cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Influence of several physical activities on serum cholesterol concentrations in young men

SUMMARY An attempt has been made to determine the influence of several physical activities upon the serum cholesterol of 133 young adult males, who were randomly selected to participate in 1 0-week programs of cross-country running, golf, tennis, tumbling-gymnastics, wrestling, and weight training, and whose cholesterol values were compared with those of a control group. The findings as examined by analysis of variance suggest that different types of physical activity influence cholesterol concentrations in different degrees : subjects who participated in a vigorous and dynamic type of activity showed a significant decrease, whereas subjects who participated in a vigorous but static type of activity experienced no significant reduction during the experimental period.
A class of systolizable IIR digital filters and its design for proper scaling and minimum output roundoff noise

A class of infinite impulse response (IIR) digital filters with a systolizable structure is proposed and its synthesis is investigated. The systolizable structure consists of pipelineable regular modules with local connections and is suitable for VLSI implementation. It is capable of achieving high performance as well as high throughput. This class of filter structure provides certain degrees of freedom that can be used to obtain some desirable properties for the filter. Techniques of evaluating the internal signal powers and the output roundoff noise of the proposed filter structure are developed. Based upon these techniques, a well-scaled IIR digital filter with minimum output roundoff noise is designed with a local optimization approach. The internal signals of all the modes of this filter are scaled to unity in the l/sup 2/-norm sense. Compared to the Rao-Kailath (1984) orthogonal digital filter and the Gray-Markel (1973) normalized-lattice digital filter, this filter has better scaling properties and lower output roundoff noise. >
Circular RNAs: diversity of form and function

It is now clear that there is a diversity of circular RNAs in biological systems. Circular RNAs can be produced by the direct ligation of 5′ and 3′ ends of linear RNAs, as intermediates in RNA processing reactions, or by “backsplicing,” wherein a downstream 5′ splice site (splice donor) is joined to an upstream 3′ splice site (splice acceptor). Circular RNAs have unique properties including the potential for rolling circle amplification of RNA, the ability to rearrange the order of genomic information, protection from exonucleases, and constraints on RNA folding. Circular RNAs can function as templates for viroid and viral replication, as intermediates in RNA processing reactions, as regulators of transcription in cis, as snoRNAs, and as miRNA sponges. Herein, we review the breadth of circular RNAs, their biogenesis and metabolism, and their known and anticipated functions.
A dynamic similarity subgrid model for chemical transformations in large-eddy simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer

In large-eddy simulations (LESs) of atmospheric reacting flows, homogeneous and instantaneous mixing of reactants within a grid-cell is usually assumed. However, highly reactive species are often segregated or pre-mixed at small scales. In this paper, we propose a parameterization to account for the effect of the unresolved scales on the chemical transformations. Its formulation relies on the description of the subgrid unresolved reactant covariance as a function of the resolved covariance by using scale-similarity arguments. A dynamic procedure is used to compute the model coefficient from the resolved reactant concentration fields, therefore not requiring any parameter specification or tuning. In simulations of a convective boundary layer with a fast second-order reaction, using the new model is found to perform better than ignoring subgrid chemistry effects.
How Women of Color Detect and Respond to Multiple Forms of Prejudice

The processes by which women of color and White women living in the United States detect and respond to prejudice may differ because women of color experience racism, sexism and intersectional bias. This review builds on past research by articulating how existing process models of stigmatization, when applied to the stigmatization of women of color, leave important research questions unanswered. Stigmatized individuals’ interpretations of and responses to others’ behaviors are continuously shaped by the possibility that they will be targeted by prejudice. In each interaction in which prejudice is plausible, targets first determine whether they have experienced prejudice and, if so, they cope with the psychological and emotional consequences of prejudiced treatment. Current theories of stigmatization best account for the experiences of people who face only one form of prejudice. In contrast, we consider how women of color, who possess multiple stigmatized identities, respond to the multiple forms of prejudice they face. First, we identify barriers to including women of color in stigma research. Second, we describe research examining how targets with one stigmatized identity detect, respond to and cope with prejudice. Third, we draw on related research on multiple identities in areas outside of the stigma literature (e.g., intergroup bias, cognition) to raise questions that are important to address in future stigma research. Our analysis is supported primarily by research conducted in the U. S. Addressing the research questions raised in this review will position the stigma literature to more readily capture the stigmatizing experiences of women of color.
β→α Transformation in Polycrystalline SiC: I, Microstructural Aspects

The effects of annealing conventionally sintered, hot-pressed, and reaction-sintered Sic have been investigated by optical and transmission electron microscopy. In conventionally sintered and hot-pressed bodies, “composite” grains consisting of α-SiC plates sandwiched between recrystallized β-SiC envelopes grow rapidly into the fie-grained β matrix; thickening of these α plates within the p envelopes is relatively sluggish. The existence of the composite plates can be explained by the extreme anisot-ropy of the interfacial energy between β- and α-Sic: {111)β(000l)α interfaces have energies several orders of magnitude lower than random β/α interfaces. In reaction-sintered Sic, this anisotropy is manifested by rapid growth of α seeds along their basal planes into the epitaxial β reaction product; slow growth occurs perpendicular to the basal planes.
Genome-wide discovery and characterization of maize long non-coding RNAs

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts that are 200 bp or longer, do not encode proteins, and potentially play important roles in eukaryotic gene regulation. However, the number, characteristics and expression inheritance pattern of lncRNAs in maize are still largely unknown. Results: By exploiting available public EST databases, maize whole genome sequence annotation and RNA-seq datasets from 30 different experiments, we identified 20,163 putative lncRNAs. Of these lncRNAs, more than 90% are predicted to be the precursors of small RNAs, while 1,704 are considered to be high-confidence lncRNAs. High confidence lncRNAs have an average transcript length of 463 bp and genes encoding them contain fewer exons than annotated genes. By analyzing the expression pattern of these lncRNAs in 13 distinct tissues and 105 maize recombinant inbred lines, we show that more than 50% of the high confidence lncRNAs are expressed in a tissue-specific manner, a result that is supported by epigenetic marks. Intriguingly, the inheritance of lncRNA expression patterns in 105 recombinant inbred lines reveals apparent transgressive segregation, and maize lncRNAs are less affected by cis- than by trans-genetic factors. Conclusions: We integrate all available transcriptomic datasets to identify a comprehensive set of maize lncRNAs, provide a unique annotation resource of the maize genome and a genome-wide characterization of maize lncRNAs, and explore the genetic control of their expression using expression quantitative trait locus mapping. Background While the central dogma defines the primary role for RNA as a messenger molecule in the process of gene expression, there is ample evidence for additional functions of RNA molecules. These RNA molecules include small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs; mainly tRNAs and rRNAs), signal recognition particle (7SL/SRP) RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), piwi RNAs (piRNAs) and trans-acting siRNAs (ta-siRNAs), natural cis-acting siRNAs and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). lncRNAs have been arbitrarily defined as non-protein coding RNAs more than 200 bp in length, distinguishing them from short noncoding RNAs such as miRNAs and
Organizational Linkages and Resource Mobilization: The Significance of Linkage Strength and Breadth*

This paper discusses the importance of identifying the environmental context in which organizations function. The relationship between an organization and those other groups and individuals constit...
CMOS leaf-cell design using simulated annealing

Describes a program which uses simulated annealing to optimize two-dimensional, full-custom, symbolic CMOS leaf-cell layouts given a circuit-level netlist. User input specifies groups of series and parallel transistor connections with up to three levels of logic hierarchy. Simulated annealing is used for selecting group placements. A new cost function is presented for the simulated annealing algorithm which is based on channel congestion as well as estimated interconnect cost. >
Requirement of histone deacetylase activity for signaling by STAT1.

STAT1 is a transcription factor that plays a crucial role in signaling by interferons (IFNs). In this study we demonstrated that inhibitors of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity, butyrate, trichostatin A, and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, prevented IFNγ-induced JAK1 activation, STAT1 phosphorylation, its nuclear translocation, and STAT1-dependent gene activation. Furthermore, we showed that silencing of HDAC1, HDAC2, and HDAC3 through RNA interference markedly decreased IFNγ-driven gene activation and that overexpression of HDAC1, HDAC2, and HDAC3 enhanced STAT1-dependent transcriptional activity. Our data therefore established the essential role of deacetylase activity in STAT1 signaling. Induction of IRF-1 by IFNγ requires functional STAT1 signaling and was abrogated by butyrate, trichostatin A, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, and STAT1 small interfering RNA. In contrast, silencing of STAT1 did not interfere with IFNγ-induced expression of STAT2 and caspase-7, and HDAC inhibitors did not preclude IFNγ-induced expression of STAT1, STAT2, and caspase-7, suggesting that HDAC inhibitors impede the expression of IFNγ target genes whose expression depends on STAT1 but do not interfere with STAT1-independent signaling by IFNγ. Finally, we showed that inhibitors of deacetylase activity sensitized colon cancer cells to IFNγ-induced apoptosis through cooperative negative regulation of Bcl-x expression, demonstrating that interruption of the balance between STAT1-dependent and STAT1-independent signaling significantly alters the biological activity of IFNγ.
Research on CRM Performance Evaluation Based on Fuzzy Comprehensive Algorithm

In order to increase the CRM system implementation success rate in enterprise, enhance competitiveness and management level of the enterprise, enable the enterprise to better adapt to fierce market competition, an in-depth study on effect evaluation of the CRM system is conducted. The CRM performance evaluation method based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is proposed with the combination of the implementation status and application characteristic of the CRM system in the enterprise, the evaluation index system is established according to the balanced scorecard principle, and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation mathematical model of the CRM performance evaluation is established then the correctness of the theoretical research is verified via an example.
BM-derived cell therapies for cardiovascular disease.

Introduction The high prevalence and significant morbidity and mortality associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in many regions of the world have stimulated investigators to search for new approaches to slow progression of the disease and repair damaged tissues. Of particular urgency is cardiac function following myocardial infarction. Within a few hours of interrupted blood flow through a coronary artery, irreversible damage to the heart muscle subserved by the artery occurs, with myocyte death via apoptosis and necrosis, resulting in impaired contractility and, in some patients, reduced cardiac output and pulmonary congestion. Over time, alterations in cardiac geometry with regional or global dilation may lead to a progressive decline in systolic function, with or without concomitant myocardial ischemia, commonly referred to as ischemic cardiomyopathy. Despite reports identifying endogenous cardiac stem cells able to contribute to both myocyte and endothelial cardiac lineages in rodents [1,2], detectable cardiac regeneration does not seem to occur in postnatal mammals, in contrast to robust cardiac regrowth in zebrafish and other lower vertebrates [3]. Accordingly, there has been considerable interest over the past decade in extra-cardiac cells potentially capable of ‘regenerating’ cardiac muscular and vascular tissue, with the goal of improving contractile function, quality of life and prognosis for patients with ischemic heart disease. This review (1) focuses on the potential relevance of BM-derived progenitor cells for vascular function and cell populations currently being tested for cardiovascular cell therapies; (2) discusses delivery schemes used in animal models and clinical trials; (3) summarizes the results of the most important clinical trials completed to date; and (4) identifies clinical trials currently in progress that are registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (March 1, 2007).
A Critical Participatory Approach to the Evaluation of Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology raises profound questions about humans’ abilities to control their own environment and about the boundaries between living and non-living that can or cannot be crossed. Fundamental ethical, social, and political issues have to be addressed. Who should be contributing to the discussions that address those issues? How can we make sure that policy decisions incorporate concerns of various stakeholders? In this chapter I discuss these and other questions by combining methods of historical, linguistic and sociological research. I describe forms, themes, and stakeholders that contribute to the discussions of synthetic biology in the 20th–21st centuries. I argue that the evaluation of synthetic biology and similar emerging technoscientific areas benefits from a discursive perspective that is coupled with critical social theory and propose a framework that facilitates such a perspective. This approach brings synthetic biology into the space of social dilemmas that need to be negotiated as opposed to the space of scientific problems that need to be solved. It places synthetic biology into a broader social and cultural context and encourages the development of evaluation and governance frameworks that go beyond dichotomies of experts and ordinary public or fears and safeguards. It also raises questions of appropriate social, communicative, and technological structures that facilitate participation and critique.
“Bringing Taxonomy to the Service of Genetics”: Edgar Anderson and Introgressive Hybridization

In introgressive hybridization (the repeated backcrossing of hybrids with parental populations), Edgar Anderson found a source for variation upon which natural selection could work. In his 1953 review article "Introgressive Hybridization," he asserted that he was "bringing taxonomy to the service of genetics" whereas distinguished colleagues such as Theodosius Dobzhansky and Ernst Mayr did the precise opposite. His work as a geneticist particularly focused on linkage and recombination and was enriched by collaborations with Missouri Botanical Garden colleagues interested in taxonomy as well as with cytologists C.D. Darlington and Karl Sax. As the culmination of a biosystemtatic research program, Anderson's views challenged the mainstream of the Evolutionary Synthesis.
Study on the isolation of active constituents in Lonicera japonica and the mechanism of their anti-upper respiratory tract infection action in children

Background : Lonicera japonica has been studied extensively by scholars at home and abroad, a number of compounds have been isolated from it, which mainly include organic acids and flavonoids. Pharmacological studies have shown that Lonicera japonica has antibacterial and gall bladder-protective effects. Objective : To study the active constituents in Lonicera japonica and the mechanism of their anti-upper respiratory tract infection action in children. Methods : Compounds were identified by chromatographic methods, and the mechanism of anti-pediatric upper respiratory tract infection action of Lonicera japonica decoction was studied using experimental animals. Results : A total of four compounds were isolated, after injection of egg white, toe edema in rats in the control group was very obvious, different test concentrations of Lonicera japonica decoction all inhibited toe edema in rats to some extents, the edema was the mildest in the Lonicera japonica decoction high-dose group, which had the strongest inhibitory effect on the development of inflammation, the Lonicera japonica decoction showed certain dose-effect relationship with toe edema in rats. In the rat body temperature control experiment, while body temperature of rats in the blank group had already risen, other groups were still able to lower the body temperature of rats under the action of test drugs. The severity of ear edema in mice in the blank control group was obvious, with increased thickness which showed significant difference between left and right ears. Under test doses, three Lonicera japonica decoction groups all inhibited xylene-induced ear edema in mice. Conclusion : Lonicera japonica has an anti-upper respiratory tract infection action in children. Keywords : Lonicera japonica, chlorogenic acid butyl ester, oleanolic acid, mouse ear edema
Competitive Displacement of Apple Aphid by Spirea Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) on Apple as Mediated by Human Activities

Survey data from 5 commercially managed apple orchards in West Virginia showed that spirea aphid, Aphis spiraecola Patch, was the more abundant species and that apple aphid, A. pomi De Geer, was present primarily during the late summer when apple is least suitable as a host for aphids. There was no significant positive or negative interaction between the distribution of the 2 species within orchards. In the laboratory, adult apple aphid survived longer at 15°C than spirea aphid but produced the same total number of progeny. At 25 and 28°C, spirea aphids produced more total progeny and more progeny per day than apple aphids. In an unsprayed orchard that had apple aphids introduced in the autumn of 1990, both species were equally abundant in the spring of 1991, but by the end of that summer spirea aphid was the only aphid species present. In a 2–species population model, reproductive differences between the species were sufficient for spirea aphid to dominate the guild quickly. Several different insecticide schedules marginally increased the rate at which spirea aphid replaced apple aphid. The model that most closely resembled field data had a delay in apple aphid immigration and a reduced rate of emigration as compared with spirea aphid. The reduced tendency to emigrate from apple is the one competitive advantage of apple aphid permitting them to remain in the system despite their reproductive disadvantage and greater susceptibility to insecticides. The use of insecticides that produce higher mortality of apple aphid have added to displacement by spirea aphid.
AlGaN/SiC Heterojunction Ultraviolet Photodiodes

We report on improvement in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) photoresponse of SiC based detectors through the development of n- AlxGa1-xN / i-p SiC heterojunction photodiodes. Fabricated photodiodes have high external quantum efficiency (EQE), greater than 60%, over a wide spectral range from 215-255 nm that is ~10x enhancement in performance over comparable homogenous SiC photodiodes at the shortest wavelength. This is attributed to photogeneration of carriers within the SiC depletion region by DUV illumination of the diode through the n- AlxGa1-xN “window”, as compared to a typical homogenous SiC n-i-p structure where the carriers are photogenerated in the n-type neutral region, resulting in more efficient collection of holes through drift
Quantifying and Identifying the Active and Damaged Subsets of Indigenous Microbial Communities

Flow cytometry and fluorescent dyes represent valuable experimental tools for studying complex microbial communities, enabling the quantification and sorting of cells with distinct levels of activity or damage, and providing information that can be difficult to infer from metagenomic sequencing alone. Despite this potential, these single-cell methods have seldom been applied to the study of host-associated microbial communities. Here, we present our recently developed protocols utilizing four distinct fluorescent dyes that label cells based on nucleic acid content, respiratory activity, and membrane damage. These methods have been successfully applied to study the trillions of microorganisms inhabiting the human gastrointestinal tract (the gut microbiota), in addition to a collection of isolates from five common gut-associated bacterial phyla. By merging these protocols with fluorescence-activated cell sorting and downstream multiplex 16S rRNA gene sequencing, it is possible to rapidly assess the taxonomic composition of each physiological category. These methods provide an initial step toward a robust toolkit allowing a rapid, culture-independent, and comprehensive assessment of the physiology and metabolic activity of host-associated microbial communities.
Genetic Manipulation of Competition for Nitrate between Heterotrophic Bacteria and Diatoms.

Diatoms are a dominant group of eukaryotic phytoplankton that contribute substantially to global primary production and the cycling of important elements such as carbon and nitrogen. Heterotrophic bacteria, including members of the gammaproteobacteria, are commonly associated with diatom populations and may rely on them for organic carbon while potentially competing with them for other essential nutrients. Considering that bacterioplankton drive oceanic release of CO2 (i.e., bacterial respiration) while diatoms drive ocean carbon sequestration vial the biological pump, the outcome of such competition could influence the direction and magnitude of carbon flux in the upper ocean. Nitrate availability is commonly a determining factor for the growth of diatom populations, particularly in coastal and upwelling regions. Diatoms as well as many bacterial species can utilize nitrate, however the ability of bacteria to compete for nitrate may be hindered by carbon limitation. Here we have developed a genetically tractable model system using the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and the widespread heterotrophic bacteria Alteromonas macleodii to examine carbon-nitrogen dynamics. While subsisting solely on P. tricornutum derived carbon, A. macleodii does not appear to be an effective competitor for nitrate, and may in fact benefit the diatom; particularly in stationary phase. However, allochthonous dissolved organic carbon addition in the form of pyruvate triggers A. macleodii proliferation and nitrate uptake, leading to reduced P. tricornutum growth. Nitrate reductase deficient mutants of A. macleodii (ΔnasA) do not exhibit such explosive growth and associated competitive ability in response to allochthonous carbon when nitrate is the sole nitrogen source, but could survive by utilizing solely P. tricornutum-derived nitrogen. Furthermore, allocthonous carbon addition enables wild-type A. macleodii to rescue nitrate reductase deficient P. tricornutum populations from nitrogen starvation, and RNA-seq transcriptomic evidence supports nitrogen-based interactions between diatoms and bacteria at the molecular level. This study provides key insights into the roles of carbon and nitrogen in phytoplankton-bacteria dynamics and lays the foundation for developing a mechanistic understanding of these interactions using co-culturing and genetic manipulation.
Novel Aerosol Delivery Devices

Delivery of medication to sites of action through airways has been used for centuries but has gained momentum in recent decades. Currently available modes of aerosol delivery offer advantages but still there are shortcomings. Delivery of active agents to sites of action is affected by many factors beyond the characteristics of the delivery devices, including the coordination between inhalation and actuation and dependence on the patient's inspiratory flow and breathing pattern. Recent advances in drug delivery focus around changes in the generation of particle size with better penetration to the targeted sites, easier activation of the device with inspiratory flow, ease of use including fewer steps in using the device, and better portability. Availability of computer chips allows for smart delivery devices to tailor delivery to the patient's breathing pattern and lung function. Further, smart devices can provide feedback to patients. Novel inhaler technologies, separately or in combination with new therapeutic agents, are in development not only for respiratory diseases but also for diseases of other systems. This article reviews some of the recent clinically relevant advances in aerosol delivery devices.
Design and performance of a large lumen glaucoma drainage device.

PurposeWe report the in vivo testing of a large-lumen glaucoma drainage (LL-GDD) device equipped with a flow regulator. The device's membrane can be non-invasively opened with laser in the postoperative period to adjust aqueous flow and intraocular pressure.MethodsThe initial LL-GDD prototypes were constructed using 22 G silicone angiocatheters cut down to size. A 10 nm PVDF membrane was then affixed to the end using cyanoacrylate. The LL-GDD was tested first in a model eye equipped with ports for infusion and pressure measurement and in New Zealand rabbits.ResultsNew Zealand white satin cross rabbits were used, two eyes receiving the LL-GDD and the two fellow eyes serving as the control group with no intervention performed. After the procedure, the IOP in the LL-GGD surgical group dropped an average of 5.5 mm Hg (P=0.001), which was maintained until the membrane laser procedure at week 5 resulting in an average IOP reduction of 1.8 mm Hg. At week 7, the average IOP in the surgical group was 11 mm Hg compared with 18 mm Hg in the control group (P<0.001). A second laser procedure was done to completely open the membrane face, which resulted in an immediate drop in the average IOP of the surgical group by another 2.7 mm Hg, which was maintained until the study termination at day 55.ConclusionsThe large-lumen glaucoma drainage device demonstrated an ability both to prevent immediate postoperative hypotony and to allow progressively lower IOP on demand in this proof-of-concept study.
Automatic, exploratory mineralogical mapping of CRISM imagery using summary product signatures

Abstract Martian spectroscopic and mineralogical analysis is usually performed using Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) browse products – false color images which show the spatial distribution of absorption features at key wavelengths. This manual, time-consuming method is ill-suited for exploratory surveys of a large number of images – for such surveys an automatic methodology is needed. In this paper we propose a method for exploratory but fully automatic mineralogical mapping of CRISM images. In our approach pixels are characterized by vectors of CRISM summary product values instead of spectral functions, and mineralogical units are discovered using a clustering principle. Moreover, the rare class discovery algorithm DEMUD is used in place of a standard clustering algorithm to identify mineralogical units - enabling the identification of only scientifically interesting, possibly rare, mineralogical deposits. The method outputs a map for each site showing the spatial distribution of mineralogical units – areas characterized by similar mineralogy. It also provides, without using a spectral library, semantic labels for each unit. We envision our method as a focus-of-attention tool to facilitate fast exploratory surveys of a large number of images. An analyst needs only to examine manually regions within an image where our pipeline indicates the existence of mineral units of interest. In this paper the method for our computational pipeline is described in detail and its performance is evaluated using a sample of 20 CRISM images – the mineralogical content of which is known from manual analysis. We find that our pipeline identifies most deposits found through manual analysis as well as some additional deposits which were not targeted by those analyses. Overall, we conclude that our fully automatic mineralogical mapper works well for exploratory purposes. Thus, it adds a new, valuable functionality to existing tools for CRISM imagery analysis.
Data-driven management using quantitative metric and automatic auditing program (QMAP) improves consistency of radiation oncology processes

Abstract Purpose Process consistency in planning and delivery of radiation therapy is essential to maintain patient safety and treatment quality and efficiency. Ensuring the timely completion of each critical clinical task is one aspect of process consistency. The purpose of this work is to report our experience in implementing a quantitative metric and automatic auditing program (QMAP) with a goal of improving the timely completion of critical clinical tasks. Methods and materials Based on our clinical electronic medical records system, we developed a software program to automatically capture the completion timestamp of each critical clinical task while providing frequent alerts of potential delinquency. These alerts were directed to designated triage teams within a time window that would offer an opportunity to mitigate the potential for late completion. Since July 2011, 18 metrics were introduced in our clinical workflow. We compared the delinquency rates for 4 selected metrics before the implementation of the metric with the delinquency rate of 2016. One-tailed Student t test was used for statistical analysis Results With an average of 150 daily patients on treatment at our main campus, the late treatment plan completion rate and late weekly physics check were reduced from 18.2% and 8.9% in 2011 to 4.2% and 0.1% in 2016, respectively ( P Conclusions QMAP is effective in reducing late completions of critical tasks, which can positively impact treatment quality and patient safety by reducing the potential for errors resulting from distractions, interruptions, and rush in completion of critical tasks.
What Causes Gratitude

In this chapter I describe the antecedents of gratitude. Specifically, I review the causes of grateful emotion. I consider common activating events of gratitude, followed by a more extensive exploration of the cognitive antecedents of gratitude. Appraisals that lead to grateful emotion are characterized by four general themes. In order for one to experience gratitude one must first recognize that a gift has indeed occurred. Second, when one recognizes the goodness of the gift, this enhances gratitude. Recognizing the goodness of the giver has also been shown to increase the likelihood of experiencing gratitude. Fourth, when one recognizes the gratuitousness of the gift, gratitude is likely to ensue; the more a benefit exceeds one’s social expectations, the more one is likely to experience gratitude. I also explore several other cognitive conditions that seem to promote gratitude, such as mental subtraction, and the appreciation of beauty. I conclude the chapter by describing several successful methods that have been used to induce gratitude in the lab. Understanding the causes of gratitude is crucial to developing effective methods for enhancing gratitude.
The virus of lymphogranuloma inguinale

Abstract When pus from the lymphogranuloma inguinale is planted in the medium devised by Maitland and his coworkers for the cultivation of Vaccinia virus, the medium becomes cloudy. The etiologic agent produces a cloudiness which is transmissible in serial cultures, or serial cultures alternating with guinea pig inoculations. The etiologic agent in pus or in cloudy supernatant culture fluid passes the Berkefeld "N" filter. The virus is stainable by Hosokawa's eosin-Giemsa method. The heated cultures have been used successfully in making diagnosis by the intradermal skin test, and in inducing recoveries by subcutaneous inoculations. Also heated cultures have used to produce an antiserum. Although one can draw no definite conclusions from the few cases treated with antiserum, the results in these cases justify further trial of serum therapy.
Molecular Inference of Wisdom

Wisdom is a human trait upon which natural selection creates evolutionary pathways from the molecular biology of the gene, to the cellular organization of nervous system, to the physical functioning of the brain — and the transit is a two way street. Wellness is a selection advantage at every level. Molecular wellness is innate, though often compromised because selection is blind; intellectual or high level wellness is learned behavior fed back to the molecular level as a kind of vision. The wisdom of this is that lifelong wellness — to the point of dying healthy — is a goal for every person and every society because it precedes and influences all other achievements.
An HIV Patient with Nausea, Vomiting, and Hiccups

A 38-year-old man with a history of human immunodeficiency virus infection presented with 1 month of nausea, vomiting, and hiccups that had worsened over the past day. He had a single episode of fever prior to admission and noted a dry cough. He had a 20-pound weight loss during the previous month. He had no recent sick contacts, and he did not recently travel out of the country. He had been admitted 10 days before to a different hospital with the same complaints. There, he was diagnosed with right lower lobe pneumonia and treated with levofloxacin.
Students' Narcissism and Academic Performance:

Persons studying social work at the graduate level manifest temporary self-preoccupation due to situational stress and continuing self-preoccupation because of personality traits. Study of such nar...
Hazards of chemotherapy. Implementing safe handling practices.

Over the last decade, concerns about the hazards of handling cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents increased as various studies were published. Analysis of these data suggest possible carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic risk for health professionals (predominantly nurses and pharmacists) that handle these drugs. However, the research is inconclusive. The nature of the problem, along with methodologic issues, may make it difficult or impossible to provide definitive data on the type and degree of risk for those exposed to chemotherapeutic agents. Guidelines and recommendations have been published by various groups including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, the Oncology Nursing Society, and others. In essence, they recommend that only health professionals with specialized training should prepare or administer chemotherapeutic agents. In addition, equipment, unused drugs, and human excreta should be treated as chemically hazardous waste and disposed of according to the individual facility's policies and procedures. These guidelines should provide protection for those involved in preparing chemotherapy for administration, regardless of where this is done. Studies have shown differences in the degree and type of procedures followed and between existing procedures and actual practice. Some of these differences are based on the site of care (e.g., hospital [also influenced by bed size], private practice, or home care). Issues involved in implementing reasonable approaches to lower the relative risk for health-care professionals that handle cytotoxic chemotherapy will be discussed.
CHAPTER 7 – Preimplantation Embryogenesis

This chapter provides an insight into the mammalian life between fertilization and implantation gained from researches of transgenic mouse models. Transgenic mouse technology refers to the incorporation of engineered DNA into the heritable mouse genome. The genetic alteration can be accomplished through microinjection of a transgene into the male pronucleus of one-cell embryos, viral infection of early mouse embryos or ES cells, or targeted mutagenesis of ES cells. Oocytes microinjected with DNA are expected to incorporate concatamers of the engineered transgene and develop into founder mice with the potential to both pass on the transgene and express the gene product encoded. These F 0 mice and their mutant F 1 progeny are known as hemizygous mice because the transgene integration creates a new allele within the genome, random in its location and effects on any neighboring genes. In contrast, mutagenized ES cells can be made to harbor targeted mutations; researchers can deliberately replace a portion of the genome with a “look-alike” construct and selection for nonrandom integration. The resulting heterozygote ES cells are maintained in pluripotent states in vitro and may be “reintroduced” into blastocyst-stage embryos by injection into the blastocoel to give rise to chimeric mice, which represent a mixture of cell lineages derived from the manipulated ES cells and the original inner cell mass (ICM). When the ES cell line contributes to gamete development in the resulting chimeras, this allows the establishment of mutant lines for use as research models.
Entropy and the Second Law: Thermodynamics Viewpoint

Each reversible step in the cycle gives maximal work but no net work is done for the cycle. All work generated on expansion must be stored and used to return the gas to its initial volume.
Salary Caps in a Model of Talent Allocation

One of the central externalities associated with large- vs. small-market teams is the potentially adverse effect of the market allocation of talent on competitive balance. Large-market teams are driven to buy more talent than their small-market counterparts, leading to long-lasting dynasties and perennial losers. Such an adverse effect on game uncertainty is likely to affect fans’ interest in the sport (under the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis), and hence reduce league demand (Rottenberg 1956). To promote competitive balance, intervention by the Commissioner’s office may be warranted to override the free-market allocation. One competitive balance policy widely believed to have the ability to reallocate talent is a limit on team payrolls, known as a salary cap. While an effective salary cap will result in a deadweight welfare loss, this loss may be deemed worthwhile if the benefits associated with improved competitive balance more than offset the costs associated with the welfare loss.
The mixing of state statistics

The family of candidate power spectra for the input of a linear filter which are consistent with given state statistics is in bijective correspondence with solutions of a Carath`eodory analytic interpolation problem. We point out that state covariances of distinct linear filters driven by the same stochastic input process can be conveniently integrated into data for a suitable Carath`eodory problem encompassing all the relevant constraints.
Antiproton-deuteron annihilation into Λ +anything below 1 GeV/ c

We present data on $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ production from two experiments in which the ANL 12-foot and the BNL 30-inch deuterium-filled bubble chambers were exposed to antiproton beams from 550 to 900 MeV/c. Some features of the data are compared to calculations of double scattering using $\overline{K}$ and $\overline{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ as the exchanged particles. The $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ final states in our experiments exhibit behavior which suggests that a double-scattering mechanism with a $\overline{K}$ exchanged between the two nucleons is the most likely candidate for the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ production mechanism. The data are compared with two other experiments in which $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ events are produced above the $\overline{p}d\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\ensuremath{\Lambda}N$ threshold. A test of isospin invariance in these reactions is also reported.
Resurrection of an "extinct" SARS-CoV isolate GD03 from late 2003.

The causative agent of SARS, SARSassociated coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is transmitted via the aerosol route, which facilitated repeated non-human to human transmissions within live animal markets of the Guangdong region late in 2002. The coronavirus spike glycoprotein is a key determinant of host specificity, and elucidating the mechanisms of viral host expansion is important to understand the molecular events that rendered the virus pathogenic to humans. Sequences of viral spikes from early human clinical cases resembled those isolated from civet cats (SZ16) in wild animal markets early in the epidemic. The spike sequence from a human clinical isolate from the Guangdong region late in 2003 (GD03) differs from SARS Urbani in 16 residues almost all of which reside in the S1 domain and five of which reside in the putative receptor binding domain. Using data from DNA sequence databases and synthetic biology, we have resurrected the extinct spike glycoprotein gene of GD03 within our SARS Urbani infectious clone. Growth of the GD03 spike/Urbani chimeric recombinant virus (icGD03) in Vero cells is not as robust as icSARS or Urbani suggesting that the GD03 spike does not bind Vero ACE2 with the same affinity. In vivo growth of icGD03 and icSARS was compared in Balb/c via intranasal infection. The icGD03 lung titer at all time points was not as robust as icSARS-CoV suggesting that the GD03 spike slightly impairs growth in mice.
Molecular cloning, sequencing, and expression of the 36 kDa protein present in pars planitis. Sequence homology with yeast nucleopore complex protein.

Purpose Patients with active pars planitis have increased levels of a 36 kDa protein (p-36) in their circulation. The current studies were undertaken to determine the primary structure of this protein. Methods A degenerate oligonucleotide probe based on the amino terminal sequence of p-36 was used to identify a clone from a human spleen cDNA library. The cDNA insert was subcloned into the EcoR1 site of pUC-19, and both strands were sequenced. Southern blot analysis was used to study the genomic hybridization pattern. p-36 cDNA was subcloned in a pSG5 expression vector, and the construct was used to transfect COS-7 cells. Results The cDNA sequence contained an open reading frame of 966 base pairs encoding a protein of 322 amino acids, an untranslated region of 322 base pairs, and 2693 base pairs at the 5' and 3' ends, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence showed 96.8% identity with the carboxy-terminal region of a yeast nucleopore complex protein, nup 100. Southern blot analysis of human genomic DNA revealed a simple hybridization pattern. Transfection of p-36 cDNA in COS-7 cells resulted in the presence of p-36 mRNA and expression of protein. Conclusions The 36 kDa protein (p-36) detected at increased levels in the blood of patients with active pars planitis was cloned from a human spleen cDNA library. Its deduced amino acid sequence is homologous with the carboxy-terminal region of a nucleopore complex protein. Thus, we refer to this protein as nup36.
Single-Center Prospective Evaluation of 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET in Biochemical Recurrence of Prostate Cancer

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of 68Ga-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen 11 (PSMA-11) PET for disease detection in patients with prostate cancer who have biochemically recurrent disease after radiation therapy or prostatectomy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. One hundred fifty patients underwent 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT or PET/MRI, and the images were interpreted by two blinded board-certified radiologists. Each reader evaluated for the presence or absence of PSMA-positive disease within the prostate bed, pelvic lymph nodes, bones, and soft tissues (extrapelvic lymph nodes and visceral structures). The presence or absence of disease was confirmed by histopathologic analysis if available. For patients who did not have pathologic analysis, a composite of imaging and clinical follow-up was used as the reference standard. RESULTS. The median prostate-specific antigen level was 2.1 ng/mL. Forty-three patients had pathologic correlation, and for 29 patients a composite of imaging and follow-up was used to determine the presence or absence of disease. With substantial to almost perfect interreader reliability by region (κ = 0.78-0.87), 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET had high sensitivity per region (up to 100%) and per patient (up to 89.8%). It also had high positive predictive value per region (up to 100%) and per patient (up to 91.5%). Sensitivity was highest for bone metastases and lowest for soft-tissue metastases. Positive predictive value was highest for bone metastases and lowest for prostate bed recurrence. CONCLUSION. Gallium-68-labeled PSMA-11 PET is sensitive for prostate cancer metastases in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer. It has high positive predictive value and substantial to almost perfect interrater reliability.
Role of GluN2A NMDA receptor in homocysteine‐induced prostaglandin E2 release from neurons

Hyperhomocysteinemia or systemic elevation of homocysteine is a metabolic condition that has been linked to multiple neurological disorders where inflammation plays an important role in the progression of the disease. However, it is unclear whether hyperhomocysteinemia contributes to disease pathology by inducing an inflammatory response. The current study investigates whether exposure of primary cultures from rat and mice cortical neurons to high levels of homocysteine induces the expression and release of the proinflammatory prostanoid, Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Using enzymatic assays and immunoblot analysis we show concurrent increase in the activity of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and level of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2), two enzymes involved in PGE2 biosynthesis. The findings also show an increase in PGE2 release from neurons. Pharmacological inhibition of GluN2A-containing NMDAR (GluN2A-NMDAR) with NVP-AAM077 significantly reduces homocysteine-induced cPLA2 activity, COX2 expression, and subsequent PGE2 release. Whereas, inhibition of GluN2B-containing NMDAR (GluN2A-NMDAR) with Ro 25-6981 has no effect. Complementary studies in neuron cultures obtained from wild type and GluN2A knockout mice show that genetic deletion of GluN2A subunit of NMDAR attenuates homocysteine-induced neuronal increase in cPLA2 activity, COX2 expression, and PGE2 release. Pharmacological studies further establish the role of both extracellular-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase and p38 MAPK in homocysteine-GluN2A NMDAR-dependent activation of cPLA2-COX2-PGE2 pathway. Collectively, these findings reveal a novel role of GluN2A-NMDAR in facilitating homocysteine-induced proinflammatory response in neurons.