cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Acute Flaccid Myelitis: Etiologic Challenges, Diagnostic and Management Considerations.

Purpose of review Acute flaccid myelitis is a polio-like illness defined by the acute onset of flaccid paralysis in the setting spinal MRI demonstrating a longitudinal lesion in the gray matter of the cord. This paper aims to review the current state of knowledge and key clinical points for the diagnosis and management of acute flaccid myelitis. Recent findings There were clusters of AFM noted in California and Colorado in 2014, with additional cases across the USA that year, and another spike in cases in 2016. Patients have been managed with classic treatments for transverse myelitis, but in general without benefit, although some colleagues have noted anecdotal improvement in individual patients. Our current practice at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is to initiate therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) upon recognition of acute flaccid myelitis in hopes of boosting humoral immunity, and to provide an emphasis on rehabilitation services, including physical and occupational therapy. There is some data that suggests a connection to the virus enterovirus D68 (EV D68), but there has been no definitive link. Publications regarding longer-term outcomes in these patients are early in development and, thus far, only provide data for 6 to 12 months from onset. Summary AFM is a serious illness with long-term consequences, and we have much to learn. Key areas in need of further investigation involve etiology, host susceptibilities, treatment options, and long-term outcome. Individual clinicians can assist in these efforts by the prompt reporting of cases of AFM to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A Latent Class Analysis of Personal Values in Young Adults

Human values and motivations are a powerful predictor of behavior, and Schwartz’s taxonomy offers a meaningful organizational system for robust value dimensions (Schwartz, 1992). Although values clearly represent a meaningful and culturally relevant dimension of individual differences, they remain poorly understood particularly in regards to how values co-occur and manifest within individuals. The purpose of the present study was to examine how values co-occur and manifest within individuals. A racially/ethnically diverse sample of 1, 308 undergraduate students (351 males, M age = 21.70, SD = 5.22) reported on their personal values and personality traits. Latent class analyses revealed support for two value classes: personal-focused (N = 210) and social-focused (N = 1098), which map onto hypotheses of value configurations based on Schwartz’s taxonomy (Schwartz, 1992). The value classes also exhibited differences based on racial/ethnic composition, gender composition, and personality trait association, also consistent with previous research. The current study provides evidence for two value types that manifest across two countries in North America.
Longitudinal Analysis of Parent Communication Behaviors and Child Distress during Cancer Port Start Procedures.

Abstract Background: The roles parents play in supporting their child during painful cancer procedures have been studied as communication strategies versus a broader caring framework and from a cross-sectional versus longitudinal perspective. Objectives: To examine the longitudinal change in parent communication behaviors over repeated cancer port start procedures experienced by their children. Methods: This study used a longitudinal design. Two trained raters coded 104 recorded videos of port starts from 43 children being treated for cancer. This included 25 children with two video-recorded port starts and 18 children with three (T1, T2, T3). The Parent Caring Response Scoring System derived from Swanson's Caring Theory was used to code parent communication behaviors as caring responses during their children's port starts. Three 3- to 5-minute slices (pre–port start, during, and post–port start) were coded for each video. Mixed modeling with generalized estimating equations and Friedman test were used to analyze longitudinal change in parent behaviors. Results: Significant differences were found between T1 versus T3 in eye contact (β = −1.05, p = .02), distance-close-enough-to-touch (β = −0.81, p = .03), nonverbal comforting (β = −1.34, p = .04), and availability (β = −0.92, p = .036), suggesting that more parents used communication behaviors at T3 compared with T1. Parent burdensome or intrusive questions (e.g., Why do you cry? β = −1.11, p = .03) and nonverbal comforting (β = −1.52, p = .047) increased from T2 to T3. The median values of parent communication behaviors overall had no significant changes from T1 to T3. Conclusion: Parents adjusted to use more nonverbal caring behaviors as their child experienced additional port starts. Experimental studies should be designed to help parents use caring behaviors to better support their children during cancer procedures.
Gait Asymmetry in People With Parkinson's Disease Is Linked to Reduced Integrity of Callosal Sensorimotor Regions.

Background: Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) often manifest significant temporal and spatial asymmetries of the lower extremities during gait, which significantly contribute to mobility impairments. While the neural mechanisms underlying mobility asymmetries within this population remain poorly understood, recent evidence points to altered microstructural integrity of white matter fiber tracts within the corpus callosum as potentially playing a substantial role. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to quantify spatial and temporal gait asymmetries as well as transcallosal microstructural integrity of white matter fiber tracts connecting the primary and secondary sensorimotor cortices in people with PD and age-matched control participants. Methods: Spatial and temporal gait asymmetry in the levodopa off state was assessed using an instrumented walkway. On the next day, diffusion weighted images were collected to assess white matter microstructural integrity in transcallosal fibers connecting the homologous sensorimotor cortical regions. Results: People with PD exhibited significantly more temporal and spatial gait asymmetry than healthy control subjects. Furthermore, people with PD had significantly reduced white matter microstructural integrity of transcallosal fibers connecting homologous regions of the pre-supplementary motor and supplementary motor areas (SMA), but not the primary motor (M1) or somatosensory (S1) cortices. Finally, reduced transcallosal fiber tract integrity of the pre-SMA and S1 was associated with greater step length asymmetry in people with PD. Conclusions: People with PD showed increased step length asymmetries and decreased microstructural integrity of callosal white matter tracts connecting the higher-order sensorimotor cortices (pre-SMA and SMA). The strong association between gait asymmetries and corpus collosum integrity, supports the hypothesis that reduced transcallosal structural connectivity is a significant mechanism underlying gait asymmetries in people with PD.
Mid-infrared superabsorbers based on quasi-periodic moiré metasurfaces

We report on mid-infrared superabsorbers based on quasi-periodic moire metasurfaces in metal-insulator-metal form. By varying the spacer thickness, moire rotation angle, and filling factor of the superabsorbers, we can tune narrowband or broadband absorption in a systematic way. With their high tunability of near-unity absorption and simple fabrication, in combination with decoupled mode theory for an efficient design, moire superabsorbers are well-suited for a wide range of applications in sensing, imaging, and communication.
A new model for coronavirus transcription.

Coronaviruses contain an unusually long (27–32,000 ribonucleotide) positive sense RNA genome that is polyadenylated at the 3’ end and capped at the 5’ end. In addition to the genome, infected cells contain subgenomic mRNAs that form a 3’ co-terminal nested set with the genome. In addition to their common 3’ ends, the genome and the subgenomic mRNAs contain an identical 5’ leader sequence. The transcription mechanism that coronaviruses use to produce subgenomic mRNA is not known and has been the subject of speculation since sequencing of the subgenomic mRNAs showed they must arise by discontinuous transcription. The current model called leader-primed transcription has subgenomic mRNAs transcribed directly from genome-length negative strands. It was based on the failure to find in Coronavirus infected cells subgenome-length negative strands or replication intermediates containing subgenome-length negative strands. Clearly, these structures exist in infected cells and are transcriptionally active. We proposed a new model for Coronavirus transcription which we called 3’ discontinuous extension of negative strands. This model predicts that subgenome-length negative strands would be derived directly by transcription using the genome RNA as a template. The subgenome-length templates would contain the common 5’ leader sequence and serve as templates for the production of subgenomic mRNAs. Our findings include showing that: 1. Replication intermediates (RIs) containing subgenome-length RNA exist in infected cells and are separable from RIs with genome-length templates. The RFs with subgenome-length templates are not derived by RNase treatment of RIs with genome-length templates. 2. The subgenome-length negative strands are formed early in infection when RIs are accumulating and the rate of viral RNA synthesis is increasing exponentially. 3. Subgenome-length negative strands contain at their 3’ ends a complementary copy of the 72 nucleotide leader RNA that is found in the genome only at their 5’ end. 4. RIs with subgenomic templates serve immediately as templates for transcription of subgenomic mRNAs. Because subgenomic mRNAs are not replicated, i.e., copied into negative strands that in turn are used as templates for subgenomic mRNA synthesis, we propose that the subgenome-length negative strands must arise directly by transcription of the genome and acquire their common 3’ anti-leader sequence after polymerase jumping from the intergenic regions to the leader sequence at the 5’ end of the genome. This would make negative strand synthesis discontinuous and subgenomic mRNA synthesis continuous, which is the opposite of what was proposed in the leader primed model.
Affective Instability: Bipolar Disorder Versus Borderline Personality Disorder

This chapter summarizes current knowledge on the relationship between affective instability in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and bipolar disorder (BD). Understanding this relationship may clarify the boundaries between bipolar disorder and BPD, which are now only partially understood. This chapter addresses the concept of affective instability and elements of the debate over the relationship between BPD and bipolar disorder. It addresses current research on the phenomenological differences between affective instability in each disorder. It also discusses the neurobiology of each disorder as it may pertain to affective instability. Case examples are presented demonstrating some of the difficulties clinicians may face in distinguishing different types of affective instability characteristic of each disorder. This chapter concludes by summarizing current findings on treatment for affective instability in BPD and bipolar disorder.
Observations of Accreting Pulsars with the Fermi-Gbm

The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on-board Fermi comprises 12 NaI detectors spanning the 8-1000 keV band and 2 BGO detectors spanning the 100 keV to 40 MeV band. These detectors view the entire unocculted sky, providing long (approximately 40 ks/day) observations of accreting pulsars daily, which allow long-term monitoring of spin-frequencies and pulsed uxes via epoch-folded searches plus daily blind searches for new pulsars. Phase averaged uxes can be measured using the Earth occultation technique. In this talk I will present highlights of GBM accretion-powered pulsar monitoring such as the discovery of a torque reversal in 4U1626-67, a high-energy QPO in A0535+26, and evidence for a stable accretion disk in OAO 1657-415.
Politics and Social Movements

Religion has been a central topic of study among social movement theorists, even if this often goes unnoticed or unmentioned. Scholars examining deprivation theories looked to new religious movements and sectarian groups for substantive examples (Lofland & Stark, 1965). Resource mobilization theory was forged on Mayer Zald’s studies of the YMCA, and Zald has long argued that religious organizations and ideologies are key crucibles for political action (Zald & Ash, 1966; Zald, 1982; Zald & McCarthy, 1987). The burgeoning frame alignment perspective was developed with reference to David Snow’s (1993) work on the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists and Burke Rochford’s (1985) examinations of the Hare Krishna. The current turn toward cultural explanations in social movements promises even greater connection between the two subfields (Young 2002; Sherkat 1998).
Chemical modification of degenerate eutectics: A review of recent advances and current issues

In certain alloy systems, a liquid of a fixed composition freezes to form a mixture of two solid phases, one of which may be faceted and the other nonfaceted (i.e., a ‘degenerate’ or irregular eutectic). The role of trace metallic additions on the microstructure of the eutectic has received significant research interest over the last half-century, culminating in advances in theoretical, computational, and experimental fronts. The drastic morphological, topological, and crystallographic changes that accompany metallic additions strongly influence the mechanical properties of the as-synthesized eutectic microstructure. In this review, we survey the mechanistic origins leading to a modified eutectic microstructure and describe the current status in the field of eutectic solidification in the presence of metallic modifying agents. We will also discuss the remaining challenges and future opportunities that would help move the field forward and enable bottom–up tuning of the complex degenerate microstructures to technological demands.
PASCL: Pathway-based Sparse Deep Clustering for Identifying Unknown Cancer Subtypes

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease which has several subtypes that can be distinguished by molecular, histopathological, and clinical stages. Accurate diagnosis of cancer subtypes is vital to identify distinct disease states and develop effective personalized therapies. A number of unsupervised machine learning techniques have been applied to genomic data of the tumor samples, where clusters of patients were formed to be associated with a clinical outcome such as the survival of patients. However, clustering methods based on distance (or similarity) between data often fail to cluster biological data, due to their nonlinearity. In this paper, we develop a PAthway-based Sparse deep CLustering (PASCL) method for the identification of cancer subtypes. PASCL incorporates prior biological knowledge from pathway databases to build a robust and biological interpretable model. We evaluated the performance of PASCL by comparing with several state-of-the-art clustering methods. PASCL outperformed the benchmarking methods with lowest p-value in logrank test, and its outstanding performance is statistically assessed. PASCL provides a solution not only to effectively identify subtypes using high-dimensional nonlinear genomic data, but also to biologically interpret the model at a pathway level.
The OpenFAM API: A Programming Model for Disaggregated Persistent Memory

Recent technology advances in high-density, byte-addressable non-volatile memory (NVM) and low-latency interconnects have enabled building large-scale systems with a large disaggregated fabric-attached memory (FAM) pool shared across decentralized compute nodes. The OpenFAM API is an API for programming with persistent FAM that is inspired by the OpenSHMEM partitioned global address space (PGAS) model. Unlike OpenSHMEM, where each node contributes local memory toward a logically shared global address space, FAM isn’t associated with a particular node and can be addressed directly from any node without the cooperation or involvement of another node. The OpenFAM API enables programmers to manage FAM allocations, access FAM-resident data structures, and order FAM operations. Because state in FAM can survive program termination, the API also provides interfaces for naming and managing data beyond the lifetime of a single program invocation.
Severe falls among older adults with resected stage II/III colon cancer receiving chemotherapy.

e14550 Background: Falls have significant implications for morbidity and mortality. The etiology of falls in elders includes cognitive change, polypharmacy, dizziness and anemia, all of which can b...
Quinolinic acid in neurological disease: opportunities for novel drug discovery.

Publisher Summary Quinolinic acid is found throughout nature in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. Chemically this compound is known as pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid. The biosynthetic pathways for quinolinic acid and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) appear to be conserved evolutionarily. The neurotoxicity of quinolinic acid has been demonstrated in vivo and in vitro. Quinolinic acid toxicity has been demonstrated most often through its direct intrastriatal injection. considerable reasons exist to suspect that quinol in k acid may be an important mediator in the primary phase of inflammatory brain disease and may be important in the secondary phase of brain injury following a variety of insults to the central nervous system (CNS). However, the real test for the importance of quinolinic acid will be the application of quinolinate synthesis inhibitors, possibly at the level of kynurenine hydroxylase or kynureninase, to human disease. However, such inhibitors are not presently available. Several advantages will aid us in that task. First, the enzymes of the macrophage pathway are largely present in the liver and should be amenable to testing potential inhibitors. Second, cultures of human macrophages are readily obtained and flux can be determined on a relevant cell type. Third, animal models of elevated quinolinate biosynthesis are available in which the in vivo efficacy of inhibitors can be evaluated.
Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa): User demographics, use patterns, and implications for the opioid epidemic.

Abstract Background Kratom, a Southeast Asian plant with opioid-receptor mediated effects, has emerged as a potential substance of abuse, with limited data on its use and effects. This study characterized kratom user demographics, use patterns, and perceived drug effects. Methods A cross-sectional, anonymous online survey was conducted between January and December 2017. Results 2,798 kratom users – mean age 40 (SD = 12); predominantly White (90 %), female (61 %), and located in the US (97 %) – completed the survey. Kratom was primarily taken orally in doses of 1−3 g (49 %), with daily use (59 %) being most common. Kratom was used for pain (91 %), anxiety (67 %), and depression (65 %), with high ratings of effectiveness. 1,144 (41 %) used kratom to stop or reduce prescription or illicit opioid use, citing decreased opioid withdrawal and craving related to kratom use, with 411 reporting >1-year continuous abstinence from opioids attributed to kratom use. Roughly one-third of respondents reported adverse effects of kratom, largely rated as mild in severity and lasting ≤24 h. Seventeen participants (0.6 %) sought treatment for adverse effects. Fifty-six individuals (2 %) met DSM-5 criteria for a past-year moderate or severe kratom-related substance use disorder (SUD). When asked how troubled they felt regarding their kratom use, the mean (SD) rating was 3.2 (9.8) on a scale from 0 to 100. Conclusion Kratom is used among White, middle-aged Americans for symptoms of pain, anxiety, depression, and opioid withdrawal. Although regular use was typical, kratom-related SUD and serious adverse effects were uncommon. Additional research on kratom epidemiology and pharmacology is imperative in light of the present opioid epidemic.
Population-Level Mortality Rates from Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Korea

ABSTRACT Background South Korea was among the first countries to report a case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outside of China. As of 22 March, 2020, South Korea reported 8897 confirmed cases of and 104 deaths from COVID-19. Methods We collected the number of laboratory-confirmed cases and deaths in South Korea from the World Health Organization (as of 21 March, 2020) and case distribution and fatality rates by age from the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention (as of 22 March, 2020). We estimated population-level mortality rates by fitting a negative binomial regression model with the number of deaths as the outcome and population by age as an offset. We then calculated the age-standardized death rate (ASDR) based on the current COVID-19 figures and for alternative scenarios of increased prevalence. Findings The COVID-19 population-level mortality rate (per 100,000 person-years) increased with age: from 0.1 deaths among 30-39 year olds to 9.5 deaths among ≥80 year olds. The ASDR (per 100,000 person-years) was 0.8 deaths. The ASDR would increase to 52.0 deaths at a 1% prevalence (becoming the third leading cause of death) and 155.9 deaths at 3% prevalence (becoming the leading cause of death). Interpretation Currently, the population-level mortality burden of COVID-19 in South Korea, as measured by the ASDR, was relatively low compared to other causes of death partly due to the low prevalence of COVID-19. If the prevalence increases from another outbreak, the mortality burden could increase substantially and surpass other leading causes. Funding Grant P2C-HD041022, California Center for Population Research, University of California, Los Angeles (US NIH).
Optical response functions and thermodynamic stability of BSb1-xNx ternary alloys in zinc blende structure

Abstract Optical properties and thermodynamic stability of BSb1-xNx ternary alloys in zinc blende structure are investigated by employing the first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. We have evaluated BSb1-xNx ternary alloys for 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 using special quasi-random structures with 16 atoms. The generalized gradient approximation of Perdew et al. (PBEsol-GGA) was used as the exchange correlation potential to calculate the structural properties at different nitrogen concentrations x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1). The lattice parameter (a), bulk modulus (B) and pressure derivative of bulk modulus (B′) have been evaluated and analyzed for ternary alloys. Our obtained results show that the lattice parameter of BSb1-xNx decreases with nitrogen concentration (x) while its bulk modulus increases.The enthalpy of mixing ( Δ H m ) is calculated in the whole composition range. The obtained phase diagrams indicate a significant phase miscibility gap. The calculated critical temperature is found to be 246.6 K. The electronic properties of these ternary alloys were predicted using the Tran–Blaha-modified Becke–Johnson (TB-mBJ) scheme. The band gap of BSb1-xNx positively deviate from Vegard's law. The optical response functions such as dielectric function and, complex refractive index are determined for BSb1-xNx in the zinc-blende structure. In general, our results are in agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data reported in the literature. The investigation of the optical response functions for BSb1-xNx ternary alloys is reported for the first time. The calculation endorses that the BSb1-xNx ternary is a promising candidate for optoelectronics.
Quantification of glyphosate and other organophosphorus compounds in human urine via ion chromatography isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry

Organophosphorus pesticides are the most used pesticides in the United States. Most organophosphorus pesticides are composed of a phosphate (or phosphorothioate or phosphorodithioate) moiety and a variable organic group. Organophosphorus pesticides are scrutinized by regulatory bodies and agencies because of their toxicity or suspected carcinogenicity. Upon exposure, organophosphorus pesticides and their metabolites eliminate in urine; these urinary biomarkers are useful to evaluate human exposure. We developed a method using stable isotope dilution, ion chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for quantification in urine of 6 O,O-dialkylphosphates, metabolites of organophosphorus insecticides, and glyphosate, the most used herbicide in the United States. With simple and minimal sample preparation, the analytical method is selective and sensitive (limits of detection are 0.2-0.8 μg/L), accurate (>85%) and precise (relative standard deviation <20%), depending on the analyte. To assess the suitability of the method in real exposure scenarios, we analyzed samples collected anonymously from subjects with suspected exposure to pesticides (n = 40) or who had been on an organic diet (n = 50). We detected glyphosate in 80% of subjects reporting an organic diet and in 78% of those with suspected glyphosate exposure; concentrations ranged from <0.2 to 28.6 μg/L. Median concentrations were 0.39 μg/L for the organic diet group and 0.40 μg/L for individuals with suspected exposure. Interestingly, interquartile ranges were considerably higher among those reporting pesticide exposure (0.63 μg/L) than those consuming organic diets (0.42 μg/L). These data suggest that the method meets typical validation benchmark values and is sensitive to investigate background exposures in the general population.
A Task Driven Approach to Unified Synthesis of Planar Four-Bar Linkages Using Algebraic Fitting of a Pencil of G-Manifolds

This paper studies the problem of planar four-bar motion approximation from the viewpoint of extraction of geometric constraints from a given set of planar displacements. Using the Image Space of planar displacements, we obtain a class of quadrics, called Generalized- or G-manifolds, with eight linear and homogeneous coefficients as a unified representation for constraint manifolds of all four types of planar dyads, RR, PR, and PR, and PP. Given a set of image points that represent planar displacements, the problem of synthesizing a planar four-bar linkage is reduced to finding a pencil of G-manifolds that best fit the image points in the least squares sense. This least squares problem is solved using Singular Value Decomposition. The linear coefficients associated with the smallest singular values are used to define a pencil of quadrics. Additional constraints on the linear coefficients are then imposed to obtain a planar four-bar linkage that best guides the coupler through the given displacements. The result is an efficient and linear algorithm that naturally extracts the geometric constraints of a motion and leads directly to the type and dimensions of a mechanism for motion generation.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Integrating Positive Psychology Into Legal Education

Positive psychology has emerged over the last twenty years as a field of study in which psychologists began to study the life well lived with the same scientific rigor they brought to helping people with mental dysfunction. Several foundational themes have emerged as the field has grown: we should seek to learn from what is going right as well as what is going wrong, and, as the late psychologist Christopher Peterson put it, we should seek to understand how “other people matter. For the last two years, Suffolk University Law School has hosted a national conference titled Integrating Positive Psychology into Legal (the “Conferences”). The Conferences brought together about two dozen law professors, administrators, psychologists, consultants, and practicing lawyers, (See the Appendix for a list of Conference participants.) Together, we reflected on how insights from positive psychology might also aid law student success during law school and continue upon entering the legal profession. The purpose of both Conferences and this article is to address (1) some of the issues unique to law students and lawyers, and (2) specific actions law school administrators and professors can take to help students succeed. It is important to clarify at the outset that some of the ideas that emerged from the Conferences and discussed herein are based in controlled research, others from participant experience, and still others from simply reporting what seems to work for the participants with their students. The Conferences therefore represent the beginning rather than the conclusion of an inquiry on how to best integrate the insights of positive psychology into legal education. The format for the Conferences involved asking participants to make short presentations supplemented by written material that might be helpful to legal educators or their students. The Conference participants, the subjects of their presentations, and the materials prepared for the Conference (or published elsewhere and made available by the speakers at the Conference), can be found in an Appendix at the end of this article. Links to those materials are also available for each participant as well as their credentials and contact information. Readers interested in learning more about a specific idea or theme are encouraged to reach out to the participants directly and read their materials, as participants were asked to write something brief to encourage readership, especially among law students. This article summarizes some of the insights from the Conferences with the hope that they may be useful to legal educators and their law students, recognizing that this summary can be only an introduction. The Appendix below indicates a wealth of topics and ideas, so this article organizes the conference presentations around some of the positive aspects of legal education, but with an understanding that positive psychology can complement it to make that professional education more effective.
Bounded linear transformations

The presence of a topology on a linear space leads naturally to the extremely important classification of linear transformations into continuous and discontinuous ones. In normed spaces this distinction is facilitated by the existence of a very simple criterion for continuity.
Information Structures for Causally Explainable Decisions.

For an AI agent to make trustworthy decision recommendations under uncertainty on behalf of human principals, it should be able to explain why its recommended decisions make preferred outcomes more likely and what risks they entail. Such rationales use causal models to link potential courses of action to resulting outcome probabilities. They reflect an understanding of possible actions, preferred outcomes, the effects of action on outcome probabilities, and acceptable risks and trade-offs—the standard ingredients of normative theories of decision-making under uncertainty, such as expected utility theory. Competent AI advisory systems should also notice changes that might affect a user’s plans and goals. In response, they should apply both learned patterns for quick response (analogous to fast, intuitive “System 1” decision-making in human psychology) and also slower causal inference and simulation, decision optimization, and planning algorithms (analogous to deliberative “System 2” decision-making in human psychology) to decide how best to respond to changing conditions. Concepts of conditional independence, conditional probability tables (CPTs) or models, causality, heuristic search for optimal plans, uncertainty reduction, and value of information (VoI) provide a rich, principled framework for recognizing and responding to relevant changes and features of decision problems via both learned and calculated responses. This paper reviews how these and related concepts can be used to identify probabilistic causal dependencies among variables, detect changes that matter for achieving goals, represent them efficiently to support responses on multiple time scales, and evaluate and update causal models and plans in light of new data. The resulting causally explainable decisions make efficient use of available information to achieve goals in uncertain environments.
Use of Groin Neurectomies for Noniatrogenic Testicular and Groin Pain

Background Chronic groin neuralgia is a life-debilitating condition that plagues patients worldwide. While groin neuralgia is usually traced to iatrogenic causes (inguinal hernia repairs, vasectomy, and hysterectomy), there is a unique subset of patients that present with noniatrogenic groin neuralgia. The diagnosis and treatment of these patients present a particular challenge. Methods A total of 30 patients (current mean age, 46.5 [range: 19–72] years) who presented with noniatrogenic groin neuralgia and received neurectomies on the iliohypogastric, ilioinguinal, and genitofemoral nerves between 2008 and 2017 were identified. A retrospective review of preoperative and immediate postoperative pain scores was compared with prospectively collected current pain on a Likert's scale (0–10). Additionally, patients were asked to complete a Short Form (SF)-20 and identify current pain medications. A two-sided Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test was used to analyze the data. Results Of the 30 patients identified, 16 could participate (mean follow-up = 61 months). The average pain reduction for the entire group was 62.7%. When using an established 30% reduction pain as a marker for clinical significance, 12 successful and 4 unsuccessful patients had an average reduction of 81.1 and 7.68%, respectively (success rate of 75%). Patients with successful group showed a statistically significant increased social functioning (p = 0.012) and near-significant increase in mental health (p = 0.063). Improvements, albeit nonsignificant, in mean scaled scores for every other SF-20 quality of life (QoL) category were observed when comparing both groups. Conclusion Neurectomy is a potentially beneficial surgery that can assuage pain and improve quality of life for patients with noniatrogenic groin neuralgia.
Cryosectioning Method for Microdissection of Murine Colonic Mucosa

The colonic mucosal tissue provides a vital barrier to luminal antigens. This barrier is composed of a monolayer of simple columnar epithelial cells. The colonic epithelium is dynamically turned over and epithelial cells are generated in the stem cell containing crypts of Lieberkuhn. Progenitor cells produced in the crypt-bases migrate toward the luminal surface, undergoing a process of cellular differentiation before being shed into the gut lumen. In order to study these processes at the molecular level, we have developed a simple method for the microdissection of two spatially distinct regions of the colonic mucosa; the proliferative crypt zone, and the differentiated surface epithelial cells. Our objective is to isolate specific crypt and surface epithelial cell populations from mouse colonic mucosa for the isolation of RNA and protein.
Three Years of the New Mexico Laptop Learning Initiative (NMLLI): Stumbling Toward Innovation

This article presents qualitative results of the first three years of the New Mexico Laptop Learning Initiative (NMLLI). Results suggest that teachers, students, and their communities support this initiative to improve student learning. Descriptive statistics were used during year two to further understand how the laptops were being used by students. During year three of this study, indepth interviews/focus groups and observations were used at one school to add depth to understanding the NMLLI. Overall, teachers report more creative, customized, collaborative lessons; students are more interested in school and focused on their work; parents have increased involvement with their student’s education and communication with the school. Teachers also claim to have benefited from training and were interested in more indepth support to advance their teaching with technology skills.
The Polymerization of Bovine αs-Casein B

Abstract Osmotic pressure technique has been employed to investigate the polymerization of bovine αs-casein B under different experimental conditions. Results at neutral pH indicate that the polymerization of αs-casein B depends much more on ionic strength than on temperature. The number average molecular weight of αs-casein B in 0.01 m KCI, pH 7, at 20° was found to be 29,400 which corresponds to the monomer, whereas the value at 0.1 m KC1 corresponds to that of a trimer. Viscosity and diffusion data suggest that even though αs-casein B is more flexible and possibly more solvated than a common globular protein, it is much more compact than a denatured protein. The results of the optical rotatory dispersion study indicate that there is no gross conformational change as the protein is polymerized from monomer to trimer or tetramer.
Phase-based tuning: better utilized performance asymmetric multicores

The latest trend towards performance asymmetry among cores on a single chip of a multicore processor is posing new challenges. For effective utilization of these performance-asymmetric multicore processors, code sections of a program must be assigned to cores such that the resource needs of code sections closely matches resource availability at the assigned core. Determining this assignment manually is tedious, error prone, and significantly complicates software development. To solve this problem, this thesis describes a transparent and fully-automatic process called phase-based tuning which adapts an application to effectively utilize performance-asymmetric multicores. The basic idea behind this technique is to statically compute groups of program segments which are expected to behave similarly at runtime. Then, at runtime, the behavior of a few code segments is used to infer the behavior and preferred core assignment of all similar code segments with low overhead. Compared to the stock Linux scheduler, for systems asymmetric with respect to clock frequency, a 36% average process speedup is observed, while maintaining fairness and with negligible overheads. A key component to phase-based tuning is grouping program segments with similar behavior. The importance of various similarity metrics are likely to differ for each target asymmetric multicore processor. Determining groups using too many metrics may result in a grouping that differentiates between program segments based on irrelevant properties for a target machine. Using too few metrics may cause relevant metrics to be ignored thereby considering segments with different behavior similar. Therefore, to solve this problem and enable phase-based tuning for a wide range of a performance-asymmetric multicores, this thesis also describes a new technique called lazy grouping. Lazy grouping statically (at compile and install times) groups program segments that are expected to have similar behavior. The basic idea is to use extensive compile time analysis with intelligent install time (when the target system is known) group assignment. The accuracy of lazy grouping for a wide range of machines is shown to be more than 90% for nearly all target machines and asymmetric multicores.
Teacher Sorting and Own-Race Teacher Effects in Elementary School

I investigate "own-race teacher effects," i.e., the extent that students benefit from having a teacher with the same racial background. Own-race teacher effects may justify recruitment of underrepresented groups in teaching and, in combination with peer effects, help to determine the optimal assignment of students to teachers. However, previous estimates of own-race teacher effects are likely confounded by the sorting of teachers across schools. To circumvent this endogenous sorting, I develop and estimate a teacher-level metric of own-race teacher effects based on teacher fixed effects using administrative data from North Carolina public schools. I find that own-race teacher effects are present for mathematics achievement, but significantly smaller than previous estimates.
Linking Micronuclei to Chromosome Fragmentation.

Human cancer cells bear complex chromosome rearrangements that can be potential drivers of cancer development. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these rearrangements have been unclear. Zhang et al. use a new technique combining live-cell imaging and single-cell sequencing to demonstrate that chromosomes mis-segregated to micronuclei frequently undergo chromothripsis-like rearrangements in the subsequent cell cycle.
Regulated and constitutive secretion. Differential effects of protein synthesis arrest on transport of glycosaminoglycan chains to the two secretory pathways.

Many neural and endocrine cells possess two pathways of secretion: a regulated pathway and a constitutive pathway. Peptide hormones are stored in granules which undergo regulated release whereas other surface-bound proteins are externalized constitutively via a distinct set of vesicles. An important issue is whether proper function of these pathways requires continuous protein synthesis. Wieland et al. (Wieland, F.T., Gleason, M.L., Serafini, T.A., and Rothman, J.E. (1987) Cell 50, 289-300) have shown that a tripeptide containing the sequence Asn-Tyr-Thr can be glycosylated in intracellular compartments and secreted efficiently from Chinese hamster ovary and HepG2 cells, presumably via the constitutive secretory pathway. Secretion is not affected by cycloheximide, suggesting that operation of this pathway does not require components supplied by new protein synthesis. In this report we determined the effects of protein synthesis inhibitor on membrane traffic to the regulated secretory pathway in the mouse pituitary AtT-20 cells. We examined transport of glycosaminoglycan chains since previous studies have shown that these chains enter the regulated secretory pathways and are packaged along with the hormone adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). We found that cycloheximide treatment severely impairs the cell's ability to store and secrete glycosaminoglycan chains by the regulated secretory pathway. In marked contrast, constitutive secretion of glycosaminoglycan chains remains unhindered in the absence of protein synthesis. The differential requirements for protein synthesis indicate differences in the mechanisms for sorting and/or transport of molecules through the constitutive and the regulated secretory pathways. We discuss the possible mechanisms by which protein synthesis may influence trafficking of glycosaminoglycan chains to the regulated secretory pathway.
Ultrastructural characterization of embryonic chick cartilage proteoglycan core protein and the mapping of a monoclonal antibody epitope

The ultrastructure of embryonic chick cartilage proteoglycan core protein was investigated by electron microscopy of specimens prepared by low angle shadowing. The molecular images demonstrated a morphological substructural arrangement of three globular and two linear regions within each core protein. The internal globular region (G2) was separated from two terminally located globular regions (G1 and G3) by two elongated strands with lengths of 21 +/- 3 nm (E1) and 105 +/- 22 nm (E2). The two N-terminal globular regions, separated by the 21-nm segment, were consistently visualized in well spread molecules and showed little variation in the length of the linear segment connecting them. The E2 segment, however, was quite variable in length, and the C-terminal globular region (G3) was detected in only 53% of the molecules. The G1, G2, and G3 regions in chick core protein were 10.1 +/- 1.7 nm, 9.7 +/- 1.3 nm, and 8.3 +/- 1.3 nm in diameter, respectively. These results are similar to those described previously for proteoglycan core proteins isolated from rat chondrosarcoma, bovine nasal cartilage, and pig laryngeal cartilage (Paulsson, M., Morgelin, M., Wiedemann, H., Beardmore-Gray, M., Dunham, D., Hardingham, T., Heinegard, D., Timpl, R., and Engel, J. (1987) Biochem. J. 245, 763-772). However, a significant difference was detected between the length of the elongated strand (E2) of core proteins isolated from chick cartilage, E2 length = 105 +/- 22 nm, compared to bovine nasal cartilage, E2 length = 260 +/- 39 nm. The epitope of the proteoglycan core protein-specific monoclonal antibody, S103L, was visualized by electron microscopy, and the distance from the core protein N terminus to the S103L binding site was measured. The S103L binding site was localized to the E2 region, 111 +/- 20 nm from the G1 (N terminus) domain and 34 nm from the G3 (C terminus) domain. cDNA clones selected from an expression vector library of chicken cartilage mRNA also show this epitope to be located near the C-terminal region (R. C. Krueger, T. A. Fields, J. Mensch, and B. Schwartz (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 12088-12097).
The sun's internal differential rotation from helioseismology

Well-confirmed helioseismic data from several groups using various observational techniques at different sites have allowed us to determine the differential rotation in the outer half of the Sun's interior. The resulting rotation law is simple — the surface differential rotation persists through much of the convection zone with a transition toward solid body rotation beneath. To date there is no appealing evidence for a rapidly rotating core. There is however, weak evidence for a solar cycle dependence of the Sun's internal rotation.
Assessment of a postdeployment Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program for National Guard members and supporters.

ABSTRACT The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) was created to meet the needs of National Guard members and their families throughout the deployment cycle. This study examined the perceived utility of the YRRP's delivery of information and assistance during the postdeployment reintegration period by National Guard members and accompanying supporters who were mostly spouses. Over 22 months, from 10 YRRP events, 683 service members and 411 supporters completed questionnaires immediately after the YRRP. We analyzed questions on information and avenues for help, timeliness and concerns related to education, employment, legal, family, and health. Service members and supporters most often endorsed information delivery on education being met (76.8% and 78.2%, respectively) and were least likely to endorse legal information delivery (63.5% and 60%, respectively). Significantly more supporters than service members (p < 0.0001) reported that the YRRP was the first time they learned of available services acr...
31P NMR spectra of mosquito larvae parasitized with Romanomermis culicivorax

Abstract The energy status of Romanomermis culicivorax-parasitized and control Culex pipiens larvae was studied in vivo with 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) at 4–6°C. Peak assignments were made for inorganic phosphorus, phosphoarginine, AMP, ADP, and ATP. The mean ATP ADP ratios were 4.45 for control and 4.02 and 2.94 for parasitized mosquito larvae with 1.3 and 2.3 parasites per host, respectively. The ATP ADP ratios for control mosquito larvae reared with a pH of 7 and 4.5 were not significantly different. R. culicivorax parasitism had no significant effect on the ATP level in whole mosquito larvae. The mean ATP concentrations were 9.86 and 11.64 nmol/mg dry weight mosquito for control and parasitized larvae, respectively. R. culicivorax postparasites (10 days post-infection) were shown to have a very weak 31P NMR signal and it was concluded that the parasites contribute little to the NMR spectra of infected mosquito larvae. Enzymatic analysis of perchloric acid-extracted control mosquito larvae yielded 9.3 nmol ATP/mg dry wt and 2.6 nmol ATP/mg dry weight for R. culicivorax postparasites at 10 days post-infection.