cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Daytime occupancy of resources and flooring types by 4 laying hen strains in a commercial-style aviary

Abstract In response to consumer demands and legislative measures for improving hens' welfare, many laying hen producers are replacing conventional cages with aviaries. Aviary resources, such as nest boxes, litter areas, ledges, and perches, are intended to increase the display of natural behaviors. However, commercial laying hen strains have been differentially selected for varying traits including egg quality, feed efficiency, and behavior. Therefore, the assumption that laying hens are using the given resources similarly, irrespective of their genetic strain, may be false. This research examined the influence of laying hen strains (brown hens: Hy-Line Brown, Bovans Brown; white hens: DeKalb White and Hy-Line W36) on resource or flooring substrate occupancy (litter areas, nests, elevated wire tiers, ledges, and perches) inside aviaries during peak lay (25 to 28 weeks of age), and whether this occupancy changed in response to litter access. Live observation and video-recording of hens' distribution among different resources were conducted at 3 different times (morning, midday, and evening) for 3 consecutive days, immediately before (PRE), immediately after (IMM), and 3 weeks after (ACC) hens gained access to litter. Observations were conducted in 16 aviary units; 4 units/strain, 144 hens/unit. Data were analyzed in R using generalized linear mixed model with Tukey's post hoc test and α set at 0.05. More brown hens were in nests than white hens during morning across all periods (PRE; P = 0.002, IMM; P = 0.012, and ACC; P = 0.015), but more white hens were recorded in nests than brown hens during midday of all periods (PRE; P = 0.026, IMM; P = 0.028, and ACC; P = 0.024). More white hens were on litter compared with brown (P = 0.002), particularly when litter was first accessible. White hens occupied the open litter area in larger numbers than brown hens during midday and evening of IMM and ACC periods (P ≤ 0.05). Brown hens occupied the underneath litter area in larger numbers than white hens during midday and evening of the ACC period (P ≤ 0.05). Throughout the day, brown hens occupied wire floors in higher numbers than white hens, whereas the latter occupied both ledges and perches more (all P ≤ 0.05). These strain differences suggest that specific aviary designs may be best suited to specific hen strains.
The Spatiotemporal Pattern and Intensity of p53 Activation Dictates Phenotypic Diversity in p53-Driven Developmental Syndromes

Inappropriate activation of the p53 transcription factor contributes to numerous developmental syndromes characterized by distinct constellations of phenotypes. How p53 drives exquisitely specific sets of symptoms in diverse syndromes, however, remains enigmatic. Here, we deconvolute the basis of p53-driven developmental syndromes by leveraging an array of mouse strains to modulate the spatial expression pattern, temporal profile, and magnitude of p53 activation during embryogenesis. We demonstrate that inappropriate p53 activation in the neural crest, facial ectoderm, anterior heart field, and endothelium induces distinct spectra of phenotypes. Moreover, altering the timing and degree of p53 hyperactivation substantially affects the phenotypic outcomes. Phenotypes are associated with p53-driven cell-cycle arrest or apoptosis, depending on the cell type, with gene expression programs, rather than extent of mitochondrial priming, largely governing the specific response. Together, our findings provide a critical framework for decoding the role of p53 as a mediator of diverse developmental syndromes.
(In)visible Bodies: Re-Theorizing the Consumption of Bodies Through Divine Possession in Post-War Sri Lanka

This paper examines the ritual of divine possession in post-war Sri Lanka, specifically looking to how the act of divine possession involves a powerful articulation of women’s bodily agency. Drawing from historical sources such as colonial era journals, legislation, chronicles, political speeches, and news coverage, as well as my own field work, I trace how women’s bodies are often depicted as sites of the nation and are forcefully consumed, through constructions of gendered norms, forms of labor, and legislation for the continuance of that nation. I posit that divine possession engages in a (re)consumption of women’s bodies that works to counter the violence of the nation/state by making community trauma legible on the body itself.
Parochialism, social norms, and discrimination against immigrants

Ingroup bias and outgroup prejudice are pervasive features of human behavior, motivating various forms of discrimination and conflict. In an era of increased cross-border migration, these tendencies exacerbate intergroup conflict between native populations and immigrant groups, raising the question of how conflict can be overcome. We address this question through a large-scale field intervention conducted in 28 cities across three German states, designed to measure assistance provided to immigrants during everyday social interactions. This randomized trial found that cultural integration signaled through shared social norms mitigates-but does not eliminate-bias against immigrants driven by perceptions of religious differences. Our results suggest that eliminating or suppressing ascriptive (e.g., ethnic) differences is not a necessary path to conflict reduction in multicultural societies; rather, achieving a shared understanding of civic behavior can form the basis of cooperation.
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Conor Lamb, the Pennsylvania Wunderkind

Had it not been for a scandal that forced the resignation of a seven-term Republican incumbent, there would not have been a special election in the Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District in 2018 that pitted four-term Republican State Representative Rick Saccone against Democratic newcomer Conor Lamb. This is an account of Lamb’s textbook campaign and how he won in a district that Donald Trump carried by 20 points and then defeated a three-term incumbent in a newly drawn, court-ordered district.
Exploring African‐American womens' experiences with substance use treatment: A review of the literature

The aim of this systematic review is to synthesize evidence on treatment barriers among African-American women who seek treatment for substance use disorders. The authors reviewed articles from 1995 to 2018 on the topic of substance use disorders among African-American women. Based on the review of 13 articles, we found African-American women were more likely to encounter treatment readiness barriers compared to access barriers and system-related barriers. Personal and interpersonal barriers were more readily identified throughout the literature reviewed. However, African-American women did encounter other barriers such as access- and system-related barriers. In addition, the intersection of race, gender, and class was not addressed in the specific articles, but should be considered when working to remove treatment barriers for this population. While prevalence of alcohol and drug use is limited among African-American women, it is important to understand how treatment readiness barriers may limit successful completion of treatment and ongoing progress. Implications for treatment and future research in addressing barriers to treatment for African-American women are discussed.
Perspectives of OTs Regarding Use of Standardized Assessments To Distinguish Levels of Evaluation in a Skilled-Nursing Facility

Date Presented 04/05/19 This study explored perspectives of OTs at a skilled-nursing facility regarding the use of standardized assessments during patient evaluation. Study results revealed that clinical observations are the chosen method of evaluation to support billing procedures using new CPT codes. Participants indicated that despite the value of objective measurements, they cannot ignore the pressures of time and productivity. Primary Author and Speaker: Callie Victor Additional Authors and Speakers: Susan Krutis Contributing Authors: Erica Chandler, Beth Chang, Whitney Cherry, Paige Doughty, Danielle Hubka, Kaitlin Murphy, Zach Zepf
Can expert bias be reduced in medical guidelines

There is an urgent imperative to generate and update accurate, unbiased, clinical practice guidelines, says Sheldon Greenfield
Investigating the effects of hemicellulose pre-extraction on the production and characterization of loblolly pine nanocellulose

Production of nanocellulosic materials from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) kraft pulp provides an opportunity to diversify the portfolio of traditional pulp and paper industries. In this study, pinewood was first subjected to dilute acid pre-extraction with 0.5% sulfuric acid in order to fractionate the hemicellulose, followed by kraft pulping and elemental chlorine free bleaching in order to obtain up to 97% pure cellulose fractions. CNCs (cellulose nanocrystals) were prepared by hydrolyzing the bleached kraft pulp with 64% sulfuric acid at 45 °C for 30 min; the resultant unhydrolyzed solid residues were homogenized using a microfluidizer in order to produce cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). The dilute acid pre-extraction step resulted in complete hydrolysis of galactan and arabinan from pinewood, as well as in partial removal of mannan (80%) and xylan (58%). As a result of pre-extraction, the CNC yield and crystallinity improved by 44% and 11%, respectively, from the corresponding kraft pulps. CNCs produced from the pre-extracted materials also exhibited 16% reduction in particle size, but a 70% increase in sulfur content as well as 20% increase in zeta potential. Higher purity of kraft pulps resulted in higher exposure of cellulose crystalline domains to sulfuric acid thereby resulting in the observed changes. Thus, pulp purity was found to play a significant role in determining the quantity and quality of nanocellulosic materials derived from loblolly pine.
Updated therapies for the management of Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a large volume of our clinical practice and its management can be challenging. Traditional DMARDs have been used over last six decades and observational studies have substantiated an effective use of many of these drugs. However, in last two decades use of anti-TNF agents has brought a new dimension in treatment of PsA and in many other autoimmune diseases. Regulatory role of the Th17 cells and its cytokines in the pathogenesis of PsA has successfully paved the foundations of anti-IL antibody based therapies in PsA. Newer therapies targeting the IL-23/IL-17 cytokines and its signaling proteins are now in development and bringing new promises for management of PsA. Herein, we provide an overview of the landscape of drug therapies, including IL-17, IL-12/23, IL-23 inhibitors, and janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, as well as those in development, such as RORγt inhibitors, anti-NGF agents, mTOR inhibitors and T cell ion-channel blockers.
Positron Emission Tomography Imaging of Functional Transforming Growth Factor β (TGFβ) Activity and Benefit of TGFβ Inhibition in Irradiated Intracranial Tumors.

Purpose Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) promotes cell survival by endorsing DNA damage repair and mediates an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Thus, TGFβ activation in response to radiation therapy is potentially targetable because it opposes therapeutic control. Strategies to assess this potential in the clinic are needed. Methods and Materials We evaluated positron emission tomography (PET) to image 89Zr -fresolimumab, a humanized TGFβ neutralizing monoclonal antibody, as a means to detect TGFβ activation in intracranial tumor models. Pathway activity of TGFβ was validated by immunodetection of phosphorylated SMAD2 and the TGFβ target, tenascin. The contribution of TGFβ to radiation response was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of mice bearing intracranial murine tumor models GL261 and SB28 glioblastoma and brain-adapted 4T1 breast cancer (4T1-BrA) treated with TGFβ neutralizing monoclonal antibody, 1D11, and/or focal radiation (10 Gy). Results 89Zr-fresolimumab PET imaging detected engineered, physiological, and radiation-induced TGFβ activation, which was confirmed by immunostaining of biological markers. GL261 glioblastoma tumors had a greater PET signal compared with similar-sized SB28 glioblastoma tumors, whereas the widespread PET signal of 4T1-BrA intracranial tumors was consistent with their highly dispersed histologic distribution. Survival of mice bearing intracranial tumors treated with 1D11 neutralizing antibody alone was similar to that of mice treated with control antibody, whereas 1D11 improved survival when given in combination with focal radiation. The extent of survival benefit of a combination of radiation and 1D11 was associated with the degree of TGFβ activity detected by PET. Conclusions This study demonstrates that 89Zr-fresolimumab PET imaging detects radiation-induced TGFβ activation in tumors. Functional imaging indicated a range of TGFβ activity in intracranial tumors, but TGFβ blockade provided survival benefit only in the context of radiation treatment. This study provides further evidence that radiation-induced TGFβ activity opposes therapeutic response to radiation.
Stakeholders' perceptions of humanized birth practices and obstetric violence in Chile: A scoping review.

Introduction Chile has an incipient policy regarding humanized birth practices. Obstetric violence is becoming an issue in the public discussion, as brought up by women. Despite this advancement, no initiatives were observed to overcome the conflict. Questions arise from the different points of view of the main stakeholders involved. These questions help identify strategies contributing to the development of health policies that consider influencing actors. Objectives To identify stakeholders' perceptions of humanized care in childbirth and obstetric violence. Methods We conducted a scoping review that included articles and analysis of texts reflecting the scientific communities' point of view. We included statements from governmental, social, professional, and political actors as expressed in institutional websites. Moreover, we performed a qualitative inductive, thematic content analysis. Results We included seventy documents. The scientific community is visualized as aligned with ministerial recommendations for personalized childbirth. Several researchers analyze the difficulties for its improvement due to the historical, socio-cultural, and economic construction of the predominantly biomedical model for birthing. Convergence is observed among the scientific community and other stakeholders in recognition of humanized birth benefits and the need to overcome institutional obstacles within the health sector. However, the progress of the proposed change is slow, and health professionals' resistance to address women's complaints towards obstetric violence and claim of quality care is observed. This discussion finds its reflection in a parliamentary discussion. Conclusions The stakeholders' analysis reflects areas of conflict and consensus, as well as the diverse interacting dimensions that hinder the advance of humanized care in childbirth. This broad analysis strategy contributes to identifying critical aspects to be addressed in the development of integral and effective health policies.
A bacterial chaperone is required for plastid function in malaria parasites

Apicomplexan parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria, contain a non-photosynthetic plastid known as the apicoplast that functions to produce essential metabolic compounds. It was previously reported that several members of the Clp family of chaperones and proteases localize to the apicoplast. In bacteria and in chloroplasts these proteins form complexes that degrade proteins in a proteasome-like manner to regulate key cellular processes, but their function in the apicoplast is completely unknown. In this study, we generated a conditional mutant of the P. falciparum apicoplast-targeted pfclpc gene and found that under normal conditions it localizes to the apicoplast. Knockdown of PfClpC results in growth inhibition and morphological defects, indicating that PfClpC is essential for parasite viability. Upon inhibition, PfClpC loses its apicoplast localization and appears in vesicle-like structures. Other apicoplast-targeted proteins also localize to these structures, suggesting that organelle integrity is compromised. Addition of isopentynyl pyrophosphate completely rescued the growth inhibition, indicating that the only essential function of PfClpC is related to the apicoplast. Moreover, cellular assays suggest that PfClpC inhibition interferes with the ability of the schizont-stage parasites to properly sort functional apicoplast organelles into daughter-merozoites. These data show that PfClpC is an essential gene that functions to maintain apicoplast integrity.
OPB-51602, a Direct Inhibitor of STAT3, Impairs Growth and Viability of Tumor Cells Through Inhibition of Respiratory Complex I

STAT3 is a transcription factor involved in numerous cellular activities, including inflammation, proliferation, and survival, but it also plays a non-transcriptional role in modulating mitochondrial metabolism. Given its diverse functions in human cancer, it is an emerging therapeutic target. Here we show that OPB-51602, a small molecule inhibitor of STAT3, is highly toxic in a STAT3- dependent manner. Specifically, drug toxicity depends on STAT3 mitochondrial functions as tumor cells expressing only a mitochondrially-restricted form of STAT3 are highly sensitive to the compound, while STAT3-null cells are protected. OPB-51602 treatment abrogated complex I activity and led to mitophagy, actin skeletal rearrangements, and apoptosis. Cells undergoing reduced oxidative phosphorylation or expressing the NDI1 NADH dehydrogenase enzyme from Saccharomyces cerevisiae that bypasses mammalian complex I, were resistant to OPB-51602 toxicity. These results show that targeting mitochondrial STAT3 function causes a synthetic lethality involving complex I inhibition that could be exploited for cancer chemotherapy.
The Consumer Welfare Controversy

“Consumer welfare” (“CW”) is the stated goal of antitrust law. Among the cognoscenti, the CW standard is a proxy for the transformation of antitrust law over the past four decades and Robert Bork’s deep imprint on antitrust law. In recent years, calls to abandon the CW standard and replace it with an array of fairness values gained traction. This paper summarizes the key findings and conclusions of my study of the CW controversy. The CW standard, I argue, has failed to protect competition effectively because it has multiple meanings and its applications are guided by erroneous premises. These problems should be addressed. The goal of antitrust law, I argue, should align with antitrust’s core task: protecting the competitive process by banning business agreements, practices, and transactions whose adverse effects on trading opportunities unreasonably impair the process.
Synthetic photoplethysmographic waveform at the radial artery

Obesity is a significant risk factor for development and management of cardiovascular disease, one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Blood pressure (BP) is a key factor for monitoring cardiac health. In support of design and development of wearable health devices, we have developed a model to generate synthetic photoplethysmographic waveforms captured by a commercial device for the radial artery at the volar surface of the wrist. We focus on impacts to the PPG signal as a result of various changes attributed to obesity, epidermal melanin, and vascular layers.
Spontaneous intestinal perforation in premature infants: a national study.

OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence and outcomes of spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) in very low birth weight infants. STUDY DESIGN This cross-sectional study utilized the National Inpatient Sample dataset for the years 2002-2017. All premature infants with birth weight (BW) <1500 g and with gestational age (GA) ≤32 weeks were included. Analyses were repeated after stratifying the population into two BW sub-categories <1000 g and 1000-1499 g. Trend analysis was done using Cochran-Armitage test. Regression analysis was conducted to control for gestational age, race, and sex. RESULT A total of 658,001 infants were included. SIP (n = 10,443, 1.6%) was mostly (81.9%) in the category <1000 g with 89.9% ≤28 weeks of gestation. There was a significant trend for increased SIP over the years (p < 0.001). SIP was associated with increased mortality (aOR = 2.24, CI: 2.04-2.46, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION After controlling for gestational age and other confounders, SIP is associated with increased mortality in premature infants.
Brought to Life by the Voice: Playback Singing and Cultural Politics in South India

To produce the song sequences that are central to Indian popular cinema, singers’ voices are first recorded in the studio and then played back on the set to be lip-synced and danced to by actors and actresses as the visuals are filmed. Since the 1950s, playback singers have become revered celebrities in their own right. Brought to Life by the Voice explores the distinctive aesthetics and affective power generated by this division of labor between onscreen body and offscreen voice in South Indian Tamil cinema. In Amanda Weidman’s historical and ethnographic account, playback is not just a cinematic technique, but a powerful and ubiquitous element of aural public culture that has shaped the complex dynamics of postcolonial gendered subjectivity, politicized ethnolinguistic identity, and neoliberal transformation in South India. “This book is a major contribution to South Asian Studies, sound and music studies, anthropology, and film and media studies, offering original research and new theoretical insights to each of these disciplines. There is no other scholarly work that approaches voice and technology in a way that is both as theoretically wide-ranging and as locally specific.” NEEPA MAJUMDAR, author of Wanted Cultured Ladies Only! Female Stardom and Cinema in India, 1930s–1950s “Brought to Life by the Voice provides a detailed and highly convincing exploration of the varying links between the singing voice and the body in the Tamil film industry since the mid-twentieth century. The historical and ethnographic analysis the book presents is meticulous and excellent.” PATRICK EISENLOHR, author of Sounding Islam: Voice, Media, and Sonic Atmospheres in an Indian Ocean World AMANDA WEIDMAN is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College and the author of Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South India.
Breastfeeding in Incarcerated Settings in the United States: A National Survey of Frequency and Policies

Objectives: To assess the existence of prison and jail policies and practices that allow incarcerated women to breastfeed while in custody, and prevalence of women in custody who pumped human milk for their infants. Methods: We surveyed 22 state prison systems and 6 county jails from 2016 to 2017 about policies related to breastfeeding and other programs for pregnant and parenting women in custody. In addition, 11 prisons and 5 jails reported 6 months of monthly, prospective data on the number of women pumping human milk, as well as information on placement of infants born to women in custody. Results: Eleven prisons and five jails had policies that supported the practice of expressed milk, either through pumping or breastfeeding. Over 6 months at these sites that allowed lactation, there were 207 women who gave birth in the prisons and an average of 8 women/month who pumped human milk; at the jails, there were 67 women who gave birth and an average of 6 women/month who pumped human milk. Most infants born to women in custody were placed in the care of a family member. Conclusions: Breastfeeding and the provision of human milk are critical public health issues. Our data show inconsistent implementation of policies and practices supportive of breastfeeding in prisons and jails. However, there are institutions in the United States that are supportive of incarcerated women's breastfeeding and lactation needs. Further research is needed to identify the barriers and facilitators associated with implementing supportive breastfeeding policies and practices in the carceral system.
Mushroom-Type phase change memory with projection liner: An array-level demonstration of conductance drift and noise mitigation

Phase change memory (PCM) is rapidly emerging as a promising candidate for building non-von Neumann accelerators for deep neural networks (DNN) based on in-memory computing. However, conductance drift and noise are key challenges for the reliable storage of synaptic weights in such accelerators. We demonstrate, for the first time, conductance drift and noise mitigation by integrating a projection liner into multilevel mushroom-type PCM devices. While the projection liner has little effect on SET-state drift (crystalline phase), it substantially reduces drift for RESET states (amorphous phase) and improves the overall noise across SET and RESET states. Further improvement in drift is demonstrated by combining projection liner with a low-drift GeSbTe (GST) phase-change material variant. Lower drift and lower device-to-device drift variability for devices with projection liner are confirmed with large-scale experiments of over 1,000 devices. Moreover, we demonstrate using 10,000 projected PCM devices that tighter closed-loop programming distributions can be achieved, which is critical for in-memory computing based accelerators for applications such as DNN inference. Simulations show that the lower drift and device-to-device drift variability significantly increase the inference life span of PCM-based DNN accelerators.
Deep Contextual Learners for Protein Networks.

Spatial context is central to understanding health and disease. Yet reference protein interaction networks lack such contextualization, thereby limiting the study of where protein interactions likely occur in the human body and how they may be altered in disease. Contextualized protein interactions could better characterize genes with disease-specific interactions and elucidate diseases' manifestation in specific cell types. Here, we introduce AWARE, a graph neural message passing approach to inject cellular and tissue context into protein embeddings. AWARE optimizes for a multi-scale embedding space, whose structure reflects network topology at a single-cell resolution. We construct a multi-scale network of the Human Cell Atlas and apply AWARE to learn protein, cell type, and tissue embeddings that uphold cell type and tissue hierarchies. We demonstrate AWARE's utility on the novel task of predicting whether a protein is altered in disease and where that association most likely manifests in the human body. To this end, AWARE outperforms generic embeddings without contextual information by at least 12.5%, showing AWARE's potential to reveal context-dependent roles of proteins in disease.
Energy-Frequency Spectrum for Financial Time Series via Complementary Ensemble EMD

We discuss the method of complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD) for analyzing nonstationary financial time series. This noise-assisted approach decomposes any time series into a number of intrinsic mode functions, along with the corresponding instantaneous amplitudes and instantaneous frequencies. Different combinations of modes allows us to reconstruct the time series based on different timescales. Using Hilbert spectral analysis, we compute the associated instantaneous energy-frequency spectrum to illustrate and interpret the properties of various timescales embedded in the original time series.
When unemployment insurance benefits are rolled back: Impacts on job finding and the recipients of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (preprint)

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in three ways. First, it increased the level of benefits through a $600 and then a $300 per week supplement. Second, it expanded the pool of workers who are eligible to receive UI via the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Third, it extended the duration of benefits. As the labor market recovers from the COVID-19 recession, policymakers and economists have debated whether generous UI benefits are holding workers back from returning to work. All of these program expansions are scheduled to expire in September 2021. Beginning in May 2021, twenty-six states announced they would end these benefits early at the end of June 2021. These expirations will dramatically change the level of benefits workers receive. Whereas typical UI benefits replace roughly 50 percent of a worker’s wages, with the $300 supplement almost half of jobless workers (48 percent) receive as much or more in UI benefits than their prior wages (Ganong et al. 2020). Additionally, the PUA program has accounted for roughly 40 percent of total UI claims during the pandemic.1 These benefits have been economically important insofar as they have boosted the spending of jobless workers (Greig et al. 2021). This brief aims to answer two important policy questions central to this debate. First, to what extent have the UI supplements discouraged jobless workers from returning to work? We find evidence of a small job search disincentive from the supplements. Second, how well targeted and timely are PUA benefits in insuring against income losses? We find that PUA is successfully targeting income supports to more marginalized workers, specifically younger and lower-income workers. In addition, PUA recipients experience income losses roughly similar to the losses experienced by UI recipients. However, there were significant delays in PUA payments as states administered this new program. A program like PUA may be an increasingly important macroeconomic stabilizer, especially if, during a future recession, payments are delivered more quickly than was the case during the COVID-19 recession. We summarize our key findings in this insight and describe our methodology in more detail in a companion technical note (see Ganong et al. 2021a).
Hepatitis C:Issues in Children

Hepatitis C infection is a global health problem. Most infected children have not been identified. Perinatal transmission is the most common mode of acquisition. Liver disease owing to chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection progresses slowly in individuals infected early in life. Serious complications rarely affect patients during childhood. Successful treatment of HCV in adults has improved and recommendations have changed. Treatment in children should be deferred until direct-acting antivirals and interferon-free regimens are available to this population. If treatment cannot be deferred, regimens including peginterferon and ribavirin can be given to children with compensated liver disease.
Factors Influencing Length of Stay in 2007 National Hospital Discharge Survey of Individuals Diagnosed with Type II Diabetes

Type II diabetes has become a topic of overwhelming interest in our society. Using the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) from 2007, we examine diabetes in relation to hospital care. The NHDS includes a sample of persons discharged with the diagnosis of diabetes. The sample size is approximately 36,000 persons. We filter the sample from the NHDS aggregate with the ICD-9-CM codes: 250.00 and/or 250.02. Our study focuses on the length of days of care in the hospital as our dependent variable and in relation to our predictive variables: sex, age, marital status, method of payment and type of admission. We examine this data by conducting descriptive, explanatory and predictive analyses. The latter set of analyses is by linear and by logistic regression. Our hypotheses are that women, persons who are older, persons admitted by emergency, and persons for whom the payment is public are more likely to have a longer stay in the hospital than those who do not fit these criteria. We found, for example, that, within 95% confidence intervals, women who are single, older, admitted as emergent, and for whom payment is public are more likely to have a longer length of stay than men with similar characteristics. The significance of this study is that it enables hospitals to better prepare for the care of individuals admitted with the diagnosis of type II diabetes.
Research on the influence of behavioral forces that motivate trader behavior and sentiment: A prospect theory exegesis

OF THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH ON THE INFLUENCE OF BEHAVIORAL FORCES THAT MOTIVATE TRADER BEHAVIOR AND SENTIMENT A PROSPECT THEORY EXEGESIS by
Performance analysis of IEEE 802.11e enhanced distributed coordination function

The IEEE 802.11e working group aims to enhance the current 802.11 MAC to support the integrated data and voice (or video) communications. Till now a draft of the IEEE 802.11e EDCF has been proposed. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the EDCF by dividing the traffic into two categories, namely real-time packets and non real-time packets, and use an analytical model to quantify the performance of both IFS priority and CW priority in the EDCF. We also propose a new priority scheme, which allows the user to continuously send real-time packets. We define the maximum number of real-time packets that a user can continuously send to get a good balance between the fairness and the priority. Our proposed scheme is shown to provide much better results than IEEE 802.11e EDCF.
Response assessment classification in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated on clinical trials.

BACKGROUND The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect on response assessment classification in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) using unidimensional (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) and bidimensional (World Health Organization) criteria, including or excluding measurements of the primary renal tumor and using a new index to compensate for the disproportionate effect of large renal tumors relative to their metastases. METHODS Fifty-three imaging studies involving a total of 44 patients with metastatic RCC who were treated on clinical trials of interferon-α analogue and/or thalidomide were reviewed retrospectively. The best overall response assessment and progression free survival were calculated with both unidimensional and bidimensional tumor measurements. Patients were then stratified into two groups: patients with primary renal tumors in situ and patients who underwent resection of their primary renal tumors. The best overall response and the time to disease progression were calculated based on the sum of measurements (conventional methodology), both including and excluding the primary tumor. A new method of response assessment, the ‘normalized lesion index’, which equalizes the differences in tumor size for an individual patient, was evaluated and compared with the conventional response assessment. RESULTS There was an 11% disagreement rate in the best overall response assessment between unidimensional and bidimensional measurements. The time to progression was 9.2 months measured unidimensionally, compared with 6.4 months assessed bidimensionally. In the group of patients who had primary renal tumors in situ, using the conventional sum of measurements method, the apparent time to progression was an average of 4.2 months longer compared with measurements that did not include the primary renal tumor. The use of the normalized lesion index method resulted in an improved concordance in best overall response assessments and similar time to progression assessments when the primary renal tumor was included compared with patients who did not have primary renal tumors in situ. CONCLUSIONS The use of unidimensional measurements in RCC therapy assessment results in significantly different time to progression classification compared with the use of bidimensional measurements. Response assessment classification in patients with RCC is affected by the exclusion or inclusion of measurements of the primary renal tumor. The normalized lesion index warrants further study in assessing response in patients with metastatic RCC and other solid tumor malignancies that often show substantial differences in sizes of measurable lesions. Cancer 2003. © 2003 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.11712
Anomalies of the larynx associated with tracheo-oesophageal fistula.

Two cases of unusual congenital laryngeal abnormalities occurring in association with tracheo-oesophageal fistula are described. In one there was a subglottic cartilaginous stenosis, in the other, a subglottic cartilaginous atresia. An embryologic explanation for the occurrence of these anomalies is presented.
Identifying Emotions, Intentions, and Attitudes in Text Using a Game with a Purpose

Subtle social information is available in text such as a speaker's emotional state, intentions, and attitude, but current information extraction systems are unable to extract this information at the level that humans can. We describe a methodology for creating databases of messages annotated with social information based on interactive games between humans trying to generate and interpret messages for a number of different social information types. We then present some classification results achieved by using a small-scale database created with this methodology.
Association of Baseline Characteristics and Early Vision Response with 2-Year Vision Outcomes in the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trials (CATT)

Purpose To evaluate the association of baseline characteristics and early visual acuity (VA) response with visual outcomes at years 1 or 2 in the Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Treatments Trials (CATT). Design Secondary analysis of CATT. Participants The 1185 CATT participants with baseline VA of 20/25 to 20/320. Methods Participants were assigned to ranibizumab or bevacizumab and to 1 of 3 dosing regimens. Associations of baseline characteristics and early VA response (week 4 or 12) with VA response at years 1 or 2 were assessed by R 2 from linear regression analyses. Patients who had a poor initial response (VA 20/40 or worse with persistent fluid and without ≥1-line VA gain) were defined as candidates for changing treatment. Main Outcome Measures Visual acuity change from baseline. Results Statistically significant ( P R 2 = 0.30) than VA response at week 4 ( R 2 = 0.17) and baseline predictors ( R 2 = 0.13; P P = 0.050), mean total retinal thickness decreased 53 μm ( P P Conclusions Visual acuity response at week 12 is more predictive of 2-year vision outcomes than either several baseline characteristics or week 4 response. Eyes with poor initial response may benefit from continued treatment without switching to another drug.
Superconductivity, Magnetism and Metal-Insulator Transitions in Some Ternary and Pseudoternary 3d-, 4d-, and 5d-Metal Oxides

Electron correlation effects have been found to be particularly important in metallic LiV2O4 and possibly Sr2Ir1−xRuxO4 (x > 0.7), but not in metallic Sr1−xLaxVO3 (x < 0.7), and they cause the compounds LaVO3, Sr2IrO4 and ZnV2O4 to be (Mott-Hubbard) insulators. The LiV2O4 spinel compound is especially interesting, because the V ions exhibit rather clear local moment (S = 1/2) behavior even though the compound is a metal.
Chemotherapy in the Management of Osteosarcoma and Ewing's Sarcoma

Abstract Sarcomas of bone are rare malignancies diagnosed in fewer than 3000 individuals yearly in the United States. Ewing's sarcoma and most osteosarcoma are high-grade neoplasms and account for approximately one half of bone sarcoma cases. Fewer than 20% of patients presenting with localized Ewing's sarcoma or osteosarcoma are cured with surgery alone. Current management typically involves collaboration among orthopedic oncologists, medical oncologists, musculoskeletal radiologists, sarcoma pathologists, and radiation oncologists. Modern multidisciplinary management of Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma has improved the cure rate of patients with localized disease to more than 50%. Primary chemotherapy for high-grade bone sarcomas often involves intensive, multiagent regimens, and few secondary chemotherapy options are available to treat refractory or relapsed disease. Patient participation in clinical trials of novel therapies for Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma should be strongly encouraged.
Flagellar switch of Salmonella typhimurium: gene sequences and deduced protein sequences.

Abstract The fliG, fliM, and fliN genes of Salmonella typhimurium encode flagellar components that participate in energy transduction and switching. We have cloned these genes and determined their sequences. The deduced amino acid sequences correspond to proteins with molecular masses of 36,809, 37,815, and 14,772 daltons, respectively. None of the protein sequences are especially hydrophobic or look as though they correspond to integral membrane proteins, a result consistent with other evidence suggesting that the proteins may be peripheral to the membrane, possibly mounted onto the basal body M ring. The fliL gene, which immediately precedes fliM, is of unknown function; it encodes a protein with a deduced molecular mass of 17,082 daltons. The hydropathy profile of FliL indicates that it is likely to be an integral membrane protein with at least one spanning segment, near its N terminus. None of the four proteins exhibit consensus N-terminal signal sequences. Comparison of the fliL, fliM, and fliN sequences with the homologous ones in Escherichia coli reveals ranges of similarities of 77 to 95% at the amino acid level and 75 to 86% at the nucleotide level, with the majority (58 to 89%) of codon changes being synonymous ones.
Demographic, Physiologic, and Psychosocial Correlates of Physical Activity in Structured Exercise and Sports Among Low-Income, Overweight Children

Abstract Objective To describe correlates of physical activity (PA) in structured exercise and structured sports sessions among low-income, overweight children participating in a community-based PA program. Methods A total of 93 children (55% male; 91% Hispanic) aged 8–14 years were included. Participants wore pedometers in a sample of 10 of 59 total sessions offered; mean steps per minute were calculated for structured exercise and sports sessions. Separate multivariable regression models tested associations between steps per minute in exercise and sports sessions and 5 potential correlates: baseline body mass index z -score, aerobic fitness (Progressive Aerobic Cardiorespiratory Endurance Run laps), perceived athletic competence (Harter self-perception profile), sex, and age. Results Only age (s = –2.9; P = .02) significantly predicted steps per minute in exercise sessions. Age (s = –4.3; P = .007), fitness (s = 0.45; P = .03), and male sex (s = 8.7; P = .02) significantly predicted steps per minute in sports. Conclusion and Implications In structured exercise and sports, perceived competence may not influence overweight and obese children's PA. However, girls and older or less fit children may engage less actively, especially in sports.
Simulation and the logistics systems laboratory

Systems analysis is the term used to describe the study of large and complex systems. An example would be the problem involved in the employment and support of new weapon systems and the selection among alternative weapon systems for achieving given strategic or tactical objectives. Several techniques have been used in systems analysis, ranging in degree of abstraction from collection and statistical analysis of data gathered in field tests to highly abstract mathematical models and analysis. An intermediate approach in this spectrum of abstraction is called simulation. Its use has been bettered significantly by the availability of electronic computers, which permit the specification of the environment in sufficient detail to obtain good correspondence between the characteristics of the simulated system and the system under study, and by the rapid calculation of the simulated system to study its characteristics. Simulation itself consists of a variety of alternative and complementary techniques for simulating systems. One such method is “game-simulation” — the principal topic of this paper. The joint and integrated use of people and computers to simulate complex man-machine systems characterizes game-simulation. This paper compares game-simulation with other simulation techniques; describes its use inlogistics research; explains the results obtained in analyzing logistics systems; and gives the advantages and disadvantages of the technique at its present state of development.
First-Order Scaling Law for Potential Vorticity Extraction due to Wind

Surface sources and sinks of potential vorticity (PV) have been examined recently in various publications. These are normally identified as the mechanical and buoyant PV fluxes with the former scaled according to wind stress and the latter from buoyancyflux. The authors hereexaminea PV sourcethat is often overlooked: namely, the diabatically forced source due to wind-driven deepening. Based on an idealized model of the mixed layer, the rate of deepening of the mixed layer due to wind is translated into PV extraction. The authors propose the first-order scaling law J W z 5(0:7f ru 3 * )/(gh 2 )a s an estimate of the net PV flux due to diabatic wind effects in the absence of other buoyancy effects. This law is verified and calibrated in several numerical experiments. Then, the authors compare the magnitude of the PV extractionduetowindtotheotherfactorsresponsibleforPVinput/output:namely,air‐seaheatflux,freshwater flux, and Ekman wind-driven currents. Finally, to illustrate the impact of the mixing induced by wind, the authors conclude with a global air‐sea PV budget in the NorthAtlantic basin. The wind-driven diabatic PV flux is found to be comparable to all other sources in all cases and is distinguished by acting only to extract PV.
Modeling the impact of municipal solid waste recycling on greenhouse gas emissions in Ohio, USA

Abstract Climate change is a serious worldwide concern and the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) significantly intensifies the issue. Numerous studies have been conducted concerning GHG emissions related to energy and fuel consumption, but few have been conducted related to the impact of increased recycling levels on GHG emissions for a single facility. Several readily available GHG calculators are available for organizations to estimate overall GHG emissions for facilities, but these calculators generate varying results and do not fully account for the impact of increased recycling levels, region specific data, or material stream separation, and the associated economic benefit. This research developed a model to estimate the GHG emissions for facilities related to municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal and recycling. The results from the model are compared to existing Internet based GHG calculators that include MSW data. In addition, the model estimates the GHG reductions and potential economic benefit derived from increased recycling for a case study in Northwest Ohio.