cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cell lines cultured at high density are resistant to lysis by tumor necrosis factor and natural cytotoxic cells.

AbstractIt has been suggested that natural cytotoxic (NC) cell activity and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), the molecular mediator of NC activity, are capable of protecting individuals against the progression of incipient tumors or could be useful in cancer therapy regimens. Much of this speculation arises as a result of in vitro studies, on a variety of tumor cells, demonstrating the cytolytic and cytostatic properties of NC and TNF activities.Here, evidence is presented showing that certain mouse fibroblast cell lines, generally considered sensitive to NC and TNF lysis, are quite resistant to these lytic activities when cultured at high cell density. Although a soluble factor that renders these same target cells resistant to NC and TNF lysis has been described, no such factor is involved in this high density-induced resistance. Rather, it appears that cell to cell contact of the targets is critical. Moreover, the induced resistance to NC and TNF lysis does not result from loss of either NC recognition dete...
Measuring outcome in the treatment of cocaine abuse: the Drug Impairment Rating Scale for cocaine.

THe Halikas-Crosby Drug Impairment Rating Scale for Cocaine (HAL DIRS-C) is designed to measure the advers impact of cocaine use upon life functioning over the previous week. The HAL DIRS-C demonstrated excellent split-half and interrater reliability. Internal consistency of the HAL DIRS-C was shown to be high. All items correlated significantly with total score and loaded on a single factor. The HAL DIRS-C correlated significantly with self-reported cocaine use, craving for cocaine, and independent ratings of the severity of addiction. The HAL DIRS-C was found to be sensitive to clinical change across weekly administrations. The scale is brief, east to administer, and both interviewer and client-friendly. our results suggest that the HAL DIRS-C may be useful as a standardized measure of improvement or outcome in clinical research involving the treatment of cocaine abuse.
Hannah Arendt on the principles of political action

Hannah Arendt’s conception of politics has long invited criticism for potentially turning political action into an exercise in hollow dramatics, both ethically unrestrained and restricted in its pr...
Molecular Origin of Properties of Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskites: The Big Picture from Small Clusters

We show that the electronic properties, including the band gap, the gap deformation potential, and the exciton binding energy as well as the chemical stability of organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites can be traced back to their corresponding molecular motifs. This understanding allows one to quickly estimate the properties of the bulk semiconductors from their corresponding molecular building blocks. New hybrid perovskite admixtures are proposed by replacing halogens with superhalogens having compatible ionic radii. The mechanism of the boron-hydride based hybrid perovskite reacting with water is investigated by using a cluster model.
Reactivity of Self-Assembled Monolayers: Local Surface Environment Determines Monolayer Erosion Rates

We use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study octanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au(111) exposed to atomic hydrogen. While the overall net reaction is to remove octanethiol molecules from the underlying gold surface, the monolayer structure heavily influences the rate of this reaction and molecules located along surface defects are preferentially removed before those located in close-packed areas. Octanethiol molecules remaining on the gold surface can go through significant rearrangement: domain boundaries can change both size and structure, annealing into surrounding close-packed domains; film defects diffuse to the edge of close-packed areas; and molecules located along the edge of close-packed domains shift position, changing the size and shape of the remaining close-packed features. Monolayer reactivity increases with increasing hydrogen-atom exposure, and we compare the experimental results with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the edges of defect sites are potentiall...
The reasons of demission among recent graduate nurses

Objective: To explore the main reasons of demission among recent graduate nurses and to provide references for drawing up countermeasures of human resource management. Methods: Recent graduate nurses who had worked and resigned from the factory and mine hospitals within 2 years were investigated of the leaving reasons. Results: ① 88.6% of recent graduate nurses thought that their hospitals were lack of humanistic care; ② 86.4% nurseswereunsatisfiedwith their lowincome; ③ 78.4% nurses felt high pressure of frequent night shift. Conclusions: Nursing supervisors should take effective measures to reduce recent graduate nurses' demission rate and pay more attention to humanistic care, nurses' welfare, management policy, and nurse working pressures.
The Spectrum of Acute Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in Saudi Children

ABSTRACT Most of the primary infections caused by Epstein-Barr virus in children are asymptomatic. In symptomatic patients, clinical presentation is variable. We describe 33 patients admitted to Su...
What Are the Costs and Benefits of Probation

Probation is an elastic sanction, and one that occurs in the community. The elasticity of the sanction means that it can be tailored to an individual based on the risk and need factors, as well as the severity of the offense. Probation, unlike incarceration which is defined by total restrictions of liberty, can use the tools of supervision to achieve various degrees of liberty restriction. The flexibility of the sanction is a benefit but the costs related to supervision depend on the degree to which the program features are proportional to the offense, are parsimonious, reinforce citizenship, and affect social justice. This chapter reviews the costs and benefits of community sanctions that affect the justice system, the individual probationer, and the community. In total, probation has a number of attributes, but the consideration of these costs and benefits is important as systems are further developed and probation emerges as a preferred sanction.
Friedrichs And The Move Toward Private Ordering Of Wages And Benefits In The Public Sector

In its recent Harris v. Quinn opinion the U.S. Supreme Court (in particular Justice Alito) seemed to welcome a future opportunity to reconsider the 1977 landmark Abood decision in which public sector closed shop employees were not required to join a union but could be subject to fees that cover the costs of “collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment purposes.” Supporters of the Abood approach argue that it is a reasonable compromise that prevents non-members from free riding on the union’s efforts (i.e. enjoying the wages and benefits negotiated by the union without sharing the costs incurred.) Detractors and the plaintiffs in Friedrichs argue that free riding concerns are insufficient to overcome serious First Amendment objections. The central idea is that all bargaining in the public sector is inherently political. Public sector pay, tenure and benefits (especially expensive retiree health care and pension promises), it is claimed, now profoundly affect the ability of state and local governments to function in many jurisdictions. This article briefly reviews the major claim in Friedrichs -- that public sector agency agreements violate the First Amendment -- and considers the implications of a decision that, but for Justice Scalia’s unexpected death almost certainly would have overturned Abood. What would this mean for financially strapped state and local governments? To understand what a victory for the Friedrichs plaintiffs would mean, this paper looks at recent data from Wisconsin which dramatically constrained public sector agency agreements a few years ago and has seen public union membership, union revenue and political power plunge as a result. If Friedrichs had overturned Abood during the 2016 term, we would now expect to see national patterns similar to those observed in Wisconsin. In many places around the country a drop in public sector union political power would be expected to translate into a climate more supportive of reduced future expenditures on public pensions and health care.
CLINICAL PROGRESS IN INHERITED RETINAL DEGENERATIONS: GENE THERAPY CLINICAL TRIALS AND ADVANCES IN GENETIC SEQUENCING.

Purpose:Inherited retinal dystrophies are a significant cause of vision loss and are characterized by the loss of photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Mutations in approximately 250 genes cause inherited retinal degenerations with a high degree of genetic heterogeneity. New techn
Reversible developmental stasis in response to nutrient availability in the Xenopus laevis central nervous system

ABSTRACT Many organisms confront intermittent nutrient restriction (NR), but the mechanisms to cope with nutrient fluctuations during development are not well understood. This is particularly true of the brain, the development and function of which is energy intensive. Here we examine the effects of nutrient availability on visual system development in Xenopus laevis tadpoles. During the first week of development, tadpoles draw nutrients from maternally provided yolk. Upon yolk depletion, animals forage for food. By altering access to external nutrients after yolk depletion, we identified a period of reversible stasis during tadpole development. We demonstrate that NR results in developmental stasis characterized by a decrease in overall growth of the animals, a failure to progress through developmental stages, and a decrease in volume of the optic tectum. During NR, neural progenitors virtually cease proliferation, but tadpoles swim and behave normally. Introducing food after temporary NR increased neural progenitor cell proliferation more than 10-fold relative to NR tadpoles, and cell proliferation was comparable to that of fed counterparts 1 week after delayed feeding. Delayed feeding also rescued NR-induced body length and tectal volume deficits and partially rescued developmental progression defects. Tadpoles recover from developmental stasis if food is provided within the first 9 days of NR, after which access to food fails to increase cell proliferation. These results show that early stages of tadpole brain development are acutely sensitive to fluctuations in nutrient availability and that NR induces developmental stasis from which animals can recover if food becomes available within a critical window.
THE PROPIONIC-ACID BACTERIA-A REVIEWIII. MISCELLANEOUS METABOLIC ACTIVITIES

This is the third and final section of a review of the propionic-acid bacteria. This section discusses some of their miscellaneous metabolic activities such as: erythritol metabolism, formation of diacetyl-acetoin and vitamin B12, production of volatile compounds not previously mentioned, propionin (an antiviral agent), lipids and phospholipids, and slime formation, Concluding comments provide a brief summary of particular points of interest.
TNFα decreases mitochondrial movement in human airway smooth muscle

In airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells, excitation-contraction coupling is accomplished via a cascade of events that connect an elevation of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]cyt) with cross-bridge ...
Design Specifics for Electric Guitars

A wide variety of electric guitar designs are now in production, far too many to comprehensively discuss here. However, a large proportion is based on either Fender or Gibson designs. Design specifics for these two instruments will, thus, cover a range of instruments and serve as a good starting point for unrelated designs.
In Pursuit of the Truth

I suggest that a minimal definition of psychoanalysis would indicate a process in which the behaviors of the psychoanalyst would be calculated to influence the present and future behaviors of the patient, including his thoughts, feelings, attitudes, attention, speech patterns, fantasy life, and the like. In parallel fashion, a minimal definition of psychoanalytic supervision would indicate a process in which the behaviors of the supervisor would be calculated to influence the behaviors of the supervisee with his patient.
Collapse Prevention seismic performance assessment of new buckling-restrained braced frames using ASCE 41

Abstract This paper presents the results of a seismic performance assessment using ASCE 41-13 for six buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) designed in accordance with the 2012 International Building Code. The correlation between ASCE 7-10 and ASCE 41-13 is investigated to compare the seismic performance anticipated by the two standards. Three archetype buildings (4-, 8-, and 16-story) with BRBFs along one principal direction are designed for seismic effects: (1) once using the equivalent lateral force (ELF) procedure and (2) a second time using the response spectrum analysis (RSA) procedure. Performance assessments are conducted using four analysis procedures, static and dynamic analyses performed under both linear and nonlinear analysis regimes. Linear analysis results indicate minor performance deficiencies in the columns and the braces. Surprisingly, the nonlinear analysis results indicate more performance deficiencies in the braces, which is opposite of the general expectation that a more sophisticated analysis would yield a less conservative result. The contributing factors to the performance deficiencies are investigated. Recommendations are made on how to alter the performance outcome such as using alternative ground motion selection approaches (e.g., conditional mean spectrum) and having acceptance criteria based on cumulative ductility demands.
Potential geographic "hotspots" for drug-injection related transmission of HIV and HCV and for initiation into injecting drug use in New York City, 2011-2015, with implications for the current opioid epidemic in the US

Objective We identified potential geographic “hotspots” for drug-injecting transmission of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among persons who inject drugs (PWID) in New York City. The HIV epidemic among PWID is currently in an “end of the epidemic” stage, while HCV is in a continuing, high prevalence (> 50%) stage. Methods We recruited 910 PWID entering Mount Sinai Beth Israel substance use treatment programs from 2011–2015. Structured interviews and HIV/ HCV testing were conducted. Residential ZIP codes were used as geographic units of analysis. Potential “hotspots” for HIV and HCV transmission were defined as 1) having relatively large numbers of PWID 2) having 2 or more HIV (or HCV) seropositive PWID reporting transmission risk—passing on used syringes to others, and 3) having 2 or more HIV (or HCV) seronegative PWID reporting acquisition risk—injecting with previously used needles/syringes. Hotspots for injecting drug use initiation were defined as ZIP codes with 5 or more persons who began injecting within the previous 6 years. Results Among PWID, 96% injected heroin, 81% male, 34% White, 15% African-American, 47% Latinx, mean age 40 (SD = 10), 7% HIV seropositive, 62% HCV seropositive. Participants resided in 234 ZIP codes. No ZIP codes were identified as potential hotspots due to small numbers of HIV seropositive PWID reporting transmission risk. Four ZIP codes were identified as potential hotspots for HCV transmission. 12 ZIP codes identified as hotspots for injecting drug use initiation. Discussion For HIV, the lack of potential hotspots is further validation of widespread effectiveness of efforts to reduce injecting-related HIV transmission. Injecting-related HIV transmission is likely to be a rare, random event. HCV prevention efforts should include focus on potential hotspots for transmission and on hotspots for initiation into injecting drug use. We consider application of methods for the current opioid epidemic in the US.
Trends in invasive prenatal diagnostic testing at a single institution

OBJECTIVE As diagnostic methodologies evolve, we sought to determine whether invasive testing rates would decline, whether there would be a shift in indications for invasive testing, and whether the diagnostic yield would increase. METHODS We conducted a retrospective, observational study from 2006 through 2015. We quantified the number of invasive procedures per year and examined what percentage of these procedures yielded abnormal results. We also examined the indications for testing and determined the trend of these indications during the study period. RESULTS The number of amniocenteses showed a steady decline (P < .05). The number of CVS procedures has increased and was recently equivalent to amniocentesis. The percentage of abnormal results steadily increased from 11.4% to 27.0% (P < .001). The abnormal aneuploidy screening indication remained constant over time. Advanced maternal age (AMA) as the sole indication substantially declined from 42.3% to 15.52% (P < .001). Testing for a known single gene disorder steadily increased from 3.0% to 9.20% (P = .018). CONCLUSION Our study showed a significant decline in the number of amniocenteses, a steady increase in the percentage of abnormal results from invasive testing, and a decline in AMA as the sole indication for invasive testing.
Unifying Local and Nonlocal Modelling of Respective and Symmetrical Predicates

We propose a unified analysis of 'respective' readings of plural and conjoined expressions and the internal readings of symmetrical predicates such as same and different. The two problems have both been recognized as significant challenges in the literature of syntax and semantics, but so far there is no analysis which captures their close parallel via some uniform mechanism. In fact, the representative compositional analyses of the two phenomena in the current literature Gawron and Kehler 2004 G&K on 'respective' readings and Barker 2007 on symmetrical predicates look superficially quite different from each other, where one Barker employs a movement-like nonlocal mechanism for mediating the dependency between the relevant terms whereas the other G&K achieves a similar effect via a chain of local composition operations. In this paper, we first point out the parallels and interactions between the two phenomena that motivate a unified analysis. We then briefly review G&K's and Barker's analyses and show that the G&K-style analysis can be modelled by the Barker-style analysis once we formulate the relevant rules within an explicit syntax-semantics interface couched in a variant of Type-Logical Categorial Grammar called Hybrid TLCG. After clarifying the hitherto unnoticed formal relations between the Barker-style nonlocal modelling and the G&K-style local modelling by focusing on the analysis of 'respective' readings, we present our unified analysis of 'respective' readings and symmetrical predicates and show how their parallel behaviors and interactions can be systematically accounted for.
Risk of health-related quality of life and metabolic events and pulmonary toxicities in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with everolimus: A meta-analysis of phase 3 randomized controlled trials.

e16551Background: The mTOR inhibitor Everolimus (E) has shown to have clinical benefit and is a standard second-line treatment in advanced Renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Yet, there are notable toxicit...
The Healthy Immigrant Effect and Aging in the United States and Other Western Countries

The rising number of immigrants to the United States and other western countries has been accompanied by rising interest in the characteristics of immigrants including their mortality risk and health status. In general, immigrants to the United States, Canada, and Australia enjoy a health advantage over the native populations, which has been coined the healthy immigrant effect. The purpose of this review is to summarize findings on aging and the immigrant health effect in the 3 most common immigrant destinations the United States, Canada, Australia, as well as in Europe. Much of the research in the United States has focused on the so-called Hispanic Paradox or the favorable health of Hispanics relative to non-Hispanic whites despite lower average socioeconomic status as well as other risk factors, with recent research beginning to pay attention to dietary and genetic factors. In all 3 countries, there is evidence of a health convergence of immigrants relative to the native-born population over approximately 10-20 years. By the time they reach old age, immigrants experience high rates of comorbidity and disability. Immigrant health selection appears to be the key reason explaining the immigrant health advantage. Immigrants to Europe also appear to be health selected but not as consistently as in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Immigrant enclaves appear to confer health advantages in the United States among older Hispanics but appear to have negative consequences in Europe. More attention needs to be given to the health and health care needs of the rising numbers of refugees to Europe as well as refugees in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere.
Stage‐matched survival differences by ethnicity among gastric cancer patients of Asian ancestry treated in the United States

BACKGROUND Differences have been noted in overall survival (OS) in gastric cancer (GC) between trials conducted in Western vs Asian countries. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) reports outcomes and patient/disease variables relevant to OS. METHODS Using NCDB, we identified 89 558 adult patients with GC diagnosed (2004-2012), where self-reported race/ethnicity was available. Cox proportional hazard model was used to calculate multivariable hazard ratio (HR) of death, adjusting for race/ethnicity, age, gender, insurance, histology, grade, location, stage, and treatment type. RESULTS After adjustment, Asian patients had improved OS (HR = 0.74, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.71-0.77). There were differences in OS between Asian ethnicities compared with white patients (n = 69 945), notably with Korean (n = 1249, HR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.64-0.75), Chinese (n = 1271, HR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.64-0.75), and Indian/Pakistani patients (n = 492, HR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.61-0.76). Japanese (n = 829, HR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.77-0.91) and Vietnamese (n = 560, HR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.71-0.88) OS was also improved (P < 0.0001), while Filipino patients showed no difference (n = 415, HR = 1.00). Black patients had slightly improved OS (n = 13 500, HR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.95-1.00, P = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS This analysis supports improved OS in Asian patients independent of stage, treatment, and known patient or disease characteristics in this large US cohort, and is the largest to define OS differences between Asian ethnicities.
PROGNOSTIC IMPACT OF PRIOR RADIATION EXPOSURE IN CANCER SURVIVORS WITH SEVERE AORTIC STENOSIS UNDERGOING TRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT

Valvular diseases impose a high cardiovascular (CV) burden in cancer survivors with prior chest radiation therapy (XRT). Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has shown promising results in the management of severe aortic stenosis. However, cause-specific long-term clinical outcomes in
Scattered-light flow-optic relations adaptable to three-dimensional flow birefringence: A set of flow-optic relations adaptable to three-dimensional scattered-light birefringence has been developed. These relations have been applied to several problems and the agreement with analytical solutions was good

The scattered-light method has been studied with the aim of developing a flow-optic relation which can be used for the analysis of three-dimensional flow problems of Newtonian fluids utilizing flow birefringence. A set of flow-optic relations which potentially can be adapted to three-dimensional scattered-light birefringent analysis has been developed on a phenomenological basis for the aqueous suspensions of Milling Yellow. Good agreement with theoretical solutions was obtained when these relations were applied to flows through channels of three different geometries.
The development of an instrument to identify cancer caregivers at risk for metabolic syndrome.

e23174Background: Cancer caregivers are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. The aims of the present study were to develop an instrument to identify cancer caregivers at risk for the devel...
Research advances in the Pyrenophora teres–barley interaction

Pyrenophora teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata are significant pathogens that cause net blotch of barley. An increased number of loci involved in P. teres resistance or susceptibility responses of barley as well as interacting P. teres virulence effector loci have recently been identified through biparental and association mapping studies of both the pathogen and host. Characterization of the resistance/susceptibility loci in the host and the interacting effector loci in the pathogen will provide a path for targeted gene validation for better-informed release of resistant barley cultivars. This review assembles concise consensus maps for all loci published for both the host and pathogen, providing a useful resource for the community to be used in pathogen characterization and barley breeding for resistance to both forms of P. teres.
AccuPIPE: Accurate Heavy Flow Detection in the Data Plane Using Programmable Switches

Identifying heavy flows, i.e., flows with large packet counts during a pre-defined time window, is vital for many network applications. The task of real-time heavy flow detection in data plane is challenging due to high switching speed (100 Gbps), a large number of concurrent flows (millions of concurrent flows), and small memory footprint requirement. In this paper, we dissect the key factors that affect the existing detection scheme’s accuracy, and propose AccuPipe, a new detection scheme with intelligent flow entry replacement strategies. The simulation results show that the new scheme is able to efficiently utilize all flow entries in the detection pipeline, and detects more than 850 heavy flows (out of top 1,000) using a small amount of memory (1,000 flow entries, roughly equivalently to 18KB memory) with reasonable reporting overhead. This represents a 76% improvement over HashPIPE scheme, which detects on average 484 heavy flows (out of top 1,000) in the same setting. In addition, we investigate the performance of different flow entry replacement strategies, and report their pros and cons.
How Do Government Benefits Affect Elections? Evidence from State Earned Income Tax Credits

Whether and how individuals link benefits they receive from the government to their voting behavior is a central question in political economy. We study this question using one of the largest social provision programs in the United States: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). We exploit the staggered roll-out of state-level EITC programs to estimate the causal effect of the program on elections, voter behavior, and attitudes about the government. Contrary to predictions from the policy feedback literature, we show that the credit leads to higher vote shares and approval ratings for the implementing governor. These effects are temporally limited to the first years of the credit's availability, and dissipate over time. Taken together, our results suggest that voters are responsive to the benefit.
The Use of a food animal health resource management system for dairy herds

The objectives of this paper are to describe a farm record system used on a sample of Michigan dairy farms and to report on the incentive mechanism used to maintain the farmers interest in data collection from 1981-1985 while the program was developed. Associated with the above objectives, an animal health management system (FAHRMX) was developed to collect and utilize data on production, animal management, health, and economics. The system was designed to serve multi-veterinarian practices and their clients, and also for other agri-business support systems. Dairymen provided events data on a daily basis and veterinarians provided data on services to their clients as it occurred. DHIA production data were added at monthly intervals and epidemiologic data were added annually to the data base. A computer system was developed which represented a hierarchical-distributive network which placed processing capabilities, data storage, and retrieval functions at the appropriate level such that it supplied decision makers information on a cost-effective manner. Management aids and reports were generated for use by the veterinarian and dairyman upon demand, but were most often requested weekly. Herd health reports were generated monthly and contained management, health, and reproductive indicies. The evaluation of 2847 lactations and 21 herds revealed an average occurrence of 1.8 services per conception, 117 days open and a lactational disease incidence rate of 17.5% for reproductive tract infections, 15.1% for clinical mastitis, 12.5% for cystic ovaries, and 7.5% for retained placenta. Most striking was herd-to-herd variation in disease incidence. The value of the information to the user contributed to the quality of data input and was a motivation to the participants to maintain the program during its development.
Direct Image-Based Attenuation Correction using Conditional Generative Adversarial Network for SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

Attenuation correction (AC) is important for an accurate interpretation and quantitative analysis of SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging. Dedicated cardiac SPECT systems have invaluable efficacy in the evaluation and risk stratification of patients with known or suspected cardiovascular disease. However, most dedicated cardiac SPECT systems are standalone, not combined with a transmission imaging capability such as computed tomography (CT) for generating attenuation maps for AC. To address this problem, we propose to apply a conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) for generating attenuation-corrected SPECT images (SPECTGAN ) directly from non-corrected SPECT images (SPECTNC ) in image domain as a one-step process without requiring additional intermediate step. The proposed network was trained and tested for 100 cardiac SPECT/CT data from a GE Discovery NM 570c SPECT/CT, collected retrospectively at Yale New Haven Hospital.The generated images were evaluated quantitatively through the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), and structural similarity index (SSIM) and statistically through joint histogram and error maps. In comparison to the reference CT-based correction (SPECTCTAC ), NRMSEs were 0.2258±0.0777 and 0.1410±0.0768 (37.5% reduction of errors); PSNRs 31.7712±2.9965 and 36.3823±3.7424 (14.5% improvement in signal to noise ratio); SSIMs 0.9877±0.0075 and 0.9949±0.0043 (0.7% improvement in structural similarity) for SPECTNC and SPECTGAN , respectively. This work demonstrates that the conditional adversarial training can achieve accurate CT-less attenuation correction for SPECT MPI, that is quantitatively comparable to CTAC. Standalone dedicated cardiac SPECT scanners can benefit from the proposed GAN to reduce attenuation artifacts efficiently.
Dynamic Optimization of Drone Dispatch for Substance Overdose Rescue

Opioid overdose rescue is very time-sensitive. Hence, drone-delivered naloxone has the potential to be a transformative innovation due to its easily deployable and flexible nature. We formulate a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model to dispatch the appropriate drone after an overdose request arrives and to relocate the drone to its next waiting location after having completed its current task. Since the underlying optimization problem is subject to the curse of dimensionality, we solve it using ad-hoc state aggregation and evaluate it through a simulation with higher granularity. Our simulation-based comparative study is based on emergency medical service data from the state of Indiana. We compare the optimal policy resulting from the scaled-down MDP model with a myopic policy as the baseline. We consider the impact of drone type and service area type on outcomes, which offers insights into the performance of the MDP suboptimal policy under various settings.
Focusing on Diversity: A Regional Internal Medicine Residency Viewpoint on Underrepresented Minority Support, Retention, and Mentoring.

Background While the overall percentage of residents who withdraw (2.7%) or take extended leave (1.0%) are low, subgroup analysis has found that minority physicians are approximately 30% more likely to withdraw from residency than their white counterparts and 8 times more likely to take extended leave of absence. With ongoing national efforts to support diversity in medical education through increased recruitment of underrepresented in medicine (UiM) students to residency programs, there is paucity of data identifying specific experiences challenging or contributing to their overall resiliency. Better understanding of the lived experience of UiM residents will allow residency programs to create successful curricular programing and support structures for residents to thrive. Objective We sought to understand UiM internal medicine residents' experiences during residency training. Methods We used a retrospective review of focus group transcripts of UiM internal medicine residents from 5 academic institutions in 2017 (4 in North Carolina and 1 in Georgia). Results Of 100 self-identified UiM residents from 5 institutions, 59 participated in the focus groups. Using a consensus-based review of transcripts, 25 distinct codes in 8 parent code categories were determined. Two primary themes emerged: resilience and isolation. Three secondary themes-social support, mentorship, and external expectations and/or biases-served as mediators for the primary themes. Conclusions UiM residents who became or were already resilient commonly experienced isolation at some time in their medical career, specifically during residency. Moreover, they could be influenced and positively or negatively affected by social support, mentorship, and external expectations and biases.
Molecular dynamic simulation of the impact of thermal maturity and reservoir temperature on the contact angle and wettability of kerogen

Abstract Understanding the interfacial interactions between fluids (oil and water) and kerogen is imperative for efficient development and production of hydrocarbons in unconventional shale reservoirs. Kerogen is one of the major constituents (up to 30 vol%) of organic-rich mudrocks. Thus, wettability of kerogen can directly affect the multi-phase fluid-flow properties, water production, and resistivity of organic-rich mudrocks. The chemical composition of kerogen varies with kerogen type and thermal maturity. Reservoir temperature is another factor that can have an impact on thermodynamic processes such as interfacial interactions. Therefore, it is important to fundamentally understand the impact of kerogen geochemistry and reservoir conditions on the wettability of kerogen at the molecular-scale domain. The objectives of this paper are to quantify the impacts of reservoir temperature as well as kerogen molecular structure on the three-phase air/water/kerogen and methane/water/kerogen contact angle on the kerogen surface using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD simulations are performed on kerogen molecules of types I, II, and III at different thermal maturity levels and at a temperature range from 300 to 360 K. Simulation results showed that the air/water/kerogen contact angle formed on kerogen surface is highest for type III kerogen at 45.5°and lowest for type II kerogen at 20°. For type II kerogen, the contact angle increases from 20°to 75.5°as the thermal maturity increases from immature stage to over-matured stage. Increase in temperature from 300 to 380 K decreases the contact angle measurements by 62%. The methane/water/kerogen contact angle showed similar trend with type III kerogen having the highest contact angle (58°) among the three kerogen types. The impact of thermal maturity on methane/water/kerogen contact angle shows an increase from 25.5°to 88.5°from kerogen II-A to kerogen II-D, which is consistent with the observations from air/water/kerogen contact angles. The documented results and workflows can potentially contribute to improving formation evaluation of organic-rich mudrocks by providing information about wettability of kerogen. The outcomes of this paper can also potentially enhance the understanding the role of organic content and its geochemical properties in fluid-flow mechanisms, which can be used to predict water production in organic-rich mudrocks.
Contribution of Concurrent Comorbidities to Sepsis-Related Mortality in Preterm Infants ≤ 32 Weeks of Gestation at an Academic Neonatal Intensive Care Network.

Objective: The lack of a consensus definition for neonatal sepsis may complicate the accurate calculation of sepsis-related mortality in infants ≤ 32 weeks of gestation. This study evaluates whether concurrent major comorbidities influenced neonatal sepsis-related mortality in this patient population following a diagnosis of bacteremia or blood culture-negative sepsis. Study Design: This is a retrospective chart review of infants ≤ 32 weeks of gestation, who were admitted to a single academic network of multiple neonatal intensive care units between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015, to determine if concurrent co-morbidities contributed to bacteremia or blood culture-negative sepsis- related morality. Direct comparisons between early-onset sepsis (EOS; ≤ 72 hours) and late-onset sepsis (LOS; > 72 hours) were made. Results: In our study cohort of 939 total patients ≤ 32 weeks of gestation, 182 infants were diagnosed with 198 episodes of sepsis and 7.7% (14/182) died. Mortality rates did not significantly differ between neonates with bacteremia or blood culture-negative sepsis (7/14 each group), and those diagnosed with EOS compared with LOS (6/14 vs. 8/14). Nearly 80% (11/14) of infants were transitioned to comfort care prior to their death secondary to a coinciding diagnosis of severe grade 3 or 4 intraventricular hemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia, necrotizing enterocolitis, and/or intestinal perforation. Conclusion: Those with sepsis-related mortality had pre-existing comorbidities that are commonly associated with extreme preterm birth. The contribution of comorbidities to sepsis-related mortality should be considered in future investigations designed to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutics and/or technologies that target sepsis-mediated pathways.
A framework for automated structure elucidation from routine NMR spectra

Methods to automate structure elucidation that can be applied broadly across chemical structure space have the potential to greatly accelerate chemical discovery. NMR spectroscopy is the most widely used and arguably the most powerful method for elucidating structures of organic molecules. Here we introduce a machine learning (ML) framework that provides a quantitative probabilistic ranking of the most likely structural connectivity of an unknown compound when given routine, experimental one dimensional 1H and/or 13C NMR spectra. In particular, our ML-based algorithm takes input NMR spectra and (i) predicts the presence of specific substructures out of hundreds of substructures it has learned to identify; (ii) annotates the spectrum to label peaks with predicted substructures; and (iii) uses the substructures to construct candidate constitutional isomers and assign to them a probabilistic ranking. Using experimental spectra and molecular formulae for molecules containing up to 10 non-hydrogen atoms, the correct constitutional isomer was the highest-ranking prediction made by our model in 67.4% of the cases and one of the top-ten predictions in 95.8% of the cases. This advance will aid in solving the structure of unknown compounds, and thus further the development of automated structure elucidation tools that could enable the creation of fully autonomous reaction discovery platforms.
Loss-on-ignition estimates of organic matter and relationships to organic carbon in fluvial bed sediments

Fluvial bed sediments represent an important sink and source for a variety of organic and inorganic compounds. Their most important constituent is organic matter (OM) and its primary component organic carbon (OC). Few studies have been conducted in fluvial environments examining bed-associated OM or OC. This is surprising given the recent interest in global carbon cycling and the importance of bed-associated organics as ecosystem energy sources. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between OM, determined by loss-on-ignition (LOI), and OC in fluvial bed sediments determined by a dry combustion analyzer. The wide adoption of the LOI method in soil science reflects its ease of use, it is inexpensive, it is rapid, requires no specialized training, and strong statistical relationships commonly exist between OM and OC estimated by standard dry combustion procedures. Regression models were developed between OC and OM for six bed sediment size fractions (≤2.0 mm) for 113 sample sites in a tropical stream on Oahu, Hawaii. All models were highly significant (p < 0.0001), with coefficients of determination ranging from 35 to 79%. Measurement of LOI explained 64% of the variation in OC for all grouped data. The black-box LOI approach may be useful for rapid reconnaissance surveys of drainage systems. Examination of OM to OC conversion factors for Manoa bed sediments indicates that values typically observed in the soils literature (1.7–2.2) are far too low. Values of OM/OC were found to increase with increasing grain size, and decrease with increasing LOI percentage. Conversion factors obtained for grouped data had a mean of 14.9, a coefficient of variation of 21%, and a range of values between 6.2 and 27.4. It is suggested that these high conversion factors reflect significant water loss by dehydration of Fe, Al, and Mn oxides at a muffle furnace temperature of 450 °C. Therefore, the blind application of conversion factors developed from soils should be avoided when converting from OM to OC for fluvial bed sediments.
Reply to “Discussion of ‘A photogrammetry-based method to measure total and local volume changes of unsaturated soils during triaxial testing’ by Zhang et al. (DOI 10.1007/s11440-014-0346-8)” by Salazar and Coffman (DOI 10.1007/s11440-015-0380-1)

The authors thank the discussers for their interest in our paper. Their compliment that our paper ‘‘is significant and provides an advancement of the state of the art on external photography-based measurements of triaxial specimens’’ is particularly appreciated. The authors, however, consider that much of the discussion is not quite accurate and contains bias that may transmit misleading messages to the readers. In the authors’ opinion, the discussers have two objectives in this discussion: one is to criticize the method proposed by Zhang et al. [8] and the other is to promote their own method [Salazar and Coffman (2014) Published in Geotechnical Testing Journal in January 2015, referred as Salazar and Coffman [7] in the following sections]. In this closure, we have responded to each of their criticisms and raised questions about their method as well.
Small RNA regulation of reproductive function

SUMMARY Post-transcriptional gene regulation is one mechanism that occurs “above the genome,” allowing the cells of an organism to have dramatically different phenotypes and functions. Non-coding ribonucleic acid (ncRNA) molecules regulate transcript and protein abundance above the level of transcription, and appear to play substantial roles in regulation of reproductive tissues. Three primary classes of small ncRNA are microRNA (miRNA), endogenous small interfering RNA (endo-siRNA), and PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA). These RNA classes have similarities and clear distinctions between their biogenesis and in the interacting protein machinery that facilitate their effects on cellular phenotype. Characterization of the expression and importance of the critical components for the biogenesis of each class in different tissues is continuously contributing a better understanding of each of these RNA classes in different reproductive cell types. Here, we discuss the expression and potential roles of miRNA, endo-siRNA, and piRNA in reproduction from germ-cell development to pregnancy establishment and placental function. Additionally, the potential contribution of RNA binding proteins, long ncRNAs, and the more recently discovered circular RNAs (circRNAs) in relation to small RNA function is discussed. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 81: 148–159, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Psychology: Experimental Methods

Experimental methods in psychology are the procedures used to isolate the effects of manipulations on behavioral measures. Keywords: research methods; experimental design; control; hypothesis testing; reliability; validity
Biological Systems: Spin‐3/2 Nuclei

The sections in this article are 1 Introduction 2 Types of Spin-3/2 Spectra 3 The Debye Model 4 Discrete Exchange Models 5 The Berendsen Model 6 Experimental Discrimination of Spectral Types 7 Experimental Discrimination of Signals from Physiological Compartments 8 23Na MR Imaging 9 Acknowledgements 10 Biographical Sketch Related Articles
Effect of Water and Fat on Gastric Emptying of Solid Meals

Gastric emptying of solid egg meals tagged with 99mtechnetium sulfur colloid was studied in 10 normal subjects and in 6 patients after truncal vagotomy, antrectomy, and gastrojejunostomy (Billroth II) for peptic ulcer disease. Technetium sulfur colloid was found to bind more firmly to cooked egg whites than did the water soluble marker DTPA. Water accelerated gastric empyting in Billroth II patients to a greater degree than in normal subjects, in whom the effect of water was minimal and transient. Fat inhibited solid emptying both in normals and in Billroth II patients. These findings suggest that in humans there are jejunal receptors for fat that may inhibit gastric emptying even following truncal vagotomy.
Simulation of Combustion Dynamics in Gas Turbine Engines

The ability to predict turbulence-chemistry interactions in realistic full-scale gas turbine combustors has not been feasible till now due to the lack of simulation models and computing power. Here, a parallel large-eddy simulation (LES) model for both premixed and spray combustion has been developed and utilized to investigate combustion dynamics in realistic gas turbine combustors. The parallel performance of this code in various systems is reported. The effects of swirl intensity and heat release are investigated. Results show that increase in swirl has dramatic effect on the flame structure and reduces the pressure oscillation amplitude in premixed systems. In spray combustion, increase in swirl drastically increases the droplet dispersion. In all situations, the central recirculation zone (which is a manifestation of the vortex breakdown process), occurs only under high swirl conditions. Combustion and heat release tends to reduce the size of this recirculation zone, due to an increase in flow acceleration associated with heat release. Finally, a new LES method based on the Lattice Boltzmann model is used to simulate complex flows such as jet in cross flow.
“You Must Say Good-Bye At The School Door:” Reflections On The Tense And Contentious Practices Of An Educational Researcher-Mother In A Neoliberal Moment

In this essay I draw on encounters where I negotiated the public role of feminist educational researcher and the private role of mother. I attempt to connect them to broader structural issues affecting education and women’s paid and unpaid labor, specifically, in a global neoliberal reform context. I do this by sharing encounters from two contexts in which I negotiated these public / private roles--Argentina and the United States--as a means of a) critically reflecting on my positionality in multiple education contexts including K-12 schools and academia; b) illustrating that the personal is political in ways that reflect broader structural politics; c) foreshadowing the ways qualitative educational research can be deeply connected to macro-level—and transnational—social, political, and economic trends related to education, labor, and policy; and, d) bringing gender into conversations about the impact of neoliberalism on educational work.