cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract LB-22: Gemcitabine resistance is associated with EMT phenotype along with expression of cancer stem cell markers and a specific miRNA profile in the human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC3

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Despite new therapeutic strategies, human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) remain one of the greatest oncological challenges, as the rate of incidence almost equals the rate of mortality with a 5-year survival of less than 5%. Gemcitabine is the standard therapy for PDAC and is mostly used alone or in combination with an EGFR inhibitor. While tumors respond to Gemcitabine treatment initially, they generally develop chemoresistance. A thorough understanding of molecular events that promote resistance against Gemcitabine may identify pathways that can be efficiently targeted to reverse chemoresistance. A cell line model resistant to Gemcitabine was generated by transiently exposing BxPC3 cells to increasing concentrations of Gemcitabine. This Gemcitabine resistant cell line, BxPC3-GzR, was compared with untreated BxPC3 control cells. BxPC3-GzR cells showed properties of undergoing epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and these included a spindle shaped morphology, an increase in expression of vimentin and a decrease in expression of E-cadherin. BxPC3-GzR cells also showed an increase of expression of CD44 and in expression of phosphorylated STAT3TY705, which are characteristic of cancer stem cells. BxPC3 and BxPC3-GzR where further compared by microarray analyses for expression of micro-RNAs (miRNAs). BxPC3-GzR cells showed a specific miRNA expression profile (9 positively and 8 negatively regulated). Thus far seven of eight miRNAs identified as altered in BxPC3-GzR cells were validated by real-time RT-PCR (miR-15b, miR-21, miR-100, miRNA -125b, miRNA-155, miRNA-205 and miRNA-455-3p). These studies suggest that Gemcitabine treatment of PDAC selects for a resistant population of tumor cells that have a mesenchymal/stem cell-like phenotype and that express a distinct miRNA profile. Targeting these miRNAs may provide novel targets for restoring or enhancing anti-tumor response of Gemcitabine. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-22. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-LB-22
A Flagella and Capsule Stain for Bacteria.

The following method of flagella and capsule staining is offered as rapid, simple, and dependable. The method has been especially designed for staining Bacillus proteus, Bacillus subtilis, and the ...
RIGHT VENTRICULAR FDG-PET UPTAKE SUGGESTS A SHIFT TO GLYCOLYTIC METABOLISM IN THE SETTING OF RIGHT VENTRICULAR DYSFUNCTION RELATED TO PULMONARY ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) features intimal proliferation and smooth muscle hypertrophy of pulmonary vasculature. Resultant increased afterload leads to right ventricular (RV) failure. The metabolic state of cardiac myocytes is thought to determine how the RV responds to this increased
Treatment choice after one antidepressant fails: a survey of northeastern psychiatrists.

Background Because limited evidence exists to help clinicians choose the next step after a depressed patient fails to respond to an adequate trial of an antidepressant, I conducted a survey to explore psychiatrists' treatment choices. Method I asked 118 northeastern psychiatrists what they would do next in response to a clinical vignette of an inpatient with DMS-III-R major depression who failed to respond to 4 weeks of nortriptyline at adequate blood levels. Results Lithium augmentation was chosen by more than a third (33.9%) of psychiatrists. Other choices, in order of decreasing frequency, were continuing nortriptyline for another 2 weeks (17.8%) and switching to either fluoxetine (16.1%), electroconvulsive therapy (11.0%), or a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (6.8%). Only one psychiatrist each chose thyroid augmentation or bupropion. Conclusions The surveyed psychiatrists overwhelmingly preferred lithium augmentation over other strategies to manage treatment-resistant depression. Research on comparative strategies is lacking and urgently needed.
Factors affecting mifepristone and misoprostol efficacy in the termination of early pregnancy

Objectives:To investigate the factors affecting mifepristone and misoprostol efficacy in the termination of early pregnancy.Method:312 cases with mifepristone and misoprostol termination of early pregnancy were reviewed and analyzed to compare the efficacy in terms of pregnancy times,weight,gestational days and the results of cesarean delivery.Results:With the times of pregnancy increased,the abortion failure rate also increased,but without significant difference(P 0.05);Weight 55kg group showed significant difference from other groups(P 0.05);more than 46d or equal to 49d also showed significant differences(P 0.05).There was no significant difference between success rate of abortion and history of cesarean section(P 0.05).Conclusion:Gravidity,body weight,gestational days and history of cesarean section have little effect on medical abortion.Mifepristone and misoprostol in termination of early pregnancy have higher success rate and safety rate.It can be an effective method in the termination of early pregancy.
Electrophysiological properties of lumbosacral primary afferent neurons innervating urothelial and non-urothelial layers of mouse urinary bladder

Pelvic nerve (PN) bladder primary afferent neurons were retrogradely labeled by intraparenchymal (IPar) microinjection of fluorescent tracer or intravesical (IVes) infusion of tracer into the bladder lumen. IPar and IVes techniques labeled two distinct populations of PN bladder neurons differentiated on the basis of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) soma labeling, dye distribution within the bladder, and intrinsic electrophysiological properties. IPar (Fast blue)- and IVes (DiI)-labeled neurons accounted for 91.5% (378.3±32.3) and 8% (33.0±26.0) of all labeled neurons, respectively (p<0.01), with only 2.0±1.2 neurons labeled by both techniques. When dyes were switched, IPar (DiI)- and IVes (Fast blue) labeled neurons accounted for 77.6% (103.0±25.8) and 22.4% (29.8±10.5), respectively (P<0.05), with 6.0±1.5 double-labeled neurons. Following IPar labeling, DiI was distributed throughout non-urothelial layers of the bladder. In contrast, dye was contained within the urothelium and occasionally the submucosa after IVes labeling. Electrophysiological properties of DiI-labeled IPar and IVes DRG neurons were characterized by whole-mount, in situ patch-clamp recordings. IPar- and IVes-labeled neurons differed significantly with respect to rheobase, input resistance, membrane capacitance, amplitude of inactivating and sustained K(+) currents, and rebound action potential firing, suggesting that the IVes population is more excitable. This study is the first to demonstrate that IVes labeling is a minimally invasive approach for retrograde labeling of PN bladder afferent neurons, to selectively identify urothelial versus non-urothelial bladder DRG neurons, and to elucidate electrophysiological properties of urothelial and non-urothelial afferents in an intact DRG soma preparation.
The French Alternative

Historian Jeremy Black called eighteenth-century Britain and France ‘natural and necessary enemies’. They were ‘competing states, rival cultures and antagonistic peoples’.1 Weaker nations that wanted to prosper had to maneuver between those super-powers; and the United States, a relatively weak power, was no exception.2 American diplomats tried to locate their new nation exactly in between these great powers, playing one against the other while relying exclusively on neither. In case of a European war, Jefferson wrote, American neutrality would ensure prosperity to the new nation as ‘the carrying business must fall principally into our hands’.3 In times of peace, Americans hoped that the two countries, competing for the favors of the United States, particularly its commerce, would grant America special privileges that would ultimately strengthen the new nation and eventually make it independent of European power politics.
The War Ends

Soon after August 15, 1945, my family and I headed back from the farm house retreat in Hinoharu to our home in Magome. Fortunately our home had been protected by the bucket brigade and escaped becoming another casualty of the extensive Tokyo fire bombings. As we came out from the Ohmori train station, American GIs fumigated us with DDT powder, purging us of the fleas and lice that were ever present in the crowded barracks and farm communities.
K-Vectors and Wedge Products

When it is first encountered, the wedge product may appear both artificial and exotic. This appearance is deceptive. The wedge product is something like a generalization of the cross product of 3-dimensional vectors, so it should not be surprising that things looking like wedge products should arise in natural phenomena. Certain wedge products, the simple K-vectors, have striking geometric interpretations with a strong connection to determinants and oriented volume, so that the wedge product is an excellent tool for analytic geometry in Euclidean Spaces of arbitrary dimension. This connection with geometry leads in turn to an elegant and marvelously unified language for calculus not simply in Euclidean Spaces but in manifolds. It is this last aspect of the theory of wedge products which draws us to its study.
RISC-type microprocessors may revolutionize aerospace simulation

The author explores the application of RISC (reduced instruction set computer) processors in massively parallel computer (MPC) designs for aerospace simulation. The MPC approach is shown to be well adapted to the needs of aerospace simulation. It is shown that any of the three common types of interconnection schemes used with MPCs are effective for general-purpose simulation, although the bus- or switch-oriented machines are somewhat easier to use. For partial differential equation models, the hypercube approach at first glance appears more efficient because the nearest-neighbor connections required for three-dimensional models are hardwired in a hypercube machine. However, the data broadcast ability of a bus system, combined with the fact that data can be transmitted over a bus as soon as it has been updated, makes the bus approach very competitive with the hypercube approach even for these types of models. >
Embedded system implementation of ultrasonic flaw detection algorithm based on support vector machine classification

Support vector machine (SVM) based classifiers can be used to predict the presence and location of flaw echoes in Ultrasonic NDE signals with high accuracy. In this work, we present the implementation of the SVM based flaw detection algorithm on an embedded hardware platform (Tegra TK1 board) based on ARM CPU cores and a graphics processing unit (GPU). This implementation exploits high level of parallelism inherent in the algorithm and aims to achieve real time operation. Performance evaluation is done by comparing the embedded GPU against a PC setup with an Intel CPU and a discrete GPU unit. Overall, classification algorithm can be executed under 2ms with this embedded platform, potentially enabling real-time ultrasonic NDE applications.
Information Fusion via a Hierarchical Neural Network Model

This paper considers information fusion at the intermediate and raw data levels in order to improve the quality of decision making using currently available information. Information fusion becomes critical when records have been collected over certain periods of time at multiple locations with multiple systems. This is because they are often temporally and spatially correlated, and each system has its own bias and variance. To address these problems, a hierarchical neural network model is presented. The proposed model can learn both spatial and temporal dependence from data, and accommodate different information from multiple data sets. At the lower level in the proposed system, neural networks called local experts are specialized to learn spatial, temporal, or combined signals. At the upper level, another neural network called global expert is built. The global expert takes as inputs the estimates of local experts and searches the space of hypotheses to capture possible non-linear relationships among loc...
In vivo Optical Imaging and Manipulation of Pericytes in the Mouse Brain

Pericytes are critical for brain vascular function, but have remained largely unexplored with in vivo imaging methods. We briefly describe new approaches and transgenic mice for optogenetically activating pericytes with two-photon microscopy.
Identifying and enriching platelet-producing human stem cell–derived megakaryocytes using factor V uptake

Stem cell-derived platelets have the potential to replace donor platelets for transfusion. Defining the platelet-producing megakaryocytes (MKs) within the heterogeneous MK culture may help to optimize the in vitro generation of platelets. Using 2 human stem cell models of megakaryopoiesis, we identified novel MK populations corresponding to distinct maturation stages. An immature, low granular (LG) MK pool (defined by side scatter on flow cytometry) gives rise to a mature high granular (HG) pool, which then becomes damaged by apoptosis and glycoprotein Ib α chain (CD42b) shedding. We define an undamaged HG/CD42b+ MK subpopulation, which endocytoses fluorescently labeled coagulation factor V (FV) from the media into α-granules and releases functional FV+CD42b+ human platelet-like particles in vitro and when infused into immunodeficient mice. Importantly, these FV+ particles have the same size distribution as infused human donor platelets and are preferentially incorporated into clots after laser injury. Using drugs to protect HG MKs from apoptosis and CD42b shedding, we also demonstrate that apoptosis precedes CD42b shedding and that apoptosis inhibition enriches the FV+ HG/CD42b+ MKs, leading to increased platelet yield in vivo, but not in vitro. These studies identify a transition between distinct MK populations in vitro, including one that is primed for platelet release. Technologies to optimize and select these platelet-ready MKs may be important to efficiently generate functional platelets from in vitro-grown MKs.
Effects of a Teacher Dashboard for an Intelligent Tutoring System on Teacher Knowledge, Lesson Planning, Lessons and Student Learning

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) help students learn but often are not designed to support teachers and their practices. A dashboard with analytics about students’ learning processes might help in this regard. However, little research has investigated how dashboards influence teacher practices in the classroom and whether they can help improve student learning. In this paper, we explore how Luna, a dashboard prototype designed for an ITS and used with real data, affects teachers and students. Results from a quasi-experimental classroom study with 5 middle school teachers and 17 classes show that Luna influences what teachers know about their students’ learning in the ITS and that the teachers’ updated knowledge affects the lesson plan they prepare, which in turn guides what they cover in a class session. Results did not confirm that Luna increased student learning. In summary, even though teachers generally know their classes well, a dashboard with analytics from an ITS can still enhance their knowledge about their students and support their classroom practices. The teachers tended to focus primarily on dashboard information about the challenges their students were experiencing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates that a dashboard for an ITS can affect teacher knowledge, decision-making and actions in the classroom.
Facile synthesis of efficient and selective Ti-containing mesoporous silica catalysts for toluene oxidation

Abstract We report a novel, facile, physical mixing synthetic method that leads to titanium silicate and copper titanium silicate materials or highly effective solid acid catalysts for toluene oxidation reaction. The synthesis involves simple physical mixing of tetraethyl orthosilicate and various titanium alkoxide (and also copper(II) chloride), and then calcination of the products. The effects of the types of precursors on the catalytic activity of the resulting materials are investigated. Notably, titanium(IV) n-butoxide, whose hydrolysis rate is close to that of tetraethyl orthosilicate, yields a material that exhibits strong acidic properties and excellent catalytic activity for toluene oxidation with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant, giving 98% conversion of toluene and ca. 100% selectivity to benzaldehyde product. The work demonstrates not only simplicity in terms of synthesis of the materials but also unprecedented solid-acid catalytic activity for titanium silicate materials, the catalytic properties of which can be easily tailored by varying the types of precursors. It is also noteworthy that the materials give among the best catalytic performance (in terms of both conversion and product selectivity) under mild reaction conditions that has been reported for toluene oxidation with H2O2 as oxidant for heterogeneous catalysts.
Trigeminal Nerve Compression Without Trigeminal Neuralgia: Intraoperative vs Imaging Evidence

Background While high-resolution imaging is increasingly used in guiding decisions about surgical interventions for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, direct assessment of the extent of vascular contact of the trigeminal nerve is still considered the gold standard for the determination of whether nerve decompression is warranted. Objective To compare intraoperative and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of the prevalence and severity of vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve in patients without classical trigeminal neuralgia. Methods We prospectively recruited 27 patients without facial pain who were undergoing microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm and had undergone high-resolution preoperative MRI. Neurovascular contact/compression (NVC/C) by artery or vein was assessed both intraoperatively and by MRI, and was stratified into 3 types: simple contact, compression (indentation of the surface of the nerve), and deformity (deviation or distortion of the nerve). Results Intraoperative evidence of NVC/C was detected in 23 patients. MRI evidence of NVC/C was detected in 18 patients, all of whom had intraoperative evidence of NVC/C. Thus, there were 5, or 28% more patients in whom NVC/C was detected intraoperatively than with MRI (Kappa = 0.52); contact was observed in 4 of these patients and compression in 1 patient. In patients where NVC/C was observed by both methods, there was agreement regarding the severity of contact/compression in 83% (15/18) of patients (Kappa = 0.47). No patients exhibited deformity of the nerve by imaging or intraoperatively. Conclusion There was moderate agreement between imaging and operative findings with respect to both the presence and severity of NVC/C.
The Fabrication and Application of High TC Superconducting Thin Films

Many techniques have been used to produce high quality, high Tc superconducting films 1. Some of the more popular techniques include laser ablation, a variety of sputtering techniques and electron beam vapor deposition. Resistance heating of the source material is also used in conjunction with these techniques, e.g. electron beam heating. These methods of film preparation have been applied to the three main classes of high Tc materials, i.e. YBa2Cu3O7−y (YBCO), TI-based and Bi-based films. While there are several ways of evaluating these films, a reasonable measure of the quality of the material is the value of the critical current density (Jc) in zero magnetic field. Jc (measured magnetically and by transport) appears to depend strongly on fabrication parameters but in general the highest values are obtained for epitaxial films of YBCO on polished, single crystal, (100) oriented substrates of SrTiO3. At 4 K values as high as about 5×107A/cm2 have been obtained and at 77 K, Jc drops by about a factor of 10. Polycrystalline films on other substrates generally exhibit much lower currents. Thus, choice and quality of the substrate is still quite important in determining film quality.
Safety of repeated doses of tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis vaccine in adults and adolescents

In light of waning immunity to pertussis following receipt of tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine, maintaining protection may require repeated Tdap vaccination. We evaluated the safety of repeated doses of tetanus-containing vaccine in 68 915 nonpregnant adolescents and adults in the Vaccine Safety Datalink population who had received an initial dose of Tdap. Compared with 7521 subjects who received a subsequent dose of tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria (Td) vaccine, the 61 394 subjects who received a subsequent dose of Tdap did not have significantly elevated risk of medical visits for seizure, cranial nerve disorders, limb swelling, pain in limb, cellulitis, paralytic syndromes, or encephalopathy/encephalitis/meningitis. These results suggest that repeated Tdap vaccination has acceptable safety relative to Tdap vaccination followed by Td vaccination.
Chemical-Mechanical Planarization (CMP)

Chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) has found application in semiconductor processing as a method of controlling the planarity of the multiple metal and dielectric layers that form the IC interconnect structure [3.1, 3.2]. Nonplanarity is introduced to the wafer surface at the transistor isolation level and increases as the number of metal layers increases. CMP is the process of physically removing material from places of high topography to flatten and level the wafer surface. Figure 3.1 depicts nonplanarity increasing as metal layers increase, while Figure 3.2 depicts the ideal case of planar interconnect layers allowed by CMP.
Metabolism of Prostaglandin D2 by 11-Ketoreductase in the Rabbit Liver

In 1973, Nugteren and Hazelhof [1] described the formation of PGD2 from endoperoxides (PGG2 and PGH2). Subsequently, PGD2 has been found to be one of the major products of arachidonic acid cascade in many tissue and cell types [2]. Recently, several groups of investigators have demonstrated the transformation of PGH2 to PGD2 in brain homogenates [3, 4] and neuroblastoma cells [5]. The enzyme, PGD2 synthetase, which catalyzed the conversion of PGH2 to PGD2, has been purified to homogeneity and clearly distinguished from that of glutathione-s-transferase [6]. It has been demonstrated that PGD2 is released by platelets during aggregation [7]. PGD2 has also been found to be a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation, with a potency only less than that of prostacyclin (PGI2) and its stable biologically active metabolite, 6-keto-PGE1 [8, 9]. Although PGD2 is not metabolized by the lung 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase in vitro [10, 11], Ellis and co-workers [12] have found that over two thirds of the PGD2 metabolite of the monkey have the cyclo-pentane-1,3-diol structure of PGF2α. They suggested that the infused PGD2 may have been converted to PFG2α by a possible enzymic route: 11-Ketoreductase, before it was further metabolized by 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase and β-oxidation. In addition, as early as 1974, Hensby [13] described the conversion of PGD2 to PGF2α in sheep blood in vitro.
Stereolithography and Rapid Prototyping

Stereolithography is a “rapid prototyping” or additive manufacturing process that has been used to fabricate 3D and high aspect ratio microstructures for customized packaging of microfluidic devices and microsensors. Microstereolithography denotes a collection of processes and technologies that can fabricate devices and packages with improved resolution, with features down to 1 μm in size. We show the feasibility of the integration of stereolithography with micromachined devices, using alignment, cleaning and dicing tests as these are applied to chemical sensors, interdigitated electrodes, and an AFM cantilever fluid cell package. Advantages of stereolithography and micro-stereolithography are based on their capability to fabricate complex 3D shapes. Packages fabricated with these processes provide designed small volumes that eliminate the dead volume that can occur in reaction chambers. The fabrication of MEMS packages on a wafer level scale decreases the manufacturing and assembly time in addition to being cost efficient.
Strategies to Deal With Suicide and Non-suicidal Self-Injury in Borderline Personality Disorder, the Case of DBT

One of the most problematic aspects of borderline personality disorder resides in repeated non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts. These behaviors constitute the prime therapeutic target and a factor that complicates patient care, namely in terms of therapeutic continuity. It has been demonstrated that Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is efficient in reducing the symptomatology of this disorder, as well as NSSI and suicide. DBT is a multi-component psychotherapeutic treatment, and the effectiveness of its individual constituents is therefore a relevant question. Studies comparing its various components (individual therapy, group therapy, and standard DBT) have not revealed any marked difference between them, other than a tendency toward improved patient retention rates in the standard version of the treatment. The aim of this study is to review the various components of DBT and their constituent parts, in order to highlight the importance of focusing on self-harm behaviors within the therapy as a whole. Although therapeutic strategies may differ and target directly suicide or NSSI, managing the quality of life, and the persistence of the therapeutic alliance (and of the interpersonal alliance) is equally important in terms of treatment efficacy.
Secure Bidirectional Adaptive Resource Allocation in SDN-Enabled 5G Fronthaul Networks

We propose a software-defined resource allocation scheme in a mobile fronthaul (MFH) network that supports dynamic processing resource sharing. Our studies point to the feasibility of guaranteed bit error rate (BER) service using adaptation.
Correction to: Towards Household Asset Protection: Findings from an Inter-generational Asset Transfer Project in Rural Kenya

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in the image of Fig. 1. Boxes of some texts in the said figure are missing. The corrected version of Fig. 1 is shown below.
The Genetic and Neural Circuitry Predictors of Benefit From Manualized or Open-Ended Psychotherapy.

Objective:New technologies incorporating genetics and neuroimaging into psychiatric care offer the possibility of illuminating associations among genetic alleles, neural functioning, and patients’ ...
Partnering With Research Staff Members to Bridge Gaps in Consent.

Dickert et al. (2020) discuss a collaborative effort to develop a patient-centered approach to informed consent for clinical trials in acute myocardial infarction and stroke. This work draws much-n...
Mastectomy and Prepectoral Reconstruction in an Ambulatory Surgery Center Reduces Major Infectious Complication Rates.

Mastectomy and implant-based reconstruction is typically performed in a hospital setting (HS) with overnight admission. The aim of this study was to evaluate postoperative complications and outcomes with same-day discharge from an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) compared with the same surgery performed in the HS. Methods Patients who underwent mastectomy and immediate prepectoral tissue expander reconstruction were included in this retrospective study. Surgery was performed in an ASC with same-day discharge or the HS with overnight observation or same-day discharge. Patient demographics, operative details, outcomes, complications, and patient satisfaction were compared. Results One hundred six women (183 breasts) underwent surgery in the HS, and 103 women (177 breasts) had their surgery in an ASC between August 2014 and September 2019. Demographics, comorbidities, and operative details were similar. Although there was no difference in the rates of most major complications, infectious complications requiring operative intervention were less frequent in the ASC [2.3% (n = 4) versus 11.5% (n = 21); P = 0.001]. Patient satisfaction, evaluated with a 5-point Likert scale, was higher in the ASC. Conclusions Mastectomy and prepectoral reconstruction in an ASC is a safe alternative to the standard approach of performing this procedure in the HS. Although the rates of most surgical complications are similar between the HS and ASC, we have found a significantly reduced rate of major infectious complications requiring surgical intervention in the ASC which reduces overall cost and patient morbidity. Finally, patient satisfaction was higher in the ASC compared with the HS.
Hyoid Hemangioma: A Rapidly Expanding Neck Mass Leading to Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Case Presentation A 14 year old male was transferred from an outside hospital with left upper neck pain and swelling one day prior to admission. The pain was described as sudden in onset, tender to touch and exacerbated by movement. Three years ago, the patient reported a similar episode, diagnosed as lymphadenitis and resolved following a course of antibiotics. He denied any other symptoms. Vital signs were stable on presentation with no signs of respiratory distress. The swelling in the left lateral neck region was described as soft, edematous, non-fluctuant and non-erythematous. All laboratory investigations were within normal limits. A neck CT revealed an expansile lesion of the left hyoid bone (1.3 …
A Claims Based Assessment of Reoperation and Acute Urinary Retention after Ambulatory Transurethral Surgery for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Purpose:We evaluated real-world use of common transurethral prostate procedures in the ambulatory surgical setting and compare subsequent rates of tr!eatment failure.Materials and Methods:Using the...
Epitaxial Al 0.77 Sc 0.23 N SAW and Lamb Wave Resonators

This work reports on surface acoustic wave (SAW) and the super high frequency (SHF) Lamb wave resonators (LWR) with reflective gratings based on 400 nm-thick epitaxial Aluminum Scandium Nitride (AlScN) piezoelectric films. The films are grown on silicon substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), with $\text{Sc}/(\mathrm{A}1+\text{Sc})$ ratio of 23%, which is the highest Sc concentration, reported to date for BAW/SAW resonators based on AlN epitaxial films. We first demonstrate a SAW resonator, with reflective gratings. The Si substrate of the SAW resonator is then removed from the backside, to form a suspended 400 nm-thick plate. A floating bottom metal electrode is deposited from the backside to enhance the effective electromechanical coefficient ( ${k_{eff}}^{2}$ ) of the Lamb wave resonators. A high ${k_{eff}}^{2}$ value of 7.45% at a resonant frequency of 4.92 GHz is reported in this work, yielding ${k_{eff}}^{2}\times Q_{m}$ of 7.3. To the authors' knowledge, this work marks the highest ${k_{eff}}^{2}$ achieved for >3GHz AlN-based Lamb wave resonators to date.
Octopus-Inspired Arm Movements

The octopus offers an enticing paradigm for the control of distributed, high-dimensional, underwater systems. Octopus arms are composed almost entirely of muscles, arranged in highly organized patterns, allowing active control of bending, twisting, and stretching. In particular, the octopus can form pointed joints along an arm to quickly fetch objects from a distance, and can use its arms to crawl bipedally on the seafloor. Here, we analyze image data of fetch and crawl motions, then reproduce these behaviors in a three-dimensional elastic filament model of the octopus arm. We first constrain the tip of the arm to follow prescribed trajectories consistent with experimental observations. We then reverse engineer the active internal forces and moments that produce compatible full arm movements, thus developing blueprints for basic motion primitives. We conclude by analyzing the effect of compliance on robustness of these motions to environmental variations and by commenting on the implications of our results to the motor control of cephalopods and to the development of control strategies for soft robotic systems.
Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Longitudinal Twitter Analysis (JANUARY-APRIL 2020)

ABSTRACT Background The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented mitigation efforts that disrupted the daily lives of millions. Beyond the general health repercussions of the pandemic itself, these measures also present a significant challenge to the world’s mental health and healthcare systems. Considering traditional survey methods are time-consuming and expensive, we need timely and proactive data sources to respond to the rapidly evolving effects of health policy on our population’s mental health. Significant pluralities of the US population now use social media platforms, such as Twitter, to express the most minute details of their daily lives and social relations. This behavior is expected to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, rendering social media data a rich field from which to understand personal wellbeing. Purpose Broadly, this study answers three research questions: RQ1: What themes emerge from a corpus of US tweets about COVID-19?; RQ2: To what extent does social media use increase during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic?; and RQ3: Does sentiment change in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Methods We analyzed 86,581,237 public domain English-language US tweets collected from an open-access public repository in three steps1. First, we characterized the evolution of hashtags over time using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling. Second, we increased the granularity of this analysis by downloading Twitter timelines of a large cohort of individuals (n = 354,738) in 20 major US cities to assess changes in social media use. Finally, using this timeline data, we examined collective shifts in public mood in relation to evolving pandemic news cycles by analyzing the average daily sentiment of all timeline tweets with the Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) sentiment tool2. Results LDA topics generated in the early months of the dataset corresponded to major COVID-19 specific events. However, as state and municipal governments began issuing stay-at-home orders, latent themes shifted towards US-related lifestyle changes rather than global pandemic-related events. Social media volume also increased significantly, peaking during stay-at-home mandates. Finally, VADER sentiment analysis sentiment scores of user timelines were initially high and stable, but decreased significantly, and continuously, by late March. Discussion & Conclusion Our findings underscore the negative effects of the pandemic on overall population sentiment. Increased usage rates suggest that, for some, social media may be a coping mechanism to combat feelings of isolation related to long-term social distancing. However, in light of the documented negative effect of heavy social media usage on mental health, for many social media may further exacerbate negative feelings in the long-term. Thus, considering the overburdened US mental healthcare structure, these findings have important implications for ongoing mitigation efforts.
A membrane with repelling power

Flow batteries based on, for example, polysulfide suffer severe performance deterioration due to active species crossover in membranes. Now, a charge-reinforced ion-selective membrane is designed to support long-term cycling of polysulfide redox flow batteries by blocking the crossover.
Microbiome therapeutics for hepatic encephalopathy

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a complication of cirrhosis characterised by neuropsychiatric and motor dysfunction. Microbiota-host interactions play an important role in HE pathogenesis. Therapies targeting microbial community composition and function have been explored for the treatment of HE. Prebiotics, probiotics and faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) have been used with the aim of increasing the abundance of potentially beneficial taxa, while antibiotics have been used to decrease the abundance of potentially harmful taxa. Other microbiome therapeutics, including postbiotics and absorbents, have been used to target microbial products. Microbiome-targeted therapies for HE have had some success, notably lactulose and rifaximin, with probiotics and FMT also showing promise. However, there remain several challenges to the effective application of microbiome therapeutics in HE, including the resilience of the microbiome to sustainable change and unpredictable clinical outcomes from microbiota alterations. Future work in this space should focus on rigorous trial design, microbiome therapy selection, and a personalised approach to HE.
Minimum risk point estimation for a function of a normal mean under weighted power absolute error loss plus cost: First-order and second-order asymptotics

We have designed multistage minimum risk point estimation (MRPE) strategies for a function of an unknown mean in a normal population with its variance unknown. These are developed under a weighted ...
Specifying Circuit Layout on FPGAs

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews various techniques for specifying the layout of circuits for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). It illustrates the examples using Xilinx's FPGA technology, which provides an accessible mechanism for specifying circuit layout. User specification of the layout of circuits for FPGAs is necessary to meet performance requirements, to reduce area, or to facilitate dynamic reconfiguration. While a user-defined layout is impractical for many complete designs because of complexity or time-to-market constraints, optimizing the most critical blocks of a circuit can have significant benefits. Some vendor tools provide the ability to specify the layout of gates or composite blocks through either absolute or relative Cartesian coordinates. However, these tools are tedious to use and error prone, particularly for parameterized circuits. Various systems have adopted algebraic layout specifications that use geometric relationships between blocks instead of coordinate values. Such descriptions work well for irregular and recursive layouts. However, one may still specify illegal layouts for parameterized circuits, and no satisfactory technique exists for finding them. A promising approach is the use of theorem provers to statically analyze algebraic layout descriptions to ensure that they have no layout errors for any given permutation of parameters.
Circular Polarization Differentials in the Luminescence of Chiral Systems

The optical activity of chiral molecular systems arises from differential interactions with left and right circularly polarized radiation. The various manifestations of optical activity may be classified according to whether they involve the absorption, scattering, or emission of radiation. Circular dichroism (CD) is an absorptive phenomenon; Rayleigh and Raman circular intensity dif f erentials (CID’s) 1 may be classified as scattering phenomena; and circular polarization of luminescence, or circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), refers to the differential (spontaneous) emission of left and right circularly polarized radiation. The optical activity manifested in fluorescence detected circular dichroism (FDCD) measurements arises from the differential absorption of left and right circularly polarized radiation, athough the experimental observables are emission intensities.2 The fundamental feature common to all molecular chiroptical phenomena is the ability of the (chiral) molecular systems to sense the helicity of incident radiation (in absorption and scattering) or to emit radiation with a net helicity (ellipticity or partial circular polarization).
Integral Representations in ℂ n

In this chapter we develop the basic machinery of integral representations of functions and differential forms in ℂ n as it relates to the Cauchy-Riemann operator. These representations have their roots in potential theory, the link being the relationship between the complex Laplacian □ and the ordinary Laplacian Δ established in Chapter III, §3.6.
CONVERSATIONAL JOURNALISM IN PRACTICE

This case study builds on recent experimental research that sought to measure journalism-as-a-conversation, or co-created news between citizens and journalists, by overlaying it on The Seattle Times’ 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the slayings of four sheriff’s deputies. Pulitzer jurors singled out that coverage for its smart use of Web tools to enhance audience engagement and the paper’s overall online presence without sacrificing accuracy. Findings suggest the growing power of such tools in breaking news and beyond, but also the need for less common but perhaps more humanizing efforts, including short, personalized videos of journalists stepping from behind the veil of objectivity to discuss how they do what they do.
Vertical mixing of gravel over a long flood series

Vertical sediment exchange is a fundamental component of bedload transport in gravel-bed channels. This paper describes the characteristic depth of exchange achieved over a long flood series. Analysis is based on 11 recoveries of magnetically tagged gravels deployed in Carnation Creek, Canada, completed between 1990 and 2008. Vertical grain exchange mixes gravels throughout the streambed relatively rapidly. Within one to eight floods the mean burial depth approaches two times the surface layer thickness, quantified by the 90th percentile of the size distribution. Finer gravels are mixed more rapidly into the bed than coarser gravels. Both active and passive grain exchanges throughout most of the bed produce the overall vertical distribution of marked grains. Gravel exchanges exhibit fairly consistent patterns once tracers are well mixed by large floods. Results highlight the role of flood sequence in determining exchange depths, support the notion of an upper limit to exchange, and underscore the importance of passive grain exchange. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Transitive/Intransitive: The Knowledge of Reflective Practice

(1996). Transitive/Intransitive: The Knowledge of Reflective Practice. Teaching Education: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 29-40.
Boundary estimation in sensor networks: theory and methods

Sensor networks have emerged as a fundamentally new tool for monitoring spatially distributed phenomena. This paper investigates a strategy by which sensor nodes detect and estimate non-localized phenomena such as "boundaries" and "edges"(e.g., temperature gradients, variations in illumination or contamination levels). A general class of boundaries, with mild regularity assumptions, is considered, and theoretical bounds on the achievable performance of sensor network based boundary estimation are established. A hierarchical boundary estimation algorithm is proposed that achieves a near-optimal balance between mean-squared error and energy consumption.
Manometric responses to balloon distention in patients with nonobstructive dysphagia

Abstract The manometric responses to graded intraesophageal balloon distention were studied in 30 patients with symptoms of intermittent dysphagia but without evidence of structural narrowing on barium swallow or endoscopy, or both. These studies were compared with those performed in 10 normal volunteers. Using a manometric catheter with a balloon of reproducible dimension, balloon distention produced a sustained pressure proximal to the distended esophageal balloon in 28 of 30 (93%) patients and 9 of 10 (90%) normal volunteers. Patients with dysphagia had the reproduction of their characteristic symptom during balloon distention in 23 of 30 (76%) cases. Atypical symptoms not characteristic of the patients' usual dysphagia developed in the other 4 patients with dysphagia and in all controls. There were no electrocardiographic changes during balloon distention and symptoms were immediately reversible with balloon deflation. Repeated simultaneous contractions consistent with spasm distal to the distending esophageal balloon occurred in 21 of 30 (70%) patients with dysphagia but in no normal volunteers (p
Biology lessons from oscillatory cell mechanics

historians at the turn of this century, reflecting on the tremendous advances in science and technology, have argued that the 20th century will be forever remembered as the century of physics, whereas the 21st century will belong to the biologists. As the human genome project has neared completion,
Agreements in Family Law

The amount of private ordering in family law is significant, especially compared to just a few decades ago. And the trend seems to be towards greater private ordering. At the same time, domestic relations remains an area in which private ordering is viewed with significant suspicion, and a significant part of family law is still shaped by mandatory rules and by status. As part of a series of works reflecting on agreements in the family law context, this paper reflects on the sharply different treatment of agreements in premarital and marital agreements, co-parenting agreements, and open adoption agreements.
Electronic fetal heart rate monitoring: Early neonatal outcomes associated with normal rate, fetal stress, and fetal distress

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the ability of a clearly defined classification system for electronic fetal heart rate monitoring to predict early neonatal outcome. Study Design: All labors of women with singleton pregnancies ≥32 weeks’ gestation electronically monitored at 2 institutions were examined. Tracings in the final hour before delivery were defined as normal, fetal stress, or fetal distress. After delivery, Apgar scores, cord blood gas values, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit were examined as measures of early neonatal outcome. Results: Among the 898 patients who qualified for study, 627 (70%) had tracings classified as normal, 263 (29%) had tracings classified as fetal stress, and 8 (1%) had tracings classified as fetal distress. There was a significant worsening of neonatal outcome across these 3 groups with regard to depressed Apgar scores 1 minute (5.1%, 18.3%, and 75.0%; P CO 2 (53.39 ± 8.34 mm Hg, 58.51 ± 10.55 mm Hg, and 78.31 ± 20.35 mm Hg; P
Near-asphyxiated liquid fuel drop burning

Abstract The quasi-steady combustion of a liquid fuel drop is considered in the limit of infinite activation energy when the ambient mass fraction of oxygen is very small. It is shown that under these nearly asphyxiated conditions ignition and extinction phenomena do not necessarily occur even for an exothermic combustion field.
Impact of scheduling on the practice of medicine and biomedical research.

Abstract The regulating system for controlling the legitimate uses of opioids and other psychoactive agents, the scheduling process, inevitably influences clinical practice and drug development. Some of the influences have been positive; comparatively few cases of drug dependence are directly related to medical treatment. Among the negative effects are overcaution in the use of opioids, which causes needless suffering. Overly conservative decisionmaking in the scheduling of new analgesics can lead to a reduction in research and development in this area.
Historicizing Online Politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and Political Participation in China

Historicizing Online Politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and Political Participation in China. Zhou Yongming. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2005. 290 pp.
Restoration of the levator sling in the treatment of rectal procidentia.

The function of the levator ani muscle constitutes an important factor in maintaining the rectum in its normal position. The muscle, which is firmly fixed to the rectum, elevates, angulates, and supports the distal end of the rectum. In procidentia, this levator mechanism is often defective. We believe that this support can be restored by the placement of a fascial graft posteriorly across the lower rectum and attached anteriorly to the pubis. This puborectalis fascial sling tends to restore the natural support of the lower rectum. This type of procedure has been used successfully in five patients with severe rectal procidentia.