cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Annual Cycles of Steroid Hormone Production, Gonad Development, and Reproductive Behavior in the Atlantic Stingray

The mating season of the Atlantic stingray (Dasyatis sabina), which begins in August and continues through April, is the longest documented for any elasmobranch fish. Despite this protracted mating period, female stingrays ovulate synchronously at the end of the mating season and there is no evidence for sperm storage by females. Thus, the proximate causal factors and ultimate function of this extended preovulatory mating are unknown. Annual cycles of the gonadal steroids testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 17beta-estradiol (E2), and progesterone (P4) were measured for 26 months in a wild estuarine population of Atlantic stingrays to test for associations with their reproductive biology, gametogenesis, and sexual behavior. Serum androgen levels in males showed four phases within an annual cycle: (1) androgen suppression between reproductive seasons (April-July), (2) primary androgen increase during the onset of spermatocyte development (August-October), (3) androgen decrease following maximum testis growth and spermatocyte development (November-December), and (4) secondary androgen increase during the peak of sperm maturation (January-March). Increases in male E2 and P4 were correlated with spermatocyte/spermatocyst formation, maximum testis weight, and the primary (but not secondary) androgen surge. We propose that the production of male androgens across the full seven-month preovulatory mating period promotes their aggressive reproductive behavior and drives the protracted mating season of this species. In females, serum T and DHT showed relatively brief increases near ovulation, whereas E2 and P4 showed brief increases near both ovulation and parturition. The increase in female androgens near ovulation may increase female aggression when they are impregnable by courting males and enhance their choice of mates. This estuary sample population shows higher absolute steroid levels and distinct differences in temporal cycles compared to another Florida fresh water lake population, but the cause and significance of these differences are unknown. Experiments are needed to confirm that the aggressive and protracted mating behavior is the result of prolonged male androgen production and to determine whether the sustained preovulatory mating serves some function related to female reproduction.
The Impact of Courts on the Decision to Expand Jail Capacity

Over the past 20 years, an extensive literature has focused on the role of courts in shaping public policy and management. Yet despite the continuing interest in the topic, very little "hard" evidence exists on the actual impact of court interventions in public agencies. The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of court orders and mandates on public programs in one of the most important areas of judicial intervention, local jails. The authors' findings for a national sample of jails in 1983 and 1988 confirm that court orders do influence the decision to expand the capacity of local jails. However, other jail-related factors—the level of overcrowding and jail age-actually have stronger impacts on the probability that a jurisdiction will decide to expand capacity than does the presence of a court order. These results imply a reconsideration of the conventional wisdom that court orders force reluctant elected officials to vote for unpopular capital projects, such as jails. The authors' findings ...
Families and Forgiveness: A Theoretical and Therapeutic Framework:

Although forgiveness is a concept with which families from various cultures have been familiar for ages, there has been little in the way of therapeutic literature that seeks to define and delineate methodology to help families in the process of forgiving. This article examines a theoreticalframework in which therapeutic forgiveness is conceptualized as afour-station process of insight, understanding, giving the opportunity for compensation, and overt forgiving. A definition of forgiveness, theoretical reasoning for forgiveness, and how the framework is applied in family therapy are discussed.
Novel examination for evaluating medical student clinical reasoning: reliability and association with patients seen.

ABSTRACT Background: Medical students learn clinical reasoning, in part, through patient care. Although the numbers of patients seen is associated with knowledge examination scores, studies have not demonstrated an association between patient problems and an assessment of clinical reasoning. Aim: To examine the reliability of a clinical reasoning examination and investigate whether there was association between internal medicine core clerkship students' performance on this examination and the number of patients they saw with matching problems during their internal medicine clerkship. Methods: Students on the core internal medicine clerkship at the Uniformed Services University students log 11 core patient problems based on the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine curriculum. On a final clerkship examination (Multistep), students watch a scripted video encounter between physician and patient actors that assesses three sequential steps in clinical reasoning: Step One focuses on history and physical exam...
Proboscis lateralis with associated orbital cyst : detailed MR and CT imaging and correlative embryopathy

Proboscis lateralis is a rare craniofacial malformation. We present a case in a 1-week-old male infant, describe the clinical and imaging findings, and discuss the pertinent embryology. MR and CT proved to be complementary: CT provided anatomic detail in bone, defined the nasal cavity, and aided in determining the relationship of the proboscis and orbit; MR clarified the relationship of the proboscis to the orbit and skull base, and the relationships of normal brain to the dysplastic ethmoid centers.
Abstract 344: Incretin-Loaded Nanocarriers for Glucose Control, Therapy and Imaging of Atherosclerosis

Background: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a key regulator of glucose control via interaction with the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R). GLP-1R is G-protein coupled receptor that signals through PKA-cAMP widely expressed on various cells including innate immune cells. Objective: To develop MRI-visible nanoparticles (NPs) carrying a GLP-1 mimetic Liraglutide (NP-Lira) and to test the hypothesis if NP-Lira accumulates in atherosclerosis and exerts anti-inflammatory and lipoprotein effects. Methods and Results: High-fat fed ApoE -/- mice were injected with a single dose of Lira-NP or Naked-NP followed by an oral glucose challenge. Glucose control was significantly improved with NP-Lira but not with NP-Naked ( Fig. A ). Fast protein liquid chromatography demonstrated that VLDL-apoB levels were significantly decreased by 66% at 2 hrs with NP-Lira vs. NP-controls together with reduction of triglycerides ( Fig. B, C ). Imaging of aortic plaque on a 9.4 T magnet revealed that NP-Lira accumulated in atherosclerosis as evidenced by increase in plaque CNR by 256% as compared to pre-injection ( Fig. D ). In vitro experiments demonstrated potent effects of NP-Lira vs NP-Naked in reducing pro-inflammatory gene expression and potentiation of in vitro cholesterol efflux via c-AMP dependent mechanisms. Conclusion: Nanocarriers containing GLP-1 reduce post-prandial lipids and glucose control. We postulate that their concomitant accumulation within plaque may result in favorable effects on inflammation and cholesterol efflux.
Variation in the human bicondylar angle

Objectives Investigations of the human femoral bicondylar angle have largely focused on interspecific differences and intrapopulation variation. This analysis assesses the range of variation in the bicondylar angle in humans across four populations, examining the effects of population, sex and age. Materials and Methods The bicondylar angle was assessed in four sex- and age-balanced adult skeletal samples—modern Terry Whites and Blacks and archaeological South Dakota Arikara and Native Alaskans. The overall range of variation was assessed, and variation specific to population, sex, and age analyzed through ANOVAs and post hoc Tukey's honestly significant difference tests. Results A one-way ANOVA highlights a significant effect of population on bicondylar angle; however, the only significant difference occurs between the Terry White and South Dakota Arikara samples. Sex displays a significant effect for the total pooled sample; yet, within population, the effect of sex is significant only among South Dakota Arikara. Age also has a significant effect on bicondylar angle in the total sample; however, the interaction between age and population is not significant. Conclusion The results highlight the degree of variation in the bicondylar angle that exists intraspecifically. Differing degrees of variation due to sex suggest that sexual dimorphism is not universal in the human bicondylar angle. Furthermore, the broad impact of age on this feature is discussed, including the potential for plasticity through adulthood. By recognizing and explicitly examining morphological features that vary in human populations, we can appreciate the origins of variation and its implications for locomotor function, human diversity and evolutionary relationships. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:334–340, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effects of ZrO2 Addition on the Mechanical Properties of TiB2-6%TaB2-1%CoB-2%TiC-α%ZrO2 Ceramics

TiB2-6%TaB2-1%CoB-2%TiC ceramics have a bending strength of 1000MPa and a porosity of 0.1vol%, but fracture toughness KIC of 3-3.5MPam1/2. Therefore, our desire is to improve the fracture toughness Klc of these ceramics. TiB2-6%TaB2-1%CoB-2%TiC-30%m-ZrO2 and TiB2 6%TaB2-1%CoB-2%TiC-40%t-ZrO2 ceramics in which t-ZrO2 contains 12mol%CeO2 have KIC of 7.5 and 12MPam1/2, respectively. It is thought that the high KIC of the ceramics containing m-ZrO2 and t-ZrO2 stabilized by CeO2 are mainly caused from the following reasons. The fracture cracks are stopped and diffracted by the micro-cracks between ZrO2 grain and other chemical composition grain which are caused by the difference of thermal expansion and which are occured by influence of the fracture cracks.
Cultural Practices Inhibiting Overwintering Survival of Brachycolus asparagi Mordvilko (Homoptera: Aphididae)

Fall burning, mowing, or careful removal of dormant asparagus fern with or without subsequent spring tillage inhibited overwintering survival of an asparagus aphid, Brachycolus asparagi Mordvilko. Spring tillage alone reduced populations by 84% and the number of spears infested by 44%. Destruction of ferns in the fall alone reduced aphid numbers by 65 to 76% and the number of spears infested by 13to 56%. The best combination of treatments was fall mowing followed by spring tillage. This reduced the number of fundatrices by 98% and the percentage of spears infested by 85%. Mowing was 2-fold more effective than burning. There was no apparent relationship between numbers of eggs in the fall and the percentage of spears infested, the total number of fundatrices, or the number of fundatrices infesting each spear the following year in the untreated plots.
Integrated cancer imaging and therapy using gold nanoshells

Nanoshells are a class of nanomaterials that have unique optical properties achievable through systematic manipulation of design parameters. We describe the development of an integrated cancer imaging and therapy application using near-infrared gold nanoshell bioconjugates.
Cooperation by Business Groups

CONSIDERATION will be given only to the cooperative efforts in business that are comparable to cooperation by consumers. The more important types of cooperative institutions in business which meet this specification are trade associations and institutes, chambers of commerce, mutual insurance companies, interchange credit bureaus, and many cooperative buying organizations. Most of the functions of trade associations and institutes are included in the following list.
GWU NLP at SemEval-2016 Shared Task 1: Matrix Factorization for Crosslingual STS

We present a matrix factorization model for learning cross-lingual representations for sentences. Using sentence-aligned corpora, the proposed model learns distributed representations by factoring the given data into language-dependent factors and one shared factor. As a result, input sentences from both languages can be mapped into fixed-length vectors and then compared directly using the cosine similarity measure, which achieves 0.8 Pearson correlation on Spanish-English semantic textual similarity.
Leveraging Wireless Sensors and Smart Phones to Study Gait Variability

Recent research shows that cognitive load has an effect on gait, especially noticeable in people with neurodegenerative disorders. Most researchers in this field employ sophisticated and expensive systems to measure the variability of gait parameters under different cognitive loads. In this paper we propose the use of smart phones and off-the-shelf wireless accelerometers to implement a light-weight and low-cost system to study the influence of cognitive load on gait. Making use of this new approach, we study the effect on gait variability derived from imposing a speed while walking in a treadmill. We also compare “phone-texting” with other common “working memory” and “motor” tasks used by researchers to study the influence of cognitive load on gait. Our approach avoids the space constraints imposed by current systems during the tests, and delivers an accuracy comparable to that of the most sophisticated systems available in the market.
Genetic Algorithm–Based Approach for Optimal Deployment of Roadside Units in Connected and Automated Vehicle Environments

Traffic management strategies play a critical role in connected and automated vehicle (CV/AV) environments in which vehicles will be the primary source of traffic information. In CV/AV environments, traffic data are collected from vehicles, and decisions are made at the transportation management centers (TMCs) and communicated back to vehicles via deployed roadside units (RSUs). This process poses a challenge at the early deployment stages of the technology because of the anticipated low market penetration. Under such conditions, RSUs must be optimally located throughout the network to provide continuity and expand the coverage of vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems. This study presents a genetic algorithm–based approach for determining the optimal locations of RSUs by maximizing the connectivity robustness measure, by taking into consideration vehicle clustering (groups of vehicles in transmission range of each other), network size, and other factors. Traffic simulation data were generated from a mi...
ASCE-EWRI standardized Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration (ET) equation performance in southeastern Colorado

Abstract Quantification of crop water use or evapotranspiration (ET c ) is required for efficient irrigation water management. The ASCE-EWRI Standardized Penman-Monteith (PM) evapotranspiration equation (ET sz ) has been recommended by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to estimate reference ET. The reference alfalfa ET obtained from the standardized ET equation (ET rs ) along with alfalfa crop coefficients (K cr ) can be used to estimate a given crop ET c . In this study, the ET sz equation was evaluated using measured alfalfa ET (ET r ) from a large monolithic precision weighing lysimeter located near Rocky Ford, Colorado, USA, using data from 2009 to 2012. The performance evaluation of the PM ET sz equation was done for different atmospheric stability conditions for individual years and for all years combined. Also, the evaluation was carried out for multiple alfalfa cutting cycles. The results obtained showed that the equation underestimated measured ET r (−0.04 mm/h (−14%)) for stable atmospheric conditions. Nonetheless, the ET sz values matched closely to those of the lysimeter for unstable atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, somewhat large scattered ET rs values (RMSE of 0.11 mm/h (25.5%)) were observed for neutral atmospheric conditions. The ET rs comparison produced acceptable results for daily time step for years 2009–2011. However, the daily ET rs comparison was not acceptable for the 2012 dataset, which included effects of severe heat advection. Moreover, it was found that the ET sz equation overestimated ET r , the MBE was 0.05 mm/h (18.1%) for the first alfalfa cutting cycle and slightly underestimated (up to −0.02 mm/h (−5.7%)) ET r for the second, third and fourth cutting cycles. Therefore, adjusting (reducing) the value of the constant C d in the ASCE Standardized ET rs equation for stable atmospheric conditions is recommended; and either adjusting (increasing) the C d value or developing a different set of crop coefficients for the first cutting cycle of alfalfa, which ultimately helps in improving agricultural water use efficiency.
Starvation Ketoacidosis as a Cause of Unexplained Metabolic Acidosis in the Perioperative Period

BACKGROUND Besides providing anesthesia for surgery, the anesthesiologist's role is to optimize the patient for surgery and for post-surgical recovery. This involves timely identification and treatment of medical comorbidities and abnormal laboratory values that could complicate the patient's perioperative course. There are several potential causes of anion and non-anion gap metabolic acidosis in surgical patients, most of which could profoundly affect a patient's surgical outcome. Thus, the presence of an acute acid-base disturbance requires a thorough workup, the results of which will influence the patient's anesthetic management. CASE REPORT An otherwise-healthy 24-year-old female presented for elective spine surgery and was found to have metabolic acidosis, hypotension, and polyuria intraoperatively. Common causes of acute metabolic acidosis were investigated and systematically ruled out, including lactic acidosis, diabetic ketoacidosis, drug-induced ketoacidosis, ingestion of toxic alcohols (e.g., methanol, ethylene glycol), uremia, and acute renal failure. Laboratory workup was remarkable only for elevated serum and urinary ketone levels, believed to be secondary to starvation ketoacidosis. Due to the patient's unexplained acid-base disturbance, she was kept intubated postoperatively to allow for further workup and management. CONCLUSIONS Starvation ketoacidosis is not widely recognized as a perioperative entity, and it is not well described in the medical literature. Lack of anesthesiologist awareness about this disorder may complicate the differential diagnosis for acute intraoperative metabolic acidosis and lead to a prolonged postoperative stay and an increase in hospital costs. The short- and long-term implications of perioperative ketoacidosis are not well defined and require further investigation.
Formative Evaluation of Academic Tool Teaching Packages with Student Peers

Twenty students with teacher identified deficits in math or reading skills were selected to receive teaching packages for up to ten minutes each day for four weeks. Results indicate that peer teach...
Scents and Reminiscence: Olfactory Influences on Memory Consolidation in the Sleeping Human Brain

Most animals sleep, even though the loss of vigilance associated with the sleep state can have serious consequences for survival. Why animals need to sleep is unclear, and the precise functions of sleep are not well understood. Recent studies have converged on the idea that sleep plays an active role in supporting memory consolidation. In the past decade, researchers have developed a unique method to manipulate specific memories during sleep. Known as targeted memory reactivation, this procedure involves presentation of a sensory cue during an initial encoding task, and then re-presentation of the same cue during slow-wave sleep, resulting in memory enhancement for the cue-associated items in the wake state. Odor stimuli have proven to be an effective entry point for reactivating memories in the sleeping human brain: the olfactory pathway projects directly to limbic networks supporting memory and emotion, and odors can be delivered with minimal risk of waking the sleeping subject. Here we review the human literature on olfactory targeted memory reactivation, detailing its initial applications and more recent progress in the field. Although the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive, the capacity of sleep-borne odors to selectively target memories has important basic and translational research implications for shaping the consolidation of both declarative and emotional memories.
Physisorption Mechanism of Solvated Polysulfide Chains on Graphene Oxides with Varied Functional Groups

Despite the high theoretical capacity (∼1675 mAh/g) and energy density, commercialization of the lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries has been hindered primarily due to the loss of active material at the cathode through the “polysulfide shuttle” effect during repeated charge–discharge cycles. Graphene and graphene oxide (GO) are being explored as effective cathode supports to alleviate these problems. However, there is a lack in fundamental understanding of the physical interactions between polysulfide and graphene/GO substrates. In order to determine the dominant mechanisms for physisorption of polysulfides on GO, we employed molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate polysulfides (S82–) solvated in standard dimethoxy ethane (DME)/dioxalane (DOL) (1:1 v/v) solvent near a range of graphene and GO structures. The results indicate that the extent of physisorption of polysulfide is governed by Coulombic interactions with GO, solvent orientation near substrates, and steric factors that depend on the nature and surface de...
The spectrum of mild traumatic brain injury: A review.

Objective: This review provides an in-depth overview of diagnostic schema and risk factors influencing recovery during the acute, subacute (operationally defined as up to 3 months postinjury), and chronic injury phases across the full spectrum of individuals (e.g., athletes to neurosurgery patients) with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Particular emphasis is placed on the complex differential diagnoses for patients with prolonged postconcussive symptoms. Methods: Select literature review and synthesis. Results: In spite of an increase in public awareness surrounding the acute and potential long-term effects of mTBI, the medical field remains fragmented both in terms of the diagnostic (different criteria proffered by multiple medical organizations) and prognostic factors that influence patient care. Conclusions: Given the lack of objective biomarkers and the spectrum of different disorders that likely encompass mTBI, clinicians are encouraged to adopt a probabilistic, rather than definitive, diagnostic and prognostic framework. The relevance of accurately diagnosing and managing the different manifestations of mTBI becomes clear when one considers the overall incidence of the disorder (42 million people each year worldwide), and the different treatment implications for patients with a true neurodegenerative disorder (e.g., chronic traumatic encephalopathy; rare) vs potentially treatable conditions (e.g., depression or posttraumatic headache; frequent).
3D collagen architecture induces a conserved migratory and transcriptional response linked to vasculogenic mimicry

The topographical organization of collagen within the tumor microenvironment has been implicated in modulating cancer cell migration and independently predicts progression to metastasis. Here, we show that collagen matrices with small pores and short fibers, but not Matrigel, trigger a conserved transcriptional response and subsequent motility switch in cancer cells resulting in the formation of multicellular network structures. The response is not mediated by hypoxia, matrix stiffness, or bulk matrix density, but rather by matrix architecture-induced β1-integrin upregulation. The transcriptional module associated with network formation is enriched for migration and vasculogenesis-associated genes that predict survival in patient data across nine distinct tumor types. Evidence of this gene module at the protein level is found in patient tumor slices displaying a vasculogenic mimicry (VM) phenotype. Our findings link a collagen-induced migration program to VM and suggest that this process may be broadly relevant to metastatic progression in solid human cancers.
Impact of Employee Stock Ownership Plans on Employee Morale

This study analyzed the impact of an ESOP on employee morale. It also related employee morale changes to several generalized performance criteria of firms and of small businesses. Key executives of...
POPULATION-SPECIFIC GENETIC VARIATIONS INCREASE HAZARD OF MORTALITY OR REHOSPITALIZATION IN HEART FAILURE PATIENTS

Heart failure (HF) is a global health burden despite effective therapies, and patients hospitalized for HF are particularly at risk. Identifying genetic associates of death or rehospitalization may identify new targets for therapy or especially high risk patient subgroups. The Acute Study of
LDPC-coded FMF Transmission Employing Unreplicated Successive Interference Cancellation for MDL-Impact Mitigation

A novel MIMO signal processing technique is proposed that successively cancels intermodal crosstalk for MDL-impaired mode-multiplexed signals. Experimental evaluation revealed it provides MDL-tolerance improvement of 3.3 dB and OSNR gain of > 4.5 dB even under a 39ns-DMD FMF link.
Financial Literacy of High School Students

Five, large-scale, biennial national surveys of high school seniors from 1997 to 2006 have been used to measure the financial literacy of young American adults. The results show a low level of ability to make age-appropriate financial decisions in their own self-interests. Low baseline results in 1997 have further deteriorated with scores on the 31-question, multiple choice exam now hovering just over 50 %. Students from families with greater financial resources tend to be substantially more financially literate than those from families that are less well-off, thereby exacerbating the inequality of economic welfare among families. Moreover, high school classes in personal finance and money management have not proven to be effective in raising levels of financial literacy.
Role of tomatoes, tomato products and lycopene in cancer prevention.

A great deal of evidence from international epidemiological studies indicates that diets high in fruit and vegetable intake are associated with a lower risk of many common forms of cancer1, 2, 3. Dietary recommendations emphasize increasing total fruit and vegetable intake from diverse sources such as citrus fruits, cruciferous vegetables, and green and yellow vegetables.3 It is assumed that each of these classes of plant-derived foods has unique phytochemicals which interact with the host to confer a preventive benefit by upregulation of enzymes important in metabolizing xenobiotics and carcinogens, by direct effects on nuclear receptors and cellular signaling of proliferation and apoptosis, and indirectly through antioxidant actions which reduce proliferation and protect DNA from damage.4
Randomly Stopped Processes with Independent Increments

This chapter is devoted to the study of several general properties of randomly stopped sums of independent random variables and more generally randomly stopped processes with independent increments. Concerning randomly stopped sums of independent random variables, the key result behind the theory of sequential analysis is Wald’s first equation. In this chapter we discuss this result and provide (in some sense) the weakest conditions under which it holds. Concerning randomly stopped processes with independent increments, the work of Burkholder and Gundy dealing with inequalities for the Lp-norm of Brownian motion (Corollary 5.3 of this chapter) has been of paramount importance in the development of our understanding of the behavior of such processes. In particular, their inequalities (and Wald’s equations) can be used to determine the finiteness of expectations of stopping times associated with the processes in question. The aim of this chapter is to provide a decoupling reinterpretation and extensions of these classical inequalities. We will present an extension of these results to all processes continuous on the right with limits from the left, with independent increments and values in general Banach spaces. Our framework permits an extension in a different direction, dealing with inequalities for more general functions (than powers) like exponentials. As an application we present an example connecting boundary crossing by nonrandom functions to boundary crossing by processes with independent increments.
Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia in females. A critical analysis and argument for genetic heterogeneity.

The authors report a female with full-blown hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia and survey the literature concerning cases of the complete syndrome in females. The condition is ordinarily inherited as an X-linked recessive trait but evidence suggests that other patterns of inheritance may occur. There are several examples of probable autosomal recessive inheritance. The syndrome appears to be an example of genetic heterogeneity.
Is a Lung Protective Strategy Routinely Used for Pediatric Patients in the ICU

Background: Tidal volume (VT) selection for pediatric patients undergoing mechanical ventilation continues to be a controversial issue. While ideal body weight (IBW) has been recommended to select VT, actual body weight (ABW) is often used. The purpose of this study was to determine if tidal volume selection was based on IBW or ABW, and if selection was based on using a lung protective strategy. Methods: Retrospective chart review of patients Results: Data was collected from 30 patients admitted to a PICU between Jan of 2017 and March of 2018. Mean age 7.3 y (± 5.8). SIMV VC was selected in 97% of the patients included for analysis. The mean VT selected in this group of patients was 7.65 mL/kg (± 2.55; range: 2.78-12.08; IQR 5.3-8. 2) when ABW was used. Mean VT in mL/kg (IBW) was 7.04 (± 2.36; range 4.0-18.37; IQR 6.5-8.2) ; P=0.24. Mean ventilator length of stay was 4.1 d (range: 0.13-25; IQR 0.9-5.7). PEEP level was 5.9 cm H2O (± 1.7) and FIO2 was 0.65 (± 0.26). On 21 patients, where ABG were available, the P/F ratio was 309.3 (± 188) and oxygen index 5.2 (± 5.7). When IBW was used, 26.6% of the patients where set on a VT 8 mL/kg. Conclusions: Most pediatric patients in the ICU receive a mean VT between 6 and 8 mL/kg despite the weight scale selected. Although VT selection in these pediatric patients was not significantly different if IBW or ABW is used, there is still a large percent of patients for whom VT is selected outside the range considered as lung protective.
133Cs NMR Spectroscopic Investigation of the Interaction of 133Cs+ with Monovalent Cations in Aqueous Solution

133Cs NMR spectroscopy was used to study the interaction of 133Cs+ with monovalent cations in aqueous solution. The interaction between 133Cs+ and the cations causes a repulsive polarization in the electron environment of 133Cs+, which is detected by a change in its resonance frequency. The resulting 133Cs chemical shift seemed to be dependent on the activities and the single-ion enthalpies and entropies of hydration of the cations. The hydration cospheres of an ion are the barriers through which 133Cs+ must pass in order to come into contact with the cation. These hydration cosphere barriers can be related to the single-ion enthalpy and entropy of hydration of the cation. The experiments revealed that 133Cs+ is not nearly as sensitive a probe as 129Xe, presumably due to its more tightly bound hydration cospheres. However, 133Cs NMR was moderately successful in predicting trends in the chemical shift behavior induced by the cations studied.
More Guidelines than states: variations in U.S. lead screening and management guidance and impacts on shareable CDS development

Pediatric lead exposure in the United States (U.S.) remains a preventable public health crisis. Shareable electronic clinical decision support (CDS) could improve lead screening and management. However, discrepancies between federal, state and local recommendations could present significant challenges for implementation. We identified publically available guidance on lead screening and management. We extracted definitions for elevated lead and recommendations for screening, follow-up, reporting, and management. We compared thresholds and level of obligation for management actions. Finally, we assessed the feasibility of development of shareable CDS. We identified 54 guidance sources. States offered different definitions of elevated lead, and recommendations for screening, reporting, follow-up and management. Only 37 of 48 states providing guidance used the Center for Disease Control (CDC) definition for elevated lead. There were 17 distinct management actions. Guidance sources indicated an average of 5.5 management actions, but offered different criteria and levels of obligation for these actions. Despite differences, the recommendations were well-structured, actionable, and encodable, indicating shareable CDS is feasible. Current variability across guidance poses challenges for clinicians. Developing shareable CDS is feasible and could improve pediatric lead screening and management. Shareable CDS would need to account for local variability in guidance.
Differences in Smoking Topography and Subjective Responses to Smoking Among African American and White Menthol and Non-Menthol Smokers.

INTRODUCTION It has been suggested that menthol increases exposure to harmful elements of smoking and makes smoking more rewarding, easier to initiate, and harder to quit. Isolating the direct effects of menthol is challenging as African American (AA) race and menthol preference are highly overlapping. This study evaluated smoking behavior and subjective responses among a balanced sample of AA and white menthol and non-menthol smokers. In addition, smoking topography (ST) was compared to naturalistic smoking (NS) and interactions with menthol and race were explored. AIMS AND METHODS Smokers (N = 100) smoked and rated their preferred brand of cigarettes via ST or NS during two laboratory visits (counterbalanced). RESULTS Controlling for baseline differences among the groups (eg, nicotine dependence), menthol smokers took shorter and smaller puffs and AA smokers took longer puffs, but there were no differences in total puff volume, carbon monoxide, or other ST parameters. Menthol smokers reported greater urge reduction and lower sensory stimulation. The smoking method (ST vs. NS) had no effects on smoking behavior or exposure. Cigarettes smoked via ST were rated stronger. Differences in satisfaction based on the smoking method interacted with race and menthol status. Ratings of aversion differed by race and menthol status. CONCLUSIONS Menthol was not associated with increased smoke exposure or reward (except for urge reduction). ST caused minimal experimental reactivity relative to NS. Additional research that isolates the effects of menthol and examines potential interactive effects with race and other variables is needed to better understand its role in smoking-related health disparities. IMPLICATIONS Menthol and non-menthol smokers differed on some demographic variables and menthol preference was associated with greater nicotine dependence and greater urge reduction after smoking. Menthol was not associated with greater smoke exposure. Future research that investigates the unique risks associated with menthol and examines potential interactive effects with race and other related variables is warranted to better understand the role of menthol in smoking-related health disparities.
Opioid antidote induced pulmonary edema and lung injury

Abstract Introduction Opioid overdose emergencies are increasing every year, naloxone is the antidote for the treatment of opioid overdose. Naloxone is being dispensed to even lay persons through some programs to prevent opioid overdose deaths. Case 23 year old patient presented with naloxone treated opioid overdose complained of chest pain, pink frothy sputum production and shortness of breath. Physical exam showed tachycardia, tachypnea and coarse breath sounds. Imaging of the lungs showed diffuse pulmonary edema. Within an hour after the administration of naloxone patient developed pulmonary edema and lung injury. Patient was managed with non-invasive positive pressure ventilation which improved patient's symptoms in less than 6 hours confirmed by radiological improvement in 24–36 hrs. Discussion There are no specific observation guidelines post naloxone treatment in opiate overdose patients. We recommend early treatment of naloxone induced pulmonary complications during the observation period with non-invasive positive pressure ventilation to reduce the morbidity.
Hyperechoic Periappendiceal Fat: Evaluation of Criteria for Improving Specificity in the Sonographic Diagnosis of Appendicitis in Pediatric Patients.

OBJECTIVES To test the hypothesis that abutting and encasing types of hyperechoic periappendiceal fat are specific sonographic indicators of appendicitis in pediatric patients, including individuals with maximum outer diameters (MODs) of 6 to 8 mm in whom diagnosis by the MOD alone is known to be equivocal. METHODS Appendiceal sonograms of 271 consecutive pediatric patients were retrospectively evaluated for hyperechoic periappendiceal fat (globular, ≥1.0 cm; categorized as type 0, none; type 1, "abutting," encompassing <180° of the appendiceal circumference; or type 2, "encasing," encompassing 180° or more of the appendiceal circumference) and the MOD. Histopathologic and medical records constituted reference standards. Statistical methods included the binomial distribution, logistic regression, a receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the exact McNemar test. RESULTS All patients with hyperechoic fat and 105 of 107 patients with appendicitis had MODs of 6 mm or greater. The MOD and fat types 1 and 2 each were significantly associated with appendicitis in the univariable regression. The MOD and fat type 1 were independently associated with appendicitis in multivariable regression (odds ratio, 24.97; P = .034; and odds ratio, 5.35; P < .001, respectively). Specificities of an MOD of 6 to 8 mm and an MOD of 6 mm or greater alone were 89.0% (95% confidence interval, 83.2%-93.4%); these increased to 100.0% each (95% confidence interval, 97.8%-100.0%; P < .001) when combined with fat types 1, 2, and either 1 or 2 as diagnostic criteria, with positive predictive values of 100.0%. CONCLUSIONS Types 1 and 2 periappendiceal fat are specific indicators of appendicitis, and both improve specificity compared to the MOD. Importantly, they add specificity in diagnosing appendicitis in patients with diagnostically equivocal MODs of 6 to 8 mm.
A neural network-based approach to predicting absorption in nanostructured, disordered photoelectrodes

Disordered nanostructures in photoelectrodes can increase light absorption in photoelectrochemical system designs. Predicting their optical properties is an elusive task due to the immensity of unique configurations and the intrinsic variance of each. A neural network trained from a small subset of simulations can emulate the complex absorption properties of the entire configuration space for a model disordered system with quantifiable accuracy and computational efficiency.
A PyMOL Snippet Library for Jupyter to Boost Researcher Productivity

Snippets—code templates one line or longer—boost researcher productivity because they are faster to insert than writing the code from scratch and because they reduce debugging time. Several extensions support the use of snippets in Jupyter. We developed a Python version of the pymolsnips library and customized it for the use in the jupyterlab-snippets-multimenus extension for JupyterLab. The extension provides access to the snippets by pull-down menus. Each snippet performs one task. Each task often requires many lines of code. This library’s availability in Jupyter enables PyMOL users to run PyMOL efficiently inside Jupyter while storing the code and the associated molecular graphics images next to each other in one notebook document. This proximity of code and images supports reproducible research in structural biology, and the use of one computer file facilitates collaborations.
Persistent Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Supine Sleep Positioning among US Preterm Infants, 2000-2015.

Objective To assess trends in racial disparity in supine sleep positioning (SSP) across racial/ethnic groups of infants born early preterm (Early preterm; Study design We analyzed Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data (a population-based perinatal surveillance system) from 16 US states from 2000 to 2015 (Weighted N = 1 020 986). Marginal prevalence of SSP by year was estimated for infants who were early preterm and late preterm, adjusting for maternal and infant characteristics. After stratifying infants who were early preterm and late preterm, we compared the aOR of SSP trends across racial/ethnic groups by testing the time–race interaction. Results From 2000 to 2015, Non-Hispanic Black infants had lower odds of SSP compared with Non-Hispanic White infants for early preterm (aOR 0.61; 95% CI 0.47-0.78) and late preterm (aOR 0.44; 95% CI 0.34-0.56) groups. For Hispanic infants, there was no statistically significant difference for either preterm group when compared with Non-Hispanic White infants. aOR of SSP increased (on average) annually by 10.0%, 7.3%, and 7.7%, respectively, in Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic early preterm infants and by 5.8%, 5.9%, and 4.8% among Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic late preterm infants. However, there were no significant between-group differences in annual changes (Early preterm: P = .11; Late preterm: P = .25). Conclusions SSP increased for all racial/ethnic preterm groups from 2000 to 2015. However, the racial/ethnic disparity in SSP among early preterm and late preterm groups persists.
An Experimental Study on Concrete’s Durability and Mechanical Characteristics Subjected to Different Curing Regimes

Considering a constant demand in construction of concrete structures to develop novel approaches for predicting the concert’s properties, a host of investigations were performed on concrete’s mechanical properties and durability under various curing regimes. However, few studies were concerned with evaluating the concrete’s durability using non-destructive concrete surface resistivity tests by applying various curing conditions. The present study compares the influence of different curing regimes on durability and compressive strength of concrete to recommend the most effective curing conditions on concrete’s characteristics. Five curing conditions including ambient, laboratory, dry oven, wet oven and 7-days were analyzed. Accordingly, a non-destructive concrete surface resistivity test was performed on the concrete specimens using hand-held Wenner Resipod probe meter as a reliable and rapid approach. To analyze specimen’s durability, results of the surface sensitivity tests were correlated to chloride ion penetration rate based on the cylinder specimen dimensions and the degree of chloride ion penetration. The compressive strength tests were conducted on the specimens after 7, 28 and 56 days to determine the effect of curing conditions at different ages. Based on the reported outcomes, applying the wet oven curing regime results in higher compressive strength and durability compared to the other curing conditions. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091681 Full Text: PDF
Robust Authentication and Data Flow Integrity for P2P SCADA Infrastructures

The Emergence of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is pushing toward the modernization of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Enabling such highly flexible architecture that meets the need of I4.0 remains challenging. Moreover, significant automation in critical infrastructures need robust security, in terms of strong authentication and data integrity assurance, without constraining the performance requirements. Thus, it is essential to design an I4.0 compliant hybrid SCADA that has the capability to adopt decentralized communications for new-generation devices. This paper presents an SRAM-based PUF Authentication, Integrity, and Non-repudiation Peer-to-Peer (SPAIN-P2P) protocol that meets the security requirements of modern SCADA. The SPAIN-P2P ensures data flow protection by integrating lightweight cryptographic algorithms and Physical Unclonable Functions in P2P-based SCADA network. The implementation and the promising performance results of the proposed SPAIN-P2P protocol reveal its suitability and adaptability for integrating in next generation SCADA environments.
Hemi-Clamshell Approach for Fetal Lung Interstitial Tumor Resection in a Neonate: A Case Report.

Fetal lung interstitial tumor (FLIT) is a rare primary lung mass in neonates. Classical incisions, such as posterolateral thoracotomy or median sternotomy, do not provide optimal exposure of the operative field for the resection of pediatric thoracic giant tumors. Herein, we report a rare case of a FLIT in a full-term male neonate, with complete resection achieved using a hemi-clamshell approach, which provided the required visualization of the operative field. The neonate was transferred to our hospital because of mild respiratory distress, which developed 18-hour after normal vaginal delivery. A mass in his right chest, without a midline shift, was observed on chest radiographs. Computed tomography showed a well-circumscribed solid anterior cervicothoracic mass, with a uniform density and no apparent cysts, diagnosed as a primary thoracic giant tumor. Once the patient was clinically stabilized, we proceeded with right upper lobectomy, using a hemi-clamshell approach, full sternotomy, and anterolateral thoracotomy, on postnatal day 22. Histopathologic examination revealed an 8.5 × 6.5 × 4.0 cm solid mass within the right upper lobe, which was diagnosed as a FLIT. His postoperative recovery was uneventful. The patient was followed up for 1 year, with no complaints or symptoms and no postoperative shoulder dysfunction. Gross total resection of primary thoracic giant tumors can be accomplished in neonates with optimal exposure of the chest cavity using a hemi-clamshell approach.
Trophic Factor Treatment for Stroke

Trophic growth factors are endogenous proteins that, at very low concentrations, act as signaling molecules to initiate cellular processes leading to cell survival, growth, and differentiation. Trophic factors exert their effects through binding to high-affinity cellular receptors, initiating signal transduction cascades and resulting in new gene expression and protein synthesis. Trophic factors are generally grouped into gene superfamilies: factors that promote neuronal survival or outgrowth are termed neurotrophic; factors promoting glial survival or proliferation can be termed gliotrophic; and those promoting blood vessel proliferation are termed angiogenic. Treatment with angiogenic growth factors may conceivably have a role in the prevention of stroke. These factors promote the proliferation of vascular endothelial and/or smooth muscle cells and promote new capillary growth. One of the greatest opportunities for trophic factor treatment is during the recovery phase of stroke. Although recovery from stroke is often incomplete, partial recovery of cognitive, sensorimotor, and functional abilities is common clinical experience. Mechanisms of recovery may include reversal of metabolic “shock” in distant intact brain regions, unmasking of previously inhibited alternative brain pathways, or new neuronal sprouting and synapse formation.