cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nanoparticle-Based Contacts to CdTe

Our team has been investigating the use of particle-based contacts in CdTe solar cell technologies. Toward this end, particles of Cu-doped HgTe (Hg-Cu-Te) and Sb-Te have been applied as contacts to CdTe/CdS/SnO 2 heterostructures. These metal telluride materials were characterized by standard methods. Hg-Cu-Te particles in graphite electrodag contacts produced CdTe solar cells with efficiencies above 12% and series resistance (R se ) of 6 Ω or less. Metathesis preparation of Cu(I) and Cu(II) tellurides (i.e., Cu 2 Te and CuTe, respectively) were attempted as a means of characterizing the valence state of Cu in the Hg-Cu-Te ink. For Sb-Te contacts to CdTe, open circuit voltages (V oc s) in excess of 800 mV were observed, however, efficiencies were limited to 9%; perhaps a consequence of the marked increase in the R se (i.e., >20 Ω) in these non-graphite containing contacts. Acetylene black was mixed into the methanolic Sb-Te colloid as a means of reducing R se , however, no improvement in device properties was observed.
'Practical Reasoning' and the Scholarship of Philip P. Frickey

Phil Frickey has made important contributions to constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and Indian law. This is the Introduction to a forthcoming symposium in the California Law Review on Frickey's scholarship. The contributors include Bethany Berger, James Brudney, William Eskridge, Sarah Krakoff, John Manning, Robert Post, Peter Strauss and Ernie Young. Besides providing an overview, the Introduction explores three important themes of Frickey's scholarship: (1) his reliance on practical reasoning by judges; (2) his emphasis on respecting the institutional role of the legislature; and (3) his view that judges must mediate between certain conflicting values without being able to provide a permanent resolution of the conflict.
Micromanipulation in assisted reproductive technology

Micromanipulation describes a set of tools and techniques for cellular microsurgery and manipulation. Micromanipulation techniques have played an important role in basic research and the development of clinical techniques in assisted reproductive technology. This work provides a review of the development and current practices involving micromanipulation in the human clinical assisted reproduction laboratory.
The Role of the Carboxyl Terminus Helix C-D Linker in Regulating KCNQ3 K+ Current Amplitudes by Controlling Channel Trafficking

In the central and peripheral nervous system, the assembly of KCNQ3 with KCNQ2 as mostly heteromers, but also homomers, underlies "M-type" currents, a slowly-activating voltage-gated K+ current that plays a dominant role in neuronal excitability. KCNQ3 homomers yield much smaller currents compared to KCNQ2 or KCNQ4 homomers and KCNQ2/3 heteromers. This smaller current has been suggested to result either from divergent channel surface expression or from a pore that is more unstable in KCNQ3. Channel surface expression has been shown to be governed by the distal part of the C-terminus in which helices C and D are critical for channel trafficking and assembly. A sequence alignment of this region in KCNQ channels shows that KCNQ3 possesses a longer linker between helix C and D compared to the other KCNQ subunits. Here, we investigate the role of the extra residues of this linker on KCNQ channel expression. Deletion of these residues increased KCNQ3 current amplitudes. Total internal reflection fluorescence imaging and plasma membrane protein assays suggest that the increase in current is due to a higher surface expression of the channels. Conversely, introduction of the extra residues into the linker between helices C and D of KCNQ4 reduced current amplitudes by decreasing the number of KCNQ4 channels at the plasma membrane. Confocal imaging suggests a higher fraction of channels, which possess the extra residues of helix C-D linker, were retained within the endoplasmic reticulum. Such retention does not appear to lead to protein accumulation and activation of the unfolded protein response that regulates protein folding and maintains endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis. Taken together, we conclude that extra helix C-D linker residues play a role in KCNQ3 current amplitudes by controlling the exit of the channel from the endoplasmic reticulum.
Polarization devices based on Bragg reflector waveguides

Novel designs of polarization devices based on Bragg reflector wabeguides in a high index contrast material have been proposed. The presented numerical simulations with a 3D semivectorial beam propagation method demonstrate their performance.
Quantitative Alterations in the Genital Microflora of Female Rats in Relation to the Estrous Cycle

The virgin female laboratory rat has been studied as a model of the ecosystem represented by the vaginal mucosa and its bacterial flora. Gram-stained vaginal smears abtained from rats having normal estrous cycles showed cyclic variation in the number of bacteria present. Viable plate counts of material obtained by vaginal lavage demonstrated daily changes in the density of the bacterial population of the vagina in relation to the estrous cycle. Bacterial counts observed during the estrus phase of the cycle in individual rats were 10,000 to 100,000 times greater than viable counts observed during the metestrus or diestrus phases of the cycle. These studies represent the first reported demonstration that physiologic changes occurring during the estrous cycle control the size of the bacterial population of the vagina.
Electronic Properties of Carbons

Abstract: The history of the development of ideas and of advancements achieved in knowledge of various electronic properties of chars, carbons and graphites is presented. The subject is discussed by considering four periods: the early years, when carbons were not yet recognized as a separate class of solids (pre-1949), the pioneering period, when organized and planned research was begun at various places (1949-56), the start of international cooperation and the consolidation of carbon science (1957-64) and finally the most recent period of detailed studies and advancements on many fronts (1965-74). The main problems awaiting solution are indicated and the importance of carbon studies for the general understanding of the electronic processes in disordered solids is emphasized.
Management of ectopic pregnancy at a military medical center.

Objective: Advances in laparoscopic surgical techniques and ultrasound technology along with the popularization of treatment with methotrexate have revolutionized accepted algorithms for treating ectopic pregnancy. I analyzed the management of ectopic pregnancy at a military medical center. Methods: A retrospective chart review of ectopic pregnancies at Womack Army Medical Center between January 1997 and July 1999 was conducted. Results: A total of 129 cases of ectopic pregnancy were found. Of those, 77 patients received primary surgical management, 51 patients received primary therapy with methotrexate, and 1 patient was managed expectantly. Eleven patients failed methotrexate therapy and went on to surgical therapy. Of the 88 patients ultimately treated surgically, 76 underwent laparoscopic procedures, 12 received laparotomy, and 11 more converted from laparoscopy to laparotomy. Conclusion: The advent of methotrexate therapy has greatly facilitated the treatment of ectopic pregnancy and altered our institutional algorithm; however, primary surgery is still used more often.
PUVA for Psoriasis

The development in 1974 of psoralen photochemotherapy (PUVA) for severe psoriasis transformed the therapeutic setting for this disease from in-patient to ambulatory, presaging the trend in the past decade to reduce hospitalization. The prospective evaluation of this treatment in well-designed, well-controlled studies with the participation of a large cohort of patients, which expanded for 12 years and involved prestigious academic centers in the United States and Europe, is one of the largest medical enterprises ever conducted and is a testament to scientific investigation and collaboration. Besides its contribution to mitigating the suffering of patients with this disease, the intense scientific pursuit by so many investigators has contributed significantly to the understanding of photomedicine, especially photochemical and photobiologic reactions, and to its place in the clinical arena and in the forefront of dermatologic interest. This article is an account of this scientific endeavor, which now enters its third decade, as well as a recognition of its contributors.
Neural Stem Cells for Spinal Cord Injury

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are potentially attractive cell sources for reconstruction of injured spinal cord circuits. Recent studies demonstrate that NSCs can survive grafting into sites of severe spinal cord injury (SCI) and extend very large numbers of axons over substantial distances, forming synapses with host neurons below sites of injury. Reciprocally, host axons regenerate into the stem cell grafts and form synapses. New synaptic relays are thereby formed across the lesion site, improving functional outcomes even after severe SCI. Additional studies are in progress to establish long-term safety and to scale up grafting methods to the larger primate system. Accordingly, this work is on a translational path.
Spectral Kernels for Probabilistic Analysis and Clustering of Shapes

We propose a framework for probabilistic shape clustering based on kernel-space embeddings derived from spectral signatures. Our root motivation is to investigate practical yet principled clustering schemes that rely on geometrical invariants of shapes rather than explicit registration. To that end we revisit the use of the Laplacian spectrum and introduce a parametric family of reproducing kernels for shapes, extending WESD [12] and shape DNA [20] like metrics. Parameters provide control over the relative importance of local and global shape features and can be adjusted to emphasize a scale of interest. As a result of kernelization, shapes are embedded in an infinite-dimensional inner product space. We leverage this structure to formulate shape clustering via a Bayesian mixture of kernel-space Principal Component Analysers. We derive simple variational Bayes inference schemes in Hilbert space, addressing technicalities stemming from the infinite dimensionality. The proposed approach is validated on tasks of unsupervised clustering of sub-cortical structures, as well as classification of cardiac left ventricles w.r.t. pathological groups.
First-principles study of fission gas incorporation and migration in zirconium nitride

Abstract To evaluate the effectiveness of ZrN as a diffusion barrier against fission gases, we investigate the incorporation and migration of fission gas atoms, with a focus on Xe, in ZrN by first-principles calculations. The formations of point defects in ZrN, including vacancies, interstitials, divacancies, Frenkel pairs, and Schottky defects, are first studied. Among all the defects, the Schottky defect with two vacancies as first nearest neighbor is predicted to be the most favorable incorporation site for fission gas Xe in ZrN. The migration of Xe gas atom in ZrN is investigated through two diffusion mechanisms, i.e., interstitial and vacancy-assisted diffusions. The migration barrier of Xe gas atom through the intrinsic interstitials in ZrN is considerably lower than that through vacancies. Therefore, at low temperatures fission gas Xe atoms diffuse mainly through interstitials in single crystal ZrN, whereas at high temperatures Xe may diffuse in ZrN assisted by vacancies.
Peroneal Tendon Pathology

Peroneal tendon pathology is a critical topic for medical students interested in orthopedic surgery to understand and will be commonly encountered in clinical practice. This chapter will cover high-yield topics concerning relevant peroneal tendon anatomy and commonly encountered/tested pathologic processes. The chapter will cover pathologic processes, diagnosis, and treatment modalities for tendon subluxation, tendon tears, painful os peroneum syndrome, and advanced imaging examples.
The t(5;17) variant of acute promyelocytic leukemia expresses a nucleophosmin-retinoic acid receptor fusion

We have studied an acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patient with a variant t(5;17)(q32;q12). This translocation fuses the gene for the nucleolar phosphoprotein nucleophosmin (NPM) to the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA). Two alternatively spliced transcripts are expressed, which differ in 129 bases immediately upstream of the RARA sequence. The NPM sequences contained in the shorter NPM-RAR cDNA are identical to the NPM sequences contained in the NPM-ALK fusion gene expressed in t(2;5) lymphomas. The RARA sequences are the same as the RARA sequences found in the PML-RAR and PLZF-RAR fusion seen in t(15;17) and t(11;17) APL, respectively. Both NPM-RAR transcripts fuse NPM and RARA sequence in the same reading frame, to generate translation products of 57 kD and 62 kD. Both NPM-RAR proteins are expressed in the patient's leukemic cells, along with wild-type RARA derived from the uninvolved allele. In transcriptional assays using a retinoic acid response element reporter construct, both NPM-RAR fusion proteins act as retinoic acid-dependent transcriptional activators. This case defines a third class of APL rearrangements, all of which generate fusion proteins of RARA.
Antenna to Core: A New Approach to RF Modelling

A new technique for the calculation of RF waves in toroidal geometry enables the simultaneous incorporation of antenna geometry, plasma facing components (PFCs), the scrape off-layer (SOL) and core propagation [Shiraiwa et al, “HIS-TORIC: Extending core ICRF wave simulation to include realistic SOL plasmas”, Nucl. Fusion in press 10 (2017)]. The calculation of antenna coupling has been traditionally performed separately from those of core propagation whereas this method allows them to be combined permitting the modelling of such phenomena as waves reflected from plasma-vacuum boundary or cyclotron resonances back to the antenna. Calculations with this technique also naturally capture wave propagation in the SOL and its interactions with non-conforming PFCs permitting self-consistent calculation of core absorption and edge power loss.
Values and Reflections from the Field: An Informational Interviewing Experience and Collections from the Harvard Leadership Studio

Background: Leadership has been described as the organization of people to achieve a goal, which often entails characteristics such as charisma and intelligence. While the Trait Model in leadership is often used to define characteristics of effective leaders, little is known about how many public health leaders transcend these leadership qualities and values in making decisions, particularly in situations of great uncertainty. Objective: To understand values of leaders in the decision-making process, using informational interviews at the Harvard School of Public Health as well as collections from the Harvard Leadership Studio, Voices from the Field Programming, and other symposiums. Methods: I approached public health pioneers and asked them what personal characteristics they considered to be essential for effective leadership, how they defined personal success, and what advice they would share with the next generation of public health leaders. The quotations expressed were extracted from informational interviews and recorded videos. Opinions expressed were paraphrased from the viewpoint of the writer. Results: The interviews and programming identified values that centered on taking risks, having a vision, open mindedness, knowing where one’s moral compass lies, and willingness to encounter resistance to change. Conclusion: This report represents a reflective and qualitative approach to understanding how value-based characteristics influenced the decision-making of successful leaders as well as provides advice to the next generation of public health leaders. Further analysis could include reflections on successful leadership training models and evaluating performance in leadership. “Sometimes you just have to do what feels right. In the end, you want to be able to sleep at night. But be truthful to what you believe... persuasion is listening. Be humble, and don't worry about who gets the credit.” — Dr. Harvey Fineberg , President of the National institute of Medicine JULIET SIENA OKOROH HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH BOSTON, MA
Practice patterns and outcomes for patients with node-negative hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and intermediate 21-gene Recurrence Scores

The recommendation for chemotherapy in early-stage breast cancer patients has been refined by the 21-gene Recurrence Score. However, uncertainty remains whether patients in the Intermediate Risk category benefit from chemotherapy. We analyzed female patients from the National Cancer Database from 2006 to 2012 who had pT1c-T2N0M0 breast cancer, were ER/PR-positive and HER2-negative, received endocrine therapy, and had a 21-gene Recurrence Score from 11 to 25. We performed univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to see what impacted chemotherapy receipt. We compared overall survival using Kaplan–Meier curves and the log-rank test. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess what variables impacted overall survival. Of 21,991 patients who met all inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4646 (21.1%) received chemotherapy and 17,345 (78.9%) did not. Chemotherapy was more often received by patients who were younger (adjusted odds ratios (aORs) compared to age < 40 years, 0.48 for 40s, 0.34 for 50s, 0.20 for 60s, 0.10 for 70s, and 0.07 for 80+), had private insurance vs Medicare (aOR = 1.37), were from metro vs urban counties (aOR = 1.15), and were treated in community cancer centers vs academic programs (aOR = 1.26), and those with tumors of higher grade (grade 2 vs 1, aOR = 1.72; grade 3 vs 1, aOR = 3.76), higher tumor stage (pT2 vs pT1c, aOR = 1.62), or presence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (aOR = 1.41). At a median follow-up of 46.4 months, there was no significant difference in overall survival between patients who received chemotherapy vs those who did not (5-year estimated overall survival, 97.4% vs 97.8%, p = 0.89). On multivariable analysis, worse overall survival was associated with Black race, treatment at a community program, Medicaid, high-grade tumors, pT2 vs pT1c, higher Charlson–Deyo score, and no radiotherapy. Utilization trends showed that chemotherapy receipt in these patients has been decreasing from 25.8% in 2010 to 18.4% in 2013 (p < 0.001). In these patients where the benefit of chemotherapy remains uncertain, current practices see chemotherapy more likely to be used in patients with younger age, higher pathologic T stage, higher grade tumors, and LVI. No apparent difference was seen in overall survival between those who received chemotherapy and those who did not.
Sweats, Pow Wows, and Indian Tacos: How My Year Out in the Middle of Nowhere Makes Me a Better Librarian

A reflection of the author’s work with American Indian students on a reservation, and how they draw on those experiences in their career as an academic librarian. With the diverse demographics that compose the student bodies in universities and colleges, academic librarians are consistently trying to reach and help students from a variety of different backgrounds and levels of academic readiness. It is one of the responsibilities of academic librarians to reach students who are struggling with adjusting to the standards of higher education. By working on the reservation, the author discovered that feelings of safety, support, and representation were all key factors in reaching students who were hesitant with classwork. Diverse representation in collections and establishing a non-judgmental environment encourages college students to use the library as a resource in their education. The library should provide familiarity and comfort to encourage students to utilize it during their college years, and cultivate the concept of lifelong learning.
Inverted Perspectives: Triggering Change

Albert Einstein imagined riding a beam of light and discovered relativity. Jonas Salk imagined being a polio virus and discovered a vaccine. Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman discovered new ways of thinking about physics by imagining himself immersed in a messy fog of electrons. In each instance, an inverted perspective triggered a great discovery. Now invert the traditional healthcare universe, and put the individual at the center instead of the enterprise. The result is a universe where enterprises compete by personalizing the services they offer their customers, not by integrating their internal operations. In this universe, individuals have and control their own health information in a radically person-centered health record that
The Political Economy of the Employment Act of 1946

This chapter will describe Truman’s economic policies before and after the legislation of the Employment Act. In his early speeches, he made it clear that he wanted to put in place the programs called for by Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights. From a review of his Economic Reports of the President that were required by the Act, the chapter will describe how Truman bundled Keynesian economics as a way of stabilizing the economy with the political economy of a living wage as redefined by Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights to establish the hybrid system of redistributive economics.
Attitudes Toward Individuals With Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders Among Resident Physicians.

Objective Resident physicians frequently provide care for individuals diagnosed with mental illness and substance use disorders (SUDs). Clinicians-including psychiatrists and addiction professionals-have been shown to possess negative attitudes toward these individuals, which is concerning since negative attitudes may have an adverse impact on patient engagement, treatment, and outcomes. However, little is known about resident physicians' attitudes toward individuals with mental illness and SUDs. The objective of this study was to examine the attitudes of emergency medicine, internal medicine, and obstetrics-gynecology residents toward individuals with diagnoses of schizophrenia, multiple SUDs, co-occurring schizophrenia and SUDs, and major depressive disorder. Methods A web-based questionnaire, including demographic information, level of training, and the 11-item Medical Condition Regard Scale (MCRS) for individuals with 4 different diagnoses, which assesses the degree to which clinicians find individuals with a given medical condition to be enjoyable, treatable, and worthy of medical resources, was sent to residents across the United States from May 2016 to April 2017. Results A total of 411 resident physicians completed the questionnaire. Respondents had more negative attitudes toward individuals with diagnoses of SUDs with and without schizophrenia than toward those individuals with diagnoses of schizophrenia or major depressive disorder alone. Senior residents possessed more negative attitudes toward individuals with SUDs than did junior residents. Emergency medicine residents had more negative attitudes than the other resident physician groups. Conclusions The attitudes of resident physicians toward individuals with SUDs with and without schizophrenia were negative and were worse among emergency medicine residents and senior residents. Additional research and programmatic work are needed to understand the reasons for these negative attitudes and to develop interventions during residency training to improve them.
Readability of Lumbar Spine MRI Reports: Will Patients Understand?

Objective Radiology reports have traditionally been written for referring clinical providers. However, as patients increasingly access their radiology reports through online medical records, concerns have been raised about their ability to comprehend these complex documents. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of lumbar spine MRI reports. Materials and methods We reviewed 110 lumbar spine MRI reports dictated by 11 fellowship-trained radiologists (eight musculoskeletal radiologists and three neuroradiologists) at a single academic medical center. We evaluated each article for readability using five quantitative readability tests: the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. The number of reports with readability at or below eighth-grade level (average reading ability of U.S. adults) and at or below sixth-grade level (level recommended by the National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association for patient education materials) were determined. Results The mean readability grade level of the lumbar spine MRI reports was greater than the 12th-grade reading level for all readability scales. Only one report was written at or below eighth-grade level; no reports were written at or below sixth-grade level. Conclusion Lumbar spine MRI reports are written at a level too high for the average patient to comprehend. As patients increasingly read their radiology reports through online portals, consideration should be made of patients' ability to read and comprehend these complex medical documents.
Cardiovascular injury induced by tobacco products: assessment of risk factors and biomarkers of harm. A Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science compilation

Although substantial evidence shows that smoking is positively and robustly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), the CVD risk associated with the use of new and emerging tobacco products, ...
Targeting bacterial quorum sensing shows promise in improving intestinal barrier function following burn‑site infection

Burn-site infections, commonly due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, have been associated with deranged intestinal integrity, allowing bacteria and their products to translocate from the gut to the circulatory system. The P. aeruginosa quorum sensing (QS) transcription factor MvfR (PqsR) controls the expression of numerous virulence factors, and the synthesis of several toxic products. However, the role of QS in intestinal integrity alterations, to the best of our knowledge, has not been previously investigated. Using a proven anti-MvfR, anti-virulence agent, the in vivo results of the present study revealed that inhibition of MvfR function significantly decreased Fluorescein Isothiocyanate-Dextran (FITC-Dextran) flow from the intestine to the systemic circulation, diminished bacterial translocation from the intestine to mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs), and improved tight junction integrity in thermally injured and infected mice. In addition, the MvfR antagonist administration alleviates the intestinal inflammation, as demonstrated by reduced ileal TNF-α and fecal lipocalin-2 concentrations. In addition, it is associated with lower levels of circulating endotoxin and decreased P. aeruginosa dissemination from the burn wound to the ileum. Collectively, these results hold great promise that the inhibition of this QS system mitigates gut hyperpermeability by attenuating the derangement of morphological and immune aspects of the intestinal barrier, suggesting that MvfR function is crucial in the deterioration of intestinal integrity following P. aeruginosa burn-site infection. Therefore, an anti-virulence approach targeting MvfR, could potentially offer a novel therapeutic approach against multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa infections following thermal injuries. Since this approach is targeting virulence pathways that are non-essential for growth or viability, our strategy is hypothesized to minimize the development of bacterial resistance, and preserve the beneficial enteric microbes, while improving intestinal integrity that is deranged as a result of burn and infection.
Psychoanalytic Approaches to Problems in Living: Addressing Life's Challenges in Clinical Practice

Psychoanalytic Approaches to Problems in Living examines how psychoanalysts can draw on their training, reading, and clinical experience to help their patients address some of the recurrent challenges of everyday life. Sandra Buechler offers clinicians poetic, psychoanalytic, and experiential approaches to problems, drawing on her personal and clinical experience, as well as ideas from her reading, to confront challenges familiar to us all. Buechler addresses issues including difficulties of mourning, aging, living with uncertainty, finding meaningful work, transcending pride, bearing helplessness, and forgiving life's hardships. For those contemplating a clinical career, and those in its beginning stages, she suggests ways to prepare to face these quandaries in treatment sessions. More experienced practitioners will find echoes of themes that have run through their own clinical and personal life experiences. The chapters demonstrate that insights from a poem can often guide the clinician as well as concepts garnered from psychoanalytic theory and other sources. Buechler puts her questions to T. S. Eliot, Rainer Maria Rilke, Elizabeth Bishop, W. S. Merwin, Stanley Kunitz and many other poets and fiction writers. She "asks" Sharon Olds how to meet emergencies, Erich Fromm how to live vigorously, and Edith Wharton how to age gracefully, and brings their insights to bear as she addresses challenges that make frequent appearances in clinical sessions, and other walks of life. With a final section designed to improve training in the light of her practical findings, Psychoanalytic Approaches to Problems in Living is an essential book for all practicing psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists.
Mapping Semaphorins and Netrins in the Pathogenesis of Human Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms

Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a complex life-threatening disease characterized by extensive extracellular matrix (ECM) fragmentation and persistent inflammation, culminating in a weakened aorta. Although evidence suggests defective canonical signaling pathways in TAA, the full spectrum of mechanisms contributing to TAA is poorly understood, therefore limiting the scope of drug-based treatment. Here, we used a sensitive RNA sequencing approach to profile the transcriptomic atlas of human TAA. Pathway analysis revealed upregulation of key matrix-degrading enzymes and inflammation coincident with the axonal guidance pathway. We uncovered their novel association with TAA and focused on the expression of Semaphorins and Netrins. Comprehensive analysis of this pathway showed that several members were differentially expressed in TAA compared to controls. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Semaphorin4D and its receptor PlexinB1, similar to Netrin-1 proteins were highly expressed in damaged areas of TAA tissues but faintly detected in the vessel wall of non-diseased sections. It should be considered that the current study is limited by its sample size and the use of internal thoracic artery as control for TAA for the sequencing dataset. Our data determines important neuronal regulators of vascular inflammatory events and suggest Netrins and Semaphorins as potential key contributors of ECM degradation in TAA.
Corrigendum: Gonadotropin Regulated Testicular RNA Helicase, Two Decades of Studies on Its Structure Function and Regulation From Its Discovery Opens a Window for Development of a Non-hormonal Oral Male Contraceptive.

Gonadotropin Regulated Testicular Helicase (GRTH/DDX25) is member of the DEAD-box family of RNA helicases present in Leydig and germ cells. GRTH is the only family member regulated by hormones, luteinizing hormone, through androgen action. Male mice with knock-out of the GRTH gene are sterile, lack sperm with arrest at round spermatids. GRTH participates on the nuclear export and transport of specific mRNAs, the structural integrity of Chromatoid Bodies of round spermatids, where mRNAs are processed and stored, and in their transit to polyribosomes, where it may regulate translation of relevant genes. GRTH has a central role in the control of germ cell apoptosis and acts as negative regulator of miRNAs which regulate expression of genes involved in the progress of spermatogenesis. In Leydig cells, GRTH gene transcription is regulated by LH via autocrine actions of androgen/androgen receptor and has regulatory effects in steroidogenesis. In germ cells, androgen actions are indirect via receptors in Sertoli cells. Transgenic mice carrying GRTH 5' flanking region-GFP permitted to discern regions in the gene which directs its expression upstream, in germ cells, and downstream in Leydig cells, and the androgen-regulated transcription at interstitial (autocrine), and germ cell (paracrine) compartments. Further evidence for paracrine actions of androgen/androgen receptor is their transcriptional induction of Germ Cell Nuclear Factor as requisite up-regulator of GRTH gene transcription in round spermatids, linking androgen action to two relevant germ cell genes essential for the progress of spermatogenesis. A missense mutation of R to H at amino acid 242 of GRTH found in 5.8% of a patient population with azoospermia causes loss of the cytoplasmic phospho-GRTH species with preservation of the non-phospho form in transfected cells. Mice with knock-in of the human mutation, lack sperm due to arrest at round spermatids. This model permits to discern the function of phospho-GRTH. The GRTH phospho-site resides at a Threonine structurally adjacent to the mutant site found in patients. Molecular modeling of this site elucidated the amino acids that form the GRTH/PKA interphase and provide the basis for drug design for use as male contraceptive.
Dopamine metabolism by a monoamine oxidase mitochondrial shuttle activates the electron transport chain

Monoamine oxidase (MAO) metabolizes cytosolic dopamine (DA), thereby limiting auto-oxidation, but is also thought to generate cytosolic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). We show that MAO metabolism of DA does not increase cytosolic H2O2 but leads to mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) activity. This is dependent upon MAO anchoring to the outer mitochondrial membrane and shuttling electrons through the intermembrane space to support the bioenergetic demands of phasic DA release. Graves et al. demonstrate that as the neurotransmitter dopamine cycles through the cytosol at release sites, it can be metabolized by a mitochondrial enzyme to help generate the energy necessary to sustain synaptic function.
Uneven use of biodiversity indicators in 5th National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Indicators are necessary to monitor national progress toward commitments made to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), but countries often struggle to mobilize quantitative indicators for many biodiversity targets. Assessing the extent to which countries are using measurable indicators from global and national sources by surveying 5th National Reports to the CBD, we found that nationally generated indicators were used 11 times more frequently than global indicators and only one-fifth of indicators matched those recommended by the CBD, suggesting that countries and indicator experts should work more closely to agree upon measurable, scalable, fit-for-purpose indicators for the next generation of CBD targets.
The safety and efficacy of the use of the flexible laryngeal mask airway with positive pressure ventilation in elective ENT surgery: a 15-year retrospective single-center study.

Background The use of flexible laryngeal mask airway (FLMA) in elective ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery offers significant advantages, but is frequently considered inferior to tracheal intubation (TI) for ventilation and airway protection. We investigated the safety and success rate of intraoperative FLMA use with positive pressure ventilation (PPV), and the factors responsible for FLMA failure. Methods A 15-year single center retrospective study. FLMA failure was defined as the need for FLMA removal and TI, either during induction (primary failure), or after turning the patient over to the surgeon (secondary failure). Strict failure criteria included the inability to achieve and/or maintain all 3 essential FLMA functions, such as ventilation (tidal volume ≥6 mL/kg), airway protection from above the cuff (airway sealing pressure [ASP] >12 cm H2O), and separation of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts (absent gastric insufflation during PPV). Results In 685 patients, FLMA was successfully inserted in 94%. Secondary failure rate was 1.5%, with half of failures observed intraoperatively. The inability to seat FLMA during induction or FLMA dislodgment were the most common reasons for failures. The number of FLMA insertion attempts and low ASP were associated with FLMA primary failure and the need for TI. There were no complications. Conclusions The results suggest an acceptably low failure rate of use of FLMA with PPV in selected ENT surgical procedures. True intraoperative FLMA failure is uncommon. We advocate observing strict criteria for adequacy of FLMA placement, and close monitoring of FLMA function intraoperatively at all times.
Insurance status and cholangiocarcinoma: A NCDB analysis.

500Background: There is an increasing rise of cholangiocarcinoma though the cause is unclear. Cholangiocarcinoma is more often than not incurable at diagnosis and associated with a high mortality r...
Hazard-Based Model of Activity Generation Using Vehicle Trajectory Data.

Abstract Travel behavior modeling suffers from lack of longitudinal data – due to the high cost of procurement and difficulty with ensuring data quality. In the recent years ubiquitous data – intercepted from social media, cell detail record, GPS traces are increasingly being explored to analyze human mobility. However, these data lack key demographic information – which limits their use for developing causal models of traveler behavior. The primary contribution of the paper lies in using vehicle trajectory data from Ann Arbor along with multiple other data sources for developing a hazard-based activity generation model. The different category of data used in the analysis include – (i) vehicle trajectory data (VTD), (ii) American Census Survey (ACS), (iii) land use data, (iv) household travel survey (HTS) data, and (v) smart location data from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Home and work are identified as the two most frequently visited locations from the VTD and validated against land use categories of the region. Next a random utility-based model is developed using HTS data to identify other activity purposes as a function of the polynomials of distance from home, activity duration and departure time. The developed model is then applied to identify the non-home activity purposes in the VTD. Demographic and accessibility information are appended to the VTD from ACS and smart location databases respectively. The final database is then used to develop a hazard-based activity generation model.
Strategic Initiatives for Veterans with Lung Cancer.

Background Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among veterans-as well as the US population-despite veterans' access to advanced medical technologies within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). To improve outcomes, the VHA launched 3 lung cancer treatment initiatives in 2016 and 2017. Observations This article summarizes the VHA lung cancer initiatives and discusses future programs aimed to improve care for veterans. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Partnership to Increase Access to Lung Screening aims to reduce lung cancer mortality among veterans at risk by increasing access to low-dose computed tomography lung screening scans. The VALOR study is a randomized phase 3 clinical trial that evaluates optimal treatment for participants with operable early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This trial plans to enroll veterans with stage I NSCLC who will be randomly assigned to treatment with either surgical lobectomy or stereotactic body radiation therapy. Researchers will follow each participant for at least 5 years to evaluate which treatment, if either, results in a higher overall survival rate. The VA Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance program compares treatment of veterans with lung cancer in the VHA with quality standards recommended by nationally recognized experts in lung cancer care. Conclusions The VHA continues to prioritize resources to improve and assure optimal outcomes for veterans with lung cancer. Future efforts include creating a national network of lung cancer centers of excellence to ensure that treatment decisions for veterans with lung cancer are based on all available molecular information, including data on pharmacogenomic profiles.
Assessment of turning performance and muscle coordination in individuals post-stroke

Turning is an important activity of daily living and often compromised post-stroke. The fall rate for individuals post-stroke while turning is nearly four times as high compared to healthy adults, with most falls resulting in injury. Thus, there is a need for evidence-based rehabilitation targets to improve turning performance for individuals post-stroke. To produce well-coordinated movements, muscles can be organized into muscle modules (i.e., groups of co-excited muscles). Post-stroke these modules can be merged, leading to impaired muscle coordination and walking performance. However, the relationship between impaired coordination and turning performance is not well understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of impaired muscle coordination (i.e., merged modules) on turning performance (i.e., time and number of steps required to complete a turn, and smoothness and balance control during the turn). Individuals post-stroke and healthy controls performed three tasks including overground straight-line walking, a 90-degree turn, and a 180-degree turn. The number of muscle modules during straight-line walking were determined using non-negative matrix factorization. During 180-degree turning, those with two modules took longer to turn, used more steps and had less smooth movement. Those with reduced module complexity exhibited diminished balance control during both 90-degree and 180-degree turning. These results suggest obtaining independent modules should be an important aim in locomotor therapies aimed at improving turning performance. In addition, the time it takes to complete a 180-degree turn may provide useful clinical insight into impaired muscle coordination post-stroke.
Pricing Discretely Monitored Barrier Options under Markov Processes through Markov Chain Approximation

The authors propose an explicit closed-form approximation formula for the price of discretely monitored single or double barrier options with an underlying asset that evolves according to a one-dimensional Markov process, which includes diffusion and jump-diffusion processes. The prices and Greeks of a discretely monitored double barrier option are explicitly expressed in terms of rudimentary matrix operations. In addition, this framework may be extended to include additional features of barrier options often encountered in practice—for example, time-dependent barriers and nonuniform monitoring time intervals. They provide numerical examples to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed formula as well as its ability to reproduce existing benchmark results in the relevant literature in a unified framework. TOPICS:Derivatives, options Key Findings ▪ Markov chain approximations to stochastic processes are used to develop a simple closed-form pricing formula for discretely monitored barrier options. ▪ This article explores price and Greek computations within the constant elasticity of a variance model and Merton’s and Kou’s jump-diffusions models. ▪ Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of the pricing technique, both to recreate specialized results in related barrier option literature and to extend to multiple novel settings.
Identification of beneficial and detrimental bacteria that impact sorghum responses to drought using multi-scale and multi-system microbiome comparisons

Abstract Background Drought is a major abiotic stress that limits agricultural productivity. Previous field-level experiments have demonstrated that drought decreases microbiome diversity in the root and rhizosphere and may lead to enrichment of specific groups of microbes, such as Actinobacteria. How these changes ultimately affect plant health is not well understood. In parallel, model systems have been used to tease apart the specific interactions between plants and single, or small groups of microbes. However, translating this work into crop species and achieving increased crop yields within noisy field settings remains a challenge. Thus, the next scientific leap forward in microbiome research must cross the great lab-to-field divide. Toward this end, we combined reductionist, transitional and ecological approaches, applied to the staple cereal crop sorghum to identify key beneficial and detrimental, root associated microbes that robustly affect drought stressed plant phenotypes. Results Fifty-three bacterial strains, originally characterized for association with Arabidopsis, were applied to sorghum seeds and their effect on root growth was monitored for seven days. Two Arthrobacter strains, members of the Actinobacteria phylum, caused root growth inhibition (RGI) in Arabidopsis and sorghum. In the context of synthetic communities, strains of Variovorax were able to protect both Arabidopsis and sorghum from the RGI caused by Arthrobacter. As a transitional system, we tested the synthetic communities through a 24-day high-throughput sorghum phenotyping assay and found that during drought stress, plants colonized by Arthrobacter were significantly smaller and had reduced leaf water content as compared to control plants. However, plants colonized by both Arthrobacter and Variovorax performed as well or better than control plants. In parallel, we performed a field trial wherein sorghum was evaluated across well-watered and drought conditions. Drought responsive microbes were identified, including an enrichment in Actinobacteria, consistent with previous findings. By incorporating data on soil properties into the microbiome analysis, we accounted for experimental noise with a newly developed method and were then able to observe that the abundance of Arthrobacter strains negatively correlated with plant growth. Having validated this approach, we cross-referenced datasets from the high-throughput phenotyping and field experiments and report a list of high confidence bacterial taxa that positively associated with plant growth under drought stress. Conclusions A three-tiered experimental system connected reductionist and ecological approaches and identified beneficial and deleterious bacterial strains for sorghum under drought stress.
Abstract 13196: The Utility of Silent Myocardial Infarction on Electrocardiogram as an ASCVD Risk Enhancer for Primary Prevention: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Introduction: The 2018 AHA/ACC cholesterol guidelines introduced a new list of markers called “risk enhancers” that, if present, confer an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (...
Implementation of Diabetes Prevention in Health Care Organizations: Best Practice Recommendations.

Approximately 1 in 3 American adults has prediabetes, a condition characterized by blood glucose levels that are above normal, not in the type 2 diabetes ranges, and that increases the risk of deve...
Reexamining Federal Housing Programs in a Time of Fiscal Austerity: The Trend Toward Block Grants and Housing Allowances

This article begins with an examination of the evolution of the federal government's predominant role in collecting and spending revenues for social programs, including housing. It traces the growth of federal spending, and the evolution of federally assisted programs for housing. It continues with an analysis of the trend toward block grants and housing allowances, and concludes by commenting on this trend's effect on the future of housing programs for households with limited incomes.