cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of institutional Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences at achieving instructional objectives

Abstract Objective To assess the effectiveness of four hospital-based, faculty-facilitated, Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) at meeting instructional objectives related to the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) standards. Methods A pre-test and a post-test were administered to students to assess their acquisition of basic institutional pharmacy knowledge and perceptions of their ability and interest in hospital pharmacy practice. The test included demographic, open-ended, and multiple-choice questions designed to assess objectives in line with ACPE standards. Students' pre-test and post-test scores were compared using paired t -tests. Differences in test scores and perceptions were assessed based on year and work experience. Results Analysis of 88 students from year one and 84 students in year two showed significant improvement in test scores from pre-test to the post-test in year one (71.4% vs. 77.0%, p p p p = 0.184 in year one, p = 0.075 in year two). Conclusions The institutional IPPE program was successful at improving students' knowledge in basic hospital pharmacy practice. Institutional IPPE improved students' confidence but did not change their perceived career path.
Step scaling and behaviour selection in a constrained set of manual material handling transfers

Predictive biomechanical analysis of manual material handling (MMH) transfers is dependent on accurate prediction of foot locations relative to the task. Previous studies have classified common acyclic stepping patterns used during those transfer tasks, but the influence of walking distance prior to the transfer is not well understood. Twenty men and women performed transfers for a minimum of six different delivery distance conditions. The number of steps used by the participants ranged from two to seven. A theoretical framework for idealised step-scaling strategies is proposed and compared with the experimental data. The maximum observed increase in step length prior to delivery was 1.43 times the nominal step length calculated for each participant. The data suggest that although participants can scale their steps to facilitate the use of a single terminal stance at the transfer, the majority of participants chose to utilise a combination of stepping strategies if the preferred contralateral lead foot st...
Protein Modularity of Alternatively Spliced Exons Is Associated with Tissue-Specific Regulation of Alternative Splicing

Recent comparative genomic analysis of alternative splicing has shown that protein modularity is an important criterion for functional alternative splicing events. Exons that are alternatively spliced in multiple organisms are much more likely to be an exact multiple of 3 nt in length, representing a class of “modular” exons that can be inserted or removed from the transcripts without affecting the rest of the protein. To understand the precise roles of these modular exons, in this paper we have analyzed microarray data for 3,126 alternatively spliced exons across ten mouse tissues generated by Pan and coworkers. We show that modular exons are strongly associated with tissue-specific regulation of alternative splicing. Exons that are alternatively spliced at uniformly high transcript inclusion levels or uniformly low levels show no preference for protein modularity. In contrast, alternatively spliced exons with dramatic changes of inclusion levels across mouse tissues (referred to as “tissue-switched” exons) are both strikingly biased to be modular and are strongly conserved between human and mouse. The analysis of different subsets of tissue-switched exons shows that the increased protein modularity cannot be explained by the overall exon inclusion level, but is specifically associated with tissue-switched alternative splicing.
Serum Proteins Enhance Dispersion Stability and Influence the Cytotoxicity and Dosimetry of ZnO Nanoparticles in Suspension and Adherent Cancer Cell Models

Agglomeration and sedimentation of nanoparticles (NPs) within biological solutions is a major limitation in their use in many downstream applications. It has been proposed that serum proteins associate with the NP surface to form a protein corona that limits agglomeration and sedimentation. Here, we investigate the effect of fetal bovine serum (FBS) proteins on the dispersion stability, dosimetry, and NP-induced cytotoxicity of cationic zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO) synthesized via forced hydrolysis with a core size of 10 nm. Two different in vitro cell culture models, suspension and adherent, were evaluated by comparing a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) nZnO dispersion (nZnO/PBS) and an FBS-stabilized PBS nZnO dispersion (nZnO – FBS/PBS). Surface interactions of FBS on nZnO were analyzed via spectroscopic and optical techniques. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the adsorption of negatively charged protein components on the cationic nZnO surface through the disappearance of surfaced-adsorbed carboxyl functional groups and the subsequent detection of vibrational modes associated with the protein backbone of FBS-associated proteins. Further confirmation of these interactions was noted in the isoelectric point shift of the nZnO from the characteristic pH of 9.5 to a pH of 6.1. In nZnO – FBS/PBS dispersions, the FBS reduced agglomeration and sedimentation behaviors to impart long-term improvements (>24 h) to the nZnO dispersion stability. Furthermore, mathematical dosimetry models indicate that nZnO – FBS/PBS dispersions had consistent NP deposition patterns over time unlike unstable nZnO/PBS dispersions. In suspension cell models, the stable nZnO – FBS/PBS dispersion resulted in a ~33 % increase in the NP-induced cytotoxicity for both Jurkat leukemic and Hut-78 lymphoma cancer cells. In contrast, the nZnO – FBS/PBS dispersion resulted in 49 and 71 % reductions in the cytotoxicity observed towards the adherent breast (T-47D) and prostate (LNCaP) cancer cell lines, respectively. Presence of FBS in the NP dispersions also increased the reactive oxygen species generation. These observations indicate that the improved dispersion stability leads to increased NP bioavailability for suspension cell models and reduced NP sedimentation onto adherent cell layers resulting in more accurate in vitro toxicity assessments.
Commentary on: Downes, S. (2004) Resource Profiles

Abstract: In this response to Downes' very substantial article I can touch on only a few points. I have chosen to pass over the technical comments which might be made (e.g., concerns about reliability and availability with the proposed system of distributed resource descriptions, or praise for his honest criticism of the intelligent agent paradigm) and focus on pedagogical issues raised by his description of the possible future of educational technology. I will particularly focus on my own views of the role of humans in the automated, intelligent, semantic web future of educational technology. Paper: Downes, S. (2004) Resource Profiles . Editors: Terry Anderson and Denise Whitelock.
Striking but benign: acute haemorrhagic oedema of infancy.

A previously healthy 6-month-old boy presented in September, 2014, with indurated and tender oedema of the left hand, associated with a rapidly spreading purpuric rash on the dorsum. He also had swelling of one side of his face, but examination was otherwise normal. Beginning 4 days previously he had had a 3-day upper respiratory tract infection, with no associated fever; his parents denied trauma or previous drug use. Blood tests including full blood count, coagulation studies, and circulating immune complexes were normal, apart from moderate thrombocytosis (platelets 518 × 109/L; normal range 168–392 × 109/L) and normochromic normocytic anaemia (haemoglobin 99 g/L; 105–135 g/L). Urinalysis was normal. We diagnosed acute haemorrhagic oedema of infancy, a leukoclastic small-vessel vasculitis that was initially thought to be a benign variant of Henoch-Schonlein purpura, but is now considered a distinct entity. Acute haemorrhagic oedema of infancy typically aff ects children between 4 and 24 months of age, whereas Henoch-Schonlein purpura is more common in children aged 3 to 6 years. Unlike Henoch-Schonlein purpura, systemic involvement is rare in acute haemorrhagic oedema of infancy; symptoms are usually restricted to the skin. Cutaneous lesions are typically large nummular red or purpuric plaques or cockade-like lesions involving the face, ears, and limbs, but sparing the trunk and mucosa. Non-pitting oedema is more frequently noted on the arms and legs but can involve the face. In Henoch-Schonlein purpura the legs and buttocks are more commonly aff ected. Patients with acute haemorrhagic oedema of infancy usually look clinically well. Lesions usually resolve within 1–3 weeks without treatment. Long-term sequelae have not been reported. In our patient, the purpuric rash resolved within 4 weeks and at follow-up 6 months later he had had no further symptoms. After excluding infectious, immune, or infl ammatory causes of purpuric rashes, physicians should consider this rare, striking but benign diagnosis when faced with a well-appearing infant with purpuric plaques and non-pitting oedema.
Dynamic Analysis of Inelastic Space Frames

Associated with each joint is a rigid body (having six degrees of freedom) formed by a lumping procedure applied to the mass of the incident members. As long as elasticity is not exceeded, the members are considered to possess continuous flexibility. When yielding occurs at a member end, a small portion of the member is replaced by an elasto-plastic segment with lumped flexibility. If the segment length is set equal to zero, it corresponds to the concept of a plastic hinge. The behavior of the lumped flexibility (considered as a black box) is governed by a prescribed plastic potential function. Three numerical examples are given in which interactions of the axial force, two bending moments, and torsional moment are considered. One example deals with the response of a 2-story, 2-bay steel frame to earthquake shocks.
Design and Optimization of Ultra Low Voltage, Wide Bandwidth Substrate Removed Electro-optic Modulators

Design and optimization of wide bandwidth ultra low voltage substrate removed electro-optic modulators is described. 30 GHz bandwidth, 50 Ω impedance with Vπ of 0.2 V should be possible.
No Differences in Achieving Hepatitis C Virus Care Milestones Between Patients Identified by Birth Cohort or Risk-Based Screening.

Background & Aims National hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening guidelines recommended 1-time testing of persons born between 1945 and 1965. Methods We performed a retrospective study to compare care milestones achieved by HCV-infected patients identified by birth cohort versus risk-based screens. Results We determined the proportions of patients newly identified with HCV infection who met care milestones (viral load, referral to and evaluation by a specialist, offer of treatment, initiation of treatment, and sustained viral response) and the time it took to reach them. We found no differences in HCV care milestones for patients identified via birth cohort testing versus risk-based screening. Overall, only 43% of HCV antibody-positive patients were referred to care, and less than 4% started treatment. The time to each care milestone was lengthy and varied greatly; treatment was initiated in a median of 308 days. Conclusions Although birth cohort testing will likely increase identification of patients with HCV infection, it does not seem to increase the number of patients that meet management milestones. New methods are needed to increase access to care and establish efficient models of health care delivery.
The Many Roles of Adenosine in Traumatic Brain Injury

Many secondary mechanisms regulate the evolution of damage and repair after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Bench-to-bedside studies from our team have shown that adenosine plays a key role in several secondary injury pathways in the brain, namely, excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) dysregulation. Studies of adenosine A1-receptor (A1R) knockout (KO) mice strongly support a key role for adenosine-dependent effects at this receptor in attenuating posttraumatic excitotoxicty. A1R KO mice develop lethal status epilepticus after experimental TBI. Evidence also supports a role of the A1R in human TBI since A1R gene variants are associated with posttraumatic seizures in patients with TBI. A1R also modulates the neuroinflammatory response to TBI. A1R KO mice exhibit enhanced microglial proliferation early after TBI. Adenosine acting at A2A and/or A2B receptors also modulates posttraumatic CBF. Local injection of either the nonselective AR agonist 2-chloroadenosine or the A2AR agonist CGS21680 markedly increases CBF in naive or brain-injured rats. However, whether the effects of adenosine on CBF after TBI are beneficial or detrimental is controversial. Mitigation of ischemia by adenosine produced from breakdown of ATP after TBI has been suggested, and consistent with this hypothesis, we reported increases in brain interstitial adenosine levels in patients with severe TBI during episodes of ischemia. However, in studies of CBF in patients after severe TBI, we also noted an association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) adenosine levels and uncoupling of CBF and metabolism (cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen [CMRO2]). Uncoupling of CBF and CMRO2 is associated with intracranial hypertension. Thus, adenosine may represent a two-edged sword after TBI. Additional evidence supporting a protective role of adenosine in TBI comes from clinical studies showing a powerful association between CSF caffeine levels and favorable outcome after TBI—given the interplay between caffeine and adenosine in neuroprotection. Finally, our work also suggests that the newly discovered 2,3-cyclic AMP pathway represents an important component of the adenosine response to TBI.
Race and Consumption: Black and White Disparities in Household Spending

Differences in consumption patterns are usually treated as a matter of preferences. In this article, the authors examine consumption from a structural perspective and argue that black households fa...
Composite Usage of Muti-type Energy Storage Technologies in Microgrid

Electric energy storage technology is regarded as one of the core technologies in microgrid,which plays an important role for stabilizing electric power system and utilizing renewable energy with high efficiency.The effect and significance of applying electric energy storage to the microgrid is explained,and the technical features of several energy storage technologies suitable for microgrid,such as flywheel,superconducting magnetic energy storage,super-capacitor and battery,are described.Furthermore,an applying mode of multi-type composite energy storage in the future microgrid is proposed,and some technical issues of applying multi-type composite energy storage are simply analyzed.
Respiratory and electrocortical responses to acoustic stimulation

Although sleep-related obstructive apnea is most often associated with transient arousal, the impact of this arousal on respiratory control remains unclear. We employed binaural tone bursts (.5 second duration) to elicit repetitive transient arousals from sleep during polygraphic recordings in 5 adult volunteers. By this method, we elicited repetitive transient arousals with a mean duration of approximately 10 seconds from all stages of sleep. With respect to the 3 pre-stimulus breaths, acoustic stimulation was associated with increased tidal volume and decreased inspiratory duration for at least 4 breaths. These respiratory responses to acoustic stimulation were not significantly influenced by either presence of transient arousal from sleep or the sleep state from which arousal occurred. We conclude that transient electro-cortical state changes may be repeatedly evoked from all sleep stages by transient acoustic stimulation in normal sleepers. This sensory stimulation represents a significant respiratory stimulus even when generalized arousal from sleep does not occur.
Addressing NCDs through research and capacity building in LMICs: lessons learned from tobacco control

Confronting the global non-communicable diseases (NCDs) crisis requires a critical mass of scientists who are well versed in regional health problems and understand the cultural, social, economic, and political contexts that influence the effectiveness of interventions. Investments in global NCD research must be accompanied by contributions to local research capacity. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Fogarty International Center have a long-standing commitment to supporting research capacity building and addressing the growing burden of NCDs in low- and middle-income countries. One program in particular, the NIH International Tobacco and Health Research and Capacity Building Program (TOBAC program), offers an important model for conducting research and building research capacity simultaneously. This article describes the lessons learned from this unique funding model and demonstrates how a relatively modest investment can make important contributions to scientific evidence and capacity building that could inform ongoing and future efforts to tackle the global burden of NCDs.
Working with Mathematica

Opening Saved Notebooks You can open any Mathematica notebook file by double-clicking on its icon with your mouse. It will appear on your screen exactly as it was when it was saved. You can open two or more notebooks at the same time if you wish. Adding Text to Notebooks Text Cells Mathematica has an integrated word processor that is simple to use once you are familiar with the cell structure of a Mathematica notebook (see Section 1.5, “Input and Output,” on page 3 for a discussion of input and output cells). To add text to a notebook, you need to create a text cell . To do this, first go to the Window menu and select Show Toolbar. A toolbar will appear across the top of your notebook window. Now position your mouse between any two cells in your notebook (or below the last cell in the notebook, or above the first cell) where you want to add text. The cursor will change from a vertical bar to a horizontal bar. Now click. You should notice a horizontal black line that runs completely across your notebook window. Next, use your mouse to select Text from the pull-down menu on the toolbar, and start typing. As soon as you do, a new text cell will be inserted in your notebook at the position of the horizontal black line, and it will contain the text you type.
Safety Assessment Versus Efficacy Assessment

Many statistical methods have been developed that focus primarily on efficacy. Safety evaluation frequently involves many additional considerations. Randomized controlled trials, especially later phase 3 trials, are infrequently designed based on safety outcomes. Most of these trials are designed based on efficacy outcomes, and therefore have limited power to detect important differences in safety outcomes. Recently, there have been calls to design trials with sufficient power to address known safety concerns. When prevention trials introduce an experimental preventive intervention (e.g., a vaccine) to an otherwise healthy (although at-risk) population, safety considerations can substantially affect the benefit: risk ratio and thus the utility and acceptability of the intervention. Observation of safety outcomes is often less controlled than for efficacy outcomes, particularly for safety concerns that emerge during the course of the trial. When either safety or efficacy outcomes are missing, specific assumptions are required for analysis (e.g., missing completely at random, MCAR), but often these assumptions may not apply. The statistical methods that rely on these assumptions have largely been developed with a focus on efficacy outcomes. Illustrative examples, including meta-analyses, will be presented and the underdeveloped areas highlighted.
Watch-Dog: Detecting Self-Harming Activities From Wrist Worn Accelerometers

In a 2012 survey, in the United States alone, there were more than 35 000 reported suicides with approximately 1800 of being psychiatric inpatients. Recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports indicate an upward trend in these numbers. In psychiatric facilities, staff perform intermittent or continuous observation of patients manually in order to prevent such tragedies, but studies show that they are insufficient, and also consume staff time and resources. In this paper, we present the Watch-Dog system, to address the problem of detecting self-harming activities when attempted by in-patients in clinical settings. Watch-Dog comprises of three key components—Data sensed by tiny accelerometer sensors worn on wrists of subjects; an efficient algorithm to classify whether a user is active versus dormant (i.e., performing a physical activity versus not performing any activity); and a novel decision selection algorithm based on random forests and continuity indices for fine grained activity classification. With data acquired from 11 subjects performing a series of activities (both self-harming and otherwise), Watch-Dog achieves a classification accuracy of $98\%$ , $94\%$ , and $70\%$ for same-user 10-fold cross-validation, cross-user 10-fold cross-validation, and cross-user leave-one-out evaluation, respectively. We believe that the problem addressed in this paper is practical, important, and timely. We also believe that our proposed system is practically deployable, and related discussions are provided in this paper.
The Correlation between the Injuries at Work of the Construction Workers and the Capability of the Construction Workers of High-Rise Buildings in Thailand

This Research has the objective of studying the cause of injuries at work of the construction workers of high-rice building. Injury characteristic, severity of the injury, damage caused by the injuries at work of the construction workers, the capability of the high-rise construction workers and to study the correlation between the injuries at work of the construction workers and the capability of the high-rise building construction workers in Thailand. The researcher did the research as a mix research, studied as a qualitative research and quantitative research. Tools used in qualitative research is by recording form of non-participation observation, recording form of participated observation and recording of in-depth interviews. Tools used in the quantitative research are the questionnaires the researcher set up. The researcher collected the information for this research during October 2016-March 2017. It is found from the research that 1) The cause from injuries at work of the construction workers of high-rise buildings consisted of Man, machinery and equipment, environment and safety management 2) Injury characteristic of the construction workers of high-rise buildings are: skin injury, respiratory injury, sight and eye injuries, hearing, muscular injury and skeleton injury 3) The severity of the injuries consisted of death, disabled, loss of organs, dismemberment, more than 3 days leave of absence, less than 3 days leave of absence 4) Damage and loss caused by the injuries of the construction workers of high-rise buildings consisted of: Being charged and prosecuted of the criminal case, having to pay compensation and hospital charges, loss of spirit, dishearten, loss of confident, the work is delayed over the planned schedule. 5) The task demand factors of the construction workers are, work design, task factor, environmental factor, work behavior factor 6) Capability of the construction workers consisted of competency, human factor, attention factors, supervision, monitoring and inspection 7) The injuries of the construction workers have a high level of correlation with the capability of the construction workers of high-rise buildings in Thailand with statistic significant at .01, correlation coefficient at .762.
CHECKLIST OF NORTH AMERICAN NUT-INFESTING INSECTS AND HOST PLANTS

Data on the biology and host plant relations of nut-infesting insects are widely scattered in the scientific literature. A checklist of North American nut-infesting insects and host plants is presented to provide a central source of information on this insect group. Organized alphabetically by insect taxa, the checklist contains 102 species of insects and 82 host plants. Nomenclature of listed insects and host plants follows current revisions and checklists.
Meta-analyses and the evidence base for microbial outcomes in the treatment of pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex disease.

Objectives To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the level of funding support and the sputum culture conversion rates in pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (P-MAC) disease in adult patients without cystic fibrosis or HIV infection, treated with recommended antibiotic regimens. Methods We performed a literature search to identify clinical trials, prospective studies and registries that reported outcomes in P-MAC patients. Studies that reported P-MAC diagnosis and treatments based on established guidelines met the inclusion criteria and were examined for bias and quality. We modified existing quality scales and came up with a 10 star quality score. Outcomes meta-analysed were sputum conversion incidence ratios (IR) and their 95% CI, weighted for study quality. Results Twenty-one studies that examined 28 regimens, including 2534 patients in intent-to-treat analyses and 1968 in per-protocol analyses, were identified. The study quality mean ± SD scores were 5.4 ± 2.2 out of 10 stars. Only two (9.5%) studies received public funding. There was significant heterogeneity of microbial effect among treatment regimens (I2 > 40%; P > 0.001). The pooled IR for sustained sputum conversion was 0.54 (95% CI 0.45-0.63) for macrolide-containing regimens versus 0.38 (0.25-0.52) with macrolide-free regimens. Prolonging therapy duration beyond 12 months was associated with an average decline in sputum conversion to 22% (95% CI 1%-44%). Conclusions Researchers working on P-MAC therapy have received very little public funding support. As a result, the evidence base for treatment guidelines is based on studies of relatively small numbers of patients in low-quality studies. Nevertheless, these studies showed poor sputum conversion rates in patients receiving recommended treatment regimens.
Asymmetric Cooling and Heating Perception

A series of experiments have been conducted to evaluate human thermal response to asymmetric thermal stimulation. It has been validated in previous studies that asymmetric thermal stimuli can create perceptions of heating or cooling while maintaining a constant average temperature applied to the skin. In this study we implemented three experimental procedures on the ventral forearm to evaluate asymmetric thermal stimulation. These experiments also examined several ways to collect perceptual thermal responses from subjects. Constant and asymmetric thermal pattern average temperatures were adjusted based on multiple aspects of thermal perception theories. Temporally optimized thermal patterns were implemented and resulted in counter-intuitive thermal perceptions. These results also demonstrated that the perceptual neutral point differs from the thermally neutral point on the skin.
Measurement Reliability in Pediatric Lateral Condyle Fractures of the Humerus.

Background:Lateral condyle fractures of the distal humerus are the second most common pediatric elbow fracture. A difference of 1 or 2 mm in fracture displacement measurement may change the operative or nonoperative management of a minimally displaced fracture. The goal of this study was to determin
Writing Research Reviews

Many researchers in pediatric and clinical child psychology publish critical reviews of published research. The purpose of a research review is to define and clarify a scientific problem or issue; summarize previous investigations in order to inform the readers of the state of the art of research in an area of science; identify relative contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature; and suggest an agenda to solve critical research problems [American Psychological Association (APA), 1994, p.5]. . Such reviews serve several valuable functions: First and foremost, by summarizing what is known and not known about a field of scientific inquiry, a review identifies and clarifies salient research questions and sets directions for research that can advance the field. Because scientific progress builds on previous research, the ability to distinguish between what is already known versus what needs to be documented in a given area of research is a critical skill for researchers in clinical child and pediatric psychology. Researchers who ignore others’ work not only run the risk of repeating methodological errors but of “rediscovering” existing knowledge.
Indeterminacy and Belief Change

Most of the literature on belief change presupposes a theory of rationality according to which rational agents are optimizers: they chose the best among the feasible epistemic options available to them. But when epistemic values are indeterminate this view of rationality is not applicable. In this situation it is still rational to maximize, i.e., to deem an option as choosable when it is not known to be worse that any other Sen (1997). In this article we present some basic results about rationalizability in terms of maximization rather than optimization.
Methodological Issues in fMRI Functional Connectivity and Network Analysis

This article reviews some of the practical issues encountered when analyzing functional MRI data using network analysis/graph theoretic measures to study brain connectivity. Three primary concerns are covered, including thresholding of connectivity matrices (i.e., defining network ‘edges’), delineating regions of interest (i.e., defining network ‘nodes’), and handling the potential confound of subject head motion. Solutions to these problems are discussed and recommendations provided for researchers wishing to use this promising methodology to understand the large-scale organization of the brain.
Cross-cultural comparative study of psychological distress between older Korean immigrants in the United States and older Koreans in South Korea.

AbstractObjective: This study aims to answer questions about the similarities and differences in the prevalence and distribution of psychological distress across these populations.Methods: Survey d...
Variation in Immune Defense Shapes Disease Outcomes in Laboratory and Wild Daphnia

Host susceptibility may be critical for the spread of infectious disease, and understanding its basis is a goal of ecological immunology. Here, we employed a series of mechanistic tests to evaluate four factors commonly assumed to influence host susceptibility: parasite exposure, barriers to infection, immune responses, and body size. We tested these factors in an aquatic host-parasite system (Daphnia dentifera and the fungal parasite, Metschnikowia bicuspidata) using both laboratory-reared and field-collected hosts. We found support for each factor as a driver of infection. Elevated parasite exposure, which occurs through consumption of infectious fungal spores, increased a host's probability of infection. The host's gut epithelium functioned as a barrier to infection, but in the opposite manner from which we predicted: thinner anterior gut epithelia were more resistant to infectious spores than thick epithelia. This relationship may be mediated by structural attributes associated with epithelial cell height. Fungal spores that breached the host's gut barrier elicited an intensity-dependent hemocyte response that decreased the probability of infection for some Daphnia. Although larger body sizes were associated with increased levels of spore ingestion, larger hosts also had lower frequencies of parasite attack, less penetrable gut barriers, and stronger hemocyte responses. After investigating which mechanisms underlie host susceptibility, we asked: do these four factors contribute equally or asymmetrically to the outcome of infection? An information-theoretic approach revealed that host immune defenses (barriers and immune responses) played the strongest roles in mediating infection outcomes. These two immunological traits may be valuable metrics for linking host susceptibility to the spread of infectious disease.
3D Cardiac Printing to Plan Transcatheter Closure of an Iatrogenic Primum Atrial Septal Defect

Primum atrial septal defects (ASD) typically require surgical repair due to their proximity to the atrioventricular valves. 1 We present a case of percutaneous closure of an iatrogenic primum ASD u...
Cochlear protein biomarkers as potential sites for targeted inner ear drug delivery

The delivery of therapies to the cochlea is notoriously challenging. It is an organ protected by a number of barriers that need to be overcome in the drug delivery process. Additionally, there are multiple sites of possible damage within the cochlea. Despite the many potential sites of damage, acquired otologic insults preferentially damage a single location. While progress has been made in techniques for inner ear drug delivery, the current techniques remain non-specific and our ability to deliver therapies in a cell-specific manner are limited. Fortunately, there are proteins specific to various cell-types within the cochlea (e.g., hair cells, spiral ganglion cells, stria vascularis) that function as biomarkers of site-specific damage. These protein biomarkers have potential to serve as targets for cell-specific inner ear drug delivery. In this manuscript, we review the concept of biomarkers and targeted- inner ear drug delivery and the well-characterized protein biomarkers within each of the locations of interest within the cochlea. Our review will focus on targeted drug delivery in the setting of acquired otologic insults (e.g., ototoxicity, noise-induce hearing loss). The goal is not to discuss therapies to treat acquired otologic insults, rather, to establish potential concepts of how to deliver therapies in a targeted, cell-specific manner. Based on our review, it is clear that future of inner ear drug delivery is a discipline filled with potential that will require collaborative efforts among clinicians and scientists to optimize treatment of otologic insults. Graphical Abstract.
Prüfen der gefertigten Batterieschalen

Die gefertigten Bauteile mussen hinsichtlich der Qualitat fertigungsbegleitend und nach dem gesamten Fertigungsprozess gepruft werden. Die Bauteilprufung ist daher ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Projekts, um die gefertigte Qualitat der Bauteile kontrollieren und beurteilen zu konnen. Die Bauteilanforderungen wurden im Vorfeld klar aufgearbeitet und strukturiert zusammengetragen.
Abstract PO-226: Localization of macrophages and neutrophils in the prostate tumor microenvironment and their association with prostate cancer racial disparities

African American (AA) men are two to three times more likely to die from prostate cancer (PCa) than European American (EA) men. This disparity may be due in part to socioeconomic status and discrepancies in access to quality care. Studies also suggest that differences in innate immune effector cells and function in the tumor microenvironment of AA men may promote PCa aggressiveness. Increased tumor- associated macrophages are associated with poorer outcomes and a high neutrophil- to-lymphocyte ratio is significantly associated with poorer survival in men with PCa. However, the prevalence of innate immune cells, their spatial localization, and their relationship to PCa racial disparities is largely unknown. We evaluated CD66ce+ neutrophils and CD68+ (pan), CD80+ (M1), and CD163+ (M2) macrophages using RNA in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded whole tissue sections from prostate donor tissues with no cancer (n=4) and radical prostatectomy tissues from AA and EA men with low grade (Gleason ≤ 3+4) and higher grade (Gleason ≥ 4+3) PCa (n=38). Tissue microarray (TMA) sets containing radical prostatectomy tissues (n=932) or distant metastatic tissues obtained at autopsy (n=6) were also evaluated. Immune marker expression in TMAs was quantified using TMAJ and FrIDA software. CD66ce+ neutrophils were primarily localized to blood vessels in organ donor prostate specimens as well as normal appearing, non-inflamed regions of radical prostatectomy specimens. Increased CD66ce+ neutrophils were present in inflamed regions of benign tissues from both races. In analysis of TMAs, there was significantly increased CD66ce+ neutrophils in tissues from EA men compared to AA men (p There was no association between CD66ce+ neutrophils and risk of metastasis or biochemical recurrence. CD68+ and CD163+ macrophages were abundant in organ donor specimens, while CD80 expression was minimal. Similar expression patterns were observed in benign regions of radical prostatectomy specimens. In analysis of TMAs, CD68, CD80 and CD163 were significantly increased in cancer compared to benign tissues (p Citation Format: Janielle P. Maynard, Jiayun Lu, Igor Vidal, Corinne E. Joshu, Angelo M. De Marzo, Karen S. Sfanos. Localization of macrophages and neutrophils in the prostate tumor microenvironment and their association with prostate cancer racial disparities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-226.
INCEPTS: Software for high-fidelity electric vehicle en route state of charge estimation, fleet analysis and charger deployment

Abstract As the electrification of the transportation industry and growing adoption of these electric vehicles continues, the demand for charging infrastructure is increasing concurrently. Properly deploying this infrastructure requires that there exist models which can adequately estimate the performance of these vehicles under real scenarios. While there has been significant work on estimating energy-consumption for realistic drive profiles, there is a need to systematically incorporate the conditions (e.g. wind, elevation) along a route for enabling efficient charger deployment. In this work, we have developed a software package known as INCEPTS, an agent-based simulation software that can predict high-fidelity electric vehicle performance and can capture the dynamics exhibited by the individual vehicles as they travel on their respective routes. The software then uses this to analyze fleets of vehicles which will provide the fleet performance statistics that result from various impacts exhibited by the fleet in the simulated area. These statistics can then be further used to inform decisions such as charger deployment to ensure that the placement of chargers adapts to the local needs of the electric vehicle fleet. Furthermore, this software is developed such that it is capable of simulating different kinds of electric vehicles (e.g. cars, trucks, eVTOLs) and different locations. To demonstrate the capabilities of the software, a variety of simulations are performed using Massachusetts as a target location. The first set of simulations show the importance of accounting for local conditions of individual vehicles. For example, the difference is state-of-charge could differ by up to 30% for the same distance traveled. The second set of simulations looked at the fleet performance within Massachusetts in which a bimodality of energy used per mile is observed, with means at 184 Wh/mi and 244 Wh/mi. Our work demonstrated that this bimodality results from a combination of both local conditions and geometric restrictions caused by the road network. These results are indicative of the unique capabilities of the INCEPTS platform and we plan to demonstrate additional use-cases in follow-up studies.
Modulation-Based Physical Layer Security via Gray Code Hopping

A physical layer security (PLS) technique called Gray Code Hopping (GCH) is presented offering simplistic implementation and no bit error rate (BER) performance degradation over the main channel. A synchronized transmitter and receiver "hop" to an alternative binary reflected Gray code (BRGC) mapping of bits to symbols between each consecutive modulation symbol. Monte Carlo simulations show improved BER performance over a similar technique from the literature. Simulations also confirm compatibility of GCH with either hard or soft decision decoding methods. Simplicity of GCH allows for ready implementation in adaptive 5th Generation New Radio (5G NR) modulation coding schemes.
Non-Parametric Online Changepoint Detection Algorithm

Changepoint detection using CUSUM is a well-studied problem and some useful variations and enhancements to the basic CUSUM algorithm have been proposed. However, CUSUM algorithms require the user to specify parameter(s) specific to different signals. This paper presents a set of additions to the CUSUM algorithm that eliminates sensitivity parameters using several new automation techniques, allows easy extensibility to generic (i.e. more than just mean) changepoint detection, and makes it more adaptive, while maintaining causality at all times. We automated the estimation of the CUSUM threshold, h, using a Markov model that updates h at each time step to reflect the most up-to-date information. The expected change parameter, delta, is estimated using a regression method. We perform experiments to investigate segmentation capabilities and compare performance with that of Bayesian Online Changepoint Detection.
Complex regional pain syndrome workshop at Cardiff: editorial.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is the current taxonomic label for a syndrome previously known by many names (reflex sympathetic dystrophy, causalgia, Sudeck's atrophy, shoulder-hand syndrome, neuroalgodystrophy, reflex neurovascular dystrophy, etc). It is an inflammatory and neuropathic pain disorder, often involving both peripheral and central sensitization, but principally characterized by regional dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. It involves a full measure of bio-psycho-social features and it can be significantly disabling. CRPS remains one of the most enigmatic and difficult to treat of all pain conditions probably in large part due to the fact that the pathophysiology remains poorly characterized. In fact, there is increasing consensus that CRPS is unlikely to be caused by a single, simple pathophysiological mechanism. Rather, it is likely to be the result of …
A Review of “Pesticide Drift and the Pursuit of Environmental Justice”

In Pesticide Drift and the Pursuit of Environmental Justice, Jill Lindsey Harrison details the issue of pesticide drift in California. According to her research, pesticide drift activists in the st...
Enforcing architecture and deployment constraints of distributed component-based software

In the component-based software development process, the formalisation of architectural choices makes possible to explicit quality attributes. When dealing with the deployment of such component-based software in dynamic networks, in which disconnections or machine failures can occur, preserving architectural choices becomes difficult to ensure, as current architecture-centric languages and their support mainly focus on steps prior to the deployment one. We present in this paper a family of languages that formalise not only architectural choices but deployment aspects as well, both as constraints. Then, we show how all of these constraints are reified in order to manage the deployment of a component-based software in this context of a dynamic hosting platform. The proposed solution defines an automatic deployment that ensures permanently, at run time, the preservation of architecture and deployment choices, and thus their corresponding quality attributes.
Robust stability of systems with complex structured uncertainties

A sufficient condition for the robust stability of systems with structured uncertainty is derived. The upper bounds measured by the H/sub infinity /-norm for the sensitivity function and the closed-loop transfer function of the system are also given. These upper bounds may be used to test the stability of a system with complex structured uncertainties, as is shown in an example. >
Dendritic Cells Process and Present Antigens Across A Range of Maturation States

We isolated dendritic cells (DC) from lymphoid organs of mice bearing a transgene for a membrane-bound form of the model protein hen egg white lysozyme (HEL). DC from the spleen had a lower representation of costimulatory molecules and class II MHC molecules than those isolated from lymph nodes and thymi. Splenic DC were capable of further maturation by in vivo treatment of mice with LPS. The immature DC from spleen processed HEL and displayed the chemically dominant epitope as evidenced by FACS analysis. These immature DC also presented this epitope to CD4 + T cells. Splenic DC from another transgenic mouse (ML-5) containing serum HEL also showed the ability to process and present Ag despite low levels of circulating HEL. In vitro-derived DC from the bone marrow (bone marrow-derived DC) of mHEL mice also displayed immature to mature features and in both cases displayed HEL peptides as well as SDS-stable MHC class II molecules. Immature bone marrow-derived DC also processed exogenous HEL. We conclude that the DC sets normally found in tissue show a scale of maturation features but even the most immature process and present peptides by MHC class II molecules.
Characterization of subsets of bone marrow-derived macrophages by flow cytometry analysis

Normal C3H bone marrow cells were grown 7 days in medium containing L cell-derived colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1). During the first 4 days of culture, erythroid and granulocytic cells decreased while macrophages increased exponentially with a doubling time of about 31 hr. Only 0.3% of all cells in the initial bone marrow suspension formed discrete colonies of mononuclear phagocytes, but by day 6 60% of the nonadherent cells were capable of forming macrophage colonies, representing a 200-fold enrichment of the original progenitor population. Using flow cytometry, mononuclear phagocytes obtained after 4 days of culture were separated into two distinct phenotypes based on their autofluorescence. Nonadherent cells were a discrete population of small cells exhibiting low autofluorescence, and the adherent cells were a broad heterogeneous population of large cells exhibiting high autofluorescence. A panel of currently available rat monoclonal antibodies (MABs) against murine hematopoietic cells were used to determine whether unique subsets of macrophages could be resolved. The MABs RA 31B6 and H-11 stained virtually all the nonadherent cells but not adherent cells. The MABs E-2 and 11-4.1 (anti-H-2Kk) stained almost all the adherent cells and demonstrated no significant staining of nonadherent cells. Nearly all the nonadherent and adherent cells were stained by the MABs DNL 4.4 and MAC-1. Additionally, the data suggest that the epitopes for MAC-2 and MAC-3 and gamma 2a Fc receptors develop late in nonadherent progenitor cells as they mature into adherent macrophages.