cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Viral infection of human progenitor and liver-derived cells encapsulated in three-dimensional PEG-based hydrogel

We have studied the encapsulation of human progenitor cells into 3D PEG hydrogels. Replication-incompetent lentivirus promoter reporter vectors were found to efficiently detect the in vivo expression of human hepatic genes in hydrogel-encapsulated liver progenitor cells. Similarly, hydrogel-encapsulated cells could be efficiently infected with hepatitis C virus, and progeny infectious virus could be recovered from the media supernatants of the hydrogels. Provocatively, the diameters of these virus particles range from ∼50 to 100 nm, while the calculated mesh size of the 8 k hydrogel is 44.6 ± 1.7 ˚ A. To reconcile how viral particles can penetrate the hydrogels to infect the encapsulated cells, we propose that microfractures/defects of the hydrogel result in a functional pore size of up to 20 fold greater than predicted by theoretical mesh calculations. These results suggest a new model of hydrogel structure, and have exciting implications for tissue engineering and hepatitis virus studies. M This article features online multimedia enhancements (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)
Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy enables quantitative imaging of single mRNAs in living cells

Imaging mRNA with single-molecule sensitivity in live cells has become an indispensable tool for quantitatively studying RNA biology. The MS2 system has been extensively used due to its unique simplicity and sensitivity. However, the levels of the coat protein needed for consistent labeling of mRNAs limits the sensitivity and quantitation of this technology. Here, we applied fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy to quantitatively characterize and enhance the MS2 system. Surprisingly, we found that a high fluorescence background resulted from inefficient dimerization of fluorescent protein (FP)-labeled MS2 coat protein (MCP). To mitigate this problem, we used a single-chain tandem dimer of MCP (tdMCP) that significantly increased the uniformity and sensitivity of mRNA labeling. Furthermore, we characterized the PP7 coat protein and the binding to its respective RNA stem loop. We conclude that the PP7 system performs better for RNA labeling. Finally, we used these improvements to study endogenous β-actin mRNA, which has 24xMS2 binding sites inserted into the 3′ untranslated region. The tdMCP-FP allowed uniform RNA labeling and provided quantitative measurements of endogenous mRNA concentration and diffusion. This work provides a foundation for quantitative spectroscopy and imaging of single mRNAs directly in live cells.
FSGS3/CD2AP is a barbed-end capping protein that stabilizes actin and strengthens adherens junctions

By combining in vitro reconstitution biochemistry with a cross-linking approach, we have identified focal segmental glomerulosclerosis 3/CD2-associated protein (FSGS3/CD2AP) as a novel actin barbed-end capping protein responsible for actin stability at the adherens junction. FSGS3/CD2AP colocalizes with E-cadherin and α-actinin-4 at the apical junction in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. Knockdown of FSGS3/CD2AP compromised actin stability and decreased actin accumulation at the adherens junction. Using a novel apparatus to apply mechanical stress to cell–cell junctions, we showed that knockdown of FSGS3/CD2AP compromised adhesive strength, resulting in tearing between cells and disruption of barrier function. Our results reveal a novel function of FSGS3/CD2AP and a previously unrecognized role of barbed-end capping in junctional actin dynamics. Our study underscores the complexity of actin regulation at cell–cell contacts that involves actin activators, inhibitors, and stabilizers to control adhesive strength, epithelial behavior, and permeability barrier integrity.
A Yeast Platform for the Production of Single-Chain Antibody-Green Fluorescent Protein Fusions

Fusion proteins comprised of a binding domain and green fluorescent protein (GFP) have the potential to act as one-step binding reagents. In this study, eight single-chain antibodies (scFv) and one single-chain T-cell receptor (scTCR) were secreted as fusions to GFP using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae expression system. Fusion protein secretion levels ranged over 3 orders of magnitude, from 4 microg/liter to 4 mg/liter, and correlated well with the secretion levels of the unfused scFv/scTCR. Three fusion types with various linker lengths and fusion orientations were tested for each scFv/scTCR. Although the fusion protein secretion levels were not significantly affected by the nature of the fusion construct, the properties of the fusion protein were clearly influenced. The fluorescence yield per fusion molecule was increased by separating the scFv/scTCR and GFP with an extended (GGGGS)3 linker, and fusions with scFv/scTCR at the carboxy-terminus were more resistant to degradation. By evaluating leader sequence processing and using GFP fluorescence to track intracellular processing, it was determined that the majority of fusion protein synthesized by the yeast was not secreted and in most cases was accumulating in an immature, although active, endoplasmic-reticulum (ER)-processed form. This contrasted with unfused scFv, which accumulated in both immature ER-processed and mature post-Golgi forms. The results indicated that yeast can be used as an effective host for the secretion of scFv/scTCR-GFP fusion proteins and that as a result of intracellular secretory bottlenecks, there is considerable yeast secretory capacity remaining to be exploited.
Changes In US Spending On Mental Health And Substance Abuse Treatment, 1986–2005, And Implications For Policy

The United States invests a sizable amount of money on treatments for mental health and substance abuse: $135 billion in 2005, or 1.07 percent of the gross domestic product. We provide treatment spending estimates from the period 1986–2005 to build understanding of past trends and consider future possibilities. We find that the growth rate in spending on mental health medications—a major driver of mental health expenditures in prior years—declined dramatically. As a result, mental health and substance abuse spending grew at a slightly slower rate than gross domestic product in 2004 and 2005, and it continued to shrink as a share of all health spending. Of note, we also find that Medicaid’s share of total spending on mental health grew from 17 percent in 1986 to 27 percent in 2002 to 28 percent in 2005. The recent recession, the full implementation of federal parity law, and such health reform-related actions as the planned expansion of Medicaid all have the potential to improve access to mental health and...
Emotional development: The emergence of the autonomous self: caregiver-guided self-regulation

A positive, reciprocal interpersonal set between parent and child, which renders the child ready, receptive, and positively motivated to respond to parental socialization … and internalize parental standards and values may be the result of a long-term positive relationship. Kochanska (1993) The psychobiological state of shame distress represents a sudden shift from sympathetic-predominant … to parasympathetic-dominant trophotropic arousal … The caregiver influences the parcellation of the two limbic circuits … and thereby the permanent excitation–inhibition (autonomic) balance of his prefrontolimbic regulatory system. Schore (1994) Impressive development occurs in the years just after infancy, development that again is characterized by qualitative change and transformation. Major changes include the advent of symbolic representation and language, self-awareness, and the beginnings of self-control. Yet despite the profound changes that occur during this period, the same principles that governed development in infancy are again apparent. Development is unified and orderly, building on what was previously present yet moving to progressively new levels of complexity. The overarching socioemotional task for the preschool years is the movement from dyadic regulation toward the self-regulation of emotion. In keeping with the nature of all development, there is a succession of phases in accomplishing this task. As regulation orchestrated by the caregiver prepared the way for more truly dyadic regulation in infancy, so too there is a transition here, wherein self-regulation supported and guided by caregivers precedes regulation by the child outside of the caregiving matrix.
Electrical Modulation of Membrane Proteins: Enforced Conformational Oscillations and Biological Energy and Signal Transductions

PERSPECTIVE AND OVERVIEW 83 PULSED ELECTRIC FIELD METHOD.. .. ... ........ 85 ELECTROPORATION AND ELECTROFUSION OF CELL MEMBRANES .... 87 ELECTROCONFORMATIONAL CHANGES ..... ........ ...... ....... ....... .. 89 ELECTRIC-FIELD-INDUCED Na+, K+, AND Rb+ PUMPING BY Na,K-ATPase 91 ATP SYNTHESIS INDUCED B Y ELECTRIC FIELDS 93 ENERGETICS OF ELECTRIC FIELD INTERACTION WITH A CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM.. ... ........ ... 95 ENFORCED CONFORMATIONAL OSCILLATION FOR ENERGY TRANSDUCTION 97 MODULATION OF A STATIONARY TRANSMEMBRANE ELECTRIC FIELD 98 MICHAELIS-MENTEN ENZYME, ENERGY, AND SIGNAl. TRANSDUCTIONS.. 101 ELECTRIC SIGNALS AND ELECTRIC NOISES.... ... ... 102
Excess Demand and Cost Relationships among Kentucky Nursing Homes

This article examines the influence of excess demand on nursing home costs. Previous work indicates that excess demand, reflected in a pervasive shortage of nursing home beds, constrains market competition and patient care expenditures. According to this view, nursing homes located in under-bedded markets can reduce costs and quality with impunity because there is no pressure to compete for residents. Predictions based on the excess demand argument were tested using 1989 data from a sample of 179 Kentucky nursing homes. Overall, the results provide partial support for the excess demand argument. Factors that may counteract the influence of excess demand are considered. Finally, the role of competition in nursing home markets and difficulties associated with making it operational are discussed.
Sensitization alternating desensitization

Sensitization Alternating Desensitization (SAD TM ) is a revolutionary, Paradigm-Shifting approach for treating post-traumatic stress disorder and most other psychological and physiological problems. It has been clearly shown to be efficacious through anecdotal evidence and a complete lack of findings from controlled-outcome studies. (Satirical)
Some Effects of Menopause Urine Extract on Sexual Organs of Immature Female Cats

Summary and ConclusionsFive of 8 immature female cats, 6 to 13 weeks of age, responded to menopause urine extract with follicle stimulation although lutein tissue predominated in one case. Ovarian weight increased as much as four-fold as compared to 4 immature controls. In general, the right ovary responded to a greater extent than did the left ovary. In 2 cases, the left ovary had not responded, whereas the right ovary was stimulated. A second series of injections failed to initiate a response in one cat which had been negative to the first test and the left ovary of another cat failed to respond to further injections although the right ovary had responded to the initial treatment. This lack of uniformity in response appeared even between members of the same litter. It would appear that neither the general condition nor the age of the animal was the factor determining the response, but rather some property peculiar to the individual ovary.
TRENDS IN CARDIAC BIOMARKER PROTOCOLS AND TROPONIN CUT-POINTS

Various combinations of creatine kinase (CK)-MB, myoglobin and/or Cardiac Troponin I or T (cTnI/cTnT) have been used for evaluation of possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The current recommendation is to use the 99th percentile of cTnI/cTnT as the sole marker for diagnosis of acute myocardial
Combination and Analysis of Roof Structures of High-rise Buildings

Optimizing roof structure combination design is propitious to make full use of roofs,and to satisfy such functions as structural bearing,waterproof,insulation, energy conservation and environment protection and so on.According to features of high-rise buildings,authors introduce principles of roof structure combination,and analyze several relevant examples.
Synthetic Capability Evaluation of the Gun Weapon System Based on AHP Group Decision

Synthetic capability evaluation of the gun weapon system is a multi-attribute group decision,computing of the attribute weights is very important,meanwhile,the result of multi-attribute group decision will be effected by the decision maker's weights.There are many the computing methods of attribute weights,usually decision maker's weights are gotten according to their popularity,post,capability,cognition etc.Decision maker's weights are defined and computted according to the consistency and likeness of comparison matrixes in this paper.The attribute weights are synthesized by decision maker's weights.An instance shows that this method is reasonable and effective.
Pharmacy residents’ perception of preceptors as role models

Purpose Pharmacy residents’ perception of preceptors as role models was evaluated. Methods A 55-item survey instrument was developed, pilot tested, and distributed to pharmacy residents in Kentucky. Respondents used a 5-point Likert scale to rate the importance of selected preceptor characteristics in current and ideal preceptors. The percentage of residents who viewed their preceptors as role models was the primary outcome. The secondary outcome was the lack of concordance, if any, between each characteristic, quality, and component by comparing characteristics valued by residents versus characteristics exemplified by current preceptors. Results A total of 69 pharmacy residents (77% response rate) responded to the survey. There was no significant difference between the proportion of residents who thought it was important for a preceptor to be a role model (67 of 69 residents [97%]) and the proportion who perceived their current preceptor as a role model (59 of 69 residents [86%]) ( p = 0.271). The mean resident response showed that current preceptors exhibited clinical ( p = 0.014) and teaching ( p < 0.001) qualities significantly less than did ideal preceptors. The mean resident response showed no significant difference in ideal and current preceptors’ personal qualities. Conclusion Pharmacy preceptors in Kentucky were perceived by pharmacy residents to be role models with excellent personal qualities but needing improvement in teaching and clinical qualities. Preceptors with less than 10 years of experience were perceived to have better teaching and clinical qualities and to be more effective when compared with preceptors with more years of experience.
Frontiers of gallstone therapy. How far have we come with nonsurgical methods

In the next few years, much will be learned about nonsurgical treatment of gallstones, and the role of each method will be more clearly defined. At present, each used alone has limitations (table 1). Oral chemolysis can be used for any number of gallstones, but only about 20% of patients are candidates for this method. Complete dissolution of stones can take months to years. Direct-contact dissolution therapy is rapidly effective, is inexpensive, and can be used for any size and number of gallstones. However, it is invasive, and only about 20% of patients are suitable candidates. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is noninvasive and avoids the complications and long recovery period of surgery. Up to three stones can be treated, but patients with certain medical conditions are excluded. About 20% to 30% of patients can undergo this treatment. None of these nonsurgical treatments prevents recurrence. Shock wave lithotripsy and dissolution with methyl tert-butyl ether are still in the experimental stage, so results of further study--particularly of combinations of the methods--are eagerly awaited by persons who have had symptomatic gallstones.
The Transport of Electrolytes in the Gut and the Use of Oral Rehydration Solutions

This presentation summarizes the recent advances in knowledge of the physiologic and pathophysiologic process underlying the transport of electrolytes across the small intestine and formulate a rationale for the use of oral electrolyte solutions in diarrheal diseases.
Measurement Errors and the Convergence Hypothesis

Specialisation has benefits, but these benefits can be more than fully offset by coordination failures. I think we economists have carried intellectual specialisation too far. Some of us think about how economic systems ought to work, some of us collect data, some analyse data and others think about how we should analyse data. We have honed our skills at these separate tasks to razor-sharpness, but there is very little overall coordination of these disparate specialities. It is as if to build our intellectual edifice, we hired the very best carpenter, the very best plumber and the very best electrician, but did not allow any coordination. What kind of house would be built?
Knowledge and Community

Introduction One reason G. A. Cohen endorses progressive taxation, even aggressively progressive taxation, in the service of socialist equality is because he believes that great inequality imperils genuine community. Cohen asks us to imagine a wealthy and privileged person, and a poor and unprivileged person. Both of them enjoy the “negative” freedom accorded by Adam Smithian “justice,” which Smith defined as comprising only three things: integrity of one’s person, integrity of one’s property, and integrity of one’s voluntary promises and contracts. Because the Smithian government’s primary responsibility is to protect this conception of justice, its main duties are hence the protection of life, property, and contract. Smith called these duties “negative” because, as he vividly put it, one could “fulfil all the rules of justice by sitting still and doing nothing” (TMS, 82). Justice for Smith thus contrasted with other, “positive” virtues, which required taking positive action to fulfill, and included things like friendship, loyalty, charity, hospitality—all the virtues that fall under Smith’s general heading of “beneficence.” Suppose, then, both Cohen’s wealthy person and his poor person are enjoying protection of this minimalist Smithian justice, and hence the Smithian state owes neither of them anything more. Yet the vastly different experiences each of them would have had over the courses of their lifetimes would make them, Cohen argues, vastly different people. They would have different home lives, different schooling and education, different vocations and job training; they would likely not eat in the same restaurants, take their children to the same parks, shop in the same stores, read the same books, watch the same television shows, vacation in the same places. They would, in short, live in virtually separate worlds, even if physically proximate: if they happened to ride the same bus one day, they would hardly recognize each other as fellow citizens and would scarcely have anything even to talk about. Cohen concludes that they can therefore share no real community (2009: 36).
Using Policy-Relevant Administrative Data in Mixed Methods: A Study of Employment Instability and Parents’ Use of Child Care Subsidies

In the United States, government subsidies help low-income families pay for child care when parents are working, yet policies that tie subsidy eligibility closely to employment may result in frequent disruptions in program participation for families. This paper uses a mixed methods research design that links administrative records on families and children to data collected through surveys and in-depth interviews to examine employment instability and job characteristics of parents using child care subsidies. The results suggest that parents experience substantial employment instability (employment loss and unpredictable schedules) and that exiting the subsidy program is frequently related to employment-related eligibility factors. Overall, the use of administrative data integrated with other methods provides substantial opportunities for researchers to explore complex social phenomenon and provide insights in the evaluation of social programs.
Evaluation and Treatment of Hypersexual and Other Sexual Dysfunctions

Hypersexual disorder is defined as recurrent and intense sexual fantasies, sexual urges, and sexual behaviors associated with significant distress or impairment of functioning. The category was proposed but not ultimately included in the DSM-5. A biopsychosocial approach needs to be applied in the evaluation and treatment of this disorder in order to reduce/eliminate the effects of biological and psychosocial factors that might have predisposed, precipitated, or perpetuated the symptoms. Effective treatments include antidepressants, antiandrogens and other hormonal treatments, individual psychotherapy, 12-step programs, and couple therapy. The prognosis of hypersexual disorder is guarded and is highly dependent on adherence to treatment interventions. Other (specified and unspecified) sexual dysfunctions include disorders that did not meet the DSM-5 criteria.
Comparison of surgical incision complete closure versus leaving skin open in wound class IV in emergent colon surgery.

Abstract Introduction Our aim was to compare the effect of techniques of wound closure in the emergent colon surgery with wound class IV. Methods Using 2014 the colectomy targeted ACS-NSQIP dataset; we identified patients undergoing emergent colectomy with wound class IV. Comparison of surgical incision complete closure versus leaving the skin open and multivariate logistic regression analyses was performed. Results Of 1792 patients undergoing emergent colectomy with wound class IV, the complete closure cohort had 1376 patients and the incision skin open cohort had 416 patients. The incidence of deep SSI was 2.3% in the complete closure cohort vs. 1.2% in the incision skin open, p = 0.15, and intra-abdominal abscess rate was 11.8% in the complete closure cohort vs. 12.3% in the incision skin open, p = 0.78. The dehiscence rate, readmission rate, and reoperation rates were not statistically significant between two cohorts. A multivariate model for dehiscence did not yield significant association between the complete closure cohort and incision skin open cohort. Conclusions Surgical incision complete wound closure in the emergent colon surgery with wound class III/IV is safe and effective.
Is Load-Induced Ventricular Hypertrophy Ever Compensatory?

When muscle is subjected to increased workload, it grows by means of a cellular process called hypertrophy. When one lifts weights, skeletal muscle hypertrophies in a manner that increases muscle strength and work capacity. When cardiac muscle is exposed to increased workload demand, it, too, hypertrophies. When the increase in workload stems from physiological stress such as exercise, the now hypertrophied myocardium is strengthened. Similarly, when the heart “lifts weights” as a result of increased afterload (eg, hypertension, aortic stenosis), it hypertrophies. However, considerable evidence suggests that this hypertrophied heart is weaker, not stronger. Furthermore, a large body of preclinical evidence points to the fact that this afterload-triggered heart growth is not required to maintain ventricular size and contractile performance even in the face of persistently increased load. This fact, which has yet to be tested in large animals, begs the question of the concept of compensatory hypertrophy, an issue we explore here. It is important to emphasize that we are referring exclusively to disease stress-triggered heart growth, not the unequivocally beneficial myocardial hypertrophy that occurs with exercise. In the 1890s, Woods1 proposed that the left ventricle (LV) could be modeled according to the law of Laplace. Whereas it was apparent from the outset that the LV violates the first principle assumptions of the law, including spherical shape and homogeneous wall characteristics, a simplified model emerged in which wall stress is directly proportional to LV pressure and radius and inversely proportional to wall thickness. Today, this represents the simplest model proposed …
Who Helps? Characteristics and Correlates of Informal Supporters to Adults With Disabilities.

Abstract This study examined who provides informal (or unpaid) supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Participants included 657 adult siblings of people with disabilities who responded to a national survey about informal supports in the areas of recreation, employment, and housing. Results indicated that most people with IDD received informal supports, with parents and sibling respondents most often providing those supports. Support was most commonly received in recreation, as opposed to housing or employment. Asked to list nonfamily informal supporters, respondents often mentioned paid staff and disability organizations. Correlates of total numbers of informal supporters included the individual with disability's functioning level and parents' ability to care for their offspring with disabilities.
Apps for Mental Health

Mental health mobile applications (commonly referred to as apps) have become increasingly popular in recent years. Typical features include content, videos, games, alarms, messaging, diaries, and symptom trackers. Unfortunately, many mental health apps come to market before their efficacy has been carefully investigated in clinical trials. Until recently, there were very few rigorous studies on the benefit of mental health apps. This is gradually beginning to change with more and more clinical trials being published every year. The research evidence is mixed, and apps should therefore be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. This chapter aims to simplify the process of selecting a mental health app to use with an adolescent through the use of the App Selection Checklist. A case example is also provided to illustrate the potential benefits of using a mental health app in a clinical setting. Caution should be exercised when selecting a mental health app to use with an adolescent.
Intersexuality, Cultural Influences, and Cultural Relativism

In the following, a difficult case involving intersex is examined. Although intersexuality is somewhat rare, leading pediatric urologists and endocrinologists involved in the treatment of intersexuality report all having dealt with similar cases.1 Since the case involves a conflict of cultural values, physicians have tended to resolve the issue by an appeal to the duty to respect the values of other cultures.2 Published commentaries on the case have also framed the issue in terms of cultural relativism.3 The aim of this paper is to show that the justification for the resolution of the case need not, and should not involve either subscribing or succumbing to cultural relativism.4 The argument clarifies the role of cultural considerations in ethical decision-making. I argue that understanding the appropriate role of cultural values in ethical decision-making is vital to the integrity of the medical profession. The paper begins with a description of the case, followed by an account of how it would have been addressed according to previous practices for dealing with intersexuality. Then a description of our revised practices and the factors that led to them will be provided, along with an application of those practices to the case. In the second section, evidence of cultural disparities in the medical treatment of intersexuality will be canvassed. The third section addresses the question of what is entailed by the duty to respect the values of other cultures, stressing that respecting the values of other cultures does not require condoning, accepting, or acceding to those values. In the fourth section, I provide a resolution of the case based on empirical studies on the intersexual condition involved and a realistic confrontation with all morally relevant circumstances of the case.
Mesoscopic Phase Transition Kinetics in Secondary Particles of Electrode-Active Materials in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Many compounds used as battery storage electrodes undergo large composition changes during use that are accompanied by a first-order phase transition. Most studies of these phase transitions have focused on the unit cell to single-crystallite scale, whereas real battery electrodes are typically composed of mesoscopic assemblies of nanocrystallites, for which phase transformation mechanisms are poorly understood. In this work, a systematic study is conducted of the potentiostatic (constant driving force) kinetics of phase transition in secondary particles of representative intercalation compounds: LiFePO4, LiMn1–xFexPO4, and Li4Ti5O7. Storage kinetics are studied as a function of overpotential, material composition, primary particle size, and temperature. We find that in regimes where phase transformation occurs, the results can be self-consistently explained as nucleation and growth kinetics within the framework of the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov model. This implies that despite the common secondary pa...
Corner-Sharing Tetrahedra for Modeling Micro-structure.

Abstract This paper introduces Corner-Sharing Tetrahedra (CoSTs), a minimalist, constraint-graph representation of micro-structure. CoSTs have built-in structural guarantees, such as connectivity and minimal rigidity. CoSTs form a space, fully accessible via local operations, that is rich enough to design regular or irregular micro-structure at multiple scales within curved objects. All operations are based on efficient local graph manipulation, which also enables efficient analysis and adjustment of static physical properties. Geometric and material detail, parametric or solid splines, can be added locally, on-demand, for example, for printing.
Symmetric Three Term Recurrence Relations

In this chapter we will study the three term vector difference equation $$\mathcal{L}u(t) = - K(t)u(t + 1) + N(t)u(t) - {{K}^{*}}(t - 1)u(t - 1) = 0$$ (5.1) .
Screening for depression in medical care pitfalls, alternatives, and revised priorities

Depression is a disorder seen commonly in general and specialty medical settings. Screening has been advocated as a means of ensuring that depressed patients are identified and receive appropriate treatment. Yet, recommendations for routine screening are frequently made without reference to empirical data demonstrating that it will have its intended effect. We examine the literature regarding screening in medical settings and suggest that screening in itself is unlikely to improve patient outcomes. Further, we identify costs to screening that are not readily apparent and that may negatively affect both patient outcomes and health-care delivery systems. We offer suggestions for how screening instruments might be used to improve the outcomes of depressed persons while minimizing negative effects on health care.
THE ROLE OF NUTRITION IN HUMAN AGING

Over 40 years ago McCay et al. (1935, 1939) excited the imagination of nutritionists and gerontologists with reports that when the diet of the weanling rat was restricted by 30%–60%, the rat would grow correspondingly smaller but that its life span was lengthened two-fold. Some work on food restriction still persists, but much of the zeal departed when it was found that these long-lived rats were apathetic and slow to mature, had a low metabolism and body temperature, had a low resistance to stress or infection, and showed decrements in intellectual and neurological performance.
Electron beam processing as a phytosanitary treatment of imported fruits

Phytosanitary treatments, also commonly referred to as quarantine treatments, are necessary to prevent the spread of invasive agricultural pests through the global trade of fresh horticultural commodities. Irradiation treatments, including eBeam processing, have shown considerable promise in successfully treating fruits for import and have been growing in use. This chapter discusses the need for phytosanitary treatments, the benefits and challenges of irradiation as a treatment, current global use of irradiation, applicable regulations, and a brief overview of the requirements needed to begin phytosanitary treatment of fruits using eBeam processing.
Radiographic Staging of Lung Cancer: Computed Tomography and Positron Emission Tomography

The issue of how to preoperatively stage patients with known or suspected lung cancer is complex, and remains confusing despite a large number of publications on the subject. Part of the confusion arises from the multiplicity of available tests, but more importantly from the fact that the question to be addressed varies in different patient groups. There are different subgroups of patients, particularly with respect to mediastinal staging. The patients considered in one study may not be the same as those in another study, and often arguments are made for a particular approach in some patients using data that is not applicable because it pertains to a different subgroup. Another major obscuring factor is the frequent difference in perspective of authors and practicing clinicians. In general, papers addressing the value of a procedure have retrospectively included all patients who underwent the procedure, and not defined the characteristics of the patients.
Insights into the Biochemistry, Evolution, and Biotechnological Applications of the Ten-Eleven Translocation (TET) Enzymes.

A tight link exists between patterns of DNA methylation at carbon 5 of cytosine and differential gene expression in mammalian tissues. Indeed, aberrant DNA methylation results in various human dise...
Impact of Inpatient Consults by a Family Medicine Teaching Service.

Objectives Inpatient consult rates by family physicians significantly affect many aspects of medical care. Limited research has investigated the consultant rate by family medicine residents and their impact on length of stay (LOS) and direct cost. This study examines the inpatient consultant rate of family medicine residents. Methods We conducted a retrospective electronic chart review of consults associated with hospitalizations on a family medicine teaching service at a large academic medical center during a 12-month period. The primary outcome was the consultant rate. Multivariate regressions were used to predict outcomes of LOS and direct costs while controlling for patient severity with the Charlson Comorbidity Index. Results For hospitalized adults on a family medicine teaching service, almost 1 in 2 receives some type of consult (47%), with more than half of those (52%) to physician specialists as opposed to ancillary services. The top physician consults were to cardiology, infectious disease, and gastroenterology. LOS as well as cost significantly increased with any type of consult. After controlling for severity, consults to physician specialists (as opposed to ancillary services) had the greatest impact on LOS and cost. Conclusions Each consult placed for hospitalized adults on a family medicine teaching service resulted in an increase in LOS and direct cost, even after controlling for patient severity. Further analysis to ensure that appropriate referrals are being placed and that residents are receiving full-scope training is needed to ensure primary care graduates are prepared to care for a diverse and complex patient population.
Tidal Wave: A University’s Response to Transformational Learning Objectives:

A textbook activity on symbols was intended as thought provoking but instead elicited a confrontational reaction by one student which left Dr. Jackson and the university searching for a response. W...
The AOPOntology: A Semantic Artificial Intelligence Tool for Predictive Toxicology

Introduction: Toxicology needs artificial intelligence tools that can automate the prediction of toxicity. Today we are at an interesting nexus. We have thousands of chemicals in the environment that lack regulatory thresholds for determining risk. New high throughput in vitro testing methods are becoming available to test these chemicals. Causal Adverse Outcome Pathway Networks (CAOPN) are emerging that will allow us to make predictions based on perturbations of specific key events within the network. The AOPOntology was developed as infrastructure for this nexus, providing the ability to model and marry the data from the in vitro tests for the thousands of chemicals and place them within the CAOPN framework to facilitate adverse outcome predictions. Materials and Methods: The AOPN is a functional specialized ontology that creates classes that model biological pathways and CAOPNs. Adverse outcome predictions are based on mathematical determinations of key events that are sufficient to infer adverse outcomes will occur, or biological information. These sufficiency relationships are captured in the AOPOntology and used by the semantic reasoners to make predictions. Results: The AOPOntology version 1.0 architecture is in place, and a CAOPN for steatosis demonstrates how causal network theory is used to make predictions. The AOPOntology is available at https://github.com/DataSciBurgoon/aop-ontology. Discussion: The AOPOntology is a knowledge base for CAOPNs that one can use to make predictions about a chemical's potential toxicity using in vitro high throughput and other assays. Conclusions: Using CAOPNs and causal network theory one is able to predict potential toxicity for chemicals using in vitro high throughput and various high content screens.
Mutation profling in patients with carcinoma of unknown primary using the Sequenom MassARRAY system.

4131 Background: CUP management may be viewed as an epitome of personalised medicine as we apply our understanding of biological markers to this heterogeneous disease. There is a significant intere...
iFunMed: Integrative functional mediation analysis of GWAS and eQTL studies

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified thousands of genetic variants contributing to disease and other phenotypes. However, significant obstacles hamper our ability to elucidate causal variants, identify genes affected by causal variants, and characterize the mechanisms by which genotypes influence phenotypes. The increasing availability of genome-wide functional annotation data is providing unique opportunities to incorporate prior information into the analysis of GWAS to better understand the impact of variants on disease etiology. Although there have been many advances in incorporating prior information into prioritization of trait-associated variants in GWAS, functional annotation data have played a secondary role in the joint analysis of GWAS and molecular (i.e., expression) quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data in assessing evidence for association. To address this, we develop a novel mediation framework, iFunMed, to integrate GWAS and eQTL data with the utilization of publicly available functional annotation data. iFunMed extends the scope of standard mediation analysis by incorporating information from multiple genetic variants at a time and leveraging variant-level summary statistics. Data-driven computational experiments convey how informative annotations improve single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) selection performance while emphasizing robustness of iFunMed to noninformative annotations. Application to Framingham Heart Study data indicates that iFunMed is able to boost detection of SNPs with mediation effects that can be attributed to regulatory mechanisms.
Chronic Spinal Pain and Financial Worries in the US Adult Population.

Study design Epidemiological study based on cross-sectional data of a representative sample. Objective To determine whether financial worries are associated with chronic spinal pain in the US adult population. Summary of background data This study used data from the US 2015 National Health Interview Survey. The sample size was 33,672 and the study population is defined as aged 18 to 85 years. Methods To account for the complex sampling design, the Taylor linearized variance estimation method was used. Spinal pain was defined in two ways: chronic low back pain and neck pain, chronic low back pain and/or neck pain. Eight types of financial worries were assessed: paying monthly bills, maintaining standard of living, credit card payments, paying rent/mortgage/housing costs, medical costs for healthcare, money for retirement, medical costs of illness/accident, and paying for children's college. Results Different types of financial worries were significantly associated with chronic spinal pain, controlling for demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status. These worries included paying monthly bills (odds ratio [OR] 2.5), maintaining standard of living (OR 2.5), credit card payments (OR 2.2), paying rent/mortgage/housing costs (OR 2.2), medical costs for healthcare (OR 2.2), money for retirement, (OR 2.3), medical costs of illness/accident (OR 2.2), and paying for children's college (OR 1.4). Conclusion This study shows that financial worries were significantly associated with chronic spinal pain. Financial worries may be important to be taken into consideration by clinicians managing patients with spinal pain. More future research is needed to explore the association between financial worries and spinal pain. Level of evidence 3.
A Broken Heart: Cardiac Arrest As the Initial Presentation of Myasthenic Crisis

Myasthenic crisis is a life-threatening condition commonly associated with respiratory failure and may present in unusual ways. However, there is paucity in the literature about the cardiac manifestations of myasthenia gravis. We present a case of a 61-year-old male who presented to the emergency room with upper respiratory infection symptoms who soon thereafter suffered sudden cardiac arrest. He was found to have shortened PR interval pre and post arrest onelectrocardiogram (EKG). Only past medical history, discovered post cardiac arrest, was myastenia gravis. All other causes of cardiac arrest were ruled out, and it was deemed to be due to a manifestation of myastenia gravis. The patient was treated with intravenous steroids and plasmapheresis with resolution of shortened PR interval. It is hypothesized that striatial muscle antibodies may trigger inflammation in cardiac muscle and cause conduction abnormalities. In addition, anti-Kv1.4 antibodies have been associated with EKG abnormalities, including QT prolongation and T-wave inversion. To our knowledge, we are the first to report myasthenic crisis manifesting with isolated cardiac arrest with pulseless electrical activity and a shortened PR interval.
Comparison of portable and benchtop GC–MS coupled to capillary microextraction of volatiles (CMV) for the extraction and analysis of ignitable liquid residues

Abstract A novel extraction device, capillary microextraction of volatiles (CMV) was coupled to a TRIDION-9 GC–MS with a needle trap (NTD) and evaluated for the analysis of ignitable liquids fire debris. The performance of the TRIDION-9 was compared to a benchtop GC–MS using CMV. A system detection limit of ~10 ng for each of 20 key ignitable liquid residue (ILR) compounds was determined for the T9 GC–MS. Dynamic headspace sampling of simulated ILRs was performed in closed and open-air systems. Closed system evaluations the CMV/NTD technique resulted in extraction performance similar to the CMV alone; however, ILR analysis on the T9 was impacted by limited chromatographic resolution. Compound identification was possible for 14 out of the 20 selected compounds on the T9 when 1 µL of a 1% standard accelerant mixture (SAM) was sampled, compared to 17 compounds on the benchtop GC–MS for the same mass loading. Open-air sampling with a modified vapor source resulted in the retention of most compounds with as low as 5 min. sampling, and equilibrium concentrations were reached after 10 min. No significant differences were observed between CMV and CMV/NTD sampling suggesting that the combined technique does not suffer from affinity bias. While the potential of the CMV/NTD extraction coupled to a T9 GC–MS for fire debris analysis was limited by the chromatographic resolution of the instrument, this study serves as proof of concept for the CMV’s potential for the extraction of ILRs in combination with portable GC–MS systems.
Metaphors for learning and doing mathematics in advanced mathematics lectures

The metaphors that students form and encounter have been shown to exert a powerful influence on how they think about mathematics. In this paper, we explore the linguistic metaphors about learning and doing mathematics that were prevalent in 11 advanced mathematics lectures. We present four metaphor clusters that were common in the corpus that we analyzed: Learning Mathematics is a Journey, Doing Mathematics is Work, Mathematics is Discovery, and Presenting Mathematics is a Story. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of the metaphors that mathematicians use and students hear in their mathematics courses.
Strength of magnesium at high pressures and strain rates

Abstract The strength and deformation mechanisms in magnesium can be significantly affected by anisotropy, high strain rates, and pressure. In this study, pressure shear plate impact (PSPI) experiments are conducted to measure the strength of extruded polycrystalline magnesium at pressures varying from 5 to 10 GPa at a nominal strain rate of 105 s−1. The experimental technique enables to first shock load the material sample to the desired normal stress in one direction, and then shear the material in a perpendicular direction. A recently developed hybrid analysis method for PSPI experiments is used to extract the stress–strain curves of magnesium from the particle velocity records measured at the rear surface of the target. The PSPI experimental results reveal a slower twinning saturation at high pressures. To better understand the material behavior under the combined stress states in the PSPI experiments, the results were compared with that of a specimen deformed by a two-step process of quasi-static compression followed by dynamic shear loading at relatively low pressure. The two-stage loading at low pressure, and the calculation of temperature rise in the PSPI experiment revealed that the combined effect of the reorientation and the temperature rise lower the flow strength of magnesium at high pressures under multiaxial loading.
A survey of soils for aggregate stability and glomalin, a glycoprotein produced by hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Understanding the contributions of soil microorganisms to soil stabilization at the molecular level will lead to ways to enhance inputs for sustainable agricultural systems. Recent discoveries of copious production of glycoprotein (glomalin) by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and the apparent recalcitrance of this material in soils led to the comparison between concentration of glomalin and aggregate stability. Stability was measured on air-dried aggregates rewetted by capillary action and then subjected to wet sieving for 10 min. Thirty-seven samples from four geographic areas of the U.S. and one area of Scotland were tested. The monoclonal antibody used to discover glomalin on AM hyphae was employed to assess immunoreactive glomalin on aggregate surfaces by immunofluorescence and in extracts from aggregates by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Immunofluorescence was observed on at least some surfaces of aggregates from all soils examined, but was most evident on aggregates with high glomalin concentrations. Easily extractable glomalin (EEG) was solubilized by 20 mM citrate, pH 7.0 at 121 °C for 30 min, and total glomalin (TG) was solubilized with 50 mM citrate, pH 8.0 at 121 °C for 90 to 450 min. Some soils required up to seven sequential extractions to remove all of the glomalin. Aggregate stability was linearly correlated (p < 0.001) with all measures of glomalin (mg/g of aggregates) in these soils. The best predictor of aggregate stability (AS) was immunoreactive easily extractable glomalin (IREEG) according to the following relationship: AS = 42.7 +61.3 × log10 IREEG (r2 = 0.86; p <0.001, n = 37).