cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Critical appraisal of Zabrocki et al: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for pediatric respiratory failure: survival and predictors of mortality. Crit Care Med 2011; 39:364-370.

OBJECTIVE To review the findings and discuss the implications of pediatric respiratory failure treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. DESIGN A critical appraisal of Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for pediatric respiratory failure: Survival and predictors of mortality by Zabrocki et al (Crit Care Med 2011; 39:364370) and review of the relevant literature. FINDINGS In this review of international data from 1993 to 2007, pediatric patients diagnosed with respiratory failure that met inclusion criteria and were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation had an overall survival of 57%. This percentage did not change significantly over the study period; however, the number of patients with comorbidities did increase from 19% in 1993 to 47% in 2007. Survival varied significantly depending on diagnosis (83% for status asthmaticus vs. 23% for fungal pneumonia) and associated comorbidities (59% for chronic lung disease vs. 5% for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation). Clinical features associated with decreased survival included precannulation mechanical ventilation in excess of 14 days and venoarterial cannulation. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms that precannulation diagnoses and variables play a role in prognosis when pediatric patients with respiratory failure are treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Results of this investigation demonstrate that survival is improving in patients without comorbidities and that patients can be mechanically ventilated for up to 14 days prior to extracorporeal support initiation before mortality is increased.
High Risk Lesions

There is a remarkably varied spectrum of noncancerous breast lesions that can be identified by screening mammography since the advent of improved imaging techniques. The variety and volume of such lesions has increased dramatically over the last decade. The physicians who are responsible for the care of these patients are challenged with the interpretation of the results with minute amounts of tissue from minimally invasive biopsies. It is essential for the multidisciplinary breast team to evaluate the concordance of each biopsy in relation to histology, imaging, history and physical examination. This is most easily accomplished with a concordance conference attended by all of the involved specialists including pathologists, breast imagers, as well as surgeons. In some institutions, this is done by whoever performs the biopsy, which is usually the radiologist or surgeon.
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

Prion disease is a unique category of illness, affecting both animals and humans, in which the underlying pathogenesis is related to a conformational change of a normal, self-protein called PrPC (C for cellular) to a pathological and infectious conformer known as PrPSc (Sc for scrapie) (Prusiner, Annu Rev Genet 47:601–623, 2013; Aguzzi and Falsig, Nat Neurosci 15:936–939, 2012; Kretzschmar and Tatzelt, Brain Pathol 23:321–332, 2013; Greenlee and Greenlee, ILAR J 56:7–25, 2015). Currently all prion diseases are without effective treatment and are universally fatal (Prusiner, Annu Rev Genet 47:601–623, 2013; Aguzzi and Falsig, Nat Neurosci 15:936–939, 2012; Greenlee and Greenlee, ILAR J 56:7–25, 2015; Colby and Prusiner, Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 3:a006833, 2011; Wisniewski and Goni, Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther 10:307–317, 2012; Sim, Infect Disord Drug Targets 12:144–160, 2012; Rubenstein et al., Prion diagnosis. Manual of clinical and laboratory immunology, 2015). It is increasingly being recognized that many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), have similarities in their pathogenesis and are “prion-like” (Goedert, Science 349:1255555, 2015; Jucker and Walker, Ann Neurol 70:532–540, 2011; Aguzzi and O’Connor, Nat Rev Drug Discov 9:237–248, 2010; Marciniuk et al., Clin Dev Immunol 2013:473706, 2013). Hence, any effective therapeutic intervention for prion disease would have significant implications for many other common neurodegenerative diseases. Interest in prion disease greatly increased during the emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the resulting appearance of variant CJD (vCJD) in human populations. BSE arose from the feeding of cattle with prion-contaminated meat and bone meal products, while vCJD developed following the entry of BSE into the human food chain (Greenlee and Greenlee, ILAR J 56:7–25, 2015; Harman and Silva, J Am Vet Med Assoc 234:59–72, 2009; Sikorska et al., Adv Exp Med Biol 724:76–90, 2012). A more recently emerging prionoses is chronic wasting disease (CWD), which infects large numbers of cervids in North America, with the potential to infect other agriculturally important species and domestic animals, as well as humans (Rubenstein et al., Prion diagnosis. Manual of clinical and laboratory immunology, 2015; Saunders et al., Emerg Infect Dis 18:369–376, 2012; Gilch et al., Top Curr Chem 305:51–77, 2011; Daus and Beekes, Prion 6:17–22, 2012; Mathiason et al., J Virol 87:1947–1956, 2013). CWD is the most efficiently transmissible naturally occurring prion disease, including by aerosol transmission (Denkers et al., J Virol 87:1890–1892, 2013). In this chapter we review current knowledge regarding TSE and potential therapeutic approaches that are under development.
Representing Actions of Objects in Intelligent Environments

A first step towards an understanding of the semantic content in a video is the reliable detection and recognition of actions performed by objects in the environment. This is a difficult problem due to the enormous variability in an action's appearance when seen from different viewpoints and/or at different times. In this paper we present a novel approach to representing actions that models actions as specific types of 3d objects. Specifically, we observe that any action can be represented as a generalized cylinder, called the action cylinder. Visualizing actions as objects allows rigid, articulated, and non-rigid actions to all be modeled in a uniform framework.
Enteric Neuroimmune Interactions

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on enteric neuroimmune interactions. Exposure to foreign antigens in the form of food or intruding organisms sensitizes the enteric mucosal immune system. When this occurs, a second exposure to the same antigen triggers predictable cooperative activity of the intestinal effector systems. Integrated activity of the musculature, mucosa, and intramural blood circulation results in organized behavior of the whole organ that benefits the animal by rapid expulsion of the offensive antigen. Exposure of the sensitized mucosa to the antigen triggers a specialized propulsive motor response that is coordinated with copious secretion of water, electrolytes, and mucous into the intestinal lumen. Signaling between the enteric immune system and the enteric minibrain initiates the beneficial behavior. The motility response of the sensitized intestine to the offending antigen is termed power propulsion. Power propulsion forcefully and rapidly propels the luminal contents over long lengths of intestine, effectively stripping the lumen clean.
WCST-2013: Keynote speaker 1: Blurred nets: Disruption and the risk to future ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) architectures

Summary form only given. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an integrated part of the future Internet with self-configuring capabilities based on interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual `things/objects' have identities, physical attributes and are seamlessly integrated into the information network. This keynote will address three key themes in this loT evolution, each defining stages in the evolution of the Internet over the next decade. Over the next few years, the importance of collaboratory participation nets will further increase active creation and passive consumption. By 2015, immersive nets become predominant, integration local tags, wireless networks and smart environment's offer a cloud of information accessible and editable both remotely and in-person. After 2017, metaverse nets will take this augmented world and add connections with virtual environments. Although innovative, the risk and disruption to these new architectures will present challenges to the loT Cyber domain needing to address the very large numbers of `things/objects' handing data in this new global information space.
Librarians, Faculty, and the Writing Center Partnering to Build an Interdisciplinary Course: A Case Study at the University of Houston, USA

ABSTRACTThis article covers how an interdisciplinary course was developed using the expertise and resources of a history professor, the history and psychology subject librarians, and the university's writing center. The course, supported by a grant, was aimed at helping students improve their research, information literacy, and writing skills across disciplines. The article discusses the involvement of the partners from the initial planning stages to its conclusion, focusing especially on how the librarians created a library session, course-specific guide, annotated bibliography assignment and grading rubric, and how these were used as opportunities to interact with the students throughout the course. Also covered are research and writing challenges, especially for English-language learner students, and how they were addressed by all the partners. It also discusses how the librarians used this experience to seek out opportunities to create similar collaborations with other instructors, and to strengthen t...
Epidemiology and Clinical Features of Human Coronaviruses in the Pediatric Population.

Background The epidemiology and clinical features of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) in children are not fully characterized. Methods A retrospective study of children with HCoV detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed for a community cohort and a children's hospital in the same community from January 2013 to December 2014. The RT-PCR assay detected HCoV 229E, HKU1, NL63, and OC43 in nasal swabs from symptomatic children ≤18 years. Factors associated with increased severity of illness in hospitalized children were assessed by multivariable logistic regression. Results Human coronavirus was detected in 261 children, 49 and 212 from the community and hospital, respectively. The distribution of HCoV types and seasonal trends were similar in the community and hospital. Community cases were older than hospitalized cases (median age, 4.4 versus 1.7 years, respectively; P < .01), and a minority of community cases (26.5%) sought medical attention. Among the hospitalized children with HCoV detected, 39 (18.4%) received respiratory support and 24 (11.3%) were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Age <2 years (odds ratio [OR] = 5.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9-13.1) and cardiovascular (OR = 3.9; 95% CI, 1.6-9.5), genetic/congenital (OR = 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1-7.0), and respiratory chronic complex conditions ([CCCs] OR = 4.5; 95% CI, 1.7-12.0) were associated with receiving respiratory support. Genetic/congenital (OR = 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1-7.4) CCCs were associated with PICU admission. Severity of illness was similar among hospitalized children with different HCoV types. Conclusions Children in the community with HCoV detected generally had mild illness as demonstrated by few medically attended cases. In hospitalized children, young age and CCCs, but not HCoV type, were associated with increased severity of illness.
Spatial Analytics for Enhancing Street Light Coverage of Public Spaces

ABSTRACTThe spatial distribution of public area lighting in an urban region greatly influences human activities and safety. Such services are not free, often consuming significant budgetary resources to site, maintain, and operate on an annual basis. Further, lighting has been found to negatively impact the environment by limiting visibility in the form of glare, trespass, and sunglow as well disturbing diurnal rhythms, breeding behavior, and migration patterns of fauna, not to mention impacts and costs attributable to energy generation. Enhancing configurations of nighttime lighting sources is therefore important on many fronts to address fiscal limitations and sustainability concerns. There are many implications for system inefficiency that arise due to growth and development, necessitating systematic evaluation approaches. Light provision can be assessed using spatial optimization. Both benefits and impacts can be taken into account, enabling a range of analytical methods to be brought to bear on decis...
State- and Individual-Level Predictors of Mexican Death Penalty Support

Mexico exerts a unique influence on Texas through immigration. As immigrants bring perspectives from their country of origin when they immigrate, studying attitudes toward capital punishment in Mex...
Relational reasoning and divergent thinking: An examination of the threshold hypothesis with quantile regression

Abstract Relational reasoning (RR) and divergent thinking (DT) are two critical antecedents of creative problem solving, but the relation between them is not currently well understood psychologically, limiting efforts to support these constructs through education. The threshold hypothesis (TH) is currently the dominant explanation for the relation between RR and DT, and posits that RR fundamentally supports DT, but only up to a point. In this study, quantile regression was used to test the TH among RR and two separate dimensions of DT: originality and fluency. Results generally supported the TH in regards to originality, with RR being significantly positively related to originality, but only in students at or below the median of the originality distribution. However, the TH was not upheld for fluency, which was only significantly predicted by RR at the top (i.e. 9th decile) of the fluency distribution. In general, results suggest that direct instructional intervention of RR strategies may be most supportive of creativity for those students who are simultaneously highly fluent but low-original thinkers.
Evolutionary Origins of Vocal Mimicry in Songbirds

Vocal learning is an important behavior in oscines (songbirds). Some songbird species learn heterospecific sounds as well as conspecific vocalizations. The emergence of vocal mimicry is necessarily tied to the evolution of vocal learning, as mimicry requires the ability to acquire sounds through learning. As such, tracking the evolutionary origins of vocal mimicry may provide insights into the causes of variation in song learning programs among songbirds. We compiled a database of known vocal mimics that comprised 339 species from 43 families. We then traced the evolutionary history of vocal mimicry across the avian phylogeny using ancestral trait reconstruction on a dataset of oscine passerines for which vocalizations have been described. We found that the common ancestor to oscines was unlikely to mimic sounds, suggesting that song learning evolved with mechanisms to constrain learning to conspecific models. Mimicry then evolved repeatedly within the songbird clade, either through relaxation of constraints on conspecific learning or through selection for active vocal mimicry. Vocal mimicry is likely ancestral in only a handful of clades, and we detect many instances of independent origins of mimicry. Our analysis underscores the liability of vocal mimicry in songbirds, and highlights the evolutionary flexibility of song learning mechanisms.
Neuroendocrinology of Affective Disorders

Work during the past 50 years has highlighted the complex interplay between endocrine gland secretions and the central nervous system. This article provides a basic overview of the major hormone systems, including the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, the thyroid axis, as well as growth hormone, prolactin, oxytocin, and vasopressin systems, with a focus on their relationship to affective disorders. Particular focus is on research identifying alterations in hormone availability (either excess or deficiency) and the relationship to mental illness.
Spinal Radiotherapy for the Pediatric Patient

Radiation therapy (RT) in the pediatric population presents challenging dilemmas to the clinician. Some of the pediatric malignancies are treated according to multi-institutional multimodality trials that guide the indications and techniques within specific parameters. Because of the extremely low incidence of primary spinal malignancies, multi-institutional trials have not been implemented. Most experience has been gained through the retrospective single institution review of patient management and outcome. The application of RT as a therapeutic modality in the management of pediatric malignancies has to be carefully evaluated because the potential for long-term consequences in this population is significant. The indications for RT are constantly evolving and in a few instances are controversial.
Model family of high-temperature superconductors: TlmCan-1Ba2CunO2(n+1)+m (m=1,2; n=1,2,3).

We describe the structures and superconducting properties of six compounds in the Tl-Ca-Ba-Cu-O system of the general form, Tl/sub m/Ca/sub inr-1/Ba/sub 2/Cu/sub n/O/sub 2(//sub n//sub +1)+//sub m/, where m = 1 or 2 and n = 1, 2, or 3. One of these compounds displays the highest known superconducting transition temperature, T/sub c/approx. =125 K. The structures of these compounds consist of copper perovskitelike blocks containing 1, 2, or 3 CuO/sub 2/ planes separated by one or two Tl-O layers and thus form a model family of structures in which both the size and separation of the copper oxide blocks can be independently varied. The superconducting transition temperature increase with the number of CuO/sub 2/ planes in the perovskitelike block for both the Tl-O monolayer and bilayer compounds. For each pair of compounds (m = 1,2) with the same number of CuO/sub 2/ planes (same n), the transition temperatures are similar but are consistently 15--20 K lower in the material with single Tl-O layers. Variations in the transition temperatures in the double- and triple-CuO/sub 2/-layer compounds are observed to correlate with increased densities of intergrowths of related structures.
Nightly variability in the indices of sleep-disordered breathing in men being evaluated for impotence with consecutive night polysomnograms.

We retrospectively analyzed night-to-night variability in the indices of sleep apnea in a group of men who underwent consecutive polysomnograms (PSGs) in the evaluation of impotence. The study group consisted of 37 subjects. Fifty-seven percent of the subjects had an apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) of 5 or more on the first PSG, whereas 70% met this criterion on the second study. On both PSGs, 49% of the subjects exhibited an AHI of 10 or more. The AHI varied by 10 or more between the two PSGs in 32% of the cases. Using a threshold AHI of 5 or more to establish a diagnosis of sleep apnea, 22% of the subjects would not have been diagnosed by the first PSG, and the false negative rate for the first PSG was 50%. The variability observed in the AHI could not be explained by differences in total sleep time, sleep stages [I through 4 and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep] ; the amount of time sleeping supine, or a combination of sleep stage and position. The mean AHI, the apnea/hypopnea-related nadir, and the mean oxyhemoglobin saturation did not differ among the two PSGs. Our observations support the notion that for groups of subjects the mean AHI is relatively constant across 2 nights of study in the sleep laboratory. However, when an AHI of 5 or 10 or more is the sole criterion used to establish the diagnosis of sleep apnea, a single PSG may not be sufficient to rule out the presence of a sleep apnea syndrome.
Phospholipase C-β1 is regulated by a pertussis toxin-insensitive G-protein

Regulation of phospholipase C (PLC) by receptors is mediated either through protein tyrosine phosphorylation or by activation of GTP-binding proteins (Gp). For the latter, pertussis toxin (PT)-sensitive and -insensitive pathways have been described, indicating PLC regulation by at least two types of G-proteins. The identity of PLC isoenzymes which are regulated by either type of Gp remains to be determined. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone stimulates a PLC in GH3 cells via a PT-insensitive Gp. Reconstitution methods for the assay of the GH3-cell Gp were developed. Previously, the membrane PLC was found to be reversibly extracted from membranes by high salt and to be activated by guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[S]) only when membrane-associated, suggesting that Gp was retained in salt-extracted membranes. In the present work, Gp was cholate-solubilized from PLC-deficient membranes and incorporated into phospholipid vesicles, which were found to confer GTP[S]- and AlF4(-)-stimulated activity on a solubilized membrane PLC. The reconstitution provided a direct assay for the GH3-cell Gp which was shown to be distinct from Gi, Go and Gs proteins by immunodepletion studies. Incorporation of G-protein beta-gamma subunits into phospholipid vesicles with Gp inhibited GTP[S]-stimulated activity in the reconstitution. The results indicated that Gp is a heterotrimeric G-protein with the properties expected for the PT-insensitive GH3-cell Gp protein. PLC-beta 1 was fully purified and shown to be regulated by Gp in the reconstitution. In contrast, PT-sensitive G-proteins failed to affect the activity of PLC-beta 1. The results indicate (1) that a PT-insensitive Gp regulates PLC-beta 1 and (2) that PT-sensitive and -insensitive pathways of PLC regulation employ different PLC isoenzymes as well as different G-proteins.
Association between receipt of school-based HIV education and contraceptive use among sexually active high school students — United States, 2011–2013

Sexual health education, including HIV prevention information, can help prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. National Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 2011 and 2013...
Epitaxial lift-off of high quality pixelated thin-film GaSb solar cells

We fabricated and characterized disorder-free GaSb photovoltaic devices on Si. The fabrication process relies on epitaxial lift-off of pixelated GaSb membranes from GaSb substrates and their transfer onto Si. We demonstrated that our approach maintains the structural integrity and optoelectronic functionality of the GaSb absorbers after the epitaxial transfer. The performance parameters of the pixelated solar cells are V oc ~ 0.1V, J sc ~ 17 mA/cm2, FF ~ 29% and h~ 1.2%, which compare favorably to the characteristics of a 5x5 mm2, GaSb solar cells on a GaSb substrate.
Timely Papers Session: Additional Papers to be Submitted

Risk Aversion Before and After the Crisis Luigi Guiso (European Institute), Paola Sapienza (Northwestern University) and Luigi Zingales (University of Chicago) Behavioral and Neurobiological Foundations of Probabilistic Sophistication Mathieu d’Acremont (California Institute of Technology), Eleonora Fornari (Universite de Lausanne), and Peter Bossaerts (California Institute of Technology)
Measurement of the Total radiated power contributions in a reverberation tent

A method for the total radiated power (TRP) measurement of multiple non-correlated emission sources in a reverberation tent is proposed. The method can resolve the contributions of each source, which is critical for the noise source identification in complex electronic systems. Blind source separation (BSS) is implemented in relatively short periods to avoid the influence from the stirring of the reverberation tent. The BSS results can be resolved to the TRP of the individual sources through an averaging cancellation method. The method might be useful in situations when no direct access to the sources is possible or desirable to obtain a signal reference and all measurement probes should be placed in the far-field zone.
Physical Activity Reduces the Risk of Recurrence and Mortality in Cancer Patients

The biological mechanisms through which physical activity reduces metastatic disease recurrence and mortality in cancer patients are not known. This review offers the hypothesis that physical activity reduces the risk of recurrence and mortality in cancer patients through two synergistic processes: 1) indirect (systemic) effects related to the host tumor microenvironment; and 2) direct (physical) effects on cancer cells.
In Reply: Not all joint pain is arthritis (May 2013)

Readers comment on the risk of bleeding with the new oral anticoagulants (July 2013) and on the signs of rheumatoid arthritis (May 2013).
‘You don’t speak Spanish in the cafeteria’: an intersectional analysis of language and social constructions in a kindergarten dual language immersion class

Dual language immersion (DLI) programs have emerged in the U.S. as effective ways to bring together language minority and language majority speakers in school settings with the goal of bilingualism...
Cultural Production in Networks

Cultural production occurs in a field which is shaped by both cooperation and by conflict and competition. The field is a network of relations among producers and the structure of network ties affects cultural production at multiple levels – from individual to group, industry, and place. Important network characteristics are density, diversity, structural holes, and small world structures.
Online Onboarding: Corporate Governance Training in the COVID-19 Era

Onboarding new directors is critical in the best of circumstances. What should organizations do when training new board members must be completed online? COVID-19 has forced both ordinary and extraordinary business functions to be conducted primarily online, and online onboarding may be necessary or preferred in a number of business contexts. This Article first reviews the best practices in director onboarding and explains the functional goals of those practices. It then explains how to leverage the power of virtual data rooms and virtual conference software to successfully onboard new corporate directors with virtual meetings. These strategies apply to both for-profit and non-profit boards and can be employed to enhance any online meeting or conference where the goals include informing and engaging participants while encouraging them to socialize.
Synergy between Wsp1 and Dip1 may initiate assembly of endocytic actin networks

The actin filament nucleator Arp2/3 complex is activated at cortical sites in Schizosaccharomyces pombe to assemble branched actin networks that drive endocytosis. Arp2/3 complex activators Wsp1 and Dip1 are required for proper actin assembly at endocytic sites, but how they coordinately control Arp2/3-mediated actin assembly is unknown. Alone, Dip1 activates Arp2/3 complex without preexisting actin filaments to nucleate 'seed' filaments that activate Wsp1-bound Arp2/3 complex, thereby initiating branched actin network assembly. In contrast, because Wsp1 requires preexisting filaments to activate, it has been assumed to function exclusively in propagating actin networks by stimulating branching from preexisting filaments. Here we show that Wsp1 is important not only for propagation but also for initiation of endocytic actin networks. Using single molecule total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy we show that Wsp1 synergizes with Dip1 to co-activate Arp2/3 complex. Synergistic co-activation does not require preexisting actin filaments, explaining how Wsp1 contributes to actin network initiation in cells.
High and Tight, Please: Self-explanations for Experiencing Short Haircuts as Erotic

Sexologists have infrequently asked individuals to describe what led them to their sexual desires. In this study, 264 men and 7 women answered a questionnaire about their sexual interest in short haircuts on men, part of which asked them about any events or ideas they had that might explain their sexual desires. Surprisingly, a substantial minority of the men desired women as sexual partners. Almost 80% of the participants provided responses, which were examined for themes related to what might have caused their sexual interest in short haircuts on men, resulting in 16 themes, most of which help explain why short haircuts became objects of interest and fascination. The 10 most common themes are presented in detail, and a general theory about how sexual desires develop is provided that may explain how something, including another person, becomes an object of sexual desire.
A cross-sectional cohort study of post-concussive symptoms and their relationships with depressive symptoms in youth with and without concussion.

To evaluate the frequency and severity of post-concussive symptoms in youth with a history of concussion relative to youth without concussion who had another medical diagnosis, as well as compare t...
Changes in gut-microbiota-related metabolites and long-term improvements in lipoprotein subspecies in overweight and obese adults: the POUNDS lost trial.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Alterations in gut microbiota have been linked to obesity and impaired lipid metabolism. Lipoproteins are heterogeneous, and lipoprotein subspecies containing apolipoprotein C-III (apoCIII) have adverse associations with obesity and related cardiometabolic abnormalities. We investigated associations of weight-loss diet-induced decreases in atherogenic gut-microbial metabolites, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and L-carnitine, with improvements in atherogenic lipoproteins containing apoCIII among patients with obesity. SUBJECTS/METHODS This study included overweight and obese adults who participated in a 2-year weight-loss dietary intervention, the POUNDS Lost trial. Blood levels of TMAO and L-carnitine were measured at baseline and 6 months after the intervention; 6-month changes in the metabolites were calculated. We evaluated 2-year changes in lipid profiles (n = 395) and cholesterol [Chol] in lipoprotein (very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)) subfractions defined by the presence or absence of apoCIII (n = 277). RESULTS The initial (6-month) decrease in L-carnitine was significantly associated with long-term (2-year) reductions in non-HDL-Chol and LDL-Chol (p < 0.05). Also, the decrease in L-carnitine was significantly related to decreases in Chol in LDL with apoCIII (p = 0.034) and Chol in [LDL + VLDL] with apoCIII (p = 0.018). We found significant interactions between dietary fat and TMAO on changes in LDL-Chol (Pinteraction = 0.013) and Chol in [LDL + VLDL] with apoCIII (Pinteraction = 0.0048); a greater increase in TMAO was related to lesser improvements in the lipoprotein outcomes if participants consumed a high-fat compared to a low-fat diet. CONCLUSIONS Changes in TMAO and L-carnitine induced by weight-loss diets were associated with long-term improvements in atherogenic lipoproteins containing apoCIII, implicating that these metabolic changes might be predictive of an individual's response to the dietary treatment to modify the unfavorable lipid profiles in obese patients. Dietary fat intake might modify associations of TMAO changes with long-term improvements of atherogenic cholesterol metabolism in overweight and obese adults. CLINICALTRIALS. GOV IDENTIFIER NCT00072995.
An Evaluation of NOAA CyGNSS Winds Derived from v3.0 CyGNSS Normalized Bistatic Radar Cross Section

The NOAA track-wise algorithm, used to infer sea surface wind speed from CyGNSS normalized bistatic radar cross section (NBRCS), is being used in conjunction with v3.0 NBRCS. A performance analysis is provided where NOAA CyGNSS winds derived from v2.1 NBRCS are compared with those derived from v3.0 NBRCS, using available data from August 2018 to November 2020. Additionally, v3.0 and v2.1 NBRCS related timeseries are also compared between each other. The overall standard deviation of the wind speed error, using v3.0 NBRCS, slightly increased from 1.23 m/s to 1.28 m/s. Using v3.0 NBRCS, the overall wind speed bias between NOAA CyGNSS winds and interpolated ECMWF winds, showed a 0.05 m/s decrease overall compared to using v2.1 NBRCS.
Highly Miniaturized and Wideband 3-dB Quadrature Hybrid Using Slow-Wave Coupled Line

A novel highly miniaturized wideband quadrature hybrid using slow-wave technology is proposed in this paper. In order to reduce the size of conventional branch-line/coupled-line couplers, a unique structure is utilized based on two layers of crossing strips with densely interconnecting vias. This structure makes full use of the electrical coupling and magnetic coupling in the slow-wave structure, and enhances the mutual inductance effect between parallel vias, which successfully leads to enhanced coupling strength that enabling the wideband 3-dB quadrature hybrid. Importantly, 99.4% of size reduction has been achieved as compared to conventional three-section branch-line counterpart while maintaining an equally good performance. The achieved relative planar area is only 0.003A2, which is orders-of-magnitude improvement over state-of-the-art.
Lymphatic distribution of the stomach in normal, inflammatory, hyperplastic, and neoplastic tissue

Prompted by the lack of knowledge of the distribution of gastric lymphatics and the discrepancy between the incidence of lymph node metastases from intramucosal gastric carcinoma versus intramucosal colonic carcinoma, we undertook a study of the distribution of lymphatics in normal, abnormal non-neoplastic, and neoplastic gastric mucosas. The study involved the histologic, immunocytochemical, and electron microscopic evaluation of a total of 47 gastric biopsy, polypectomy, and resection specimens and showed that the gastric lymphatics normally begin as a plexus of vessels immediately superficial to, within, and below the muscularis mucosae. The upper two-thirds of the gastric lamina propria is normally devoid of lymphatics. This distribution is maintained throughout the cardia, fundus, and antrum and is also maintained in hyperplastic and neoplastic tissues. However, in patients with severe atrophic gastritis in which the overall height of the gastric mucosa is markedly decreased, lymphatic capillaries may be found near the surface epithelium. The relevance of these findings to the behavior of early gastric cancer is discussed.
Nutation Spectroscopy of Quadrupolar Nuclei

The sections in this article are 1 Introduction 2 General Considerations: Hamiltonians 3 The Nutation Spectrum 4 Experimental Considerations 5 Phasing of the Spectra 6 Line Broadening 7 Effect of Recycle Delay 8 An Example: 45Sc in Sc2(SO4)3 9 Acknowledgements 10 Biographical Sketch Related Articles
Theory inspired by gene assembly in ciliates

Ciliates (ciliated protozoa) are unicellular organisms with an evolutionary history that extends back perhaps two billion (2 x 109) years. The unique extraordinary feature of ciliates is that they posses two kinds of nuclei within the same cell: macronucleus containing genes that provide the genetic information needed to maintain the structure and function of the cell, and micronucleus that does not contribute to the maintainance, growth and proliferation of the cell – it is reserved for the sexual exchange of DNA between two mating cells. When ciliates are starved they may mate. At some stage during sexual reproduction a micronucleus develops into a new macronucleus. This process of transformation of the micronuclear genome into the macronuclear genome, called gene assembly, is perhaps the most involved process of DNA manipulation yet known in living organisms. It is fascinating from both the biological and computational point of view. The computational nature of gene assembly has attracted much attention in recent years and considerable body of theory has been developed. This theory involves, among others, novel kinds of string and graph rewriting systems, novel sorts of graphs as well as new questions about various known graph families, and novel topics in the combinatorics of words. In our talk we will survey some of the main developments of this theory.
The Paradox of Knowledge Creation in a High-Reliability Organization A Case Study

We employed an instrumental case study of a multisystem hydroelectric power producer, a high-reliability organization (HRO), to explore how new knowledge is created in a context in which errors may result in destruction, catastrophic consequences, and even loss of human life. The findings indicate that knowledge creation is multilevel, nested within three levels of paradox: paradox of knowing, paradox of practice, and paradox of organizing. The combination of the lack of opportunity for errors with the dynamism of the HRO context necessitates that individuals work through multiple paradoxes to generate and formalize new knowledge. The findings contribute to the literature on knowledge creation in context by explicating the work practices associated with issue recognition, resolution, and refinement, and the formalization of knowledge in failure-intolerant organizations.
Board Diversity and Corporate Risk Taking

This study examines the association between board diversity and corporate risk taking. Research on board diversity has focused on gender diversity, leaving board diversity beyond gender diversity largely unexplored. We construct diversity indexes to measure board diversity in multiple dimensions, including gender, race, age, experience, tenure, and expertise. We use five variables to proxy for corporate risk taking: capital expenditures, R&D expenses, acquisition spending, the volatility of stock returns, and the volatility of accounting returns. We find that firms with more diverse boards are more risk averse, spending less on capital expenditure, R&D, and acquisitions, and exhibiting lower volatilities of stock returns and accounting returns than those with less diverse boards. Our additional analysis shows that firms with more diverse boards are more likely to pay dividends, as well as pay greater amount of dividend per share than their counterparts, confirming that board diversity is negatively associated with risk taking. We also find strong evidence that board diversity significantly curbs excessive risk taking for firms with above industry median risk taking activities. Our results shed light on the desirability of recent legal and disclosure requirements to enhance board diversity and provide implications that nominating and governance committees should consider in forming the best practices for board composition.
Nitrogen on the Moon

The nitrogen isotopic compositions seen in lunar soils have long been a mystery to planetary scientists. As Becker discusses in his Perspective, new techniques, such as the depth profiling of mineral grains reported by Hashizume et al., are now shedding some light on the matter, allowing some theories to be excluded. Nevertheless, the relative role of the solar wind and other processes remains hotly debated.
Bayesian Network Scan Statistics for Multivariate Pattern Detection

We review three recently proposed scan statistic methods for multivariate pattern detection. Each method models the relationship between multiple observed and hidden variables using a Bayesian network structure, drawing inferences about the underlying pattern type and the affected subset of the data. We first discuss the multivariate Bayesian scan statistic (MBSS) proposed by Neill and Cooper (2008). MBSS is a stream-based event surveillance framework that detects and characterizes events given the aggregate counts for multiple data streams. Next, we describe the agent-based Bayesian scan statistic (ABSS) proposed by Jiang et al. (2008). ABSS performs event detection and characterization given individual-level data for each agent in a population. Finally, we review the anomalous group detection (AGD) method proposed by Das, Schneider, and Neill (2008). AGD is a general pattern detection approach which learns a Bayesian network structure from data and detects anomalous groups of records.
Everyday Life: A Poetics of Vernacular Practices

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Roger Abrahams Year: 2005 Pages: 296 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press ISBN: 0812238419 (hard cover). Prices: $47.50 US
Advanced Lightweight Optics Development for Space Applications

A considerable amount of effort over the past year has been devoted to exploring ultra-lightweight optics for two specific NASA programs, the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), and the High Throughput X-ray Spectrometer (HTXS). Experimental investigations have been undertaken in a variety of materials including glass, composites, nickel, beryllium, Carbon fiber reinforced Silicon Carbide (CSiC), Reaction Bonded Silicon Carbide, Chemical Vapor Deposited Silicon Carbide, and Silicon. Overall results of these investigations will be summarized, and specific details will be provided concerning the in-house development of ultra-lightweight nickel replication for both grazing incidence and normal incidence optics. This will include x-ray test results of the grazing incidence optic and cryogenic test results of the normal incidence optic. The status of two 1.5 meter diameter demonstration mirrors for NGST will also be presented. These two demonstrations are aimed at establishing the capability to manufacture and test mirrors that have an areal density of 15 kilograms per square meter. Efforts in thin membrane mirrors and Fresnel lenses will also be briefly discussed.
Wood and Wood Products

Wood has been utilized by humans since antiquity. Trees provided a source of many products required by early humans such as food, medicine, fuel, and tools. For example, the bark of the willow tree, when chewed, was used as a painkiller in early Greece and was the precursor of the present-day aspirin. Wood served as the primary fuel in the United States until about the turn of the century, and even today over one-half of the wood now harvested in the world is used for heating fuel.
Cloning of murine Stat6 and human Stat6, Stat proteins that are tyrosine phosphorylated in responses to IL-4 and IL-3 but are not required for mitogenesis.

By searching a database of expressed sequences, we identified a member of the signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stat) family of proteins. Human and murine full-length cDNA clones were obtained and sequenced. The sequence of the human cDNA was identical to the recently published sequence for interleukin-4 (IL-4)-Stat (J. Hou, U. Schindler, W.J. Henzel, T.C. Ho, M. Brasseur, and S. L. McKnight, Science 265:1701-1706, 1994), while the murine Stat6 amino acid and nucleotide sequences were 83 and 84% identical to the human sequences, respectively. Using Stat6-specific antiserum, we demonstrated that Stat6 is rapidly tyrosine phosphorylated following stimulation of appropriate cell lines with IL-4 or IL-3 but is not detectably phosphorylated following stimulation with IL-2, IL-12, or erythropoietin. In contrast, IL-2, IL-3, and erythropoietin induce the tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat5 while IL-12 uniquely induces the tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat4. Inducible tyrosine phosphorylation of Stat6 requires the membrane-distal region of the IL-4 receptor alpha chain. This region of the receptor is not required for cell growth, demonstrating that Stat6 tyrosine phosphorylation does not contribute to mitogenesis.
Watching “bad” television: Ironic consumption, camp, and guilty pleasures

Abstract This research examines how people watch “bad” television–television programs that the viewers themselves label as “trash,” “stupid,” and “awful.” Such viewers experience a normative contradiction; while they have created or embraced a symbolic boundary between “good” and “bad” television, they find themselves transgressing that boundary by consuming and, in some cases, enjoying the shows that they condemn. By conducting 40 in-depth interviews, this research identifies the strategies used by television viewers to deal with this normative contradiction. Beyond “traditional viewing,” we show how viewers employ “ironic consumption,” a “camp sensibility,” and frame their viewing as a “guilty pleasure” to consume “bad” television.
Resistance of Sperm of Rana pipiens to Hydrostatic Compression; Effect upon Embryonic Development

ConclusionHydrostatic pressure of 544 atms. applied to frog sperm, either continuously, or in the alternating periods of compression and decompression, for a period of 3 hours, in no way alters the motility or the fertilizing power of the sperm. More than 5000 embryos resulting from such sperm and normal eggs, developed normally in all respects.
Sacrococcygeal teratoma with nephroblastoma (Wilms' tumor): A variant of extragonadal teratoma in childhood. A histologic and ultrastructural study

The morphological features including the light and ultrastructural observations of a sacrococcygeal neoplasm in a 3-year-old girl are reported. Unlike the usual pattern of the malignant sacrococcygeal teratoma (embryonal carcinoma), this tumor was composed predominantly of nephroblastomatous tissue. Histologically, glomeruloid and tubular structures were identified in nests of undifferentiated epithelium. A loose, myxoid stroma surrounded these nests. Cartilage, foci of striated muscle, neuroglia, and glandular epithelium of respiratory and gastointestinal type were minor elements. The ultrastructural features were very similar to those previously described in Wilms' tumors of the kidney.
Prenatal nicotine exposure and the programming of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders

Presently, a growing interest is focused on the origins of the "Metabolic Syndrome", a cluster of several metabolic disorders linking obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Clearly, genetic predisposition and deleterious lifestyle, including low physical activity and hypercaloric alimentation, have an influence on the occurrence of the Metabolic Syndrome. However, recent data suggest that the Metabolic Syndrome could also be "programmed" during intrauterine life by diverse insults to the growing foetus. Nicotine is the main stimulant and dependence-forming alkaloid found in tobacco, and despite medical advice, statistics show that 20-30% of female smokers continue the habit during gestation, representing around 10% of all pregnancies. In consequence, nicotine is one of the most universally dangerous chemicals to which developing foetuses are exposed. The present review focuses on recent epidemiological surveys and experimental animal studies that provide evidences indicating that pre- and postnatal nicotine exposure might be a contributing factor for the occurrence of metabolic disorders later in life.
Economic analysis of transnational education

This paper considers the effects of a branch campus on the individual college education decision and the economic welfare of a developing country. There are a single domestic college and a single branch campus established by a foreign university. A graduate from the branch campus has an opportunity to emigrate and work abroad, earning a higher income, whereas a graduate from the domestic university is not allowed to work abroad. We derive the optimal quality of the branch campus for a profit‐seeking operator and a benevolent government, respectively. Economic welfare consideration suggests that a low‐quality branch campus is most probably beneficial whereas a high‐quality branch campus may cause severe brain drain problems and be harmful to a developing country.