cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aqueous-Deficient Dry Eye Disease: Evaluation and Management

This opening chapter describes the evaluation and management of three patients with increasing severity of aqueous-deficient dry eye disease (AD-DED) (the management of meibomian gland disease, which frequently coexists with aqueous deficiency, is discussed in Chap. 2). The diagnosis and management of these three cases follows the Dry Eye Workshop (DEWS) recommendation which is based on the severity levels (Table 1.1). In Case 1, with mild dry eye disease (severity level 1), the emphasis is on proper history and counseling with lifestyle modifications. Case 2, with more moderate disease (severity level 2), highlights the use of anti-inflammatory therapy and the option of punctal plugs. Case 3, with more severe disease (severity level 3), discusses the advanced treatment options including total punctal occlusion, serum tears, and scleral lenses.
Cataloging digitized continuing resources in a shared record environment

ABSTRACTCataloging digitized continuing resources is a challenging task for many libraries because of their complex cataloging rules and characteristics of format. As libraries provide their digitized content and catalog records in shared environments, like HathiTrust, and use them as an access point, libraries also have to work with holdings and item records created by each contributing institution's local practice. This article discusses common challenges imposed on libraries when creating and providing access to digitized continuing resources available in a shared environment, stresses the importance of having shareable holdings and items records, and suggests possible ways to work with those challenges.
Image-guided adaptive radiotherapy improves acute toxicity during intensity-modulated radiation therapy for head and neck cancer

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an image-guided adaptive re-planning strategy on patients treated by intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for head and neck cancer. Among 198 patients with head and neck cancer comprising the primary study population, 79 (40%) underwent adaptive radiotherapy with modification of the original IMRT midway during treatment. The incidence of grade 3+ acute skin toxicity was 15 and 35% among patients treated with and without adaptive radiotherapy, respectively (p = 0.01). The incidence of grade 3+ oral mucositis was 15 and 29%, respectively (p = 0.03). There was no significant difference in the 2-year rates of local-regional control or overall survival between the two cohorts (p > 0.05, for both). The use of an image-guided adaptive radiotherapy strategy reduced the incidence of high-grade skin toxicity and oral mucositis in the acute setting. Further studies are needed to better define which subset of patients may benefit the most.
Feminist Eudaimonism: Eudaimonism as Non-Ideal Theory

This chapter considers whether eudaimonism is necessarily an idealizing approach to ethics. I argue, contrary to what is implied by Christine Swanton, that it is not, and I suggest that a non-ideal eudaimonistic virtue ethics can be useful for feminist and critical race theorists. For eudaimonist theorists in the Aristotelian tradition, the claim that one should aim to live virtuously assumes that there will typically be good enough background conditions so that an exercise of the virtues, in conjunction with these favorable external conditions, will suffice for someone to flourish both in the sense of living virtuously and in the sense of living well or living the good life. However, under some forms of oppression the background conditions will not be good enough, and thus an exercise of the virtues will often be insufficient to constitute a flourishing life. It may seem that eudaimonism, with its foregrounding of the concept of flourishing and its assumption of a tight connection between living virtuously and living well, may function as a form of ideology that elides the ways in which non-ideal and oppressive conditions can separate virtue from well-being and can make the state of flourishing (in its dual senses) unattainable. I point out that eudaimonism can be revised to incorporate the claim that virtue and flourishing may typically be unlinked, and I advocate retaining flourishing as an unattainable end, exercising the virtues even with a sense of their absurdity, and confronting the existential states of frustration and disappointment that may result.
Endobronchial Lesions in Patients Presenting with Hemoptysis

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the incidence of endobronchial lesions in patients presenting with hemoptysis. We also aimed to characterize features that would predict whether bronchoscopy would be useful.MethodsA retrospective chart review was conducted on 185 consecutive patients
Anesthetic Pump Techniques Versus the Intermittent Bolus: What the Oral Surgeon Needs to Know

The most popular agents in use for office-based anesthesia are propofol, ketamine, and remifentanil, which have the desirable properties of rapid onset and short duration of action. A useful parameter in assessing these agents is the context-sensitive half-time. These anesthetic agents demonstrate relatively low, flat plots compared with older agents. For delivery of intravenous anesthetics, oral and maxillofacial surgeons have relied small incremental boluses with great success. However, relatively simple syringe infusion pumps can provide an even "smoother" anesthetic. This article familiarizes oral and maxillofacial surgeons with the advantages of infusion pumps and provides examples of their use.
Capitalist Communism: Marx’s Theory of the Distribution of Surplus-Value in Volume III of Capital

This chapter argues that the main subject of Capital, Volume III is the distribution of surplus-value: in other words the division of the total amount of surplus-value into individual component parts, first into equal rates of profit across branches of production, followed by the further division of surplus-value into commercial profit, interest and rent. Furthermore, Marx’s analysis of the distribution of surplus-value is based on the fundamental premise that the total amount of surplus-value has already been determined by the prior analysis contained in Volume I. The main question addressed in Volume III, then, is how this pre-determined total amount of surplus-value is divided into its component parts. The analysis of these individual component parts does not in any way affect the size of total surplus-value, as this total surplus-value is taken as a pre-determined given in this analysis. The chapter reviews all seven parts of Volume III, providing substantial textual evidence for these two main assertions.
Abidor v. Napolitano, F. Supp. 2d , 2013 WL 6912654 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 31, 2013) - Suspicionless Cell Phone and Laptop 'Strip' Searches at the Border Compromise the Fourth and First Amendments

Technology has outpaced the law, and the United States Supreme Court needs to do something about it — now. Every day at the border, an individual’s privacy — along with the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement and the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee — are being infringed. And for reasons having no relation to the outdated “border exception,” or the Government’s interest in security. With little more than a “hunch,” border security personnel can confiscate an individual’s laptop (sometimes, for days), force the owner to disclose the password, and conduct an unlimited search of (even copy) the contents for later investigation. They are not searching for contraband or dangerous weapons. They are fishing for evidence of any criminal activity — related or unrelated to border security — where there exists not a scintilla of suspicion that any crime has been committed. This bears no relation to the reasons that initially justified a “Constitution-free” zone 100 miles inland from the border. And it implicates some of our most cherished freedoms — privacy and free expression. Specifically, such conduct violates the Fourth Amendment’s reasonableness and particularity requirements, and threatens to chill political speech that is neither criminal nor suspicious. Think about it: a laptop is a virtual office, with the capacity to store thousands of files, troves of entertainment, and scores of intimate photos. If border officials could look in any “room” they pleased, people might think twice before storing a video critical of the President or of someone burning the American flag. That should not be tolerated in a country — and constitution — that embraces unpopular speech as an integral part of the marketplace of ideas. Until a more comprehensive policy is established, one thing should be clear: there are fundamental differences between the physical and virtual world, between searches of containers and laptops, and between present and future threats. Accordingly, before law enforcement officials conduct forensic searches of an individual's lap top computer, reasonable suspicion should be required.
Cytokinin conjugation : recent advances and patterns in plant evolution

Cytokinin (CK) conjugates are important in plant development because they regulate active CK concentrations, CK transport, storage, and irreversible inactivation. While numerous CK conjugates have been identified in higher plants, the biological functions of these compounds, their location within cells and tissues, and the enzymes and genes involved in their regulation are not clearly understood. In this paper, recent advances are reported which have occurred through the study of transgenic plants containing the ipt or rolC genes, the identification of new regulatory enzymes affecting CKs, and the characterization of new CK conjugates. In addition, a survey of the literature is presented which examines the pattern of CK conjugates found in different plant taxa. Based on current knowledge, it appears that green algae, mosses, and ferns contain relatively few CK conjugates of isopentenyl adenine (iP) and zeatin (Z). In contrast, higher land plants, such as gymnosperms and angiosperms, contain a more complex set of CKs, primarily conjugates of Z and dihydrozeatin (DHZ). This suggests that the pattern of CK conjugation has become more complex in parallel with the increasing complexity of higher plants.
Wnt regulation of planar cell polarity (PCP)

Planar cell polarity (PCP), a process controlling coordinated, uniformly polarized cellular behaviors in a field of cells, has been identified to be critically required for many fundamental developmental processes. However, a global directional cue that establishes PCP in a three-dimensional tissue or organ with respect to the body axes remains elusive. In vertebrate, while Wnt-secreted signaling molecules have been implicated in regulating PCP in a β-catenin-independent manner, whether they function permissively or act as a global cue to convey directional information is not clearly defined. In addition, the underlying molecular mechanism by which Wnt signal is transduced to core PCP proteins is largely unknown. In this chapter, I review the roles of Wnt signaling in regulating PCP during vertebrate development and update our knowledge of its regulatory mechanism.
Joint design of cooperative protocols and distributed beamforming for multi-hop cognitive radio networks

The increasingly crowded wireless spectrum has led to the need of new paradigms in wireless communications and the cognitive radio techniques that can offer promising solutions to the spectrum scarcity. In cognitive radio networks licensed primary users and unlicensed secondary users are allowed to coexist in the same frequency spectrum. Beamforming and MIMO technology can be used to minimize the interference from the secondary users to the primary users while improving the quality of communications when each node is equipped with multiple antennas to form an antenna array. However, equipping multiple antennas at each radio node is not feasible in many applications. In this paper, we consider the radio network with single antenna at each node. We first propose a cooperative network architecture in the network layer. The architecture consists of cooperative clusters used for distributed beamforming, and a routing backbone of the clusters that can avoid the interference to the primary users in the relay route. Distributed algorithms are designed for self-formation of the cooperative clusters and routing backbone. Then we propose a computationally efficient secondary users selection scheme in the link layer for the communications between two cooperative clusters while minimizing the interference to the primary users. The simulation results show that the proposed protocols and algorithms are effective and efficient in terms of time and energy.
How the Complementarity at Vicinal Steps Enables Growth of 2D Monocrystals.

Large 2D monocrystals are highly sought after yet hard to achieve; unlike graphene, most dichalcogenides and h-BN possess low symmetry, which allows for nucleation of mutually inverted pieces, merging into polycrystals replete with grain boundaries. On vicinal substrate surfaces such growing pieces were observed to orient alike, and very recently this effect apparently enabled the growth of large single crystal h-BN. Addressing the compelling questions of how such a growth process can operate and what the key mechanisms are is crucial in guiding the substrate selection for optimal synthesis of perhaps many materials. To this end, the basic crystallography and atomistic-modeling theory presented here reveal (i) how the undulations of the ever-wandering steps do not, surprisingly, disturb the orientations of the attached 2D-nuclei, whose direction remains robust owing to complementarity between the meandering step and h-BN counterpart if their kinks have similar size of negligible misfit, δ k < 0.1 A. (ii) Stronger chemical affinity of metal to the N atoms at the zigzag edge of h-BN singles out its particular orientation, without evidence of any epitaxy, at the edge or to the surface. (iii) The monocrystal integrity requires unhindered growth spillover across the steps and the seamless healing of the residual fissures, caused by the very same steps necessary for co-orientation. Molecular dynamics simulations show this happening for the steps not taller than the BN bond, s < 1.44 A. These criteria point to [-1 1 2] steps on the Cu (110) surface, in accord with experimental results (Wang et al. Towards the growth of single-crystal boron nitride monolayer on Cu. arXiv:1811.06688 Cond. Mat. Mtrl. Sci., 2018), while other possibilities can also be predicted.
The prevalence and persistence of atopic dermatitis in urban United States children.

Abstract Background Previous studies found that childhood atopic dermatitis (AD) and asthma are associated with residence in urban areas. However, little is known about the prevalence and determinants of AD in US urban populations and its impact on quality-of-life (QOL) and asthma. Objective To determine AD prevalence and persistence, sociodemographic predictors thereof, and association with QOL and atopic comorbidities in US urban children. Methods We analyzed data from The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a prospective cohort study of 4898 women and their children born in 20 large US cities between 1998 and 2000. AD prevalence was determined at ages 5, 9, and 15 years, and stratified by sex, race/ethnicity, and household poverty income level. Results The prevalences (95% confidence interval [CI]) of childhood AD were 15.0% (11.0%-18.9%), 15.1% (11.5%-18.7%), and 14.5% (10.4%%-18.5%) at ages 5, 9, and 15 years, respectively. Female sex (multivariable repeated measures logistic regression; adjusted odds-ratio [95% CI]: 1.56 [1.02-2.37]) and black race (1.80 [1.07-3.01]) were associated with persistent AD across all 3 ages. Children with AD at ages 5 and 15 (2.63 [1.42-4.86]), 5, 8 and 15 (1.47 [1.02-2.12]) and 9 and 15 years (1.61 [1.00-2.60]) had higher odds of poor/fair/good overall health. Children with AD at ages 5 and 9 years had the highest odds of ever having asthma (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval]: 6.05 [5.88-6.22]), followed by children with AD at ages 5, 9, and 15 years (3.17 [3.07%-3.27]). Conclusion Atopic dermatitis prevalence and persistence were highest in US urban children who were female or black. Urban children with persistent AD were more likely to have poor QOL and asthma.
Susceptibility of Crapemyrtle Cultivars to Powdery Mildew and Cercospora Leaf Spot in Alabama

Abstract Reaction of 43 cultivars in three crapemyrtle taxa (Lagerstroemia indica, L. indica x fauriei and L. fauriei) to powdery mildew (Erysiphe lagerstroemia) and Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospor...
Exploring Place-based, Physical Social Networks: A Case-study of Starbucks in a University Campus

Through this article, we introduce the novel concept of place-based social networks, as a way to enable effective, personal story-sharing for communities. We present our explorations of utilizing Starbucks at an American University to establish such a network for the student community. We show how anonymity between the community members, combined with the shared, spatiotemporal grounding provided by the place (Starbucks,) leads to prosocial behavior among the students.
Current and future functional imaging techniques for post-traumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma and stressor related psychiatric disorder associated with structural, metabolic, and molecular alternations in several brain regions including diverse cortical areas, neuroendocrine regions, the striatum, dopaminergic, adrenergic and serotonergic pathways, and the limbic system. We are in critical need of novel therapeutics and biomarkers for PTSD and a deep understanding of cutting edge imaging and spectroscopy methods is necessary for the development of promising new approaches to better diagnose and treat the disorder. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) criterion, all forms of traumatic stress-induced disorder are considered acute stress disorder for the first month following the stressor. Only after symptoms do not remit for one month can the disorder be deemed PTSD. It would be particularly useful to differentiate between acute stress disorder and PTSD during the one month waiting period so that more intensive treatments can be applied early on to patients with a high likelihood of developing PTSD. This would potentially enhance treatment outcomes and/or prevent the development of PTSD. Comprehension of the qualities and limitations of currently applied methods as well as the novel emerging techniques provide invaluable knowledge for fast paced development. Conventional methods of studying PTSD have proven to be insufficient for diagnosis, measurement of treatment efficacy, and monitoring disease progression. As the field currently stands, there is no diagnostic biomarker available for any psychiatric disease, PTSD included. Currently, emerging and available technologies are not utilized to their full capacity and in appropriate experimental designs for the most fruitful possible studies in this area. Therefore, there is an apparent need for improved methods in PTSD research. This review demonstrates the current state of the literature in PTSD, including molecular, cellular, and behavioral indicators, possible biomarkers and clinical and pre-clinical imaging techniques relevant to PTSD, and through this, elucidate the void of current practical imaging and spectroscopy methods that provide true biomarkers for the disorder and the significance of devising new techniques for future investigations. We are unlikely to develop a single biomarker for any psychiatric disorder however. As psychiatric disorders are incomparably complex compared to other medical diagnoses, its most likely that transcriptomic, metabolomic and structural and connectomic imaging data will have to be analyzed in concert in order to produce a dependable non-behavioral marker of PTSD. This can explain the necessity of bridging conventional approaches to novel technologies in order to create a framework for further discoveries in the treatment of PTSD.
An Optical Method for Quantitatively Determining the Surface Free Energy of Micro- and Nanoparticles.

Surface free energy (SFE) of micro- and nanoparticles plays a crucial role in determining the hydrophobicity and wettability of the particles. To date, however, there are no easy-to-use methods for...
Influencing factors analysis on the detector output signal of fiber optic current transformer with sine modulation

Abstract To investigate the measurement failure mechanism of fiber-optic current transformer (FOCT) with sine modulation, the detector output of FOCT is established and the expression of the output signal is given to explore its influencing factors. The demodulation method of FOCT is studied and the results show that the optical path parameters, modulation signal and measured current affect the second harmonic component in detector output, and may further cause FOCT measurement failure when the second harmonic component is low. Calculation and simulation are carried out to analyze the influence of each factor on detector output signal and the second harmonic component. The results show that the rise of optical path parameters and modulation signal will enlarge the output range of the detector, and the two factors are positively correlated with the second harmonic component, which may decrease as the measured current rises. Tests of the theoretical analysis were verified by experiments in Huai'an and Taizhou UHV Converter Stations.
SL9 impact chemistry: Long-term photochemical evolution

One-dimensional photochemical models are used to provide an assessment of the chemical composition of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact sites soon after the impacts, and over time, as the impact-derived molecular species evolve due to photochemical processes. Photochemical model predictions are compared with the observed temporal variation of the impact-derived molecules in order to place constraints on the initial composition at the impact sites and on the amount of aerosol debris deposited in the stratosphere. The time variation of NH 3 , HCN, OCS, and H 2 S in the photochemical models roughly parallels that of the observations. S 2 persists too long in the photochemical models, suggesting that some of the estimated chemical rates constants and/or initial conditions (e.g. , the assumed altitude distribution or abundance of S 2 ) are incorrect. Models predict that CS and CO persist for months or years in the jovian stratosphere. Observations indicate that the model results with regard to CS are qualitatively correct (although the measured CS abundance demonstrates the need for a larger assumed initial abundance of CS in the models), but that CO appears to be more stable in the models than is indicated by observations. The reason for this discrepancy is unknown. We use model-data comparisons to learn more about the unique photochemical processes occurring after the impacts.
Validation of Annulus Formation in Golden Shiner Otoliths

Abstract Golden Shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas is found in many lakes and ponds across the southeastern United States. Though it is a common species, otolith age validation methods have not been pu...
Introduction to approaches and tools for the evaluation of protein cysteine oxidation

Oxidative modifications of cysteine thiols in cellular proteins are pivotal to the way signal-stimulated reactive oxygen species are sensed and elicit appropriate or sometimes pathological responses, but the dynamic and often transitory nature of these modifications offer a challenge to the investigator trying to identify such sites and the responses they elicit. A number of reagents and workflows have been developed to identify proteins undergoing oxidation and to query the timing, extent and location of such modifications, as described in this minireview. While no approach is perfect to capture all the redox information in a functioning cell, best practices described herein can enable considerable insights into the "redox world" of cells and organisms.
Suicide‐Specific Cognitions, Attentional Fixation, and Worst‐Point Suicidal Ideation

Objective The fluid vulnerability theory of suicide posits that each person has a baseline risk for suicide, which is comprised of both stable and dynamic factors. The current study investigated the unique involvement of suicide-specific cognitions and attentional fixation on recent suicidal ideation (SI) and SI at its worst. Method Data were analyzed from a sample of N = 126 undergraduate students with a history of SI. Path analyses were used to analyze the relationship between suicide-specific cognitions, attentional fixation, and SI (current and worst point). Results Results revealed that suicide-specific cognitions were directly related to both recent SI and worst-point SI. Suicide-specific cognitions had a significant, indirect effect with worst-point SI through attentional fixation, but this effect was not significant when using recent SI. Conclusion These data support the need for interventions to target cognitive contents and contexts (e.g., fixation) to reduce escalation of SI. Future work would benefit from replicating and extending results in studies that include prospective designs and the assessment of suicidal behaviors.
Scattering and Emission of Electromagnetic Waves From Random Layered Media With Random Rough Interfaces: A Partially Coherent Cascading Approach

A partially coherent approach for computing the electromagnetic response of a layered medium having random rough interfaces and a random dielectric profile is presented as an alternative to the full-wave solution of the problem. The statistical nature of this problem, in particular, the random dielectric profile, introduces randomness in the phase of the electromagnetic field such that the field loses its phase coherency after traveling in the layered medium for a few correlation lengths of the permittivity. In this situation, there is a coherency length within which a coherent solution of Maxwell’s equation is required. For the distances beyond this coherency length, a combined coherent–incoherent cascading approach can be applied to reduce the computational complexity of the problem. The coherent response of each “block” within the medium (with a length approximately the coherency length) can be cascaded incoherently ignoring the phase response without losing accuracy. Cascading equations for block bistatic scattering are applied, and solutions of the equivalent block parameters are obtained by iteration up to the second order of multiple scattering. The proposed method is described in this article, and the numerical results are shown to compare the proposed cascading approach with the results obtained from the fully coherent solution.
The relationship between peer servant leadership, social identity, and team cohesion in intercollegiate athletics.

Abstract Servant leadership is characterized by a leader’s emphasis on serving their followers first. Within the sport context, servant leadership has been studied primarily in coaches and has been associated with positive athlete outcomes, such as increased athlete satisfaction, motivation, and performance. However, the impact of servant leadership from an athlete perspective (e.g., formal team captains) has been underexplored. As such, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships between peer servant leadership, cohesion, and social identity within intercollegiate athletes. Two hundred and eighty-eight Division I and Division III NCAA intercollegiate athletes participated in the present study (female n = 165; male n = 123; Mage = 19.41, SDage = 1.09) and completed the Revised Servant Leadership Profile for Sport (RSLP-S; Hammermeister et al., 2008), Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Carron et al., 1985; Eys et al., 2007), and Social Identity Questionnaire for Sport (SIQS; Bruner & Benson, 2018). Structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationships between peer servant leadership, cohesion, and social identity. Results revealed that peer servant leadership positively predicted cohesion, and this relationship was fully mediated by social identity. The current study supports the effectiveness of peer servant leadership in sport contexts and provides theoretical support for the social identity approach to leadership.
Revisiting Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man Using Contemporary Measurements

This study uses 3D body scanner measurements of US Air Force recruits to compare ideal body proportions represented by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man with contemporary body proportions in young adult men and women.
Spatiotemporal Domain Decomposition for High Performance Computing: A Flexible Splits Heuristic to Minimize Redundancy

There are three steps towards implementing the divide-and-conquer strategy for accelerating spatiotemporal analysis: First, performing spatiotemporal domain decomposition: dividing a large computational task into smaller parts (subdomains) by partitioning the input dataset along its spatiotemporal domain. Second, computing a spatiotemporal analysis algorithm (e.g., kernel density estimation) for each of the resulting subdomains using high performance parallel computing. Third, collecting and reassembling the outputs. However, as many spatiotemporal analysis approaches employ neighborhood search, data elements near domain boundaries need to be assigned to multiple processors by replication to avoid spurious boundary effects. We focus on the first step of the divide-and-conquer strategy because replication of data decreases the efficiency of our approach. We develop a spatiotemporal domain decomposition method (ST-FLEX-D) that allows for flexibility in domain split positions, which refines the well-known static approach (ST-STATIC-D). We design a heuristic to find domain splits that minimize data replication and compare the resulting set of subdomains to ST-STATIC-D using the following metrics: (1) execution time of decomposition, (2) total number of replicated data points, (3) average leaf node depth, and (4) average leaf node size. We make the following key assumption: The spatiotemporal analysis in the second step of the divide-and-conquer strategy uses known, fixed spatial and temporal search radii, as determining split positions would be very difficult otherwise. Our results show that ST-FLEX-D is successful in reducing data replication across a range of parameterizations but comes at the expense of increased decomposition time. Our approach is portable to other space-time analysis methods and holds the potential to enable scalable geospatial applications.
Inhibition of p70 isoforms of S6K1 induces anoikis to prevent transformed human hepatocyte growth.

Abstract Aims The mTOR/S6K1 signaling axis, known for cell growth regulation, is hyper-activated in multiple cancers. In this study, we have examined the mechanisms for ribosomal protein p70-S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) associated transformed human hepatocyte (THH) growth regulation. Main methods THH were treated with p70-S6K1 inhibitor and analyzed for cell viability, cell cycle distribution, specific marker protein expression by western blot, and tumor inhibition in a xenograft mouse model. We validated our results by knockdown of p70-S6K1 using specific siRNA. Key findings p70-S6K1 inhibitor treatment caused impairment of in vitro hepatocyte growth, and arrested cell cycle progression at the G1 phase. Further, p70-S6K1 inhibitor treatment exhibited a decrease in FAK and Erk activation, followed by altered integrin-β1 expression, caspase 8, and PARP cleavage appeared to be anoikis like growth inhibition. p70-S6K1 inhibitor also depolymerized actin microfilaments and diminished active Rac1/Cdc42 complex formation for loss of cellular attachment. Similar results were obtained with other transformed human hepatocyte cell lines. p70-S6K1 inhibition also resulted in a reduced phospho-EGFR, Slug and Twist; implicating an inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) state. A xenograft tumor model, generated from implanted THH in nude mice, following intraperitoneal injection of S6K1 inhibitor prevented further tumor growth. Significance Our results suggested that p70-S6K1 inhibition alters orchestration of cell cycle progression, induces cell detachment, and sensitizes hepatocyte growth impairment. Targeting p70 isoform of S6K1 by inhibitor may prove to be a promising approach together with other therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment.
Electrochemical activation to enhance the volumetric performance of carbon nanotube electrodes

Abstract In recent years, the floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FCCVD) method has established itself as one of the most commercially viable methods to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, at the final stage of the FCCVD process, densification of the web of CNTs to form a sheet causes a significant loss in the active surface area of the CNTs. This loss of surface area reduces the density of active materials that can be infiltrated into the CNT sheet. Reducing the amount of active material in the sheet reduces the charge storage capacity and causes low volumetric performance for CNT sheet in energy storage applications. Here, we are reporting the use of an electrochemical activation technique to chemically functionalize the CNT surface and recover the lost surface area. Chemical functionalization separates the CNTs and thereby increases the density of active materials that can be integrated into the CNT sheet. In order to avoid deterioration of the CNT structure from excessive electrochemical activation, we have optimized the procedure by comparing the performance of four samples of CNT sheets prepared using different numbers of cycles of electrochemical activation (5, 10, 20, 40 cycles). The performance of the sheet was analyzed using specific capacitance measurement, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis, and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. In addition, the Randle-Sevcik plot was used to select the CNTs with the largest activated surface area and electrochemical specific capacitance (150F/g). Further analysis such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was also carried out to unveil a 5% increase of the various oxygen-containing functional groups at the surface of the activated CNTs. Polyaniline (PANI) was then deposited on the surface of the electrochemically altered CNTs via an oxidation polymerization process to create a CNT-PANI composite material. A fully fabricated device with CNT-PANI electrodes and Polyvinylidene fluoride − 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (PVDF-EMIMBF4) electrolyte showed a significant specific capacitance improvement over a device with Poly(vinyl alcohol) -Sulfuric acid (PVA-H2SO4) electrolyte. The PVDF-EMIMBF4 capacitor device had a volumetric energy density of 833.3 µWh/cm3 at a current density of 0.5 mA/cm2. The capacitor has good mechanical flexibility and high capacitance retention (75% after 5000 cycles), which show the advantages of the electrochemical activation method.
The microbial origins of food allergy.

Food allergy (FA) is a significant public health issue, propelled by its rapidly increasing prevalence. Its sharp rise into prominence has focused attention on causative environmental factors and their interplay with the immune system in disease pathogenesis. In that regard, there is now substantial evidence that alterations in the gut microbiome early in life imprint the host gut mucosal immunity and may play a critical role in precipitating FA. These changes may impact key steps in the development of the infant gut microbiome, including its shaping by maternal factors and upon the introduction of solid food (the weaning reaction). These early-life changes may have long-range effects on host immunity that manifest later in time as disease pathology. Experimental studies have shown that resetting the host intestinal immune responses by treatment with either a healthy fecal microbiota transplantation or defined commensal bacterial taxa can prevent or treat FA. The mechanisms by which these interventions suppress FA include restoration of gut immune regulatory checkpoints, notably the retinoic orphan receptor gamma T+ regulatory T cells, the epithelial barrier, and healthy immunoglobulin A responses to the gut commensals. These findings inform human studies currently in progress that evaluate the role of microbial therapies in FA.
Community-based participatory research: Suicide prevention for youth at highest risk in Guyana.

Studied mostly in developed countries, the increased prevalence of suicide among youth, worldwide, is a preventable public health concern. Guyana, a developing country in South America, has the highest rate of youth death by suicide. Based on the diathesis-stress model, this community-based study aimed to identify both psychiatric and biological factors associated with repeated suicide attempts among high-risk youth. Objective We measured psychiatric symptoms, childhood traumas, and cortisol to identify correlates with recurrent suicide attempts. Method Poisson regression tested the association between psychiatric symptoms, trauma, and cortisol levels on number of suicide attempts among 50 youths from three child welfare orphanages in Guyana. Sixty-six percent were female, and the average age was 14 years. DSM-5 symptom measure was administered and saliva samples collected. Results Fifty percent of the youth endorsed suicide attempt. Within this subsample, a minimum of one and maximum of five suicide attempts were self-reported. Participants' number of suicide attempts was positively associated with number of past traumas, psychosis, and depression symptoms. Conclusion Suicide prevention screening among at-risk youth should target severity of psychosis and depression reports and number of traumatic life experiences.
Adverse events following injection laryngoplasty: An analysis of the MAUDE database

Abstract Objective Injection laryngoplasty (IL) is considered safe in both the operating room and clinical setting. However, safety data is limited to single-institution studies with reduced sample sizes. The objective of this study is to examine a national database for adverse events related to IL in an effort to further confirm the safety of this procedure and better characterize potential complications. Materials and methods Retrospective analysis of the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database for reported adverse events of IL procedures utilizing calcium hydroxyapatite (CAHA), hyaluronic acid (HA) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) implants from 2009 to 2020. Results and analysis We identified 47 reported adverse events. The average patient age was 54 years old. 59.3% of patients were female. Adverse events more frequently involved the use of CAHA compared to HA or CMC (n = 27, 57.4%, n = 13, 27.7% and n = 7, 14.9%, respectively). The most common adverse events were laryngeal edema (n = 18, 39.1%), improper placement of injected material (n = 12, 26.1%), persistent dysphonia (n = 13, 28.3%), and post-injection dysphagia or odynophagia (n = 11, 23.9%). Major events, defined as requiring emergency room treatment, hospitalization, or surgical intervention accounted for 29 (60.4%) of cases. Four cases of edema required intubation, and one patient necessitated a surgical airway. Conclusion Complications arising from IL range from minor events to airway obstruction and may happen with a variety of injectable materials including CAHA, HA and CMC. Few cases of airway obstruction requiring immediate intervention were identified, confirming the safety of IL in both the operative and office setting.
Toxicological analysis of stilbenes against the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda

Abstract The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a global pest of multiple economically important row crops and the development of resistance to commercially available insecticidal classes has inhibited FAW control. Thus, there is a need to identify chemical scaffolds that can provide inspiration for the development of novel insecticides for FAW management. This study aimed to assess the sensitivity of central neurons and susceptibility of FAW to chloride channel modulators to establish a platform for repurposing existing insecticides or designing new chemicals capable of controlling FAW. Potency of select chloride channel modulators were initially studied against FAW central neuron firing rate and rank order of potency was determined to be fipronil > lindane > Z-stilbene > DIDS > GABA > E-stilbene. Toxicity bioassays identified fipronil and lindane as the two most toxic modulators studied with topical LD50's of 41 and 75 ng/mg of caterpillar, respectively. Interestingly, Z-stilbene was toxic at 300 ng/mg of caterpillar, but no toxicity was observed with DIDS or E-stilbene. The significant shift in potency between stilbene isomers indicates structure-activity relationships between stilbene chemistry and the binding site in FAW may exist. The data presented in this study defines the potency of select chloride channel modulators to FAW neural activity and survivorship to establish a platform for development of novel chemical agents to control FAW populations. Although stilbenes may hold promise for insecticide development, the low toxicity of the scaffolds tested in this study dampen enthusiasm for their development into FAW specific insecticides.
Shamim Ara v. State of U.P. & Anr (Supreme Court of India 2002) and the “Judicialization” of Divorce: On Shamim Ara v. State of U.P. & Anr (Supreme Court of India 2002)

Student Editor Dixie Morrison (JD Candidate, Harvard Law School) examines how the Indian Supreme Court’s reasoning in Shamim Ara v. State of U.P. & Anr. (Supreme Court of India 2012) influenced the legal status of triple ṭalāq and Islamic divorce in India.
A Pilgrimage to Ramanujan’s Hometown

The purchase of Srinivasa Ramanujan’s home in Kumbakonam by SASTRA University on 2003 is a major step in the preservation of Ramanujan’s legacy for posterity. To mark that occasion, SASTRA University organized an international conference. The author’s visit to Kumbakonam for this conference began a series of annual visits. This article describes the cultural and mathematical legacy of Kumbakonam and provides an insight into the cultural setting in which Ramanujan grew up and made his most awe inspiring discoveries.
Neuroimmune Effects of Developmental TCE Exposure

Exposure to certain chemical, biological or physiological risk factors prior to adulthood can alter developmental processes and may in some instances enhance disease risk. This chapter will concentrate on the known effects of exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) during gestation, lactation, and/or early life on the brain and immune system and discuss how this persistent environmental pollutant may impede immunologic and neurologic development to promote developmental pathology. Possible neuroimmune mechanisms and therapeutic interventions to circumvent the neurotoxic and adverse neurobehavioral effects of developmental TCE exposure are proposed.
Investigations into the fate and behavior of selected inorganic compounds during biomass gasification

Two sets of gasification experiments were performed in an effort to understand the fate of biomass nutrients and the effects of feedstock potassium on carbon conversion during gasification. The purpose of this research was to develop a comprehensive understanding of the issues of sustainability and efficiency facing biomass gasification. The results of these studies are described in detail within this thesis. The first study evaluated the fate of biomass nutrients in an integrated system of biomass production and gasification. Eight plots of switchgrass were grown and harvested for use in this study. Four plots were fertilized with 65 kg ha -1 of nitrogen (N) and four plots were not fertilized. Three essential biomass nutrients N, phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) as well as carbon (C) were individually tracked through a fluidized bed gasifier and subsequent gas clean up equipment. Mass balances were performed on each element to determine the percentage of that element that was able to be accounted for and the percentage that was able to be recovered in a form suitable for use as a soil amendment. The percentage of C recovered in a form suitable for field sequestration was independent of fertilizer N input and represented 13±1% (mean±SD) of switchgrass C. Recovery of N in a form suitable for soil amendment was 55±7% of switchgrass N and was also independent of fertilizer N. The percentages of P and K recovered in forms suitable for soil amendment were both higher for the fertilized treatment of switchgrass than the unfertilized treatment. Recovery of P in a form suitable for soil amendment was 73±21% for the unfertilized treatment and 104±24% for the fertilized treatment. Likewise for K, recovery percentages for unfertilized and fertilized treatments were 61±9% and 71±9% respectively.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Treatment for Anxiety Disorders

Human verbal abilities are a two-edged sword. Language and cognition enable us to solve everyday problems and create a comfortable world. The same processes, however, allow us to constantly evaluate ourselves, to compare ourselves to an unrealistic ideal, to bring our painful past to the present, and to project fearsome futures. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT, said as one word, not initials; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) is a therapeutic approach that focuses on undermining unhealthy uses of human language and cognition, and to channel it into more productive areas. The present chapter will outline the philosophy and basic science behind ACT, present the core components of ACT, illustrate how ACT would be implemented with an anxiety client, and provide empirical support for the use of ACT with anxiety disorders.
Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation for OFDMA-Based Multi-RAT Networks

To support the heterogeneous demands for the network and mobile user equipment (UE), multiple radio access technologies (RATs), operating with different system configurations and resources, have evolved and now coexist. Recently, with data traffic exponentially increasing, there has been a significant expansion in wireless network infrastructure, raising a justifiable concern over the concomitant drastic increase in energy consumption. Thus, energy-efficient design in multi-RAT networks is becoming increasingly important. In this paper, we consider resource allocation that maximizes the energy efficiency (EE) for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in multi-RAT networks. To this end, we present the optimal resource allocation problem for parallel transmission utilizing multiple RATs. Since the formulated problem is NP-hard, a modified problem is proposed, for which a near-optimal resource allocation algorithm is developed by exploiting the intrinsic quasiconcavity of the problem. To reduce the computational complexity, we develop a low-complexity suboptimal allocation strategy based on joint iterative subcarrier and waterfilling power allocation over multiple RATs. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can achieve a higher EE compared to a conventional spectral-efficiency-based approach and can obtain performance comparable with the optimal solution, but with much less complexity.