cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Mutations in the p53 and K-ras Genes in Lung Carcinomas from Smoking and Nonsmoking Women

Lung cancer incidence is increasing in women with little or no tobacco exposure, and the cause of this trend is not known. One possibility is increased sensitivity to environmental tobacco smoke in women nonsmokers diagnosed with lung cancer. To determine whether mutations associated with tobacco exposure are found in the lung tumors of women who are lifetime nonsmokers or occasional smokers, we compared the p53 and K-ras mutational spectra in lung carcinomas from 23 female nonsmokers, 2 female occasional smokers (< 10 pack-years), and 30 female long-term smokers (20-100 pack-years). We also looked for p53 and K-ras mutations in three carcinoid lung tumors, two from female nonsmokers and one from a female occasional smoker. For the p53 gene, exons 4-8 were examined for mutations; for the K-ras gene, exon 1 was examined. No mutations were found in the carcinoid tumors. In lung carcinomas, p53 mutations were identified in six (26.1%) of the cases from lifetime nonsmokers and consisted of five transitions (including three C to T, one G to A, and one T to C) and one T to A transversion. In comparison, p53 mutations were identified in 10 (31.3%) of the 32 lung carcinomas from short-term and long-term smokers and consisted of six transversions (four G to T, one A to T, and one G to C), one A to G transition, one C to T transition, and two deletions of one to four bp. Mutations in the p53 gene found in nonsmokers also occurred in either different codons or different positions within a codon compared with those seen in long-term smokers. K-ras mutations in codon 12 were identified in two lung carcinomas (8.7%) from lifetime nonsmokers. The K-ras mutations found were a G to T transversion and a G to A transition. Eight (25%) of the 32 lung carcinomas from smokers contained K-ras mutations in codons 12 and 13 (four G to T transversions and four G to A transitions). In addition, six silent mutations that are most likely polymorphisms were found in both smokers and nonsmokers. These results confirm that K-ras mutations are more frequent in smokers than in nonsmokers, but that the same type of mutation in the K-ras gene is found in both groups. In contrast, although the frequency of mutation in the p53 gene was similar in lifetime nonsmokers compared with long-term smokers, the types and spectra of mutation are significantly different. Two of the C to T transitions found in nonsmokers, but none of those found in smokers, occur at the C of a CpG site. These results suggest the mutagen(s) and/or mechanisms of p53 mutations in women nonsmokers are different from those responsible for p53 mutations in women smokers, which are probably largely induced by tobacco mutagens.
Study of transverse coupled bunch instabilities by using non-linear Taylor maps for the Advanced Light Source (ALS)

To study coherent bunch instabilities for the third generation light source, ALS, it is insufficient to rely on a linear map with radiation damping for the lattice to obtain the correct dynamics. We have implemented a code for transverse bunch instabilities, using a 4-dimensional map for the lattice and wake field expansions for cavities and resistive wall effects. This model has been used to study the injection process and to determine the needed performance of the proposed feedback system for the storage ring. >
When an "Educated" Black Man Becomes Lighter in the Mind's Eye: Evidence for a Skin Tone Memory Bias

We offer novel evidence that a Black man appears lighter in the mind’s eye following a counter-stereotypic prime, a phenomenon we refer to as skin tone memory bias. In Experiment 1, participants were primed subliminally with the counterstereotypic word educated or with the stereotypic word ignorant, followed by the target stimulus of a Black man’s face. A recognition memory task for the target’s face and six lures (skin tone variations of ±25%, ±37%, and ±50%) revealed that participants primed with “educated” exhibited more memory errors with respect to lighter lures—misidentifying even the lightest lure as the target more often than counterparts primed with “ignorant.” This skin tone memory bias was replicated in Experiment 2. We situate these findings in theorizing on the mind’s striving for cognitive consistency. Black individuals who defy social stereotypes might not challenge social norms sufficiently but rather may be remembered as lighter, perpetuating status quo beliefs.
Framing Indoor Tanning Warning Messages to Reduce Skin Cancer Risks Among Young Women: Implications for Research and Policy

Objectives. We investigated the impact of indoor tanning device warnings that communicate the risks associated with indoor tanning (i.e., loss framed) or the benefits of avoiding indoor tanning (i.e., gain framed).Methods. A convenience sample of non-Hispanic White women aged 18 to 30 years who tanned indoors at least once in the past year (n = 682) participated in a within-subjects experiment. Participants completed baseline measures and reported indoor tanning intentions and intentions to quit indoor tanning in response to 5 warning messages in random order. A text-only control warning was based on Food and Drug Administration–required warnings for indoor tanning devices. Experimental warnings included graphic content and were either gain or loss framed.Results. In multivariable analyses, gain-framed warnings did not differ from the control warning on women’s intentions to tan indoors, but they prompted stronger intentions to quit than the control message. Loss-framed warnings significantly reduced inte...
Mu2e: A high-sensitivity search for charged lepton flavor violation at Fermilab☆

The Mu2e collaboration proposes to search for the coherent, neutrinoless conversion of muons into electrons in the field of a nucleus, μ − N → e − N , with a single-event sensitivity of ∼ 10 − 16 , an improvement of a factor of 10,000 over existing limits. This lepton flavor-violating reaction probes mass scales unavailable by direct searches at either present or planned high energy colliders. The apparatus is described as well as a scheme by which the experiment can be mounted in the present Fermilab accelerator complex. Prospects for increased sensitivity using the Project X accelerator upgrades that are being proposed by Fermilab are briefly discussed.
Genetic Differentiation of Southeastern Boll Weevil and Thurberia Weevil Populations of Anthonomus grandis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Using Mitochondrial DNA

The southeastern boll weevil, the Mexican boll weevil, and the thurberia weevil are considered to be morphologically similar but behaviorally different variants of the same species, Anthonomus grandis Boheman. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified 9.2-kb section of the mitochondrial DNA was cleaved with restriction enzymes. RFLPs of weevils from three cotton growing locations in Texas and one in northeastern Mexico were compared with thurberia weevil from three sites in Arizona. Six haplotypes were observed in the Texas/Mexico collections and 12 haplotypes were found among the thurberia weevil. There were no shared haplotypes between these two groups. Polymorphism was observed within the weevil types. The three thurberia weevil locations exhibit some geographic isolation and exhibit differences in both the haplotypes present and the relative frequencies of the haplotypes. Only one haplotype was recovered at all three Arizona sites. The Texas/Mexico samples showed less genetic variability with the northern most site having the lowest polymorphism. 52/53 of these weevils appear to be genetically southeastern boll weevil. Two haplotypes were shared by all four of these populations and comprised 72% of the insects examined. The range of genetic distances between haplotypes was <0.001–0.022. The Mexican boll weevil was not explicitly examined; however, three individuals were discovered that appear to represent a genetically distinct third population. One was from Mexico and the other two were from a thurberia weevil site. These three individuals may represent the Mexican boll weevil. The results include apparent diagnostic restriction fragment differences between the thurberia weevil and the southeastern boll weevil that could be used to help determine whether future weevils found in Arizona or California cotton are thurberia weevil, southeastern boll weevil, or another population of weevils.
Giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) distribution, relative abundance and conservation in northwestern Bolivia

At the end of the last century northwestern Bolivia was prioritized for further study in a national evaluation of the endangered giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis). In this paper we present a decade of efforts to investigate and systematize data regarding the distribution and relative abundance of giant otters in this wilderness region including 435 distribution points generated from direct observations, confirmed giant otter signs, and interviews with park guards and local people from indigenous communities. We also sampled 1318.6km of river and stream along the Tuichi, Hondo, Arana, Machariapo, Upper Madidi, Enatahua and Heath rivers and their adjacent oxbow lakes in the Madidi National Park, as well as the Undumo and Tequeje rivers in the Tacana Indigenous Territory, and the lower and mid Madidi River and 42.14km of immediately adjacent oxbow lakes. Relative abundance was variable across the region ranging between 0.02 and 0.18 individual/km sampled in streams and rivers, and our data reveals a particularly important giant otter population along the Madidi River much of which remains unprotected. Our data and local reports point towards a possible population recovery within the Madidi and Pilon Lajas protected areas of the region over the last decade. In total we counted 271 animals, identifying 109 individuals through video and photographic throat pattern evidence. We argue that this previously undocumented population is of particular conservation importance due to its connectivity with the well-documented but currently threatened populations of neighboring southeastern Peru. Together northwestern Bolivia and southeastern Peru represent one of the most important conservation strongholds for this species.
Tests for Linearity in Star Models: Supwald and Lm-Type Tests

This article investigates approximation and supremum approaches for testing linearity in smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) models. We show that since the approximation of STAR models by Taylor series expansions may not accurately describe the specific transition dynamic when the process is away from the null, LM‐type tests may fail to detect the form of nonlinearity for which they are designed for. Investigating a supremum approach, the article provides the asymptotic distribution of a SupWald test that is obtained by taking the supremum of a Wald statistic over the Cartesian product of the spaces for the transition and threshold parameters. Simulated asymptotic critical values for the resulting tests are provided for a wide range of autoregressive orders and shown to differ across exponential and logistic STAR (ESTAR and LSTAR) models. Monte Carlo experiments show that SupWald tests for ESTAR and LSTAR models outperform LM‐type tests, compares well relative to the recently developed score‐based tests and each SupWald statistic performs the best against the true alternative for which it is formed. SupWald tests also provide results that are consistent with the findings from (independently) estimating and diagnostic testing of STAR models in real exchange rate data.
La idea de la justicia de Amartya Sen, un tratado sobre la injusticia

In The idea of justice (2009), A. Sen returns to the idea of inequality as a form of injustice, and highlights some repairable injustices as well as possible formulas for their analysis and compensation. The idea of inequality is a constant in the work of A. Sen since Economic Inequality (1972, revised and expanded in 1997). In Equality in what? (in Spanish, Nuevo examen de la desigualdad), he expanded on this proposal while analyzing the social implications of those economic inequalities denominated as “egalitarianism” and “utilitarianism”.This measuring of economic inequality and poverty led him to propose a conceptual “corpus” in which is found the so–called ”Capability Approach”, which he actively collaborated on with M. Nussbaum. This “capability approach” refers to what we are able to be, do and choose, and was adopted by the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) to design the indicators in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (S. Alkire and JE Foster, Oxford). The application of the Capability Approach allows social improvement alternatives to be identiﬁed and managed, always adapting themselves to contexts that generate inequalities.
Carbon dioxide seizures in immature rats

SummaryThe incidence of seizures caused by exposure to and withdrawal from CO2 concentrations ranging between 5 and 50% was determined in adult rats and immature rats less than one month old. It was found that neither exposure nor withdrawal seizures could be elicited in animals less than 16 days of age, even though the same CO2 atmospheres produced seizures in older animals. It was concluded that the lack of response of very young rats to CO2 was primarily a manifestation of the general central nervous system immaturity of the infant rat, even though other factors, e.g., lack of CO2 equilibration, might also affect the CO2 response.
Purpose in life is associated with physical activity measured by accelerometer

Previous research has shown that purpose in life, the belief that one's life is meaningful and goal-directed, is associated with greater engagement in self-reported physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between purpose in life and accelerometer-measured physical activity. Community volunteers (N = 104) completed measures of purpose in life and potential confounds and wore accelerometers for three consecutive days. Purpose in life was positively associated with objectively measured movement, moderate to vigorous physical activity, and with self-reported activity. These relationships were largely unchanged after controlling for potential confounds. These results suggest that purpose in life is a reliable correlate of physical activity.
Demand Analysis for Non-Alcoholic Beverages Consumptin in the United States

This research analyzes the demand for non-alcoholic beverages (non-diet carbonated beverages, diet carbonated beverages, non-carbonated caloric beverages, water, and unsweetened coffee and tea) in the United States using the first difference version of the Almost Ideal Demand System model. Five expenditure shares and prices demand equations for the non-alcoholic beverages are estimated using the Iterated Seemingly Unrelated Regression (ITSUR) and Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) techniques. These two estimation techniques give similar results. Most of the products exhibit the consistent sign for the own and cross price elasticities as predicted by economic theory. Based on the expenditure elasticity, non-diet beverage is a luxury good (1.632) and the remaining goods have expenditure elasticity less than, which indicates that these products are necessities. These products are not weakly separable based on the regular and adjusted Wald tests. Moreover, seasonality has a positive impact on caloric beverages and water and a negative impact on the remaining products Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. Vol-3, issue-1: 38-46
Analysis of 15 Adverse Drug Reactions/Events Induced by Shuxuening Injection

Objective In order to provide references for rational use of drug and revising the drug specification, the related factors of the adverse drug reaction/event(ADR/ADE) induced by Shuxuening injection have been analyzed. Methods 15 ADR/ADE cases induced by Shuxuening injection collected by our hospital from January 2006 to August 2008 have been analyzed retrospectively. Results The major clinical manifestations of 15 ADR/ADE cases are skin and accessories damage, systemic damage etc. But there is no report of serious damage such as anaphylactic shock. Conclusion It is important to arise the attention of drug regulatory authorities, manufacturer, clinician on Shuxuening injection. Some measures should be taken to make sure the safety of patients, such as improving constantly the drug standard, perfecting the content of the drug specification, and pomoting rational use of drug.
Abstract A19: A novel MECP2 acetylation site regulates binding with ATRX and HDAC1

Tumorigenesis stems from errors incorporated in the genetic code and impaired epigenetic mechanisms involved in tumor suppression. Mutation in methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is known to cause a neurological disorder, rett syndrome (RTT), however its role in tumorigenesis remains poorly understood. We wanted to characterize how novel post-translational modifications might contribute to its function. MeCP2 regulates gene expression by recruiting co-repressors and histone deacetylases (such as HDAC1) to methylated gene promoters. MeCP2 modulates heterochromatin association by interacting with heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1). It was shown that MeCP2 interacts with and recruits ATRX, a SWI2/SNF2 DNA helicase/ATPase, to regulate gene expression at a subset of imprinted domains. A recent study showed that overexpression of Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) deacetylase leads to reduced levels of acetylation of ectopically expressed MeCP2. Using mass spectrometry, we report that upon pharmacological inhibition of SIRT1 in colon and breast cancer cell lines, endogenous MeCP2 is acetylated at key sites known to be critical for binding to DNA and transcriptional regulators. We mapped several novel acetylated sites and then created an acetylation mimetic mutation in MeCP2 (K171Q) and found that this mutant shows decreased binding to HDAC1 and ATRX in RKO cells. Similar results were obtained when SIRT1 was pharmacologically inhibited. Herein we show that conditions that induce MeCP2 acetylation in RKO cells do not alter its promoter occupancy at a subset of target genes analyzed but do cause a decreased binding to co-repressors such as HDAC1 and ATRX and also alters ATRX binding at a specific gene promoter. We also demonstrate that RKO cells over-expressing our acetylation mimetic mutant show reduced proliferation as compared to those over-expressing MeCP2-wild type (WT). Citation Format: Somnath Pandey, Glenn E. Simmons Jr., Svitlana Malyarchuk, Tara N. Calhoun, Kevin Pruitt. A novel MECP2 acetylation site regulates binding with ATRX and HDAC1. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chromatin and Epigenetics in Cancer; Sep 24-27, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A19.
Stretch Receptors of the Trachea

The slowly adapting stretch receptors of the trachea are uniquely located in its membraneous posterior wall (Figure l) and, more precisely, within the trachealis muscle and are activated by its transversal traction1. The posterior wall of the trachea is supported by the quasi-rigid U-shaped cartilages and the mechanical coupling between the two structures allows the application of tension to the membranous wall and therefore the activation of the stretch receptors when either a positive or a negative transmural pressure is applied across the air (Figure 2). The slowly adapting stretch receptors localized in the trachea represent about 45% of the total number of so-called pulmonary stretch receptors in the dog2 and 33% in the cat3.
Advanced Regression and Alternatives

Linear regression models are not the only curve-fitting methods in wide use. Also, these methods are not useful for analyzing data for categorical responses. In this chapter, so-called “kriging” models, “artificial neural nets” (ANNs), and logistic regression methods are briefly described. ANNs and logistic regression methods are relevant for categorical responses. Each of the modeling methods described here offers advantages in specific contexts. However, all of these alternatives have a practical disadvantage in that formal optimization must be used in their fitting process.
Atropine Effect on Fear Bradycardia of the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, Sylvilagus floridanus

Abstract Multichannel transmitters were surgically implanted in the abdominal cavity of five mature eastern cottontail rabbits, Sylvilagus floridanus, and the heart rate response to fear investigated. Transmitted heart rate was obtained for 10 min prior to disturbance. The rabbit was then stimulated for 5 min by approach of the investigator. Ten minutes of recovery data were collected following disturbance. Fear bradycardia was observed in each of 17 experiments. Onset of bradycardia occurred within 5 s of the stimulus. Recovery required from 1 to 4 min. No recovery tachycardia was observed. Mean heart rates during prestimulus, stimulus and recovery were 209 ± 1.1, 156 ± 1.4 and 198 ± 0.7 bpm (x¯ ± SE) respectively. In subsequent experiments, atropine was injected to block vagal influence of the heart. Fear bradycardia was present in each of 17 experiments, however, the magnitude was decreased. Atropine treated heart rates during prestimulus, stimulus and recovery were 254 ± 0.8, 202 ± 1.4 and 238 ± 1.0 bpm (x¯ ± SE) respectively. Mean heart rate reduction of 25.4 percent was observed in the experiments without treatment and 20.5 percent in atropine treated animals, indicating possible involvement of the sympathetic portion of the autonomic system.
Vintage Wine in New Bottles: Infusing Select Ideas into the Study of Immigration, Immigrants, and Mental Health

The metaphor vintage wine in new bottles imagines how ideas from immigration studies, social psychology, and cultural sociology add novel insights about how the social context and social relationships of immigrant lives are linked to well-being. This article describes a few patterns in research studies that have addressed whether immigrants have higher or lower rates of mental health problems than their U.S.-born counterparts. It discusses a few past approaches to explain the differences in mental health outcomes. The article concludes with select concepts and tools from other sociological fields that may invigorate research on immigrants and their health and mental health.
THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Toward a Food Ethic

First paragraphs: Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic is credited with defining a new relationship between people and nature and setting the stage for the modern conservation movement (Aldo Leopold Foundation, n.d.). Most simply stated: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise" (Partridge, 1993, The Land Ethic, para. 10). Again, in the words of Leopold, "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land" (Aldo Leopold Foundation, n.d., para. 1). I believe we need a similar Food Ethic to guide the modern sustainable agriculture movement. Some may question the need for a new food ethic. There is already an interdisciplinary field of study called "food ethics" that "provides ethical analysis and guidance for human conduct in the production, distribution, preparation and consumption of food" (Peeler, 2015, para. 2). The Catholic Rural Life program has long reminded us that "Eating is a Moral Act," noting that, "We say this simply because food sustains life. But the world of agriculture is extremely complex and there are many moral dimensions to it" (Catholic Rural Life, 2012, para. 1). The idea of a food ethic also is a common sentiment among Native Peoples. Ethical eating certainly is not new idea....
Controlling the Messenger: Regulated Translation of Maternal mRNAs in Xenopus laevis Development

The selective translation of maternal mRNAs encoding cell-fate determinants drives the earliest decisions of embryogenesis that establish the vertebrate body plan. This chapter will discuss studies in Xenopus laevis that provide insights into mechanisms underlying this translational control. Xenopus has been a powerful model organism for many discoveries relevant to the translational control of maternal mRNAs because of the large size of its oocytes and eggs that allow for microinjection of molecules and the relative ease of manipulating the oocyte to egg transition (maturation) and fertilization in culture. Consequently, many key studies have focused on the expression of maternal mRNAs during the oocyte to egg transition (the meiotic cell cycle) and the rapid cell divisions immediately following fertilization. This research has made seminal contributions to our understanding of translational regulatory mechanisms, but while some of the mRNAs under consideration at these stages encode cell-fate determinants, many encode cell cycle regulatory proteins that drive these early cell cycles. In contrast, while maternal mRNAs encoding key developmental (i.e., cell-fate) regulators that function after the first cleavage stages may exploit aspects of these foundational mechanisms, studies reveal that these mRNAs must also rely on distinct and, as of yet, incompletely understood mechanisms. These findings are logical because the functions of such developmental regulatory proteins have requirements distinct from cell cycle regulators, including becoming relevant only after fertilization and then only in specific cells of the embryo. Indeed, key maternal cell-fate determinants must be made available in exquisitely precise amounts (usually low), only at specific times and in specific cells during embryogenesis. To provide an appreciation for the regulation of maternal cell-fate determinant expression, an overview of the maternal phase of Xenopus embryogenesis will be presented. This section will be followed by a review of translational mechanisms operating in oocytes, eggs, and early cleavage-stage embryos and conclude with a discussion of how the regulation of key maternal cell-fate determinants at the level of translation functions in Xenopus embryogenesis. A key theme is that the molecular asymmetries critical for forming the body axes are established and further elaborated upon by the selective temporal and spatial regulation of maternal mRNA translation.
Vascular closure devices in stroke patients receiving tissue plasminogen activator: A retrospective analysis from an academic tertiary medical center and a teaching community hospital stroke database.

Abstract Objectives To determine the safety and effectiveness of vascular closure devices in prevention of access site complications in acute stroke patient receiving intravenous (IV) and/or intra-arterial (IA) IV tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). Patients and methods All patients with acute stroke onset treated with IV and/or IA tPA closed with vascular closure device and adult age (>18 years) were identified from an academic tertiary medical center and a teaching community hospital stroke database for 9 years (from March 2005 to June 2014). Results A total of 69 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 68.86 ± 16.70 years and 49.2% female. All accesses were under fluoroscopic guidance into the right common femoral artery. We observed a 5.8% complication rate in patients receiving IV and/or IA tPA closed with vascular closure device. Access site complications included 3 cases of hematoma and 1 case of residual oozing. One patient required transfusion due to access site hematoma. Three patients were on aspirin and heparin and 1 was on no prior anticoagulation. Conclusions Vascular closure device access site hemorrhagic complication rate in those receiving IV and/or IA tPA is low and similar to reported rates in those not receiving thrombolytic therapy. Vascular closure device use in patients receiving thrombolytic therapy is safe and effectively achieves hemostasis.
Effect of C 60 adducts on the dynamic structure of aromatic solvation shells

Abstract We report herein on the use of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the solvation environment of C60 and four C60-derived fullerenes immersed in a variety of aromatic solvents. Utilizing a recently developed solvation shell analysis technique that quantifies the spatial relationships between fullerenes and solvent on a molecular level, we show that the number of fullerene substituents and solvent chemistry are crucial determinants of the solvation shell structure and thus fullerene solvation behavior. Specifically, it is shown for the derivatives investigated that the number of fullerene substituents is more critical to solvation behavior than the substituent chemistry.
A Closer Look at Cost Approach Assumptions

This chapter provides further discussion of several key assumptions underlying the cost approach and suggests ways to add rigor to the cost evaluation. Many of these points were brought up throughout the preceding chapters in a cursory fashion. We delve into further detail here in order to gain a more critical understanding of the primary approach to valuing the assembled workforce. Specific topics include the conceptual rationale of the assembled workforce as an “owned” asset, a closer look at the entrepreneurial return and lost productivity, refinements to workforce assemblage costs, and the special circumstances surrounding non-fungible and short-term workers.
Versatility of targeted antibiotic-loaded gold nanoconstructs for the treatment of biofilm-associated bacterial infections.

Background: We previously demonstrated that a photoactivatable therapeutic approach employing antibiotic-loaded, antibody-conjugated, polydopamine (PDA)-coated gold nanocages (AuNCs) could be used ...
Clonal Variation in Cereals and Forage Grasses

Clonal changes in tissue culture have proved to be a useful method for creating desirable variants in most cereal crops. Variants include changes in physiological mechanisms, agronomic characteristics, plant type, and resistance to pests and stress conditions.
The Dynamics of Stress and Fatigue Across Menopause: Attractors, Coupling, and Resilience

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the regulatory dynamics between stress and fatigue experienced by women during the menopausal transition (MT) and early postmenopause (EPM). Fatigue and perceived stress are commonly experienced by women during the MT and EPM. We sought to discover relationships between these symptoms and to employ these symptoms as possible markers for resilience. Methods Participants were drawn from the longitudinal Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study. Eligible women completed questionnaires on 60+ occasions (annual health reports and monthly health diaries) (n = 56 women). The total number of observations across the sample was 4,224. STRAW+10 criteria were used to stage women in either in late reproductive, early or late transition, or EPM stage. Change values were generated for fatigue and stress and analyzed with a multilevel structural equation model; slopes indicate how quickly a person returns to homeostasis after a perturbation. Coupling of stress and fatigue was modeled to evaluate resilience, the notion of maintaining stability during change. Results Eligible women were on average 35 years old (SD = 4.71), well educated, employed, married or partnered, and white. Fit indices suggested the model depicts the relationships of stress and fatigue (χ(9 df) = 7.638, P = 0.57, correction factor = 4.9244; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) 90% CI = 0.000 ≤ 0.000 ≤ 0.032; comparative fit index (CFI) = 1.00). A loss in model fit across stages suggests that the four stages differed in their dynamics (χΔ(12 df) = 21.181, P = .048). All stages showed fixed-point attractor dynamics: fatigue became less stable over time; stress generally became more stable over time. Coupling relationships of stress on fatigue show evidence for shifts in regulatory relationships with one another across the MT. Conclusions Results are suggestive of general dysregulation via disruptions to coupling relationships of stress and fatigue across the MT. Findings support a holistic approach to understanding symptoms and supporting women during the MT.
Why Do People Rideshare? An Experimental Study

Abstract Enabled by mobile technologies and fueled by the economic downturn, ridesharing has emerged in recent years as a private transportation facet of the shared economy. Our study investigates the motives for participation in situated ridesharing. We propose a theoretical model that includes economic benefits, time benefits, transportation anxiety, trust, and reciprocity either as direct antecedents of ridesharing participation intention, or mediated through attitude towards ridesharing. We conduct a scenario-based survey, with 300 participants. Our findings indicate that, in situations where transportation anxiety is high (e.g. construction on the road), if people can trust the ridesharing service providers and participants, in the presence of economic and time benefits, they will have a strong intention to participate in ridesharing.
Superconducting parametric amplifiers: The next big thing in (Sub)millimeter-wave receivers

We are developing a new superconducting amplifier technology for radio astronomy instruments called the Traveling-Wave Kinetic Inductance Parametric (TKIP) amplifier. Invented at Caltech/JPL, recent laboratory demonstrations have resulted in near quantum-limited noise performance over more than an octave of microwave bandwidth and operating temperatures as high as 3 Kelvin. These amplifiers have the potential to be used as front-end replacements for ALMA's mm/sub-mm SIS receivers and intermediate frequency (IF) amplifiers, and for multiplexing faint signals from focal-plane arrays of single-photon detectors on space telescopes such as NASA's Origins Space Telescope (OST). The enhanced observational capabilities that would be enabled by TKIP front-end amplifiers on ALMA would tremendously benefit ALMA science across all bands.
Apolipoprotein E and Atherosclerosis: From Lipoprotein Metabolism to MicroRNA Control of Inflammation

Apolipoprotein (apo) E stands out among plasma apolipoproteins through its unprecedented ability to protect against atherosclerosis. Although best recognized for its ability to mediate plasma lipoprotein clearance in the liver and protect against macrophage foam cell formation, our recent understanding of the influence that apoE can exert to control atherosclerosis has significantly widened. Among apoE’s newfound athero-protective properties include an ability to control exaggerated hematopoiesis, blood monocyte activation and aortic stiffening in mice with hyperlipidemia. Mechanisms responsible for these exciting new properties extend beyond apoE’s ability to prevent cellular lipid excess. Rather, new findings have revealed a role for apoE in regulating microRNA-controlled cellular signaling in cells of the immune system and vascular wall. Remarkably, infusions of apoE-responsive microRNA mimics were shown to substitute for apoE in protecting against systemic and vascular inflammation to suppress atherosclerosis in mice with hyperlipidemia. Finally, more recent evidence suggests that apoE may control the release of microvesicles that could modulate cellular signaling, inflammation and atherosclerosis at a distance. These exciting new findings position apoE within the emerging field of intercellular communication that could introduce new approaches to control atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease.
Patient Care, Education, and Scholarship in the Patient-Centered Medical Home

BACKGROUND Family medicine needs to enhance its scholarly contributions. The discipline is beginning to do so by developing virtuous cycles in which scholarship, education, and clinical care in the patient centered medical home are mutually reinforcing.
Moral Perception and the Contents of Experience

I defend the thesis that at least some moral properties can be part of the contents of experience. I argue for this claim using a contrast argument , a type of argument commonly found in the literature on the philosophy of perception. I first appeal to psychological research on what I call emotionally empathetic dysfunctional individuals ( EEDI s) to establish a phenomenal contrast between EEDI s and normal individuals in some moral situations. I then argue that the best explanation for this contrast, assuming non-skeptical moral realism, is that badness is represented in the normal individual’s experience but not in the EEDI ’s experience. I consider and reject four alternative explanations of the contrast.
Term familiarity to indicate perceived and actual difficulty of text in medical digital libraries

With increasing text digitization, digital libraries can personalize materials for individuals with different education levels and language skills. To this end, documents need meta-information describing their difficulty level. Previous attempts at such labeling used readability formulas but the formulas have not been validated with modern texts and their outcome is seldom associated with actual difficulty. We focus on medical texts and are developing new, evidence-based meta-tags that are associated with perceived and actual text difficulty. This work describes a first tag, 'term familiarity', which is based on term frequency in the Google corpus. We evaluated its feasibility to serve as a tag by looking at a document corpus (N=1,073) and found that terms in blogs or journal articles displayed unexpected but significantly different scores. Term familiarity was then applied to texts and results from a previous user study (N=86) and could better explain differences for perceived and actual difficulty.
Using Hyperpolarized Xenon-129 MRI to Quantify Early-Stage Lung Disease in Smokers.

Rationale and Objectives Hyperpolarized xenon-129 magnetic resonance (MR) provides sensitive tools that may detect early stages of lung disease in smokers before it has progressed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) apparent to conventional spirometric measures. We hypothesized that the functional alveolar wall thickness as assessed by hyperpolarized xenon-129 MR spectroscopy would be elevated in clinically healthy smokers before xenon MR diffusion measurements would indicate emphysematous tissue destruction. Materials and Methods Using hyperpolarized xenon-129 MR we measured the functional septal wall thickness and apparent diffusion coefficient of the gas phase in 16 subjects with smoking-related COPD, 9 clinically healthy current or former smokers, and 10 healthy never smokers. All subjects were age-matched and characterized by conventional pulmonary function tests. A total of 11 data sets from younger healthy never smokers were added to determine the age dependence of the septal wall thickness measurements. Results In healthy never smokers the septal wall thickness increased by 0.04 μm per year of age. The healthy smoker cohort exhibited normal pulmonary function test measures that did not significantly differ from the never-smoker cohort. The age-corrected septal wall thickness correlated well with diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (R2 = 0.56) and showed a highly significant difference between healthy subjects and COPD patients (8.8 μm vs 12.3 μm; p Conclusion Functional alveolar wall thickness assessed by hyperpolarized xenon-129 MR allows discrimination between healthy subjects and healthy smokers and could become a powerful new measure of early-stage lung disease.
A new matrix formulation of the Maxwell and Dirac equations.

Abstract Presented in this paper is a new matrix formulation of both the classical electromagnetic Maxwell equations and the relativistic quantum mechanical Dirac equation. These new matrix representations will be referred to as the Maxwell spacetime matrix equation and the Dirac spacetime matrix equation. Both are Lorentz invariant. Key to these new matrix formulations is an 8-by-8 matrix operator referred to here as the spacetime matrix operator. As it turns out, the Dirac spacetime matrix equation is equivalent to four new vector equations, which are similar in form to the four Maxwell vector equations. These new equations will be referred to as the Dirac spacetime vector equations. This allows these new vector equations to be as readily solved as solving a set of Maxwell vector equations. Based on these two new matrix approaches, two computer programs, encoded using Matlab software, have been developed and tested for determining the reflection and transmission characteristics of multilayer optical thin-film structures and multilayer quantum well-and-barrier structures. A listing of these software programs may be found in supplemental material associated with this article. Numerical results obtained based on the use of these computer programs are presented in the results section of this article.
Reducing Reliance on Test Scores Reduces Racial Bias in Neurology Residency Recruitment

Abstract Purpose We sought to correct a low interview rate for racial groups underrepresented in medicine (URM) by analyzing our interview selection process, identifying sources of unintended bias, and developing a new process that would provide a more racially diverse interview pool. Methods We analyzed our review process to determine at which point we were eliminating URM candidates at a higher rate than those who are not from an underrepresented group. A point system was created incorporating clinical grades, extracurricular activities, research, letters of recommendation, board exam scores, and life experiences. We compared the rate at which interviews were offered to URM candidates and compared those rates to historical data. We then analyzed the new process by comparing groups who were offered interviews to those who were not. Results In 2016, 56% of URM applicants were screened out by a mandatory minimum United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) test score, whereas only 39% of all other groups were disqualified by test scores. This led to 20% of the URM applicants receiving interview offers. By comparison, 30.6% of other groups were offered interviews. After removing the required minimum test score for application review and modifying the screening process to a more holistic one the following application cycle, 24.5% of URMs were offered interviews in 2017 compared to 28.1% of others. Conclusions A comprehensive review of applications that minimizes emphasis on USMLE step 1 scores substantially reduced the difference between the percentages of URMs and those of other racial backgrounds who were offered interviews for a Neurology residency.
Glutamine synthetase immunor present in oligodendroglia of regions of the central nervous system

Glutamine synthetase immunoreactive oligodendrocytes were identified in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, brain stem, and spinal cord. They were mostly confined to the gray matter, particularly close to neurons and processes. The white matter showed few immunoreactive oligodendroglia. It was suggested that some type of oligodendrocytes, specially those in perineuronal location, might fulfill a functional role more akin to astrocytes than to the normally myelinating oligodendroglia.
A strategy for increasing the energy release rate of aluminum by replacing the alumina passivation shell with aluminum iodate hexahydrate (AIH)

Abstract Aluminum iodate hexahydrate (AIH) is an oxidizing salt that can be synthesized on the surface of nano-aluminum (nAl) particles, replacing the inherent alumina (Al2O3) passivation shell. For nAl particles encapsulated by AIH, rates of reaction have been shown to be on a time scale relevant to a detonation. Yet, little is known about the reaction mechanism between AIH and Al or how the Al2O3 passivation shell encapsulating nAl particles affects the reaction mechanism. This study explores the reactive nature of AIH and nAl by examining ignition and energy transfer of two different AIH + nAl formulations. The first is AIH synthesized on the surface of nAl particles to a concentration ratio of 80 wt% AIH to 20 wt% nAl. This composite particle lacks the Al2O3 shell that inherently passivates nAl and replacing it with AIH, these particles will be referred to as ParticleAIH+Al. In comparison, a discrete mixture of 80 wt% AIH powder combined with 20 wt% nAl powder is also examined and the mixture is referred to as MixAIH+Al. Laser ignition studies show ignition and burn times are reduced for ParticleAIH+Al compared to MixAIH+Al, owing to the presence of the Al2O3 diffusion barrier that inhibits ignition in the MixAIH+Al. Also, flame speed measurements reveal that ParticleAIH+Al propagate at 3062 m/s while the MixAIH+Al at 1366 m/s. Further analysis using thermal equilibrium calculations show hydrogen gas generation may facilitate heat transfer and energy propagation. Equilibrium analysis using differential scanning calorimetry also show the decomposition energy of pure AIH is nearly the same as the ignition energy of ParticleAIH+Al but twice that energy is required to ignite MixAIH+Al. All of these results provide a stronger foundation for the impedance of the Al2O3 passivation shell on the rate of energy release for Al reaction under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions.
DrawGlycan-SNFG and gpAnnotate: rendering glycans and annotating glycopeptide mass spectra

Summary This manuscript describes an open-source program, DrawGlycan-SNFG (version 2), that accepts IUPAC (International Union of Pure & Applied Chemist)-condensed inputs to render Symbol Nomenclature For Glycans (SNFG) drawings. A wide range of local and global options enable display of various glycan/peptide modifications including bond breakages, adducts, repeat structures, ambiguous identifications, etc. These facilities make DrawGlycan-SNFG ideal for integration into various glycoinformatics software, including glycomics and glycoproteomics mass spectrometry applications. As a demonstration of such usage, we incorporated DrawGlycan-SNFG into gpAnnotate, a standalone application to score and annotate individual MS/MS glycopeptide spectrum in different fragmentation modes. Availability and implementation DrawGlycan-SNFG and gpAnnotate are platform independent. While originally coded using MATLAB, compiled packages are also provided to enable DrawGlycan-SNFG implementation in Python and Java. All programs are available from https://virtualglycome.org/drawglycan; https://virtualglycome.org/gpAnnotate. Supplementary information Supplementary Material are available at Bioinformatics online.
Sensor-Array Optimization Based on Mutual Information for Sanitation-Related Malodor Alerts

There is an unmet need for a low-cost instrumented technology for detecting malodor around toilets and emerging sanitation technologies for onsite waste treatment. Our approach to an electronic nose for sanitation-related malodor is based on the use of electrochemical gas sensors, and machine learning techniques are utilized to optimize the sensor array and for odor classification. We screened 12 sensors for different vendors and target gases and recorded response to odorants from fecal specimen and from confounding good odors such as popcorn. The analysis by two feature selection methods based on mutual information indicates that the feature dimensionality can be reduced to five features extracted from only three sensors. A logistic regression classifier with five features achieved 74.8% accuracy and 84.2% F1 score in odor classification. These early results are promising, and they can potentially enable the optimized design of an integrated e-nose system for alerting malodor, and which can be utilized in public toilets and onsite waste treatment systems.
International commitments and domestic opinion: the effect of the Paris Agreement on public support for policies to address climate change

How might voluntary international commitments affect domestic support for costly policies to address climate change? We investigated this question by studying the effect of the Paris Agreement on t...