventricular dilation with age in WT but not in Null mice. By inflammatory gene array analysis, WT mice showed linear age-dependent increases in three different proinflammatory genes (C3, CCl4, and CX3CL1; all p < .05), whereas Null mice showed increases in three proinflammatory genes (CCL5, CCL9, and CXCL4; all p < .05) and seven anti-inflammatory genes (CCL1, CCL6, CCR1, IL11, IL1r2, IL8rb, and Mif; all p < .05). Compared with WT, macrophages isolated from Null left ventricle infarct demonstrated enhanced expression of anti-inflammatory M2 markers CD163, MRC1, TGF-β1, and YM1 (all p < .05), without affecting proinflammatory M1 markers. In conclusion, MMP-9 deletion stimulated anti-inflammatory polarization of macrophages to attenuate left ventricle dysfunction in the aging post-myocardial infarction.
The Assessment of Elaborated Role-Play in Young Children: Invisible Friends, Personified Objects, and Pretend Identities.

Role-play (i.e., pretending in which children imagine and act out the part of another individual) was assessed with child interviews and parent questionnaires about invisible friends, personified objects, and pretend identities in a sample of 208 young children. Children who engaged in role-play did not differ from other children in age or vocabulary comprehension. However, they were better able to generate a pretend conversation than other children and were rated by their parents as less shy. The overall pattern of results suggests that the capacity to interact with imaginary others (in and out of the lab) is more closely associated with individual differences in personality than developmental level.
Dissemination of evidence‐based mental health interventions: Importance to the trauma field

Randomized controlled trials have established the efficacy of psychotherapy and medication treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite these advancements, many individuals do not receive guideline-concordant PTSD care. In an effort to advance dissemination of evidence-based PTSD treatments, the authors review several examples of dissemination efforts of mental health interventions. The first examples describe the dissemination of multifaceted collaborative care interventions for patients with depressive disorders and evidence-based interventions for patients with severe mental illness. The final example explores evolving efforts to adapt and disseminate interventions to acutely injured trauma survivors. For each example, the authors describe the problem with prior clinical approaches, the program to be disseminated, the barriers and levers to implementation and the progress in overcoming these barriers.
Estimation of adversarial social networks by fusion of information from a wide range of sources

A data structure is described that serves to define a target structure for estimating social networks. It represents who knows whom, the strength and polarity of associations, and levels of confidence that linked individuals are actually personally acquainted. This network, which represents social structure, is embedded in a more inclusive network structure that also represents vehicles, places and organizations. This broader structure can be used to accumulate information to enable automated inferencing to assist human processing in estimating the social network of interest. How portions of this inferencing can be done is briefly described, and a scenario is given that illustrates the use of this kind of fused information to make a decision. We also review a range of hard and soft information sources with emerging value for estimating adversarial social networks, and describe how these sources can be used for the purpose.
FISHing For Answers: The Use of Molecular Cytogenetic Techniques in Neonatology

After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Describe the advantages of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). 2. List the information about loci and probes required for adequate performance of FISH. 3. Describe the characteristics of microdeletion syndromes that can be detected reliably by FISH. 4. Delineate the limitations of comparative genomic hybridization. 5. Characterize the limitations of spectral karyotyping and multicolor FISH. Numerical and structural chromosomal abnormalities are common causes of a variety of diseases, cancers, and malformation syndromes. Identification of these chromosomal aberrations is important for counseling families about the prognosis and reproductive risks with future pregnancies. Although conventional chromosome analysis remains the “gold standard” in cytogenetic diagnosis, several methodologic problems exist, including limited resolution. Fluorescence-based assays have been made possible by sophisticated cloning technologies and improved sensitivity of antibody conjugates, which enable the detection of subtle chromosomal changes beyond the resolution of classic cytogenetics. Such techniques have expanded greatly the diagnostic armamentarium available for investigating infants who have intrauterine growth retardation, malformations, and many other disorders. Tjio and Levan identified the correct number of human chromosomes (46) in 1956. Over time, the technologies used in chromosome analysis continued to improve, and by 1960, the numerical chromosome abnormalities responsible for some of the common human malformation syndromes and those associated with many spontaneous abortions were known. Chromosome identification was improved further by the introduction of fluorescence banding (Q-banding) in 1968 and Giemsa-trypsin banding (G-banding) in 1971. Each chromosome demonstrated a unique alternating pattern of dark and light bands, allowing for improved accuracy in cytogenetic analysis. The use of such banding techniques led to recognition of the role of chromosomal structural rearrangements (translocations, deletions, inversions, and duplications) in causing some congenital malformations and developmental delays. Although standard chromosome analysis is an extremely useful diagnostic technique, there are several drawbacks in its application …
Surface Structural Chemistry

The atomic geometry and electronic structure of surface atoms are responsible for the chemical and electronic properties of surfaces. The atomic and electronic structures are rarely separable. However, the experimental techniques used to study these two structural features are different, and therefore they are often separately investigated and discussed. In this review we shall give an overview of what we know about the atomic structure of surfaces and adsorbed monolayers, the methods used to obtain this information, and point out the importance and relation of surface structure to chemical bonding and heterogeneous catalysis.
The Marine Geoid and Satellite Altimetry

The marine geoid defines the hydrostatic equilibrium shape that sea level would take in the absence of tides, currents and winds. The geoid is not directly observable, but its height above a reference ellipsoid may be calculated from a model of the Earth’s gravity field. Satellite altimeters measure the instantaneous sea surface height, which is the sum of the geoid plus the dynamic topography associated with the ocean’s responses to tidal and atmospheric forcings. In the early days of altimetric oceanography, knowledge of the geoid was poor and so altimeters are usually placed in exact repeat orbits to facilitate observation of the temporal variations in sea surface height. Recent gravity field models have geoid height errors around 5 cm and geoid slope errors around 1.5 μrad. Errors in the models are primarily at full wavelengths shorter than 20 km, so that some dynamic topography signals may now be directly observed. While satellite gravimetry from missions such as GRACE has improved the long wavelength geoid, there is considerable geoid power at wavelengths too short to be measured by gravimetry at orbital altitude. Determination of the geoid at mesoscale and shorter wavelengths has come from altimetry. Careful filtering has allowed to separate the geoidal height and ocean dynamics signals in the altimeter data, and thereby to refine the marine geoid. Verification of this comes from comparison of marine gravity field models against ship gravimetry. Further improvements in the accuracy of the marine geoid will require a satellite altimeter mission with improved signal-to-noise ratio and a spatially dense (less than 5 km) network of groud tracks. One may hope that CryoSat-2 will offer some improvement.
Technical design and assessment of tube equipment using two-phase flow for cleaning and disinfection

Most pipeline systems in dairy and food processing plants are cleaned by circulating cleaning solutions under pressure with a liquid pump. The flow of the circulated solutions is single-phase or flooded flow. Milking system pipelines are subject to special requirements which distinguish them from those in dairy and other food processing plants. Milking system pipelines are considerably larger in diameter than product lines in dairy plants because they must carry both milk and air in a stratified flow condition during the milking process. Milking machine Clean-In-Place (CIP) systems have historically used flooded flow to circulate cleaning solutions. The force to move liquid, however, is typically the vacuum provided by the same vacuum pump used during milking, rather than a positive pressure liquid pump. As the size and complexity of milking machines has increased in recent years, flooded flow CIP systems have become inadequate. The amount of water required to fully flood a milking system becomes impractical with very long and/or large diameter pipelines. The power available to achieve adequate flow velocity is also limited. Air admission has been used to produce two-phase (air/water) slug flow and overcome some of the limitations of fully flooded CIP. Cycled air admission can reduce the amount of water required for circulation and increase flow velocities and thus enhance mechanical cleaning action. Cycled air admission has been implemented in the field largely through trial and error methods. There has been a lack of fundamental design information and testing protocols for air-injected milking machine CIP systems. This has resulted in mixed success in the application of air injected systems. This paper summarizes both laboratory and field research conducted at the University of Wisconsin Milking Research and Instruction lab to provide basic information for the design of air injected CIP systems and methods for field assessment of these systems. Just as properly implemented air-injection can improve cleaning and sanitation in milking machines with less water and energy, so to it may have applications in the cleaning of other types of tube equipment.
The self-help myth: How philanthropy fails to alleviate poverty

One pernicious belief about those who live in poverty is that the poor alone are responsible for their plight as well as for overcoming their predicament by changing presumed dysfunctional behavior...
Glutathione-S-Transferase Activity in the Rabbit Nephron: Segmental Localization in Isolated Tubules and Formation of Thiol Adducts of Ethacrynic Acid

SummaryLigandin is a major renal organic anion-binding protein and is the major glutathione (GSH)-S-transferase in the rat, monkey, and man. GSH transferase activity was measured in isolated segments of the normal rabbit nephron using 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene as substrate. Enzyme activity was confined to the proximal convoluted and proximal straight tubules and was not detectable in the loops of Henle and collecting tubules.Incubation of proximal tubules with [14C]ethacrynic acid resulted in formation of glutathione and cysteine adducts. Loops of Henle and collecting tubules formed significantly less glutathione adduct and no other adducts. GSH transferase in the proximal tubule may thus be important in vivo in the formation of thiolated adducts by the kidney.
Low-Cost and Low-Latency Multi-Fermat Chain Multi-Geocast Algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks

Multi-Geocast is source node transmits message to all the nodes of multiple regions in wireless sensor networks.The existing Multi-Geocast algorithms in WSN can not do the balance of energy consumption and latency.Though Single Fermat-chain algorithms can reduce energy consumption,but the average transmission delay is great.A Low-cost and Low-latency multi-Fermat chain multi-Geocast Algorithm(LLA)was proposed,which greatly reduced transmission delay while maintaining low energy consumption.In this paper,first,mesh and cluster head selection algorithm was proposed,and then Fermat chain combining triangle and quadrilateral Fermat Point was establishd to improve the success establishment rate of Fermat chain.Finally,we simulated the LLA algorithm and existing algorithm.The results show that LLA is better than existing algorithms in energy consumption and average latency.
Safe Sleep for Hospitalized Infants.

BACKGROUND The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published expanded safe sleep guidelines in 2011. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this quality improvement project was to promote the AAP safe sleep recommendations and provide appropriate role modeling of these recommendations for hemodynamically stable infants throughout their hospital stay. DESIGN AND INTERVENTION A safe sleep educational initiative for parents and hospital staff included an observation of infant sleep practice before and after the initiative and a pre- and posteducation questionnaire of nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and opinions. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A Magnet-designated urban hospital that included 72 pediatric beds, a 60-bed NICU, and 41 mother-baby beds; and 658 pediatric and obstetric nurses. RESULTS One-hundred percent of nurses received the educational intervention. Observations noted an improvement from 70% to 90% (p< 0.01) of infants in a safe sleep position when comparing pre- and postintervention results. There were some improvements in knowledge of and agreement with the AAP guidelines after the educational intervention, but not as much as expected. CONCLUSIONS There was inconsistency between nursing knowledge and practice about safe infant sleep. Nurses were aware of the AAP recommendations, but it took time to achieve close to full compliance in changing clinical practice. Observation was an important part of this initiative to reinforce knowledge and role model best practice for parents.
Management of extraperitoneal bladder rupture.

SUMMARY Extraperitoneal bladder ruptures secondary to blunt trauma are caused by fractures of the bony pelvis 95 per cent of the time. A static cystogram is the only way to diagnose the lesion definitely. We have treated our 41 patients successfully with catheter drainage alone despite extensive urinary extravasation. Eighty-seven per cent of the ruptures will be healed in 10 days, and virtually all will be healed in 3 weeks.
Winning against big tobacco. Let's take the time to get it right.

Abstract Three years ago, the state of Minnesota became the second state to sue the tobacco industry for wrongdoing and the first to charge consumer fraud and conspiracy. Together with our co-plaintiff, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota, we filed a lawsuit against the six major U.S. cigarette manufacturers, two tobacco trade organizations, and British American Tobacco Industries (BAT), the parent company of Brown and Williamson. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the industry defrauded consumers and engaged in false advertising, deceptive practices, and anti-trust violations, including conspiracy to stifle development of safer cigarettes and to conceal information on smoking and health. Many later-filing states patterned complaints after Minnesota's, and virtually all have incorporated some or all of the claims first pled in the Minnesota complaint.
An Analysis of Digital Inclusion Projects: Three Crucial Factors and Four Key Components

This paper provides an in-depth analysis into two case studies aimed at addressing the digital divide in two developing countries. A detailed description is provided for each case study along with an analysis of how successful the two projects were at addressing the digital divide in Siyabuswa, South Africa and Ennis, Ireland. The two case studies were both community-based ICT projects in rural areas of their respective countries. However, citizens in Siyabuswa had to continuously work hard to obtain new resources for a central hub which serviced the entire community, while citizens in Ennis were awarded a grant with an abundance of ICT technology including an Internet connection in every home. A conceptual framework for analyzing the success of digital inclusion projects was developed through a comprehensive literature review. This paper will identify the three factors (value, sustainability, and scalability) and four key components (digital equity, excellence, opportunity, and empowerment) that make up the framework, analyze each of the two case studies based on the framework, and explore future implications for addressing gaps in ICT access through the implementation of digital inclusion projects.
Bayesian D-optimal screening experiments with partial replication

Abstract Screening designs are frequently used in the initial stages of experimentation with the goal of identifying important main effects as well as to gain insight on potentially important two-factor interactions. Commonly utilized experimental designs for screening are unreplicated and as such, provide no unbiased estimate of experimental error. However, if statistical inference is to be performed as part of the experimental analysis, one view is that inferential procedures should be performed using a model independent error estimate instead of the residual mean square from the fitted model. As full replication of an experiment may be quite costly, partial replication offers an alternative. Gilmour and Trinca (2012) introduce criteria for constructing optimal designs for statistical inference (and hence, provide for optimal selection of replicate design points). An extension of their work is introduced by modifying the popular Bayesian D -optimality criterion to construct partially replicated screening designs with less dependence on an assumed model. Designs are compared using various criteria and a simulation study is conducted to investigate design performance with respect to power and false discovery rates.
Big ‘G’ and Little ‘g’ Geriatrics Education for Physicians

In the July 2016 issue of this journal, Dr. Mary Tinetti proposed that geriatric medicine abandon attempts to increase the numbers of board-certified geriatricians and change focus to the development of a “small elite workforce.” What would be gained and what sacrificed by accepting this challenge? We agree that the best clinical use of a scarce resource, specialty trained geriatricians, is to care for frail, complex, severely ill elderly adults and to help design and study novel interventions in research, education, and care models to improve the care of all older adults, but for this to happen, all other providers must attain specific competency in the care of older adults. This article responds and discusses alternative pathways for teaching geriatrics care, training specialists, and geriatrics fellows.
Semiautonomous dual-arm mobile manipulator system with intuitive supervisory user interfaces

This paper presents the VaultBot dual-arm mobile manipulator and its integration with Robot Operating System, MoveIt!, and RViz, and thus demonstrate how two chronic issues with similar systems were addressed: overly complex integration and user control. Multiple levels of semi-autonomous control were developed for the base, manipulator(s), and coordinated motions involving both. Lower levels of autonomy are always available to increase operator comfort. In order to combat cognitive load increases from context switching the control methods take a human-centered approach by automatically adjusting perspective to keep tasks visualized relative to the operator. Sensor data is fused into a single window alongside the current robot state. These approaches are considered highly intuitive and can be used as effectively as socially well-established mouse-based interactive markers for teleoperation in even high-precision tasks.
Characterization of New-Generation Silicon Photomultipliers for Nuclear Security Applications

Silicon photomultipliers have received a great deal of interest recently for use in applications spanning a wide variety of fields, including nuclear safeguards and nonproliferation. For nuclear-related applications, the ability of silicon photomultipliers to discriminate neutrons from gamma rays using pulse shape discrimination when coupled with certain organic scintillators is a characteristic of utmost importance. This work reports on progress characterizing the performance of twenty different silicon photomultipliers from five manufacturers with an emphasis on pulse shape discrimination performance and timing. Results are presented on pulse shape discrimination performance as a function of overvoltage for 6-mm x 6-mm silicon photomultipliers, and the time response to stilbene is characterized for silicon photomultipliers of three different sizes. Finally, comparison with a photomultiplier tube shows that some new-generation silicon photomultipliers can perform as well as photomultiplier tubes in neutron-gamma ray discrimination.
Young men and women’s implicit attitudes towards consensually nonmonogamous relationships

Recent research has revealed some inconsistencies in the traditionally negative attitudes towards consensual nonmonogamy (CNM; sexually and/or emotionally nonexclusive romantic relationships), with...
Community development corporations in the right-sizing city: Remaking the CDC model of urban redevelopment

Right-sizing planning operates on a notion that investing in the built environment throughout the entirety of a depopulating city is detrimental to the city’s redevelopment and long-term stability....
Female Sexual Dysfunction Among Muslim Women: Increasing Awareness to Improve Overall Evaluation and Treatment.

Abstract Introduction Muslim women are an increasingly underserved population in the United States and worldwide. Diagnosis and treatment of female sexual dysfunction bring unique challenges because of the conservative nature of those practicing the religion. Several cultural and religious codes of conduct affect sexual behavior and the dysfunction that can ensue. Aim To assess and describe the types of sexual dysfunction that have been found in Muslim women internationally and encourage a better understanding of their issues to enhance health care delivery. Methods A comprehensive review of the literature through Ovid and PubMed was performed in search of articles reviewing female sexual dysfunction, Muslim women, and Islam. Main Outcome Measures A brief explanation and review of the interpretations of sexuality within Islam are discussed. The link is made between conservative sexual relations and interpretations and the types of sexual dysfunction experienced. Female sexual dysfunction is explored in relation to how female chastity is extolled and how cultural procedures continue despite the ethical and health concerns related to them. Results Most Muslim women experience sexual dysfunction similar to other women, including arousal, desire, and orgasmic disorders related to organic and psychologic factors. Sexual pain disorders might be more prevalent in this population, particularly concerning unconsummated marriage. There are special concerns related to maintaining virginity and preserving the hymen until marriage. Female genital cutting, practiced by some Muslim countries, has potential sexual consequences. Conclusion Understanding Islamic views on sexuality and how they can affect sexual dysfunction in Muslim women is critical in opening lines of communication with patients and approaching female sexual dysfunction impartially. Although some issues that arise might introduce ethical dilemmas for the provider, having the cultural competence to address these issues will facilitate improved health care delivery. Rahman S. Female Sexual Dysfunction Among Muslim Women: Increasing Awareness to Improve Overall Evaluation and Treatment. Sex Med Rev 2018;6:535–547.
Care for Undocumented Immigrants — Rethinking State Flexibility in Medicaid Waivers

Care for Undocumented Immigrants Under President Trump, HHS has promised to grant states more flexibility in structuring their Medicaid programs. But in a contentious and uncertain policy environment, states may sense little room to advance policies related to the health of undocumented immigrants.
The effect of thin film formation at crack tips on fracture

The embrittlement of a HSLA steel by gaseous chlorine has been studied. At chlorine pressures greater than 1.33 x 10/sup 3/ Pa, embrittlement is observed to occur via a predominantly intergranular fracture mode. At pressures below this value no effect of the chlorine gas is observed and the fracture proceeds via the ductile mode characteristic of fracture in air or vacuum. Angularly resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies indicate the formation of a thin film of ferrous chloride (FeCl/sub 2/) occurs above and below the threshold pressure. The film thickness was found to increase with pressure and exposure and at constant pressure obeys a 1/X = A - B ln t growth law. Calculations made indicate that elastically hard thin films covering a crack tip can severely restrict or prevent dislocation emission in a substrate which is normally unstable to dislocation emission. It is found that for ..mu../sub film//..mu../sub sub/ > 2 and for film thicknesses greater than 2 monolayers brittle behavior is predicted under some conditions for normally ductile behaving substrates. In conjunction with concepts of crack tip shielding, the embrittlement phenomenon is rationalized. 13 figures, 2 tables.
Regulation of Biotechnology for Forestry Products

Genetically improved trees are playing a greater role in meeting the world’s industrial wood requirements. Genetically engineered trees, trees created by asexual means, offer potential to provide higher-quality and lower-priced industrial wood as well as environmental benefits. However, there may also be environmental risks. A regulatory system exists in the United States for assessing the safety and environmental impacts of transgenics, including trees. This chapter discusses some aspects of that regulatory system as it applies to transgenic trees.
The Science of Knowing Spirits: Rationality and the Invisible World

In the beginning—the very beginning—God created spirits. Before the material world existed, before the heavens were ornamented with lights, before the firmament was set apart from the waters, before the fixed, dry earth was populated with plants and animals, and, finally, before the human race was formed from the dust of the earth, spirits already flitted above the stars. The spirit world is, according to Christian understanding, the very oldest aspect of the universe after God himself.
Abstract 128: NKILA lncRNA promotes tumor immune evasion by mediating activation-induced cell death in tumor-specific CTLs

Activation-induced cell death (AICD) of T lymphocytes may be exploited by cancers to eliminate cytotoxic T cells (CTLs). However, the mechanisms underlying AICD in tumor specific CTLs remain unknown. Here, we demonstrated excessive apoptosis of tumor antigen-specific CTLs in breast and lung cancers. Interestingly, NKILA, an NFκB-interacting lncRNA, mediates AICD of CTLs by inhibiting NFκB activities after their activation. Mechanistically, NKILA promoter is closed for transcription by histone deacetylation in resting T cells, while calcium influx by TCR signaling activates calmodulin to remove the deacetylase from NKILA promoter and enhances its transcription. In vivo, administering CTLs with NKILA silencing to immunocompromised mice with breast cancer patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) effectively inhibits PDX growth by increasing CTL infiltration. Clinically, NKILA was overexpressed in the tumor-specific CTLs of breast and lung cancers, which was associated with less CTL infiltration in the tumors and shorter patient survival. Our findings present the first evidence that AICD in tumor-specific CTLs is crucial to cancer immune evasion, and targeting NKILA in CTLs emerges as a novel antitumor immunotherapy. Citation Format: Erwei Song. NKILA lncRNA promotes tumor immune evasion by mediating activation-induced cell death in tumor-specific CTLs [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 128.
Women Empowering Women to Eliminate the Clergy Gender Gap

This exploratory study of 122 female Episcopal priests addresses the effectiveness of three types of grassroots mentoring and empowerment sessions in order to reduce women’s underrepresentation in senor leadership positions. Two questionnaires administered prior to participation and about 2 months after the session(s) ended showed increased vocational clarity in discerning a call or not to senior leadership, greater confidence in ability to succeed, and upward job mobility. Women focused on executive leadership meeting together periodically over a longer duration showed the strongest effects. The results suggest that a supply-side or trickle-up approach can improve attainment among women participating in such groups, and support the need for further comparative and longitudinal research on the prospect of organizational change.
Diabetes-Multimorbidity Combinations and Disability Among Middle-aged and Older Adults.

Older adults with diabetes rarely have only one chronic disease. As a result, there is a need to re-conceptualize research and clinical practice to address the growing number of older Americans with diabetes and concurrent chronic diseases (diabetes-multimorbidity). To identify prevalent multimorbidity combinations and examine their association with poor functional status among a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older adults with diabetes. A prospective cohort study of the 2012–2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data. We identified the most prevalent diabetes-multimorbidity combinations and estimated negative binomial models of diabetes-multimorbidity on prospective disability. Analytic sample included 3841 HRS participants with diabetes, aged 51 years and older. The main outcome measure was the combined activities of daily living (ADL)-instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) index (range 0–11; higher index denotes higher disability). The main independent variables were diabetes-multimorbidity combination groups, defined as the co-occurrence of diabetes and at least one of six somatic chronic diseases (hypertension, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, cancer, arthritis, and stroke) and/or two mental chronic conditions (cognitive impairment and high depressive symptoms (CESD score ≥ 4). The three most prevalent multimorbidity combinations were, in rank-order diabetes-arthritis-hypertension (n = 694, 18.1%); diabetes-hypertension (n = 481, 12.5%); and diabetes-arthritis-hypertension-heart disease (n = 383, 10%). Diabetes-multimorbidity combinations that included high depressive symptoms or stroke had significantly higher counts of ADL-IADL limitations compared with diabetes-only. In head-to-head comparisons of diabetes-multimorbidity combinations, high depressive symptoms or stroke added to somatic multimorbidity combinations was associated with a higher count of ADL-IADL limitations (diabetes-arthritis-hypertension-high depressive symptoms vs. diabetes-arthritis-hypertension: IRR = 1.95 [1.13, 3.38]; diabetes-arthritis-hypertension-stroke vs. diabetes-arthritis-hypertension: IRR = 2.09 [1.15, 3.82]) even after adjusting for age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, BMI, baseline ADL-IADL, and diabetes duration. Coefficients were robust to further adjustment for diabetes treatment. Depressive symptoms or stroke added onto other multimorbidity combinations may pose a substantial functional burden for middle-aged and older adults with diabetes.
Pendimethalin Influence on Azalea Shoot and Root Growth

Abstract Preemergence herbicides, especially members of the dinitroaniline class, are commonly applied to container-grown nursery stock. Dinitroaniline herbicides inhibit the development of new roo...
Transient eruptive keratoacanthomas associated with nivolumab.

Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitors show efficacy in the treatment of metastatic melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer, urothelial cancers, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, and various malignancies with microsatellite instability and high tumor mutational burden. PD-1 inhibitors are reported in association with various cutaneous adverse effects including lichenoid eruption, eczema, vitiligo and bullous pemphigoid.1, 2 The development of keratinocyte neoplasms such as actinic keratosis, seborrheic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma have also been reported.1 A recent review of dermatologic toxicities associated with immune checkpoint blockade suggested they be divided into 4 categories: inflammatory, immunobullous, alteration of keratinocytes, and alteration of melanocytes.3 We report a case of eruptive keratoacanthomas (KAs) seen in association with nivolumab therapy, which resolved without intervention and despite continuation of immunotherapy.
Application of Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) Data and Energy Ratio (ER) Approach for Cracking Performance Evaluation of Asphalt Pavements

This study primarily focuses on evaluating the falling weight deflectometer (FWD) time history data for use in relative cracking assessment of asphalt pavements. Eight field project sections with a similar pavement structure were selected for evaluation; they include sections with and without the evidence of cracks. FWD tests were conducted for all selected field sections at a similar temperature to obtain load–deflection time history data. The results of the FWD-dissipated energy were further compared with the results of the energy ratio (ER), which is a well-known performance-based fracture property previously introduced for the cracking performance evaluation of asphalt mixtures. Pavement structures with the existence of cracks showed significantly greater FWD-dissipated energy and maximum deflection indicating a relatively higher rate of deterioration and/or damage for the pavement systems. Additionally, a proportional relationship identified between rate of change in normalized ER and FWD-dissipated energy confirmed that the FWD time history data was able to effectively differentiate pavement structures with and without the existence of cracks. Comparative results between the FWD-dissipated energy and the ER further support the validity of application of FWD-dissipated energy and the maximum deflection as a reliable material and/or pavement structural response indicator that can be used for cracking performance evaluation of asphalt pavements.
4CPS-158 Clinical benefit of infliximab monitoring in inflammatory bowel disease

Background The adjustment of infliximab (IFX) doses is commonly based on subjective data or invasive methods. However, pharmacokinetic monitoring of IFX plasma levels is a currently available tool that has proved to be useful in the optimisation of clinical results.1 Purpose To analyse the clinical course of acute-phase reactants in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treated with IFX, and to evaluate if there is a clinical benefit resulting from applying the pharmacokinetic recommendations in the management of these patients. Material and methods Retrospective, cross-sectional study carried out in a general hospital. All the determinations of IFX performed during 2017 in patients with IBD were analysed. After analytical determination, the pharmacy service performed a pharmacokinetic study (Bayesian statistics) and recommended a new dosage to the digestive specialist. Identification data of the patients and analytical results (fecal calprotectin and C-reactive protein (CRP)) measured before the monitoring (pre) and 3 months later (post) were collected. In addition, it was evaluated if the digestive specialist followed the pharmacokinetic recommendation (acceptance/rejection). Results During the study period, the IFX serum levels of 21 patients with IBD were determined. The mean level of fecal calprotectin measured before the extraction of IFX blood levels was 1,257.2 mg/kg and this was reduced to 503.2 mg/kg at 3 months after monitoring (p=0.053). As for CRP, a decrease was also observed, with a CRP value of 7.1 mg/L before monitoring and a CRP value of 3.8 mg/L after 3 months (p=0.035). These data were analysed again, stratifying according to the degree of acceptance of the pharmacist’s recommendations for clinical decision-making (table 1). Conclusion Both PCR and calprotectin were reduced after 3 months of IFX monitoring. The clinical improvement observed was greater in the group of patients in whom the dose drug was adjusted following the recommendation of the pharmacist. These results support the role of therapeutic IFX monitoring in the optimisation of IBD treatment, according to the evidence published by other authors. Reference and/or acknowledgements Kelly OB, Donnell SO, Stempak JM, et al. Therapeutic drug monitoring to guide infliximab dose adjustment is associated with better endoscopic outcomes than clinical decision making alone in active inflammatory bowel disease. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2017;23:1202–9. No conflict of interest.
Orthognathic Examination and Treatment Planning

This chapter covers evaluation and treatment planning for patients needing orthognathic surgery. Evaluation and treatment planning are two processes that are part of the approach used to care for patients. This approach has four sequential processes: evaluation, assessment, treatment planning, and treatment (Fig. 39.1). Evaluation is a structured process used to appraise patients; it begins with the patient encounter and ends with an assessment. It has three steps: history, physical examination, and evaluation of diagnostic test. Treatment planning is a process used to determine the details of treatment. It begins after the assessment and ends before the treatment.
Principals’ Leadership Moves to Implement a Discipline-Specific Instructional Improvement Policy

ABSTRACTDiscipline-specific instructional improvement policies require teachers to implement new teaching and collaborative practices. What kinds of leadership moves do principals make to support e...
Detecting Sensitive Content in Spoken Language

Spoken language can include sensitive topics including profanity, insults, political and offensive speech. In order to engage in contextually appropriate conversations, it is essential for voice services such as Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, etc. to detect sensitive topics in the conversations and react appropriately. A simple approach to detect sensitive topics is to use regular expression or keyword based rules. However, keyword based rules have several drawbacks: (1) coverage (recall) depends on the exhaustiveness of the keywords, and (2) rules do not scale and generalize well even for minor variations of the keywords. Machine learning (ML) approaches provide the potential benefit of generalization, but require large volumes of training data, which is difficult to obtain for sparse data problems. This paper describes: (1) a ML based solution that uses training data (2.1M dataset), obtained from synthetic generation and semi-supervised learning techniques, to detect sensitive content in spoken language; and (2) the results of evaluating its performance on several million test instances of live utterances. The results show that our ML models have very high precision (>>90%). Moreover, in spite of relying on synthetic training data, the ML models are able to generalize beyond the training data to identify significantly higher amounts (~2x for Logistic Regression, and ~4x-6x for a Neural Network models such as Bi-LSTM and CNN) of the test stream as sensitive in comparison to a baseline approach using the training data (~ 1 Million examples) as rules. We are able to train our models with very few manual annotations. The percentage share of sensitive examples in our training dataset from synthetic generation using templates and manual annotations are 98.04% and 1.96%, respectively. The percentage share of non-sensitive examples in our training dataset from synthetic generation using templates, automated labeling via semi-supervised techniques, and manual annotations are 15.35%, 83.75%, and 0.90%, respectively. The neural network models (Bi-LSTM and CNN) also use lower memory footprint (22.5% lower than baseline and 80% lower than Logistic Regression) while giving improved accuracy.
Prodrugs of Persulfides, Sulfur Dioxide, and Carbon Disulfide: Important Tools for Studying Sulfur Signaling at Various Oxidation States

Significance: Bioactive sulfur species such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S), persulfide species (R-SnSH, n ≥ 1), hydrogen polysulfide (H2Sn, n ≥ 2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and carbon disulfide (CS2) parti...
Predictors of Acceptable and Unacceptable Appearance of Shoulder Balance in Scoliosis Patients

Purpose: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a 3-D deformity of the spine that can significantly affect body morphology. Shoulder balance as measured by the Walter Reed Visual Assessment Scale (WRVAS), is one of the most common concerns of patients with AIS. Studies using pre- and postoperative radiographs suggest that several parameters …
Deep Transfer Learning Based Web Interfaces for Biology Image Data Classification

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to play an integral role in the modernization of the medical and scientific fields. Recent advances in machine learning such as the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), have demonstrated the ability to recognize complex images with very low error rates using relatively small data set (thousands of images) to become fully trained. Scientists including who are not familiar with programming begin to recognize the need to incorporate machine learning in their research methods to improve the accuracy and the speed of diverse data manipulation without depending on computer scientists. Several tools are developed to serve for these purposes, but such tools are mostly targeting data scientists and often too general or too many options to configure for biologists without machine learning knowledge to get started. We present our work on incorporating Deep Learning into one specific research pipeline that studies how genes work together to regulate muscle formation in the vertebrate frog embryo, Xenopus laevis. This research method uses a knockdown approach to diminish the expression of key genes and study how this loss-of-gene function affects the process of muscle formation and differentiation, using mostly fluorescent microscopy techniques which requires time-consuming and challenging visual classifications. We utilized CNN-pretrained transfer learning on the data set with a few different hyper parameters and trained a model with 99% accuracy. Using this experience and discussion with scientists new to machine learning, we developed web interfaces for easy-to-use and complete workflow for scientists to create different classification classes to train, predict and incorporate into their research pipeline.
Graceful degradation over the BEC via non-linear codes

We study a problem of constructing codes that transform a channel with high bit error rate (BER) into one with low BER (at the expense of rate). Our focus is on obtaining codes with smooth ("graceful") input-output BER curves (as opposed to threshold-like curves typical for long error-correcting codes).This paper restricts attention to binary erasure channels (BEC) and contains two contributions. First, we introduce the notion of Low Density Majority Codes (LDMCs). These codes are non-linear sparse-graph codes, which output majority function evaluated on randomly chosen small subsets of the data bits. This is similar to Low Density Generator Matrix codes (LDGMs), except that the XOR function is replaced with the majority. We show that even with a few iterations of belief propagation (BP) the attained input-output curves provably improve upon performance of any linear systematic code. The effect of nonlinearity bootstraping the initial iterations of BP, suggests that LDMCs should improve performance in various applications where LDGMs have been used traditionally.Second, we establish several two-point converse bounds that lower bound the BER achievable at one erasure probability as a function of BER achieved at another one. The novel nature of our bounds is that they are specific to subclasses of codes (linear systematic and non-linear systematic) and outperform similar bounds implied by the area theorem for the EXIT function.
Biology and Systems Interactions

The two articles in this special section focus on the intersection of systems and biology. Biological systems carry out computation and store information with efficiency levels and complexity that far exceeds those of synthetic computer systems. Consider, for example, that biological neural networks are estimated to offer at least four orders of magnitude with better ops/Joule than synthetic neural networks, or the storage advantages offered by molecular and DNA substrates, or the fact that sophisticated molecular pathways and mechanisms permit biological systems to interface with the most efficient sensing systems that we know of. At the same time, advancing our understanding of complex biological systems rests on continued scaling of the computational capabilities of high-performance and efficient computer systems, hardware, and software.