cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Atrial natriuretic peptides and the kidney

The aim of this review is to summarize current knowledge about atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)--its structure, secretion and target organ actions. Due to enormous researches, this review is a summary with special emphasis to the physiologic importance of ANP in humans. In the kidney ANP acts on specific receptors inducing hyperfiltration inhibition of sodium transport and suppression of renin release, effects responsible for natriuresis and diuresis. ANP also lowers blood pressure by inhibiting aldosterone biosynthesis and facilitates transudation of plasma water to interstitium. The current knowledge of ANP physiology is based on the study of blood levels and renal effects of ANP in the presence of different manipulations (variations in dietary sodium intake, posture, water immersion, infusion of synthetic ANP). In healty humans ANP levels rise in response to intravenous loading with saline, by acute dietary sodium overload or by immersion of the body into water. Considering these reactions it is possible that ANP helps to protect the heart from volume overload.
Nocturnal Hot Flashes: Relationship to Objective Awakenings and Sleep Stage Transitions.

Study Objectives:While women report sleep interruption secondary to nighttime hot flashes, the sleep disrupting impact of nocturnal hot flashes (HF) is not well characterized. We utilized a model o...
Strain in Caregivers of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders Receiving School-Based Services

This study provides a description of caregiver strain in a sample of caregivers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders receiving school-based services. Few studies have examined caregiver strain in school-based samples. Given poor outcomes for these youth, as well as the potentially influential role of caregiver strain in service use and engagement, understanding the caregiving experience in this population is important. The current study sought to: (1) examine the levels of the different types of caregiver strain reported by caregivers in the sample; (2) describe the level of the different types of caregiver strain reported by different groups of participants; and (3) examine the relationship between caregiver strain and various student and caregiver characteristics. This study is a secondary analysis of data collected from 243 students and their caregivers enrolled in one of two larger studies examining the effectiveness of a parent support intervention. Overall, results suggest that caregivers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders may experience strain as a result of their child’s problems that goes beyond usual daily life stressors. Internalized strain directed inward toward caregivers themselves appears to be of particular importance in this population. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Energy Dissipation in Impact Absorber

Impact absorbers are effective in passively absorbing and dissipating excessive energy in a primary system. They perform through momentum transfer by collision and dissipation of kinetic energy as sound and heat energy. The performance and dynamics of the impact absorber is highly dependent on the surface nature of the impact wall and ball. The impact surface material affects the effective coefficient of restitution. The objective of this research was to study and compare the total energy dissipation for different combinations of impact wall material and mass of impact ball. An experimental setup of single-unit impact absorber with different materials for the impact wall was designed and constructed. The exact locations of the impact ball(s) and the response of the primary structure were simultaneously tracked using a novel image processing technique. Based on the tracked motion of the ball and primary structure, two-way ANOVA is implemented to study the effect of variation in wall material and ball mass. It was shown that impact wall material selection is critical to obtain a best configuration for optimal total energy dissipation.
Occupational and Environmental Hepatotoxicity

I. INTRODUCTION From the time of the Industrial Revolution through much of the twentieth century, man has ignored the conservation of his resources and the contamination of his environment and workplace. Thousands of chemicals exist in the workplace and environment. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 was the ﬁrst political ﬁgure to recognize the importance of this contamination, stating: “Conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life.” Alice Hamilton, the ﬁrst American physician to devote a career to industrial medicine, would comment in 1943: “American medical authorities had never taken industrial diseases seriously. . . . workers accepted the risk with fatalistic submissiveness as part of the price one must pay for being poor” (1). To this day, our solid waste tends to726 Tolmanend up in the poor areas of our society because poor people have little political inﬂuence. Rachel Carson, in her enlightened book Silent Spring, ﬁrst drew public attention to this problem (2). Forty years later, roughly 3000 chemicals are produced annually in quantities exceeding 1 million pounds. The National Research Council has concluded that 78% of these compounds lack minimal toxicity information (3) while the Environmental Defense Fund reported in 1997 that such data were lacking for 71% of chemicals produced in large quantity (4). As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. commented during the William J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series at Westminster College in March 2000, “The most devastating impact of the free market is the suspension of laws that protect us.” He would later say, “Investment in the environment is an investment in our infrastructure.” Yet, as the late Dr. Hyman Zimmerman noted, “The issues have been clouded, however, by the incompleteness of the database, and the judgments are compromised by the efforts to balance the potential and proposed adverse effects of many pollutants against the important sociologic, economic and medical beneﬁts. . . . Containment of the risks posed by environmental contamination requires systematic and coordinated epidemiologic, toxicologic and clinical studies to set the stage for the proper control measures” (5). A decade later, fewer than 30% of potentially toxic chemicals have been adequately tested and we have continuing exposure in the environment and workplace to known hepatotoxins such as vinyl chloride (6) and new exposures to yet-to-be-identiﬁed chemicals, as recently reported in petrochemical workers in Brazil (7,8).
Patellar Height Before and After Posterior Stabilized Type Total Knee Arthroplasty

Introduction Following total knee arthroplasty (TKA), some patients show patella baja. It is possible that patella baja after posterior stabilized (PS)-type TKA causes the patellar clunk syndrome and limitation of flexion. The purpose of this study was to examine patellar height before and after PS-type TKA and identify the factors related to the change in patellar height. Methods Lateral X-ray films were taken at 90 degrees flexion before and after TKA using fluoroscopy in 87 patients (95 knees) (Fig. 1a, b). The components and surgical technique for TKA were Scorpio NRG (Stryker) and the modified gap control technique, respectively. The Insall-Salvati ratio (ISR) and the Labelle-Laurin method (LL) were measured as parameters of patellar height (Fig. 1c, d). Posterior condylar offset (PCO) (Fig. 1e), the distance from the anterior femoral line to the tibial tuberosity (TA), and the distance from the tibial tuberosity to the posterior condyle of the femur [TP; {TA-F (the length of the femoral condyle)}] (Fig. 1f) were examined as parameters that could be associated with the change in patellar height. All parameters were divided by patellar length to compensate for the expansion rate in each photograph. The mean LL/P, PCO/P, TA/P, and TP/P before TKA were set at 100%. Results The mean ISR was not significantly different before and after TKA, but the mean LL before TKA was significantly decreased after TKA (−231%). The mean PCO/P of the femur were not significantly different after TKA. The mean length of TA/P and TP/P increased significantly after TKA (TA/P: 103%, TP/P: 110%). Sex, patellar replacement, lateral release of the patella and MCL release were not significantly related with the difference in LL after TKA. The difference in LL after TKA was significantly correlated with the distance from the tibial tuberosity to the posterior condyle of the femur (R 2 = 0.44, Fig. 2). The difference in LL after TKA was not correlated with flexion motion after TKA. The patellar clunk syndrome after TKA was not seen in any of the cases. Discussion The patellar height defined by the length from the anterior femoral line to the top of the patella was lower after PS-type TKA than before TKA, although the ISR did not change after TKA. The changing patellar height correlated with the difference in the distance from the tibial tubercle to the posterior condyle of the femur before and after TKA. Since the PCO was not significantly changed after TKA, it appears that the length of proximal tibia was prolonged. The prolonged proximal tibia and the distal positioning of the patella after TKA might be due to the reduced pre-operative instability of the knee and the inferior traction of the patellar tendon and quadriceps muscle. In conclusion, the patellar height after PS-type TKA decreased after surgery. The change in patellar height was due to the length of proximal tibia.
Metabotropic Glutamate 2 (mGlu2) Receptors and Schizophrenia Treatment

Although it is not without controversy, recent preclinical and clinical studies suggest that activation of metabotropic glutamate 2 (mGlu2) receptors by orthosteric mGlu2/3 receptor agonists or allosteric mGlu2 receptor agonists represents a potential new approach to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Using rodent models of psychosis, it has been shown recently that expression of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor is at least in part necessary for the mGlu2-dependent antipsychotic-like behavioral effects of the mGlu2/3 receptor agonist LY379268. Additionally, chronic treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs epigenetically represses the promoter activity of the mGlu2 (Grm2) gene in mouse and human frontal cortex through a molecular mechanism that requires 5-HT2A receptor-dependent signaling. In the present book chapter, we describe the basic signaling and epigenetic mechanisms whereby serotonin and glutamate system cross talk through these two neurotransmitter receptors and discuss some of the molecular underpinnings of this framework, ranging from pharmacological interaction and biophysical mechanisms to epigenetic pathways.
Expanding the Role of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone in Skeletal Physiology.

The dogma that thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) solely regulates the production of thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland has hampered research on its wider physiological roles. The action of pituitary TSH on the skeleton has now been well described; in particular its action on osteoblasts and osteoclasts. It has also been recently discovered that the bone marrow microenvironment acts as an endocrine circuit with bone marrow resident macrophages capable of producing a novel TSH-β subunit variant (TSH-βv) which may modulate skeletal physiology. Interestingly, the production of this TSH-βv is positively regulated by T3 accentuating such modulation in the presence of thyroid overactivity. Furthermore, a number of small molecule ligands acting as TSH agonists which allosterically modulate the TSH receptor have been identified and which may have similar modulatory influences on bone cells suggesting therapeutic potential. This review summarizes our current understanding of the role of TSH, TSH-β, TSH-βv and small molecule agonists in bone physiology.
Positive Sequence Model for Converter-Interfaced Synchronous Generation With Finite DC Capacitance

This paper addresses the positive sequence modeling of a converter-interfaced synchronous generator for use in large scale grid simulations. With the increased penetration of wind and solar energy and the projected increase in energy from natural gas and hydro turbines, availability of a mathematical model representing a converter-interfaced synchronous generator in positive sequence simulations is essential. Such models are not currently available in commercial software packages. The importance of modeling the source behind the inverter due to practical limitations on the size of the dc bus capacitor is emphasized. In addition, it will be shown that there is a nominal increase in simulation time, in evaluating the transient stability of large systems using this model.
Winding angle assisted particle tracing in distribution-based vector field

Distribution models are widely used for data reduction applications. The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is a powerful tool to capture multiple-peak distributions. For distribution-based vector field datasets represented by GMM, there are still loss of information which sometimes causes too much error when performing flow line tracing tasks. As a compensation, we analyze the vector transition pattern between consecutive vector directions. The vector transition is depicted by distributions of winding angles. When performing streamline and pathline tracing, we utilize the winding angle to estimate a conditional distribution of local vectors, using the Bayes Theorem. The conditional distribution can be used for both Monte Carlo flow line tracing, and single flow line tracing. We applied our distribution model on data reduction applications, and demonstrated that improved flow line tracing quality was achieved.
A voltage sensorless phase locked loop structure for single phase grid connected converter system

The popularly used current controlled architecture for grid connected converter systems needs a phase locked loop (PLL) for its operation. The PLL generates the unit vectors required for desired current reference generation. This paper proposes to eliminate the grid voltage sensor and presents a method to estimate the unit vectors and grid frequency without a dedicated grid voltage sensor. The estimation method is based on the active and reactive power delivered by the converter to the grid. In addition, it also gives an estimation of the fundamental component of the grid voltage. Simulation and experimental results are presented to confirm the feasibility of the proposed scheme.
A New Genus of Tapeworm (Cestoda: Onchoproteocephalidea) from Sawfish (Elasmobranchii: Pristidae)

Abstract Collections from the dwarf sawfish, Pristis clavata, near Darwin, Australia, in 1997 led to the discovery of the new onchoproteocephalidean genus Matticestus n. gen.—a taxon that has been referred to in molecular phylogenetic analyses in which it has been included as “New genus 8.” Its type species, Matticestus anneae n. gen., n. sp., and a second species, Matticestus kathleenae n. sp., are described. Placement of this taxon in the Onchoproteocephalidea is supported morphologically in that both species bear a scolex with 4 bothridia each with a pair of bi-pronged hooks and spinitriches that extend throughout the length of the body. Sequence data for the D1–D3 region of the 28S rDNA gene also place the genus solidly among the other elasmobranch-hosted members of the order. The new genus differs from the other elasmobranch-hosted genera in the order in that its members possess a combination of biloculated bothridia with lateral lappets on the posterior margin of the anterior loculus and a pair of b...
How Much Does Storage Really Cost? Towards a Full Cost Accounting Model for Data Storage

In our everyday lives, we create massive amounts of data. But how much does it really cost to store data? With ever decreasing cost of storage media, a popular misconception is that the cost of storage has become cheaper than ever. However, we argue that the cost of storing data is not equal to the cost of storage media alone  rather, many often ignored factors including human, infrastructure, and environmental costs contribute to the total cost to store data. Unfortunately, very little research has been done to determine the full cost of cloud based storage systems. Most existing studies do not account for indirect factors and determinants of storage cost. To fully determine the true cost of data storage, we need to perform full cost accounting  a well known accounting technique. In this paper, we present a full cost accounting model for cloud storage systems. We include all the hidden and environmental costs as well as regular costs to develop a comprehensive model for storage system costs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work on creating a full cost accounting model for cloud based storage systems.
First-principles study of the products of CO2 dissociation on nickel-based alloys: Trends in energetics with alloying element

Abstract Oxidation and corrosion of nickel and Ni-based alloys are a problem for many industrial applications, such as power plants that use supercritical CO2 as the working fluid. In supercritical CO2 environments, CO2 dissociates on the surface forming adsorbed CO and O, which can oxidize the surface. The adsorbed CO can further breakdown via direct CO dissociation or via the Boudouard reaction to form adsorbed C, which can in turn carburize the surface. Understanding how the adsorbed species interact with different Ni-based alloys can help guide the design of future alloys. The interactions of adsorbed O, C, and CO on the (100) and (111) facets of pure Ni and Ni individually alloyed with Al, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Nb, Ti, V, and W are examined using density functional theory. We find that the binding of CO is energetically similar across all alloy surfaces and both facets, while O binding varies strongly with different metals added to nickel and C binding varies between the different facets but only slightly for different metals alloyed to nickel. The binding of O is weaker on pure Ni and Ni alloyed with Cu, Co, Fe, Al, or Mn and stronger on Ni alloyed with Nb, Cr, Mo, Ti, V, or W, while the binding of C is weaker on the (111) facet than the (100) facet. The difference in the binding energies of the adsorbates across the different alloy surfaces is due mainly to the ensemble effect, rather than the ligand effect. The thermodynamics of CO breakdown are also studied and we find that the breakdown of CO via direct CO dissociation is endothermic on the (111) facet and exothermic on the (100) facet, with the alloy surfaces that bind O strongly having the most exothermic reaction energies. The breakdown of CO via the Boudouard reaction has similar reaction energies across the different alloy surfaces of a single facet and is endothermic on both facets, with the (111) facet being most endothermic. This comprehensive study presents a summary of the current literature as well as a well-rounded view of the products of CO2 breakdown on Ni surfaces alloyed with the most common alloying elements used in industrial applications.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting a pathogenic MHC class II:peptide complex modulate the progression of autoimmune diabetes.

Abstract A primary initiating epitope in the NOD mouse model of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) lies between residues 9 and 23 of the insulin B chain. The B:9-23 peptide can bind to the NOD MHC class II molecule (I-Ag7) in multiple registers, but only one, (register 3, R3), creates complexes able to stimulate the majority of pathogenic B:9-23-specific CD4+ T cells. Previously we generated a monoclonal antibody (mAb287) that targets this critical I-Ag7-B:9-23(R3) complex. When given weekly to pre-diabetic mice at either early or late stages of disease, mAb287 was able to delay or prevent T1D in the treated animals. Although the precise mechanism of action of mAb287 remains unclear, we hypothesized that it may involve deletion of antigen presenting cells (APCs) bearing the pathogenic IAg7-B:9-23(R3) complexes, and that this process might be rendered more efficient by re-directing cytotoxic T cells using a mAb287 chimeric antigen receptor (287-CAR). As anticipated, 287-CAR T cells secreted IFN-γ in response to stimulation by I-Ag7-B:9-23(R3) complexes expressed on artificial APCs, but not I-Ag7 loaded with other peptides, and killed the presenting cells in vitro. A single infusion of 287-CAR CD8+ T cells to young (5 week old) NOD mice significantly delayed the onset of overt hyperglycemia compared to untreated animals (p = 0.022). None of the 287-CAR CD8+ T cell treated mice developed diabetes before 18 weeks of age, while 29% of control-CAR T cell treated mice (p = 0.044) and 52% of the un-treated mice (p = 0.0001) had developed T1D by this time. However, the protection provided by 287-CAR CD8+ T cells declined with time, and no significant difference in overall incidence by 30 weeks between the 3 groups was observed. Mechanistic studies indicated that the adoptively transferred 287-CAR T cells selectively homed to pancreatic lymph nodes, and in some animals could persist for at least 1–2 weeks post-transfer, but were essentially undetectable 10–15 weeks later. Our study demonstrates that CAR T cells specific for a pathogenic MHC class II:peptide complex can be effective in vivo, but that a single infusion of the current iteration can only delay, but not prevent, the development of T1D. Future studies should therefore be directed towards optimizing strategies designed to improve the longevity of the transferred cells.
“I’m not in this alone” the perspective of parents mediating a physical activity intervention for their children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Background and aims Web-based, parent-mediated interventions have shown to be beneficial for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a variety of domains. We aimed to examine how parents of children with ASD perceive mediating a physical activity intervention delivered via a private Facebook group. Methods Thirteen families participated in a four-week trial of Project CHASE. Inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and interactions within the Facebook group were conducted to elicit the perspective of the parents. Outcomes and results Thematic analysis resulted in three themes emerging: (1) ‘Remembering to Act’ encompassed the participants’ perspectives of Project CHASE as being an intervention that reminded them of the importance of physical activity, and served as a prompt for them to take action; (2) ‘A sharing community’ included the subthemes of ‘sharing success and struggles’ and ‘sharing ideas’; and, (3) ‘Taking control: possibilities and problems’ encapsulates the dichotomy between participants who spoke of embracing and rising to the challenge of taking control, with the parents who spoke of the need for more support, direction, and guidance. Conclusion and implication The current study suggests parent-mediated, web-based interventions may have the potential for improving the effectiveness of physical activity interventions for children with ASD.
Prevention of Asthma and Allergic Diseases During Childhood

Allergic diseases, including atopic dermatitis, food allergy, allergic rhinitis, and asthma, often begin in childhood. The atopic march refers to the development of allergic disease in a typical progressive order starting with atopic dermatitis, followed by food allergy, then allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, and, finally, asthma. Over the past 40 years, there has been an increased incidence of allergic disease with up to a third of newborns considered to be at risk. Strong family histories of allergic disease support a role for genetic predisposition; however the increase in incidence cannot be accounted for by intergenerational changes alone. Numerous environmental exposures, including maternal and infant diet, microbial colonization, and toxin exposures, have been investigated for possible association with the development of allergic disease. In this chapter, we will review the existing data on environmental factors that may influence the development of asthma and allergic diseases in predisposed children. These studies provide insight into the mechanism of atopy as well as highlight potential preventive measures during pregnancy and early childhood.
Method for the Rapid Fixation of Gastrointestinal Helminths in Small Mammals.

Despite being a significant element of biodiversity and playing an important role in their hosts’ physiology, ecology and evolution, parasites remain understudied and are often neglected during biotic surveys and other collection efforts. More often than not, it is due to the perception that parasitological examination requires specialized expertise and substantial additional time to perform. Herein, we provide an express method for recovery and fixation of endoparasites from the gastrointestinal tract of small mammals that can be used by both parasitologists and vertebrate biologists in either field or laboratory conditions. The method does not require special training beyond minimal practice and does not need optics or other special equipment. Our goal is to encourage collection of endoparasites as part of biotic surveys by vertebrate biologists to provide valuable additional biodiversity information in cases when a traditional complete parasitological examination of hosts is not feasible. We believe that this technique will also be useful for professional parasitologists.
A Method of Correcting Estimation Failure in Latent Differential Equations with Comparisons to Kalman Filtering.

Studies have used the latent differential equation (LDE) model to estimate the parameters of damped oscillation in various phenomena, but it has been shown that correct, non-zero parameter estimate...
External and internal grouping characteristics of juvenile walleye pollock in the Eastern Bering Sea

Size and shape patterns of fish groups are collective outcomes of interactions among members. Consequently, group-level patterns are often affected when any member responds to changes in their internal state, external state, and environment. To determine how groups of fish respond to components of their physical and ecological environment, and whether the response is influenced by a component of their external state (i.e., fish age), we used a multibeam system to collect three-dimensional grouping characteristics of 5 age categories of juvenile walleye pollock (age 1, age 2, age 3, mixed ages 1 and 2, and mixed ages 2 and 3) across the eastern Bering Sea shelf over two consecutive years (2009–2010). Grouping data were expressed as metrics that described group size (length, height), shape (roundness, spread), internal structure (density, internal heterogeneity), and position (depth, distance above bottom). Physical data (water temperature measurements) were collected with temperature-depth probes, and ecological data (densities of predators and prey − adult walleye pollock and euphausiids, respectively) were collected with an EK60 vertical echosounder. Juvenile pollock maintained a relatively constant shape, size-dependent density (number fish/mean body length3 ), and internal horizontal heterogeneity among age categories and in the presence of predators and prey. There were changes to group structure in the face of local physical forcing. Groups tended to move towards the seafloor when bottom waters became warmer, and groups became vertically shorter, denser, and had more variation in horizontal internal density as group depth increased. These results are explored in relation to the value and limitations of using multibeam data to describe how external and internal group structure map onto environmental influences.
Gut microbial diversity and genus-level differences identified in cervical cancer patients versus healthy controls.

Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to characterize variation in the gut microbiome of women with locally advanced cervical cancer and compare it to healthy controls. Methods We characterized the 16S rDNA fecal microbiome in 42 cervical cancer patients and 46 healthy female controls. Shannon diversity index (SDI) was used to evaluate alpha (within sample) diversity. Beta (between sample) diversity was examined using principle coordinate analysis (PCoA) of unweighted Unifrac distances. Relative abundance of microbial taxa was compared between samples using Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe). Results Within cervical cancer patients, bacterial alpha diversity was positively correlated with age (p = 0.22) but exhibited an inverse relationship in control subjects (p 50 years; p Conclusion Our study suggests differences in gut microbiota diversity and composition between cervical cancer patients and controls. Associations within the gut microbiome by age may reflect etiologic/clinical differences. These findings provide rationale for further study of the gut microbiome in cervical cancer.
Rationale and design of a randomized pragmatic trial of patient-centered models of hepatitis C treatment for people who inject drugs: The HERO study.

Abstract Background Although people who inject drugs (PWID) having the highest incidence and prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the US, HCV treatment is rarely provided to PWID due to assumptions about poor adherence and reinfection risk. As direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) have achieved sustained virologic response (SVR) rates of 95% or more, evidence-based strategies are urgently needed to demonstrate real-world effectiveness in marginalized patient populations such as PWID. The objectives of this study are: 1) to determine whether either of two patient-centered treatment models – patient navigation (PN) or modified directly observed therapy (mDOT) – results in more forward movement along the HCV care cascade including treatment initiation, adherence, and SVR; 2) using quantitative and qualitative methods, to understand factors associated with lack of treatment uptake, poor adherence ( Methods The HERO study is a multi-site, pragmatic randomized clinical trial conducted in eight states where 754 HCV-infected PWID were randomly assigned to either PN or mDOT. Conclusions This study addresses an urgent need for timely and accurate information on optimal models of care to promote HCV treatment initiation, adherence, treatment completion and SVR among PWID, as well as rates and factors associated with reinfection and resistance after treatment. This clinical trial has the potential to provide valuable information on how to reduce the burden of the HCV epidemic in PWID.
Efficacy of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in clinical decision making for patients with suspected malignant brain tumors.

We wished to determine the utility of single voxel proton (1H) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) when used as an alternative or adjunct to brain biopsy in patients harboring lesions suggestive of brain tumors identified by MRI scan. Fifteen patients (age 7–58 years) with MRI scans and clinical histories suggestive of primary brain tumors underwent single voxel 1H-MRS. MRS (16 regions of interest in 15 patients) was used to aid in differentiation between tumor and other pathologies such as stroke or demyelinating plaque (n=6), radiation necrosis (n=5), or edema (n=5). Spectra were quantified to determine absolute molar values of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), creatine (Cr), lactate (LAC), and myo-inositol (mI), metabolite ratios relative to Cr were calculated, and spectra were interpreted based on metabolite ratios. Subsequent clinical management was based on MRS interpretation, and patients were then followed to determine if MRS interpretation accurately predicted clinical outcome or surgical findings. Mean follow-up was 12.5 months (range 3–28 months). MRS suggested the presence of recurrent tumor in 7 cases, all of which were subsequently ‘confirmed’ by tumor resection (n=4) or disease progression (n=3). MRS suggested the presence of new tumor in 1 case, subsequently confirmed by surgical resection. MRS suggested the presence of necrosis in 3 patients; all 3 remained radiographically stable during the follow-up period, and one was confirmed by stereotactic biopsy. MRS suggested non-neoplastic lesions in 4 cases, 3 of whom were followed until radiographic resolution of lesions and one of which was confirmed as a pyogenic abscess via stereotactic aspiration. Overall, MRS accurately predicted the pathological nature and clinical outcome of lesions in 15/16 (96%) situations, influenced clinical decision making in 12 cases, and altered surgery planning in 7 patients. In appropriate circumstances MRS can reduce the need for biopsy and provide an important guide for clinical decision-making in difficult cases.
Distribution of the Leafy Liverwort Frullania in Northwestern Missouri

Based on 308 specimens of Frullania Raddi collected in a variety of habitats in a 19-county region of northwestern Missouri between 2015-2018, 40 new county records are reported for this region dominated by agroecosystems. Six species of Frullania are now documented in northwestern Missouri. This study illustrates a broad distribution of a liverwort genus in a region of the Central United States. Despite extensive anthropogenic landscape conversion for over a century, riparian corridors, fire suppression, and conservation management have led to a heterogeneous network of forested habitats in northwestern Missouri.
Autophagy Suppresses Breast Cancer Metastasis

Cancer cells need to acquire specific molecular traits in order to spread to distant organs. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Marsh et al. show that autophagy restricts the outgrowth of breast cancer metastases in contrast to its impact on primary tumor progression.
Patterns of Interactions Between Youth and Resident Stepmothers: A Latent Class Analysis.

Stepparent-child relationships are a core pillar of stepfamily functioning and well-being. Stepparents can take on a variety of roles in the lives of their stepchildren, ranging from de facto parents to distant acquaintances. There remain important opportunities to explore specific interactional patterns between youth and stepparents, particularly resident stepmothers. Drawing from a family systems perspective, the purpose of the current study is to explore patterns of youth-stepmother interaction across recreational, personal, academic, and disciplinary domains of family life. Latent class analysis is conducted using a representative sample of 295 youth (mean age: 15.82 years, SD = 1.63; 41% female; 65% non-Hispanic White) residing in father-stepmother households who have living nonresident mothers at Wave I of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. The optimal latent class solution yielded four interactional patterns, labeled versatile and involved (21%), inactive (12%), casually connected (17%), and academically oriented (50%). The latent classes are also contrasted with respect to stepfamily relationship quality, youth well-being, and socio-demographic characteristics. Foremost, the results illustrate significant variability in the patterns of interactions between youth and their resident stepmothers, which could be attributed to youths' varying autonomy-seeking efforts and other complex family dynamics. Consistent with a family systems perspective, associations between youth-stepmother interactional patterns and family and youth outcomes highlight the importance of the relationship between youth and their resident stepmothers. Importantly, not all interactional patterns differed significantly across outcomes, suggesting that no one pattern is universally optimal in father-stepmother families with adolescent children.
CHAOTIC BEHAVIOR IN A Z2 × Z2 FIELD THEORY

We investigate the presence of chaos in a system of two real scalar fields with discrete Z2×Z2 symmetry. The potential that identifies the system is defined with a real parameter r and presents distinct features for r>0 and for r 0, and only one for r 0; in this case chaos can decrease for increasing energy, a fact that is absent for r<0.
"It Made Me Feel Like I Didn't Know My Own Body": Patient-Provider Relationships, LGBTQ+ Identity, and End-of-Life Discussions.

Purpose:LGBTQ+ individuals experience multiple challenges receiving quality care at the end of life, such as lack of confidence in the healthcare system to address their needs and lack of knowledge...
Tissue-specific immunity for a changing world.

Summary Our immune system has evolved to protect us from pathogens and maintain homeostasis through localization in diverse tissue sites throughout the body. Immune responses are orchestrated by T cells, which direct pathogen clearance at the infection site and establish tissue-resident memory T cells (TRMs) for protection immunity. Here, we discuss how tissue immune responses are influenced by various stressors (e.g., metabolic, environmental, aging) that are rapidly changing due to climate fluctuations and globalization. We propose potential strategies for targeting tissue immunity to mitigate future pathogenic and environmental challenges and areas of investigation that can elucidate mechanisms for adapting and restoring homeostasis.
Thermal conductivity of metal coated polymer foam: Integrated experimental and modeling study

Abstract Foams offer extremely large surface area per unit mass, making them competitive material for heat exchangers and energy storage systems. Understanding the influence of foam characteristics, i.e., size, distribution and concentration of pores, ligament defects as well as foam architecture, on thermal transport is important when designing the foam-based devices. In this article, we present the effective thermal conductivity of open-cell polyurethane (PU) foam (20 PPI) with ~10 μm thick nickel coating measured by transient plane source (TPS) method. A calibration methodology for TPS method is developed to obtain accurate measurements. A finite element model and thermal resistance model are developed for the heat transfer in metal coated foams occurring near room temperature. For precisely modeling the foam architecture topology, an X-Ray tomography is employed. The developed models are used to investigate how the Ni coating thickness affects the effective thermal conductivity. Lastly, we discuss how the model assumptions are related to the discrepancy between the model predictions and measurements for the polymer-metal foams.
Improving main analysis by borrowing information from auxiliary data.

In many clinical and observational studies, auxiliary data from the same subjects, such as repeated measurements or surrogate variables, will be collected in addition to the data of main interest. Not directly related to the main study, these auxiliary data in practice are rarely incorporated into the main analysis, though they may carry extra information that can help improve the estimation in the main analysis. Under the setting where part of or all subjects have auxiliary data available, we propose an effective weighting approach to borrow the auxiliary information by building a working model for the auxiliary data, where improvement of estimation precision over the main analysis is guaranteed regardless of the specification of the working model. An information index is also constructed to assess how well the selected working model works to improve the main analysis. Both theoretical and numerical studies show the excellent and robust performance of the proposed method in comparison to estimation without using the auxiliary data. Finally, we utilize the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study for illustration.
A Review of the Long-Term Changes in the Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome

ABSTRACT.Although the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome can be generally defined as consisting of clinical seizures of different types, slow spike-and-wave complexes on the EEG, and mental retardation, the prognosis of the syndrome has been shown to depend on many variables. Most cases of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome have their onset in childhood, with nearly one-quarter developing from West syndrome. Patients with later onset of the syndrome appear to have less severe mental retardation and seizure disorders than those with early onset. Status epilepticus occurs frequently in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and can lead to mental deterioration or death. Effective anticonvulsant therapy seems to reduce the severity of the seizures and the mental retardation. Younger patients tend to have primary generalized seizures of many types, whereas older patients have a higher incidence of complex partial seizures. This progression is reflected in the EEG abnormalities, with younger patients having slow spike-and-wave and ...
Advocating for Marriage and LGBT Mental Health Through Op-Eds

This paper describes a project undertaken by the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Committee, that of writing opinion pieces (op-eds) advocating for marriage for gay and lesbian couples and other issues related to LGBT mental health. GAP and the GAP LGBT Committee are described. The paper details the rationale for professionals taking on an advocacy project and the struggles and lessons gleaned from the project. Among other things, members of the LGBT Committee learned how to use existing position statements from their profession as well as scientific studies to assert their professional voices in opinion pieces.
Performance measurement of early warning models: Comments on west and other weakness/failure prediction models

Abstract The paper presents a new measure to evaluate models which predict severe bank weakness or failure. The conventional measure has been the ‘percentage classified correctly (CC)’. This measure can be quite high even though a low percentage of weak or failed bank is classified correctly. We resolve this problem by weighting CC by two additional factors: (1) banks that actually weakened or failed as a percentage of those that fail a model's ‘hurdle test’, and (2) the percentage of all weak or failed banks correctly classified. The paper then compares the performance of several recently published early warning models using the new measure.
Computed Tomography Screening

Computed tomography (CT) has revolutionized much of medical imaging by allowing a three dimensional view of the organ or part of the body of interest. As of 2005, about 60 million CT scans are being performed each year in the USA. The use of CT for mass screening is a more recent innovation, driven in part by much increased availability and convenience of CT scans. Three applications, each of which will be discussed, have been suggested for CT-based screening, for early stage lung cancer in smokers and ex smokers; for lesions in the colon (virtual colonoscopy); for general screening for many diseases in the whole body (full-body screening). All these three modalities, as of 2005, are quite new, and a general consensus has not yet been reached about their efficacy. There is an added issue for CT-based screening modalities, namely the significant x-ray radiation exposures involved: the potential benefits of any CT-based screening procedure must, in addition to more general efficacy issues, significantly outweigh any potential harm from repeated low-dose x-ray exposures. Keywords: computed tomography; CT; screening; radiation risk; risk-benefit
Giant resonance for the actinide nuclei: Photoneutron and photofission cross sections for U-235, U-236, U-238, and Th-232

The photoneutron cross sections $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma},n)$ and $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma},2n)$, and total photofission cross sections $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma},F)$ have been measured for $^{235}\mathrm{U}$, $^{236}\mathrm{U}$, $^{238}\mathrm{U}$, and $^{232}\mathrm{Th}$ from threshold to 18.3 MeV using monoenergetic photons from the annihilation in flight of fast positrons and neutron-multiplicity detection in an efficient $4\ensuremath{\pi}$ neutron detector. Use of the ring-ratio technique allowed both the average photofission neutron energy for each nucleus to be obtained as a function of photon energy and, for $^{236}\mathrm{U}$ and $^{238}\mathrm{U}$, the determination of the partial cross sections for first-chance $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma},f)$ and second-chance $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma},nf)$ photofission as well. Information extracted from the data includes integrated cross sections and their moments, giant-resonance parameters, deformation and radius parameters, and relative and absolute neutron and fission probabilities.NUCLEAR REACTIONS $^{235,236,238}\mathrm{U}$ and $^{232}\mathrm{Th}$ ($\ensuremath{\gamma}$,$n$,$2n$,$F$), ${E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}=5\ensuremath{-}18.3$ MeV; measured $4\ensuremath{\pi}$ neutron yield, neutron multiplicities, and average energies for monoenergetic photons; $\ensuremath{\sigma}({E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}},1n)$, $\ensuremath{\sigma}({E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}},2n)$, $\ensuremath{\sigma}({E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}},F)$, integrated cross sections and moments, GDR parameters, nuclear shape parameters, neutron and fission probabilities.
Demonstration of true green ITO clad semipolar InGaN/GaN laser diodes

Non-epitaxial cladding layers have advantages for green laser diodes in terms of reduced p-cladding resistance and reduced active region thermal damage. We demonstrate true green semipolar InGaN/GaN laser diodes with ITO cladding grown on semipolar GaN substrates.
Botulism toxin as a treatment option for non-surgical patients with epiphrenic diverticulum related dysphagia

Botulism toxin as a treatment option for non-surgical patients with epiphrenic diverticulum related dysphagia
Development of cholinephosphotransferase in guinea pig lung mitochondria and microsomes.

Abstract Development of mitochondrial and microsomal choline phosphotransferase in the fetal guinea pig lung was investigated. The activity in fetal mitochondria was more than twice of that in fetal microsomes. However, in adult lung, the enzyme was distributed mostly in microsomes. In fetal lung, both the mitochondrial and microsomal enzyme activity was greatest at approx. 81% of the total gestation period (55 days). The specific activity in the microsomal fraction then declined until term, but increased again in the 24-h newborn from 1.0 to 2.3 nmol/min per mg protein. The activity in the mitochondrial fraction declined after 61 days (2.8 nmol/min per mg) to a minimal level at term (0.6 nmol/min per mg). Although the enzyme activity decreased from day 55 (1.2 nmol/min per mg), the amount of phosphatidylcholine gradually increased between day 55 and term.
First occurrence of Czekanowskia (Gymnospermae, Czekanowskiales) in the United States

Abstract The distinctive filiform leaf Czekanowskia has recently been recognized for the first time in the United States in the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the Colorado Plateau Region. In this region, the taxon is represented at two localities by the new species C. turneri sp. nov., and at two other localities by fragments which cannot be identified to the species level. The new species has amphistomatic filiform leaves, a thin (2–3 μm) delicate cuticle, and shallow stomatal pits that are only rarely protected by papillae, characters which suggest that it lived in a humid climate. Czekanowskia , which is known only from the Mesozoic of the Northern Hemisphere, occurs most commonly in Eurasian coal-bearing sequences thought to have been deposited under a humid temperate to tropical climate. The occurrence of Czekanowskia in the Morrison Formation indicates that at least the upper part of the unit, where the taxon occurs, was probably deposited in a similar climate.