cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Heritable differences in respiratory drive and breathing pattern in mice during anaesthesia and emergence

Background Postanaesthetic hypoxia and ischaemia can lead to postoperative morbidity and mortality. We studied the effect of isoflurane anaesthesia in two inbred mouse strains known for phenotypic differences in breathing pattern and respiratory drive during carbon dioxide challenge and their first-generation offspring (F1). Methods Using whole body plethysmography, we assessed respiratory rate (RR) and pressure amplitude (Amp) in male B6 (high responder to hypercapnia), C3 (low responder), and F1 mice at rest, during anaesthesia with isoflurane, and during recovery from anaesthesia. At each time point, the magnitude and pattern of breathing were determined during hypercapnic challenge (FICO2 = 0.08). Data (mean (sd)) were analysed by generalized ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni's correction (P Results During isoflurane anaesthesia, strain differences between B6 and C3 mice in RR were obscured while differences in Amp persisted. In contrast to baseline RR responses to carbon dioxide were significantly reduced at 0.5 MAC (increase in RR: 175 (33) bpm, 147 (44) bpm, 127 (33) bpm, for B6, C3, and F1 strains respectively) and completely blocked at 1.5 MAC (change in RR: –3 (10) bpm, –2 (1) bpm, –4 (5) bpm, for B6, C3, and F1 strains, respectively). During recovery, B6 mice showed a significant increase in RR (77 (33) bpm; P Conclusion Isoflurane anaesthesia abolished the strain differences in respiratory drive between B6, C3, and F1 mice. However, during recovery from anaesthesia, significant strain variation in respiratory drive reappeared and was more pronounced compared with pre-anaesthetic levels. These results suggested, that genetic differences may have minimal contribution to decreased respiratory drive during anaesthesia, but may be a major risk factor for post-operative hypoventilation and the associated morbidity and mortality.
The basics of PowerPoint and public speaking in medical education.

ffective medical education presentations require a working nowledge of computer software such as Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington) and skills in ublic speaking. Electronic presentations require readability as ell as worthwhile content; projection before the scheduled resentation is necessary for evaluating layout and color. The ften overwhelming amount of data tempts the educator to rowd slides with graphs, illustrations, or tiny print and then to nnounce, “I know you can’t read this, but . . . .” Constructing ffective slides entails close attention to the number of text lines, ont size, and font style as well as templates and backgrounds to aximize visibility and readability. The medical educator can enefit from discovering and using features of PowerPoint such s the Master Slide for personalized templates, Custom Animaion, Compress, and the spelling and grammar checking softare. Preparation for oral and electronic presentations requires nowledge of the audience, careful choice of words, and timed ractice for clarity and appropriate volume. Medical educators depend on electronic and oral presentaions for didactic teaching, formal lectures, and research foums. Accusations such as “death by PowerPoint,” might be voided if educators, residents, and students acquire basic skills n public speaking as well as PowerPoint. After a discussion of elected features of Microsoft PowerPoint, the general princiles of public speaking will be addressed.
RUPTURE HISTORY OF THE 1984 MORGAN HILL, CALIFORNIA, EARTHQUAKE FROM THE INVERSION OF STRONG MOTION RECORDS

Near-source strong motion velocity records and teleseismic short-period P waveforms are modeled to obtain the spatial and temporal distribution of slip for the 1984 Morgan Hill earthquake. Both forward modeling and constrained, least-squares inversion techniques are used to interpret the strong motion velocity waveforms in the frequency range of approximately 0.2 to 2.0 Hz. These data support a nearly unilateral rupture to the southeast with a rupture propagation velocity of nine-tenths of the local S-wave velocity. The majority of the slip occurs over a fault length of 25 km and to a first approximation can be interpreted as two main source regions, each with an extent of about 5 km with their centers separated by about 12 km. However, each of the sources has detailed structure of its own, and a simple two-point-source model is not an accurate representation of the Morgan Hill earthquake. The second source occurs about 4.5 sec after the first and is approximately 3 times larger. The maximum dislocation on the fault plane is about 1 m. The total moment of the earthquake is estimated to be 2.1 × 10^(25) dyne-cm. The Morgan Hill earthquake offers convincing evidence for very inhomogeneous slip and stress distributions on shallow strike-slip faults.
Neural waveform detector for prosthesis control

Detection of neural action potentials is an essential phase in the analysis of extracellular recordings and it may contribute to the control of prosthetic systems. A fully automated algorithm for on-line detection or neural waveforms is presented and a hardware implementation for 8-channel, real-time operation is described.
A Theoretical Study of the Thermodynamics of Microbial Growth Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a Different Free Energy Equation

ABSTRACT Microbial growth is a biological process that has been previously treated as a chemical reaction operating in accord with the Gibbs free energy equation, ΔG=ΔH-TΔS. The heat of yeast growth was the first to be measured, in 1856, by direct calorimetry of a large wine vat. Until then there was a tendency for biologists to continue with the old notion that the energy change accompanying the growth of microorganisms was reflected in the amount of heat that was produced during this process. The application of chemical thermodynamics to systems involving microbial growth did not occur until much later. The full application of the Gibbs equation to microbial growth did not take place until the experimental measurement of yeast cell entropy was made in 1997. Further investigations then showed that the quantity of thermal energy for solid substances represented by TS was twice that of the quantity of thermal energy represented by Qab that is experimentally necessary to raise T of a substance from 0/K to T...
Endothelin ETA and ETB receptors in postnatal intestine

We aimed to characterize endothelin (ET) receptors in the swine intestinal vasculature and to determine ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) effects on these receptors. Saturation and competitive binding ass...
Effects of contextual support on preschoolers’ accented speech comprehension

Young children often hear speech in unfamiliar accents, but relatively little research characterizes their comprehension capacity. The current study tested preschoolers' comprehension of familiar-accented versus unfamiliar-accented speech with varying levels of contextual support from sentence frames (full sentences vs. isolated words) and from visual context (four salient pictured alternatives vs. the absence of salient visual referents). The familiar accent advantage was more robust when visual context was absent, suggesting that previous findings of good accent comprehension in infants and young children may result from ceiling effects in easier tasks (e.g., picture fixation, picture selection) relative to the more difficult tasks often used with older children and adults. In contrast to prior work on mispronunciations, where most errors were novel object responses, children in the current study did not select novel object referents above chance levels. This suggests that some property of accented speech may dissuade children from inferring that an unrecognized familiar-but-accented word has a novel referent. Finally, children showed detectable accent processing difficulty despite presumed incidental community exposure. Results suggest that preschoolers' accented speech comprehension is still developing, consistent with theories of protracted development of speech processing.
Turnover-dependent inactivation of the nitrogenase MoFe-protein at high pH.

Proton uptake accompanies the reduction of all known substrates by nitrogenase. As a consequence, a higher pH should limit the availability of protons as a substrate essential for turnover, thereby increasing the proportion of more highly reduced forms of the enzyme for further study. The utility of the high-pH approach would appear to be problematic in view of the observation reported by Pham and Burgess [(1993) Biochemistry 32, 13725–13731] that the MoFe-protein undergoes irreversible protein denaturation above pH 8.65. In contrast, we found by both enzyme activity and crystallographic analyses that the MoFe-protein is stable when incubated at pH 9.5. We did observe, however, that at higher pHs and under turnover conditions, the MoFe-protein is slowly inactivated. While a normal, albeit low, level of substrate reduction occurs under these conditions, the MoFe-protein undergoes a complex transformation; initially, the enzyme is reversibly inhibited for substrate reduction at pH 9.5, yet in a second, slower process, the MoFe-protein becomes irreversibly inactivated as measured by substrate reduction activity at the optimal pH of 7.8. The final inactivated MoFe-protein has an increased hydrodynamic radius compared to that of the native MoFe-protein, yet it has a full complement of iron and molybdenum. Significantly, the modified MoFe-protein retains the ability to specifically interact with its nitrogenase partner, the Fe-protein, as judged by the support of ATP hydrolysis and by formation of a tight complex with the Fe-protein in the presence of ATP and aluminum fluoride. The turnover-dependent inactivation coupled to conformational change suggests a mechanism-based transformation that may provide a new probe of nitrogenase catalysis.
The ActionAid disability programmes: experiences in early identification and early intervention.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 10% of the world’s population has some form of disability, while statistics from different sources show that about 3.8% of India's population has locomotor, visual or communication disabilities or mental retardation. The Disability Division of ActionAid-India supports 38 non-governmental organisations involved in disability programmes in India. This paper touches upon the experiences of some of its project partners in the areas of early identification and early intervention.
Stability and Impulse Response of Empirical Eigenfunctions

The statistical method of empirical eigenfunctions has been applied to four years of beach profile data. The eigenfunctions associated with the three largest eigenvalues are shown to be stable for data sets of one, two, three, and four years length, and they correctly describe beach changes caused by storm activity. The usefulness of the eigenfunction representation is confirmed as a concise means of representing beach profile variability.
Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) on cotton: adult activity and cultivar oviposition preference

The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), was studied under greenhouse conditions to determine times of adult ecdysis and precopulatory pairing behavior and to observe its selection of host plants. In March, ecdysis of adults in a greenhouse began at 0800 hours and reached a peak at from 1000 to 1200 hours on one day and from 0800 to 1000 hours the next day. Ecdysis continued through the afternoon. Precopulatory pairing began at 0830 hours and by 0855 hours, 50% of the whiteflies were in pairs. Outside the greenhouse, pairing reached 50% at 0930 hours. Temperatures rose rapidly during this period but pairing was not closely correlated with temperature. Two okra-leaf selections (‘Auburn Okra 149’ and ‘Auburn Okra 201’) had significantly more B. tabaei adults than their normal-leaf counterparts, while one normal-leaf (‘Stoneville-7A’) had more adults than its okra-leaf counterpart. Three other pairs of okra-leaf and normal-leaf isolines had similar populations. ‘Stoneville-825, normal, hairy-leaf plants had more adults and eggs than either the semismooth or smooth-leaf isolines. The unshaved half of ‘Stoneville-825’ leaves had 2.4- fold more adults and 4-fold more eggs than the half of the leaf shaved with an electric razor.
Decay Scheme of Y 92

The gamma radiations of ${\mathrm{Y}}^{92}$ have been investigated with a scintillation spectrometer. The ${\mathrm{Y}}^{92}$ was produced in a cyclotron by a ($d, \ensuremath{\alpha}$) reaction on zirconium and was not contaminated with ${\mathrm{Y}}^{91}$ or ${\mathrm{Y}}^{93}$ isotopes present in fission product solutions. Gamma rays of 0.21\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01, 0.475\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02, 0.94\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03, 1.45\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.10, 1.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.10, and 2.4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.10 Mev have been observed and both $\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ and $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ coincidences of the lower-energy lines tabulated. A decay scheme is proposed which is consistent with the experimental data and with recent data on ${\mathrm{Nb}}^{92}$ and ${\mathrm{Nb}}^{92m}$ reported in the literature.
The Enigma of Idiopathic Cyclic Edema

When none of the obvious explanations account for the daily weight gain complained of by some middle-aged, often obese women, the clinician should entertain the diagnosis of cyclic edema. Recognition that the patient's problem is real, even if its origin is mysterious, is itself a positive step toward effective therapy. With various modalities, it is usually possible to help a substantial majority of these patients.
Bringing Contextual Information to Google Speech Recognition

In automatic speech recognition on mobile devices, very often what a user says strongly depends on the particular context he or she is in. The n-grams relevant to the context are often not known in advance. The context can depend on, for example, particular dialog state, options presented to the user, conversation topic, location, etc. Speech recognition of sentences that include these n-grams can be challenging, as they are often not well represented in a language model (LM) or even include out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words. In this paper, we propose a solution for using contextual information to improve speech recognition accuracy. We utilize an on-the-fly rescoring mechanism to adjust the LM weights of a small set of n-grams relevant to the particular context during speech decoding. Our solution handles out of vocabulary words. It also addresses efficient combination of multiple sources of context and it even allows biasing class based language models. We show significant speech recognition accuracy improvements on several datasets, using various types of contexts, without negatively impacting the overall system. The improvements are obtained in both offline and live experiments.
Management of urinary incontinence with electronic stimulation: observations and results.

AbstractThe evolution in the management of urinary incontinence with electronic stimulation of the pelvic floor is reviewed. The effect of stimulation is analyzed. Our methods of candidate screening and the contraindications to treatment are discussed. Forty patients were treated for 2 to 15 months. Sixteen patients were post-prostatectomy, 4 had stress incontinence, 4 had upper motor neuron lesions, 1 was incontinent after repair of a rectovesical fistula and 15 were post-bladder exstrophy closure. The success rate in the first group was 45.4 per cent, in the second group 100 per cent, in the third group 50 per cent, in the fourth group 100 per cent and in the fifth group 27.2 per cent. In view of the method having been tried on cases resistant to other forms of treatment the results were encouraging. The most satisfying results were in the post-exstrophy group in which no response was expected.
Health Concerns Regarding Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with prevalence estimates ranging from 5 to 8 % of elementary-age children, and most cases persist into adolescence. As a result of its hallmark symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, those with ADHD are at significant risk for problems that cut across multiple domains of functioning, including academic achievement delays, stressful family relations, as well as peer rejection and social isolation. Because the behavioral symptoms of ADHD are disruptive, annoying, and stressful to others, these overt problems have received the greatest amount of research and clinical attention. Unfortunately, limited attention has been invested in the significant health risks experienced by children and teens with ADHD. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how ADHD is related to health risks and illnesses among children and teens with the disorder. Childhood ADHD-related health problems include obesity, binge eating and bulimia, disturbed sleep, and accidental injuries, among others. The most serious adolescent-emergent health problems involve tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, unprotected sexual activity, and dangerous driving. In this chapter, contributions of prevention science to ameliorate ADHD health-related problems, as well as best practice in school-based prevention and intervention curricula, will be described.
Abstract B19: Improving initiation of adjuvant hormonal therapy in black women under 50 may contribute towards narrowing racial gaps in breast cancer

Background: The advent of adjuvant hormonal therapy has greatly improved breast cancer survival in women with hormonal receptor (HR) positive breast cancer. Unfortunately, racial disparities have been noted in both the uptake of adjuvant hormonal therapy and in women with HR positive breast cancer. Purpose: In a prospective study, we examined the influence of race, socio-cultural factors, and process of care factors on initiation of adjuvant hormonal therapy. Methods: Eligible women were newly diagnosed with invasive, non-metastatic hormonal receptor positive (HR) breast cancer. Socio-cultural and healthcare factors were collected via telephone surveys; clinical data were abstracted from charts. Stepwise logistic regression models examined associations between hormonal initiation and study factors. Results: The sample was 56% Black (n=150) and 44% White (n=120). Overall 70% initiated therapy with Black women Conclusion: Attention to financial aspects of cancer care and patient-provider communication may be useful points of intervention to improve initiation in patients, particularly Black patients Citation Format: Vanessa B. Sheppard, Claudine Isaacs, Mahlet G. Tadesse, Melissa Butler, Felicity Harper, Fikru Hirpa. Improving initiation of adjuvant hormonal therapy in black women under 50 may contribute towards narrowing racial gaps in breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr B19.
Application of Ecological Site Information to Transformative Changes on Great Basin Sagebrush Rangelands

On The Ground The utility of ecological site descriptions (ESD) in the management of rangelands hinges on their ability to characterize and predict plant community change, the associated ecological consequences, and ecosystem responsiveness to management. We demonstrate how enhancement of ESDs with key ecohydrologic information can aid predictions of ecosystem response and targeting of conservation practices for sagebrush rangelands that are strongly regulated by ecohydrologic or ecogeomorphic feedbacks. The primary point of this work is that ESD concepts are flexible and can be creatively augmented for improved assessment and management of rangelands.
Clash of the Primary Motivations: Motivated Processing of Emotionally Experienced Content in Fear Appeals About Obesity Prevention

ABSTRACTThis study examined individuals’ physiological and cognitive responses to different types of emotionally experienced content located in obesity prevention fear appeals. Results suggested that experienced valence impacted individuals’ attention and memory as a function of experienced arousal level. Local content that created coactive highly arousing experiences received the most attention, though visual recognition suggested these messages were more difficult to encode. Local content that created negative moderately arousing experiences was best encoded. Global message evaluation data suggest that moderately arousing messages with a change in experienced valence may prove to be most effective, as they ensure attention and good memory while keeping high self-reported interest, and a high level of perceived severity of obesity. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Long-Term Polyclonal and Stable Gene Transfer into Rhesus Repopulating Hematopoietic Stem Cells Using a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Based Lentiviral Vector System.

Murine leukemia virus (MLV) vectors have been studied extensively in animal models and utilized for over a decade in clinical trials of gene therapy directed at hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells MLV have a number of limitations, including inefficient transduction of quiescent cells and difficulty in maintaining stable high-level expression. More recently concerns have arisen regarding their safety regarding activation of adjacent proto-oncogenes and resultant leukemogenesis. We have previously reported that lentiviral vectors derived from the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) were efficient at transducing rhesus CD34+ cells, resulting in high-level in vivo marking with transduced progeny cells up to one year post-transplantation.(Hanawa et al, 2004) A comparison of vector integration sites in these animals compared to animals receiving MLV-transduced cells revealed different patterns, showing that SIV integrants strongly favored entire transcription units and gene-dense regions of the genome, compared to MLV that favored regions surrounding transcription start sites.(Hematti et al, 2004). Animals receiving MLV-transduced cells had highly non-random engraftment with integrants in or near the the MDS1/EVI1 gene complex. To evaluate long-term safety implications of the SIV vector-mediated CD34+ cell gene transfer, we analyzed the insertional sites in granulocytes, T cell, and B cells from 3 rhesus macaques which were transplanted three years ago with transduced, autologous cytokine-mobilized peripheral blood CD34+ cells. All three animals continued to show significant marking and expression levels in T cells, B cells and granulocytes, with mean GFP + levels of 6.7% (range, 3.3–13.0%), 7.4% (4.2–13.4%) and 5.6% (3.1–10.5%), respectively. Vector insertion site analysis by linear amplification-mediated PCR method at three years continued to show highly polyclonal reconstitution. Subsequent cloning and sequencing data confirmed long-term polyclonality with vector-containing cells and there was no evidence for any worrisome common integration sites, with no integrants detected in the MDS1/EVI1 region, in contrast to results with the MLV vector. These results indicate that the SIV vector system can result in stable and efficient long-term expression in progeny of transduced CD34+ cells, without the worrisome integration profile previously reported in our model with MLV vectors.
Dendritic Cell Therapy for Brain Tumors

Abstract Glioblastomas are characterized by immunosuppression, rapid proliferation, angiogenesis, and invasion into the surrounding brain parenchyma. The limitations of current treatment options have prompted the development of alternate modalities, such as immunotherapy. Among these, active immunotherapy using dendritic cells (DCs) has emerged as an attraction option for glioma treatment. A variety of vaccine formulations have been used to take advantage of the specialized antigen presenting abilities of these cells to potentiate antitumor immune responses. Data acquired in multiple preclinical models and clinical trials have shown evidence of immune responses correlate with prolonged survival. Here we provide an overview of the current status of DC therapy for the treatment of malignant gliomas. Recent research has shown that DC vaccination relies on the complicated relationship between tumor cells, their surrounding microenvironment, and the immune system. This chapter aims to explain the concept and various forms of DC therapy, completed and ongoing clinical trials, current data on the safety, and clinical effects of DC vaccination areas of ongoing and future research.
High-Impact Practices and Sophomore Retention: Examining the Effects of Selection Bias:

Institutions of higher education increasingly have adopted high-impact practices (HIPs) as a means to increase student retention and engagement. Yet, the growth and assessment of these practices ha...
Structural studies of Technetium-based melanoma imaging agents

1946 Objectives To evaluate the effect of structural modification at the C-5 position of [99mTcOAADT]-(CH2)2-NEt2 (99mTc-I) on melanoma targeting and in vivo distribution. Methods The 99mTc-1 complex has been shown to displays significant and high melanoma-tumor uptake. To study additional structural variants of this N2S2-chelate system, we have synthesized and characterized a series of eight derivatives with substituents on the carbon backbone at the C-5 position. Effects of these modifications on in vivo distribution and melanoma uptake and retention have been evaluated. Structurally analogous neutral oxorhenium(V) complexes were also synthesized and characterized. Biodistribution experiments for the 99mTc-complexes Tc-L2–Tc-L9 at 1 and 6 h post injection in the C57/Bl6 mouse bearing B16/F10 melanoma were performed to determine the effect of the changes on the in-vivo tumor uptake, distribution, and clearance properties. Results In vivo assessment of these new 99mTc-complexes indicates structure-related distribution and localization. At 1 h post administration, complex Tc-L2 exhibits an in vivo tumor uptake of 4.09% ID/g, and a high melanoma/blood ratios (10.46% at 1h and 13.55% at 6h post administration). On the other hand Tc-L8 displayed a tumor uptake of only 0.24% ID/g. Differences in tumor uptake, clearance, and distribution are attributable to the nature and size of the C5-substituents. Conclusions In designing Tc-based small molecules as diagnostic probes for melanoma, the nature of the structural components of the chelate, including substituents at the C-5 position can result in significant alterations in the in vivo distribution and tumor targeting.
A Model of Synaptic Coupling Between Sensory Afferent and Medial Nucleus Tractus Solitarius Neurons in the Rat

Abstract The electrophysiological properties of the monosynaptic junction between sensory neurons and cells within a restricted region of the medial nucleus tractus solitarius (mNTS) have been studied using a brainstem slice preparation. These investigations have enabled us to develop a mathematical model of a sensory afferent synaptic connection to a mNTS neuron. Model development is based upon numerical fits to quantitative data recorded in our laboratory. This work is part of a continuing integrative effort aimed at identifying and characterizing the fundamental electrophysiological properties of this first synapse in the baroreceptor reflex.
Cladistic analysis and evolutionary relationships of Xylocopa Latreille, 1802, subgenus Xylocopoides Michener, 1954, a New World lineage of large carpenter bees (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Results of a cladistic analysis of the five currently recognized species of the genus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802, subgenus Xylocopoides Michener, 1954, are reported. Twenty adult morphological characters were coded for the five species of subgenus Xylocopoides, plus two outgroup species from the related subgenus Xylocopa Latreille, 1802. The resulting taxon-character matrix was analyzed with the “TNT” computer software program and a single most parsimonious tree of 21 steps was recovered. Monophyly of subgenus Xylocopoides relative to the outgroup species in subgenus Xylocopa is confirmed. Characters used to establish the subgenus Calloxylocopa Hurd & Moure, 1963, are derived character states in the single species X. tenuata Smith, 1874, and thus Calloxylocopa is maintained in synonymy with subgenus Xylocopoides. Within Xylocopoides, X. tenuata is the sister species to the four other species of the subgenus. Xylocopa cyanea Smith, 1874, and X. californica Cresson, 1864, are sister species, while X. pallidis...
Co-purification and analysis of global gene expression and allele-specific copy number from a single microdissected FFPE sample in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

4964 Background: Unlike numerous other tumor types, little is known about the expression and copy number patterns of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) primary tumors. This is due in large part to the difficulty obtaining tissue from this retroperitoneal organ, and the poor quality of nucleic acids obtained. Severe desmoplasia leads to stromal contamination and the extreme autodigestive properties often leads to degraded nucleic acids. Nevertheless, robust and accurate molecular measurements are essential in generating predictive and prognostic biomarkers in this disease. Methods: We selected FFPE blocks from 20 Whipple resections performed for PDA at UCSF. Microdissection was performed. Genomic DNA and total RNA were isolated using proprietary technology at Response Genetics. After amplification cRNA was hybridized to Affymetric Hu133Plus2 chips. Co-extracted genomic DNA (~70ng) was subjected to genome wide allele-specific copy number analysis using molecular inversion probe (MIP) technology. We assessed the quality of MIP data by the median proportion of overlapping clones in neighboring segments. We compared this to similar datasets from 1) cancer cell lines and 2) non-microdissected frozen primary tumors. We also analyzed the correlation between gene copy number and expression to identify dosage effects in co-extracted tissues. Results: Expression and copy number data were successfully obtained in 20 and 19 samples respectively. The quality assessment of the MIPs showed that only 15% of all MIPs overlap with neighboring clones, whereas we observed 22% overlap for non microdissected tumors. A strong influence of copy number on mRNA expression was also observed. Conclusion: Primary tumor samples are a valuable, limited resource. We show here that genomic DNA and mRNA can be successfully and consistently co-isolated from a single microdissected FFPE sample in PDA and analyzed for global expression and allele specific copy number. Gene expression reflects copy number as in samples extracted separately. FFPE MIP data compared favorably to non-microdissected, frozen tumor samples. This work maximizes data from rare samples and has implications for the personalization of treatment, prognosis studies and adjuvant clinical trial tissue analysis. Future work will focus on needle-based biopsy procedures.
Mistaking Social Welfare in the Grow-or-Die Political Economy: Re-Imaging Social Welfare as Concern for Well-being

Recently, I was reading the assignments to students in my undergraduate class Introduction to Social Welfare. The assignment was a reflective essay on students’ worldviews and, in turn, their views...
The process of reflection: A principle-based concept analysis

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the concept reflection as a process using a principle-based method of analysis that acknowledges the philosophical premises of formal cognitive operations (experiencing, understanding, judging, and deciding) espoused by Bernard Lonergan. The aim is to understand how we think and process cognitively in reflection while developing consciousness in knowing. Using Lonergan's formal cognitive operations adds a philosophical perspective and structure to the concept. Fostering the enactment of reflection is a complex process, but it is vital for nursing science and disciplinary advancement.
Panitumumab-IRDye800 for fluorescence-guidance based metastatic lymph nodeidentification in patients with head and neck cancer (Conference Presentation)

BACKGROUND: Presence of lymph node (LN) metastasis is considered the most important prognostic factor in patients with head and neck cancer, yet intraoperative identification of metastatic LNs is considered challenging. We propose the near-infrared fluorescently labeled epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody panitumumab-IRDye800 for intraoperative metastatic LN identification. METHODS: Patients were injected 2-5 days before surgery with panitumumab-IRDye800 (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg). On the day of surgery, (excised) LN samples were evaluated on high sensitivity fluorescence imaging systems (SurgVision (SurgOptix), PINPOINT (Novadaq), and Pearl imager and Odyssey CLx (LI-COR Biosciences). Location and intensity of the fluorescence signal was correlated to the location of tumor as defined on the hematoxylin and eosin staining by the pathologist, and the EGFR expression pattern. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of panitumumab-IRdye800 for metastatic LN identification. RESULTS: We thus far included 9/27 patients in our ongoing phase I trial. 244 LNs were removed intraoperatively of which 8 were tumor-positive. Fluorescence imaging of panitumumab-IRdye800 revealed 236 true-negative nodes (not fluorescent, not tumor-positive), 8 true-positive nodes (fluorescent, tumor-positive), 0 false-positive nodes (fluorescent, not tumor-positive) and 0 false-negative nodes (not fluorescent, tumor-positive) resulting in a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 100%, and a positive and negative predictive value of 100% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results from our ongoing study suggest panitumumab-IRDye800 can identify metastatic LNs. Upon trial progression, if findings remain constant, it can open a whole new era for intraoperative metastatic LN identification.
A codebook of brightness transfer functions for improved target re-identification across non-overlapping camera views

Target re-identification across non-overlapping camera views is a challenging task due to variations in target appearance, illumination, viewpoint and intrinsic parameters of cameras. Brightness transfer function (BTF) was introduced for intercamera color calibration, and to improve the performance of target re-identification methods. There have been several works based on BTFs, more specifically using weighted BTFs (WBTF), cumulative BTF (CBTF) and mean BTF (MBTF). In this paper, we present a novel method to model the appearance variation across different camera views. We propose building a codebook of BTFs composed of the most representative BTFs for a camera pair. We also propose an ordering and trimming criteria to avoid using all possible combinations of codewords for different color channels. In addition, to obtain a better appearance model, we present a different way to segment a target from the background. Evaluations on VIPeR, CUHK01 and CAVIAR4REID datasets show that the proposed method outperforms other approaches focusing on BTFs, including WBTF, CBTF and MBTF. As proven by the results, the proposed method provides an improved brightness transfer across different camera views, and any target ReID approach incorporating color/brightness histograms can benefit from it.
School Victimization, Immigration, Dropping Out, and Gender Disparities.

The children of immigrants face a number of educational hurdles, such as disparate rates of victimization and increased risk of dropping out of high school. Few studies have explored how school victimization can explain the relationship between immigrant generation status and the likelihood of dropping out. The current study explores if, and how, the associations between school victimization, feeling unsafe at school, and dropping out vary across immigration generations andgender. Data are drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002. The sample for this study consists of 9,870 first (N = 1,170, 12%), second (N = 1,540, 16%), and third-plus (N = 7,160, 73%) generation, female (N = 5,050; 51%), and male (4,820; 49%) students in 580 public schools. Results indicate partial support for segmented assimilation and highlight important nuances related to immigrant generation status.in relation to key variables. For both males and females, generational status, victimization, and feeling unsafe at school ...
GalNAc-siRNA Conjugates: Leading the Way for Delivery of RNAi Therapeutics

Short-interfering RNA (siRNA)-induced RNAi responses have great potential to treat a wide variety of human diseases from cancer to pandemic viral outbreaks to Parkinson's Disease. However, before siRNAs can become drugs, they must overcome a billion years of evolutionary defenses designed to keep invading RNAs on the outside cells from getting to the inside of cells. Not surprisingly, significant effort has been placed in developing a wide array of delivery technologies. Foremost of these has been the development of N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) siRNA conjugates for delivery to liver. Tris-GalNAc binds to the Asialoglycoprotein receptor that is highly expressed on hepatocytes resulting in rapid endocytosis. While the exact mechanism of escape across the endosomal lipid bilayer membrane remains unknown, sufficient amounts of siRNAs enter the cytoplasm to induce robust, target selective RNAi responses in vivo. Multiple GalNAc-siRNA conjugate clinical trials, including two phase III trials, are currently underway by three biotech companies to treat a wide variety of diseases. GalNAc-siRNA conjugates are a simple solution to the siRNA delivery problem for liver hepatocytes and have shown the RNAi (and antisense oligonucleotide) field the path forward for targeting other tissue types.
The Team Negotiation Challenge: Defining and Managing the Internal Challenges of Negotiating Teams

Negotiation teams are widely used to negotiate on behalf of organizations, yet relatively little is known about how they overcome the challenges posed by within team dynamics to create a sound across-the-table team bargaining strategy. This paper presents a two phase analysis of accounts of negotiating team experiences collected from 45 executives. In the first phase we present a qualitative categorization of negotiating team challenges and management strategies. In the second phase we demonstrate that the match between challenges and management strategies and the quality of team process largely depends on how teams manage within team dynamics. Teams are more likely to be able to implement management strategies that match the challenges they face when teams also engage in substantive debates about negotiating team goals; teams are less likely to implement strategies that match team challenges when teams also engage in personality conflicts. Thus, substantive conflict helps rationalize team processes, while personality conflict undermines the development of appropriate team management strategies if not addressed appropriately.
Electronic commerce at the dawn of the third millennium

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At the brink of the new millennium, in global economy and commerce, there has been a dramatic increase in the role of information technology in markets, both in traditional markets and especially in the emergence of the electronic marketplaces. In recent years, the Internet has grown exponentially and is clearly transforming global markets. This chapter analyzes the fundamentals of electronic commerce and discusses the opportunities and challenges that e-commerce presents for global enterprises with relevant examples from the industry where appropriate. Opportunities of e-commerce are improvements in marketing activities such as one-to-one marketing and communication, better management of product/service support and product/value chain, and cost cuttings due to several electronic payment methods. On the other hand, global enterprises face the challenges of e-commerce, such as adjusting to competition in electronic markets, re-engineering/e-engineering distribution channels, addressing security and privacy issues, and applying strategic management to corporate alliance systems. Finally, the future of electronic commerce is discussed.
"Nobody can sit there": two perspectives on how mathematics problems in context mediate group problem solving discussions

This study examines how a group ofbilingualninth grade algebra students discussed two word problems stated in terms of "real life" contexts. Using a lens of mediated action (Wertsch, 1998), the analysis reveals two distinct ways that the problem contexts influenced the group's mathematical reasoning. In one problem, the problem context afforded particular ways of interpreting the given inscriptions, which had benefits as well as costs. In the other problem, the unfamiliar story and terminology appeared the hinder the group's mathematical reasoning. These two forms of context mediation are discussed in light of current research on the use of real life problems in mathematics education. Keywords : mathematical discussions, mediation, word problems, algebra, group discussions
The Genetics of Phage Resistance in Lactococcus lactis

Because of the nature of the cheese fermentation process, bacteriophage problems continue to appear in the Cheddar cheese industry, resulting in slowed or failed fermentation tanks and substantial economic losses. Extensive research in this area has lead to a vast accumulation of genetic information on Lactococcus lactis, the mechanisms by which it protects itself from phage attack, the phages themselves, and the phage—host interactions. This body of information has not only yielded a greater understanding of the natural defense mechanisms of Lc. lactis, but has also allowed for the development of novel, genetically engineered defense strategies. This chapter will address important aspects of phage resistance in Lc. lactis, both natural and novel. The means by which phages overcome these mechanisms will also be highlighted to illustrate the dynamic nature of phage—host interactions in the cheese environment. In addition, the continuing need to elevate the platform of knowledge of these model phage—host relationships will be emphasized, in our efforts to stay one step ahead of the dynamic evolutionary and adaptive ability of bacteriophages in fermentation environments.
Anthropophagy and sadness: cloning citrus in São Paulo in the Plantationocene era

The present text engages the painting Anthropophagy (1929) by Tarsila do Amaral as a performance in overcoming Brazil’s tropical sadness diagnosed by artists, politicians and scientists. While anth...
What echocardiographic findings suggest a pericardial effusion is causing tamponade

Abstract Background Pericardial tamponade is neither a clinical nor an echocardiographic diagnosis alone. The echocardiogram carries diagnostic value and should be performed when there is suspicion for tamponade based on the history and physical exam. A pericardial effusion uncovered on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) may be mistaken for tamponade and thereby lead to inappropriate and invasive management with pericardiocentesis. Objective This narrative review will summarize the echocardiographic findings and associated pathophysiology that support the diagnosis of pericardial tamponade. It will provide a succinct description of the core findings for which emergency physicians should evaluate at the bedside, along with potential pearls and pitfalls in this evaluation. Labeled images and video clips are included. Discussion The core echocardiographic findings of pericardial tamponade consist of: a pericardial effusion, diastolic right ventricular collapse (high specificity), systolic right atrial collapse (earliest sign), a plethoric inferior vena cava with minimal respiratory variation (high sensitivity), and exaggerated respiratory cycle changes in mitral and tricuspid valve in-flow velocities as a surrogate for pulsus paradoxus. Conclusion The emergency physician must recognize and understand the core echocardiographic findings and associated pathophysiology that suggest pericardial tamponade. Together with the history and clinical exam, these findings can help make the overall diagnosis and determine management.
Bladder urothelial BK channel activity is a critical mediator for innate immune response in urinary tract infection pathogenesis.

The open probability of calcium-activated voltage-gated potassium channel (BK channel) on bladder umbrella urothelial cells is increased by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). It is hypothesized that this ch...
Addressing soluble target interference in the development of a functional assay for the detection of neutralizing antibodies against a BCMA-CD3 bispecific antibody

Abstract Proper evaluation of immunogenicity during clinical development of biotherapeutics is a major challenge to bioanalytical scientists, in part due to matrix interference in anti-drug antibody (ADA) and neutralizing antibody (NAB) assays. If not addressed, matrix interference could confound the immunogenicity assessment of a given biotherapeutic in clinical development. To support clinical development of a B cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-CD3 bispecific antibody, a cell-based NAB assay was developed as part of a tiered approach to evaluating the immunogenicity of the drug. The assay endpoint (T cell activation) was chosen based on its strong association with the mechanism of action of the drug. The BCMA-CD3 bispecific antibody activates T cells through simultaneous binding of CD3 on T cells and BCMA on target cells. In this system, T cell activation was assessed through the measurement of luciferase activity in an engineered Jurkat cell line. In the presence of NAB, the degree of T cell activation measured by the amount of luciferase activity can be reduced. During method development, soluble BCMA (sBCMA) interference in the NAB assay was apparent. The binding of sBCMA to the anti-BCMA domain of the bispecific drug led to reduced T cell activation, which caused false positive results in NAB testing. To mitigate this interference, several strategies to eliminate sBCMA were investigated. Among the procedures tested, a bead-based approach proved most effective in depleting sBCMA, while maintaining robust assay performance and achieving fit-for-purpose sensitivity. Using this sample pretreatment procedure, the NAB assay tolerated sBCMA up to 2 μg/mL, or approximately four times the estimated median sBCMA concentration in serum samples from patients with active multiple myeloma.
An application of virtual reality in education: Can this technology enhance the quality of students’ learning experience?

Virtual reality (VR) technology is making its mark across market sectors (e.g., gaming, healthcare, tourism). This paper examines the use of VR in education, specifically in business classes, to be...