cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
THE USE OF OBSTETRIC FORCEPS.

Routine episiotomy in primiparas has become an accepted procedure; use of low forceps will spare the baby considerable trauma and prevent much maternal discomfort. The vertex posterior presentation is a common indication for use of obstetric forceps. Another indication is breech presentation. Midforceps delivery has a limited place in obstetrics. High forceps delivery has been largely discarded. If the application of forceps or the rotation or delivery proves difficult, it is wise to resort to cesarean section.
Assessing Topic Representations for Gist-Forming

As topic modeling has grown in popularity, tools for visualizing the process have become increasingly common. Though these tools support a variety of different tasks, they generally have a view or module that conveys the contents of an individual topic. These views support the important task of gist-forming: helping the user build a cohesive overall sense of the topic's semantic content that can be generalized outside the specific subset of words that are shown. There are a number of factors that affect these views, including the visual encoding used, the number of topic words included, and the quality of the topics themselves. To our knowledge, there has been no formal evaluation comparing the ways in which these factors might change users' interpretations. In a series of crowdsourced experiments, we sought to compare features of visual topic representations in their suitability for gist-forming. We found that gist-forming ability is remarkably resistant to changes in visual representation, though it deteriorates with topics of lower quality.
Septic Arthritis and Other Infections of Rheumatologic Significance

Bacterial arthritis has been reported rarely in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection and generally is associated with other risk factors such as intravenous drug use. Septic arthritis may be caused by opportunistic organisms and may be more common in hemophiliacs when associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Pyomyositis and osteomyelitis have also been reported more commonly.
Instability, Cultural Fecundity, and Dispersals

Look at the most vigorous species; by as much as it swarms in numbers, by so much will it tend to increase still further.
The Political Economy of Kurdish Tribalism

Great changes were occurring in the social and economic life of Iranian Kurdistan at the beginning of the century. These were perhaps inevitable due to demographic and other changes arising within Kurdish society. However, government policies destroying the nomadic/tribal lifestyle contributed to the speed of change. The result of these changes was the sedentarization of Kurdish tribes. The forced settlement and sedentarization process meant that eventually all the Kurdish tribes settled and permanently inhabited villages. However, it did not mean the total disappearance of tribal relationships among large segments of Kurdish society. It is the main focus of this chapter to examine the factors which brought fundamental changes to the tribal structure of Kurdish society, factors which weakened tribal ‘face-to-face’ relationships, and factors which contributed to the continuity of some of those tribal relationships. I will argue that elements of this continuity are evident in the relative equality existing in Kurdish tribal life which, in turn, is due, primarily, to the main economic activity of the tribes, namely herding, which in turn is largely based on the mountainous features of the region. The hypothesis of this chapter is that the very features which forced the settlement of the Kurdish tribes helped to preserve some of the tribal characteristics of Kurdish society too.
Metabolite profiling of whole murine embryos reveals metabolic perturbations associated with maternal valproate‐induced neural tube closure defects

Background Valproic acid (VPA) is prescribed therapeutically for multiple conditions, including epilepsy. When taken during pregnancy, VPA is teratogenic, increasing the risk of several birth and developmental defects including neural tube defects (NTDs). The mechanism by which VPA causes NTDs remains controversial and how VPA interacts with folic acid (FA), a vitamin commonly recommended for the prevention of NTDs, remains uncertain. We sought to address both questions by applying untargeted metabolite profiling analysis to neural tube closure (NTC) stage mouse embryos. Methods Pregnant SWV dams on either a 2 ppm or 10 ppm FA supplemented diet were injected with a single dose of VPA on gestational day E8.5. On day E9.5, the mouse embryos were collected and evaluated for NTC status. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry metabolomics analysis was performed to compare metabolite profiles of NTD-affected VPA-exposed whole mouse embryos with profiles from embryos that underwent normal NTC from control dams. Results NTDs were observed in all embryos from VPA-treated dams and penetrance was not diminished by dietary FA supplementation. The most profound metabolic perturbations were found in the 10ppm FA VPA-exposed mouse embryos, compared with the other three treatment groups. Affected metabolites included amino acids, nucleobases and related phosphorylated nucleotides, lipids, and carnitines. Conclusion Maternal VPA treatment markedly perturbed purine and pyrimidine metabolism in E9.5 embryos. In combination with a high FA diet, VPA treatment resulted in gross metabolic changes, likely caused by a multiplicity of mechanisms, including an apparent disruption of mitochondrial beta-oxidation. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Emitter choice for epitaxial CdTe solar cells

High-quality epitaxial CdTe layers with low defect density and high carrier concentration have been demonstrated by several research groups. Nevertheless, one primary challenge for high-performance epitaxial CdTe solar cells is how to choose a suitable emitter partner for the junction formation. The numerical simulations show that a type I heterojunction with small conduction band offset (0.1 eV ≤ ΔEc ≤ 0.3 eV) is necessary to maintain a good cell efficiency even with large interface recombination. Otherwise, a small “cliff” can assist interface recombination causing smaller Voc, and a large “spike” (ΔEc ≥ 0.4 eV) can impede the photo current and lead to a reduction of J SC and FF. Among the three possible emitters, CdS, CdMgTe, and MgZnO, CdMgTe (with ∼30% Mg) and MgZnO (with ∼ 20% Mg) are likely to be a better choice since their type-I junction can tolerate a larger density of interface defects.
Characterization of Spirituality in Maternal–Child Caregivers

Abstract Objective: To characterize spiritual beliefs and support provided by maternal–child staff at three academic hospitals. Background: Parents in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) believe that addressing spirituality is important. The spiritual beliefs and the support provided by NICU staff are currently unknown. Methods: This prospective study surveyed all maternal–child staff (NICU and Obstetrics): physicians, neonatal nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, respiratory therapists, and social workers. Two validated tools were used: Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) and Spiritual Care Inventory (SCI); SIBS assesses spiritual beliefs and practices, SCI assesses the perception of spiritual care that one provides. Demographic information, including self-identified religious affiliation, was collected. Results: Respondents of 406 completed surveys were mostly nurses, female, white, and Christian. SIBS scores ranged between 21 and 136. Higher SIBS score was associated with Chr...
Importance of Canals for Florida Largemouth Bass: Lake Griffin, Florida

Abstract Canal systems are commonly found across the country and are rarely constructed to increase fish habitat or angling opportunities. From 2009 to 2011, we assessed the benefits of canals to the fishery at Lake Griffin, Florida, by measuring and comparing the Florida Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides floridanus population and angler use to the main lake. We used electrofishing, angler creel surveys, and a high-reward tagging study. Results from electrofishing surveys revealed a high relative abundance of Florida Largemouth Bass in the canals, with similar electrofishing catch rates and size structure to those in the main lake. The canal creel showed that anglers used canals throughout the study, with peak use during the spawning season. The tagging study revealed anglers caught Florida Largemouth Bass in canals throughout the 12-mo study and that Florida Largemouth Bass migrated between the lake and canals. We conclude that the canals support a significant portion of the overall angler effort for...
Managing Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Clinical Updates and Three Strategic Approaches.

The increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is well known; however, appropriate management of this elevated risk in rheumatology clinics is less clear. By critically reviewing literature published within the past 5 years, we aim to clarify current knowledge and gaps regarding CVD risk management in RA. We examine recent guidelines, recommendations, and evidence and discuss three approaches: (1) RA-specific management including treat-to-target and medication management, (2) assessment of comprehensive individual risk, and (3) targeting traditional CVD risk factors (hypertension, smoking, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity) at a population level. Considering that 75% of US RA visits occur in specialty clinics, further research is needed regarding evidence-based strategies to manage and reduce CVD risk in RA. This review highlights clinical updates including US cardiology and international professional society guidelines, successful evidence-based population approaches from primary care, and novel opportunities in rheumatology care to reduce CVD risk in RA.
Evidence in support of Gaussian mixture models for sparse time varying ocean acoustic response functions.

A hierarchical Gaussian mixture model has been proposed to characterize sparse space-time varying shallow water acoustic response functions [Gendron, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 139, 1923–1937 (2016)]. Considered here is an extension of this model to a uniform linear vertical array in order to provide an empirical validation of the mixture model for receivers of small aperture. An acoustic environment between source and moving receiver is predicated on a small proportion of relatively coherent paths obeying an ensemble frequency-angle-Doppler distribution. Provided are quantile-quantile plots of the discrete mixture model versus the empirical channel coefficients that lend credence to its use as a sparse model for acoustic response functions.
CD4+ T cells from multiple sclerosis patients respond to a commensal-derived antigen.

Multiple sclerosis, an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system, is characterized by the impaired function of regulatory cells that fail to suppress self-reactive effector cells. We have previously found that polysaccharide A, a capsular antigen derived from the human gut commensal Bacteroides fragilis, can induce a population of regulatory T cells. Herein, we demonstrate that naive T cells isolated from patients with multiple sclerosis have the capacity to acquire regulatory characteristics when stimulated in vitro with polysaccharide A. This study demonstrates the amplification of a regulatory T cell response by a gut-derived commensal antigen in those with multiple sclerosis.
On central L-derivative values of automorphic forms

We study the average and nonvanishing of the central L-derivative values of L(s, f) and $$L(s,f_{K_{\scriptscriptstyle D}})$$ for f in an orthogonal Hecke eigenbasis $$\mathcal {H}_{2k}$$ of weight 2k cusp forms of level 1 for large odd k. Here $$f_{K_{\scriptscriptstyle D}}$$ is the base change of f to an imaginary quadratic field $$K_{\scriptscriptstyle D}=\mathbb {Q}(\sqrt{D})$$ with fundamental discriminant D. We prove asymptotic formulas for the first and second moments of $$L'(\frac{1}{2},f)$$ , as well as the first moment of $$L'(\frac{1}{2},f_{K_{\scriptscriptstyle D}})$$ , over $$\mathcal {H}_{2k}$$ as odd $$k\rightarrow \infty $$ . Further, we employ mollifiers to establish that for sufficiently large k there are positive proportion of Hecke eigenforms f in $$\mathcal {H}_{2k}$$ with $$L'(\frac{1}{2},f)\ne 0$$ . We also give applications of our results to Heegner cycles of high weights of the modular curve $$X_0(1)$$ .
Inpatient Consults and Complications During Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty in a Bundled Care Model

Abstract Background The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are implementing changes in hospital reimbursement models for total joint arthroplasty (TJA), moving to value-based bundled payments from the fee-for-service model. The purpose of this study is to identify consults and complications during the perioperative period that increase financial burden. Methods We combined CMS payment data for inpatient, professional, and postoperative with retrospective review of patients undergoing primary TJA and developed profiles of patients included in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement bundle undergoing TJA. Statistical comparison of episode inpatient events and payments was conducted. Multiple regression analysis was adjusted for length of stay, disposition, and Charlson-Deyo comorbidity profile. Results Median total payment was $21,577.36, which exceeded the median bundle target payment of $20,625.00. Adjusted analyses showed that psychiatry consults (increase of $73,123.32; P Conclusion Patients with inpatient complications such as pulmonary embolism and/or deep vein thrombosis, intensive care unit admission, and medical/psychiatric consultation exceeded the CMS target. Although study results showed typical complication rates, acute inpatient consultation significantly increased utilization beyond the CMS target even when adjusted for length of stay, patient comorbidities, and discharge. Needed medical care should continue to be a priority for inpatients, and allowance for individual outliers should be considered in policy discussions.
Characterizing alleles with large deletions using region specific extraction.

Abstract Two novel HLA class II alleles, DRB4*03:01N and DQB1*03:276N, containing large deletions were identified during routine typing. Extraction of DNA encompassing the deletions was carried out with a panel of capture oligonucleotides followed by whole genome amplification. Next generation DNA sequencing was then used to characterize the sequences. DRB4*03:01N has a 16 kilobase pair deletion stretching upstream from intron 2 toward centromeric DRB8. DQB1*03:276N has two deletions separated by 844 nucleotides. The first deletion (3.7 kilobase pairs) is upstream of intron 1 and the second deletion removes 3.3 kilobase pairs further upstream towards centromeric DQA2.
The Causal Eect of School Reform: Evidence from California's Quality Education Investment Act

Beginning in the 2007-08 school year, California’s Quality Education Investment Act required schools selected via lottery to institute reforms including class size reduction, increased average teacher experience, and extra professional training. The act provided additional per-pupil funding for schools to meet these requirements. Conditional on known probabilities of selection, which diered across schools, treatment is uncorrelated with potential outcomes, allowing for non-parametric identication of the causal eect by inverse probability weighting. In the rst fully-funded year of the program, math scores in 4 th grade increased by 0.32 SD in the population of California school-grade averages, and by the second fully-funded year 5 th grade math scores improved by 0.36 SD. By the third fully-funded year of the program, math scores in 2 nd grade were 0.28 SD higher in the distribution of California school-grade averages, and 0.27 SD higher in 3 rd grade. Selected schools did not increase teacher experience,
The Crime of Aggression, Humanity, and the Soldier

The international criminality of waging illegal war, alongside only a few of the gravest human wrongs, is rooted not in its violation of sovereignty, but in the large-scale killing war entails. Yet when soldiers refuse to kill in illegal wars, nothing shields them from criminal sanction for that refusal. This seeming paradox in law demands explanation. Just as soldiers have no right not to kill in criminal wars, the death and suffering inflicted on them when they fight against aggression has been excluded repeatedly from the calculation of post-war reparations, whether monetary or symbolic. This, too, is jarring in an era of international law infused with human rights principles. Tom Dannenbaum explores these ambiguities and paradoxes, and argues for institutional reforms through which the law would better respect the rights and responsibilities of soldiers.
The Role of Surface Fugacities and of Hydrogen Desorption Sites in Catalytic Reactions of Alkanes

Abstract Hydrogen removal occurs by recombinative desorption and by hydrogen transfer during dehydrogenation steps required in the conversion of alkanes on H-ZSM5 and on H-ZSM5 modified by Ga or Zn. On H-ZSM5, hydrogen removal limits the rate of propane conversion to aromatics. The resulting high surface hydrogen fugacities lead to cracking, a step that removes both adsorbed hydrogen and deactivating residues. Ga and Zn ions catalyze the recombinative desorption of H-adatoms, lower hydrogen surface fugacities, and allow acid sites to turnover without cracking. Metal ions act as “portholes” for the desorption of H-atoms as H 2 . In-situ EXAFS neasurements show that Ga +3 ions reduce during reactions of propane or pretreatment by H 2 . Hydrogen desorption and propane aromatization rates depend on the density of reduced Ga species in H-ZSM5, which catalyze rate-limiting hydrogen removal steps. The overall catalytic sequence is bifunctional; Bronsted acid chemistry is apparently enhanced by the presence of sites that stabilize hydride ions and catalyze H + -H − recombination reactions.
An Intuitive Equivalent Circuit Model for Multilayer Van Der Waals Heterostructures

Stacks of 2-D materials, known as van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, have gained vast attention due to their interesting electrical and optoelectronic properties. This paper presents an intuitive circuit model for the out-of-plane electrostatics of a vdW heterostructure composed of an arbitrary number of layers of 2-D semiconductors, graphene, or metal. We explain the mapping between the out-of-plane energy band diagram and the elements of the equivalent circuit. Although the direct solution of the circuit model for an n-layer structure is not possible due to the variable, nonlinear quantum capacitance of each layer, this paper uses the intuition gained from the energy band picture to provide an efficient solution in terms of a single variable. Our method employs Fermi–Dirac statistics while properly modeling the finite density of states (DOS) of 2-D semiconductors and graphene. The approach circumvents difficulties that arise in commercial TCAD tools, such as the proper handling of the 2-D DOS and the simulation boundary conditions when the structure terminates with a nonmetallic material. Based on this methodology, we have developed 2dmatstacks , an open-source tool freely available on nanohub.org . Overall, this paper equips researchers to analyze, understand, and predict experimental results in complicated vdW stacks.
Abstract 784: NCI CPTAC phase III, proteogenomic analysis of 10 cancers

The National Cancer Institute9s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) is an international effort to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of large-scale proteomic and genomic analysis, or proteogenomics. Leidos Biomedical Research, a prime contractor to NCI, provides a robust infrastructure for supporting the collection and sequencing of high-quality biospecimens and data, in addition to project and subcontract management for this program. CPTAC applies the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer to identify biomarker candidates. CPTAC phase III began late 2016 to collect and analyze 200 cases of each of ten additional cancers. The cancers include sarcoma, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma, clear cell renal cell carcinoma, glioblastoma multiforme, and acute myeloid leukemia. The program completed the discovery phase collection of 100 cases for 3 tumor types in the first year. The study entails collection and pathology evaluation of biospecimens, high-quality clinical data and images from clinical sites around the world. A biorepository evaluates and processes the biospecimens, sending nucleic acids to sequencing centers and tissues to proteomics groups. Data are combined and analyzed by proteogenomic data analysis and translational centers. Genomic data are made available to the research community through the NCI Genomic Data Commons. Proteomic and proteogenomic data are made available through the Data Coordinating Center. Imaging data are made available through NCI imaging archive. We report here on progress in collection of tissues and clinical data, the preliminary analysis trends and the integration of biorepository, proteomics and genomics and analysis centers. Citation Format: Mathangi Thiagarajan. NCI CPTAC phase III, proteogenomic analysis of 10 cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 784.
Incrementally-deployable Indoor Navigation with Automatic Trace Generation

Despite years of research attention, localization-based indoor navigation has not found wide-spread practical use, largely due to the high burden on deployment and bootstrapping. Lightweight peer-to-peer navigation systems that use a leader-follower model have recently been proposed to alleviate these burdens. However, typical peer-to-peer navigation suffers from poor scalability and flexibility as navigation is only possible over pre-collected leader paths. In this paper, we present FollowUs, an easily-deployable (bootstrap-free) and scalable indoor navigation system. In addition to robust navigation through real-time trace-following, FollowUs integrates cloud services to process and combine traces at large scale. Optionally, it can also leverage floor plans to further enhance navigation efficiency. We design and implement FollowUs, including mobile app and cloud services. Experimental results from a company-internal beta release show that 91% of FollowUs’ spatial errors on reaching destinations to be 3m or less, and 95% of navigation instructions are shown to users within a 4-step error margin during navigation.
Solving the structure of Lgl2, a difficult blind test of unsupervised structure determination

In the companion paper by Ufimtsev and Levitt [Ufimtsev IS, Levitt M (2019) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 10.1073/pnas.1821512116], we presented a method for unsupervised solution of protein crystal structures and demonstrated its utility by solving several test cases of known structure in the 2.9- to 3.45-A resolution range. Here we apply this method to solve the crystal structure of a 966-amino acid construct of human lethal giant larvae protein (Lgl2) that resisted years of structure determination efforts, at 3.2-A resolution. The structure was determined starting with a molecular replacement (MR) model identified by unsupervised refinement of a pool of 50 candidate MR models. This initial model had 2.8-A RMSD from the solution. The solved structure was validated by comparison with a model subsequently derived from an alternative crystal form diffracting to higher resolution. This model could phase an anomalous difference Fourier map from an Hg derivative, and a single-wavelength anomalous dispersion phased density map made from these sites aligned with the refined structure.
Computational Complexity of Some Enumeration Problems About Uniformly Sparse Boolean Network Automata

We study the computational complexity of counting the fixed point configurations (FPs), the predecessor configurations and the ancestor configurations in certain classes of graph or network automata viewed as discrete dynamical systems. Some early results of this investigation are presented in two recent ECCC reports [39, 40]. In particular, it is proven in [ 40] that both exact and approximate counting of FPs in the two closely related classes of Boolean network automata, called Sequential and Synchronous Dynamical Systems(SDSs and SyDSs, respectively), are computationally intractable problems when each node is required to update according to a monotone Boolean function. In the present paper, we further strengthen those results by showing that the intractability of exact enumeration of FPs of a monotone Boolean SDS or SyDS still holds even when (i) the monotone update rules are restricted to linear threshold functions, and (ii) the underlying graph is uniformly sparse. By uniform sparsenesswe mean that every node in the graph has its degree bounded by for a small value of constant . In particular, we prove that exactly enumerating FPs in such SDSs and SyDSs remains #P-complete even when no node degree exceeds . Among other consequences, we show that this result also implies intractability of determ ining the exact memory capacity of discrete Hopfield networks with uniformly sparseand nonnegativeinteger weight matrices.
Open Airway Surgery in a Paraplegic: The Importance of an Adequate Cough.

Objectives:To describe a case of open airway surgery with postoperative respiratory complications in a paraplegic woman and to review the unique respiratory physiology seen in patients with a histo...
Agenda broadened, challenges met, moving forward: a response to Sprague’s unanswered questions

It was during my Ph.D. studies in the early 1990s that I first read Sprague’s (1992) now foundational Communication Education article in which she asked readers to consider six questions about the ...
Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) is a specialty of medicine focused on optimizing function and quality of life for individuals with physical impairments, injuries, or disabling illnesses...
Bone Marrow Adipocytes Prevent Hematopoietic Expansion in Homeostasis and in Bone Marrow Transplantation

In mammalian bone marrow (BM), osteoblasts and endothelium constitute functional niches that support hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Adult BM also contains numerous adipocytes, whose numbers correlate inversely with the hematopoietic activity of the marrow. As described by Neumann’s law in 1882, distal skeletal regions are adipocytic and thus non-hematopoietic in the adult. Fatty infiltration of the hematopoietic red marrow also occurs following irradiation or chemotherapy and is a diagnostic feature in biopsies from patients with marrow aplasia. However, whether adipocytes participate in hematopoietic regulation or simply expand to fill marrow space is unclear. We have found that murine hematopoiesis is reduced in adipocyte-rich marrow during homeostasis, and that adipocytes antagonize marrow recovery post-irradiation. By flow cytometry, colony forming assay, and competitive repopulation, we found a reduced frequency of HSCs and short-term hematopoietic progenitors in the adipocyte-rich vertebrae of the tail compared to the adipocyte-free vertebrae of the thorax. In A-ZIP/F1 “fatless” mice, which are genetically incapable of forming adipocytes, post-irradiation marrow engraftment is accelerated relative to wild type mice. Likewise, pharmacologic inhibition of adipocyte formation with the PPARg inhibitor Bisphenol-A-DiGlycidyl-Ether (BADGE) enhances hematopoietic recovery after BM transplant. Moreover, we have found that mice deficient in the adipocyte-specific protein adiponectin, which has been described to inhibit hematopoietic progenitor expansion in vitro, have increased progenitors in fatty marrow both during homeostasis and after BM transplant. Our data implicate adipocytes as negative regulators of the bone marrow microenvironment, and demonstrate that antagonizing adipogenesis is advantageous for enhancing hematopoietic recovery in the setting of bone marrow transplantation.
Hyperglycemia-induced ubiquitination and degradation of β-catenin with the loss of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 in retinal endothelial cells

Objective Increased retinal vascular permeability is one of the earliest manifestations of diabetic retinopathy. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of hyperglycemia-induced platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 loss on retinal vascular permeability via the β-catenin pathway. Methods Type I diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats using streptozotocin injections, with age-matched non-diabetic rats as controls. Rat retinal microvascular endothelial cells were grown under normal or high glucose conditions for 6 days. Small interfering Ribonucleic Acid was used to knock down platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 in rat retinal microvascular endothelial cells for loss-of-function studies. Retinas and rat retinal microvascular endothelial cells were subjected to Western blot, immunofluorescence labeling, and co-immunoprecipitation analyses to assess protein levels and interactions. A biotinylated gelatin and fluorescein isothiocyanate-avidin assay was used for retinal endothelial cell permeability studies. Results β-catenin, β-catenin/platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 interaction, active Src homology 2 domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase were significantly decreased, while β-catenin ubiquitination levels and endothelial permeability were significantly increased, in hyperglycemic retinal endothelial cells. Similar results were observed with platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 partial knockdown, where β-catenin and active Src homology 2 domain-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase levels were decreased, while phospho-β-catenin and retinal endothelial cell permeability were increased. Conclusion Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 loss may contribute to increased retinal endothelial cell permeability by attenuating β-catenin levels under hyperglycemic conditions.
A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON THE INCIDENCE, MECHANISMS AND RISK FACTORS FOR SPORT RELATED CONCUSSIONS IN HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER PLAYERS:

Background:There is a growing concern regarding the incidence of Sport Related Concussion (SRC) in high school soccer players. However, there is limited prospective data regarding the incidence, me...
Immunosuppression in Donation After Circulatory Death Liver Transplantation: Can Induction Modify Graft Survival?

Recipients of donation after circulatory death (DCD) LTs historically have an increased risk of graft failure. Antibody induction (AI) with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) or anti-interleukin 2 receptor (anti-IL2R) immunotherapy may decrease the incidence of graft failure by mitigating ischemia/reperfusion injury. A retrospective review of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database for LTs between 2002 and 2015 was conducted to determine whether ATG or anti-IL2R AI was associated with graft survival in DCD. A secondary endpoint was postoperative renal function as measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate at 6 and 12 months. Among DCD recipients, ATG (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.71; P = 0.03), but not anti-IL2R (HR = 0.82; P = 0.10), was associated with a decrease in graft failure at 3 years when compared with recipients without AI. ATG (HR = 0.90; P = 0.02) and anti-IL2R (HR = 0.94; P = 0.03) were associated with a decreased risk of graft failure in donation after brain death (DBD) liver recipients at 3 years compared with no AI. When induction regimens were compared between DCD and DBD, only ATG (HR = 1.19; P = 0.19), and not anti-IL2R (HR = 1.49; P < 0.01) or no AI (HR = 1.77; P < 0.01), was associated with similar survival between DCD and DBD. In conclusion, AI therapy with ATG was associated with improved longterm liver allograft survival in DCD compared with no AI. ATG was associated with equivalent graft survival between DCD and DBD, suggesting a beneficial role of immune cell depletion in DCD outcomes.
Diversity of Long-Lived Intermediates along the Binding Pathway of Imatinib to Abl Kinase Revealed by MD Simulations.

Imatinib is a drug for the treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and other cancers that works by blocking the catalytic site of pathological constitutively active Abl kinase. While the binding pose is known from X-ray crystallography, the different steps leading to the formation of the complex are not well understood. The results from extensive molecular dynamics simulations show that imatinib can primarily exit the known crystallographic binding pose through the cleft of the binding site or by sliding under the αC helix. Once displaced from the crystallographic binding pose, imatinib becomes trapped in intermediate states. These intermediates are characterized by a high diversity of ligand orientations and conformations, and relaxation timescales within this region may exceed 3–4 ms. Analysis indicates that the metastable intermediate states should be spectroscopically indistinguishable from the crystallographic binding pose, in agreement with tryptophan stopped-flow fluorescence experiments.
Witness Theater: A Film Review Bridging the Generational Gap: Connecting Aging Trauma Survivors with Teens.

This film review examines the documentary Witness Theater directed by Oren Rudavsky. The film follows a one-year project of sixteen Brooklyn high schoolers and eight aging Holocaust survivors. The ...
Sustainable Superheated Water Hydrolysis of Black Soldier Fly Exuviae for Chitin Extraction and Use of the Obtained Chitosan in the Textile Field

Interest in insects as waste biomass bioconverters and their use as valuable resources for fat, proteins, and chitin has increased considerably in the last few years. In this study, proteins were extracted from defatted black soldier fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens) exuviae by green hydrolysis using superheated water at 150 °C for 20 h, and the remaining chitin was deacetylated into chitosan and used as a finishing agent for polyester fabrics. A total amount of 7% fat, 40% proteins, and 20% chitin was obtained from BSF exuviae. Different hydrolysis times ranging from 1 to 20 h were tried until the complete purification of chitin. The purity of chitin and the obtained chitosan after deacetylation was assessed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis. A preliminary study was successfully carried out to use the obtained chitosan as a finishing agent for polyester pretreated fabrics using citric acid as a grafting agent. The presence of chitosan on the fabric was verified by scanning electron microscopy and by dyeing of the pretreated polyester fabric using a reactive dye with sulfonated groups that are able to be absorbed by electrostatic attraction because of the created cationic nature of the fiber surface treated by chitosan.
Evaluating the Effect of Legal Vulnerabilities and Social Support on the Mental Health of Undocumented College Students

Undocumented students face considerable stressors due to their precarious legal status, economic disadvantages, and social exclusion. Building on a growing body of the literature that has examined ...
Unique structure and positive selection promote the rapid divergence of Drosophila Y chromosomes

Y chromosomes across diverse species convergently evolve a gene-poor, heterochromatic organization enriched for duplicated genes, LTR retrotransposable elements, and satellite DNA. Sexual antagonism and a loss of recombination play major roles in the degeneration of young Y chromosomes. However, the processes shaping the evolution of mature, already degenerated Y chromosomes are less well-understood. Because Y chromosomes evolve rapidly, comparisons between closely related species are particularly useful. We generated de novo long read assemblies complemented with cytological validation to reveal Y chromosome organization in three closely related species of the Drosophila simulans complex, which diverged only 250,000 years ago and share >98% sequence identity. We find these Y chromosomes are divergent in their organization and repetitive DNA composition and discover new Y-linked gene families whose evolution is driven by both positive selection and gene conversion. These Y chromosomes are also enriched for large deletions, suggesting that the repair of double-strand breaks on Y chromosomes may be biased toward microhomology-mediated end joining over canonical non-homologous end-joining. We propose that this repair mechanism generally contributes to the convergent evolution of Y chromosome organization.
How Do Task Structure and Uncertainty Influence Task-Interleaving Strategies During Distracted Driving?

During distracted driving, people commonly alternate or interleave attention between driving and another task. One factor that influences task interleaving is task structure. Specifically, people tend to switch between tasks at sub-tasks boundaries. Uncertainty about the roadway environment during glances away from the road, however, may play a larger role in shaping task interleaving strategies during distracted driving. The purpose of this study was to examine task interleaving strategies when drivers completed a distracting task of various subtask sizes. Participants entered phone numbers, modified zip codes, or digit strings while performing a lane-keeping task. In general, the time between button presses in the secondary task was significantly greater between sub-tasks than within sub-tasks. However, as sub-tasks became larger drivers switched more frequently within sub-tasks than between sub-tasks. Additionally, participants’ did not change their visual sampling strategies as the size of sub-tasks increased. Thus, uncertainty influenced decisions to switch between two interleaved tasks in the driving environment more than sub-task boundaries.
A Consumption Theory with Competitive Markets for Work-in-Household

Earlier home production models of consumption have considered households as one coordinated decision-making unit. Instead, this chapter assumes that individuals who are either married or considering marriage continue to be independent decision-makers after they form couples. In light of the concepts of Work-In-Household (WiHo, a particular type of household production benefiting a spouse) and its price (see Chap. 2), and assuming that traditional gender roles prevail, an analysis of markets where women are WiHo-workers and men WiHo-users leads to novel implications for the study of consumption. It follows from the model that there will be a gender gap in the price elasticity of commercial goods that could be home-produced. This helps explain, among other implications, why women may pay more for dry-cleaning than men. Sex ratio effects on consumption are also predicted: for example, it is predicted that in countries with more emigration of men than women, women will be expected to make higher contributions to newlyweds’ costs of housing. It is also shown how compensating differentials in marriage associated with various types of husband/wife matches could also be associated with different consumption patterns. For instance, relative to women married to men who are close to their own age, women married to considerably older men are predicted to have relatively more control over the use of the couple’s income and they may consume more goods that benefit them personally.
Case study on the reliability of unattended outdoor wireless sensor systems

Designed to support in-situ soil moisture measurements for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) SMAP Mission, the SoilSCAPE project started more than 6 years ago and currently it has more than 141 sensor nodes and 500 soil probes spread in 7 sites, each one with a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) connected to a central data server by means of cellular text (SMS) and 3G links. These unattended WSNs are among the largest existing outdoor networks (in terms of node sparsity) and they are operating continuously for more than 2 years. All regular sensor nodes employ non-rechargeable batteries and the failure rate due to software and electronic issues is steadily zero during the years. A very high reliability of the system is paramount in order to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of WSN solutions deployed in unattended and harsh scenarios because in many cases the maintenance costs may be multiple times the value of the device to be fixed. Therefore, we designed a Watchdog Timer (WDT) solution which is supported by a special software engineering methodology involving software and hardware modules that are WDT-aware. The main focus of this paper is to describe this novel WDT approach for embedded systems and to analyze its effectiveness for unattended systems, in particular outdoor WSNs.
Elastoplastic Stress-Strain Theory for Cohesionless Soil

Based on the results of cubical triaxial tests on Monterey No.0 Sand, an elastoplastic stress-strain theory was developed for cohesionless soil. The theory incorporates a new failure criterion, a new yield criterion, a new flow rule, and an empirical work-hardening law. The theory is applicable to general three-dimensional stress conditions and it models several essential aspects of the soil behavior observed in experimental investigations: nonlinearity, the influence of σ 3 , the influence of σ 2 , stress-path dependency, shear dilatancy effects, and coincidence of stress increment and strain increment axes at low stress levels with transition to coincidence of stress and strain increment axes at high stress levels. Results of cubical triaxial tests, torsion shear tests, and tests performed using various stress-paths were analyzed using the theory, and it was found that the stress-strain and strength characteristics observed in these tests were predicted with reasonable accuracy.
Modeling Development of Sleep–Wake Behaviors: I. Using the Mixed General Linear Model

Abstract Holditch-Davis, D., L. J. Edwards and R. W. Helms. Modeling development of sleep–wake behaviors: I. Using the mixed general linear model. PHYSIOL BEHAV 63(3) 311–318, 1998.—The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of the mixed general linear model (MixMod) for modeling development of sleep–wake behaviors in preterm infants. The mixed general linear model allows the concurrent identification of both group and individual developmental patterns in longitudinal data sets with inconsistently timed data, irregularly timed data, and randomly missing values. This statistical technique is well suited to data from preterm infants because these infants enter and leave longitudinal studies at varying times depending on their health status. One sleep organizational variable—the regularity of respiration in quiet sleep—obtained from a study of 37 preterm infants was used as an example. Seven infant characteristics were used as covariates. The various steps involved in conducting a mixed model analysis of this variable are illustrated. The strengths and limitations of this technique are discussed.
An efficient method of exposing on-chip polyfuses using dry chemical Plasma etching technique

An efficient, robust and straight forward approach in exposing on-chip polyfuses underneath oxide layers by using an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) etching machine has been established.
Islam and Social Change in French West Africa: History of an Emancipatory Community

Part I. 'The Suffering of our Father': Story and Context: 1. Sufism and status in the Western Sudan 2. Making a revival: Yacouba Sylla and his followers 3. Making a community: the 'Yacoubists' from 1930 to 2001 Part II. 'I Will Prove to You that What I Say Is True': Knowledge and Colonial Rule: 4. Ghosts and the grain of the archives 5. History in the Zawiya: redemptive traditions Part III. 'What Did He Give You?': Interpretation: 6. Lost origins: women and spiritual equality 7. The spiritual economy of emancipation 8. The gift of work: devotion, hierarchy, and labor 9. 'To never shed blood': Yocouba, Houphouet, and Cote d'Ivoire.
Who is a theorist

This article carefully analyzes a recent paper by Weisberg in which it is claimed that when Mendeleev discovered the periodic table he was not working as a modeler but instead as a theorist. I argue that Weisberg is mistaken in several respects and that the periodic table should be regarded as a classification, not as a theory. In the second part of the article an attempt is made to elevate the status of classifications by suggesting that they provide a form of ‘side-ways explanation’.
Proteome array identification of bioactive soluble proteins/peptides in Matrigel: relevance to stem cell responses.

Matrigel and similar commercial products are extracts of the Engelbreth-Holm–Swarm sarcoma that provide a basement-membrane-like attachment substrate or gel that is used to grow cells on or in, respectively. To ascertain further what proteins may be present in Matrigel, besides its major basement-membrane constituents, an analysis of the expressed liquid of gelled Matrigel was performed using proteome array technology. Among the growth factors/cytokines assayed, high positive detection was found for IGFBP1, IGFBP3, LIF, platelet factor 4, PlGF-2, and VEGF; moderate reactivity was found for cyr61, IGFBP2, IGFBP6, IL-1ra, and NOV; and low, but detectable, responses occurred for aFGF, IL-13, IL-23, M-CSF, and VEGF-B. Among the chemokines assayed, high positive detection was found for MIG and serpin E1; moderate reactivity was found for IP-10, MCP-1, and MCP-5, and low, but detectable, responses occurred for CXCL16, I-TAC, and MIP-1α. Among the other biologically active proteins assayed, high positive detection was found for adiponectin, C5a, endocan, lipocalin-2, sICAM-1, MMP-3, and TIMP-1; moderate reactivity was found for C-reactive protein, coagulation factor III, endoglin, endostatin/collagen XVIII, endothelin-1, ICAM-1, MMP-9, osteopontin, pentraxin-3, and RANTES; and low, but detectable, responses occurred for fetuin A, MMP-8, pentraxin-2, RBP4, resistin, and TIMP-4. The study found several growth factors, chemokines, and biologically active proteins not previously identified in Matrigel, and this may have significance to the interpretations of observed cellular responses when cells are grown on or in Matrigel.
A crossed-field amplifier using a distributed field emission cathode

We propose to use an addressable array of emitters to provide a distributed electron source for use in a Crossed-Field Amplifier (CFA). This idea has been proposed before for use in CFAs [1]. In our approach the dynamic control of the microwave device is obtained by using feedback from an array of device inputs and outputs to control the electron current density versus position within the device. The feedback consists of measurements of the RF output (noise, power) and of the collected current at the end of the device using a segmented collector while the inputs consist of the injected current into the device from an addressable array of cold cathode field emitters and the applied voltages to the emitters and cathode. The FEAs will be addressable so that the injection current into the device can be controlled spatially. This addressable approach should improve the performance of the device in terms of gain per length, efficiency, and possibly noise. The parameters for this CFA test bed are given in Table 1.