cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Emergency department visits for carbon monoxide poisoning in the Pacific Northwest

This study was conducted to determine the annual number of emergency department (ED) visits and rate of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) treatment for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. All hospital emergency departments and hyperbaric treatment facilities in the region were surveyed by mail and telephone regarding their patient treatment experience for calendar year 1994. Results demonstrated that there were approximately 2.51 million total ED visits in 1994 in the three states studied. Among these, an estimated 1,325 individuals were seen with carbon monoxide poisoning (52.9 CO cases per 100,000 ED visits; 18.1 CO cases per 100,000 population). A total of 91 patients were treated with HBO2, yielding an HBO2 treatment rate of 6.9% of those evaluated in EDs. Extrapolating these figures to the US population suggests that the number of individuals seeking emergency medical care for CO poisoning is much greater than is commonly quoted. Even after correcting for the known increased rate of CO poisoning in the Pacific Northwest, the incidence of nonfatal poisoning appears to be significantly higher than may be appreciated from previous reports.
National ecosystem assessments supported by scientific and local knowledge

An understanding of the extent of land degradation and recovery is necessary to guide land-use policy and management, yet currently available land-quality assessments are widely known to be inadequate. Here, we present the results of the first statistically based application of a new approach to national assessments that integrates scientific and local knowledge. Qualitative observations completed at over 10 000 plots in the United States showed that while soil degradation remains an issue, loss of biotic integrity is more widespread. Quantitative soil and vegetation data collected at the same locations support the assessments and serve as a baseline for monitoring the effectiveness of policy and management initiatives, including responses to climate change. These results provide the information necessary to support strategic decisions by land managers and policy makers.
The Distribution of Catchment Coverage by Stationary Rainstorms

The occurrence of wetted rainstorm area within a catchment is modeled as a Poisson arrival process in which each storm is composed of stationary, nonoverlapping, independent random cell clusters whose centers are Poisson-distributed in space and whose areas are fractals. The two Poisson parameters and hence the first two moments of the wetted fraction are derived in terms of catchment average characteristics of the (observable) station precipitation. The model is used to estimate spatial properties of tropical air mass thunderstorms on six tropical catchments in the Sudan.
A Further Examination of Cumulative Prospect Theory Parameterizations

Recent experimental studies have focused on fitting parameterized functional forms to cumulative prospect theory's weighting function. This paper examines the behavioral implications of the functional forms and the estimated parameters. We find that none of the parameterizations can simultaneously account for gambling on unlikely gains and the Allais paradox behavior or other strong choice patterns from experiments. Parameter estimates that lead to reasonable amounts of insurance and gambling behavior tend to also generate large risk premia. Taken as a whole, the analysis suggests that the functional forms proposed in the literature are not suitable for generalization to applied settings.
On the Importance of Strengthening Moderate Beliefs in Climate Science to Foster Support for Immediate Action

Whereas many studies focus on climate skeptics to explain the lack of support for immediate action on climate change, this research examines the effect of moderate believers in climate science. Using data from a representative survey of 832 Indiana residents, we find that agreement with basic scientific conclusions about climate change is the strongest predictor of support for immediate action, and the strength of that agreement is an important characteristic of this association. Responses indicate widespread acceptance of climate change, moderate levels of risk perception, and limited support for immediate action. Half of the respondents (50%) preferred “more research” over “immediate action” (38%) and “no action” (12%) as a response to climate change. The probability of preferring immediate action is close to zero for those who strongly or somewhat disbelieve in climate change, but as belief in climate change grows from moderate to strong, the probability of preferring immediate action increases substantially; the strongest believers have a predicted probability of preferring immediate action of 71%. These findings suggest that, instead of simply engaging skeptics, increasing public support for immediate action might entail motivating those with moderate beliefs in climate change to hold their views with greater conviction.
Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Immigrant Political Incorporation: The American Experience

This essay offers a historical overview of processes of immigrant political incorporation in the United States. It identifies three dimensions of incorporation—legal, cultural, and institutional—and argues that the unevenness of progress among these three dimensions has rendered the process of incorporation fraught and frequently marked by contradiction. It also distinguishes between “acquiescent” and “transformational” modes of incorporation and stresses that the latter, though often perceived as threatening by the native-born, is often the more enduring and meaningful way of becoming American. Finally, it assesses the prospects for incorporation among immigrants in the United States today.
Applications of the Mind Map Learning Technique in Chiropractic Education: A Pilot Study and Literature Review

Objective: To present a review of the literature and survey results of student satisfaction after using the mind map learning technique. Methods: Fourteen third-year physical therapy students enrolled in a doctoral neurorehabilitation course were required to create a mind map based upon the lecture presentation and assigned reading for 6 diagnoses. The students were asked to complete a post-course survey to assess their perceptions of the usefulness of the mind map learning technique in improving organization and integration of course material. Results: Although the subject pool was limited to 14 students, 10 out of 14 agreed that the mind map learning technique enabled them to better organize/integrate material presented in the course, while only 2 disagreed. The final 2 students responded neutrally when asked if the mind map learning technique assisted them in organizing/integrating course material. However, these 2 students did agree the technique enabled them to recognize areas in which further study was necessary for them to adequately master the course material. Conclusion: While the data obtained from this limited educational experience offers some support for the use of the mind map learning technique in promoting course material integration and learning in physical therapy education, further work is needed to explore its usefulness in chiropractic education. (J Chiropr Humanit 2006;13:2-11) Key Indexing Terms: Chiropractic; Education, Professional; Learning; ProblemBased Learning
Reduced overhead by partitioning of a circular-shift PLAs

A design method for a built-in self-test PLA (programmable logic array) is investigated. This method is referred to as circular-shift PLA (CS-PLA). The basic mechanism of the CS-PLA technique is to add dynamic shift registers to the original PLA in order to control each product line and each complementary pair of bit lines. During test mode operation the contents of the registers are initialized and subsequently advanced in such a way as to select one pair of bit lines and only one product term line at any time. The authors propose to group the product lines that have no common output line at OR-plane. In this case, the area overhead associated with the CS-PLA concept can be reduced. The characteristic of the area overhead versus PLA size is given. >
Cerebral glucose hypometabolism is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with intractable epilepsy and cortical dysplasia.

Summary Objectives Metabolic imaging studies, such as positron emission tomography (PET), allow for an assessment of physiologic functioning of the brain, and [18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)–PET is now a commonly used technique in presurgical epilepsy evaluations. Focal interictal decreases in glucose consumption are often but inconsistently concordant with the ictal onset area, and the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The current study tests the hypothesis that areas of glucose hypometabolism, determined by FDG-PET, are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with medically intractable epilepsy associated with isolated focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). Methods Measures of electron transport chain (ETC) functioning and mitochondrial abnormalities (ETC complex biochemistry, protein kinase B subtype 1 (Akt1), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)) were assessed in surgical resection specimens that had hypometabolic abnormalities and those that were normal on FDG-PET. Determination of FDG-PET abnormalities was based on coregistration of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) results with postsurgical images. Results Twenty-two patients (11 male, 11 female; mean age at the time of surgery 10.5 ± 4.4 years), with pathologically confirmed FCD, were included in this retrospective review. Complex IV function was found to be significantly reduced in areas of hypometabolism (p = 0.014), whereas there was a trend toward a significant reduction in complex II and III function in areas of hypometabolism (p = 0.08, p = 0.059, respectively). These decreases were independent of cortical dysplasia severity (p = 0.321) and other clinical epilepsy measures. Significance This study suggests an association between glucose hypometabolism and reduced mitochondrial complex IV functioning, which is independent of the degree of cortical dysplasia. This supports the role of cellular energy failure as a potential mechanism for intractable epilepsy.
Durational ethics: Search, finding, and translation of Fauconnet’s “Essay on responsibility and liberty”

This paper introduces and explains the forum around my translation of the appendix to Paul Fauconnet’s 1920 book, entitled La responsibilite. Etude de sociologie , which resulted from his doctoral thesis. The appendix of this book is devoted to “The sentiment of responsibility and the sentiment of liberty.” The ideas in this piece on liberty were clearly developed in conversation with Durkheim and with other members of the group. My reading in the anthropology of ethics for papers of my own, led me to new work on liberty, but I found less attention than I expected in our contemporary anthropological scholarship to what I called durational ethics , which encompasses concepts such as responsibility, in the prospective sense, and fortitude. The following introduction explains this trajectory of exploration, which lead me to Fauconnet’s work, excerpts passages from a conference paper of mine entitled “Steadfastness and goodness,” and prefaces the translation. In addition, it profiles Fauconnet and offers a background to the concept of libre arbitre in Romance language thought, as differing from its usual translation as “free will” in the Germanic register of English.
The detection of the OH and other molecular lines in the radio spectrum of the interstellar medium

The detection of the ² \Pi_{3/2}, J=3/2 \Lambda -doublet lines of O16H1at 1665.36 Mc and 1667.40 Mc has provided radio astronomy with a second spectral line for investigation and has already given rise to a number of significant results. In this paper the nature of \Lambda -doublet levels are reviewed in an attempt to clarify the origin of the OH lines. The results of the OH observations are presented and the distinction between absorption and emission experiments is discussed in terms of the importance for the OH lines. The frequencies of the astrophysically important OH transitions in various molecular states and isotopic species are given and their detection possibilities are briefly discussed. Detection of the ^{2}Pi_{3/2}, J=3/2 transitions of O18H1appears possible with current techniques. Radio molecular lines of SH, SiH, CH, CN, and NH are also discussed.
Dyskerin depletion increases VEGF mRNA internal ribosome entry site-mediated translation

Dyskerin is a nucleolar protein encoded by the DKC1 gene that (i) stabilizes the RNA component of the telomerase complex, and (ii) drives the site-specific pseudouridilation of rRNA. It is known that the partial lack of dyskerin function causes a defect in the translation of a subgroup of mRNAs containing internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements such as those encoding for the tumor suppressors p27 and p53. In this study, we aimed to analyze what is the effect of the lack of dyskerin on the IRES-mediated translation of mRNAs encoding for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). We transiently reduced dyskerin expression and measured the levels of the IRES-mediated translation of the mRNA encoding for VEGF in vitro in transformed and primary cells. We demonstrated a significant increase in the VEGF IRES-mediated translation after dyskerin knock-down. This translational modulation induces an increase in VEGF production in the absence of a significant upregulation in VEGF mRNA levels. The analysis of a list of viral and cellular IRESs indicated that dyskerin depletion can differentially affect IRES-mediated translation. These results indicate for the first time that dyskerin inhibition can upregulate the IRES translation initiation of specific mRNAs.
Role of aldehyde chemistry and NO x concentrations in secondary organic aerosol formation

Abstract. Aldehydes are an important class of products from atmospheric oxidation of hydrocarbons. Isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene), the most abundantly emitted atmospheric non-methane hydrocarbon, produces a significant amount of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) via methacrolein (a C4-unsaturated aldehyde) under urban high-NOx conditions. Previously, we have identified peroxy methacryloyl nitrate (MPAN) as the important intermediate to isoprene and methacrolein SOA in this NOx regime. Here we show that as a result of this chemistry, NO2 enhances SOA formation from methacrolein and two other α, β-unsaturated aldehydes, specifically acrolein and crotonaldehyde, a NOx effect on SOA formation previously unrecognized. Oligoesters of dihydroxycarboxylic acids and hydroxynitrooxycarboxylic acids are observed to increase with increasing NO2/NO ratio, and previous characterizations are confirmed by both online and offline high-resolution mass spectrometry techniques. Molecular structure also determines the amount of SOA formation, as the SOA mass yields are the highest for aldehydes that are α, β-unsaturated and contain an additional methyl group on the α-carbon. Aerosol formation from 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO232) is insignificant, even under high-NO2 conditions, as PAN (peroxy acyl nitrate, RC(O)OONO2) formation is structurally unfavorable. At atmospherically relevant NO2/NO ratios (3–8), the SOA yields from isoprene high-NOx photooxidation are 3 times greater than previously measured at lower NO2/NO ratios. At sufficiently high NO2 concentrations, in systems of α, β-unsaturated aldehydes, SOA formation from subsequent oxidation of products from acyl peroxyl radicals+NO2 can exceed that from RO2+HO2 reactions under the same inorganic seed conditions, making RO2+NO2 an important channel for SOA formation.
Intense Sweeteners and the Control of Appetite

The sensation of sweet taste without calories has been said to increase appetite and promote food consumption. Regular use of intense sweeteners might therefore lead to a paradoxical weight gain. These alarmist reports have not been confirmed by recent experimental data. There is no evidence that the addition of an intense sweetener to a plain stimulus promotes appetite or results in increased food consumption during some later meal. While replacing sugars with intense sweeteners (with attendant decrease in energy) has been said to result in energy compensation, published studies have variously reported perfect compensation, partial compensation, or no compensation at all, depending on the conditions used. Longer-term studies are needed to assess chronic effects of intense sweeteners on dietary compliance and the control of body weight.
SCANNING PHOTOCURRENT MICROSCOPY IN SEMICONDUCTOR NANOSTRUCTURES

Scanning photocurrent microscopy (SPCM) is a powerful experimental tool used to investigate spatially resolved optoelectronic properties of semiconductors and their nanostructures. Raster-scanned laser excitation generates a position-dependent photocurrent map from which carrier diffusion length, electric field distribution, doping concentration and more can be explored. In this review, we will briefly discuss the history of the technique, the theory behind locally injected carrier transport in semiconductors, the SPCM experimental setup, and recent applications of SPCM in semiconductor nanostructures. Particularly, we have shown that the minority carrier diffusion length can also be obtained by SPCM in two-dimensional semiconductors and that the local excitation can result in an internal electric field because of the difference in electron and hole mobilities.
Genetically Determined Severity of Anti-Myeloperoxidase Glomerulonephritis

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a target antigen for antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA). There is evidence that MPO-ANCA cause necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis (NCGN) and vasculitis. NCGN severity varies among patients with ANCA disease, and genetic factors influence disease severity. The role of genetics in MPO-ANCA NCGN severity was investigated using 13 inbred mouse strains, F 1 and F 2 hybrids, bone marrow chimeras, and neutrophil function assays. Mouse strains include founders of the Collaborative Cross. Intravenous injection of anti-MPO IgG induced glomerular crescents in >60% of glomeruli in 129S6/SvEv and CAST/EiJ mice, but In vivo studies using bone marrow chimeric mice and in vitro studies of neutrophil activation by anti-MPO IgG indicated that severity of NCGN is mediated by genetically determined differences in the function of neutrophils.
Effects of Photographic Evidence on Mock Juror Judgement1

Effects of three levels of photographic evidence (color, black & white, no photograph) on 144 female subjects' monetary awards to an injured plaintiff were investigated in a 3 × 2 × 3 factorial design. Also manipulated were two levels of the severity of the plaintiff's injury and three levels of defendant blame. As predicted, a significant three-way interaction was observed such that the magnitude of the difference in monetary damages awarded the more and less severely injured plaintiff was greatest in the presence of the color photograph depicting injuries and when defendant blame was high. An emotional arousal interpretation for the effects of photographic evidence is tentatively offered.
Contact high: Mania proneness and positive perception of emotional touches.

How do extreme degrees of positive emotion—such as those characteristic of mania—influence emotion perception? The present study investigated how mania proneness, assessed using the Hypomanic Personality Scale, influences the perception of emotion via touch. Using a validated dyadic interaction paradigm for communicating emotion through touch (Hertenstein, Keltner, App, Bulleit, & Jaskolka, 2006), participants (N=53) received eight different touches to their forearm from a stranger and then identified the emotion via forced-choice methodology. Mania proneness predicted increased overall accuracy in touch perception, particularly for positive emotion touches, as well as the over-attribution of positive and under-attribution of negative emotions across all touches. These findings highlight the effects of positive emotion extremes on the perception of emotion in social interactions.
Axial vector vertex in spinor electrodynamics

Working within the framework of perturbation theory, we show that the axial-vector vertex in spinor electrodynamics has anomalous properties which disagree with those found by the formal manipulation of field equations. Specifically, because of the presence of closed-loop "triangle diagrams," the divergence of axial-vector current is not the usual expression calculated from the field equations, and the axial-vector current does not satisfy the usual Ward identity. One consequence is that, even after the external-line wave-function renormalizations are made, the axial-vector vertex is still divergent in fourth- (and higher-) order perturbation theory. A corollary is that the radiative corrections to ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{l}l$ elastic scattering in the local current-current theory diverge in fourth (and higher) order. A second consequence is that, in massless electrodynamics, despite the fact that the theory is invariant under ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{5}$ tranformations, the axial-vector current is not conserved. In an Appendix we demonstrate the uniqueness of the triangle diagrams, and discuss a possible connection between our results and the ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2\ensuremath{\gamma}$ and $\ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2\ensuremath{\gamma}$ decays. In particular, we argue that as a result of triangle diagrams, the equations expressing partial conservation of axial-vector current (PCAC) for the neutral members of the axial-vector-current octet must be modified in a well-defined manner, which completely alters the PCAC predictions for the ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ and the $\ensuremath{\eta}$ two-photon decays.
Storying practices of witnessing: Refiguring quality in everyday pedagogical encounters

This article seeks to contribute towards an unsettling of dominant framings of quality pedagogical practices. The author puts to work the figure of the modest witness as a way of storying everyday ...
Inflight Cold-Soaked Fuel Frost Observations and Analysis

Observations of occurrences of inflight cold-soaked fuel frost (CSFF) on the wings of jet transport aircraft are presented and discussed, together with weather observational records. Although potentially rare occurrences, it would appear that such inflight frost deposition is not unique. Nor are the aerodynamic characteristics of jet transport wings protected in any way, from the roughness effect of inflight frost deposition.
Dynamics of the Bell Prover, II

The bell prover is widely used for gas flowrate measurements by timing a known stroke of the bell as it rises, presumably with a constant speed, from a bath of sealing liquid. A differential equation for the bell motion (from the previous paper of the same title) is used together with the previous equations of motion for the gas and sealing liquid modified here to provide the basis for a computer simulation of the prover performance. Examples of the results of the computations show substantial fluctuations in all of the motions and modified measurement procedures for improved accuracy are discussed. Proposed modifications to the prover itself are shown by the computations to dampen the fluctuations and to improve the measurement accuracy. Only a limited number of changes of the prover design and of the initial conditions were researched for their effect.
Imaging fluorescent nanoparticles to probe photoinduced charging of a semiconductor-solution interface.

Optically transparent semiconductors allow simultaneous control of interfacial electrical potential and spectroscopic observation of chemistry near the electrode surface. Care must be taken, however, to avoid unwanted photoexcitation-induced charging of the semiconductor electrode that could influence the results. In this work, we investigate the in situ surface charging by photoexcitation well below the band gap of an optically transparent semiconductor, indium–tin oxide (ITO) electrode. Using total-internal-reflection fluorescence microscopy, the population of ∼100-nm negatively charged carboxylate–polystyrene fluorescent nanoparticles at an ITO–aqueous solution interface could be monitored in situ. At positive applied potentials (∼0.7 V versus Ag/AgCl), nanoparticles accumulate reversibly in the electrical double-layer of the ITO surface, and the interfacial nanoparticle populations increase with 488-nm excitation intensity. The potential sensitivity of nanoparticle population exhibited no dependence o...
On investigating the statistical properties of the populous path algorithm by computer simulation. Counterconclusions to those of Tateno and Nei.

Goodman et al.'s (1974) populous path algorithm for estimating hidden mutational change in protein evolution is designed to be used as an adjunct to the maximum parsimony method. When the algorithm is so used, the augmented maximum parsimony distances, far from being overestimates, are underestimates of the actual number of nucleotide substitutions which occur in Tateno and Nei's (1978) computer simulation by the Poisson process model, even when the simulation is carried out at two and a half times the sequence density. Although underestimates, our evidence shows that they are nevertheless more accurate than estimates obtained by a Poisson correction. In the maximum parsimony reconstruction, there is a bias towards overrepresenting the number of shared nucleotide identities between adjacent ancestral and descendant nodal sequences with the bias being stronger in those portions of the evolutionary tree sparser in sequence data. Because of this particular property of maximum parsimony reconstructed sequences, the conclusions of Tateno and Nei concerning the statistical properties of the populous path algorithm are invalid. We conclude that estimates of protein evolutionary rates by the maximum parsimony - populous path approach will become more accurate rather than less as larger numbers of closely related species are included in the analysis.
ATPS-90EFFICACY OF NON-VIRAL ENGINEERED ADIPOSE MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS FOR BRAIN TUMOR THERAPY

Human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) display high anti-glioma tropism and have been found to be effective as delivery vehicles for targeting brain tumors. Their application, however, has been limited by safety concerns regarding genetic modifications associated with the use of viral vectors. This study developed non-viral, biodegradable nanoparticles to transfect hAMSCs safely and efficiently. We evaluated their efficacy to deliver a bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), a therapeutic human Brain Tumor Initiating Cells (BTIC)-targeting gene that reduces the clonogenic ability of glioma stem cells, in a human primary malignant glioma model. We optimized a poly (beta-amino ester) (PBAE) polymer structure to transfect hAMSCs with a BMP4-expressing plasmid (NP-hAMSCs), having a transfection efficacy and safety profile superior (p < 0.0001) to Lipofectamine™ 2000. NP-hAMSCs engineered with the PBAE polymer to produce BMP4 (BMP4/NP-hAMSCs) maintained their multi-potency as well as their migration and invasion capacities significantly better than hAMSCs transduced with lentivirus (p = 0.005). Moreover, NP-hAMSC producing BMP4 maintained its pro-differentiation effect on BTICs and significantly inhibited their oncosphere-forming capacity (p < 0.0001). In vivo imaging and histological analyses were conducted to monitor NP-AMSCs administered locally and systemically into the brain of rodents bearing orthotopic human tumors. Intranasal, intravenous, and local delivery of luciferase- and GFP-expressing NP-hAMSCs showed successful migration to the brain and effective transgene expression in the tumor after both systemic and local administration. Finally, twenty-four athymic rats were inoculated with primary BTICs and treated with BMP4-producing NP-AMSCs via intranasal administration and intravenous administration. The animals treated with intranasal administration showed a significant benefit in survival (p = 0.02 vs. control). This study highlights a safe and effective alternative to viral transduction for stem cell-based gene therapies. NP-engineered hAMSCs represents a novel nanomedicine approach to produce and deliver BTIC-targeting genes for brain tumor treatment.
Art in the Library

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University Libraries at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@odu.edu. Repository Citation Pettingill, Ann, "Art in the Library" (1997). Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications. Paper 12. http://digitalcommons.odu.edu/libraries_fac_pubs/12
Sibling Issues in Diverse Families

Continuing with material about how therapists can help families with sibling issues, the current and next chapter cover unique sibling relational dynamics common in diverse families. The current chapter examines several clinically important sibling facets in ethnic minority groups, families experiencing divorce, single-parent families, and blended families. Chapter 6 examines unique issues confronted by siblings of children with disabilities. As with the previous chapters, the current and next chapter offer suggestions for clinicians working with these types of families on how to integrate an emphasis on these sibling issues in clinical practice.
Pharmacoepigenomics and Pharmacovigilance in Gynecological Cancers

Aberrant epigenetic changes have been reported in gynecological cancers and contribute to the tumorigenesis. Patients with the same type of cancer may carry different epigenetic defects. In fact, each tumor harbors a different set of epigenetic changes, demonstrating a heteroepigeneity among the tumors. The patients may respond differently to the same treatment due to the differences in epigenetic alterations they’re harboring. Epigenetic changes are associated with loss of drug sensitivity and contribute to drug-resistance development. Pharmacoepigenomics include two aspects. One that has been emphasized previously is the interindividual differences at epigenome level that lead to different responses to the same drug. Another aspect that should not be overlooked is the effect of a treatment on the epigenome of patients. The emerging epigenetic therapies alone or in combination with chemotherapy or radiotherapy change the epigenome of patients, which in turn change the response of the patients to the drugs. Although currently most of the studies use loci-specific biomarkers to reflect epigenome changes, the advancement of next-generation sequencing will make more and more studies directly demonstrate the changes at the epigenome level. It is worth to notice that epigenetic therapy is still at its infancy. Lacking of specific targeting to reverse the epigenetic changes raise concerns of pharmacovigilance or drug safety. In this chapter, I focus on ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and uterine cancer to discuss the pharmacoepigenomics and pharmacovigilance. For ovarian cancer, I emphasize that epigenetic alterations in patients cause chemoresistance acquisition and cancer recurrence, however, epigenetic therapies change the epigenome of cancer cells to resensitize them to chemotherapy. As for cervical cancer, the combination epigenetic therapies using both DNAmethyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors (DNMTIs) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors (HDACIs) are emphasized. Regarding uterine cancer, application of epigenetic therapy to revive the hormonal therapy is discussed.
Standardizing unique molecular identifiers in SAM flags would benefit more than RNA-Seq

Unique Molecular Identifiers (UMIs) have been incorporated into RNA-Seq experiments to overcome issues with abundance estimation from samples that may have many PCR amplification cycles. However, the use of UMIs in many different types of sequencing experiments could be beneficial, including amplicon sequencing, ATAC-Seq, and ChIP-Seq. Furthermore, UMIs help to overcome artifacts in high-coverage DNA-Seq, and would enable more accurate RNA-Seq genotyping and allele-specific expression calculation. The main advantage of using UMIs is that identical molecules that are true PCR duplicates can be discerned from unique molecules with identical break points.
Morphology and tensile properties of model thermoplastic polyurethanes with MDI/butanediol based monodisperse hard segments

Morphology and tensile properties of model thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) containing polyisobutylene (PIB) or poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTMO) based soft segment and 4,4-methylene bis(phenyl isocyanate) (MDI) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) based monodisperse hard segments (HSs), consisting of exactly two to four MDI units extended by BDO, were investigated. Using FT-IR spectroscopy, increased hydrogen bonded CO fraction was observed in model TPUs as the HS size increased. The hydrogen bonded CO fraction was higher in PIB based TPUs compared with PTMO based TPUs, indicating higher phase separation in PIB based TPUs. The morphology of TPUs was investigated using AFM phase imaging, which showed ribbon-like or interconnected hard domains in PTMO based model TPUs and randomly dispersed hard domains in PIB based model TPUs. SAXS revealed that the degree of phase separation in the model TPUs was higher than in their polydisperse analogues. Domain spacing as well as interfacial thickness increased with the increasing HS size, and both values were higher in PTMO based TPUs. The tensile analysis indicated that model TPUs exhibited higher modulus and slightly higher elongation compared with their polydisperse analogues. Only in PTMO based model TPUs, strain induced crystallization was observed above 300% elongation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016
Approximate Aggregates in Oracle 12C

New generation of analytic applications emerged to process data generated from non conventional sources. The challenge for the traditional database systems is that the data sets are very large and keep increasing at a very high rate while the application users have higher performance expectations. The most straightforward response to this challenge is to deploy larger hardware configurations making the solution very expensive and not acceptable for most cases. Alternative solutions fall into two categories: reduce the data set using sampling techniques or reduce the computational complexity of expensive database operations by using alternative algorithms. Alternative algorithms considered in this paper are approximate aggregates that perform a lot better at the cost of reduced and tolerable accuracy. In Oracle 12C we introduced approximate aggregates of expensive aggregate functions that are very common in analytic applications, that is, approximate count distinct and approximate percentile. The performance is improved in two ways. First, the approximate aggregates use bounded memory, often eliminating the need to use temporary storage which results in significant performance improvement over the exact aggregates. Second, we provide materialized view support that allows users to store pre-computed results of approximate aggregates. These results can be rolled up to answer queries on different dimensions (such rollup is not possible for exact aggregates).
Next generation drug delivery: circulatory cells-mediated nanotherapeutic approaches

Nanocarriers (NCs), such as liposomes, hydrogels, nanoparticles, micelles, fibers, and dendrimers, provide several advantages in delivery applications and have been extensively applied to enhance t...
Conserved signatures indicate HIV-1 transmission is under strong selection and thus is not a “stochastic” process

Recently, Oberle et al. published a paper in Retrovirology evaluating the question of whether selection plays a role in HIV transmission. The Oberle study found no obvious genotypic or phenotypic differences between donors and recipients of epidemiologically linked pairs from the Swiss cohort. Thus, Oberle et al. characterized HIV-1 B transmission as largely "stochastic", an imprecise and potentially misleading term. Here, we re-analyzed their data and placed them in the context of transmission data for over 20 other human and animal trials. The present study finds that the transmitted/founder (T/F) viruses from the Swiss cohort show the same non-random genetic signatures conserved in 118 HIV-1, 40 SHIV, and 12 SIV T/F viruses previously published by two independent groups. We provide alternative interpretations of the Swiss cohort data and conclude that the sequences of their donor viruses lacked variability at the specific sites where other studies were able to demonstrate genotypic selection. Oberle et al. observed no phenotypic selection in vitro, so the problem of determining the in vivo phenotypic mechanisms that cause genotypic selection in HIV remains open.
Muscle function recovery after acute lung injury is impaired in aged mice, linked in part, to metabolic alterations attributed to MuRF1 by quantitative targeted metabolomics analysis of acyl-carnitines

Most survivors of acute lung injury suffer from substantial physical complications months after the initial lung injury resolves, and persistent muscle weakness is a very common sequelae of lung in...
Outlier rejection for networked control systems based on middleware

In cyber-physical systems, state estimation errors can be caused not just by process noise or measurement noise in sensors, but also by errors in the communication network. Jitter in packet delivery over a communication network carrying sensor measurements can result in timing errors which result in large outlier type state estimation errors, such as, for example, velocity estimation errors in vehicular control networks. These large outlier types of errors can seriously affect performance and robustness of the overall system. For reliability of cyber-physical systems, it is important to design them to be robust to such types of outliers. We propose a two-pronged approach involving a flexible adaptive model identification algorithm with outlier rejection, which in turn uses an adaptive system model to detect and reject outliers, thus shielding the estimation algorithm and thereby improving reliability. We show that the outlier rejection approach which intercepts and filters the data, combined with simultaneous model adaptation, can result in significantly improved performance of Model Predictive Control (MPC). We demonstrate this by reducing trajectory deviation errors in a vehicular testbed. We implement the overall system over Etherware, a middleware supporting a flexible mechanism that allows the suggested algorithm not only to be remotely incorporated without additional computational burden to the downstream controller, but also to be attached or removed at runtime, without reconfiguration, to adapt to any change of the dynamic plant.
GREEN MARKETING IN INDIA: A PATHWAY

Now-a-days, we are more concerned about Environment. There’s much talk about green and green only in every subject. Management is no exception in general and marketing in particular. Therefore, Green Marketing became an important strategy in organizations. Green Marketing refers to Marketing with an ecological conscience. With Green marketing advertisers focus on environmental benefits to sell products such as biodegradable diapers, energyefficient light bulbs and environmentally safe detergents. Now is the era of recyclable non-toxic and environment-friendly goods. It has gained importance in India recently. Modern organizations are taking environmental challenges by initiating green marketing strategies. This Paper deals with what green Marketing is all about and how can a organization be more competitive by using green marketing strategies to gain a competitive edge over others. It explores the main issues in adoption of green marketing practices. This has become the mantra for marketers to satisfy the needs of consumers and earn better profits. The present paper will attempt to introduce the terms and concepts of Green Marketing. Briefly discuss about the importance of Green Marketing and also focusing on the different opportunities with going Green Marketing philosophy and some challenges with Green Marketing.
Muramidase in polycythemia vera.

The serum muramidase levels of 45 patients with polycythemia vera were found to be significantly elevated above the values in 20 normal subjects. The patients with polycythemia vera who were studied included those with active disease, those controlled with myelosuppressive agents and those in the spent phase. A high degree of correlation was found between muramidase levels and leukocyte count, granulocyte count, serum uric acid, serum vitamin B 12 content and unsaturated vitamin B 12 binding capacity. No correlation was found between muramidase levels and hematocrit, monocyte count and leukocyte alkaline phosphatase activity. It is felt that this study lends support to the origin of serum muramidase from granulocytes and that elevated levels of serum muramidase in the subjects studied are a reflection of the involvement of the granulocyte in the proliferative process responsible for polycythemia vera.
Integrated bioethanol production to boost low-concentrated cellulosic ethanol without sacrificing ethanol yield

Abstract Four integrated designs were proposed to boost cellulosic ethanol titer and yield. Results indicated co-fermentation of corn flour with hydrolysate liquor from saccharified corn stover was the best integration scheme and able to boost ethanol titers from 19.9 to 123.2 g/L with biomass loading of 8% and from 36.8 to 130.2 g/L with biomass loadings of 16%, respectively, while meeting the minimal ethanol distillation requirement of 40 g/L and achieving high ethanol yields of above 90%. These results indicated integration of first and second generation ethanol production could significantly accelerate the commercialization of cellulosic biofuel production. Co-fermentation of starchy substrate with hydrolysate liquor from saccharified biomass is able to significantly enhance ethanol concentration to reduce energy cost for distillation without sacrificing ethanol yields. This novel method could be extended to any pretreatment of biomass from low to high pH pretreatment as demonstrated in this study.
Anatomic and clinical characterization of the narrow distal aorta and implications after endovascular aneurysm repair.

Abstract Objective The purpose of this analysis was to compare 1-year clinical outcomes after endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms with the EXCLUDER device in patients with standard and narrow aortic bifurcations (AOBs). Methods Data were prospectively collected from a 1055-participant subset of the multicenter Global Registry for Endovascular Aortic Treatment (GREAT) treated for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair between August 2010 and September 2015. There were 117 patients with a narrow AOB (NB; defined as Results The mean distal aortic neck diameter was 12.4 mm in the NB cohort and 25.3 mm in the SB cohort (P .99). Type II endoleaks represented 72% and 60% of treated endoleaks, respectively. Through 1 year, 10 SB patients (1.0%) and 2 NB patients (1.7%) exhibited occlusive/thrombotic events (P = .54). There were no reported instances of kinking, migration, fracture, compression, or dissection through 1 year in either cohort. One SB patient experienced thoracic aortic aneurysm rupture. Conclusions The 1-year outcomes after endovascular aneurysm repair with the EXCLUDER device were comparable in the NB and SB cohorts. A narrow AOB was not found to be associated with a higher incidence of later limb occlusions or endoleaks. Female patients were disproportionately more likely to have a narrow AOB, which correlated with narrowed proximal necks and access vessels, and a more severe comorbidity burden.
Underwriting of Municipal Debt and Placement Risk Premiums in Broker-Dealer Market Transaction Prices

This study examines the relationship between underwriter placement risk and market transaction prices using a sample of state general obligation bonds. We proxy underwriter placement risk using three variables: “when-issued” trades, underwriter syndicate size, and bond sale method. When-issued trades and larger underwriting syndicates have an inverse association with transaction prices (stated as percentage of par) and have a positive association with transaction yields (based on transaction price), all else constant. Negotiated sales have a positive relationship with transaction prices and a negative relationship with transaction yields.
Seasonal growth and mortality of juveniles of Lampsilis fasciola (Bivalvia: Unionidae) released to a fish hatchery raceway

1 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwestern Virginia Ecological Services Field Office, 330 Cummings Street,Abingdon, Virginia 24210, U.S;A., shane-hanlon@fws.gov2 U.S. Geological Sllrvey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit*, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences,Virginia Polytechni, Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0321, U.S.A., mussel@vt.eduAbstract: Recent efforts to restore remnant or extirpated populations of freshwater mussels have focused on artificial propagation as aneffective and practical conservation strategy. Althoug)1 artificially cultured juveniles have been produced and released to the wild at varioustimes of the year, no study has investigated the best time of year to release these juveniles. Newly metamorphosed juveniles of the wavyrayedlampmussel (Lampsilis fasciola) were released into a stream-fed fish hatchery raceway during March, June, and September. Growth andsurvival rates were measured 32, 52, 72, and 92 days post-metamorphosis. Juveniles released in June experienced the greatest growth andsurvival rates. Juveniles released in September and March experienced high mortality within the first month of release and exhibited poorgrowth in the cool \vater conditions typical of those seasons. Overwinter survival exhibited a size-dependent relationship.Key words: Lampsilis fasciola, life stage, propagation, overwinter mortality, temperature
Immunological identification of sperm antigens that participate in fertilization.

Using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) as probes for specific components of the spermatozoon, we have initiated an investigation aimed at identifying those sperm components that participate in the events of gamete interaction. We intend to exploit these mAbs not only for identifying functional sperm components, but also for defining the constituents of discrete domains that comprise the structure of this highly diferentiated cell.
Lean healthcare: scale, scope and sustainability

Lean healthcare is highlighted in the literature as an approach to quality improvement and operational efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to study how Lean healthcare has been implemented by analyzing empirical outcomes.,The authors used a literature review as the primary research method, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses process. Peer-reviewed journals were analyzed – searching for Lean healthcare implementation, tools used, wastes addressed, outcomes and sustainability.,Evidence suggests that Lean can improve healthcare operational effectiveness. However, empirical studies show implementation is still highly localized with small successes. Most transformations are focused on implementing one or two Lean tools that primarily target patient waiting times and there is minimal evidence about sustainability. Establishing clear definitions for healthcare-related Lean terminology may improve practice, especially episodic care and service quality.,This work provides a Lean healthcare case review. The research makes a significant contribution to Lean healthcare by increasing understanding (scale, scope and sustainability). From a theory building perspective, the authors suggest that barriers to adoption include a common healthcare-specific Lean terminology, and a need to expand implementation beyond small successes. This understanding will help identify key areas for further research in Lean healthcare management.