cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Service-Learning on College Students’ Attitudes Toward Older Adults

The current U.S. health care workforce shortage is at crisis levels for providers who specialize in elder care. Barriers such as ageism, lack of awareness of the need for workers, and lack of contact with seniors can affect the career choice of young professionals. To explore ways to increase the number of students who pursue gerontology and to expand the elder care workforce, the researchers conducted a qualitative content analysis on the impact of service learning in senior care facilities on students' attitudes toward older adults. Students with senior contact reported increases in positive perceptions of seniors, discovered their own ageist stereotypes, and developed an interest in a career in elder care. Twenty-one months after the service-learning experience, students were surveyed again with their responses indicating continued positive attitude changes along with professional development demonstrating beneficial long-term effects from the experience.
Study of the incidence and occurrence of symptoms of vaginal trichomonads and various species of yeast in pregnancy.

Abstract A study evaluating the efficacy of treatment of Trichomonas vaginalis vaginitis with tyrothricin suppositories 1 yielded considerable data concerning the incidence of, and symptoms caused by, vaginal trichomonads and various species of yeast. Since relatively few surveys have been published on certain aspects of the subject, it was thought that an analysis of the data might add to the general information. The incidence of Trichomonas vaginalis has been reported by many workers; the average seems to be about 25 per cent. 2 Symptoms of pruritus and discharge are not always associated with the trichomonads. In fact, they may be absent in 47 to 87 per cent of patients with vaginal trichomoniasis. 3 Yeastlike fungi were isolated from the vaginas of 32 per cent of pregnant patients and 14 per cent of gynecologic patients by Carter and Jones 4 in 1937. Again, in 1940, Carter et al. 5 found 33 per cent of obstetric patients had yeasts in their vaginal tracts. Carter et al. 5 were the first to study the relationship of symptoms to genera and species of fungi. They found that in those patients who carried Saccharomyces or Cryptococci there were no symptoms referable to a mycotic infection and that only patients who carried one of three Candida species, albicans, stellatoidea, and tropicalis, had symptoms. The purpose of this paper is to present the incidence of Trichomonas vaginalis and species of yeastlike fungi found in this survey and to study any association of symptoms with the two types of infection.
On the reliability of the youth self-report.

The Youth Self-report was administered to 50 institutionalized delinquents between the ages of 14 and 16 years and readministered after 7 days to estimate test-retest reliability; r = .97.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Spirit of Leadership

Martin Luther King, Jr., began his public career as a reluctant leader who was drafted, without any foreknowledge on his part, by his Montgomery colleagues to serve as president of the newly created Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Montgomery's black civic activists had set up the MIA to pursue the boycott of the city's segregated buses called by the Women's Political Council (WPC) immediately after the December 1, 1955, arrest of Rosa Parks.' King was only twenty-six years old and had lived in Montgomery barely fifteen months when he accepted that post on Monday afternoon December 5. Two years later King explained that "I was surprised to be elected . . . both from the standpoint of my age, but more from the fact that I was a newcomer to Montgomery." On December 5, however, King was as much anxious as surprised, for his new post meant that he would have to deliver the major address at that evening's community rally, which had been called to decide whether a fabulously successful one-day boycott would be extended to apply continuing pressure on bus company and city officials to change the bus seating practices. King later explained that he had found himself "possessed by fear" and "obsessed by a feeling of inadequacy" as he pondered his new challenge, but he turned to prayer and delivered a superb oration at a jam-packed meeting that unanimously resolved to continue the protest.2 Initially King and his MIA colleagues mistakenly presumed that the boycott would be relatively brief, that white officials would be eager to negotiate a quick solution to the dispute. Indeed, the MIA's three modest demands asked not for the
Peripheral nerve stimulation-cervical syndromes

Peripheral nerve stimulation is a minimally invasive technique that has gained popularity for the treatment of a variety of pain syndromes. Cervical pain syndromes such as chronic cervical pain, cervicogenic headache, and occipital neuralgia all may be good substrates for this therapy. Techniques for performing a trial of peripheral cervical neurostimulation are relatively straightforward but adherence to good surgical practices is important to minimize device-related complications. The extant scientific literature on the outcomes of this technique for these pain syndromes is limited due to the quality of the studies and small patient populations.
Einleitung: Eine Literatur des Konsenses und der Autonomie — Für eine Topographie der Stimmen

Thomasin von Circlaria (1185–1238?) hat von sich geschrieben: »Tiutschiu zunge, enphâhe wol, / als ein guot husvrouwe sol, / disen dinen welhschen gast / der din ere minnet vast.« (›Deutsche Sprache, nimm, / wie es sich fur eine gute Hausherrin gehort, / diesen deinen welschen Gast gut auf,/ der dein Ansehen sehr liebt.‹) Nicht anders hat sich Elias Canetti (1905–1994) im Jahr 1969 vor der Bayerischen Akademie der Schonen Kunste definiert: »Ich bin nur ein Gast in der deutschen Sprache, die ich erst mit acht Jahren erlernt habe«. Und dann gab es u. a. den geburtigen Franzosen Louis Charles Adelaide de Chamisso (1781–1838), der durch Peter Schlemihl’s wundersame Geschichte und seine Balladen zum deutschen Nationaldichter Adelbert von Chamisso wurde. Ferner hat Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) in seinem autobiographischen Werk Meine Kinderjahre gezeigt, wie im Lauf der Generationen die Zweisprachigkeit unter den Hugenotten in Brandenburg einem deutschsprachigen jedoch bikulturellen Gedachtnis gewichen ist. Unter den Autor/innen des 20. Jahrhundert last sich uber die Sprachentscheidung z.B. von Franz Kafka, Paul Anczel (alias Paul Celan), Rose Auslander und Jurek Becker nachdenken. Solche Autor/innen und ihre Werke weisen auf eine interkulturelle Kontinuitat innerhalb der deutschsprachigen Literatur hin, die nach wie vor auf eine kongruente Auslegung wartet. Dennoch last sich schon heute behaupten, das es die deutsche Literatur nie als reine ›Monokultur‹ gegeben hat.
Spatial and temporal disparity in signals and maskers affects signal detection in non-human primates.

Detection thresholds for auditory stimuli (signals) increase in the presence of maskers. Natural environments contain maskers/distractors that can have a wide range of spatiotemporal properties relative to the signal. While these parameters have been well explored psychophysically in humans, they have not been well explored in animal models, and their neuronal underpinnings are not well understood. As a precursor to the neuronal measurements, we report the effects of systematically varying the spatial and temporal relationship between signals and noise in macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta and Macaca radiata). Macaques detected tones masked by noise in a Go/No-Go task in which the spatiotemporal relationships between the tone and noise were systematically varied. Masked thresholds were higher when the masker was continuous or gated on and off simultaneously with the signal, and lower when the continuous masker was turned off during the signal. A burst of noise caused higher masked thresholds if it completely temporally overlapped with the signal, whereas partial overlap resulted in lower thresholds. Noise durations needed to be at least 100 ms before significant masking could be observed. Thresholds for short duration tones were significantly higher when the onsets of signal and masker coincided compared to when the signal was presented during the steady state portion of the noise (overshoot). When signal and masker were separated in space, masked signal detection thresholds decreased relative to when the masker and signal were co-located (spatial release from masking). Masking release was larger for azimuthal separations than for elevation separations. These results in macaques are similar to those observed in humans, suggesting that the specific spatiotemporal relationship between signal and masker determine threshold in natural environments for macaques in a manner similar to humans. These results form the basis for future investigations of neuronal correlates and mechanisms of masking.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE COLLODION MEMBRANE AND ITS ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR : III. THE BASE EXCHANGE PROPERTIES OF COLLODION.

1. Theoretical considerations lead to the conclusion that dissociable acidic groups present to a varying extent in different collodion preparations determine the electrochemical behavior of membranes cast from these preparations. It is further reasoned that the base exchange capacity of the collodion surfaces is the true quantitative measure of the abundance of the dissociable groups. 2. The concept of base exchange capacity and the base exchange method are discussed. The conditions which allow a purposeful application of the latter are stated. 3. The base exchange properties of a number of fibrous collodion preparations of different origins and after various types of treatment, having widely varying electrochemical activities, are determined. 4. With the chemical (titration) and physical (electrometric) methods employed, no regular correlation can be found between electrochemical activity and base exchange. The base exchange capacity which is necessary to cause even great electrochemical activity of collodion is extremely small. 5. Measurable to high base exchange capacity always seems to be associated with good or high electrochemical activity; but base exchange capacity too low to be definitely measurable with the available methods may be found with collodion preparations of high as well as with preparations of low electrochemical activity. 6. The bearing of these results upon the problem of the spatial and electrical structure of the collodion membrane is indicated briefly.
Rural tourism as a promising trend of small business in Georgia: Topicality, capabilities, peculiarities

Abstract The article analyses prospects for the development of small tourism business in Georgia, in particular in rural settlements – so-called “rural tourism” (agritourism, farming tourism) which is a fast emerging sector of small entrepreneurship. Capabilities and conditions for the development of rural tourism are examined for different regions of Georgia. As it is noted, there are distinguishing characteristics in each region (natural environment, economic level, traditions of economic management, rules for family farm arrangement, rituals and customs, etc.) which differ regions from each other. Careful consideration is given to the objects which are of interest for agritourists in rural settlements in Georgian regions: Kakheti, mountainous area of Georgia (Svaneti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Mtskheta-Mtianeti), Achara, Guria, Samegrelo, Imereti, Shida and Kvemo Kartli, as well as to the issues of readiness for their acceptance. It is emphasized in the article that the development of rural tourism in the country will promote economic growth in the regions, ensure employment of local people, improve their well-being, and, what is most crucially for mountainous regions, solve pressing demographic problem (depopulation of villages, ageing of population, young people's migration to urban areas, etc.).
Multivariate modeling using quantitative CT metrics may improve accuracy of diagnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung transplantation.

Abstract Background To assess how quantitative CT (qCT) metrics compare to pulmonary function testing (PFT) and semi-quantitative image scores (SQS) to diagnose bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), manifestation of chronic lung allograft dysfunction after lung transplantation (LTx), according to the type of LTx (unilateral or bilateral). Methods Paired inspiratory-expiratory CT scans and PFTs of 176 LTx patients were analyzed retrospectively, and separated into BOS (78) and non-BOS (98) cohorts. SQS were assessed by 2 radiologists and graded (0–3) for features including mosaic attenuation and bronchiectasis. qCT metrics included lung volumes and air trapping volumes. Multivariate logistic regression (MVLR) and support vector machines (SVM) were used for the classification task. Results MVLR and SVM models using PFT metrics demonstrated highest accuracy for bilateral LTx (max AUC 0.771), whereas models using qCT metrics-only outperformed models using SQS or PFTs in unilateral LTx (max AUC 0.817), to diagnose BOS. Adding PC (principal components) from qCT on top of PFT improved model diagnostic accuracy for all transplant types. Conclusions Combinations of qCT metrics augment the diagnostic performance of PFTs, are superior to SQS to predict BOS status, and outperform PFTs in the unilateral LTx group. This suggests that latent information on paired volumetric CT may allow early diagnosis of BOS in LTx patients, particularly in unilateral LTx.
Differential Aging Signals in Abdominal CT Scans

Rationale and Objectives Changes in the composition of body tissues are major aging phenotypes, but they have been difficult to study in depth. Here we describe age-related change in abdominal tissues observable in computed tomography (CT) scans. We used pattern recognition and machine learning to detect and quantify these changes in a model-agnostic fashion. Materials and Methods CT scans of abdominal L4 sections were obtained from Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) participants. Age-related change in the constituent tissues were determined by training machine classifiers to differentiate age groups within male and female strata (“Younger” at 50–70 years old vs “Older” at 80–99 years old). The accuracy achieved by the classifiers in differentiating the age cohorts was used as a surrogate measure of the aging signal in the different tissues. Results The highest accuracy for discriminating age differences was 0.76 and 0.72 for males and females, respectively. The classification accuracy was 0.79 and 0.71 for adipose tissue, 0.70 and 0.68 for soft tissue, and 0.65 and 0.64 for bone. Conclusions Using image data from a large sample of well-characterized pool of participants dispersed over a wide age range, we explored age-related differences in gross morphology and texture of abdominal tissues. This technology is advantageous for tracking effects of biological aging and predicting adverse outcomes when compared to the traditional use of specific molecular biomarkers. Application of pattern recognition and machine learning as a tool for analyzing medical images may provide much needed insight into tissue changes occurring with aging and, further, connect these changes with their metabolic and functional consequences.
A pilot study on the utility of reduced urine collection frequency protocols for the assessment of reproductive hormones in adolescent girls.

BACKGROUND The objectives of this study were to assess the feasibility of and compliance to collecting urine samples in pre- and postmenarcheal girls and to determine if a less than daily collection frequency was sufficient for assessing ovarian function. METHODS Twenty-five postmenarcheal girls (11-17 years) collected samples using either a two or a three samples/week protocol during one menstrual cycle. Exposure and mean estrone-1-glucuronide (E1G) and pregnanediol glucuronide concentrations were calculated, and evidence of luteal activity (ELA) was evaluated. Sixteen premenarcheal girls (8-11 years) collected one sample/month for six consecutive months. Samples were analyzed for E1G concentration. Participant compliance was calculated using dates on the urine samples and paper calendars. RESULTS Participants collecting three samples/week were more compliant to the protocol than those collecting two samples/week (83.6%±2.6% vs. 66.8%±6.6%; p=0.034). There were no differences (p>0.10) regarding paper calendar return (81.8%±12.2% vs. 92.9%±7.1%), recording menses (55.6%±17.6% vs. 92.3%±7.7%) or sample collection (88.9%±11.1% vs. 84.6%±10.4%) between the two protocols. The average cycle length was 30.5±1.3 days and 32% of cycles had ELA. The premenarcheal girls were 100% compliant to the protocol. Only 68.8% of participants returned the paper calendar and 81.8% of those participants recorded sample collection. The average E1G concentration was 15.9±3.8 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS Use of a less than daily collection frequency during one menstrual cycle in postmenarcheal, adolescent girls is feasible and provides informative data about ovarian function. Collection of one sample/month in premenarcheal girls is feasible and detects the expected low E1G concentrations. Alternate strategies to the use of a paper calendar should be considered.
Aedeomyia squamipennis (Diptera: Culicidae) in Florida, USA, a New State and Country Record.

Aedeomyia squamipennis (Lynch Arribalzaga) is a tropical mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) found throughout most of the American Tropics, from eastern Mexico through Argentina, including several Caribbean islands. Larvae are typically associated with bodies of water with dense growths of aquatic vegetation, particularly Pistia stratiotes L., water lettuce. Adult females feed predominantly on the blood of birds and seek hosts in forest canopies. Aedeomyia squamipennis is considered an important vector of Gamboa virus and avian malaria, and is also suspected of transmitting Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Collections from Florida City, FL, near the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, yielded larvae, adult males, and females of Ad. squamipennis, constituting a new genus and species record for Florida and the United States. The widespread availability of larval habitat and suitable hosts in Florida will likely lead to expansion of Ad. squamipennis in Florida, and perhaps into neighboring states. In South America, Ad. squamipennis is found as far south as Buenos Aires, Argentina, at ~35° S latitude, which is equivalent in N latitude to coastal North Carolina. The northern limit of expansion of Ad. squamipennis in North America will likely be limited by winter temperatures and availability of larval habitat.
Parental Influence on Adolescent Preference for Television Public Affairs Content: A South Korean Panel Study:

In this study, I examined parental influence on the development of preference for television public affairs content as a component of political socialization that empowers adolescents to acquire in...
What Baseline Electrophysiologic Data Should Be Obtained in a Pharmacologic Study of an Antiarrhythmic Drug

It is the thesis of this presentation, that electrophysiologic evaluation of proposed antiarrhythmic agents is mandatory. The purposes of this evaluation are as follows: 1) Electrophysiologic study provides part of the pharmacologic profile of an antiarrhythmic drug, which is generally biologically important information necessary about a drug and its properties. 2) Electrophysiologic study may allow prediction of drug toxicity, in regard to the cardiac conduction system. 3) Data arrived from electrophysiologic evaluation, may in part predict sites of action and possible mechanisms of effectiveness of antiarrhythmic drugs. 4) Electrophysiologic study may allow direct demonstration of effectiveness of an antiarrhythmic agent (for example, the demonstration that an antiarrhythmic drug prevents induction of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in a patient with this arrhythmia).
Pre-engineering Thinking and the Engineering Habits of Mind in Preschool Classroom

Young children engage in pre-engineering thinking and play in their day-to-day activities. However, early childhood teachers often miss opportunities to facilitate and extend this type of play. In order to support teachers in this undertaking, the current study aimed to answer the question: What does pre-engineering thinking look like in preschool? Nine preschool classrooms were observed, and mixed-methods, multiple case study analyses were conducted with classroom observation data as well as teacher-reported data. Our findings indicate that children engage in engineering habits of mind throughout the classroom, children’s access to materials and time to generate their own problems of interest are crucial, and teachers were often uninvolved when children demonstrated engineering habits of mind. Notably, teachers with > 5 years of teaching experience and lower teaching efficacy related to behavior management and engaging children in learning activities had classrooms with zero or few occurrences of engineering habits of mind. These results suggest that teachers may need support in engaging children in learning activities and managing classroom discipline before they undertake engineering-specific professional development. Topics to address in continuing professional development should focus on classroom environments, materials, and interactions that encourage children in generating and solving problems of their own interest as a way to facilitate pre-engineering thinking.
The impact of insurance coverage on access to orthopedic spine care.

Background: Poor socioeconomic status is a significant barrier to health care in the United States. Policy changes have attempted to expand insurance coverage in hopes of improving access to care. These policies have prioritized primary care and preventative medicine. Access to specialty care, particularly orthopaedic care, has not received the same attention. This study examines access to orthopaedic spine surgery practices based on type of insurance coverage. Methods: Five offices with board certified orthopaedic spine surgeons were randomly contacted from each state. A fictitious patient provided a scripted surgical indication for their appointment. They provided their insurance coverage as either Medicare, Medicaid or a private plan. Timing of the provided appointment was recorded. Any appointment was subsequently canceled so as not to interfere with the practice’s scheduling. Results: Two hundred and thirty-four orthopaedic spine surgery practices were contacted between January and June of 2016. Eighty-six percent of practices accepted a private plan without primary care provider (PCP) referral. Greater than 99% of practices accepted privately insured patients if a PCP referral were included. Those with Medicare were able to obtain an appointment from 81% of practices. No practices contacted in this study offered an appointment to the caller with Medicaid. Conclusions: Policy changes have expanded insurance coverage in order to improve access to care for patients of low socioeconomic status. There was a significant barrier to accessing spine care for patients with Medicaid insurance. Access was greatest for those with private insurance followed by those with Medicare. This study demonstrates that there is a significant disparity in ability to access spine specialists despite having insurance coverage.
AWR und Statspack

Das AWR- und das Statspack-Repository enthalten viele nutzliche Performanzstatistiken. Fur die Auswertung dieser Daten kann man Standard-Reporte von Oracle benutzen, in denen die jeweiligen Performanzstatistiken textuell dargestellt sind. Mit den grafischen Auswertungen der AWR- oder der Statspack-Daten kann man aber die Performanzanalyse in vielen Fallen wesentlich schneller und effektiver durchfuhren. Einige wichtige Vorteile der Grafiken fur Performance Tuning werden in diesem Kapitel diskutiert. Wir besprechen hier auch die Vorbestimmung eines Statspack- bzw. eines AWR-Reports und seine Grenzen bei der Performanzanalyse.
Information Technology Support for Inquiring Organizations

Inquiring organizations are a type of learning organization modeled on Churchman’s inquiring systems. The objective of this chapter is to discuss how current information technology can be used to support decision-making processes in inquiring organizations. Inquiring systems and organizations are described briefly, and issues relating to the support of these organizations are discussed from the perspective of information technology. Because of the variety of processes involved in the various types of organization, a diverse array of technologies is required for their support.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PROTEIN DEGRADATION IN THE REGULATION OF LIVER GROWTH

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the study of the in vivo rates of protein synthesis, export, and degradation in growing and nongrowing livers. It was demonstrated that changes in rates of protein degradation constitute the single most important factor determining the net protein gain during rapid liver growth. In most cases, it is unlikely that this extracted amino acid represents the actual precursor pool. The fractional rates of protein synthesis and degradation in growing and nongrowing livers are summarized. For simplicity, it is assumed that all proteins are degraded by a single mechanism, presumably in the lysosomes. In the experiments discussed in the chapter, it is unlikely that under most conditions the activity of the proteolytic enzymes in the lysosomes is rate limiting. In many cases, changes in the rates of degradation of individual proteins can determine their concentration in the cell.
Preparing to work with Latinos: Latino-focused content in social work master’s degree programs

To successfully integrate Latino immigrant populations in the United States, the Social Work Grand Challenges call for increased culturally responsive training in social work education. Nevertheles...
Hilar Malignant Strictures

When it comes to endoscopic management, a malignant stricture at the biliary confluence poses a significant challenge to the therapeutic endoscopist both diagnostically and therapeutically. The diagnostic goal is to determine malignant or benign etiology of a biliary stricture and to determine resectability. In addition to proper imaging of the biliary hilum with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR), endoscopic tissue acquisition is an extremely important component to determining the etiology of a biliary stricture, specifically to differentiate between malignant and benign process. Brushings for cytology, intraductal biopsies, and even endoluminal fine-needle aspiration can all be performed at the time of endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC), while endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) offers additional opportunity for fine-needle aspiration. Peroral cholangioscopy is an emerging technique that can directly visualize a malignant hilar stricture and allow for directed biopsies. Therapeutically, the ultimate goal is palliative biliary drainage to relieve biliary obstruction. This can be accomplished endoscopically with the placement of plastic or metal biliary stents to drain the most obstructed lobe of the liver, with uncovered self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) being preferred. Photodynamic therapy and radiofrequency ablation are emerging endoscopic techniques that allow for localized destruction of tumor cells, potentially improving biliary drainage, quality of life, and survival in most patients, but require further randomized, controlled studies.
Control of the Upper Limbs for Rehabilitative Arm-Cycling via Functional Electrical Stimulation

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is the application of electrical current across muscle fibers to elicit muscle contractions with the goal of achieving some function outcome (e.g. walking, cycling). FES-cycling has become a very popular rehabilitative strategy over the years as it has proven to yield numerous health benefits for individuals suffering from neurological conditions. In this paper the idea of FES-cycling is extended to the upper limbs and a new arm-cycling testbed is introduced. A dynamic model for the arm-cycle-rider system is presented and a robust sliding-mode controller is developed for the nonlinear, autonomous, state-dependent, switched system. The controller is designed with the goal of tracking a specified crank velocity by switching between muscle stimulation and an electric motor. Despite the uncertainties and nonlinearities associated with the system, global exponential tracking of the desired crank trajectory is proven with a Lyapunov-based stability analysis. Preliminary experiments are performed with an able-bodied subject to characterize the performance of the designed controller. The results of the experiment are presented to illustrate stable tracking of the designed control system.
The Anticommons at Twenty: Concerns for Research Continue

Twenty years after Heller and Eisenberg predicted the emergence of an anticommons in biomedical research, this article assesses the currency of the anticommons theory. While a patent-fueled research anticommons does not appear to have emerged in the ways that Heller and Eisenberg envisioned, there are new ways in which the fragmentation of rights -- whether through trade secrecy, narrow licensing or data propertization -- continues to threaten research and commercial development. The anticommons theory thus remains as relevant today as it was when it was first proposed.
Experimental Determination of Hole Impact Ionization Coefficient and Saturation Velocity in GaN

This abstract presents an experimental study on the measurement of the hole impact ionization coefficient and saturation velocity in GaN. A novel p-n structure with a buried p-GaN was designed and demonstrated to have avalanche capability. Ultraviolet generated holes were swept into the high electric field region when the p-n diode was reversely biased and triggered the hole-initiated impact ionization multiplication. The measured hole saturation velocity is $7\times 10^{6}$ cm/s, and the impact ionization coefficient is $\boldsymbol{\beta}(\boldsymbol{E})=4.39\times 10^{6}\mathbf{exp}(-1.8\times 10^{7}/\boldsymbol{E})$ .
Calcium Pyrophosphate And Monosodium Urate Activate The NLRP3 Inflammasome Within Bladder Urothelium Via Reactive Oxygen Species And TXNIP.

Objective To investigate the in vitro activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome within bladder urothelium by stone-forming components. Further, to describe the contributions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), an important structural component of the inflammasome, to this activation. Methods Urothelial cells were harvested and incubated overnight. For agonist studies, cells were treated with varying concentrations of calcium pyrophosphate (CPPD) and monosodium urate (MSU). For inhibitor studies, cells were treated with either N-acetylcysteine (NAC) (1 hr) or Verapamil (4 hrs) prior to incubation with either CPPD (62.5 ug/mL) or MSU (1.25 ug/mL) for 24 hrs. Untreated controls were incubated with ATP (1.25 mM) for 1 hr to maximally stimulate NLRP3 inflammasome activity (measured as caspase-1 cleavage of the fluorogenic substrate Ac-YVAD-AFC). Results are reported as a percentage of maximum ATP response. Results CPPD and MSU activate caspase-1 in urothelial cells in a dose-dependent manner, reaching ~50% and ~25% of the ATP response, respectively. Pre-treatment with the general ROS scavenger NAC reduces this activation in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, activation was suppressed through treatment with Verapamil, a known downregulator of TXNIP expression. Conclusion The stone components CPPD and MSU activate NLRP3 in an ROS and TXNIP-dependent manner in bladder urothelium. These findings demonstrate the importance of ROS and TXNIP, and suggest that targeting either may be a way to decrease stone-dependent NLRP3 inflammation within the bladder.
Disease surveillance using online news: an extended study of dengue fever in India

The study demonstrates the potential in using newspaper information as a proxy for monitoring dengue fever outbreaks in India. Online newspapers are being considered as sources of information on disease surveillance, early outbreak detection, and epidemiology research. Our objective is to understand the complex dengue epidemiology and discover inter-relationships between dengue fever and local social-environmental factors by mining information from local Indian news articles. We search and extract articles from the newspaper database, LexisNexis. News articles related to dengue fever in India are analyzed together with local environmental, climate, and population data in both temporally and spatially to study disease epidemiology. We also examine the influence of newsworthiness for constructing a disease surveillance system. In terms of temporal aspects, dengue outbreaks follow consistent patterns every year. However, for many areas, this application is frustrated by the relatively small numbers of news articles. The study has advanced capabilities in producing approaches that provide for richer interpretations of textual information provided in newspaper articles. Such approaches appear particularly well suited for developing countries with relatively poor medical infrastructures and records.
Speech Recognition Model Compression

Deep Neural Network-based speech recognition systems are widely used in most speech processing applications. To achieve better model robustness and accuracy, these networks are constructed with millions of parameters, making them storage and compute-intensive. In this paper, we propose Bin & Quant (B&Q), a compression technique using which we were able to reduce the Deep Speech 2 speech recognition model size by 7 times for a negligible loss in accuracy. We have shown that our algorithm is generally beneficial based on its effectiveness across two other speech recognition models and the VGG16 model. In this paper, we have empirically shown that Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) are more sensitive to model parameter perturbation than Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), followed by fully connected(FC) networks. Using our B&Q technique, we have shown that we can establish parameter sharing across layers instead of just within a particular layer.
Nonlinear stress-dependent recovery behavior of the intervertebral disc.

Abstract The intervertebral disc exhibits complex mechanics due to its heterogeneous structure, inherent viscoelasticity, and interstitial fluid-matrix interactions. Sufficient fluid flow into the disc during low loading periods is important for maintaining mechanics and nutrient transport. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the effect of loading magnitude on time-dependent recovery behavior and the relative contribution of multiple recovery mechanisms during recovery. In most studies that have evaluated disc recovery behavior, a single load condition has been considered, making it difficult to compare findings across studies. Hence, the objective of this study was to quantify unloaded disc recovery behavior after compressive creep loading under a wide range of physiologically relevant stresses (0.2–2 MPa). First, the repeatability of disc recovery behavior was assessed. Once repeatable recovery behavior was confirmed, each motion segment was subject to three cycles of creep-recovery loading, where each cycle consisted of a 24-h creep at a pre-assigned load (100, 200, 300, 600, 900, or 1200 N), followed by an 18-h recovery period at a nominal load (10 N). Results showed that disc recovery behavior was strongly influenced by the magnitude of loading. The magnitude of instantaneous and time-dependent recovery deformations increased nonlinearly with an increase in compressive stress during creep. In conclusion, this study highlights that elastic deformation, intrinsic viscoelasticity, and poroelasticity all have substantial contributions to disc height recovery during low loading periods. However, their relative contributions to disc height recovery largely depend on the magnitude of loading. While loading history does not influence the contribution of the short-term recovery, the contribution of long-term recovery is highly sensitive to loading magnitude.
Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers With Pinned Boundary Structure

This paper reports the approach to boost the acoustic performances of PMUTs (Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers) including vibrational amplitude, acoustic pressure and electromechanical coupling by using the pinning boundary structure. An analytical model is developed based on an assumed mode shape and is validated with matching results from numerical simulations. Prototyped devices are fabricated and tested with a measured 2.5X improvement in displacement and 3.5X higher pressure output per volt at resonance as compared to those of PMUTs with clamped boundary. As a demonstration example, a PMUT-based ultrasonic tilt sensor is investigated with measured result using the receiving PMUT’s pressure amplitude for a tilting range of ±8 degrees and an error of ±0.7 degrees. [2020-0152]
Estimation and uncertainty quantification for piecewise smooth signal recovery

This paper presents a sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) algorithm for linear inverse problems with a high order total variation (HOTV) sparsity prior. For the problem of sparse signal recovery, SBL often produces more accurate estimates than maximum a posteriori estimates, including those that rely on l1 regularization. Moreover, rather than a single signal estimate, SBL yields a full posterior density estimate which can be used for uncertainty quantification. However, SBL is only immediately applicable to problems having a direct sparsity prior, or to those that can be formed via synthesis. This paper demonstrates how a problem with an HOTV sparsity prior can be formulated via synthesis, and then develops a corresponding Bayesian learning method. This expands the class of problems available to Bayesian learning to include, e.g., inverse problems dealing with the recovery of piecewise smooth functions or signals from data. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate how this new technique is effectively employed.
Alzheimer’s Disease-Associated β-amyloid Is Rapidly Seeded by herpesviridae to Protect Against Brain Infection

Amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) fibrilization and deposition as β-amyloid is a hallmark Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. We recently reported Aβ is an innate immune protein and the peptides expression protects against fungal and bacterial infections in animal and cell culture models, doubling host survival in some cases. However, fibrilization pathways mediate Aβ's antimicrobial activities. Thus, infection can dramatically accelerate β- amyloid deposition. Here, we show herpesvirus glycoprotein B binding induces Aβ fibrillization, mediating protective activities against neurotropic herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6). Moreover, herpesviridae infection rapidly seed plaque deposition in 5XFAD mice and 3-dimensional human neural cell cultures. The accompanying paper by Readhead et al. show AD progression correlates with increased abundance of HSV1, HHV6, and herpesvirus 7 across multiple brain regions. Our findings, together with those of Readhead et al., provide a novel etiological mechanism for AD, in which infection with herpesviridae may promote Aβ-amyloidosis.
College Students' Perceptions About Prescription Drug Misuse Among Peers.

Background Prescription drug misuse is an escalating public health problem that is prevalent among college students. Various factors, such as sex, age, race, mental health conditions, and fraternity and sorority membership, increase the risk for prescription drug misuse. Peer influences may also pose significant risks for starting prescription drug misuse, because peers are the primary source of misused prescription drugs among college students. Objectives To examine college students' beliefs about prescription drug misuse among their peers and to understand their beliefs about the available and potential intervention efforts to reduce prescription drug misuse. Method We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 312 college students aged 18 to 30 years who were enrolled in a large midwestern US university. The survey included questions about the responders' demographic characteristics, beliefs, and perceptions regarding prescription drug misuse among their peers and potential reduction programs for prescription drug misuse. Results The respondents' mean age was 21 years, and most (65%) respondents were women. A majority (90%) of the respondents were enrolled in the university as full-time students. More than 60% of the respondents reported knowing someone with prescription drug misuse in the past 12 months. Fraternity or sorority members were more likely to report peer prescription drug misuse than nonmembers (83% vs 60%, respectively; P = .017). Stimulants were the most misused drug class, accounting for 75% of all reported peer prescription drug misuse. Approximately 60% of the misused prescription drugs were sourced from peers, which included friends, roommates, and classmates. A total of 73% of respondents said that prescription drug misuse was a problem among college students and 67% agreed that interventions were needed to reduce prescription drug misuse. The perceived need for interventions varied by peer prescription drug misuse. A total of 90% of students whose peers did not misuse prescription drugs said that interventions were needed, but only 67% of those with peer prescription drug misuse thought that interventions were needed. Conclusion Our findings indicate that peer prescription drug misuse is very common among college students, and the most misused drug class is stimulants. Survey respondents perceived that the current interventions used to address prescription drug misuse are not very effective or may not be targeting the right population. Peer prescription drug misuse influences college students' perceptions about the risks and harms of prescription drug misuse, as well as the need for interventions.
Genome-first approach to rare EYA4 variants and cardio-auditory phenotypes in adults

While newborns and children with hearing loss are routinely offered genetic testing, adults are rarely clinically tested for a genetic etiology. One clinically actionable result from genetic testing in children is the discovery of variants in syndromic hearing loss genes. EYA4 is a known hearing loss gene which is also involved in important pathways in cardiac tissue. The pleiotropic effects of rare EYA4 variants are poorly understood and their prevalence in a large cohort has not been previously reported. We investigated cardio-auditory phenotypes in 11,451 individuals in a large biobank using a rare variant, genome-first approach to EYA4. We filtered 256 EYA4 variants carried by 6737 participants to 26 rare and predicted deleterious variants carried by 42 heterozygotes. We aggregated predicted deleterious EYA4 gene variants into a combined variable (i.e. “gene burden”) and performed association studies across phenotypes compared to wildtype controls. We validated findings with replication in three independent cohorts and human tissue expression data. EYA4 gene burden was significantly associated with audiometric-proven HL (p = $${5.43\times 10}^{-5})$$ , Mobitz Type II AV block (p = $${2.16\times 10}^{-5}$$ ) and the syndromic presentation of HL and primary cardiomyopathy (p = 0.0194). Analyses on audiogram, echocardiogram, and electrocardiogram data validated these associations. Prior reports have focused on identifying variants in families with severe or syndromic phenotypes. In contrast, we found, using a genotype-first approach, that gene burden in EYA4 is associated with more subtle cardio-auditory phenotypes in an adult medical biobank population, including cardiac conduction disorders which have not been previously reported. We show the value of using a focused approach to uncover human disease related to pleiotropic gene variants and suggest a role for genetic testing in adults presenting with hearing loss.
Price Differences To Insurers For Infused Cancer Drugs In Hospital Outpatient Departments And Physician Offices

The prices paid in 2019 by Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans in hospital outpatient departments were double those paid in physician offices for biologics, chemotherapies, and other infused cancer...
Listings, Leases, and Liabilities

This article discusses the California case Blickman Turkus v. MF Downtown Sunnyvale which could have been a rich source of guidance as to brokers’ commissions, disclosure duties, confidential communications, and agency, but instead focused on pleading issues.
Human phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase. Kinetic mechanism and end product inhibition.

Abstract Human PP-ribose-P synthetase, partially purified from erythrocytes, was found to have Michaelis constants for ribose-5-P, MgATP, and magnesium of 33 µm, 14 µm, and 0.2 mm, respectively. Based on studies of initial velocity and product inhibition, the kinetic mechanism is postulated to be an ordered Bi Bi reaction with ribose-5-P binding first and PP-ribose-P being released last. Magnesium binds sequentially with the substrates, but its exact role is unclear. A large number of compounds including ADP, GMP, GDP, GTP, IDP, ITP, 2,3-DPG, XDP, CDP, CTP, TDP, TTP, NADH, NADPH, and FAD are inhibitors of the enzyme. Inhibition by ADP, which is competitive with respect to ATP, may reflect regulation of the enzyme by cellular energy levels as previously suggested by Atkinson and Fall ((1967) J. Biol. Chem. 242, 3241). Inhibition by 2,3-DPG and PP-ribose-P, which is competitive with respect to ribose-5-P, may provide a link between oxygenation of hemoglobin and regulation of PP-ribose-P synthesis in the erythrocyte. The other inhibitors studied had a high Ki for the enzyme and inhibition appeared to be noncompetitive which is consistent with the hypothesis that PP-ribose-P synthetase activity is also regulated by a mechanism of "heterogeneous metabolic pool inhibition."
Purification and characterization of thermostable 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase from Clostridium thermoaceticum.

Abstract Methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate: NADP oxidoreductase EC 1.5.1.5) has been purified from Clostridium thermoaceticum, an obligate anaerobic thermophile. The enzyme has a molecular weight of 55,000 ± 5,000 and consists of 2 subunits of equal molecular weight. The sedimentation constant s20,w0 is 3.8 S, the partial specific volume 0.752 cc per g, and the Stokes radius 31.7 A. The enzyme appears homogeneous during Sephadex chromatography and ultracentrifugation, but during disc gel electrophoresis at pH 8.9 two bands of equal intensity are seen. Both bands are enzymatically active, and, when isolated individually, they again show the same two bands in the electrophoresis, indicating an equilibrium between the two forms. The enzyme has high thermal stability with a temperature optimum above 64° and exhibits a broken line in an Arrhenius graph. The apparent Km for NADP is 9 x 10-5 m and for methylenetetrahydrofolate 3.5 x 10-5 m. The enzyme is specific for NADP and NAD is a competitive inhibitor with a Ki of 2 x 10-4 m.
Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy: Inert Atom Detection

The central role of the atom in our concepts of matter creates a great need to count individual atoms in most of the scientific disciplines. The recent appearance of experimental techniques for the counting of atoms can be directly tied to the development of the pulsed laser.