cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A comparative computational analysis of nonautonomous Helitron elements between maize and rice

Helitrons are DNA transposable elements that are proposed to replicate via a rolling circle mechanism. Non-autonomous helitron elements have captured gene fragments from many genes in maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) but only a handful of genes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). This observation suggests very different histories for helitrons in these two species, but it is unclear which species contains helitrons that are more typical of plants. We performed computational searches to identify helitrons in maize and rice genomic sequence data. Using 12 previously identified helitrons as a seed set, we identified 23 helitrons in maize, five of which were polymorphic among a sample of inbred lines. Our total sample of maize helitrons contained fragments of 44 captured genes. Twenty-one of 35 of these helitrons did not cluster with other elements into closely related groups, suggesting substantial diversity in the maize element complement. We identified over 552 helitrons in the japonica rice genome. More than 70% of these were found in a collinear location in the indica rice genome, and 508 clustered as a single large subfamily. The japonica rice elements contained fragments of only 11 genes, a number similar to that in Arabidopsis. Given differences in gene capture between maize and rice, we examined sequence properties that could contribute to differences in capture rates, focusing on 3' palindromes that are hypothesized to play a role in transposition termination. The free energy of folding for maize helitrons were significantly lower than those in rice, but the direction of the difference differed from our prediction. Maize helitrons are clearly unique relative to those of rice and Arabidopsis in the prevalence of gene capture, but the reasons for this difference remain elusive. Maize helitrons do not seem to be more polymorphic among individuals than those of Arabidopsis; they do not appear to be substantially older or younger than the helitrons in either species; and our analyses provided little evidence that the 3' hairpin plays a role.
Can mapping differentiate microreentry from a focus in the ventricle

Although it is well accepted that ventricular arrhythmias can arise by reentry, several mapping studies have reported focal activation sequences during arrhythmias in which a wavefront spreads away in all directions from the site of earliest recorded activation. If the maps are twodimensional, obtained by mapping the epicardial or endocardial surface, this activation sequence may not indicate a true focus but rather an intramural wavefront breaking through to the surface. However, this focal activation pattern has also been observed in three-dimensional mapping studies with plunge needles inserted through the ventricular wall.1, 2 These studies include the disclaimer that the focal activation pattern may arise from a microreentrant circuit that is so small it cannot be detected by the plunge needle electrodes. This Viewpoint examines the basis for this disclaimer and estimates the electrode spacing needed to detect the smallest microreentrant circuits.
Refugee Agencies: A Role for Anthropology

This discussion reports my study of a refugee agency, Catholic Charities of Tennessee Refugee Services, which took place during the summer of 2010. My goal was to determine what role an anthropologist could play, if any, in such an organization. A refugee is defined by the United Nations as "a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country" (United Nations 1951). The Catholic Charities Refugee Services was developed to aid these displaced persons in finding new homes within the United States during the 1970s in response to the influx of refugees from Southeast Asia.
The Holy See in Dialogue with the Committee on the Rights of the Child

This article is divided into two Parts. Part I will give an overview of what the Initial Report of the Holy See to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and what subsequent reports say about the Holy See and international order with special attention to its uniqueness in international law, its three Reservations and one Interpretative Declaration to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and its position on treaty interpretation. Part II will consider the general or core principles contained in the CRC as first developed by the Committee and then compared and contrasted with those proposed by the Holy See.
Toxic dilation of the colon in the course of ulcerative colitis.

One of the most dramatic and ominous episodes that may occur in the course of ulcerative colitis is the rapid development of striking colonic distention. Occurring in both acute and chronic phases of the dis­ ease, and associated with extreme toxicity, a portion or almost all of the diseased colon becomes tremendously dilated. The dis­ tended, tender, silent abdomen suggests that the bowel has perforated or is about to perforate. This well delineated syndrome is not rare. We have observed it 19 times in 16 patients during a study of ulcerative colitis at the Mount Sinai Hospital. Colonic dilation with its clear cut clinical features, however, has been described only infrequently. Madison and Bargen1 in 1951 reported an example under the title of "Fulminating Chronic Ulcerative Colitis with Unusual Segmental Dilatation of the Colon." Lumb and his colleagues 2 in 1955 described 7 patients with dilation of the colon in the course of ulcerative colitis in the first comprehensive paper on the sub­ ject. More recently (1958), Lumb 3 ex­ tended his series of cases to 10. He has stressed the pathologic aspects of the syndrome, which include extension of the inflammatory process through all layers of the colon to the serosa. Bockus and his asso­ ciates 4 have discussed this clinical entity, presenting 7 new patients with the syn­ drome of "toxic (segmental) dilation of the colon." They have used the term "toxic aganglionic megacolon" with some reserva­ tions to indicate that the pathogenesis "may depend upon destructive changes in the nerve plexuses of the diseased colon, particularly the myenteric plexus." The present paper details the clinical
Striking a Balance: An Open Courts Analysis of the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act

Significant public health emergencies and disasters in the beginning of the twenty-first century initiated an emergency preparedness movement. The devastation wrought by the 2005 hurricane season, accompanied by the threat of a biological attack or an influenza pandemic, prompted the passage of model laws to facilitate rapid and effective responses to emergencies. In 2007, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws passed the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act (UEVHPA). The UEVHPA is a piece of model legislation designed to unify the disparate state procedures used to authorize and regulate the deployment of volunteer health practitioners (VHPs) in response to public health emergencies and disasters. In order to encourage volunteerism among health practitioners, Section 11 of the UEVHPA protects VHPs from civil liability arising from their negligence. In so doing, it eliminates negligently-injured victims' means of recovery. Accordingly, Section 11 conflicts with open courts provisions found in many state constitutions. These provisions typically guarantee that injured persons have a right to seek redress through the state's legal system. This Note begins with an overview of the public health emergency preparedness movement, Section 11 of the UEVHPA, and open courts provisions. It then sets forth the conflict between Section 11 and open courts provisions. This Note analyzes Section 11 under the most common open courts tests and demonstrates that some enacting state legislatures will need to modify Section 11 in order for the UEVHPA to survive constitutional challenges. Next, it sets forth three alternatives that may be adopted by states in lieu of the options posed by Section 11. Ultimately, this Note argues that, given the unique public health and legal concerns surrounding public health emergencies, a state agreement to assume liability for the negligence of VHPs strikes the optimal balance between the needs of VHPs and the needs of negligently-injured victims.
ECMO: The next ten years

Abstract Extracorporeal support (ECMO) is indicated in severe heart or lung failure with 80% risk of mortality. In experienced centers, overall survival to discharge ranges from 40% in cardiac arrest (ECPR) to 70% for respiratory failure in adults, 80% in children and newborns with prolonged ECMO support, severe lung injury can recover to normal function, re-defining irreversible lung injury. In the future ECMO will be automatically controlled with care out of ICU or at home.
The Impact of Micro-Surface Shaping on the Piston/Cylinder Interface of Swash Plate Type Machines

With the wide use of axial piston machines of the swashplate type in industry, it is essential to maximize the overall efficiency of the machines. Focusing on the piston-cylinder interface, as it performs as a hydrodynamic bearing simultaneously fulfilling a sealing function, the overall machine can be improved by reducing the power losses due to viscous friction and leakage flow of this interface. This paper presents a research study in regards to altering the geometry of the piston through micro-surface shaping influencing the generation of the fluid film between the piston and the cylinder. This investigation utilizes a novel fully coupled fluid structure interaction model considering both thermal and elastic deformations of the solid bodies to predict the phenomena occurring within the fluid gap. Encompassed in this simulation study is a diversity of piston micro-surface shapes and a wide range of machine operating conditions. The designs presented include an axial sine wave, a flat, cylindrical design with tapered ends, a barreled shape, a combination of the axial sine wave and barrel, along with a circumferential sine wave. High pressure operating conditions in pumping mode as well as common operating conditions in both pumping and motoring mode are considered for the various designs. The results demonstrate up to a 30% reduction in energy dissipation from a standard piston-cylinder interface at higher pressure operating conditions (over 15% reduction considering all three interfaces of the machine) with the addition of a barrel surface shape while a 25% reduction (over 5% overall) is achievable at lower operating pressures in pumping mode with a waved barrel surface profile. As for motoring mode a 30% reduction (around 10% overall) is possible with the introduction of a waved barrel surface profile on the piston. It will also be shown, that not only are these reductions possible though microsurface shaping of the piston, but the reliability of the machine is also improved by reducing run-in wear all while maintaining a cost-effective, manufacturable design.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Equilibrium drives of the low and high field side n = 2 plasma response and impact on global confinement

The nature of the multi-modal n=2 plasma response and its impact on global confinement is studied as a function of the axisymmetric equilibrium pressure, edge safety factor, collisionality, and L-versus H-mode conditions. Varying the relative phase (ΔΦUL) between upper and lower in-vessel coils demonstrates that different n=2 poloidal spectra preferentially excite different plasma responses. These different plasma response modes are preferentially detected on the tokamak high-field side (HFS) or low-field side (LFS) midplanes, have different radial extents, couple differently to the resonant surfaces, and have variable impacts on edge stability and global confinement. In all equilibrium conditions studied, the observed confinement degradation shares the same ΔΦUL dependence as the coupling to the resonant surfaces given by both ideal (IPEC) and resistive (MARS-F) MHD computation. Varying the edge safety factor shifts the equilibrium field-line pitch and thus the ΔΦUL dependence of both the global confinement and the n=2 magnetic response. As edge safety factor is varied, modeling finds that the HFS response (but not the LFS response), the resonant surface coupling, and the edge displacements near the X-point all share the same ΔΦUL dependence. The LFS response magnitude is strongly sensitive to the core pressure and is insensitive to the collisionalitymore » and edge safety factor. This indicates that the LFS measurements are primarily sensitive to a pressure-driven kink-ballooning mode that couples to the core plasma. MHD modeling accurately reproduces these (and indeed all) LFS experimental trends and supports this interpretation. In contrast to the LFS, the HFS magnetic response and correlated global confinement impact is unchanged with plasma pressure, but is strongly reduced in high collisionality conditions in both H- and L-mode. This experimentally suggests the bootstrap current drives the HFS response through the kink-peeling mode drive, though surprisingly weak or no dependence on the bootstrap current is seen in modeling. Instead, modeling is revealed to be very sensitive to the details of the edge current profile and equilibrium truncation. Furthermore, holding truncation fixed, most HFS experimental trends are not captured, thus demonstrating a stark contrast between the robustness of the HFS experimental results and the sensitivity of its computation.« less
Experimental Study of the lonization of Flowing Gases by DC Corona Discharge

In this paper the authors have focused on characterizing a DC corona ionization device. The device is composed of a flat-plate aluminum anode, and a Re-W cylindrical cathode filament. A stable plasma is created by gas breakdown in a radial-axially symmetrical electric field generated by a high voltage DC power supply. Emphasis is placed on the construction features as well as on the working characteristics of this particular corona geometry. Multiple tests have been run with nitrogen, helium and argon. Plasma properties electron temperature, electron density, gas pressure and temperature were measured at various locations in the plasma. Peak electron densities of 10 part/m were obtained in argon plasma. These measurements show that the plasma is in a local thermal nonequilibrium, with a typical electron temperature of 1-3 eV and gas temperatures one order of magnitude lower. The ionization of helium was poorer (10 10 part/m) and is attributed to spark-breakdown instabilities. Overall, the device attained one order of magnitude increase in ionization levels over 2.45GHz microwave breakdown at similar power levels.
Study on support factors of intermittent power supply integration based on responsivity

This paper defines three types of nodes to the directed graph in the trend of the network, and by using the difference between nodes, a new method of the downstream power flow tracing is given. Considering the dynamic characteristic and complementary of the intermittent power supply, it defines the responsivity with using the results of power flow tracing and its physical meaning is also given. Using the responsivity as indicators, among the power supply side, the distribution network side and load side, the support factors of intermittent power supply integration are studied. Through the test of standard IEEE14 bus system, the reliability of the responsivity is proved and the influence mechanism to the support factors of intermittent power supply integration is given.
Dual-Aircraft Cooperative Path Planning Based on Q Learning

Based on the partition of the radiation area of the target's active radar,the task model of the dual-aircraft is set up. By using fuzzy theory to make a generalization to the problem's state space,providing different transition functions according to different detecting stages,and properly defining the action space and reward function,the problem is formulated as a Markov Decision Process( MDP). Details of the fuzzy Q learning are presented. Simulation studies indicate that the proposed algorithm can provide adaptive strategies for the dual-aircraft to control their flight paths for non-maneuvering or maneuvering target detection.
Abstract IA18: Functional characterization of the tumor suppressor lysine-specific methyltransferase KMT2D in lymphoma

Genomic studies have revealed surprising new insights into the genetics of human B-cell lymphomas. Of particular note the lysine-specific methyl transferase KMT2D has emerged as one of the most frequently mutated genes in follicular lymphoma (FL) and in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). However, the biological consequences of KMT2D mutations in lymphoma are not known. Here we show that KMT2D functions as a bona fide tumor suppressor and promotes lymphoma development in vivo. Integrative analyses of KMT2D function indicate specific and focal effects on H3K4 methylation and gene expression. These include B-cell growth and differentiation signals such as the CD40, JAK/STAT, and B-cell receptor pathways. Moreover, KMT2D targets include frequently mutated tumor suppressor genes such as TNFAIP3/A20, SOCS3, and TNFRSF14/HVEM. In this manner, KMT2D deficiency disrupts the physiological process of B-cell differentiation, facilitates malignant outgrowth, and can impede therapies acting on the CD40 and B-cell receptor pathways. Citation Format: Ana Ortega-Molina, Isaac W. Boss, Andres Canela, Heng Pan, Yanwen Jiang, Chunying Zhao, Man Jiang, Deqing Hu, Ji-Eun Lee, Hua-Tang Chen, Daisuke Ennishi, David W. Scott, Christoffer Hother, Shichong Liu, Xing-Jun Cao, Wayne Tam, Rita Shaknovich, Benjamin A. Garcia, Randy D. Gascoyne, Kai Ge, Ali Shilatifard, Olivier Elemento, Andre Nussenzweig, Ari M. Melnick, Hans-Guido Wendel. Functional characterization of the tumor suppressor lysine-specific methyltransferase KMT2D in lymphoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chromatin and Epigenetics in Cancer; Sep 24-27, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(2 Suppl):Abstract nr IA18.
Evidence for two mechanisms of flocculation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Determination des mecanismes de la floculation de Saccharomyces cerevisiae. La floculation de certaines souches peut etre partiellement inhibee par des glucides. Cette inhibition par les glucides est reversible. La floculation est egalement influencee par des ions inorganiques qui semblent avoir une action chaotropique
Osteomyelitis and osteonecrosis

Abstract We discuss two of the most common conditions of bone seen in general pathology practice. We review the causes and pathophysiology of osteomyelitis and osteonecrosis. We discuss their imaging characteristics and histological features as well as some of the problems in diagnosis faced by a pathologist.
The Notch Signaling Pathway as a Suppressor of Myeloid Transformation

Abstract Abstract SCI-13 Notch signaling is a central regulator of differentiation in a variety of organisms and tissue types. Its activity is controlled by the multi-subunit γ-secretase complex (γSE) complex. Although Notch signaling can play both oncogenic and tumor suppressor roles in solid tumors, in the hematopoietic system, it is exclusively oncogenic, notably in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a disease characterized by Notch1 activating mutations. We identified somatic inactivating Notch pathway mutations in a fraction of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) patients. Inactivation of Notch signaling in mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) results in an aberrant accumulation of granulocyte/monocyte progenitors (GMP), extramedullary hematopoieisis and the induction of CMML-like disease. Transcriptome analysis reveals that Notch signaling regulates an extensive myelomonocytic-specific gene signature, through the direct suppression of gene transcription by the Notch target Hes1. These studies identify a novel role for Notch signaling during early hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and suggest that the Notch pathway can play both tumor-promoting and suppressive roles within the same tissue. These observations also suggest that Notch activity is not simply a promoter of the T cell lineage in the thymus but that Notch signaling thresholds could regulate commitment and/or survival of distinct hematopoietic lineages in the bone marrow. To address these issues in vivo, we have generated Notch receptor lineage tracing and activity reporter genetic tools. Analysis of these animal models identified unique novel functions for the Notch pathway during early bone marrow hematopoiesis. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Long-term miR-29b suppression reduces aneurysm formation in a Marfan mouse model.

Aortic root aneurysm formation and subsequent dissection and/or rupture remain the leading cause of death in patients with Marfan syndrome. Our laboratory has reported that miR-29b participates in aortic root/ascending aorta extracellular matrix remodeling during early aneurysm formation in Fbn1C1039G/+ Marfan mice. Herein, we sought to determine whether miR-29b suppression can reduce aneurysm formation long-term. Fbn1C1039G/+ Marfan mice were treated with retro-orbital LNA-anti-miR-29b inhibitor or scrambled-control-miR before aneurysms develop either (1) a single dose prenatally (pregnant Fbn1C1039G/+ mice at 14.5 days post-coitum) (n = 8-10, each group) or (2) postnatally every other week, from 2 to 22 weeks of age, and sacrificed at 24 weeks (n = 8-10, each group). To determine if miR-29b blockade was beneficial even after aneurysms develop, a third group of animals were treated every other week, starting at 8 weeks of age, until sacrificed (n = 4-6, each group). miR-29b inhibition resulted in aneurysm reduction, increased elastogenesis, decreased matrix metalloproteinase activity and decreased elastin breakdown. Prenatal LNA-anti-miR-29b inhibitor treatment decreased aneurysm formation up to age 32 weeks, whereas postnatal treatment was effective up to 16 weeks. miR-29b blockade did not slow aortic growth once aneurysms already developed. Systemic miR-29b inhibition significantly reduces aneurysm development long-term in a Marfan mouse model. Drug administration during aortic wall embryologic development appears fundamental. miR-29b suppression could be a potential therapeutic target for reducing aneurysm formation in Marfan syndrome patients.
Miscellaneous Experiments Chosen by Students

Over the years, our students have chosen a great variety of independent projects in the Chemical Ecology courses. Some such as those with dogs, cats, or mice can be done in most places, while others took advantage of special facilities (e.g. fish hatchery) or animal species available to a particular student (e.g. captive reptiles). All studies stimulated discussion and spawned ideas for further research, whether they were basic or applied, field studies, or indoor projects. Here are some of the topics that were successfully completed with great enthusiasm in more recent courses. It should be noted that the courses focused on vertebrates.
The impact of motivational interviewing on adherence and symptom severity in adolescents and young adults with chronic illness: A systematic review

Abstract Objective Given the negative consequences associated with non-adherence in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with chronic illness, it is important to identify interventions to address this issue. Therefore, this review’s primary objective is to evaluate the impact of motivational interviewing (MI) on adherence and symptom level/severity in AYAs with chronic illness using a modified Cochrane method. Method Four databases (e.g., CINAHL, Medline, PsychINFO, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts) were systematically reviewed. 121 articles were identified in the initial search. Article eligibility was assessed on two tiers using the inclusion criteria. Results Twelve articles were retained for data extraction. Diabetes, asthma, and HIV were the most common chronic illness populations examined in the study. Eleven of the twelve articles provided support for either improved adherence, symptom reduction, or a combination of both after participants received MI. Quality of life was also enhanced in three studies. Conclusion Because adherence and symptom levels were positively impacted, it appears that MI may be a promising intervention for AYAs with chronic illness in addressing non-adherence and potentially improving quality of life. Practice implications Healthcare providers should consider implementing MI in their practice to establish rapport and potentially improve long-term health outcomes for AYAs with chronic illness.
Smoking during pregnancy in the United States, 2005–2014: The role of depression

Abstract Background Despite success of public health-oriented tobacco control programs in lowering the smoking prevalence over the past several decades, it is unclear whether similar reductions in smoking have been experienced among pregnant women, especially in vulnerable groups such as those with major depression and/or lower socioeconomic status. Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between major depressive episode (MDE) and smoking among pregnant women overall, and by demographics and to estimate changes in the prevalence of cigarette smoking among pregnant women with and without MDE from 2005 to 2014. Study design Cigarette use among pregnant women with and without MDE was examined using logistic regression models in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Results Prenatal smoking is more common among pregnant women with, compared to without, MDE (32.5% vs. 13.0%; (adjusted OR = 2.50 (1.85, 3.40)), and greater disparities were revealed when also considering income, education and race. Over time, smoking during pregnancy increased significantly among women with MDE (35.9% to 38.4%; p = 0.02)) and showed a decreasing trend among women without MDE (12.5% to 9.1%; p = 0.07) from 2005 to 2014. Conclusions Over the past decade, smoking during pregnancy has increased among women experiencing a major depressive episode and is over four times more common among pregnant women with, than without, MDE. Disparities in smoking during pregnancy by MDE status and socioeconomic subgroups appear substantial. Given the multitude of risks associated with both MDE and smoking during the prenatal period, more work targeting this vulnerable and high-risk group is needed.
NanoVelcro: Theory of Guided Folding in Atomically Thin Sheets with Regions of Complementary Doping

Folding has been commonly observed in two-dimensional materials such as graphene and monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides. Although interlayer coupling stabilizes these folds, it provides no control over the placement of the fold, let alone the final folded shape. Lacking nanoscale “fingers” to externally guide folding, control requires interactions engineered into the sheets that guide them toward a desired final folded structure. Here we provide a theoretical framework for a general methodology toward this end: atomically thin 2D sheets are doped with patterns of complementary n-type and p-type regions whose preferential adhesion favors folding into desired shapes. The two-colorable theorem in flat-foldable origami ensures that arbitrary folding patterns are in principle accessible to this method. This complementary doping method can be combined with nanoscale crumpling (by, for example, passage of 2D sheets through holes) to obtain not only control over fold placements but also the ability to dis...
Can We Survive Sustainability

In 1773, Patrick Henry (of ‘liberty or death’ fame) wrote to his friend, John Alsop.I shall honor the Quakers for their noble efforts to abolish Slavery. It is equally calculated to promote moral a...
Gray Computing: A Framework for Computing with Background JavaScript Tasks

Website visitors are performing increasingly complex computational work on the websites’ behalf, such as validating forms, rendering animations, and producing data visualizations. In this article, we explore the possibility of increasing the work offloaded to web visitors’ browsers. The idle computing cycles of web visitors can be turned into a large-scale distributed data processing engine, which we term gray computing. Past research has looked primarily at either volunteer computing with specialized clients or browser-based volunteer computing where the visitors keep their browsers open to a single web page for a long period of time. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the architecture, performance, security, cost effectiveness, user experience, and other issues of gray computing distributed data processing engines with heterogeneous computing power, non-uniform page view times, and high computing pool volatility. Several real-world applications are examined and gray computing is shown to be cost effective for a number of complex tasks ranging from computer vision to bioinformatics to cryptology.
Adaptive elastic metasurfaces for wave front manipulation

In this research, by combining the concept of elastic metasurfaces with piezoelectric transducer with shunted circuitry, we investigate the designs of elastic metasurfaces, consisting of an array of piezoelectric transducers shunted with negative capacitance, which is capable of modulating wave fronts adaptively. In order to construct different adaptive elastic metasurfaces, different phase profiles along the interface can be framed through properly adjusting the negative capacitance values. Flat planar lenses for focusing transmitted A0 Lamb waves are achieved, and possess the flexibility of changing focal locations through electromechanical tunings. Additionally, nonparaxial self-bending beams with arbitrary trajectories and source illusion devices can also be accomplished owing to the free manipulation of phase shifts. With their versatility and tunability, the adaptive elastic metasurfaces could pave new avenues to a wide variety of potential applications, such as nondestructive testing, ultrasound imaging, and caustic engineering.
Kinematics: Spatial Atoms

Quantum geometry determines properties of quantized space–time structures, which can be interpreted as providing an atomic understanding of space–time. A view results which is fascinating not only in its physical implications but also in its rich combination of aspects of geometry and quantum theory. Many relevant features can already be seen by analogy with quantized particles, particle then borne out by rigorous constructions of quantum space–time.
Rodent Spinal Cord Demyelination Models

Oligodendrocyte loss and subsequent demyelination is a significant component of the demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and traumatic CNS injury such as spinal cord (SCI) or traumatic brain (TBI) injury. Therefore, remyelination, either by enhancing endogenous myelination or engrafting exogenous myelinating cells, is a viable therapeutic target to restore function. To assess specific approaches to facilitate functional remyelination in vivo, appropriate injury models are needed. This chapter will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a number of demyelinating lesions of the spinal cord and provide guidelines for choosing which model best suits which experimental condition. Step by step procedures for both creating and assessing the lesion will be provided.
Machine learning in population health: Opportunities and threats

Abraham D. Flaxman and Theo Vos of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, discuss near-term applications for ML in population health and name their priorities for ongoing ML development.
Intranasal hydromorphone for treatment of acute pain in children: A pilot study.

Abstract Objectives We aimed to describe the analgesic efficacy, duration of analgesia, and adverse event profile associated with intranasal hydromorphone in children with acute pain presenting to an emergency department. Methods Prospective dose titration pilot study of otherwise healthy children 4 to 17-years-old with moderate to severe pain who required a parenteral opioid. All patients received an initial intranasal hydromorophone dose of 0.03 mg/kg. The need for additional analgesia was assessed at 15 and 30 min; an additional 0.015 mg/kg was given at each assessment, if required. Need for rescue analgesic, pain intensity and adverse events were assessed until 6 h after hydromorphone administration or until patients were discharged, underwent a procedure to treat their painful condition, or received a rescue analgesic. Results We enrolled 35 children. Fifteen, 11, and 9 children required a total dose of 0.03, 0.045, and 0.06 mg/kg, respectively. Patients in each dose group experienced an absolute decrease in pain score of ≥3/10 and percent reduction >40% within 5–15 min of completing dose-titration administration of hydromorphone. Duration of analgesia (i.e. time until rescue analgesic administered) >1 h was observed in 85.7% of patients. Patients not requiring rescue analgesics had mild or no pain until discharged or their painful conditions were treated. Three (8.6%) patients required a rescue analgesic Conclusions Intranasal hydromorphone led to rapid, clinically significant and frequently sustained decreases in pain intensity in children. No major adverse events were observed in this preliminary sample. Clinical Trials Registration Number: NCT02437669
Physician Mediation Theory and Pediatric Media Guidance in the Digital Age: A Survey of Autism Medical and Clinical Professionals.

Research on physician mediation suggests that physicians actively discuss media use (e.g., seeking online health information) with their patients. This theory has been limited though with respect t...
La zona del vacío: desplazamientos y recorridos en la ficción colombiana contemporánea

espanolLas producciones culturales colombianas de las ultimas decadas representan en muchos casos la alienacion experimentada a partir de la globalizacion del neoliberalismo. A traves de un recorrido por producciones culturales como La gente de la universal, La estrategia del caracol, Angosta, Rosario Tijeras, La virgen de los sicarios y La multitud errante, este ensayo presenta una muestra de las devastadoras consecuencias del narcotrafico como negocio que ha financiado las ultimas decadas del conflicto interno colombiano. Las producciones mencionadas son tomadas como sintoma del exceso, de la exclusion social, de la fragmentacion del Estado, del desencanto y de la entropia del espacio urbano, en lugares que pueden ofrecerlo todo y nada a la vez. EnglishColombian cultural productions of recent decades represent in many cases the alienation experienced from the globalization of neoliberalism. This essay presents a sample of the devastating consequences of drug trafficking as a business that has financed the last decades of the Colombian internal conflict through productions such as La gente de la universal, La estrategia del caracol, Angosta, Rosario Tijeras, La virgen de los sicarios and La multitud errante,. These are taken as a symptom of the social exclusion, the fragmentation of the State, and the entropy of urban space, in places that can offer everything and nothing at the same time.
Supremacy of Auditory Versus Visual Input in Somatic Empathy and Perceived Pain Level.

Abstract Background Previous studies support the role of both auditory and visual stimuli in the evocation of empathy, but no research to date has explored the relative effectiveness of each on any type of empathy. Aims The present study compared how auditory and visual presentation influence somatic empathic arousal and perceived pain level. Design Exposure to auditory and/or visual information about an individual in pain was manipulated between groups of participants. Methods Students (N = 125) in several classes were randomly assigned in groups to one of three conditions—audio-only, video-only, or audio-video—each portraying an elderly man suffering from a painful kidney stone. Participants indicated his perceived pain and level of danger and relevant physical sensations and completed an empathy status scale. Results Consistent with the hypothesis, the results indicated that participants who were presented with an auditory stimulus (audio-only and audio-video conditions) estimated higher and more accurate pain and danger level for the patient compared with those in the visual-only group. Participants in the audio groups also reported experiencing physical sensations, whereas the visual-only group had no such report. Conclusions The study found that auditory information is more impactful in eliciting perceptions of pain in others compared with visual information. Experiences of clinical empathy and patient care may be improved by focusing on patients’ auditory pain communications.
Virus like particles: fundamental concepts, biological interactions, and clinical applications

Abstract Nanoscale materials with multiple functionalities have presented themselves as effective therapeutic agents. Synthetic systems like silica-based nanoparticles, colloidal systems, liposomal formulations, and dendrimer vesicles are just a few of the nanoscaffolds developed for biomedical applications. On the other hand, proteinaceous cages, such as virus-like particles (VLPs), are an emerging natural supramolecular nanoparticle making headway in biomedical applications owing to their unmatched capacity to produce uniform nanoparticles reliably. These nanosized carriers are comprised of spontaneously assembling subunits, which mirror the geometry of the parent virus. The monomeric units are amenable to the incorporation of a variety of functional groups via genetic or covalent modification to develop multivalent, medically relevant biomaterials with interesting optical, sensing, and targeting properties. In this review, recent developments of biologically inspired systems for medical applications will be explored with the focus placed on protein-based nanoparticles designed for imaging, biosensing, and drug delivery.
Local Spectroscopies Reveal Percolative Metal in Disordered Mott Insulators.

We elucidate the mechanism by which a Mott insulator transforms into a non-Fermi liquid metal upon increasing disorder at half filling. By correlating maps of the local density of states, the local magnetization, and the local bond conductivity, we find a collapse of the Mott gap toward a $\mathsf{V}$-shaped pseudogapped density of states that occurs concomitantly with the decrease of magnetism around the highly disordered sites but an increase of bond conductivity. These metallic regions percolate to form an emergent non-Fermi liquid phase with a conductivity that increases with temperature. Bond conductivity measured via local microwave impedance combined with charge and spin local spectroscopies are ideal tools to corroborate our predictions.
Comparative Effectiveness Research and Renal Nutrition

Despite advances in medicine and technology, clinical outcomes among patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have remained suboptimal. Historically, much of the focus in kidney disease had been on the burgeoning end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) population and the respective renal replacement therapies (RRTs) necessary for life maintenance, i.e., hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD), and kidney transplantation. For the first time in decades, the incidence of individuals advancing to ESKD has slowed and may be related to the greater emphasis on early screening for CKD in primary care settings, leading to more timely and appropriate intervention(s) [1]. Capturing the patient once at stage 5 CKD may be too late to make meaningful changes in the factors associated with poorer outcomes.
NPC-phagy: selective autophagy of the nuclear pore complexes

Selective autophagy is critical for the regulation of cellular homeostasis in organisms from yeast to humans. This process is a specific degradation pathway for a wide variety of substrates includi...
Ethnoracial Differences in Lewy Body Diseases with Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND Increasing research focuses on ethnic differences in Alzheimer's disease, but such efforts in other neurodegenerative dementias are lacking. Currently, data on the ethnic profile of cognitively impaired persons with Lewy body disease (LBD) is limited, despite Lewy body dementia being the second most common neurodegenerative dementia. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to investigate presenting characteristics among ethnoracially diverse individuals with cognitive impairment secondary to LBD using the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center database. METHODS Participants self-identified as African American, Hispanic, or White. We used Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson χ2 analyses to investigate group differences in presenting characteristics and linear regression to compare neuropsychological test performance. RESULTS Presentation age was similar between groups (median 74-75 years). Compared to Whites (n = 1782), African Americans (n = 130) and Hispanics (n = 122) were more likely to be female and single, have less educational attainment, report more cardiovascular risk factors, describe less medication use, and perform worse on select cognitive tests. Hispanics reported more depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION Cohorts differences highlight the need for population-based LBD studies with racial-ethnic diversity. Culturally-sensitive neuropsychological tests are needed to determine whether observed differences relate to cultural, social, testing, or disease-related factors. More research is needed regarding how social and biological factors impact LBD care among diverse populations.
Essential but Unprotected: Highly Mobile Workers in the EU during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that highly mobile workers who frequently move either within or in and out of the European Union (EU) are irreplaceable during a public health crisis. Nevertheless, they often remain the least protected and most vulnerable. Measures introduced to protect workers in standard employment relationships during a public health crisis might not reach certain groups of highly mobile workers. As a result, they may become even more marginalised during a crisis. This is further exacerbated by such workers often being foreigners in their host countries. Both host and home countries fail to protect them adequately, and this can be even more pronounced for workers from third countries, outside of the EU. During the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-existing EU law has failed to protect highly mobile workers and, so far, the guidance and policy actions taken by the European Commission have failed them too. To enhance protection for highly mobile workers in the long term, a significant (upwards) convergence of social and labour law standards between countries and for different groups of workers is needed. In the medium term, a pan-European social safety net for crisis situations should be created, with the needs of highly mobile workers in mind. And in the short term, targeted emergency measures including both support and protective standards for this group of workers should be adopted, ideally at the EU level or, if not possible, at the national level. This policy brief's focus is on ‘highly mobile workers’, namely those workers whose place of employment is not a single Member State: they either regularly cross borders due to the nature of their work, work in multiple Member States, or cross a border every day in order to work in a Member State other than the one where they permanently reside (De Wispelaere and Rocca 2020). The following groups of workers are of interest here: international transport workers (drivers, seafarers and air crew members); seasonal workers; frontier workers, who travel to a country other than their own for work on a regular basis; and other types of highly mobile workers.
Internet Enhancement of the Role of Civil Society in Promoting the Rule of Law in Transitional States

The Internet has the potential to play a key role in the way civil society organizations promote the rule of law in transitional states. In many states several barriers stand in the way of utilizing the Internet for this purpose. Challenges that arise include technological deficits and poor infrastructure, socio-economic barriers, government hostility to open information, and civil society organizations unable to reach populations. With the development of new technologies, and increased openness of information, civil society organizations will be better positioned to embrace the use of the Internet to promote the rule of law by helping citizens receive information, and facilitating communication between citizens and government.
Optimal Co-Designs of Communication and Control in Bandwidth Constrained Cyber-Physical Systems.

We address the problem of sparsity-promoting optimal control of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) in the presence of communication delays. The delays are categorized into two types - namely, an inter-layer delay for passing state and control information between the physical layer and the cyber layer, and an intra-layer delay that operates between the computing agents, referred to here as control nodes (CNs), within the cyber-layer. Our objective is to minimize the closed-loop H2-norm of the physical system by co-designing an optimal combination of these two delays and a sparse state-feedback controller while respecting a given bandwidth cost constraint. We propose a two-loop optimization algorithm for this. Based on the alternating directions method of multipliers (ADMM), the inner loop handles the conflicting directions between the decreasing H2-norm and the increasing sparsity level of the controller. The outer loop comprises a semidefinite program (SDP)-based relaxation of non-convex inequalities necessary for closed-loop stability. Moreover, for CPSs where the state and control information assigned to the CNs are not private, we derive an additional algorithm that further sparsifies the communication topology by modifying the row and column structures of the obtained controller, resulting in reassigning the communication map between the cyber and physical layers, and determining which physical agent should send its state information to which CN. Proofs for closed-loop stability and optimality are provided for both algorithms, followed by numerical simulations.
Generalized coordinate partitioning for complex mechanisms based on kinematic substructuring

Abstract Generalized Coordinate Partitioning (GCP), a partitioning of the Jacobian matrix, allows for the automatic identification of dependent and independent variables and primary and secondary systems of equations for constrained multibody mechanisms. The GCP method is achieved through the row and column permutations associated with applying Gaussian Elimination with Complete Pivoting (GECP) to the constraint Jacobian matrices. GCP forms the basis of robust and efficient kinematic path planning and solution of dynamic equations of motion, with the potential to achieve orders of magnitude speed up over least squares and iterative methods. Despite these benefits, a significant disadvantage is that the GCP method is numerically expensive. This paper presents a technique to automatically rearrange groups of intersecting kinematic loops into non-overlapping kinematic substructures, which effectively block-diagonalizes the Jacobian Matrix. The method is applied to a hydraulic excavator, an illustrative example of a complex mechanism, and an approximate order of magnitude reduction in floating point operations required to perform the GCP method is demonstrated. Numerical results comparing the run time of the kinematic substructuring technique to sparse matrix methods and full dense GECP are provided. Furthermore, a compact representation of the equations of motion is formulated, accounting for the kinematic substructures identified in the mechanism.