cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dinitrogen Reduction by Nitrogenase: If N_2 Isn’t Broken, It Can’t be Fixed

Nitrogenase consists of two component metalloproteins, the iron protein and molybdenum-iron protein, which together catalyze the ATP-dependent reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia during biological nitrogen fixation. With the recent crystal structure determinations of both proteins, a structural framework is now available for interpreting the mechanism of nitrogenase at the molecular level.
Correlates of Risky Heterosexual Behaviors Among Women Who Use Methamphetamine

Women who use methamphetamine are at heightened risk of engaging in sexual behaviors that increase their odds of contracting HIV or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, little is known regarding correlates of such behaviors within this population. In a community-based sample of women who use methamphetamine (N = 322), we examined participant characteristics (i.e., demographics, drug- and sex-related behaviors, and mental health characteristics) associated with three operationalizations of risky heterosexual behaviors in the past 6 months (i.e., number of male partners, condomless sex with male partners, and both multiple male partners and condomless sex). Analyses revealed important distinctions in the correlates of risky heterosexual behaviors as a function of outcome. Results suggest that HIV and STI prevention strategies should consider characteristics associated with differing risky heterosexual behaviors. In addition, differences in correlates of these behaviors suggest a need for standar...
Thalamic Relay of Afferent Responses to 1- to 12-Hz Whisker Stimulation in the Rat

Somatosensory cortical neurons in the rat can be entrained to frequencies of pulsatile whisker stimulation up to at least 12 Hz. A recent study proposed that such entrainment depends on oscillatory corticothalamic feedback. According to this model, thalamic relay neurons function as comparators of ascending and descending signals and should vary their response magnitudes and latencies as a function of peripheral stimulation frequency. Here we report, however, that the responses of thalamic relay neurons to 1- to 12-Hz pulsatile whisker deflections are constant in magnitude and latency over these frequencies. In addition, their cycle-by-cycle responses are as invariant as those of primary afferent neurons. These results support the view that thalamic relay neurons are driven primarily by ascending afferent signals and thereby entrain cortical neurons to peripheral stimulation by means of a direct feed-forward mechanism.
Managing Volatility Risk with Minimum-Volatility ETFs

A new category of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), known as low-volatility ETFs, aims to use a combination of techniques to reduce risk in a portfolio while, at the same time, delivering levels of return comparable to the market. Launched in 2011, they have been touted as cleverly managed volatility strategies.
Quality Improvement in a Managed Care Organization from a Medical Director’s Perspective: An Interview with Bruce Perry

Kaiser Permanente-Georgia-at-a-Glance Kaiser Permanente-Georgia (Atlanta), a regional division of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, is primarily a group-model managed care organization (MCO). Established in 1985, the MCO provides comprehensive medical care to approximately 260,000 members in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area. Health plan members may select a primary care physician from The Southeast Permanente Medical Group (90% of the health plan membership) or from a network of affiliated community physicians (10% of the health plan membership).
E6-Associated Protein (E6-AP): A Potential Tumor Suppressor Protein for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Abstract Over the past decade considerable progress has been made in cloning and characterization of potential tumor suppressor genes. Tumor suppressors have a repressive effect on the regulation of the cell cycle or promote apoptosis and sometimes do both. The function of tumor suppressor proteins fall into several categories, tumor suppressor genes are presumed to encode negative regulator of proliferation and inhibit mitotic activity. Loss of tumor suppressor protein or function of a tumor suppressor protein has been shown to be associated with the cancer formation. Continued investigation into the biochemical and cell biological functions of the tumor suppressor is critical to elucidate the mechanisms by which they normally inhibit proliferation/tumor development and to provide a molecular explanation for their frequent inactivation in cancer. Our laboratory has previously shown that the expression of E6-associated protein (E6-AP), which is an E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase and a coactivator of nuclear hormone receptors, is significantly reduced in human cancers having epithelial cell origin such as breast cancer. In this prospective study, we want to extend our observation to the cancers originating from lymphoid tissue. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer of lymphoid tissue. The main cell type found in lymphoid tissue is the lymphocyte. The 2 main types of lymphocytes are B-lymphocytes (B-cells) and T-lymphocytes (T-cells). B-cell lymphomas are much more common than T-cell lymphomas. In the U. S., 85% of all cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma come from B lymphocytes (B-cell) and 15% from T lymphocytes (T-cell). We performed immunohistochemistry analysis to investigate the expression pattern of E6-AP in normal lymph nodes and lymphoid tumors. Tissue micro arrays representing samples from 60 different patients were analyzed in this study. Our analysis suggest that on an average there was about 55 % reduction in E6-AP protein levels in B-cell lymphomas (P =0.0001) and 98.5 % reduction in E6-AP levels in T-cell lymphomas (P =0.0002) compared to normal lymph node. Based on our previous studies in breast and prostate tumors and considering our current finding of reduced/loss of E6-AP in lymphoid tumors, we propose that E6-AP may act as a potential tumor suppressor protein. This proposed idea is consistent with our in vivo data generated from E6-AP null mice which shows that the number of B- and T-cells are significantly increased in spleen compared to normal wild-type animals. Taken together our data establish the role of E6-AP as a potential growth and tumor suppressor protein.
Advanced Academic Participation: A Longitudinal Analysis of Ethnicity Gaps in Suburban Schools

Participation in advanced academic programs such as Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) has been associated with higher student achievement and college readiness. In additi...
An Assessment of the Impact of a Multipronged Approach to Reducing Problematic Pain Clinics in Florida

The present research evaluates recent changes to Florida law and policy to reduce problematic pain clinics (pill mills) and criminal diversion of prescription opioids. These changes entailed a multipronged effort linking regulatory and criminal-law approaches. Quantitative data from the Florida Department of Health and qualitative data from in-depth interviews with law-enforcement officers assigned to pill-mill taskforces reveal steep declines in pain clinics and pill mills. Respondents credit some regulatory enhancements for the reduction, although they describe some interagency cooperation problems and emphasize that despite success, many troublesome establishments continue to operate. The results suggest that Florida’s effort to reduce opioid diversion by tightening regulatory restrictions and law-enforcement scrutiny illustrates a multiagency approach to a problem spanning public health and criminal justice. This could be an example for other states seeking to combat problems that cannot be effectivel...
Acquired Apraxia of Speech: The Relationship Between Awareness of Errors in Word Productions and Treatment Outcomes.

Purpose Awareness of errors has been considered a clinical feature of acquired apraxia of speech (AOS). However, there is limited research examining error awareness in speakers with AOS. The purpos...
The Experiential Workplace: Convergence of Worker-Workplace Identity

Does the workers’ affective experience of their workplace influence performance in knowledge work organizations? This quantitative study merges constructs from environmental psychology and organizational behavior research to explain the relationship between the perception of the physical office environment and workers’ emotional and behavioral outcomes. This research demonstrates that the workplace experience of workers predicts job satisfaction and job engagement, which mediate workers’ performance as innovators. The findings from this study have the potential to unify the often divergent views of organizational managers and workplace design teams as to the influence of the physical work environment on knowledge workers. In addition, the study informs operations and human resource managers of ways to employ the physical work environment to improve job engagement and job satisfaction in the knowledge workforce. It impresses upon workplace designers the importance of a worker-centered approach in workspace...
A long journey to reproducible results

Replicating our work took four years and 100,000 worms but brought surprising discoveries, explain Gordon J. Lithgow, Monica Driscoll and Patrick Phillips.
Radiometric and spectral stray light correction for the portable remote imaging spectrometer (PRISM) coastal ocean sensor

The airborne Portable Remote Imaging Spectrometer (PRISM) instrument is based on a fast (F/1.8) Dyson spectrometer operating at 350-1050 nm and a two-mirror telescope combined with a Teledyne HyViSI 6604A detector array. Raw PRISM data contain electronic and optical artifacts that must be removed prior to radiometric calibration. We provide an overview of the process transforming raw digital numbers to calibrated radiance values. Electronic panel artifacts are first corrected using empirical relationships developed from laboratory data. The instrument spectral response functions (SRF) are reconstructed using a measurement-based optimization technique. Removal of SRF effects from the data improves retrieval of true spectra, particularly in the typically low-signal near-ultraviolet and near-infrared regions. As a final step, radiometric calibration is performed using corrected measurements of an object of known radiance. Implementation of the complete calibration procedure maximizes data quality in preparation for subsequent processing steps, such as atmospheric removal and spectral signature classification.
Recognition, diagnosis and treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder of low density lipoprotein metabolism characterized by lifelong elevation of serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol and premature valvular and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The two manifestations of this disease, homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) and heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) were, until recently, assumed to be genetically and phenotypically distinct with the former assumed to be more severe. However, with the growing use of genetic testing to diagnose FH, considerable phenotypic overlap between HoFH and HeFH is now recognizedAreas covered: We provide a contemporary overview of the genetics, phenotype, current and emerging treatment options for HoFH. We conclude with a discussion of the role genotype and phenotype should play in the diagnosis and management of HoFH as it is now understood.Expert opinion: The identification of a HoFH genotype has important diag...
Emotional Associations of Words in L1 and L2 in Bilinguals

This chapter presents a summary of the investigation on the emotional association of words in the first (L1) and the second (L2) language of bilingual speakers. It has been observed that the emotional associations of these words can differ for the L1 and the L2. To measure the emotional value of these words in bilinguals, researchers have used different research approaches such as clinical, introspective, cognitive, autonomic, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging. Through the chapter these approaches are described and analyzed.
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) mediated dopamine release in larval Drosophila melanogaster.

Abstract Acetylcholine is an excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system of insects and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a target for neonicotinoid insecticides. Functional insect nAChRs are difficult to express in host cells, and hence difficult to study. In mammals, acetylcholine and nicotine evoke dopamine release, but the extent to which this mechanism is conserved in insects is unknown. In intact larval ventral nerve cords (VNCs), we studied dopamine evoked by acetylcholine, nicotine, or neonicotinoids. Using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, we confirmed dopamine was measured by its cyclic voltammogram and also by feeding Drosophila the synthesis inhibitor, 3-iodotyrosine, which lowered the evoked dopamine response. Acetylcholine (1.8 pmol) evoked on average 0.43 ± 0.04 μM dopamine. Dopamine release significantly decreased after incubation with α-bungarotoxin, demonstrating the release is mediated by nAChR, but atropine, a muscarinic AChR antagonist, had no effect. Nicotine (t1/2 = 71 s) and the neonicotinoids nitenpyram and imidacloprid (t1/2 = 86 s, 121 s respectively) also evoked dopamine release, which lasted longer than acetylcholine-stimulated release (t1/2 = 19 s). Nicotine-stimulated dopamine was significantly lower in the presence of sodium channel blocker, tetrodotoxin, showing that the release is exocytotic. Drosophila that have mutations in the nAChR subunit α1 or β2 have significantly lower neonicotinoid-stimulated release but no changes in nicotine-stimulated release. This work demonstrates that nAChR agonists mediate dopamine release in Drosophila larval VNC and that mutations in nAChR subunits affect how insecticides stimulate dopamine release.
Impact of SLCO1B1 Genotype on Pediatric Simvastatin Acid Pharmacokinetics.

This study investigated the impact of allelic variation in SLCO1B1, a gene encoding for the liver-specific solute carrier organic anion transporter family member 1B1 protein (SLCO1B1), on simvastatin and simvastatin acid (SVA) systemic exposure in children and adolescents. Participants (8-20 years old) with at least 1 variant SLCO1B1 c.521T>C allele (521TC, n = 15; 521CC, n = 2) and 2 wild-type alleles (521TT, n = 15) completed a single oral dose pharmacokinetic study. At equivalent doses, SVA exposure was 6.3- and 2.5-fold greater in 521CC and TC genotypes relative to 521TT (Cmax , 2.1 ± 0.2 vs 1.0 ± 0.5 vs 0.4 ± 0.3 ng/mL; P < .0001; and AUC, 12.1 ± 0.3 vs 4.5 ± 2.5 vs 1.9 ± 1.8 ng·h/mL; P < .0001). The impact of the SLCO1B1 c.521 genotype was more pronounced in children, although considerable interindividual variability in SVA exposure was observed within genotype groups. In addition, SVA systemic exposure was negligible in 25% of pediatric participants. Further investigation of the ontogeny and genetic variation of SVA formation and SLCO1B1-mediated hepatic uptake is necessary to better understand the variability in SVA exposure in children and its clinical consequences.
Dimensionality and R4P: A Health Equity Framework for Research Planning and Evaluation in African American Populations.

Introduction Existing health disparities frameworks do not adequately incorporate unique interacting contributing factors leading to health inequities among African Americans, resulting in public health stakeholders’ inability to translate these frameworks into practice. Methods We developed dimensionality and R4P to integrate multiple theoretical perspectives into a framework of action to eliminate health inequities experienced by African Americans. Results The dimensional framework incorporates Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, and includes dimensions of time—past, present and future. Dimensionality captures the complex linear and non-linear array of influences that cause health inequities, but these pathways do not lend themselves to approaches to developing empirically derived programs, policies and interventions to promote health equity. R4P provides a framework for addressing the scope of actions needed. The five components of R4P are (1) Remove, (2) Repair, (3) Remediate, (4) Restructure and (5) Provide. Conclusion R4P is designed to translate complex causality into a public health equity planning, assessment, evaluation and research tool.
Oxidations by Cobalt Compounds

Transition metal organometallic chemistry has been one of the most active areas of chemical research for the past 25 years.1–26 A significant part of this academic and industrial research has been concerned with the use of transition metal organometallics in organic synthesis. Although the majority of the processes utilized industrially involve catalysis by metal complexes, an increasing variety of catalytic processes are being developed for conventional laboratory syntheses. Moreover, since catalytic processes are generally more selective and do not produce large amounts of inorganic compounds which are difficult to dispose of, this discussion of cobalt oxidations will include catalytic processes and traditional stochiometric oxidation procedures.
Sex Disparities in Risk of Mortality Among Children With ESRD

Rationale & Objective In the general population, girls have lower mortality risk compared with boys. However, few studies have focused on sex differences in survival and in access to kidney transplantation among children with end-stage kidney disease. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting & Participants Children aged 2 to 19 years registered in the US Renal Data System who started renal replacement therapy (RRT) between 1995 and 2011. Predictor Study participant sex. Outcome Time to death and time to kidney transplantation. Analytical Approach We used adjusted Cox models to examine the association between sex and all-cause mortality. We used Fine-Gray models to examine the association between sex and kidney transplantation accounting for the competing risk for death. Results We included 14,024 children, of whom 1,880 died during a median 7.1 years of follow-up. In adjusted analyses, the HR for death was higher for girls (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.25-1.50) than boys. When we further adjusted our survival models for transplantation as a time-dependent covariate, the hazard rate of death in girls was partially attenuated but remained statistically significantly higher than that for boys (HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.17-1.41). Girls were also less likely to receive a kidney transplant than boys (adjusted subdistribution HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.88-0.95) in analyses treating death as a competing risk. Limitations Lack of data for disease course before the onset of RRT and observational study data. Conclusions The mortality rate was substantially higher for girls than for boys treated with RRT. Access to transplantation was lower for girls than boys, but differences in transplantation access accounted for only a small proportion of the survival differences by sex.
Country- and Firm-Level Determinants of Legal Internationalization By Emerging-Market Firms

A fundamental question in management research is why firms go abroad, but answers to that question have largely assumed that firm internationalization is defined operationally. We instead develop a...
Deep learning for chest radiograph diagnosis: A retrospective comparison of the CheXNeXt algorithm to practicing radiologists

Background Chest radiograph interpretation is critical for the detection of thoracic diseases, including tuberculosis and lung cancer, which affect millions of people worldwide each year. This time-consuming task typically requires expert radiologists to read the images, leading to fatigue-based diagnostic error and lack of diagnostic expertise in areas of the world where radiologists are not available. Recently, deep learning approaches have been able to achieve expert-level performance in medical image interpretation tasks, powered by large network architectures and fueled by the emergence of large labeled datasets. The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of a deep learning algorithm on the detection of pathologies in chest radiographs compared with practicing radiologists.
SAFETY AND YIELD OF REST-STRESS MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION IMAGING IN PATIENTS WITH MILDLY ABNORMAL HIGH-SENSITIVITY CARDIAC TROPONIN

With high-sensitivity troponin (hs-cTn) testing, as many as a third of patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) will have mildly abnormal hs-cTn values that neither “rule-in” nor “rule-out” for acute myocardial infarction. The purpose
Cortisone-evoked decrease of acid-β-galactosidase, β-glucuronidase, N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase and arylsulphatase in the ileum of suckling rats

Changes of activity of intestinal acid β-galactosidase, β-glucuronidase, N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase and arylsulphatase were studied in suckling rats treated with cortisone (5mg/100g body wt. daily, started on day 9 postnatally) and compared with changes in control animals. Specific activities were not changed within the first 72h, but all enzymes decreased similarly 96h after the first injection. Total activities per ileum and animal were not changed within the first 48h, but within 72h a significant decrease was observed. Calculation of the rate of decrease of the hydrolases studied in cortisone-treated animals shows that it proceeds faster than the rate of renewal of enterocytes in this period.
Free-Radical Reactions

A free radical is a species containing one or more unpaired electrons. Free radicals are electron-deficient species, but they are usually uncharged, so their chemistry is very different from the chemistry of even-electron electron-deficient species such as carbocations and carbenes.
A Qualitative Case Study of All-but-Dissertation Students at Risk for Dissertation Noncompletion: A New Model for Supporting Candidates to Doctoral Completion:

This study identified emergent themes from the interview data of at-risk-for-completion doctoral candidates (N = 13; 59%), from a diverse demographic, who participated in a successful dissertation ...
BCoal: Bucketing-Based Memory Coalescing for Efficient and Secure GPUs

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are becoming a de facto choice for accelerating applications from a wide range of domains ranging from graphics to high-performance computing. As a result, it is getting increasingly desirable to improve the cooperation between traditional CPUs and accelerators such as GPUs. However, given the growing security concerns in the CPU space, closer integration of GPUs has further expanded the attack surface. For example, several side-channel attacks have shown that sensitive information can be leaked from the CPU end. In the same vein, several side-channel attacks are also now being developed in the GPU world. Overall, it is challenging to keep emerging CPU-GPU heterogeneous systems secure while maintaining their performance and energy efficiency. In this paper, we focus on developing an efficient defense mechanism for a type of correlation timing attack on GPUs. Such an attack has been shown to recover AES private keys by exploiting the relationship between the number of coalesced memory accesses and total execution time. Prior state-of-the-art defense mechanisms use inefficient randomized coalescing techniques to defend against such GPU attacks and require turning-off bandwidth conserving techniques such as caches and miss-status holding registers (MSHRs) to ensure security. To address these limitations, we propose BCoal – a new bucketing-based coalescing mechanism. BCoal significantly reduces the information leakage by always issuing pre-determined numbers of coalesced accesses (called buckets). With the help of a detailed application-level analysis, BCoal determines the bucket sizes and pads, if necessary, the number of real accesses with additional (padded) accesses to meet the bucket sizes ensuring the security against the correlation timing attack. Furthermore, BCoal generates the padded accesses such that the security is ensured even in the presence of MSHRs and caches. In effect, BCoal significantly improves GPU security at a modest performance loss.
Onboarding Experiences for New Respiratory Care Services Leadership

Background: A large percentage of leadership in management and education is expected to retire within the next decade therefore, there is a need to have a formal onboarding and succession plan in place for all levels of leadership in order to maintain positive growth and continued success. The purpose of this project was to identify current resources available to new leaders in respiratory care departments of large academic centers and to identify perceptions of current onboarding practices. Methods: A nonexperimental research survey was distributed electronically consisting of ten questions that focused on the orientation resources, educational training and organizational preparedness. The survey was distributed to the directors of all University of California Medical Centers who were to share with their leadership team. Results: 27 participants responded to the survey. The findings showed an overwhelming agreement in lack of resources and formal onboarding procedures. A lack of a formal structure in orientation and mentorship has made transitions into new roles difficult and caused a delay in production. Findings also include that the continuation of training and support is inadequate for all levels of leadership. The current state of succession planning and organizational preparedness of the organizations within the survey pool is nonexistent or in its infancy at best. Conclusions: From the results of this study, respiratory care directors and administrators may better understand the challenges and needs of new leadership. Improved orientations and formal onboarding procedures may support those in management and education who are preparing to exit and those who are just entering.
Engineering of an archaeal phosphodiesterase to trigger aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of synthetic substrates

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) probes that can be triggered by enzymatic activity are sought for applications across the life sciences. The compound 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (HBT) is non-fluorescent in solution but exhibits AIE. To adapt HBT for potential clinical applications, two phosphoester derivatives (1 and 2) were prepared. For extension to molecular brachytherapy (delivery of a radionuclide), one phosphoester derivative (3) was prepared wherein a bromine atom is incorporated as a site for subsequent radioiodide substitution. Each probe 1–3 requires phosphatase action to engender AIE. For specificity in diagnostic and therapeutic applications, a heterologous (i.e., foreign to humans) enzyme was sought for conversion of 1–3 from aqueous-soluble to aqueous-insoluble form. Here, an archaeal phosphodiesterase PDE-MJ0936 (wild-type) was systematically engineered for activity toward 1–3. PDE-MJ0936 is a hyperthermal enzyme (activity at 70 °C and pH 9.8) and exists as a dimer, which together limit life science applications. Ten PDE mutants were engineered by site-directed mutagenesis to achieve a monomeric structure, wider substrate scope, and elastic substrate docking under physiological conditions. Among the mutants, PDE-C141D exhibited efficient activity towards bis(4-nitrophenyl)phosphate (Km = 0.28 mM, kcat = 3.0 s−1 and kcat/Km = 1.1 × 104 M−1 s−1) and efficiently hydrolyzed 3 at 37 °C and pH 7.0, conditions under which PDE-MJ0936 is silent. The substrates 1–3 are relatively resistant to alkaline phosphatase, PDE-MJ0936 and fetal bovine serum. The development of enzymatically triggered substrates and the complementary heterologous enzymes may support diverse applications in the life sciences.
Does Perceptions of Organizational Prestige Mediate the Relationship Between Public Service Motivation, Job Satisfaction, and the Turnover Intentions of Federal Employees?:

Public opinion polls consistently suggest that government employment is not considered to be highly prestigious by most Americans. These negative images are likely to stifle the public sector’s rec...
Statin use and risk of prostate cancer biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy.

Abstract Background Multiple studies have investigated the role of statins in prostate cancer (CaP), the leading cause of cancer related death in men. Retrospective cohort studies investigating the correlation between statin use and biochemical recurrence free (BCRF) survival in men with CaP have been inconclusive. Objectives In the largest reported surgical cohort to date, we investigated the effect of statin therapy on BCRF and overall survival in patients with CaP who have undergone radical prostatectomy (RP). Patients and methods We performed a retrospective analysis of men (n = 3,088) participating in the NCI funded Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in CaP at Northwestern University (NM) in Chicago, Illinois. Patients were treated with RP between 2002 and 2015. Patients in the statin users group received treatment within 2 years prior to or subsequent to RP. Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher's exact tests were used to compare age, race, Gleason score, clinical staging, and pathological stage between statin users and nonstatin users. Results The analysis identified 1,222 statin users and 1,865 nonusers (mean age 71 years, 92% Caucasian). After a median follow-up time of 49.0 months, the 5-year BCRF survival rate was 93.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 91.9–94.8%) among statin users and 88.6% (95% CI: 87.1%–90%) among nonusers (log-rank P Conclusions Extended follow-up data in this large surgical cohort show statin use improves BCRF but not overall survival in RP patients.
Structural Features of Small Molecules Targeting the RNA Repeat Expansion That Causes Genetically Defined ALS/FTD

Genetically defined amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), collectively named c9ALS/FTD, are triggered by hexanucleotide GGGGCC repeat expansions [r(G4C2)exp] within...
Identifying Robust Radiomics Features for Lung Cancer by Using In-Vivo and Phantom Lung Lesions

We propose a novel framework for determining radiomics feature robustness by considering the effects of both biological and noise signals. This framework is preliminarily tested in a study predicting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Pairs of CT images (baseline, 3-week post therapy) of 46 NSCLC patients with known EGFR mutation status were collected and a FDA-customized anthropomorphic thoracic phantom was scanned on two vendors' scanners at four different tube currents. Delta radiomics features were extracted from the NSCLC patient CTs and reproducible, non-redundant, and informative features were identified. The feature value differences between EGFR mutant and EGFR wildtype patients were quantitatively measured as the biological signal. Similarly, radiomics features were extracted from the phantom CTs. A pairwise comparison between settings resulted in a feature value difference that was quantitatively measured as the noise signal. Biological signals were compared to noise signals at each setting to determine if the distributions were significantly different by two-sample t-test, and thus robust. Four optimal features were selected to predict EGFR mutation status, Tumor-Mass, Sigmoid-Offset-Mean, Gabor-Energy and DWT-Energy, which quantified tumor mass, tumor-parenchyma density transition at boundary, line-like pattern inside tumor and intratumoral heterogeneity, respectively. The first three variables showed robustness across the majority of studied CT acquisition parameters. The textual feature DWT-Energy was less robust. The proposed framework was able to determine robustness of radiomics features at specific settings by comparing biological signal to noise signal. Identification of robust radiomics features may improve the generalizability of radiomics models in future studies.
Diaphorina citri Genome Possesses a Complete Melatonin Biosynthesis Pathway Differentially Expressed under the Influence of the Phytopathogenic Bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus

Melatonin is synthesized from the amino acid L-tryptophan via the shikimic acid pathway and ubiquitously distributed in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Although most of melatonin biosynthesis genes were characterized in several plants and animal species including the insect model, Drosophila melanogaster, none of these enzymes have been identified from the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri. We used comprehensive in silico analysis and gene expression techniques to identify the melatonin biosynthesis-related genes of D. citri and to evaluate the expression patterns of these genes within the adults of D. citri with gradient infection rates (0, 28, 34, 50, 58, and 70%) of the phytopathogenic bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and after the treatment with exogenous melatonin. We showed that the D. citri genome possesses six putative melatonin biosynthesis-related genes including two putative tryptophan 5-hydroxylase (DcT5H-1 and DcT5H-2), a putative aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (DcAADC), two putative arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase (DcAANAT-1 and DcAANAT-2), and putative N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (DcASMT). The infection with Ca. L. asiaticus decreased the transcript levels of all predicted genes in the adults of D. citri. Moreover, melatonin supplementation induced their expression levels in both healthy and Ca. L. asiaticus-infected psyllids. These findings confirm the association of these genes with the melatonin biosynthesis pathway.
Disputed Conceptions of Motherhood

This chapter, which will appear in the Oxford Handbook of Feminism and Law in the U.S. (Deborah Brake, Martha Chamallas & Verna Williams, eds.), examines feminist efforts to disentangle womanhood, biological motherhood, and social motherhood in order to promote equality in the law. It argues that this approach has produced important feminist influence and results in some areas of law but has led to a lack of feminist influence in areas where biological and social motherhood overlap, such as parental rights, reproductive technology, and surrogacy. Just as the law needed a theoretical boost that went beyond gender neutrality to see the gendered harm of sexual harassment at work, it needs a feminist account of pregnancy and birth that recognizes that these biological processes have social, relational dimensions.
Transient Behavior of DTMCs

The objective of this article is to describe the transient behavior of discrete-time Markov chains (DTMC). We first provide some notation and terminology necessary for transient analysis. Then we provide a procedure for analyzing a DTMC and predicting the state after a finite number of jumps. Finally, we provide algorithms to efficiently perform transient analysis for DTMCs and obtain performance measures. Keywords: transient analysis; DTMC; Markov property; transition probability; diagonalization Method
A Tale of Two Families -- Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture by Naomi Cahn & June Carbone

This essay reviews Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture by Naomi Cahn & June Carbone. It first describes the evidence offered by Cahn and Carbone to explain differences in the marriage, child-rearing, and child-bearing choices of “blue” families and “red” families – choices that align with voting preferences. After considering the authors’ treatment of the contentious issues at the core of red/blue disagreement, the essay suggests a contrasting view of laws governing adolescent sexuality. Finally, the essay explores how the book’s solutions for reframing family values debates intersect with the economic disparities among red and blue families.
Neurobiology of Anxiety

Anxiety/fear is a normal reaction to threatening situations and it represents a physiologically protective function. Anxiety/fear is often manifested as avoidance and is also characterized by overt sympathetic reactions. Pathological anxiety is a level of anxiety that is disproportionate to the threat and can be manifested even in the absence of threat. In clinical practice, categorical systems set the boundary at which a particular level of anxiety becomes an anxiety disorder. Although a genetic contribution to anxiety disorders has long been suspected, it is only recently that genetic polymorphisms in various neurotransmitter and neuromodulatory systems have been linked to anxiety disorders. Still, the contribution of these factors is relatively small to the overall disease phenotype and the complex interaction between genetic factors and the environment will ultimately explain the development of susceptibility to anxiety. Genetic and biochemical studies, combined with the analysis of mouse strains with induced genetic mutations implicate multiple neurobiological processes in anxiety disorders. Although the association of neurotransmitters and their receptors with anxiety-like behavior is not surprising, cytokines and cell adhesion molecules were also identified as modulators of anxiety. Furthermore, intracellular signaling pathways and their target genes were linked to anxiety allowing the assembly of specific “anxiety” pathways. It is apparent that anxiety-related pathways and processes involve communication between various neurons that, via signaling pathways, eventually converge onto regulation of transcription and/or translation. The proper function of these pathways is especially crucial during early postnatal development and one can hypothesize that abnormalities in these pathways at any level lead to, via altered gene expression, to changes in neuronal morphology and/or function. Importantly, all commonly used anxiolytic drugs can be integrated into this model implying that anxiolytic drugs target and modulate the molecular and cellular pathways which establish and/or control the level of anxiety. Keywords: anxiety; fear; anxiety disorders; neurotransmitters; receptors; signaling pathways; neuronal circuits; knockout mice; association studies
Sampling a Population with Subgroups

When the population we are interested in has subgroups that we are also interested in separately, it is often useful to select a separate sample of elements from each of the subgroups. For such purposes each subgroup is treated as if it were a completely separate population. A sample of whatever size is needed is selected from each of these separate populations, and the values of interest are estimated separately for each population. Suppose that we have reliable information on the locations of all sites in a region. No one has attempted to discover the sizes of these sites, however. We could select a sample of the known sites and go make systematic surface collections in an effort to determine how large they are. These determinations could then form the basis for estimating the mean site size for the region. If, in addition, the region could be divided into three different environmental settings (remnant levees, river bottoms, and slopes) we might be interested in estimating the mean site area for each of the settings.
Emplacement of continental flood basalt lava flows

We propose that continental flood basalt (CFB) lavas were predominantly emplaced as inflated compound pahoehoe flow fields via prolonged, episodic eruptions. Our most detailed observations come from the ∼14,7 Ma Roza flow field of the Columbia River Basalt (CRB) Group. The Roza flow field seems to be typical of many flood basalt lavas. Individual flows show a wide range of pahoehoe surface features and a three-part internal structure in vesicularity and other textural parameters. This three-fold division into an upper crust, core, and basal crust appears to be diagnostic of the inflation process and is ubiquitous in basaltic lava flows over a remarkable range of sizes. The pahoehoe surface features and indications of inflation are inconsistent with rapid emplacement of these lava flows. Instead, we interpret the observations to imply that the Roza, and other CFB flows, were emplaced over an extended period of time. From the thickness of the upper crust, which we suggest formed while the flow was actively inflating, and an empirical expression for the rate of crust growth of Hawaiian inflated sheet flows, we estimate that individual Roza flows were emplaced over 5 to 50 months and that the Roza flow field was constructed over a period of 6 to 14 years. However, even with this longer eruption duration, the average lava effusion rate of ∼4000 m 3 /s is similar to that of the highest-effusion-rate eruption in recorded history (the 1783-4 Laki eruption in Iceland). Our observations of lava characteristics in other CRB flows and in the Deccan Traps suggest that this emplacement style is typical of many, if not most, CFB flows. Initial estimates of the volatile release from the Roza eruption indicate that prodigious amounts of S, Cl, and F were injected into the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere; thus this single flood basalt eruption could have had a significant effect on the global atmosphere If other flood basalt eruptions produced similar amounts of volatiles, volatile release might provide a link between flood basalt eruptions and mass extinctions.
ELECTRON MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF SILICA IN EPIDERMAL CELLS OF EQUISETUM

A B S T R A C T Patterns of silica deposition on the outer epidermal cell walls of Equisetum arvense and E. hyemale var. affine were examined by means of electron microprobe analysis. Silica is deposited primarily in discrete knobs and rosettes on the epidermal surface in E. arvense and essentially in a uniform pattern on and in the entire outer epidermal cell walls of E. hyemale var. affine. This markedly contrasts with patterns of silica deposition in internodal epidermal cells of Avena sativa (Gramineae) where silica is deposited primarily in cell walls and cell lumina, and to a much lesser extent, on the outer epidermal surface. Semi-quantitative analysis with the electron microprobe shows that in intercalary meristematic cells of E. arvense, silicon is not present in any cells, but that in mature epidermal cells above the intercalary meristem it is present in significant quantities. The study thus suggests that silica deposition must be a very rapid process in Equisetum and Avena. SILICA iS deposited as opal or primarily as silica gel (Lewin and Reimann, 1969) in the epidermis and in other parts (pith, cortex, mesophyll, vascular tissues) of many plants.3 It is characteristically found in significant quantities in the Equisetaceae, Cyperaceae, Gramineae, Urticaceae, Chrysophyta (diatoms), and Xanthophyta, although it also occurs in many other plants (Kiuster, 1951; Lewin, 1962) as well as in animals (e.g., spicules of sponges). Silica seems to serve an array of functions in plants, including: (1) strengthening of the cell wall and the provision of an alternative means of support for aerial portions of the shoot, other than that involving strictly lignin deposition; (2) protection against pathogens and predators; (3) prevention of excessive water loss through the epidermis; (4) normal development of many
Loss of manganese superoxide dismutase expression and activity in rat esophagus with external esophageal perfusion.

Background Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), the primary antioxidant enzyme that scavenges superoxide radicals found in the mitochondria, has been shown to protect oxygen-utilizing cells from the toxicity of the reactive oxygen species (ROS). Current studies in the animal esophageal reflux model are limited, and the reports on the relevance of protein expression level and enzymatic antioxidative activity of MnSOD in esophageal mucosal defense are controversial. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the role of MnSOD expression and activity in rats with esophageal perfusion injury. Methods We have established a novel external esophageal perfusion (EEP) animal model that allows for esophageal reflux injury. We used the model with 0.5% bovine bile as the perfusion agent in one group of rats and used saline in another group to serve as controls. The esophageal mucosal was isolated for MnSOD expression and activity analysis. Results Severe esophagitis was observed in the mucosa at 1, 2, and 4 week(s) after bile perfusion. A significant decrease in MnSOD expression with bile perfusion was demonstrated by Western blotting and immunohistochemical evaluation. Similarly, a reduction in MnSOD enzyme activity was observed in bile-perfused rats compared with the saline-perfused controls; no decrease in copper/zinc SOD enzyme activity was observed. Conclusions MnSOD expression and activity is decreased in bile-induced esophagitis. This decrease in MnSOD expression and activity is associated with esophagitis and cell death. This study suggests that the loss of MnSOD protein contributes to the reduced level of its enzymatic activity and plays a key role in the induction of esophagitis.
Amounts and Measures of Amount

Anything specified in response to the question, ‘How much?’ may, I suppose, be properly called an amount. But the amounts I want to discuss are those only which are amounts of such things as water or gold, objects designated by what Terence Parsons1 has called ‘applied amount terms’ — phrases like ‘ten pounds of water’ or ‘three teaspoons of gold’, the result of concatenating a numeral, the name of a unit of measurement, and a word or phrase with the grammatical syntax of a mass noun.
Characterizing Routing with Radio-to-Router Information in a Heterogeneous Airborne Network

The current generation of long-range, high capacity, military radios are stove-piped systems that work well in a homogeneous environment, but lack interoperability with other radio systems. Each radio provides a subset of disparate link information in non-standard interfaces and has built-in home-grown routers running different routing protocols. In a heterogeneous radio system airborne environment, wireless link characteristics change rapidly, often requiring direct link feedback from the radio to make routing decisions. In recent years, much work has been done in developing a common radio-to-router interface (R2RI) that standardizes a subset of per-link information to pass to the network layer for use in dynamic MANET routing. While simulations and emulation tests can provide a baseline for how systems might perform, field-tests are crucial to demonstrate capabilities in real-world operating environments. In this paper, we present measurement results from a field test involving several air and ground assets with various radio systems that test an implementation of RFC4938, a radio-to-router interface protocol, and its interaction with a dynamic MANET routing protocol. The assets formed a high capacity, dynamically routed aerial IP backbone made of heterogeneous radio technologies over 250 nautical miles (Nm), allowing the passing of military traffic.