cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prenatally Diagnosed Abdominal Cystic Mass

A newborn presents with prenatal diagnosis of abdominal cystic mass according to fetal ultrasonography. ### Prenatal and Birth Histories: ### Presentation: The infant was crying and vigorous at birth. He was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit for further evaluation. An abdominal radiograph showed air-filled bowel within the left abdomen. What is your assessment of the radiograph? Because the infant had just been born, the small bowel was considered to have a normal appearance, with no evidence of obstruction, free air, or pneumatosis. However, the …
Actor-Network Theory, Marxist Economics, and Marxist Political Ecology* The participants thank Barbara Laurence. The symposium came about because of her interest, prodding and persistence, all of which were much appreciated.

Science and technology studies have generated increasing interest within Marxist circles. In this symposium, we focus on Actor-Network Theory, a topic that has, at times, sparked misguided debate d...
Advancing Global IR: Challenges, Contentions, and Contributions

This Presidential Issue, with contributions by scholars from Asia, Australia, the Middle East, South America, Africa, Europe, and the United States, illustrates how the idea of Global international relations (IR) could serve as a framework for both scholarly debate and empirical research and analysis. This issue is divided into two main parts. The first part contains nine feature articles that illustrate the multiple dimensions of a Global IR research agenda, overall demonstrating how bringing in non-Western ideas and agency broadens the horizons of existing IR knowledge. The topics covered here include Chinese conceptions of “relationality;” colonial interactions in the Indian Ocean to diffuse Westphalian sovereignty through processes of localization, comparing regionalisms, and norm dynamics in Asia and Europe; and the contribution of intercivilizational dialogues in bridging the West-Rest divide. Together, these articles challenge dominant understandings of these issues in current IR theory and highlight the place and agency of non-Western societies in the global order. The second part of the Presidential Issue, the Forum Section, contains ten short contributions that were drawn from two Presidential Theme Panels at the ISA 2015 Convention in New Orleans. These Forum essays not only highlight the obstacles facing the realization of Global IR, including some traditionalist objections to the whole idea, but also offer some pathways to overcome them. Overall, the Presidential Issue suggests that a Global IR is both possible and desirable.
Application of transcranial Doppler to seriously illed children with coma

Objectives To investigate changes of the cerebral blood flow in comatose patients and the correlation between the results of transcranial Doppler(TCD)and intracranial pressure. Methods The blood flow changes of right side middle cerebral artery(MCA)were monitored by TCD in 97 patients(56 comatose patients);peak velocity(Vp),diastolic velocity(Vd),mean velocity(Vm),resistant index(RI)and pulsatility index(PI)of MCA were monitored before and after lumbar puncture or bolus of mannitol administration;such indices were monitored in comatose cases at different levels of coma in different period. Results (1)Vp,Vm,RI and PI of MCA in comatose patients were higher than those in control group;(2)Vp,Vm,RI and PI decreased during the fifth and seventh day after admission;(3)Vp,Vm,RI and PI before lumbar puncture or bolus of mannitol administration were higher than those after such intervention. (4)Vp、Vd、Vm of MCA in comatose patients with low score of Glasgow scale(improved)were lower than those with more score,while RI and PI were on the contrary. Conclusions The cerebral blood flow in most of comatose patients was abnormal;results of TCD may reflex the cerebral blood perfusion and change in intracranial pressure. TCD could be helpful in judging patient’s condition,guiding treatment and eva-luating prognosis.
Security Evaluation on the Immunization with of Influenza A(H1N1) Vaccine in Health Population in Huarong County in 2009

Objective To evaluate the immunization effects and safety of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine in health population.Methods A total of 350 subjects were chosen by cluster and random sampling and equally divided into seven age groups.Antibody titers were measured by hemagglutination inhibition assay in 30 days after vaccination.And the safety and efficacy of the vaccine were evaluated by descriptive epidemiolegical methods.The incidence,visiting rate and seroconversion rate of influenza A(H1N1) were compared to those of seasonality influenza by SPSS16.0 software.Results The incidence rate of influenza A(H1N1) and seasonality influenza of the vaccination groups were lower than the control group and the difference had the statistical significance(P0.05).Of 43440 cases 1891 cases were reported for vaccine adverse reaction and the total adverse reaction rate was 4.35%.The positive rate of HI antibody vaccination group was significantly higher than the control group(χ2=4.27,P0.05).Conclusions The influenza A(H1N1) vaccine that made in China had good safety and immunogenicity and was suitablo for universal vaccination in the healthy population.
Abstract P5-17-11: Trends in incidence, patient characteristics, and management of lobular carcinoma in situ

Introduction: Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is a rare lesion accounting for only 5% of total breast cancer diagnosis; however, the incidence has continued to increase, albeit at a slower rate than was seen in the 1980s and 1990s. Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend surgical excision of the breast tissue containing LCIS due to risk of concomitant malignancy, but wide variations in treatment exist. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) and National Cancer Database (NCDB) participant user files, an extensive survey of women with LCIS breast cancer was completed. Our aim was to identify patient and facility characteristics that are associated with aggressive treatment (mastectomy) or under-treatment (no surgical excision) following LCIS diagnosis. Methods: Women with a diagnosis of LCIS from 1998 to 2011 within the SEER and NCDB databases were identified. Incidence data was gathered from SEER while all other characteristics (patient, facility, and treatment factors) were obtained from the NCDB. A logistic regression model was created to examine factors associated LCIS treatment modalities recorded in the NCDB. Results: The incidence of LCIS increased from 3.85 to 4.46 / 100,000 women between 2000 and 2011. 62,923 female patients with LCIS were identified within the NCDB. The majority of women diagnosed with LCIS were between the ages of 40 and 59 years (66.8%, N=42,044), white (87.4%, N=55,022), and non-Hispanic (86.9%, N=54,679). Following a diagnosis of LCIS, most women underwent surgical excision (71.1%, N=44,731), with an additional 20.7% undergoing mastectomy (N=13,039) or opting for no surgery (8.0%, N=5,023). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age over 60 years was associated with no surgical intervention (OR 1.49, p Conclusion: Despite being a rare cancer, the incidence of LCIS continues to rise. LCIS is predominantly a cancer diagnosed in white, non-hispanic women. Advanced age, poverty, lack of insurance, low high school graduation rates were factors significantly associated with under-treatment of LCIS. Conversely, white women between 40-59 yo with private insurance and treated at a cancer center were more likely to undergo aggressive treatment. Citation Format: Johnson AT, Guo X, Nygaard RM, Zera RT. Trends in incidence, patient characteristics, and management of lobular carcinoma in situ. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-17-11.
Relative Teratogenicity of Selected Anhydrides

The teratogenicity of selected anhydrides is being studied. We hypothesized that if acylation is a mechanism of chemical teratogenesis, then acylating reagents should possess teratogenic activity. Additionally, teratogenicity of the anhydrides should correlate with spontaneous reactivity and covalent binding of labeled anhydrides to fetal macromolecules should be demonstrated. We have studied succinic anhydride, maleic anhydride, and phthalic anhydride. Equal molar doses were administered i.p. to pregnant CD-1 mice. Following treatment with succinic anhydride, there was a significant increase in the percentage of the abnormal offspring. Maleic anhydride at approximately equal molar concentrations does not seem to exert significant teratogenic effects. Phthalic anhydride was significantly teratogenic. Its hydrolysis rate is comparable to succinic anhydride. Succinic anhydride treatment on days 8 to 10 was associated with abnormal ribs and/or vertebrae while cleft palate was the most common defect observed after treatment on days 11 to 13 of gestation. Phthalic anhydride produced similar findings. It is postulated that the embryotoxicity of these compounds is related to the known reactivity of the CO-O-CO grouping which suggests a covalent bond should be formed in the developing conccptus. CD-I mice received 14C-phthalic anhydride at the teratogenic dose of 80 mg/kg on days 11, 12, and 13 of gestation. Six hours after the last dose, the animals were sacrificed and the tissues collected. The radioactivity, total and bound, was measured by scintillation counting technique. Bound radioactivity was found in all tissues examined.
Temperature-Dependent Henry's Law Constants of Atmospheric Amines.

There has been growing interest in understanding atmospheric amines in the gas phase and their mass transfer to the aqueous phase because of their potential roles in cloud chemistry, secondary organic aerosol formation, and the fate of atmospheric organics. Temperature-dependent Henry’s law constants (KH) of atmospheric amines, a key parameter in atmospheric chemical transport models to account for mass transfer, are mostly unavailable. In this work, we investigated gas–liquid equilibria of five prevalent atmospheric amines, namely 1-propylamine, di-n-propylamine, trimethylamine, allylamine, and 4-methylmorpholine using bubble column technique. We reported effective KH, intrinsic KH, and gas phase diffusion coefficients of these species over a range of temperatures relevant to the lower atmosphere for the first time. The measured KH at 298 K and enthalpy of solution for 1-propylamine, di-n-propylamine, trimethylamine, allylamine, and 4-methylmorpholine are 61.4 ± 4.9 mol L–1 atm–1 and −49.0 ± 4.8 kJ mol–1...
Dietary calcium alters blood pressure in neonatal spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Dietary alterations in young genetically hypertensive rats have been shown to have a substantial impact on subsequent blood pressure (BP) development. In the present study, spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) pups fostered at birth to high calcium (2%) SHR dams developed significantly lower mean arterial pressures by 28 days of age than pups fostered to low calcium (0.1%) dams (93.7 v 107.7 mm Hg, P less than .01). To determine whether BP differences were due to milk ingestion or to late lactational solid diet consumption, a second experiment was performed. Pups were fostered at birth to medium calcium (1.0%) dams and weaned at 21 days to one of three calcium diets. Blood pressures were determined at 28 days after birth. Pups weaned to the high diet at 21 days had lower pressures at 28 days than pups weaned to the low diet (94.2 v 108.3, P less than .01), suggesting that the pressure variations in the first experiment were due primarily to solid food consumption by the pups late in the suckling period. This rapid BP alteration suggests that neonatal SHR have an enhanced susceptibility to the pressure effects of dietary calcium.
Repurposing the anti-malarial drug, quinacrine: new anti-colitis properties.

// Alexander A. Chumanevich 1 , Erin E. Witalison 1 , Anusha Chaparala 1 , Anastasiya Chumanevich 1 , Prakash Nagarkatti 2 , Mitzi Nagarkatti 2 and Lorne J. Hofseth 1 1 Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, South Carolina College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA 2 School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA Correspondence to: Lorne J. Hofseth, email: // Keywords : quinacrine, colitis, inflammation, dextran sulfate sodium, oxazolone Received : June 08, 2016 Accepted : June 15, 2016 Published : July 14, 2016 Abstract Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in 8-10 years after disease onset. Current colitis treatment strategies do not offer a cure for the disease, but only treat the symptoms with limited success and dangerous side-effects. Also, there is no preventive treatment for either UC or colorectal cancer. Quinacrine is an anti-malarial drug with versatile use in the treatment of diseases involving inflammatory response such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus. It also has putative anti-cancer effect. Quinacrine’s anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant properties, and anti-tumorigenic properties make it a potential small molecule preventive agent for both UC and associated colorectal cancer. Results: There were obvious changes in the CDI, histology, and inflammatory load in quinacrine-treated groups in a dose and time dependent manner in both models of UC, induced by chemical or haptenating agent. Methods: We tested quinacrine at two different doses as a colitis treatment agent in two mouse models of UC - the dextran sulfate sodium and oxazolone. The clinical disease index (CDI), histological changes of the colon, levels of inflammatory markers (Cox-2, iNOS, p53) and overall health vitals were evaluated. Conclusions: We demonstrate that quinacrine successfully suppresses colitis without any indication of toxicity or side-effects in two mouse models of UC.
Democracy and the Death of Shame: Political Equality and Social Disturbance

Is shame dead? With personal information made so widely available, an eroding public/private distinction, and a therapeutic turn in public discourse, many seem to think so. People across the political spectrum have criticized these developments and sought to resurrect shame in order to protect privacy and invigorate democratic politics. Democracy and the Death of Shame reads the fear that 'shame is dead' as an expression of anxiety about the social disturbance endemic to democratic politics. Far from an essential supplement to democracy, the recurring call to 'bring back shame' and other civilizing mores is a disciplinary reaction to the work of democratic citizens who extend the meaning of political equality into social realms. Rereadings from the ancient Cynics to the mid-twentieth century challenge the view that shame is dead and show how shame, as a politically charged idea, is disavowed, invoked, and negotiated in moments of democratic struggle.
Limited magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine has high sensitivity for detection of acute fractures, infection, and malignancy

The objective of this study is to determine how a limited protocol MR examination compares to a full conventional MR examination for the detection of non-degenerative pathology such as acute fracture, infection, and malignancy. A sample of 349 non-contrast MR exams was selected retrospectively containing a 3:1:1:1 distribution of negative/degenerative change only, acute fracture, infection, and malignancy. This resulted in an even distribution of pathology and non-pathology. A limited protocol MR exam was simulated by extracting T1-weighted sagittal and T2-weighted fat-saturated (or STIR) sagittal sequences from each exam and submitting them for blinded review by two experienced musculoskeletal radiologists. The exams were evaluated for the presence or absence of non-degenerative pathology. Interpretation of the limited exam was compared to the original report of the full examination. If either reader disagreed with the original report, the case was submitted for an unblinded adjudication process with the participation of a third musculoskeletal radiologist to establish a consensus diagnosis. There were five false negatives for a sensitivity of 96.9 % for the limited protocol MR exam. Infection in the psoas, paraspinal muscles, and sacroiliac joint, as well as acute fractures in transverse processes and sacrum were missed by one or more readers. No cases of malignancy were missed. Overall diagnostic accuracy was 96.0 % (335/349). MR imaging of the lumbar spine limited to sagittal T1-weighted and sagittal T2 fat-saturated (or STIR) sequences has high sensitivity for the detection of acute fracture, infection, or malignancy compared to a conventional MR examination.
An automated image processing method for classification of diabetic retinopathy stages from conjunctival microvasculature images

The conjunctiva is a densely vascularized tissue of the eye that provides an opportunity for imaging of human microcirculation. In the current study, automated fine structure analysis of conjunctival microvasculature images was performed to discriminate stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The study population consisted of one group of nondiabetic control subjects (NC) and 3 groups of diabetic subjects, with no clinical DR (NDR), non-proliferative DR (NPDR), or proliferative DR (PDR). Ordinary least square regression and Fisher linear discriminant analyses were performed to automatically discriminate images between group pairs of subjects. Human observers who were masked to the grouping of subjects performed image discrimination between group pairs. Over 80% and 70% of images of subjects with clinical and non-clinical DR were correctly discriminated by the automated method, respectively. The discrimination rates of the automated method were higher than human observers. The fine structure analysis of conjunctival microvasculature images provided discrimination of DR stages and can be potentially useful for DR screening and monitoring.
Epidemics (Especially Ebola)

Anthropology's response to the West African Ebola epidemic was one of the most rapid and expansive anthropological interventions to a global health emergency in the discipline's history. This article sets forth the size and scale of the anthropological response and describes the protagonists, interventions, and priorities for anthropological engagement. It takes an inclusive approach to anthropological praxis by engaging with the work of nonanthropologist “allies,” including qualitative researchers, social workers, and allied experts. The article narrates how the concept of “anthropology” came to serve as a semantic marker of solidarity with local populations, respect for customary practices and local sociopolitical realities, and an avowed belief in the capacities of local populations to lead localized epidemic prevention and response efforts. Of particular consideration is the range of complementary and conflicting epistemological, professional, and critical engagements held by anthropologists. The arti...
Aging Parents' Daily Support Exchanges With Adult Children Suffering Problems.

Objectives When adult children incur life problems (e.g., divorce, job loss, health problems), aging parents generally report providing more frequent support and experiencing poorer well-being. Yet, it is unclear how adult children's problems may influence aging parents' daily support exchanges with these children or the parents' daily mood. Methods Aging parents from the Family Exchanges Study Wave 2 (N = 207, Mage = 79.86) reported providing and receiving emotional support, practical support, and advice from each adult child each day for 7 days. Parents also rated daily positive and negative mood. Results Multilevel models showed that aging parents were more likely to provide emotional and practical support to adult children incurring life problems than children not suffering problems. Parents were also more likely to receive emotional support and advice from these children with problems. Further, parents reported less negative mood on days when providing practical support to children with problems. Discussion Examining daily support exchanges adds to our understanding of how children's problems influence parent-child ties in late life. Prior research suggests that children's problems upset parents. In this study, however, it appears that supporting adult children who suffer problems may alleviate aging parents' distress regarding such children.
Revisting the language debate in African literatures

Considerando a questao linguistica uma das principais preocupacoes no continente africano, neste ensaio pretende-se reconsiderar o debate promovido por Chinua Achebe e Ngugi Wa Thiong’O acerca do uso das linguas europeias na escritura das literaturas africanas. Posto assim, tambem consideraremos o papel politico do escritor, bem como o lugar da literatura como instrumento de transformacao social.
Growing beyond: Designing plants to serve human and environmental interests

Abstract Plant synthetic biology provides a pathway toward the design and construction of sustainable systems for life on earth. Traditional plant selection and breeding techniques have long enabled people to modify and enhance plant traits for human uses. However, these techniques are limited to traits that already exist in plants. Synthetic biology allows us to break free of this constraint and develop plants with entirely novel traits and redesigned biochemical pathways. Further, evolution itself provides a tool for the development of new and enhanced traits. While a plant's multicellular nature and long lifespan present challenges to synthetic biology research, the unique value of plant synthetic biology as a pathway toward sustainable systems outweighs the challenges.
Empirical Bayes and Shrinkage Estimators

Many of the classical ideas in statistics become less reliable when there are many parameters. Results in this chapter suggest a natural approach in some situations and illustrate one way in which classical ideas may fail.
Ultrasonic Sensing of Porous Granular Media

Emerging high temperature materials such as intermetallic alloys and composites are intrinsically brittle and cannot be either processed or machined by conventional methods. Near net shape processing (of rapidly solidified powders and plasma sprayed foils) using hot isostatic or vacuum hot pressing has recently emerged as a promising method for overcoming these problems. Interestingly, these consolidation processes determine both the component’s final shape and its mechanical properties (which depend on relative density, grain size, etc.). Thus a need has emerged for the control of mechanical properties (1,2).
Resource Extraction and Infant Health: Evidence from Colorado

Background: The benefits and costs of resource extraction are currently being hotly debated in the case of shale gas development (commonly known as "fracking"). Colorado provides a unique research ...
Flooding disaster resilience information framework for smart and connected communities

This paper presents the research challenges of designing a combined physical sensor- and social sensor-based information framework to collect heterogeneous flooding disaster data, and then to fuse those data and generate actionable understandings. Our overall objective is to improve the response preparedness of critical infrastructures, contributing to the goal of smart and connected communities. We propose methods to model physical and social sensors, and open demographic data integration with regional knowledge, and to leverage these fused data for understanding impending events and conditions deleterious to lives and properties. In addition, the proposed system will predict the disaster events and provide knowledge-based recommendations to inform emergency management personnel to enable the resilience of the smart and connected communities. Preliminary experiments for the framework are promising. Further work is needed to validate the framework in collaboration with the local emergency managers.
A 65-Year-Old Recreational Athlete with Refractory Severe Glenohumeral Arthritis

End-stage primary glenohumeral arthritis in young active patients presents a number of treatment options and decisions. In this case example, we discuss the indications, surgical options, and postoperative recommendations in a 65-year-old high-level recreational athlete with primary glenohumeral arthritis who has failed conservative management. With significant advances in recent years in terms of implant design, materials science, and patient-specific surgical planning, excellent and durable outcomes as well as return to sports are achievable in this patient population.
Research of Network Intrusion Detection Based on DF-FSVM

Aiming at the low detection rate in network intrusion detection system, the paper presents a method of imbalanced data classification based on Double Factor FSVM (DF-FSVM). Considering the problem of imbalance and noise and isolated points in the training sample, the FCM clustering method is used to calculate the intra-class imbalanced factor to form the fuzzy membership function. The sample imbalance is caused by factors such as the number and the dispersion of samples. Therefore, inter-class imbalanced factors were introduced in the fuzzy membership function. And machine learning and classification were designed for imbalanced samples based on DF-FSVM. The experimental results show that this method can effectively improve the detection accuracy of intrusion detection system compared with standard support vector machine (SVM) and fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM).
A Rubric to Enrich Student Writing and Understanding

The importance of effective communication, both written and oral, has been widely documented within the STEM community. In fact, the ability to communicate effectively is a skillset that is often required by employers. Oftentimes it is challenging to make the transition from academia to the work place. The ability to communicate well is a critical element of this transition. This paper will describe a more authentic experience using a professional conference format that provides students an opportunity to sharpen both their written and oral communication skills. The professional conference paper activity has been utilized in a second-level physics course at American University for 15 years. The conference paper activity allows students to experience all aspects of a professional conference, which is something that they do not get in other courses. This paper will describe the conference paper activity and focus on the use of a rubric that has recently been implemented in order to assist students during multiple phases of the writing process. Through the conference paper, students must communicate about a technical topic in physics while simultaneously connecting that topic to their major field of study. Numerous steps are involved in the paper writing process and each one is designed to emulate an actual conference. The conference paper activity and the associated rubric discussed in this paper offer a unique opportunity for multiple points of feedback, both from the instructor and from their classmates, while the writing process is taking place. Too often in academia a writing activity is designed in such a way that students merely submit their final written papers for a grade. Once a final paper is submitted, there is no opportunity for feedback that will aid in the actual development and writing of the paper. A more traditional paper writing experience does not provide opportunities for formative feedback prior to submission of the final paper. Hence, students do not have the necessary opportunities to really think about and reflect on what they are writing. This paper will address the importance of providing this more formative feedback using a unique rubric designed to assist students while the writing is actually taking place. A summary of students’ perceptions of this process will also be provided.
Improving Access to Laparoscopy in Low-Resource Settings.

Laparoscopy has numerous clinical benefits compared to laparotomy. However, a functional laparoscopy program requires significant investment and, as a result, remains unavailable for the majority of the world’s population in low- and middle-income countries. The effort to bring laparoscopy to low-resource settings has produced variable outcomes resulting from the challenges inherent to a complex surgical program. This paper highlights these shortcomings and identifies opportunities to improve future laparoscopy programs.
Laparoscopic Leveling Colostomy for Colonic Aganglionosis

This chapter describes the surgical procedure for laparoscopic leveling colostomy for colonic aganglionosis as performed by the following approaches: open and laparoscopic. The text includes an introduction that outlines the indications, risks, alternatives, essential steps, equipment’s and variations in technique for the procedure in question. This is followed by a template operative dictation, which provides the reader with an operative report, such as is found in a patient chart or electronic medical record. A description is provided of the following critical concepts for this procedure: safe access to the peritoneum, identification of the transition zone and leveling colonic biopsy, and formation of a loop colostomy.
Optimal co-clinical radiomics: Sensitivity of radiomic features to tumour volume, image noise and resolution in co-clinical T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract Background Radiomics analyses has been proposed to interrogate the biology of tumour as well as to predict/assess response to therapy in vivo. The objective of this work was to assess the sensitivity of radiomics features to noise, resolution, and tumour volume in the context of a co-clinical trial. Methods Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients were recruited into an ongoing co-clinical imaging trial. Sub-typed matched TNBC patient-derived tumour xenografts (PDX) were generated to investigate optimal co-clinical MR radiomic features. The MR imaging protocol included T1-weighed and T2-weighted imaging. To test the sensitivity of radiomics to resolution, PDX were imaged at three different resolutions. Multiple sets of images with varying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were generated, and an image independent patch-based method was implemented to measure the noise levels. Forty-eight radiomic features were extracted from manually segmented 2D and 3D segmented tumours and normal tissues of T1- and T2- weighted co-clinical MR images. Findings Sixteen radiomics features were identified as volume dependent and corrected for volume-dependency following normalization. Features from grey-level run-length matrix (GLRLM), grey-level size zone matrix (GLSZM) were identified as most sensitive to noise. Radiomic features Kurtosis and Run-length variance (RLV) from GLSZM were most sensitive to changes in resolution in both T1w and T2w MRI. In general, 3D radiomic features were more robust compared to 2D (single slice) measures, although the former exhibited higher variability between subjects. Interpretation Tumour volume, noise characteristics, and image resolution significantly impact radiomic analysis in co-clinical studies.
MRI-based predictive factors of axillary lymph node status in breast cancer.

To evaluate the diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in combination with conventional MRI in predicting metastatic axillary lymph nodes (ALN) in breast cancer (BC). We reviewed pathological findings and clinical breast MRI examinations of 169 patients with invasive BC who were evaluated at the Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital in 2009-2015. Morphological parameters and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value were compared with pathological nodal status. Independent t-test/chi-square test and a Pearson correlation analysis were used. With pathological diagnosis as reference, MRI-based interpretations were 87.5% specific and 70.3% sensitive. On conventional MRI, the round shape of lymph nodes (LNs), loss of fatty hilum, irregular margins and hypo-intensity/heterogeneous intensity on T2-weighted sequence were statistically significantly different between metastatic and nonmetastatic groups (P < .001, each). Mean size of metastatic ALN was larger compared with negative ALN (13.9 mm vs. 10.9 mm, P < .001). LNs ≥ 12 mm were associated with higher risk of metastasis (P < .001). ADC value was not significantly different between both groups (P = .862). Conventional MRI using the ALN shape, signal intensity in T2-weighted sequences, loss of fatty hilum, regularity of the margins and size of the LNs can evaluate the axilla with high specificity. ADC value could not be used as a reliable parameter.
The effects of job displacement on spousal health

This paper studies how job displacement influences the health of the worker’s spouse. Results show that the husband’s displacement leads to an increase in the probability of the wife reporting her physical health as fair/poor. These wives are also more likely to experience high blood pressure, heart disease, and/or emotional issues. Wives who are in poor health at baseline, are in low financial standing prior to the husbands’ job loss, are not working two years before the husbands’ job loss, and have children at home at the time of the husbands’ displacement tend to drive these results. Husbands of displaced wives experience little change in self-reported health, the probability of high blood pressure, heart disease, or emotional issues.
Application of a kinetic model to predict extracted ion profiles for the identification of evaporated ignitable liquids

Abstract A kinetic model was previously developed in our laboratory to predict evaporation rate constants of compounds in ignitable liquids as a function of gas chromatographic retention index. The model is applied to the chromatogram of an unevaporated liquid and used to predict chromatograms corresponding to any evaporation level of the liquid. In previous work, accuracy in predicting total ion chromatograms (TICs) for gasoline and petroleum distillates was demonstrated. In this work, the model is applied for the first time to predict extracted ion profiles (EIPs) corresponding to different compound classes. Fifteen ignitable liquids representing five classes (isoparaffinic, naphthenic-paraffinic, aromatic, petroleum distillate, and gasoline) defined in ASTM E1618 were experimentally evaporated to 50–90% (v/v). The kinetic model was applied to predict TICs and EIPs corresponding to the alkane, cycloalkane, aromatic, indane, and polynuclear aromatic compound classes for each evaporated liquid. Strong correlation between experimental and predicted TICs and EIPs indicated the predictive accuracy of the model. Reference collections were then generated containing predicted TICs and EIPs for each liquid corresponding to evaporation levels ranging from 10 to 90%. The reference collections were used to identify the ignitable liquid class in samples of increasing complexity, based on maximum correlation between the experimental and predicted chromatograms. In all cases, the correct liquid class was identified, even in the presence of substrate interferences. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential of a kinetic model to generate TICs and EIPs as a practical tool for identification of ignitable liquids in fire debris samples.
Ectopic Intact PTH Secretion Causing Humoral Hypercalcemia of Malignancy

Background: Tumor-generated ectopic intact PTH is difficult to diagnose and should be suspected in patients with apparent primary hyperparathyroidism but with normal parathyroid glands. Clinical Case: A 72-year-old man presented with symptoms of hypercalcemia including generalized weakness, polyuria, and polydipsia. Initial labs were consistent with primary hyperparathyroidism: calcium 12.1 mg/dL (n 8.6–10.3 mg/dL, albumin-corrected 12.5 mg/dL), intact PTH (iPTH) 115.6 pg/mL (n 10–65 pg/mL), low normal 25-OH vitamin D (25 ng/mL, n 25–100 ng/mL), and relatively high normal 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D (52 pg/mL, n 18–78 pg/mL). 24-hour urine calcium was 381 mg/day (n 100–300 mg/day) and PTHrP was 1.6 pmol/L (n <4.2 pmol/L). Neck ultrasound demonstrated a 0.5 x 1 cm hypoechoic mass near right thyroid inferior pole, though sestamibi SPECT/CT scan did not reveal scintographic evidence of a parathyroid adenoma. He underwent subtotal parathyroidectomy with largest excised gland weighing 0.262 grams. The left inferior parathyroid gland appeared normal intraoperatively, thus was clipped and left in place. PTH decreased from 194 pg/mL to 98 pg/mL postoperatively. Pathological examination revealed three normocellular parathyroid glands with enlargement of only the right superior gland. Venous sampling of the parathyroid vasculature failed to identify the source of autonomous iPTH post operatively. Due to refractory hypercalcemia, cinacalcet was initiated. However, hypercalcemia as high as 12.6 mg/dl and hyperparathyroidism to 672 pg/mL persisted despite dose escalation. He eventually received pamidronate with subsequent transition to denosumab due to declining renal function. A 68Ga DOTATATE scan was performed to locate occult ectopic parathyroid, which reported multiple foci of presumed somatostatin receptor expression involving the liver and intra-abdominal lymph nodes without significant uptake in the neck concerning for metastatic disease. Liver lesion biopsy was consistent with pancreato-biliary adenocarcinoma. Surprisingly, the biopsy was negative for iPTH and neuroendocrine tumor markers on staining/immunohistochemistry. Given his poor prognosis and multiple comorbidities, the patient opted not to pursue any further workup or therapy for his malignancy. Conclusion: Occult malignancy should be suspected for a patient with persistent hyperparathyroidism after parathyroidectomy. Treatment of the malignancy may lead to an improvement in hypercalcemia and iPTH levels. Employment of iPTH mRNA testing or intra-abdominal venous sampling to prove ectopic iPTH secretion would be ideal, as iPTH staining could be falsely negative. Further testing was not completed as the patient declined further evaluation.
Measuring Consumer Spending Using Card Transaction Data: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pandemic-driven economic changes are measurable in days and weeks rather than months and years, underscoring a need for more timely economic data to inform the public. We summarize newly available estimates of spending using card transaction data that are available on the Bureau of Economic Analysis website and analyze correlations between card data and official series. We find that card data perform well in measuring large changes in the economy around the pandemic, although the correlations are much lower during a period of stability prior to the pandemic. This pattern is likely attributable to a shift in the signal-to-noise ratio over these periods.
Tackling Cybersecurity Regulatory Challenges: A Proposed Research Framework

Although concerns about cybersecurity have been around for more than a decade with significant attention by governments and regulators, the problem has actually continued to increase. So, it is clear that whatever is being done is not working. The research question for this study is: To what extent does compliance help or hinder cybersecurity for the organization – and why/how. When trying to understand the interplay between compliance and cybersecurity, generally, two scenarios may occur: (1) compliance helps security or (2) compliance hinders security – or maybe both. This research attempts to provide a better understanding of the factors by evaluating compliance as a critical factor in the organization’s cybersecurity strategy through a series of corporate and government interviews to affirm, refute, and refine our initial hypotheses.
Neonatal Gastric Perforation: 14-Year Experience from a Tertiary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Objective Neonatal gastric perforations (NGPs) are rare and account for 7 to 12% of all gastrointestinal perforations in the neonatal period. The etiology and prognostic factors associated with NGP remain unclear. The aim of this study is to review the cases of NGP in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the past 14 years and describe the risk factors, clinical presentation, and outcomes associated with it. Study Design A retrospective chart review of neonates with gastric perforation admitted to the NICU between June 2006 and December 2020 was performed. Data regarding their antenatal and neonatal characteristics, laboratory and radiological results, intra-operative findings, hospital course, and outcomes were recorded. Results We identified 350 patients with gastrointestinal perforation at our center during the study period of which 14 (4%; nine males and five females) patients were diagnosed with NGP during surgery. A total of 71% neonates were born preterm (range: 24–39 weeks, median: 34 weeks). Two neonates (14%) were SGA. Only one neonate received cardiopulmonary resuscitation at birth. In all neonates, except two, perforation occurred within the first 10 days of life (median: 4 days, range: 1–22 days). In total, 79% infants received feeds prior to perforation. Ten neonates had a feeding tube, and one neonate had a gastrostomy tube placed prior to perforation. Abdominal distension and pneumoperitoneum were present in all neonates. Majority of the babies had metabolic acidosis (64%) and elevated C-reactive protein (79%). Most (86%) neonates received surgical intervention within 12 hours. Overall survival in our study was 93%. Conclusion NGP is a rare entity seen mostly in preterm infants within the first 10 days of life. Clinical presentation is similar to perforation anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract and definite diagnosis requires exploratory laparotomy. With prompt recognition and surgical intervention, the overall mortality related to neonatal gastric perforation is low. Key Points
JESSE PHILIP GREENSTEIN 1902–1959

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on Jesse Philip Greenstein. Jesse Philip Greenstein was born on June 20, 1902 in New York. His scientific interests developed early, while he attended public elementary and high schools in New York, and while he worked in the Food and Drug Laboratory of the New York City Department of Health. He was outstanding in scientific skill, learning, energy, and devotion to his work. He led an arduous life as an investigator, administrator, and writer. In the course of his career, he collaborated with more than 60 scientists. His work on the resolution of amino acids and emphasized the problem of the optical purity of amino acids. He inspired numerous young men, who came to work at the National Cancer Institute, with much of his own ardent enthusiasm for science. He was proud to be a servant of the United States Government, in a position of great responsibility, and his service went far beyond the allotted duties of his post. He was a loyal friend, whose wisdom and courage were a source of inspiration to his colleagues.
Expression and purification of a native Thy1-single-chain variable fragment for use in molecular imaging.

Molecular imaging using singlechain variable fragments (scFv) of antibodies targeting cancer specific antigens have been considered a non-immunogenic approach for early diagnosis in the clinic. Usually, production of proteins is performed within Escherichia coli. Recombinant proteins are either expressed in E. coli cytoplasm as insoluble inclusion bodies, that often need cumbersome denaturation and refolding processes, or secreted toward the periplasm as soluble proteins that highly reduce the overall yield. However, production of active scFvs in their native form, without any heterologous fusion, is required for clinical applications. In this study, we expressed an anti-thymocyte differentiation antigen-scFv (Thy1-scFv) as a fusion protein with a N-terminal sequence including 3 × hexa-histidines, as purification tags, together with a Trx-tag and a S-tag for enhanced-solubility. Our strategy allowed to recover ~ 35% of Thy1-scFv in the soluble cytoplasmic fraction. An enterokinase cleavage site in between Thy1-scFv and the upstream tags was used to regenerate the protein with 97.7 ± 2.3% purity without any tags. Thy1-scFv showed functionality towards its target on flow cytometry assays. Finally, in vivo molecular imaging using Thy1-scFv conjugated to an ultrasound contrast agent (MBThy1-scFv) demonstrated signal enhancement on a transgenic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) mouse model (3.1 ± 1.2 a.u.) compared to non-targeted control (0.4 ± 0.4 a.u.) suggesting potential for PDAC early diagnosis. Overall, our strategy facilitates the expression and purification of Thy1-scFv while introducing its ability for diagnostic molecular imaging of pancreatic cancer. The presented methodology could be expanded to other important eukaryotic proteins for various applications, including but not limited to molecular imaging.
On the relationship between codiagnosability and coobservability under dynamic observations

We investigate the relationship between the problem of decentralized fault diagnosis and the problem of decentralized control of discrete event systems under dynamic observations. The key system-theoretic properties that arise in these problems are those of codiagnosability and coobservability, respectively. It was shown by Wang et al. in [1] that coobservability is transformable to codiagnosability; however, the transformation for the other direction has remained an open problem. In this paper, we consider a general language-based dynamic observations setting and show how the notion of K-codiagnosability can be transformed to coobservability. Moreover, we show that, when the observation map is static, the standard notion of centralized diagnosability is transformable to observability. Our results thereby complement those in [1] and provide a better understanding of the relationship between the notions of codiagnosability and coobservability. In particular, our new results allow the leveraging of the large existing literature on decentralized control synthesis to solve problems of decentralized fault diagnosis.
A cross-cultural/cross-national study of influencing factors and socially desirable response biases.

Questionnaires are a frequently employed method of data collection and construct measurement in cross-cultural/cross-national marketing research. While offering many advantages, the use of question...