cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Predictive Properties of Performance Models Derived through Input-Output Relationships

Building an analytical performance model is a challenge when little is known about the functionality and behavior of the system being modeled and/or when obtaining model parameters through measurements is difficult. This paper addresses this problem by presenting an approach that derives analytic model parameters by observing the input-output relationships of a real system. More specifically, input (i.e., arrival rates for each job class) and output (i.e., average response time for each job class) measurements are used to estimate the per-class service demands and number of servers for a Queuing Network model of the system. This model, called the computed model (CM), provides the same output values for the same input values used to derive the CM. The important question is whether the CM has predictive power, i.e., can the CM predict the output values that would be observed in the real system for different values of the input? The CM’s parameters are obtained by solving a non-linear optimization problem. The paper shows through experiments that the CM is relatively robust and has predictive power over a range of input values.
Wish Lists and Shopping Carts: A Study of Visual Metaphors on Arab E-Commerce Websites

A review of 3065 Arab e-commerce websites revealed that Web designers mostly adopt Western-influenced interface metaphors and pay scant attention to creating Arab culture-specific visual metaphors. In this research, we first collected and analyzed Arabic stories to extract themes for the creation of culturally attuned visual metaphors for use as Web interface elements. After considering various plausible themes, we specifically focused on the “wish list” metaphor as the object of our study. A subsequent eye-tracking experiment based on alternative designs of a shopping website provided evidence that participants paid more attention to the localized elements of website design. A questionnaire-based study further confirmed that localization of site design in general, and the use of culturally attuned visual metaphors in particular, gains the attention of Arab e-shoppers. The results provide both practitioners and researchers deeper insights into how culture shapes the design of websites.
Anti-Activist Poison Pills

Hedge funds have become active in corporate governance. They push for changes in strategy and the adoption of specific business plans. Their tactics include buying shares, conducting public campaigns, lobbying managers and other shareholders, seeking representation on the board of directors, and sometimes running a proxy contest. In response, boards have adopted a variety of “defensive measures” including deploying “poison pill” shareholder rights plans against activists. This article provides a comprehensive policy and doctrinal analysis of the use of poison pills again activists in corporate governance contests (as distinguished from corporate control contests). We argue that, because of the significance of the specific design features – features that have so far received little judicial attention – it is increasingly important to scrutinize pills to assure that they are targeted to address legitimate objectives. Various design features of a pill interact and features that may be harmless in pills designed to fend off a hostile takeover are unjustifiable in pills employed against an activist hedge fund. While a board, acting in good faith, should be permitted to use a pill to preserve and perfect the shareholder decision-making process, it should, in doing so, act as a “neutral election board.”
Surface chemistry: Giving catalysts a hand

Using chiral modifiers on the surfaces of heterogeneous catalysts is a potentially fruitful route to practical stereoselective chemistry. Now, a study of the dynamics of prochiral adsorbates on modified surfaces has shown that they can rapidly interconvert between adsorption states of different prochirality.
The Myocardin-related transcription factor MKL co-regulates the cellular levels of two profilin isoforms

Megakaryoblastic leukemia (MKL)/serum-response factor (SRF)-mediated gene transcription is a highly conserved mechanism that connects dynamic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton to regulation of expression of a wide range of genes, including SRF itself and many important structural and regulatory components of the actin cytoskeleton. In this study, we examined the possible role of MKL/SRF in the context of regulation of profilin (Pfn), a major controller of actin dynamics and actin cytoskeletal remodeling in cells. We demonstrated that despite being located on different genomic loci, two major isoforms of Pfn (Pfn1 and Pfn2) are co-regulated by a common mechanism involving the action of MKL that is independent of its SRF-related activity. We found that MKL co-regulates the expression of Pfn isoforms indirectly by modulating signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) and utilizing its SAP-domain function. Unexpectedly, our studies revealed that cellular externalization, rather than transcription of Pfn1, is affected by the perturbations of MKL. We further demonstrated that MKL can influence cell migration by modulating Pfn1 expression, indicating a functional connection between MKL and Pfn1 in actin-dependent cellular processes. Finally, we provide initial evidence supporting the ability of Pfn to influence MKL and SRF expression. Collectively, these findings suggest that Pfn may play a role in a possible feedback loop of the actin/MKL/SRF signaling circuit.
Exposure to the Abused Inhalant Toluene Alters Medial Prefrontal Cortex Physiology

Inhalants, including toluene, target the addiction neurocircuitry and are often one of the first drugs of abuse tried by adolescents. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is involved in regulating goal-directed/reward-motivated behaviors and different mPFC sub-regions have been proposed to promote (prelimbic, PRL) or inhibit (infralimbic, IL) these behaviors. While this dichotomy has been studied in the context of other drugs of abuse, it is not known whether toluene exposure differentially affects neurons within PRL and IL regions. To address this question, we used whole-cell electrophysiology and determined the intrinsic excitability of PRL and IL pyramidal neurons in adolescent rats 24 h following a brief exposure to air or toluene vapor (10 500 p.p.m.). Prior to exposure, fluorescent retrobeads were injected into the NAc core (NAcc) or shell (NAcs) sub-regions to identify projection-specific mPFC neurons. In toluene treated adolescent rats, layer 5/6 NAcc projecting PRL (PRL5/6) neurons fired fewer action potentials and this was associated with increased rheobase, increased spike duration, and reductions in membrane resistance and amplitude of the Ih current. No changes in excitability were observed in layer 2/3 NAcc projecting PRL (PRL2/3) neurons. In contrast to PRL neurons, layer 5 IL (IL5) and layer 2/3 (IL2/3) NAcc projecting neurons showed enhanced firing in toluene-exposed animals and in IL5 neurons, this was associated with a reduction in rheobase and AHP. For NAcs projecting neurons, toluene exposure significantly decreased firing of IL5 neurons and this was accompanied by an increased rheobase, increased spike duration, and reduced Ih amplitude. The intrinsic excitability of PRL5, PRL2/3, and IL2/3 neurons projecting to the NAcs was not affected by exposure to toluene. The changes in excitability observed 24 h after toluene exposure were not observed when recordings were performed 7 days after the exposure. Finally, there were no changes in intrinsic excitability of any region in rats exposed to toluene as adults. These findings demonstrate that specific projections of the reward circuitry are uniquely susceptible to the effects of toluene during adolescence supporting the idea that adolescence is a critical period of the development that is vulnerable to drugs of abuse.
Entropies for Dissipative Fluids and Magnetofluids without Discretization

Decaying high-Reynolds-number turbulence in some fluid and magnetofluid systems can be long-lived and can robustly produce recognizable geometric features (“coherent structures”), largely independently of the initial conditions. On time scales short compared to the viscous and/or resistive decay time of the turbulence, the geometric structures can become quite few and symmetric. The impression of thermodynamic or statistical-mechanical behavior that this suggests can be sharpened by defining suitable entropies for the dissipative continua, using Jaynesian information-theoretic ideas as a guide. This amounts to a partial reformulation of statistical mechanics to include dissipation and includes a replacement of ensemble averages by “most probable states” as the quantity of most physical interest. The principal tests of the reformulations are numerical solutions of the relevant partial differential equations.
The Best Approximation Method

Many important engineering problems fall into the category of being linear operators, with supporting boundary conditions. In this chapter, an inner-product and norm is developed which enables the engineer to approximate such engineering problems by developing a generalized Fourier series. The resulting approximation is the “best” approximation in that a least-squares (L2) error is minimized simultaneously for fitting both the problem’s boundary conditions and satisfying the linear operator relationship (the governing equations) over the problem’s domain (both space and time). Because the numerical technique involves a well-defined inner product, error evaluation is readily available using Bessel’s inequality. Minimization of the approximation error is subsequently achieved with respect to a weighting of the inner product components, and the addition of basis functions used in the approximation.
The Efficacy of Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring to Detect Postoperative Neurological Deficits in Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion Surgery.

Background Despite the extensive use of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) in spinal procedures, there is no standard guideline for what types of IONM tests should be monitored during lumbar procedures with instrumentation. Moreover, the efficacy of IONM during transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery in detecting postoperative neurological deficits has not been well described. Objective To analyze waveform changes from individual IONM tests (somatosensory evoked potentials [SSEP], motor evoked potentials [MEP], and electromyography [EMG]) during TLIF and compare the sensitivity and specificity of these tests in order to determine the best combination to detect postoperative neurological deficits. Methods Two hundred seventy-five consecutive TLIF cases with IONM between 2010 and 2014 were reviewed, and new postoperative sensory and motor deficits were documented. Sensitivity and specificity for each IONM test in detecting postoperative sensory and/or motor deficits were analyzed. Results SSEP and EMG tests were performed on all 275 patients with 66 patients undergoing additional MEP tests. A total of 7 postoperative deficits have been reported: 2 sensory and 5 motor deficits. MEP test had high sensitivity (80.0%) and specificity (100%) in detecting motor deficits. However, SSEP changes failed to detect sensory deficits and EMG test had high false-positive rates for detecting both sensory (100%) and motor deficits (97.3%). Conclusion MEP test should be incorporated in monitoring protocols during spinal procedures that involve instrumentations below vertebral level L1 such as TLIF, as it provides high sensitivity and specificity in detecting postoperative motor deficits. In addition, we propose modifying the standard lower extremity SSEP monitoring protocol to correspond to the vertebral levels being operated on.
La problemática historica de la ciudadanía democrática

This article studies the relationship between the growing of democratic principle and the construction of the idea of citizenship, analyzing the connection between democracy and social processes, the increase of political rights and the changes in the electoral systems. Submission date: 12/03/2005 Acceptance date: 27/04/2005
Recent Experiments in the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Modern experimental methods have brought thought- experiments from the mind of the theorist into the laboratory. Three specific experiments are discussed: 1) macroscopic quantum phenomena in SQUIDS, 2) single-atom detection of quantum jumps, and 3) delayed-choice experiments in quantum optics. Each experiment intensifies the puzzling character of quantum physics.
An observational study of door motion in operating rooms

Abstract Door openings have been shown to increase bacterial counts in the operating room (OR) as a result of air exchange between the OR and adjacent spaces, potentially increasing risks for Surgical Site Infections (SSIs). A deeper understanding of door opening behavior and patterns is necessary to develop interventions that will have sustained impacts. Twenty-eight surgical procedures were recorded and closely watched. Accordingly, duration, intent, and destination of people involved in all door openings were identified and analyzed with respect to operation phase (i.e., pre-incision, incision-to-closure, and post-closure phases). Results suggest that the distribution of door opening duration in the incision-to-closure phase is independent of surgery type and room layout. The door was opened by someone other than the core surgical staff around 23% of the time. There seems to be a need for improvement in communication and design efficiency to manage traffic through the OR door.
1050. Oral Antibiotics for the Treatment of Gram-Negative Bloodstream Infections: Prescribing Practices and Outcomes at a Large Academic Medical Center

Background There is limited data to guide the use of oral (PO) antibiotics for the treatment of Gram-negative (GN) bloodstream infection (BSI). The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics and outcomes at a large academic medical center.
Optimizing screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) training for nurses and social workers: Testing the added effect of online patient simulation.

Background: Social workers and nurses are critical to the amelioration of substance misuse, making their training in evidence-based practices such as screening, brief intervention, and referral to ...
Moralized memory: binding values predict inflated estimates of the group's historical influence.

ABSTRACTCollective memories are memories or historical knowledge shared by individual group members, which shape their collective identity. Ingroup inflation, which has previously also been referre...
The stereospecific synthesis of KDN α-C-glycosides by Samarium mediated reductive desulfonylation of glycosyl phenylsulfone

Abstract Samarium-mediated KDN C -glycoside formation under Barbier conditions is described. The α-selectivity at C-2′ and the S-configuration of C-3″ in the C -disaccharide 15 are confirmed by empirical rules, molecular modeling and IRMA calculation based on NMR data (2D ROESY and 13 C NMR).
SAbR for Primary Prostate Cancer

Radiation therapy is a standard treatment option for all stages of prostate cancer. Improvements in imaging and radiation delivery technology have facilitated excellent outcomes with extended courses of conventionally fractionated (1.8–2.0 Gy/fraction) radiation therapy and more recently equivalent outcomes with moderately hypofractionated (2.25–4 Gy/fraction) courses. There is strong evidence that even higher dose hypofractionated regimens (6–10 Gy/fraction), or “oligofractionation” delivered using stereotactic ablative body radiosurgery (SAbR; also referred to as stereotactic body radiation therapy, SBRT), may offer additional clinical benefits, with increased likelihood of durable biochemical control, patient convenience, and possible reduction in cost of care. Recent clinical trials have shown excellent outcomes in appropriately selected patients treated with advanced modern techniques and technology. This chapter will discuss the rationale, clinical experience, and techniques for optimal application of SAbR in the management of localized prostate cancer.
VENUS AND MARS: THE IMPORTANCE OF SEX IN LATE-LIFE NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

Abstract Sex has increasingly become recognized as an important biological variable in brain disorders. Differences in the risk for both cognitive and emotional disorders by sex and gender are an increasing area of investigation. While women are at higher risk for depression and Alzheimer's disease, the causes of these differences are poorly understood and the implications for therapy not exploited in a systematic way. Advances in clinical and translational neuroscience have begun to reveal potential reasons for these sex differences. Differences in how men and women process emotional information and react to psychological and psychosocial stress as well as the unique hormone environment of women versus men have identified potential causative factors in the preponderance of mood disorders in women. New advances in brain imaging and analysis have revealed novel sex-related differences in structural network connectivity that affects the spread of abnormal proteins, which may help to explain sex-related differences in neurodegenerative disease. Hormonal changes that occur at menopause and beyond may have significant implications for how neurotransmitter system activity changes with normal and pathologic aging and may help to explain why women may be at higher risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. This session will explore advances in our understanding of sex differences in late life neuropsychiatric disorders including depression and neurodegenerative disease. For example, research has identified specific circuits in the brain that are sensitive to sex hormones and are involved in the processing of negative emotional information and in modulating response to psychological stress. These circuits react differentially to the presence of sex hormones and change following menopause and aging. These results may help explain sex differences in mood disorders and changes in sex ratios with normal aging. New research has identified sex-related differences in the spread of tau protein in the brains of patients with normal aging, with women showing more advanced spread and greater structural network connectivity. Whether this sex difference extends to early syndromes such as subjective cognitive decline is under investigation. Women may differ from men in the earliest expression of self-perceived cognitive symptoms due to changes at menopause. The role of gonadal steroids and other individual difference factors like lifetime hormone exposure as well mood and lifetime stress have the potential to modulate these relationships. Discussion will center on how this research may point the way towards sex-specific treatments, prevention strategies, and specific therapies.
Structural basis for the binding of SNAREs to the multisubunit tethering complex Dsl1.

Multisubunit-tethering complexes (MTCs) are large (250 to >750 kDa), conserved macromolecular machines that are essential for soluble N-ethylmaleimide–sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE)–mediated membrane fusion in all eukaryotes. MTCs are thought to organize membrane trafficking by mediating the initial long-range interaction between a vesicle and its target membrane and promoting the formation of membrane-bridging SNARE complexes. Previously, we reported the structure of the yeast Dsl1 complex, the simplest known MTC, which is essential for coat protein I (COPI) mediated transport from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). This structure suggests how the Dsl1 complex might tether a vesicle to its target membrane by binding at one end to the COPI coat and at the other to ER-associated SNAREs. Here, we used X-ray crystallography to investigate these Dsl1–SNARE interactions in greater detail. The Dsl1 complex comprises three subunits that together form a two-legged structure with a central hinge. We found that distal regions of each leg bind N-terminal Habc domains of the ER SNAREs Sec20 (a Qb-SNARE) and Use1 (a Qc-SNARE). The observed binding modes appear to anchor the Dsl1 complex to the ER target membrane while simultaneously ensuring that both SNAREs are in open conformations, with their SNARE motifs available for assembly. The proximity of the two SNARE motifs, and therefore their ability to enter the same SNARE complex, will depend on the relative orientation of the two Dsl1 legs. These results underscore the critical roles of SNARE N-terminal domains in mediating interactions with other elements of the vesicle docking and fusion machinery.
The effects of paravertebral block with different doses of dexmedetomidine combined with ropivacaine on the emergence agitation of pediatric thoracotomy

Objective To observe the effects of paravertebral block with different doses of dexmedetomidine(Dex) combined with ropivacaine on the emergence agitation in children subjected to thoracotomy. Methods A total of one hundred and twenty children subjected to thoracic surgery were randomly divided into four groups: Dex groups(group D1, D2, D3) and control group (group C). Group D1, D2, D3 respectively received 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 μg/kg Dex, all with 0.375% ropivacaine, group C received only 0.375% ropivacaine. The anesthesia duration, postoperative recovery time(the end of operation to wakefulness), and the time of extubation were recorded. MAP and HR were measured by the end of operation(T0), 10 min (T1) and 15 min(T2) after the operation, and after extubation(T3). Agitation scores were recorded at the time of extubation. Ramsay scores and adverse complications were recorded 5 minutes (T4) and 10 minutes (T5) after extubation, and awakening time (T6). Results ① Compared with group C, the extubation time and recovery time were longer in group D1, D2, D3, but the difference was not statistically significant. ② MAP and HR of group D1, D2, D3 were significantly lower than group C at T0-T3 (P 0.05). ③ The Agitation scores in group D1, D2, D3 were significantly lower than those in group C at T3, and the Ramsay scores in groups D1, D2, D3 were significantly higher than those in group C(P<0.05). Both the Agitation and the Ramsay scores in group D2 and D3 were significantly lower than those in group D1 (P<0.05). These parameters were not significantly different among group D1, D2 and D3. In group D3, the incidence of excessive sedation and hypotension was respectively 6% and 12%. No side effect was found in other three groups. Conclusions Dex(0.75 μg/kg) combined with 0.375% ropivacaine can effectively prevent the emergence agitation of children subjected to thoracotomy. Key words: Dexmedetomidine; Ropivacaine; Thoracotomy; Anesthesia recovery period; Agitation
A facile Q-RT-PCR assay for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 growth in cell culture

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has infected millions within just a few months and is continuing to spread around the globe causing immense respiratory disease and mortality. Assays to monitor SARS-CoV-2 growth depend on time-consuming and costly RNA extraction steps, hampering progress in basic research and drug development efforts. Here we developed a facile Q-RT-PCR assay that bypasses viral RNA extraction steps and can monitor SARS-CoV-2 replication kinetics from a small amount of cell culture supernatants. Using this assay, we screened the activities of a number of entry, SARS-CoV-2- and HIV-1-specific inhibitors in a proof of concept study. In line with previous studies which has shown that processing of the viral Spike protein by cellular proteases and endosomal fusion are required for entry, we found that E64D and apilimod potently decreased the amount of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in cell culture supernatants with minimal cytotoxicity. Surprisingly, we found that macropinocytosis inhibitor EIPA similarly decreased viral RNA in supernatants suggesting that entry may additionally be mediated by an alternative pathway. HIV-1-specific inhibitors nevirapine (an NNRTI), amprenavir (a protease inhibitor), and ALLINI-2 (an allosteric integrase inhibitor) modestly inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication, albeit the IC 50 values were much higher than that required for HIV-1. Taken together, this facile assay will undoubtedly expedite basic SARS-CoV-2 research, be amenable to mid-throughput screens to identify chemical inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2, and be applicable to a broad number of RNA and DNA viruses.
Commutative data reordering: a new technique to reduce data movement energy on sparse inference workloads

Data movement is a significant and growing consumer of energy in modern systems, from specialized low-power accelerators to GPUs with power budgets in the hundreds of Watts. Given the importance of the problem, prior work has proposed designing interconnects on which the energy cost of transmitting a 0 is significantly lower than that of transmitting a 1. With such an interconnect, data movement energy is reduced by encoding the transmitted data such that the number of 1s is minimized. Although promising, these data encoding proposals do not take full advantage of application level semantics. As an example of a neglected optimization opportunity, consider the case of a dot product computation as part of a neural network inference task. The order in which the neural network weights are fetched and processed does not affect correctness, and can be optimized to further reduce data movement energy.This paper presents commutative data reordering (CDR), a hardware-software approach that leverages the commutative property in linear algebra to strategically select the order in which weight matrix coefficients are fetched from memory. To find a low-energy transmission order, weight ordering is modeled as an instance of one of two well-studied problems, the Traveling Salesman Problem and the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem. This reduction makes it possible to leverage the vast body of work on efficient approximation methods to find a good transmission order. CDR exploits the indirection inherent to sparse matrix formats such that no additional metadata is required to specify the selected order. The hardware modifications required to support CDR are minimal, and incur an area penalty of less than 0.01% when implemented on top of a mobile-class GPU. When applied to 7 neural network inference tasks running on a GPU-based system, CDR respectively reduces average DRAM IO energy by 53.1% and 22.2% over the data bus invert encoding scheme used by LPDDR4, and the recently proposed Base + XOR encoding. These savings are attained with no changes to the mobile system software and no runtime performance penalty.
PREDICTION OF HYPOGLYCEMIA BY QUALITY OF LIFE MEASURES: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONICALLY PATIENT-REPORTED DATA

OBJECTIVE We aimed to examine the utility of electronically patient-reported data (e-PRD) in exploring the risk of diabetes-related hypoglycemia and to evaluate hypoglycemia prediction by the quality of life (QoL) measures. METHODS A retrospective analysis of e-PRD for patients with diabetes mellitus who completed the American Diabetes Association's Low Blood Sugar Questionnaire (Hypo-Q) and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) for QoL assessment. Associations between Hypo-Q answers and PROMIS scores were described using Spearman correlations and 95% confidence intervals, or medians and quartiles. RESULTS Records of 538 subjects were reviewed; 55% were female, 95% were non-Hispanic, with a mean age (± SD) of 53 ± 15 years. Patients with type 1 diabetes had a longer disease duration and more hypoglycemic episodes (P 5 episodes of either moderate or severe hypoglycemia in a year were reported by 18% and 5% of all patients, respectively. Mean PROMIS Physical and Mental health T-scores were 46 ± 10 and 47 ± 10, respectively. Patients with fewer moderate and severe hypoglycemic episodes had better Physical (P = .047 and P<.001) and Mental (P = .015 and P<.001) PROMIS T-scores with incremental decreases in the odds of hypoglycemia with each point increase in PROMIS T-scores. CONCLUSION e-PRD of QoL measures and Hypo-Q were effective in exposing the risks for hypoglycemia and reproducing published findings with significant associations between QoL measures and hypoglycemia risks while providing new insights.
Regularized Quadrature Filters for Local Frequency Estimation: Application to Multimodal Volume Image Registration

Abstract Multimodal image registration is a fundamentalproblem in medical image analysis. In this paper,we propose a novel algorithm to compute the localfrequency representations of the multimodal datasets to be registered. Local frequency representa-tion can detect edge and ridge information simul-taneously. In this algorithm, we develop regular-ized quadrature ﬁlters (RQFs) to compute local fre-quency maps, which are relatively insensitivity tonoise in comparison to standard QFs. The localfrequency maps thus obtained are used as an un-derlying representation to which a statistically ro-bust matching technique is applied, to estimate aparameterized transformation between the volumedata sets. We present experimental results for regis-tering several pairs of CT-MR data sets along withcomparisons to other matching methods. 1 Introduction Image registration is one of the most widely en-countered problems in a variety of ﬁelds includ-ing but not limited to medical image analysis, re-mote sensing, satellite imaging, optical imaging etc.Broadly speaking, image registration methods canbe classiﬁed into two classes [18] namely, feature-based and direct methods. In the former, featuresare extracted from the two images to be registeredand matched toestimate the transformation betweenthe two data sets. In the latter, the coordinate trans-formations between the images are determined di-rectly from the image data or a derived image-likerepresentation of the same.
Growth, Sporulation, and Pathogenicity of the Raspberry Pathogen Phytophthora rubi Under Different Temperature and Moisture Regimes.

Phytophthora root rot of raspberry, which is mostly caused by Phytophthora rubi, is a significant issue for the Washington State red raspberry industry. Considered a cool weather pathogen, it is of...
Using Late Supplemental Oxygen to Prevent Retinopathy of Prematurity Progression In Premature Infants: a Retrospective Study

Background/Objective: Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a leading causes of childhood blindness. It affects 15,000 surviving US preterm infants annually, with 1,400 infants developing severe ROP and 500 infants developing legal blindness. The pathogenesis of ROP involves 2 phases: During phase 1, the immature retinal vascularization is obliterated due to hyperoxia. During phase 2 (>4 weeks postnatally), abnormal neovascularization occurs due to hypoxia, sometimes requiring surgical intervention. We retrospectively evaluated the impact of late supplemental oxygen (>4 weeks postnatally) on ROP progression in infants born <28 weeks. Methods: Preterm infants stage 2 ROP admitted to the Riley Hospital for Children Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from 7/2017- 12/2019 were included. Nine patients treated with supplemental oxygen therapy were compared to a control cohort managed by a standard protocol after the diagnosis of stage 2 ROP. The primary outcome was the need for surgical intervention with either laser or bevacizumab treatment. Continuous data was analyzed using unpaired t-test, and categorical data was analyzed using fishers exact test. Results: There was no statistical difference in regard to clinical variables contributing to risk of severe ROP (sex, race, birthweight necrotizing enterocolitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia or length of stay) between the two study cohorts. There was a statistically significant decrease in need for treatments (laser or bevacizumab) in patients receiving supplemental oxygen (control: 35/83 patients treated, late O2: 0/9 patients treated, p=0.012). Conclusion and Implications: Supplemental oxygen therapy seems to have a protective effect on the development of treatable ROP (type I). Limiting surgical intervention (laser or bevacizumab) would directly benefit the babies by decreasing the need for sedation and any inherent risks of surgery. This initial data suggests the need for future studies with a higher sample size to validate the efficacy of late supplemental O2 in ROP. Study Group Control Number (Mean) % (SD) Number (Mean) % (SD) p-value Population (N) 9 - 83 - Sex Male 2 22.2% 35 42.2% N.S. Female 7 77.8% 48 57.8% N.S. Race Caucasian 5 55.6% 44 53.0% N.S. Non-Caucasian 4 44.4% 39 47.0% N.S. Birthweight (grams) 698 145.26 721 197.09 N.S. Gestational Age (Weeks) 24.94 1.19 25.32 1.72 N.S. Length of Stay (Days) 129.22 27.13 148.58 67.97 N.S. Necrotizing Enterocolitis Yes 3 33.3% 21 25.3% N.S. No 6 66.7% 62 74.7% N.S. Sepsis Yes 6 66.7% 41 49.4% N.S. No 3 33.3% 42 50.6% N.S. Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Yes 9 100.0% 80 96.4% N.S. No 0 0.0% 2 2.4% N.S. Need for Additional Treatment (Inpatient) Yes 0 0.0% 35 42.2% N.S. No 9 100.0% 48 57.8% N.S. Need for Additional Treatment (Outpatient) Yes 0 0.0% 35 42.2% 0.012 No 9 100.0% 48 57.8%
¡Aplaca, Señor, tu ira! Lo maravilloso y lo imaginario en Lima colonial: por Fernando Iwasaki, prólogo de Luis Millones Santa Gadea, epílogo de Fernando Rodríguez de la Flor, Lima: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2018, 446 p. (ISBN 9788437508054)

?Que relacion existe entre los muladares, el fenomeno del Nino (El Nino–Southern Oscillation [ENSO]), las clases subalternas y racializadas, un terremoto y el culto emergente al Senor de los Milagr...
Propagation of Phonons in Topological Superconductors Induced by Strain Fields Instantons

We show that for a multiple-connected space the low energy strain fields excitations are given by instantons, which are controlled by the phase of the superconductor. Dirac fermions with a chiral mass and a superconducting pairing field propagates effectively in a multiple-connected space. When the elastic strain field response is probed one finds that it is given by the Pointriagin characteristic. As a result the space–time metric is modified. Applying an external stress field we observe that the phonon path bends in the transverse direction to the initial direction.
Genetic ethics and mtDNA replacement techniques.

The United Kingdom parliament made history in 2015 when they voted to allow the use of mitochondrial (mtDNA) replacement techniques. Mitochondrial diseases are genetically inherited and currently, ...
In vivo analytical techniques facilitated by contemporary materials

Abstract The ever-growing quest for real-time monitoring of living systems, aimed to provide true snapshots of their chemical composition, has fueled research to design devices for in vivo measurements. Materials used for this purpose must comply with various requirements linked to their biocompatibility and suitability for chemical analysis. This review surveys contemporary materials used for in vivo measurements through three common analytical methodologies, wearable sensors, microdialysis and microextraction. Each material discussed is described in terms of adaptability to an in vivo analytical device, biocompatibility and feasibility for precise measurement of desired properties/composition of a living system.
Supporting Romantic Relationships During COVID-19 Using Virtual Couple Therapy

The novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) has profoundly impacted people's lives, resulting in economic turmoil, death and suffering, and drastic changes to everyday life. The adjustment and strain of such challenges can spill over into couples' relationship processes, including how partners spend time together, talk to one another, and manage conflict. Drawing from our experiences conducting virtual couple therapy (VCT) in a university-based training clinic and community-based clinic, as well as themes from an informal survey of 29 couple therapy clinicians, the current paper discusses the unique challenges that couples face in therapy during COVID-19. Such challenges include renegotiating quality time together, navigating less personal space and time alone, experiencing individual anxiety and stress prompted by the pandemic, and increases in conflict. We discuss our clinical recommendations for addressing these challenges for couples and utilize clinical case examples to illustrate our points. Despite these challenges, we also comment on several positive aspects of COVID-19 on couple relationships. Guided by these considerations and recommendations, our observations suggest that clinicians can effectively support couples' growth and progress using VCT during COVID-19.
Spectral entropy and strain energy trends in composite mechanical metamaterials

Abstract The strain energy and spectral (Shannon) entropy distributions in composite lattices made of core and reinforcement components are investigated by conducting numerical experiments on a set of indefinitely tall lattice strips subjected to a point surface load. The spectral entropy measures the complexity of the strain energy spectrum as it transforms with distance from the loaded surface. The spectral entropy behavior is tailored by adjusting the degree of anisotropy in the lattices. Isotropic continuum-like responses exhibited enhanced spectral entropy decay near the loaded surface and were associated with dispersion of strain energy over a wide spatial area of the lattice. Highly anisotropic responses showed a slow entropy decay at the surface and the localization of strain energy. Interestingly, with sufficient distance from the loaded surface, all lattice designs exhibited the same asymptotic rate of entropy decay, and this rate also was similar to an isotropic continuum material behavior. This implies in practice that any exotic properties of metamaterials determined by their modal selectivity are generally better pronounced in the vicinity of loads, and that they tend to diminish on the periphery of these interesting material systems.
Pattern of Cumulative Treatment Hours on Pain Impact and PROMIS Outcomes

Introduction Participation in interdisciplinary treatments is associated with improvement in pain intensity, physical function, and additional pain-related outcome domains. However, the effect of cumulative treatment hours on outcomes remains unknown among military patients. The present analysis examined the relationship between cumulative interdisciplinary treatment hours and pain management outcomes at a single interdisciplinary pain management center (IPMC). Materials and methods This is a retrospective observational study of data previously collected as standard of care at the Madigan Army Medical Center, approved by the Institutional Review Board. We included patients who received treatment at the IPMC and completed at least two self-report assessment batteries: one at baseline and at least one between 90 and 180 days after baseline (n = 882). The primary outcome was pain impact. Secondary outcomes included fatigue, depression, anxiety, and sleep-related impairment. Results Generalized additive models indicated that cumulative treatment hours were significantly associated with improvement in pain impact, fatigue, and depression. Patients who had higher baseline pain impact, who had mild or no depressive symptoms, and who were >40 years of age had greater improvements in pain impact following treatment, relative to those with lower pain impact, moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms, and were 40 years of age or younger, respectively. Additional research is needed to elucidate the effect of different therapies and additional patient factors in understanding the "therapeutic dose" of interdisciplinary pain management. Conclusions A higher number of cumulative treatment hours was associated with improvement of pain impact, fatigue, and depression among military personnel receiving interdisciplinary pain treatment. At least 30 hours of sustained interdisciplinary treatment appears to be the threshold for improvement in pain impact and related outcomes.
Osteoporosis Due to Disuse

Unloading of bones because of bed rest, paralysis, and immobilization results eventually in osteoporosis and fractures. This loss is particularly apparent in the trabecular compartment of weightbearing bones but includes most parts of the skeleton in its severe forms. Quantitative bone measurements can identify the site of major losses and provide a loss progression.
Art That Moves: Exploring the Embodied Basis of Art Representation, Production, and Evaluation

Aesthetics plays a central role in human life. Given its ubiquity across cultures, there is no shortage of theories about its origin, function, underlying mechanisms, purpose, and so on. While we applaud the diversity of these approaches and their commitment to shedding light on this mysterious and abstract conceptual domain, many of them are unabashedly top-down, centering on the role of higher-order, reason-based assumptions about how the mind works. In contrast to this view, over the past decade, findings across the cognitive sciences have provided considerable support for the thesis that cognition is fundamentally grounded in sensorimotor and perceptual states. The now popular view of embodied cognition – a species of grounded cognition – has energized many of the creative insights that have helped breathe life into traditionally intractable cognitive problems (e.g., symbol grounding). However, insightful critics like Mahon and Caramazza (J Physiol 102:59–70, 2008) and Dove (Cognition 110:412–431, 2009) have argued that grounded accounts of cognition fail to adequately explain the representation and processing of abstract concepts like AESTHETICS, which give no unified perceptual experiences. In this chapter, we argue that aesthetics (like other abstract conceptual representations) can be accommodated by an embodied theory that uses two classes of perceptual information (sensorimotor and affective) to explain art representation, production, and evaluation.
Home Investigations of Salmonellosis in Children † 908

Approximately 25% of reported cases of salmonellosis are in children < 4 years of age. Our previous investigations have been unable to identify the major risk factors for the development of disease in this age group. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of the home environment in the development of salmonellosis in children < 4 years of age. Contact was made with the family of children < 4 years of age who had Salmonella isolated from a specimen submitted to the clinical microbiology laboratory. A questionnaire was administered concerning food preparation and consumption, formula preparation and consumption, parental occupation, day care attendance, water source, and other environmental factors. An investigation of the home was carried out in an attempt to culture all occupants, pets, food preparation and storage areas, left-over foods, and other miscellaneous sources. Isolates from the home with a serotype identical to the original patient isolate underwent DNA fingerprinting by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. DNA patterns were inspected for similarities. Home inspections were carried out in 66% of eligible homes on the average of 3.4 days (range: 0-11 days) after the confirmation of the Salmonella isolate. Five hundred and twenty-nine cultures from 50 homes were obtained: foods (123), household members (73), refrigerator(52), water (47), counter top (46), soil (42), can opener (36), vacuum cleaner(34), animals/pets/insects (26), others (50). Sixteen households had the identical serotype with the identical DNA fingerprint of the index patient, three of these have also included a second serotype, and three households had an enitrely different serotype. The identical serotype was found in multiple locations (4), dirt surrounding the front door (4), household members (3), vacuum cleaner (2), pet (2), and refrigerator shelf (1) in these households. Only 31% of other persons in the households allowed testing but nine households had other persons with positive cultures. Four of the households had individuals develop illness prior to the development of disease in the index patient, one household had a individual who became ill after the index case and four households had individuals with positive cultures who were asymptomatic. These data illustrate the importance of the child's environment in the development of salmonellosis. Parents should be educated about the importance of the home environment in the development of disease with Salmonella.
A three-dimensional finite element analysis of the human brain under combined rotational and translational accelerations

Finite element modelling has been used to study the evolution of strain in a model of the human brain under impulsive acceleration loadings. A cumulative damage measure, based on the calculation of the volume fraction of the brain that has experienced a specific level of stretch, is used as a possible predictor for deformation-related brain injury. The measure is based on the maximum principal strain calculated from an objective strain tensor that is obtained by integration of the rate of deformation gradient with appropriate accounting for large rotations. This measure is used here to evaluate the relative effects of rotational and translational accelerations, in both the sagittal and coronal planes, on the development of strain damage in the brain. A new technique for the computational treatment of the brain-dura interface is suggested and used to alleviate the difficulties in the explicit representation of the cerebrospinal fluid layer existing between the two solid materials.
Novel analog feedback current programming architecture compatible with 2-transistor 1-capacitor pixel for active matrix organic light-emitting diode displays

A new feedback current programming architecture is described, which is compatible with active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays having the 2T1C pixel structure. The new pixel programming approach is compatible with all TFT technologies and can compensate for non-uniformities in both threshold voltage and carrier mobility of the pixel OLED drive TFT. Based on circuit simulations, a pixel drive current of less than 10 nA can be programmed in less than 50 µ. This new approach can be implemented within an AMOLED external or integrated display data driver.