cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
APC and PIK3CA Mutational Cooperativity Predicts Pathologic Response and Survival in Patients Undergoing Resection for Colorectal Liver Metastases

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to determine the prognostic impact of co-existence of APC and PIK3CA mutations in patients undergoing preoperative chemotherapy and resection for colorectal liver metastases (CLM). BACKGROUND Co-occurring genetic events have been shown to drive carcinogenesis in multiple malignancies. METHODS We identified 396 patients with primary colorectal cancer and known somatic mutation status by next-generation sequencing who underwent hepatectomy for CLM (2005-2015). Survival after hepatectomy in patients with double mutation of APC and PIK3CA and others was analyzed. Predictors of pathologic response and survival were determined. The prognostic value of double mutation was evaluated with a separate cohort of 157 patients with CLM undergoing chemotherapy alone. RESULTS Forty-five patients had double mutation of APC and PIK3CA; 351 did not. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after hepatectomy were worse in patients with double mutation (3-year RFS, 3.1% vs 20% [P < 0.001]; 3-year OS, 44% vs 84% [P < 0.001]). Independent predictors of major pathologic response were bevacizumab use (odds ratio [OR] 2.22; P = 0.001), tumor size <3 cm (OR 1.97; P = 0.004), wild-type RAS (OR 2.00; P = 0.003), and absence of double mutation (OR 2.91; P = 0.002). Independent predictors of worse OS were primary advanced T category (hazard ratio [HR] 2.12; P = 0.021), RAS mutation (HR 1.74; P = 0.015), and double mutation (HR 3.09; P < 0.001). In the different medical cohort, patients with double mutation had worse 3-year OS of 18%, compared with 35% without double mutation (P = 0.023). CONCLUSIONS Double mutation of APC and PIK3CA predicts inferior response to preoperative chemotherapy and poor survival in patients with CLM.
Trends in the Management of Headache

To the Editors—I read with great interest the article on “Trends in the Ambulatory Management of Headache”1 reporting a decline in clinician counseling for headache. While the paper references three clinical guidelines2–4 suggesting lifestyle modification counseling during headache visits, a review of those guidelines shows no evidence to support lifestyle counseling as having efficacy in reducing migraine or headarche frequency. Review of the headache literature also fails to show scientific evidence that lifestyle modification—changes in diet, sleep, or exercise—have ever been proven to reduce headache frequency. Lifestyle modification counseling may provide value in specific situations. There is evidence that simple advice can be effective as a withdrawal strategy in medication overuse headache.5 Obesity and smoking have been associated with increased severity of headaches, in addition to other myriad medical problems, and should be discouraged. Physicians have limited time with headache patients to take a detailed history, perform an appropriate physical examination, review the diagnosis and treatment options, and explore patient preferences for therapy. Using that limited time for lifestyle modification counseling that provides no clinical benefit offers no value. As a headache specialist for over 30 years, I find that I spend increasing amounts of patient time debunking myths about the value of lifestyle modification. While increased stress, dehydration, lack of sleep, sedentary lifestyle, and poor diet all may contribute to poor health, they have not been scientifically linked to increased migraine frequency. Emphasis on lifestyle modification may detract from non-pharmacologic therapies that have evidence to support their use in headache, such as biofeedback, relaxation therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.2 While I find it discouraging that the use of advanced imaging and referrals have increased for headache patients, I do not believe that the decline in lifestyle modification counseling reflects a lost opportunity to improve the value of healthcare.
Perioperative Testosterone Supplementation Increases Lean Mass in Healthy Men Undergoing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background:Rehabilitation after repair of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is complicated by the loss of leg muscle mass and strength. Prior studies have shown that preoperative rehabilitation may improve muscle strength and postoperative outcomes. Testosterone supplementation may likewise counteract this muscle loss and potentially improve clinical outcomes.Purpose:The purpose was to investigate the effect of perioperative testosterone administration on lean mass after ACL reconstruction in men and to examine the effects of testosterone on leg strength and clinical outcome scores. It was hypothesized that testosterone would increase lean mass and leg strength and improve clinical outcome scores relative to placebo.Study Design:Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1.Methods:Male patients (N = 13) scheduled for ACL reconstruction were randomized into 2 groups: testosterone and placebo. Participants in the testosterone group received 200 mg of intramuscular testosterone weekly for 8 weeks beg...
Music Everywhere: Setting a Digital Music Trap:

Before the digital era, music consumption was limited to purchasing LPs, tapes and CDs, or attending concerts. With digitization and mobile technologies in tow, the consumption of music exploded. M...
Antitrust via Rulemaking: Competition Catalysts

The promotion of competition in the American economy is a task that has traditionally fallen to the enforcement agencies at the federal and state level, relying on the main antitrust statutes. However, the challenge of declining competition has also prompted interest in the use of regulatory alternatives to antitrust to “catalyze” competition. The strategy involves using industry-specific statutes, rulemakings, or other tools of the regulatory state to achieve the traditional competition goals associated with the antitrust laws. Hence, “antitrust via rulemaking.” This paper has two goals. The first goal is to better describe the regulatory tools used by agencies and government—the so-called “competitive catalysts.” This paper attempts to develop both a vocabulary and basic theoretical account that helps to understand how rulemaking can promote competition. It does so by providing a taxonomy of major tools used to catalyze competition. A second goal of the paper is the admittedly difficult goal of trying to understand why some competition initiatives have worked, while others fail. As these are highly complex industries and regulatory initiatives, any such analysis cannot be definitive. Nonetheless, a study of the efforts to jump-start competition yields patterns from which best-practices might be derived, and from which any future regulator should learn. The paper concludes with a list of best-practices or rules-of-thumb for those who would hope to use laws to catalyze competition in the future.
Decreased Use of Sphincter-Preserving Procedures Among African Americans with Rectal Cancer.

Improved multimodality rectal cancer treatment has increased the use of sphincter-preserving surgery. This study sought to determine whether African American (AA) patients with rectal cancer receive sphincter-preserving surgery at the same rate as non-AA patients. The study used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for years 1998–2012 to compare AA and non-AA patients with rectal cancer undergoing low anterior resection or abdominoperineal resection. The logistic regression model was used to adjust for age, gender, admission type, Elixhauser comorbidity index, and hospital factors such as size, location (urban vs.rural), teaching status, and procedure volume. The search identified 22,697 patients, 1600 of whom were identified as AA. After adjustment for age and gender, the analysis showed that AA patients were less likely to undergo sphincter-preserving surgery than non-AA patients [odds ratio (OR) 0.70; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63–0.78; p < 0.0001). After further adjustment for the Elixhauser comorbidity index, admission type, hospital-specific factors, and insurance status, the analysis showed that AA patients still were less likely to undergo sphincter-preserving surgery (OR 0.78; 95% CI 0.70–0.87; p < 0.0001). Although the proportion of non-AA patients undergoing sphincter-preserving surgery increased during the study period (p = 0.0003), this trend was not significant for the AA patients (p = 0.13). In this data analysis, the AA patients with rectal cancer had lower rates of sphincter-preserving surgery than the non-AA patients, even after adjustment for patient- and hospital-specific factors. Further work is required to elucidate why. Eliminating racial disparities in rectal cancer treatment should continue to be a priority for the surgical community.
Trimethylin-induced Forebrain Lesions, Cognitive Impairment and β-Adrenergic Receptor Binding

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses trimethylin-induced forebrain lesions cognitive impairment and β-adrenergic receptor binding. When given to rats, trimethyltin (TMT) causes the dose-related destruction of hippocampus and related forebrain areas. The chapter describes a study for assessing learning/memory impairment in TMT-treated Rats by using a delayed reinforcement autoshaping procedure, which incorporates the features of both classical and operant conditioning paradigms. Male Long Evans rats, weighing 320–400 g, were treated p.o. with TMT (3.0, 6.0 or 7.5 mg/kg) or water vehicle. No overt toxicity resulted from the two lower doses but the high dose induced weight loss, irritability to handling, and convulsions. Following the disappearance of acute toxic signs, 18 to 28 days after TMT treatment, , rats were food deprived to 85–90% of ad lib body weights and familiarized with 45 mg food pellets used as reinforcers. They were then placed in an operant chamber equipped with a retractable lever for autoshaping. The lever was inserted into the chamber on a random time schedule, with the interval between food pellet delivery and the next lever insertion varying from 22 to 68 s. In the first experiment, rats were autoshaped using a 4 s delay of reinforcement. No effects of TMT on autoshaping in this task were observed. All groups of rats showed evidence of task acquisition, or increases in numbers of extended lever touches during the course of autoshaping.
A Harmonic RF Phase-Shifter Based Wireless pH Sensor

This paper describes the design and development of a phase shifter based wireless pH sensor tag. It consists of a receive and transmit antennas, a phase shifter and a harmonic generator, and a pH electrode. When the sensor tag is interrogated with an RF signal it changes the phase of the received signal and transmits back at both the fundamental (f_0) and second harmonic (2f_0) frequencies. The phase shift is governed by the voltage produced by the pH electrodes in direct contact with the sample. The phase shift at (f_0) and (2f_0) is analyzed using a phase detector to sense the pH changes of the sample. Better sensitivity is obtained when the harmonic frequency is used for sensing. In addition, the use of second harmonic improves the signal to noise ratio (SNR) as the undesired clutter is filtered out. The design and implementation of the harmonic phase shifter is validated with simulation and measurement results.
Who is left out: exploring social boundaries in entrepreneurial ecosystems

This study attempts to develop our understanding of the ecosystem as a complex social construct by advancing a social network perspective. Based on personal interviews we model the entrepreneurial ecosystems of two municipalities through a diverse network of entrepreneurs, investors, and institutional leaders. The two ecosystems were characterized and compared on measures related to the level of connectivity between actors, the existence of social boundaries, the role and position of actors with certain attributes (e.g. women, minorities) and the presence of ties in multiple social contexts (e.g. friend and investor). Our results suggest that entrepreneurial ecosystems consist of different social clusters, forming boundaries along venture type (e.g. high-growth, lifestyle), type of support institution (e.g. university, government agency), gender, race, and ethnicity. High-growth/technology entrepreneurs, for example, were predominantly white, male and strongly connected to technology commercialization and acceleration programs. In contrast, entrepreneurs operating survival ventures are mainly non-white, female and often socially disconnected from the main institutions. We also found differences with respect to network connectivity between stakeholders in both ecosystems. Based on our findings, we draw managerial implications for different stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Robust Asynchronous Stochastic Gradient-Push: Asymptotically Optimal and Network-Independent Performance for Strongly Convex Functions

We consider the standard model of distributed optimization of a sum of functions $F(\bz) = \sum_{i=1}^n f_i(\bz)$, where node $i$ in a network holds the function $f_i(\bz)$. We allow for a harsh network model characterized by asynchronous updates, message delays, unpredictable message losses, and directed communication among nodes. In this setting, we analyze a modification of the Gradient-Push method for distributed optimization, assuming that \begin{enumerate*}[label=(\roman*)] \item node $i$ is capable of generating gradients of its function $f_i(\bz)$ corrupted by zero-mean bounded-support additive noise at each step, \item $F(\bz)$ is strongly convex, and \item each $f_i(\bz)$ has Lipschitz gradients. We show that our proposed method asymptotically performs as well as the best bounds on centralized gradient descent that takes steps in the direction of the sum of the noisy gradients of all the functions $f_1(\bz), \ldots, f_n(\bz)$ at each step.
Phantasmagoria and the Trump Opera

To examine the way our present reality is altered by a specific technology in the present communications environment, this paper seeks to identify dangerous molecules of image projection apparatuses, and relate them to the pre-20th century theatre of phantasmagoria, which maintained popularity across Europe and the United States for more than two-centuries before the advent of cinema. Phantasmagoria became a metaphor used originally by Marx, and later by Walter Benjamin and T.W. Adorno to address matters of consumer culture and illusion. By overlaying Adorno’s analysis of the phantasmagoria found in Wagnerarian opera, onto the social media eco-system that gave rise to Trump, similarities of affect are found in the elemental particles unique to each spectacle. This paper presents a structure for understanding the collective psychosis of real world phantasmagorias in the time of Trump, such as the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and the gun-violence that resulted from it. Because the relative obscurity of both the theatre of phantasmagoria and opera, some time in the paper is dedicated to explaining both.
Resting-State Connectivity in Former, Current, and Never Smokers.

Introduction Understanding the neural mechanisms that support successful smoking cessation is vital to the development of novel treatments for nicotine dependence. Method To this end, we compared resting-state functional connectivity across three smoking groups: current, never, and former smokers. We used an independent component analysis (ICA) that allowed us to compare differences in intrinsic, large-scale networks across our groups. Using this technique, we were able to compare group differences across resting-state networks without the requirement of identifying coordinate-based regions of interest. Results Overall, the ICA resulted in networks that were largely consistent with previous reports, including bilateral executive control networks, salience, and a default mode network. Group comparisons among the three groups revealed differences in three networks including sensorimotor, dorsal attention, and default mode networks, with differences localized to pre/postcentral gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, and superior parietal lobe. In all regions showing a difference, current smokers showed increased network amplitude compared to former and never smokers. Conclusion Although some theoretical models of recovery have suggested an important role of frontal cortex and cognitive control, the current results seem to suggest that reductions in posterior regions including superior parietal lobe and somatosensory cortex may play a key role in maintaining long-term abstinence from cigarettes. Implications The submitted research is a novel contribution to the study of successful nicotine abstinence, in part, because it includes individuals who have successfully overcome nicotine dependence. The use of ICA allowed for examination of large-scale resting-state networks throughout the brain without the need for specifying numerous regions of interest. This research supports the view that overcoming nicotine dependence may depend on reducing spontaneous activity in posterior regions of the brain rather than solely enhancing frontal control.
The Silent Qur’an and the Speaking Qur’an: Scriptural Sources of Islam between History and Fervour

Over the last 100 years, the presentation of nascent Islam in modern scholarship has been largely derived from Sunnī sources, whereas historical sources from the ‘defeated minority’ – the Shīʿa – h...
Substrates of PHD

The discovery of prolyl hydroxylase domain proteins (PHDs) as key enzymes in the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway has been followed by reports of a multitude of non-HIF substrates of PHD. Reporting in eLife, Cockman et al. (2019) find a surprising lack of detectable PHD activity toward any of them.
The Social Infrastructure of Co-spaces: Home, Work, and Sociable Places for Digital Nomads

The rise of co-working and co-living spaces, as well as related shared spaces such as makerspaces and hackerspaces-a group we refer to as various types of "co-spaces" - has helped facilitate a parallel expansion of the "digital nomad (DN)" lifestyle. Digital nomads, colloquially, are those individuals that leverage digital infrastructures and sociotechnical systems to live location-independent lives. In this paper, we use Oldenburg's framework of a first (home), second (work), and third (social) place as an analytical lens to investigate how digital nomads understand the affordance of these different types of spaces. We present an analysis of posts and comments on the '/r/digitalnomad' subreddit, a vibrant online community where DNs ask questions and share advice about the different types of places and amenities that are necessary to pursue their digital nomad lifestyle. We found that places are often assessed positively or negatively relative to one primary characteristic: either they provide a means for nomads to maintain a clear separation between the social and professional aspects of their lives, or they provide a means to merge these aspects together. Digital nomads that favor the first type of place tend to focus on searching for factors that they feel will promote their own work productivity, whereas DNs that favor the second type of place tend to focus on factors that they feel will allow them to balance their work and social lives. We also build on linkages between the notion of a third place and the more recent theoretical construct of social infrastructure. Ultimately, we demonstrate how DNs' interests in co-spaces provide a kind of edge-case for CSCW and HCI scholars to explore how sociotechnical systems, such as variants of co-spaces, inform one another as well as signify important details regarding new ways of living and engaging with technology.
Studies on the Mimosa scabrella Bentham seed germination (Bracatinga) in pregermination treatment function

The present study was to evaluate two pre- germination treatments in the seeds of Mimosa scabrella (Bracatinga), to overcome dormancy. The experiment was conducted in laboratory, without control of incidence of light or temperature, leaving them as much as possible to natural conditions. The treatments consisted of immersion in water at 80 ° C for 24 hours and length and without seed treatment. Sowing was done after this period in trays upon the land of virgin forest as substrate. The characteristics evaluated were to emergence index and emergence speed. It was concluded therefore that the seed soaking in water at 80 ° C followed by immersion for 24 hours vigor’s seedlings exhibiting more and faster germination. While untreated seeds also showed germination rates, but smaller and with low speed
Toward Exascale: Overview of Large Eddy Simulations and Direct Numerical Simulations of Nuclear Reactor Flows with the Spectral Element Method in Nek5000

At the beginning of the last decade, Petascale supercomputers (i.e., computers capable of more than 1 petaFLOP) emerged. Now, at the dawn of exascale supercomputing, we provide a review of recent l...
An in-situ field ion microscope study of irradiated tungsten II. Analysis and interpretation

In Part I (see previous paper) the results of a series of experiments demonstrated that self-interstitial atoms (SIAs) were immobile at an irradiation temperature of 15°K, and that these same SIAs ...
Task Interdependence in Human-Robot Teaming

Human-robot teaming is becoming increasingly common within manufacturing processes. A key aspect practitioners need to decide on when developing effective processes is the level of task interdependence between human and robot team members. Task interdependence refers to the extent to which one's behavior affects the performance of others in a team. In this work, we examine the effects of three levels of task interdependence—pooled, sequential, reciprocal—in human-robot teaming on human worker's mental states, task performance, and perceptions of the robot. Participants worked with the robot in an assembly task while their heart rate variability was being recorded. Results suggested human workers in the reciprocal interdependence level experienced less stress and perceived the robot more as a collaborator than other two levels. Task interdependence did not affect perceived safety. Our findings highlight the importance of considering task structure in human-robot teaming and inform future research on and industry practices for human-robot task allocation.
Influence of the natural hormonal milieu on brain and behavior in women who smoke cigarettes: Rationale and methodology

Abstract Women experience more severe health consequences from smoking, have greater difficulty quitting, and respond less favorably to nicotine replacement therapy than men. The influence of fluctuating ovarian hormones, specifically estradiol (E) and progesterone (P), on brain and behavioral responses during exposure to smoking reminders (i.e., cues) may be a contributing factor. Results from our laboratory suggest that women in the late follicular phase of their menstrual cycle (MC) have enhanced smoking cue (SC) vulnerabilities and reduced functional connectivity in neurocircuitry underlying cognitive control, potentially placing them at greater risk for continued smoking and relapse. The primary aim of this study is to examine and link hormonal status with brain and behavioral responses to SCs over the course of three monthly MCs in naturally cycling women who are chronic cigarette smokers. This longitudinal, counterbalanced study collects brain and behavioral responses to SCs at three time points during a woman's MC. Participants complete psychological and physical examinations, biochemical hormonal verification visits, and at least three laboratory/neuroimaging scan visits. The scan visits include a 10-min SC task during blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) data acquisition and are timed to occur during the early follicular phase (low E and P), late follicular phase (high E, unopposed by P), and mid-luteal phase (high P, high E). The primary outcomes include brain responses to SCs (compared to non-SCs), subjective craving, E and P hormone levels, and behavioral responses to SCs. This study addresses a critical gap in our knowledge: namely, the impact of the natural hormonal milieu on brain and behavioral responses to SCs, a powerful relapse trigger. Additionally, this study will provide a roadmap for human sex differences researchers who are obliged to consider the often confounding cyclic hormonal fluctuations of women.
La libertad religiosa en Estados Unidos: Una perspectiva internacional (American Religious Freedom in International Perspective)

Spanish Abstract: Este articulo compara la proteccion de la libertad religiosa contenida en la Primera Enmienda de la Constitucion de los Estados Unidos con las principales normas internacionales de derechos humanos sobre la materia. Especialmente, se analiza el Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Politicos de 1966, la Declaracion de las Naciones Unidas sobre la eliminacion de todas las formas de intolerancia y discriminacion fundadas en la religion o las convicciones de 1981 y los llamados Documentos de Clausura de Viena de 1989. Los casos de la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos sobre la libertad de conciencia, el libre ejercicio de la religion, la igualdad religiosa y la no discriminacion encajan favorablemente con las normas internacionales. Sin embargo, el encaje resulta mas desfavorable en lo que respecta a la deficiente y repetida falta de proteccion de las distintas reivindicaciones de libertad religiosa por parte de grupos indigenas estadounidenses. Los casos de la Corte Suprema que defienden el principio de la separacion de la iglesia y el estado encajan bien con las preocupaciones internacionales por los derechos y la autonomia de los grupos religiosos, aunque van mas alla de lo dispuesto en las normas internacionales porque eliminan en gran medida la libertad religiosa de la educacion publica. English Abstract: This article compares the protection of religious freedom contained in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution with the main international human rights standards on the matter. In particular, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, the United Nations Declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or convictions of 1981 and the so-called Vienna Closing Documents of 1989. The cases of the United States Supreme Court on freedom of conscience, the free exercise of religion, religious equality and non-discrimination fit favorably with international standards. However, the reserve requirement is more unfavorable in terms of the deficient and repeated lack of protection of the different claims of religious freedom by American Indian groups. Supreme Court cases upholding the principle of separation of church and state dovetail well with international concerns about the rights and autonomy of religious groups, although they go beyond the provisions of international norms because they eliminate in religious freedom of public education to a large extent
Spatio-temporal continuous gesture recognition under degraded environments: performance comparison between 3D integral imaging (InIm) and RGB-D sensors

In this paper, we introduce a deep learning-based spatio-temporal continuous human gesture recognition algorithm under degraded conditions using three-dimensional (3D) integral imaging. The proposed system is shown as an efficient continuous human gesture recognition system for degraded environments such as partial occlusion. In addition, we compare the performance between the 3D integral imaging-based sensing and RGB-D sensing for continuous gesture recognition under degraded environments. Captured 3D data serves as the input to a You Look Only Once (YOLOv2) neural network for hand detection. Then, a temporal segmentation algorithm is employed to segment the individual gestures from a continuous video sequence. Following segmentation, the output is fed to a convolutional neural network-based bidirectional long short-term memory network (CNN-BiLSTM) for gesture classification. Our experimental results suggest that the proposed deep learning-based spatio-temporal continuous human gesture recognition provides substantial improvement over both RGB-D sensing and conventional 2D imaging system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of 3D integral imaging-based continuous human gesture recognition with deep learning and the first comparison between 3D integral imaging and RGB-D sensors for this task.
Gamma-blindness & neutron detection efficiency assessments with centrifugally tensioned metastable fluid detectors in low-scatter environment

Abstract A range of tests and associated analyses were performed in a state-of-art low scatter environment to demonstrate and validate the performance of the (Medium) Centrifugally Tensioned Metastable Fluid Detector (MCTMFD) for gamma blind detection of fast and epithermal neutrons for a variety of configurations, using Cf-252 and Am-Li isotope neutron sources. All measurements were performed in the Low Scatter Room (LSR) of Radiological Exposures & Metrology Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Experiments were performed to evaluate intrinsic neutron detection efficiency, ɛ int n , the intrinsic gamma-neutron detection efficiency, ɛ int γ n , and the gamma absolute rejection ratio for neutrons (GARRn) as a function of tensioned metastable state negative pressure, Pneg, varying from 2.5 bar towards 9 bar. The specific embodiment of the MCTMFD utilized for the experiments at PNNL included a 16 cm 3 sensitive volume configured for either fast neutron detection using Decafluoropentane (DFP) as the detection medium, or fast and thermal neutron detection (using DFP with a chemical mixture composed of natural boron). Experiments were performed with Cf-252 neutron sources ranging in intensity from 1 × 104 n/s to 3.45 × 105 n/s, an Am-Li neutron source with intensity of 2.5 × 104 n/s, used in both a bare configuration and in combination with a 30 cm OD moderating sphere of D 2 O, with and without a 0.5 mm Cd shell, and intense Cs-137 and Co-60 gamma sources offering dose rates ranging from 27 mR/h to 53 R/h. It was found that the MCTMFDs remained gamma-blind ( ɛ int γ n ɛ int n ) varied from ∼ 0.2% for Pneg ∼ 2.5 bar, ∼ 10% for Pneg ∼ 5.5 bar and, ∼ 30% for Pneg ∼ 9 bar for a Cf-252 fission spectrum. In comparison, for the softer (Am-Li) spectrum, the ɛ int n varied from ∼ 1% for Pneg ∼ 5.5 bar and approached the ɛ int n values for Pneg states above 7 bar. The same MCTMFD when using a borated detection fluid with 20% B-10, offered a × 10–20 improvement in ɛ int n for Pneg states ranging from 4.5–5 bar, for detecting epithermal neutrons from the Am-Li source (placed within a 30 cm OD, D 2 O moderator with and without a 0.5 mm Cd shield).
Chronic comorbid conditions among adult cancer survivors in the United States: Results from the National Health Interview Survey, 2002-2018

Background Cancer survivors develop other chronic medical conditions because of shared risk factors and delayed effects of cancer treatment. This study investigated trends in the prevalence of chronic diseases and estimated their population sizes among adult cancer survivors in the United States from 2002 to 2018. Methods Using 2002-2018 National Health Interview Survey data, this study calculated the age-sex-race/ethnicity-adjusted prevalences and estimated the population sizes for the following chronic conditions among cancer survivors: hypertension, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma, hepatitis, arthritis, liver disease, kidney disease, and morbid obesity. This study also examined multiple chronic conditions (MCC; 3 or more health conditions). MCC trends were further examined by sociodemographic factors to identify high-risk populations. Parallel analyses were performed for participants without a cancer history to provide a reference. Results Among 30,728 cancers survivors, increasing trends were observed in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, and morbid obesity, whereas decreasing prevalence trends were observed for ischemic heart disease, COPD, and hepatitis. Cancer survivors with MCC increased from 4.7 million in 2002 to 8.1 million in 2018 (the prevalence increased from 43.7% to 46.6%). The increase was more pronounced among survivors aged 18 to 44 years. Among adults without a cancer history, the MCC prevalence also increased, although more slowly than among survivors. Conclusions The number of adult cancer survivors in the United States with comorbid illnesses has increased substantially over the past 2 decades. Optimal management of comorbid conditions and aggressive interventions for risk reduction may benefit the cancer survivor population.
Do the Means Change the End? The Effect of All Mail Ballot Systems and Same-Day Voter Registration on Turnout

This research examines the effects of certain institutional mechanisms on voter turnout, in order to provide a possible policy prescription for the ever-decreasing voter turnout in the United States. The voter turnout of general elections from 1994-2012 was measured state by state, comparing those that have instituted same-day registration and/or all mail ballot systems to those that have not, using an ordinary least squares regression model. There was an additional control variable of the number of top-of-ticket races on the ballot in each year, in addition to the institutional variables. The results suggest that the use of same-day registration and all mail ballot systems increase voter turnout. This article is available in Res Publica Journal of Undergraduate Research: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/respublica/vol20/iss1/7
Ultrashort pulse electroporation: applications of high pulsed electric fields to induced caspase activation of human lymphocytes

Presents evidence for apoptosis, or programmed cell death, and up-regulation of a subset of important genes induced by intense electric fields of short duration (10's nsec). The fields are observed to perturb mitochondrial membranes and the compartmentalized intracellular environment of Jurkat T lymphocytes, and within hours caspase activation occurs. Intense, but low energy, fields can penetrate a biological cell and invoke mechanisms associated with apoptosis.
A High Resolution Far-UV Spectral Atlas of CSPNs and Hot White Dwarfs

A high-resolution IUE spectral atlas of central stars of planetary nebulae and hot white dwarfs has been produced (part of Tweedy, 1991, PhD thesis from the University of Leicester, UK), and examples from it are shown here. It has been sorted into an approximate evolutionary sequence, based on published spectroscopic analyses, from the cool 28,000K young central star He 2–138, through the hot objects like NGC 7293 and NGC 246 at 90,000K and 130,000K respectively, down to 40,000K DA white dwarfs like GD 2, which is the chosen cutoff for this selection. Copies of a revised version of this atlas, which will include more recent spectroscopic information and also white dwarfs down to 35,000K - to include the Si III object GD 394 - will be sent to anyone who requests one.
From Credit Denial to Predatory Lending: The Challenge of Sustaining Minority Homeownership

Years of discriminatory behavior against minority households have damaged their ability to build wealth. One of the most financially destructive practices endured by minority households is the excessive overpayment to finance a home purchase or access accumulated equity in a home. The market conditions that position blacks, and to a lesser extent, Latino households, to be the principal targets of predatory mortgage lending have their roots in decades of legally sanctioned housing market discrimination. Some minority households lack the financial knowledge or awareness to protect themselves. In other cases, years of discriminatory financial practices have contributed to rendering them ineligible to access low-cost financing. And, finally, vestiges of discrimination continue today with minority consumers convenient targets of unscrupulous lending behavior. Starting in the early 1990s, federal antipoverty policies placed new emphasis on asset creation for low- and moderate-income people, especially the working poor. While federal policy embraced wealth creation as the new antidote to poverty, it failed to anticipate threats to preserving home equity once it has been created, including rising consumer debt and predatory lending. To date, the federal government has failed to combat predatory lending consistently and effectively. The failure to curb predatory lending has spawned high levels of home loan foreclosures across the U.S. and threatens the largest asset of many minority households, i.e., their homes. This paper proposes policies to improve the sustainability of minority homeownership.
Human plasma lipoproteins regulate apolipoprotein E secretion from a post-Golgi compartment

Abstract The molecular regulation of apolipoprotein E (apoE) synthesis and secretion is incompletely understood. In this study, we have examined the effect of human low density lipoprotein (LDL) on apoE mRNA and protein levels in HepG2 and other eukaryotic cells. Exposing HepG2 cells to LDL for times up to 4 h resulted in an increase in 35S-labeled apoE accumulation in the medium by 2.2-fold, relative to serum free controls (n = 10, p < 0.001), with no changes in apoE mRNA levels. Similar observations have been made in JeG-3 cells and Chinese hamster ovary cells stably transfected with human apoE cDNA constructs. These results indicate that the LDL effect operates at a post-transcriptional level. In pulse-chase experiments, the LDL effect on apoE accumulation in the media was observed when it was added only during the chase even in the presence of cycloheximide, indicating that LDL is functioning at a post-translational level. The use of brefeldin A (BFA), an agent that impedes protein transport from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus, suggests that the LDL effect occurs in a post-Golgi compartment. The addition of protease inhibitors could not duplicate the effects of LDL on the apoE accumulation in the medium. ApoA-I accumulation in the medium of HepG2 cells, but not albumin, was also significantly increased by 1.9-fold (n = 5, p < 0.001).
Carrier removal, temperature dependency and photoluminescence in heteroepitaxial InP solar cells

The apparently unrelated phenomena of temperature dependency, carrier removal, and photoluminescence are shown to be influenced by a common factor, the high dislocation density encountered in heteroepitaxial InP solar cells. In temperature dependency, open circuit voltage is the parameter most influenced by dislocations. The degree of carrier removal. due to radiation by 10 MeV protons, increases with increased dislocation density. The assumed introduction of non-radiative recombination centers, by dislocations, is tentatively held responsible for the large decrease observed in the photoluminescence intensity of heteroepitaxial InP cells. >
Compatibility of ferritic steels in forced circulation lithium and Pb-17Li systems

Abstract Corrosion data are presented for various ferritic steels in flowing lithium and Pb17Li environments at temperatures between 371 and 538°C. The corrosion behavior is evaluated by measuring weight loss as a function of time and temperature. The influence of chemical interactions between nitrogen and alloy elements on the corrosion behavior in lithium is discussed.
Chapter 14 Chemical Communication and the Control of Development

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with chemical communication between two distinct organisms, a parasite and its host, and the manifestation of the recognition in plant cell growth and development. The chapter also discusses cell–cell communication among distant cells within the same organism and the response in the control of the cell cycle of developing tissue. A signal produced by one cell which controls neighboring cell mitotic events is also described. Biological recognition has been observed and quantified in systems involving animal behavior, and specific recognition signals have been shown to play an increasingly major role in the association of parasites, symbiotes, and pathogens with their hosts. Communication within an organism has been more extensively explored in animals. Hormones are rapidly transported within many animals to organize acute physiological and developmental changes. While there is no obvious mechanism for the rapid transport of hormonal signals in plants, the organization within any eukaryote requires such communication. A host of different growth factors have been discovered that play some role in the cascade of events required to activate cell division.
Protein Vaccines Induce Uncommitted IL-2-Secreting Human and Mouse CD4 T Cells, Whereas Infections Induce More IFN-γ-Secreting Cells

Mouse and human CD4 T cells primed during an immune response may differentiate into effector phenotypes such as Th1 (secreting IFN-gamma) or Th2 (secreting IL-4) that mediate effective immunity against different classes of pathogen. However, primed CD4 T cells can also remain uncommitted, secreting IL-2 and chemokines, but not IFN-gamma or IL-4. We now show that human CD4 T cells primed by protein vaccines mostly secreted IL-2, but not IFN-gamma, whereas in the same individuals most CD4 T cells initially primed by infection with live pathogens secreted IFN-gamma. We further demonstrate that many tetanus-specific IL-2+IFN-gamma- cells are uncommitted and that a single IL-2+IFN-gamma- cell can differentiate into Th1 or Th2 phenotypes following in vitro stimulation under appropriate polarizing conditions. In contrast, influenza-specific IL-2+IFN-gamma- CD4 cells maintained a Th1-like phenotype even under Th2-polarizing conditions. Similarly, adoptively transferred OTII transgenic mouse T cells secreted mainly IL-2 after priming with OVA in alum, but were biased toward IFN-gamma secretion when primed with the same OVA peptide presented as a pathogen Ag during live infection. Thus, protein subunit vaccines may prime a unique subset of differentiated, but uncommitted CD4 T cells that lack some of the functional properties of committed effectors induced by infection. This has implications for the design of more effective vaccines against pathogens requiring strong CD4 effector T cell responses.
A novel approach for the closure of challenging giant omphalocele

Abstract Omphalocele is a congenital condition characterized by midline defect of the anterolateral abdominal wall whereby intra-abdominal contents covered by peritoneal sac are found herniated. It can be defined by size of defect or visceral contents. There are various ways of surgical management of omphalocele. Giant omphalocele presents particular challenge in reconstructing the abdominal wall. In this regard the use of tissues expansion as an adjunct in an attempt to recreate functional abdominal wall domain has been emerging. We are presenting a case of giant omphalocele that was closed with the help of extra peritoneal inter muscular tissue expanders.The patient was born at 37 weeks to a 33 year old healthy gravida 3, para 0 G3P0 mother via planned cesarean section. There were no prenatal, natal or postnatal complications. The giant omphalocele was diagnosed prenatally on screening Ultrasound. The patient remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for 6 weeks. The sac was large with abdominal contents including the entire liver. The sac was allowed to epithelialize completely over the course of two years. Due to the small size of the abdominal wall defect contents of the sac, loss of abdominal domain and inability of the abdominal cavity to accommodate the liver, we chose for rectangular tissue expander placement at age 30 months. 3 months later the patient was planned for tissue expander removal and abdominal wall closure. The tissue expanders were removed and omphalocele closure was performed. The patient has been followed up at 6 months and without recurrence of hernia.The management of giant omphalocele is technically challenging. Use of tissue expansion helps in recreating functional abdominal wall domain. There is growing evidence in the literature supporting the use of intra-abdominal tissue expansion in the management of giant omphalocele however because of hemodynamic consequences we think that the use of rectangular shaped, extra peritoneal, inter muscular tissue expanders is more desirable and has additional advantage of facilitating component separation.
Development of a beryllium copper inner leg for the CIT toroidal field coil

A combination of high strength and high conductivity will be required for the inner leg of the toroidal field coils on the CIT (Compact Ignition Tokamak). An alternative to the baseline laminate design is a C17510 beryllium copper conductor with enhanced strength and conductivity. Two vendors were engaged in a program which resulted in full size, tapered prototype conductors. The results of the program are discussed, and a summary of material properties is presented. The issues of production feasibility and the need for additional development are also addressed. >
Demand side management in a day-ahead wholesale market: A comparison of industrial & social welfare approaches

Abstract The intermittent nature of renewable energy has been discussed in the context of the operational challenges that it brings to electrical grid reliability. Demand side management (DSM) with its ability to allow customers to adjust electricity consumption in response to market signals has often been recognized as an efficient way to mitigate the variable effects of renewable energy as well as to increase system efficiency and reduce system costs. However, the academic & industrial literature have taken divergent approaches to DSM implementation. While the popular approach among academia adopts a social welfare maximization formulation, the industrial practice compensates customers according to their load reduction from a predefined electricity consumption baseline that would have occurred without DSM. This paper rigorously compares these two different approaches in a day-ahead wholesale market context analytically and in a test case using the same system configuration and mathematical formalism. The comparison of the two models showed that a proper reconciliation of the two models might make them mitigate the stochastic netload in fundamentally the same way, but only under very specific conditions which are rarely met in practice. While the social welfare model uses a stochastic net load composed of two terms, the industrial DSM model uses a stochastic net load composed of three terms including the additional baseline term. DSM participants are likely to manipulate the baseline in order to receive greater financial compensation. An artificially inflated baseline is shown to result in a different resources dispatch, high system costs, and unachievable social welfare, and likely requires more control activity in subsequent layers of enterprise control.
Effect of nitroglycerin on ventricular fibrillation threshold of nonischemic myocardium.

Abstract The threshold for ventricular fibrillation induced by a 200 msec train of pulses was measured during a control period and during an intravenous infusion of nitroglycerin in 14 nonischemic open chest dogs. Infusion of nitroglycerin in doses sufficient to reduce mean arterial blood pressure an average of 17 mm Hg was associated with a rise in ventricular fibrillation threshold from a control value of 24 ± 3 (mean ± 1 standard error of the mean) to 41 ± 6 milliamperes (P
A new class of optical imaging systems achieving ‘aperture synthesis’ from non-conventional optics by a Posteriori lensless Fourier-transform holography

Optical imaging systems achieving aperture synthesis by lensless Fourier transform holography, noting X ray astronomy, ultrasonic and space applications