cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sequential detection of learning in cognitive diagnosis

In order to look more closely at the many particular skills examinees utilize to answer items, cognitive diagnosis models have received much attention, and perhaps are preferable to item response models that ordinarily involve just one or a few broadly defined skills, when the objective is to hasten learning. If these fine-grained skills can be identified, a sharpened focus on learning and remediation can be achieved. The focus here is on how to detect when learning has taken place for a particular attribute and efficiently guide a student through a sequence of items to ultimately attain mastery of all attributes while administering as few items as possible. This can be seen as a problem in sequential change-point detection for which there is a long history and a well-developed literature. Though some ad hoc rules for determining learning may be used, such as stopping after M consecutive items have been successfully answered, more efficient methods that are optimal under various conditions are available. The CUSUM, Shiryaev-Roberts and Shiryaev procedures can dramatically reduce the time required to detect learning while maintaining rigorous Type I error control, and they are studied in this context through simulation. Future directions for modelling and detection of learning are discussed.
Commentary: A new ichnospecies of Spongeliomorpha from the late Triassic of New Jersey

A new ichnotaxon is recognized in the Perkasie Member of the Passaic Formation (Upper Triassic) at the Smith Clark Quarry, Milford, New Jersey. Spongeliomorpha milfordensis is a small trace fossil possessing sharply incised partial wall striations which form a distinctive angle with the axis of the burrow. It is construed as a deposit‐feeding structure possibly formed by aquatic insect larvae along the margin of a lake.
Design of a second-order sliding mode MRAS speed estimator for the induction motor drive

The paper presents a speed estimation method for the induction motor (IM) drive. The speed is obtained using the Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS) principle and is based on a second order sliding mode (SM) observer. First, the stationary frame fluxes of the IM are obtained using a Voltage Model Observer - this is based on the stator equations (which do not depend on speed) and serves as the reference model. The adjustable model re-estimates the fluxes and is made to match the reference model by adapting the speed - specifically, the speed estimate is a second order sliding mode term. The method is relatively simple and is not computationally intensive. The paper shows the implementation by first order sliding mode and also by second-order sliding mode. The speed estimate is obtained by filtering a switching term. The speed estimate is accurate and robust; when the second-order SM approach is used, it is obtained using minimal filtering only.
143 THE USE OF TELEMEDICINE TO PROVIDE SUPPORT DURING PEDIATRIC RESUSCITATIONS

Introduction Many Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) physicians receive urgent telephone consultation requests for real-time pediatric resuscitation assistance. These requests may originate from Emergency Departments or hospital inpatient care areas. At the University of California Davis Children9s Hospital (UCDCH), we have developed an innovative pediatric critical care telemedicine program that connects our PICU and the homes of our PICU attendings, to rural Emergency Departments and remote inpatient care areas. Methods We report three cases of pediatric resuscitations taking place at remote locations lead by a UCDCH PICU attending physician using telemedicine. The PICU attending has assisted in resuscitations taking place at a rural Emergency Department, a remote hospital9s inpatient care area, and the UCDCH PICU when the attending physician was at home. Results Post-resuscitation interviews demonstrated a high degree of satisfaction with the patient care management relative to resuscitations supported over telephone. Telemedicine consultations provided superior resuscitation care as determined by remote resuscitation team members. Conclusions Telemedicine consultation may be superior to telephone consultation for pediatric resuscitation. Institutions that consult with rural hospitals or are unable to provide in-house attending coverage for their PICU may consider the use of this technology to improve outcomes and satisfaction.
Validating a feature-based meta-odel for mechanical products: a case study

This chapter describes a validation step following the development of a framework and a prototype system for modeling the “meta-” information of mechanical products. The content and structure of the meta-model correspond directly to the information used and produced during the mechanical design process. This validation effort has produced a case study of an example product design and has attempted to validate the model by allowing persons in the development cycle to query the model. This chapter does not give a complete description of the meta-model, its development, or its lineage; however, the usage and potential of such a meta-model are demonstrated through the case study. It was found that the theoretical meta-model contained sufficient information to satisfy all queries encountered in this particular design experience. However, some caveats were encountered and suggestions are made to improve the prototype modeler.
Emergencies in Public Law: The Legal Politics of Containment

Debates about emergency powers traditionally focus on whether law can or should constrain officials in emergencies. Emergencies in Public Law moves beyond this narrow lens, focusing instead on how law structures the response to emergencies and what kind of legal and political dynamics this relation gives rise to. Drawing on empirical studies from a variety of emergencies, institutional actors, and jurisdictional scales (terrorist threats, natural disasters, economic crises, and more), this book provides a framework for understanding emergencies as long-term processes rather than ad hoc events, and as opportunities for legal and institutional productivity rather than occasions for the suspension of law and the centralization of response powers. The analysis offered here will be of interest to academics and students of legal, political, and constitutional theory, as well as to public lawyers and social scientists.
Assessment of Psychosocial and Functional Impact of Chronic Pain.

Abstract The psychosocial and functional consequences of chronic pain disorders have been well documented as having significant effects on the experience of pain, presentation to health care providers, responsiveness to and participation in treatment, disability, and health-related quality of life. Thus, psychosocial and functional consequences have been incorporated as 1 of the 5 dimensions within the integrated Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks (ACTTION)-American Pain Society (APS) Pain Taxonomy (AAPT): 1) core diagnostic criteria; 2) common features; 3) common medical comorbidities; 4) neurobiological, psychosocial, and functional consequences; and 5) putative neurobiological and psychosocial mechanisms, risk factors, and protective factors. In this article we review the rationale for a biopsychosocial perspective, on the basis of current evidence, and describe a set of key psychosocial and behavioral factors (eg, mood/affect, coping resources, expectations, sleep quality, physical function, and pain-related interference with daily activities) that are important consequences of persistent pain and that should be considered when classifying patients within the comprehensive AAPT chronic pain structure. We include an overview of measures and procedures that have been developed to assess this set of factors and that can be used as part of the comprehensive assessment and classification of pain and to address specific research questions. Perspective Psychosocial and functional consequences are important considerations in the classification of individuals with chronic pain. A set of key psychosocial and behavioral factors (eg, mood/affect, coping resources, expectations, sleep quality, physical function, and pain-related interference with daily activities) that should be considered when classifying patients within the comprehensive classification of chronic pain disorders developed by the AAPT are outlined and examples of assessment methods for each are described.
Defining imaging biomarker cut points for brain aging and Alzheimer's disease

Abstract Introduction Our goal was to develop cut points for amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), tau PET, flouro-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET, and MRI cortical thickness. Methods We examined five methods for determining cut points. Results The reliable worsening method produced a cut point only for amyloid PET. The specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of cognitively impaired versus young clinically normal (CN) methods labeled the most people abnormal and all gave similar cut points for tau PET, FDG PET, and cortical thickness. Cut points defined using the accuracy of cognitively impaired versus age-matched CN method labeled fewer people abnormal. Discussion In the future, we will use a single cut point for amyloid PET (standardized uptake value ratio, 1.42; centiloid, 19) based on the reliable worsening cut point method. We will base lenient cut points for tau PET, FDG PET, and cortical thickness on the accuracy of cognitively impaired versus young CN method and base conservative cut points on the accuracy of cognitively impaired versus age-matched CN method.
Myelopathy in Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is heterogeneous group of congenital disorders of collagen synthesis, characterized by generalized osteoporosis and multiple fractures. It is caused by a genetic mutation in abnormal production of type-I collagen. The major clinical characteristics of OI:
Differential housing and novelty response: Protection and risk from locomotor sensitization

Abstract High novelty seeking increases the risk for drug experimentation and locomotor sensitization. Locomotor sensitization to psychostimulants is thought to reflect neurological adaptations that promote the transition to compulsive drug taking. Rats reared in enrichment (EC) show less locomotor sensitization when compared to rats reared in isolation (IC) or standard conditions (SC). The current research study was designed to test if novelty response contributed locomotor sensitization and more importantly, if the different housing environments could change the novelty response to protect against the development of locomotor sensitization in both adolescence and adulthood. Experiment 1: rats were tested for their response to novelty using the inescapable novelty test (IEN) and pseudorandomly assigned to enriched (EC), isolated (IC), or standard (SC) housing conditions for 30 days. After housing, they were tested with IEN. Rats were then administered amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg) or saline and locomotor activity was measured followed by a sensitization test 14 days later. Experiment 2: rats were tested in the IEN test early adulthood and given five administrations of amphetamine (0.3 mg/kg) or saline and then either stayed in or switched housing environments for 30 days. Rats were then re-tested in the IEN test in late adulthood and administered five more injections of their respective treatments and tested for locomotor sensitization. Results indicate that IC and SC increased the response to novelty. EC housing decreased locomotor response to amphetamine and saline, and SC housing increased the locomotor response to amphetamine. Mediation results indicated that the late adult novelty response fully mediates the locomotor response to amphetamine and saline, while the early adulthood novelty response did not. Conclusions Differential housing changes novelty and amphetamine locomotor response. Novelty response is altered into adulthood and provides evidence that enrichment can be used to reduce drug vulnerability.
Once an Offender Always an Offender: America's Obsession with Criminal Registries and Utah's Attempt to Crack Down on its White Collar Criminals

First, this article outlines the history of criminal registries and the policy debate underlying them. Next, the article defines white collar crime and identifies the unique characteristics of this type of crime. Finally, drawing from the preceding sections, the article analyzes Utah’s recently enacted white collar crime registry and proposes several discrete reforms to better achieve the policy goals of criminal registries.
Preposition accuracy on a sentence repetition task in school age Spanish-English bilinguals.

Preposition knowledge is important for academic success. The goal of this project was to examine how different variables such as English input and output, Spanish preposition score, mother education level, and age of English exposure (AoEE) may have played a role in children’s preposition knowledge in English. 148 Spanish–English children between 7;0 and 9;11 produced prepositions in English and Spanish on a sentence repetition task from an experimental version of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment Middle Extension (Pena, Bedore, Gutierrez-Clellen, Iglesias & Goldstein, in development). English input and output accounted for most of the variance in English preposition score. The importance of language-specific experiences in the development of prepositions is discussed. Competition for selection of appropriate prepositions in English and Spanish is discussed as potentially influencing low overall preposition scores in English and Spanish.
Family poverty and neighborhood poverty: Links with children's school readiness before and after the Great Recession

This paper examines how neighborhood and family poverty predict children's academic skills and classroom behavior at school entry, and whether associations have changed over a period of twelve years spanning the Great Recession. Utilizing the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 1998 and 2010 cohorts and combined with data from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey, we find that the proportion of kindergarten children living in moderate and high poverty neighborhoods increased from 1998 to 2010, and that these increases were most pronounced for non-poor and white children. Using OLS and fixed effects regression analyses and holding family poverty constant, we find that children in neighborhoods with higher levels of poverty start school less ready to learn than their peers. Specifically, children from the highest poverty neighborhoods start school almost a year behind children from the lowest poverty neighborhoods in terms of their academic skills. In addition, we find that the academic skills gap between poor- and non-poor children within neighborhood poverty categories grew from 1998 to 2010, particularly in high poverty neighborhoods. These findings appear to be explained both by changes in the composition of families within neighborhood poverty categories and income increases among non-poor families. The findings indicate that neighborhood poverty may be a useful proxy to identify children and families in need of additional support.
Abstract 199: Estrogen Administration Reduces Blood Pressure in Female, but not in Male Obese Mice

Objective: We recently demonstrated that male, but not female mice fed a high fat (HF) diet developed obesity-hypertension. Castration of female mice conferred obesity-hypertension. The hypothesis of this study is estrogen administration reduces obesity-hypertension in intact male and ovariectomized female HF-fed mice. Methods and Results: Male (8 weeks old) and ovariectomized female (10 weeks old) C57BL/6 mice were fed a HF diet (60% kcal as fat) for 16 weeks. Exogenous estrogen (36g/ml 17-estradiol) or vehicle (sesame oil) were continuously delivered via silastic tubes implanted subcutaneously in HF-fed male mice from the beginning of HF feeding. For females, HF diet and estrogen administration began 2 weeks after ovariectomy. There was no effect of estrogen administration on the development of obesity in male mice. However, female mice administered estrogen showed a marked reduction in the development of obesity (Body weight: Vehicle: 48.7 ± 1.7 g; Estrogen: 38.9 ± 1.9 g; p Conclusion: Administration of estrogen to male obese mice had no effect on blood pressure, but improved glucose homeostasis. In ovariectomized HF-fed females, estrogen administration reduced blood pressure. These results suggest that resistance to obesity-hypertension in females may be estrogen-mediated.
3D printed mitral valve models: affordable simulation for robotic mitral valve repair.

Objectives 3D printed mitral valve (MV) models that capture the suture response of real tissue may be utilized as surgical training tools. Leveraging clinical imaging modalities, 3D computerized modelling and 3D printing technology to produce affordable models complements currently available virtual simulators and paves the way for patient- and pathology-specific preoperative rehearsal. Methods We used polyvinyl alcohol, a dissolvable thermoplastic, to 3D print moulds that were casted with liquid platinum-cure silicone yielding flexible, low-cost MV models capable of simulating valvular tissue. Silicone-moulded MV models were fabricated for 2 morphologies: the normal MV and the P2 flail. The moulded valves were plication and suture tested in a laparoscopic trainer box with a da Vinci Si robotic surgical system. One cardiothoracic surgery fellow and 1 attending surgeon qualitatively evaluated the ability of the valves to recapitulate tissue feel through surveys utilizing the 5-point Likert-type scale to grade impressions of the valves. Results Valves produced with the moulding and casting method maintained anatomical dimensions within 3% of directly 3D printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene controls for both morphologies. Likert-type scale mean scores corresponded with a realistic material response to sutures (5.0/5), tensile strength that is similar to real MV tissue (5.0/5) and anatomical appearance resembling real MVs (5.0/5), indicating that evaluators 'agreed' that these aspects of the model were appropriate for training. Evaluators 'somewhat agreed' that the overall model durability was appropriate for training (4.0/5) due to the mounting design. Qualitative differences in repair quality were notable between fellow and attending surgeon. Conclusions 3D computer-aided design, 3D printing and fabrication techniques can be applied to fabricate affordable, high-quality educational models for technical training that are capable of differentiating proficiency levels among users.
The Odd Couple Revisited: A Quantitative Analysis of Perceived CFO – CEO Relationships in SDA North American Division Conferences

Historically, CFOs and CEOs functioned in their own office silos, however, changes in how CFOs and CEOs relate to and work together in their organizations occurred due to the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The purpose of this paper is to examine CFO-CEO relationship data collected from SDA Conferences in North America utilizing Descriptive Statistics, ANOVAs and Chi-Square Analysis.
Burn injury outcomes in patients with pre-existing diabetic mellitus: Risk of hospital-acquired infections and inpatient mortality.

Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major cause of illness and death in the United States, and diabetic patients are at increased risk for burn injury. We therefore sought to examine the impact of pre-existing DM on the risk of inpatient mortality and hospital acquired infections (HAI) among burn patients. Methods Adult patients (≥18 years old) admitted from 2004 to 2013 were analyzed. Weighted Kaplan–Meier survival curves – adjusting for patient demographics, burn mechanism, presence of inhalation injury, total body surface area, additional comorbidities, and differential lengths of stay – were used to estimate the 30-day and 60-day risk of mortality and HAIs. Results A total of 5539 adult patients were admitted and included in this study during the study period. 655 (11.8%) had a pre-existing DM. The crude incidence of HAIs and in-hospital mortality for the whole burn cohort was 8.5% (n = 378) and 4.4% (n = 243), respectively. Diabetic patients were more likely to be older, female, have additional comorbidities, inhalational injury, and contact burns. After adjusting for patient and burn characteristics, the 60-day risk of HAI among patients with DM was significantly higher, compared to non-diabetic patients (RR 2.07, 95% CI 1.28, 6.79). However, no significant difference was seen in the 60-day risk of mortality (RR 1.34, 95% CI 0.44, 3.10). Conclusions Pre-existing DM significantly increases the risk of developing an HAI in patients following burn injury, but does not significantly impact the risk of inpatient mortality. Further understanding of the immune modulatory mechanism of burn injury and DM is imperative to better attenuate the acquisition of HAIs.
Integrated, Not Isolated: Defining Typological Proximity in an Integrated Multilingual Architecture.

On the surface, bi- and multilingualism would seem to be an ideal context for exploring questions of typological proximity. The obvious intuition is that the more closely related two languages are, the easier it should be to implement the two languages in one mind. This is the starting point adopted here, but we immediately run into the difficulty that the overwhelming majority of cognitive, computational, and linguistic research on bi- and multilingualism exhibits a monolingual bias (i.e., where monolingual grammars are used as the standard or comparison for outputs from bilingual grammars). The primary questions so far have focused on how bilinguals balance and switch between their two languages, but our perspective on typology leads us to consider the nature of bi- and multi-lingual systems as a whole. Following an initial proposal from Hsin (2014), we conjecture that bilingual grammars are neither isolated, nor (completely) conjoined with one another in the bilingual mind, but rather exist as integrated source grammars that are further mitigated by a common, combined grammar (Cook, 2016; Goldrick et al., 2016a,b; Putnam & Klosinski, to appear). Here we conceive such a combined grammar in a parallel, distributed, and gradient architecture implemented in a shared vector-space model that employs compression through routinization and dimensionality reduction. We discuss the emergence of such representations and functioning in the minds of bilinguals. This architecture aims to be consistent with empirical results on bilingual cognition and memory representations in computational cognitive architectures.
Declining Physical Activity and Motivation from Middle School to High School.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine whether naturally occurring changes in intrinsic motivation, behavioral regulation, and goals mitigate declining physical activity among adolescents. METHODS Latent growth modeling was applied in tests of change in intrinsic motivation, facets of behavioral regulation, and their interactions with goals on change in physical activity measured by accelerometer in a cohort of 260 boys and girls evaluated longitudinally from sixth through ninth grades. RESULTS Physical activity declined less in youths who maintained higher intrinsic motivation or integrated regulation, but only when they maintained higher enjoyment goal compared with other students. Physical activity also declined less in students who maintained higher intrinsic motivation or integrated motivation and had bigger declines in appearance goal (or social and competence goals with intrinsic motivation) compared with students who maintained higher levels of those goals. The interactions correspond to 1 to 2 min·h less decrease in physical activity. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with Self-Determination Theory, the findings encourage interventions that target autonomous motivation among youths. The results extend prior evidence in three ways. First, the cohort was tracked for 3 yr using an objective measure of physical activity. Second, influences of intrinsic motivation and integrated regulation on changing physical activity were not direct. They interacted with changing goals, indicating that interventions should also focus on specific goals for physical activity as effect modifiers. Third, interventions focused on autonomous motivation should consider that controlled, introjected motivation may also interact with goals to influence physical activity during the transition between middle school and high school.
Validation of the structure–function correlation report from the heidelberg edge perimeter and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

To compare the diagnostic assessment of glaucoma specialists with an automated structure–function correlation report combining visual field (VF) and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) imagining in subjects with glaucoma. This prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted at Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Subjects with glaucoma received ophthalmic examination, VF testing, and SD-OCT imaging. An automated report was generated describing structure–function correlations between the two structural elements [retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and Bruch’s membrane opening-minimum rim width (MRW)] and VF sectors. Three glaucoma specialists masked to the automated report and to each other identified clinically significant structure–function correlations between the VF and SD-OCT reports. Raw agreement and chance-corrected agreement (kappa statistics) between the automated report and the clinical assessments were compared. A total of 53 eyes from 45 subjects with glaucoma were included in this study. The overall agreement between the automated report and clinical assessment comparing MRW and VF was good at 74.8% with a kappa of 0.62 (95% CI 0.55–0.69). Agreements for the six different MRW sections were moderate to good with kappa values ranging from 0.54 to 0.69. For mean RNFL thickness and VF comparisons, agreement between the automated report and clinical assessment was 75.4% with a kappa of 0.62 (95% CI 0.54–0.70). For different RNFL sectors, kappa values ranged from 0.47 (moderate agreement) to 0.80 (good agreement). This study suggests that the automated structure–function report combining results from the SD-OCT and the HEP may assist in the evaluation and management of glaucoma.
LevelHeaded: A Unified Engine for Business Intelligence and Linear Algebra Querying

Pipelines combining SQL-style business intelligence (BI) queries and linear algebra (LA) are becoming increasingly common in industry. As a result, there is a growing need to unify these workloads in a single framework. Unfortunately, existing solutions either sacrifice the inherent benefits of ex-clusively using a relational database (e.g. logical and physical independence) or incur orders of magnitude performance gaps compared to specialized engines (or both). In this work, we study applying a new type of query processing architecture to standard BI and LA benchmarks. To do this, we present a new in-memory query processing engine called LevelHeaded. LevelHeaded uses worst-case optimal joins as its core execution mechanism for both BI and LA queries. With LevelHeaded, we show how crucial optimizations for BI and LA queries can be captured in a worst-case optimal query architecture. Using these optimizations, LevelHeaded outperforms other relational database engines (LogicBlox, MonetDB, and HyPer) by orders of magnitude on standard LA benchmarks, while performing on average within 31% of the best-of-breed BI (HyPer) and LA (Intel MKL) solutions on their own benchmarks. Our results show that such a single query processing architecture can be efficient on both BI and LA queries.
Correlates of front-seat passengers' non-use of seatbelts at night.

Abstract When properly worn, seatbelts can save lives. They are designed to prevent occupants from hitting objects inside their vehicle and from being ejected out of their vehicle in the event of a crash. Despite their proven effectiveness in reducing the severity of injuries, seatbelt non-use among passengers still remains a problem, especially at night. Although the factors associated with not using a seatbelt have been widely studied, research studies documenting this behavior at night are limited in the literature. The primary objective of this paper is to explore the factors related to front-seat passengers’ seatbelt non-use at night using a 2015–2016 longitudinal observation survey conducted in five counties in East Tennessee. The Generalized Estimating Equation, a rigorous modeling technique, is employed for the data analysis. The findings show that front-seat passengers who are most likely to not wear seatbelts at night are males, traveling in passenger cars and pickup trucks, traveling during the first half of the year (January to June), traveling late at night (after 10 p.m) and on local streets. The findings also indicate that drivers may have the greatest influence on their accompanying passengers’ seatbelt use. That is, when drivers fail to wear seatbelts at night, their accompanying front-seat passengers are more likely to fail as well. The model results show that there are many consistent correlations between the non-use of seatbelts and personal, vehicle and environmental characteristics. Accounting for these factors may be important when developing intervention strategies that promote nighttime seatbelt use.
Of Course International Institutions Matter: But When and How?

Research over the last decade by scholars of international relations and comparative politics has clearly demonstrated that international environmental institutions can produce quite dramatic changes in the behaviour of the states and nonstate actors that they seek to influence. Taken as a whole, that body of research has also demonstrated several other important points. First, it has shown that determining whether observed changes in behaviour were driven by the institution or by other, exogenous, factors is not a trivial problem. Second, it has shown that although there are many international environmental institutions (IEIs) that have been quite effective, others have wielded little if any influence. Third, it has begun to identify features of an IEI that promote effectiveness and features that tend to undercut it. Fourth, it has also begun to show how effectiveness depends not only on the features of the IEI but also on features of the problem being addressed, the broader international context and the countries whose behaviour the IEI seeks to influence. The research conducted to date has also demonstrated that IEIs wield influence both through rationalist mechanisms in which states engage in self-conscious processes of identifying and responding to material incentives and through constructivist mechanisms in which norms, identities and ideas play far more important roles than interests and power. One question that has yet to receive attention is how IEIs compare to other social efforts in their ability to induce positive environmental change, including through state policies outside of the IEI realm, through private corporate regimes, through the activities of nongovernmental organisations and civil society more generally and through epistemic communities.
Mammalian Polyamine Catabolism

Intracellular mammalian polyamine catabolism occurs through two distinct pathways, both of which culminate in oxidation reactions that generate highly reactive, potentially toxic by-products. In the back-conversion to spermidine, spermine can either undergo direct oxidation by spermine oxidase (SMOX) or be acetylated by spermidine/spermine N 1-acetyltransferase (SSAT), followed by subsequent oxidation by acetylpolyamine oxidase (APAO). Spermidine undergoes acetylation and oxidation back to putrescine through this same SSAT/APAO pathway. Polyamines are absolutely essential for cell viability and proliferation, and polyamine biosynthesis and intracellular concentrations are frequently upregulated in hyperproliferative conditions such as cancer. As a result, many studies have successfully focused on the induction of polyamine catabolism as a rational target for antiproliferative chemotherapeutic intervention. However, it is also becoming apparent that chronically elevated levels of polyamine catabolism in nontumorigenic cells can have disease implications. A variety of stimuli, including microbial pathogens, inflammatory signals, and tissue injury, have now been identified to induce the polyamine catabolic enzymes. In addition to the back-conversion of polyamines, these reactions also release the reactive oxygen species precursor hydrogen peroxide as well as potentially toxic aldehydes. These metabolites as well as the reduction in spermine and spermidine levels can have deleterious physiological effects resulting in the manifestation and promotion of multiple pathologies. This chapter focuses on recent discoveries in the regulation of the mammalian polyamine catabolic enzymes and the pathophysiological effects of this upregulation.
Role of p21ras in hormone signalling and cell growth/transformation.

This brief article will focus on the possible role of p21ras in signal transduction. There is a plethora of conflicting information as to its function in cell signaling. Earlier studies suggested that p21ras acted to couple certain membrane receptors to phospholipase C (PLC), which when activated, caused an elevation in inositol phosphates and a subsequent increase in intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i). However, more recent studies do not support this notion,1 and suggest that the role of p21 ras maybe to alter transcription of transforming genes, thereby coupling hormone receptors to the activity of PLC. Evidence supporting this new concept will be presented.
Trajectories of change in maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms in the depression prevention initiative.

Abstract Background Given the prevalence and consequences of adolescent depression, depression prevention has become an important area of research. While prevention programs like Interpersonal Psychotherapy – Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST) have demonstrated effectiveness, little research to date has studied the relationship between maternal depression and adolescent outcomes in these programs. Method The current study investigated the relationship between maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms in 167 mother-adolescent dyads who were enrolled in the Depression Prevention Initiative (DPI), a randomized controlled trial that compared IPT-AST to group counseling (GC). First, the study examined the relationship between initial levels of adolescent and maternal depressive symptoms. The study then investigated whether maternal depressive symptoms improved over the two-year study period. Finally, the study assessed whether maternal and adolescent symptoms changed concurrently across time. Results Results indicated that initial levels of maternal and adolescent symptoms were positively associated. Additionally, maternal symptoms improved across the two-year period. Maternal and adolescent outcomes were related across time: as adolescents improved in our study, their mothers also improved. Limitations The study utilized self-report data only and did not allow for the testing of causality in the relationship between mother-youth depression. Conclusions These findings add to the literature demonstrating that as one part of the mother-child dyad improves, the other improves as well. These findings extend the current understanding of the relationship between maternal and adolescent depressive symptom outcomes, and have important implications for the prevention and treatment of depression.
Two to Tango or the More the Merrier? A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Group Size in Aphasia Conversation Treatment on Standardized Tests.

Purpose Group conversation treatment has the potential to improve communication and reduce social isolation for people with aphasia. This project examined how 2 conflicting hypotheses—treatment dos...
Estimating personal exposures from a multi-hazard sensor network.

Occupational exposure assessment is almost exclusively accomplished with personal sampling. However, personal sampling can be burdensome and suffers from low sample sizes, resulting in inadequately characterized workplace exposures. Sensor networks offer the opportunity to measure occupational hazards with a high degree of spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we demonstrate an approach to estimate personal exposure to respirable particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and noise using hazard data from a sensor network. We simulated stationary and mobile employees that work at the study site, a heavy-vehicle manufacturing facility. Network-derived exposure estimates compared favorably to measurements taken with a suite of personal direct-reading instruments (DRIs) deployed to mimic personal sampling but varied by hazard and type of employee. The root mean square error (RMSE) between network-derived exposure estimates and personal DRI measurements for mobile employees was 0.15 mg/m3, 1 ppm, 82 ppb, and 3 dBA for PM, CO, O3, and noise, respectively. Pearson correlation between network-derived exposure estimates and DRI measurements ranged from 0.39 (noise for mobile employees) to 0.75 (noise for stationary employees). Despite the error observed estimating personal exposure to occupational hazards it holds promise as an additional tool to be used with traditional personal sampling due to the ability to frequently and easily collect exposure information on many employees.
A Biofilm-Based Approach to the Diagnosis and Management of Postoperative Spine Infection

Postoperative spine infections are a devastating surgical complication. Historical literature reports postoperative infection rates as high as 20%. Improved surgical techniques and the use of intrawound vancomycin powder have dropped rates in recent years. Importantly, patients who experience a postoperative spine infection have a poorer perceived outcome of their surgery even if it is ultimately successful. In an era of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) driving practice patterns and an aging population undergoing increasing rates of high complexity spine surgery, infection, often complicated by biofilms, remains a key target for quality improvement. This article outlines contemporary standard of care practices for the diagnosis and treatment of postoperative spine infection with an emphasis on emerging concepts and broadly applicable surgical techniques including methylene blue staining as a disclosing agent to identify biofilm-burdened regions.
Effect of bolus viscosity on carbohydrate digestion and glucose absorption processes: An in vitro study

Digestion is the process of breaking down food into smaller nutrient components which can be easily absorbed in the intestinal tract. The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate the influence of bolus (gastric content) viscosity on digestion and nutrient absorption processes, using an in vitro gastrointestinal model, the TIM-1 system. Two types of simple carbohydrates, namely, glucose and maltodextrin, were used as model foods. The initial bolus viscosity was varied (∼1 mPa·s, ∼15 mPa·s, and ∼100 mPa·s) using different glycerol-water proportions. A fluorescent molecular rotor compound (Fast Green For Coloring Food) was used to monitor viscosity changing patterns of the gastrointestinal content during digestion in the in vitro stomach and small intestinal sections. The digested-nutrient absorption data indicated that the initial bolus viscosity did not significantly affect the glucose absorption process in the small intestine. However, an increase in the initial bolus viscosity from ∼1 mPa·s to ∼15 mPa·s reduced the maltodextrin to glucose conversion by 35%. A further increase in the initial bolus viscosity from ∼15 mPa·s to ∼100 mPa·s did not significantly reduce the maltodextrin to glucose conversion.
Molecular and structural characterization of oxidized ribonucleotide insertion into DNA by human DNA polymerase β.

During oxidative stress, inflammation, or environmental exposure, ribo- and deoxyribonucleotides are oxidatively modified. 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-guanosine (8-oxo-G) is a common oxidized nucleobase whose deoxyribonucleotide form, 8-oxo-dGTP, has been widely studied and demonstrated to be a mutagenic substrate for DNA polymerases. Guanine ribonucleotides are analogously oxidized to r8-oxo-GTP, which can constitute up to 5% of the rGTP pool. Because ribonucleotides are commonly misinserted into DNA, and 8-oxo-G causes replication errors, we were motivated to investigate how the oxidized ribonucleotide is utilized by DNA polymerases. To do this, here we employed human DNA polymerase β (pol β) and characterized r8-oxo-GTP insertion with DNA substrates containing either a templating cytosine (nonmutagenic) or adenine (mutagenic). Our results show that pol β has a diminished catalytic efficiency for r8-oxo-GTP compared with canonical deoxyribonucleotides but that r8-oxo-GTP is inserted mutagenically at a rate similar to those of other common DNA replication errors (i.e. ribonucleotide and mismatch insertions). Using FRET assays to monitor conformational changes of pol β with r8-oxo-GTP, we demonstrate impaired pol β closure that correlates with a reduced insertion efficiency. X-ray crystallographic analyses revealed that, similar to 8-oxo-dGTP, r8-oxo-GTP adopts an anti conformation opposite a templating cytosine and a syn conformation opposite adenine. However, unlike 8-oxo-dGTP, r8-oxo-GTP did not form a planar base pair with either templating base. These results suggest that r8-oxo-GTP is a potential mutagenic substrate for DNA polymerases and provide structural insights into how r8-oxo-GTP is processed by DNA polymerases.
Ferromagnetic percolation transition in a multiorbital flat band assisted by Hund's coupling

By connecting Hund's physics with flat band physics, we establish an exact result for studying ferromagnetism in a multiorbital system. We consider a two-layer model consisting of a ${p}_{x}, {p}_{y}$-orbital honeycomb lattice layer and an $f$-orbital triangular lattice layer with sites aligned with the centers of the honeycomb plaquettes. The system features a flat band that admits a percolation representation for an appropriate chemical potential difference between the two layers. In this representation, the ground-state space is spanned by maximum-spin clusters of localized single-particle states, and averaging over the ground states yields a correlated percolation problem with weights due to the spin degeneracy of the clusters. A paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition occurs as the band approaches half filling and the ground states become dominated by states with a large maximum-spin cluster, as shown by Monte Carlo simulation.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on stroke care at the university of rochester medical center

Introduction: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response on medical care for stroke is unknown. Methods: We used local “Get With The Guidelines” stroke data for patients with ischemic stroke (IS)...
A Systematic Literature Review of Health-related Quality of Life Measures for Women with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder.

ABSTRACT Introduction Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) / Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (FSIAD) impacts health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of women and their partners, yet existing measures fail to adequately capture relevant concepts (ie, what is essential to measure including symptoms/impacts) important to women with HSDD/FSIAD. Objectives To identify HRQoL tools used to assess women with HSDD/FSIAD, and to evaluate their psychometric properties (ie, reliability, validity, and responsiveness). Methods We conducted searches in PubMed, Embase and PsychINFO from June 5, 1989 to September 30, 2020 for studies in women with HSDD/FSIAD and psychometric analyses (English only). Principles of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses, the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments Risk of Bias Checklist and other psychometric criteria were applied. Based on this search, 56 papers were evaluated including 15 randomized-controlled trials, 11 observational/single arm/open label studies, and 30 psychometric studies. Results Of the 18 measures identified, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and Female Sexual Distress Scale-Revised (FSDS-R) were included in most studies (> 50%). General HRQoL instruments were not used in any of the clinical trials; the SF-12, SF-36 and EQ-5D-5L were reported in two observational studies. No instruments achieved positive quality ratings across all psychometric criteria. The FSFI, FSDS-R, Sexual Event Diary (SED) and the Sexual Desire Relationship Distress Scale (SDRDS), were the only measures to receive a positive rating for content validity. Conclusion Reliable and valid HRQoL measures that include sexual desire and distress are needed to provide a more systematic and comprehensive assessment of HRQoL and treatment benefits in women with HSDD/FSIAD. While inferences about HRQoL are limited due to the lack of uniformity in concepts assessed and limited psychometric evaluation of these measures in women with HSDD/FSIAD, opportunities exist for the development of reliable and validated tools that comprehensively measure the most relevant and important concepts in women with HSDD/FSIAD. Lim-Watson MZ, Hays RD, Kingsberg S, et al. A systematic literature review of health-related quality of life measures for women with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder. Sex Med Rev 2021;XX:XXX–XXX.
The Predatory Lender

A predatory lender whose name shall not be revealed really believes in beating down the customer’s door. In what may be a Guinness Book of Records—Hall of Fame advertising breakthrough, this company recently sent through the mail personalized and unsolicited checks for $1500 to tens of thousands of people all across the country.