cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of image fusion of normal upper abdominal organs visualized with In111 Octreotide SPECT/CT using a 16 slice CT/SPECT scanner

1764 Objectives: Although SPECT/CT (HRCT) scanners have the potential for precise fused registration of anatomic structures, physiological motion during the acquisition of both studies may alter the appearance of organ shape, size or location. The aim of this study was to assess the consistency in location and measured size of upper abdominal organs with In111 Octreotide SPECT and CT using a combined SPECT high resolution CT system. Methods: We evaluated ten consecutive patients who underwent clinical SPECT/CT scans for suspected/follow-up of somatostatin avid tumors using a 16 slice CT/SPECT system (Philips, Precedence). Both SPECT and CT images were acquired with patients in tidal breathing. CT scans were performed without iv. contrast. We separately determined the location of the cranial and caudal margins for liver, spleen, and bilateral kidneys, on SPECT and CT. Differences between the two modalities in terms of location and measured organ size were investigated. Results: The results of the analysis are presented in the attached table. The upper pole of the left kidney could not be reliably identified on the SPECT images due to proximity of spleen. Due to the mild uptake of radiotracer in the liver, and the narrow, elongated shape of the inferior liver tip, the full inferior extent of liver radiotracer activity was also not reliably assessed. Conclusions: The upper abdominal normal organs appear slightly larger on SPECT compared with CT with the windows selected for clinical interpretation. Intraperitoneal organs (spleen) had a larger cranio-caudal displacement between SPECT and CT than the retroperitoneal organs (kidneys). Overall, registration quality with the high quality CT/SPECT system was excellent.
Physician-scientist: Linking science, medicine, and public policy

Forty years ago, soon after I came to Seattle in 1969 to be a Fellow in Medical Genetics with Dr. Arno Motulsky at the University of Washington, I went to meet the founding chair of Internal Medicine, Dr. Robert H. Williams. Dr. Williams was a world leader in endocrinology and especially diabetes. In the early 1950s, he famously recruited young physician-scientists from “back East,” especially where he had been at Johns Hopkins and Harvard, by telephoning them and their spouses at home in the morning before they had a clue what the time was “out West” in Seattle! He was way ahead of his time in inviting spouses to participate early in the recruitment process. At a time when everyone seemed obsessed about identifying “role models,” he had a plaque on the wall behind his desk, which read “Do not ask what path to follow; go, instead, where there is no path, and leave a trail”—as he had, from a start in rural Mississippi. I have found that statement very helpful for myself and for many young people and contemporaries I have counseled across a great variety of career paths. The explicit messages are, “Take risks, pursue your passion, override conventional wisdom, be creative, be bold.” And don’t look back on what might have been the obvious alternatives when pursuing what Robert Frost called “The Road Less Traveled.”
Stem Cells in Dermatology and Anti-aging Care of the Skin

Multipotent stem cells have paved the way for new applications and deeper understanding in regenerative medicine and the pathophysiology of aging. During skin aging, cumulative photodamage, exhaustion of endogenous stem cell populations, mechanical stress, and increased fibrosis lead to skin with decreased epidermal thickness and compromised dermal integrity. Specific stem cells in the hair follicle create new keratinocytes after activation by defensin peptides, released by neutrophils during wounding. Studies pertaining to defensin peptides' efficacy on skin aging have been published, highlighting their potential as a new therapy for skin rejuvenation.
RevMap: A Visualized Framework for Holistic View of Reviews

Our daily digital life is surrounded by algorithmically selected contents such as recommendations, reviews, and news feeds. The process of extracting useful information out of large volumes data is imposing great impacts on many aspects of people's life. However, as the data volume becomes huge, users tend to get lost in details and miss the general picture. Indeed, the fast-growing? online data has required the development of systems that not only accurately distill useful and representative knowledge out of large data corpus but also display the extracted information in an easy-to-understand manner. In this paper, we propose a unified framework which generates visual structured summaries of customer reviews, thus providing a holistic view of a large group of reviews. Our model employs a deep neural network for opinion mining which relies on the character-level inputs. To the best of our knowledge, previously there is no uniform framework that performs visual summarization of consumer opinions as proposed in this paper.
Statins and Brain Health: Alzheimer's Disease and Cerebrovascular Disease Biomarkers in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND Statins have been proposed to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). OBJECTIVE Assess whether long-term statin use was associated with neuroimaging biomarkers of aging and dementia. METHODS Methods: We analyzed neuroimaging biomarkers in 1,160 individuals aged 65+ from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, a population-based prospective longitudinal study of cognitive aging. RESULTS Statin-treated (5+ years of therapy) individuals had greater burden of mid-and late-life cardiovascular disease (p < 0.001) than statin-untreated (≤3 months) individuals. Lower fractional anisotropy in the genu of the corpus callosum, an early marker of cerebrovascular disease, was associated with long-term statin exposure (p < 0.035). No significant associations were identified between long-term statin exposure and cerebral amyloid or tau burden, AD pattern neurodegeneration, or white matter hyperintensity burden. CONCLUSIONS Long-term statin therapy was not associated with differences in AD biomarkers. Individuals with long-term statin exposure had worse white matter integrity in the genu of the corpus callosum, consistent with the coexistence of higher cerebrovascular risk factor burden in this group.
Distributed Membership Games for Planning Sensor Networks

We consider the management of sensor networks which are organized into distinct groups that share data to improve performance. In particular, for systems where changes in individual sensors’ group membership may improve performance (in response to local conditions and/or group performance), the requirement of control by a central authority may make such adaptation prohibitive. We develop two different group membership game formulations to address this issue. The first type of game we develop is a group affiliation game that creates joining rules based on perceived maximal group size. The second type of game is a group allocation game of distributed welfare where the sensors work noncooperatively to self-organize into a beneficial distribution of group memberships. We derive group joining rules for individual sensors in each game formulation and illustrate the results with numerical calculations.
Immune responses to zoster vaccines

There are two licensed herpes zoster vaccines. One is a live vaccine (ZVL) based on an attenuated varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The other is a recombinant vaccine (RZV) based on the VZV glycoprotei...
Automated construction of bridge condition inventory using natural language processing and historical inspection reports

The aging bridge infrastructure network is in critical need of maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement (MR and R) as nearly half of this inventory is approaching the end their design service lives. Agencies responsible for managing this network have limited resources that are insufficient for the scale of the problem, highlighting the need for smart, system-level decision-making strategies that can be integrated with current practice. A large amount of rich information on element level condition descriptions are buried in bridge inspection reports, but this local information is seldom used holistically to infer system performance. Current decision-making strategies are constrained by limitations in bridge deterioration prediction models, which lack comprehensive and well-structured databases needed for automation of processes associated with high resolution forecasting. How to draw meaningful information from the details of these localized reports to assist system-level bridge condition comparison and maintenance prioritization still remains unclear and warrants further study. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes a Natural Language Processing framework to extract information from the raw textual data in bridge inspection reports. This raw data provides a source for capturing the experience-driven metric inherent to the bridge inspection process. The proposed framework constructs an innovative bi-directional Long-short Term Memory neural network that automatically reads inspection reports into different condition categories and achieves 96.2% accuracy when examined on inspection reports collected by Virginia Department of Transportation. The extracted information forms a well-structured bridge condition inventory that contains rich historical and local condition information, and hence enables smart, system-level bridge MR and R decision-making.
A Huge 2015 Butterfly Feeding Aggregation in Northeastern Kansas, U.S.A., with Comparative Notes (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Pieridae)

In June 2015, a huge, adult butterfly feeding aggregation of thousands of individuals in seven species, dominated by Asterocampa celtis (northern-race Hackberry Emperor), occurred in Douglas and Jefferson Counties, Kansas. This aggregation differed in species composition from smaller aggregations in the same observation area in 1970–1971. A rare A. celtis melanic form was in both the 1970 and 2015 aggregations. Vehicles killed thousands of butterflies in the 2015 aggregation. This study also summarizes data on local population sizes of A. celtis and Asterocampa clyton (Tawny Emperor) in the U.S. and provides new adult food records obtained from eight of the butterfly species in the aggregations.
Transference and Narcissism

This chapter discusses how Freud’s theory of transference and narcissism relate to the way that we make a call to others to fix reality and help us satisfy the pleasure principle. Not only do we turn to others to satisfy our desires, but we want our others to verify our sense of being good and right. Moreover, this structure of obsessional narcissism helps to explain the limitations of contemporary liberalism and the failure of many forms of analysis and therapy.
Availability of dental appointments for young children in King County, Washington: implications for access to care.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of dental offices in King County willing to provide a new appointment to young children and young children on Medicaid. Methods: A simulated parent phone call was made to 508 randomly chosen dental offices in King County. Of these, 291 offices provided preventive dental care to children. Data were collected on: (1) youngest age seen (options ranged from less than 1 to older than 5 years); (2) whether Medicaid was accepted; and (3) time to first available appointment. Results: In King County, more than 99% of dental offices providing care to children would see new patients 5 years of age or older, but only 15% of these offices would accept 5-year-olds on Medicaid. Nine percent of dental offices accepted patients younger than 1 for a new preventive visit, but just 3% accepted Medicaid-insured children in this age group. Conclusions: Adhering to recommendations for early initiation of dental care is difficult, given the limited availability of dental appointments for young and Medicaid-insured children. (Pediatr Dent 2005;27:207-211)
The Role of NMDA Receptor Activity in Retinal Ganglion Cell Dendrite Development

• JamB RGC dendritic development occurs in two phases, (1) dendrite elongation and field expansion and (2) elimination of dendritic protrusions and DF consolidation • Dendritic elongation requires glutamatergic activity in the retina • NMDA receptors on JamB RGCs are required for protrusion elimination, dendrite elongation, and DF expansion before eye-opening • NMDA receptors may be required for DF consolidation • Visual input drives DF consolidation Dendritic expansion requires glutamatergic activity 3517 D0117
Why We Need Federal Administrative Courts

Apart from criminal proceedings and a small enclave of constitutional right, virtually all disputes between citizens and federal agencies are decided by agency-appointed tribunals, not judges. Typically, the tribunals’ decisions are reversible by the agency and then subject only to highly deferential judicial review. This “appellate review” regime originated well over a century ago. It found its canonical formulation in the Supreme Court’s foundational decision in Crowell v. Benson (1932) and, in 1946, was effectively codified in the Administrative Procedure Act. The model has since been overlaid with a blanket of administrative common law, and it has been subject to a great deal of improvisation outside the APA’s default provisions. Despite the constant tinkering, however, and despite widely shared misgivings about its constitutional foundations and practical operation, the appellate review model has proven immune to any serious challenge. This Essay mounts that challenge. It confronts the appellate review model with a stark but realistic and highly attractive alternative: a system of independent administrative courts, endowed with the institutional capacity and incentives to provide meaningful protection for citizens’ rights. Many countries in the world feature such a judiciary. Prominently, Germany’s system of administrative courts rests on constitutional commands that categorically forbid administrative tribunals and instead require that disputes between the executive and private citizens must always be adjudicated by an independent court. While we cannot simply import that model, we can replicate its essential features, well within the confines of the Constitution and our legal traditions. In fact, institutional reforms along “German” lines might help us recover foundational domestic legal traditions that were lost or abandoned in the adoption of the appellate review model.
Skill Development Versus Performativity Among Beginners in Aerial Practice: An Embodied and Meaningful Learning Experience.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, phenomenological study was to use embodied cognition in understanding learning experiences in skill development and performativity (e.g., storytelling and em...
Knowledge of Cervical Cancer and Adherence to Pap Smear Screening Test Among Female University Students in a Multiethnic Institution, USA

Abstract Background/Purpose This study assessed cervical cancer knowledge and examined its correlation with adherence to Pap smear guidelines. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional survey in 141 undergraduate female college students. The response rate of the survey was 91.5%. Knowledge scores (0 - 4) were calculated based on students’ answers to four items. Results About 61.7% of the participants did not have annual checkups within a year, and 69% have never received Pap-test. Students who never received Pap-test mentioned procrastination (82%), lack of interest and fear as reasons for not practicing the behavior. About 92.9% of the students were not aware that the university student health service provides free Pap tests. More than double of annual checkup recipients undergone Pap test (33%) compared with those who did not have annual checkups (14.3%). Students who knew multi-partners sexual activity as a risk factor for cervical cancer had higher odds of receiving Pap test than those who didn’t know the correlation between the number of sexual partner and the risk of cervical cancer [aOR= 2.87; 95% CI 1.07- 8.90]. Students with knowledge scores about cervical cancer risk factors and prevention methods at least a median had higher odds of receiving Pap test than those with knowledge scores lower than the median [aOR=6.49; 95% CI 2.8 - 14.7]. The increase in receipt of Pap test was associated with an increase in the level of knowledge about risk factors of cervical cancer. Conclusions This study confirmed a correlation of the receipt of Pap test with knowing the causes and prevention mechanisms of cervical cancer. Adequate knowledge about cervical cancer causes, and prevention/control strategies may help to improve adherence to Pap smear testing in college students.
Thyrotoxicosis-Induced Cardiogenic Shock with Encephalopathy and Acute Respiratory Distress: A Case Report and Literature Review

Thyrotoxicosis-induced cardiomyopathy and cardiogenic shock (CS) can lead to sudden mortality in adults. Hemodynamic instability and collapse occur due to functional alterations in both peripheral circulation and myocardium. Thyroid storm (TS) increases preload and decreases afterload along with an increase in cardiac contractility and heart rate leading to high output acute failure. We present a case of a 30-year-old female who presented with a complaint of watery diarrhea and dehydration for almost a week. At her visit to the emergency room, she was unresponsive with hemodynamic collapse leading to altered mental status and tachycardia. The computed tomography (CT) scan of head was non-contributory. The condition worsened with respiratory distress, and eventually, mechanical ventilation with intubation was completed. Further, laboratory workup showed acute thyrotoxicosis. The severe cardiomyopathy on echocardiography with compromised left ventricle function and diffuse pulmonary congestion led to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The multi-organ failure, impending ARDS and CS with encephalopathy led to the sudden death of a patient within 24 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) stay before even extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) could be started.
Preoperative Optimization for Perioperative Analgesia

The perioperative analgesic plan begins with preoperative planning. The surgeon should be versed in practical approaches for managing analgesia in patients with chronic pain. The first step includes evaluating the patient and conducting a focused pain history. Confirming, documenting, and understanding current outpatient prescriptions is critical. Patients should be screened for medical conditions that preclude the use of certain analgesics, or place them at higher risk of respiratory depression. Providers should coordinate with the patient's outpatient prescribers and pain specialists to ensure a safe and effective analgesic plan. Multimodal analgesia should be implemented to optimize analgesia and decrease opioid requirements.
Ian Desmond's Dilemma (a)

This is the first in a series of four cases.Ian Desmond, a baseball player for the Washington Nationals team, was deciding whether or not to accept a new contract. Should he take a seven-year contract, and stick it out with the team for for another seven years? He was young and talented, and his star was on the rise. With strong 2013 performance statistics, he was in a good position to negotiate. Or should he take his chances on the free-agent market entering the 2016 season, and command an even better contract? This case uses decision-tree analysis and could be used in an introductory "Decision Analysis" course, either with the probabilities mentioned in the case or with an assignment to calculate break-even probabilities. Excerpt UVA-OM-1574 Sept. 7, 2017 Ian Desmond's Dilemma (A) Preseason, Spring 2014 In 2009, at the age of 23, Ian Desmond started playing U.S. major-league baseball (MLB) with the Washington Nationals (Nats) baseball team. Desmond proved himself to be an extremely capable and sometimes spectacular shortstop, both when playing his defensive position out in the field and when at bat seeking great hits and home runs for his team. In 2012, he won his first Silver Slugger award, which was given to the best offensive player at each position within each team, and even made the National League All-Star Team. By preseason spring 2014, Desmond was 28 and had played full time under contract with the Nats for four years (from 2010 to 2013). Nats management had just offered him a seven-year, $ 107million contract extension with an average annual value (AAV) of $ 15.3million. He had to decide whether to accept this offer or turn it down in favor of a potential two-year contract that had not yet been negotiated. MLB rules permitted a player to entertain offers from other teams once he had completed six full seasons with his original team. The four years Desmond had already played under contract, combined with a yet-to-be-negotiated two-year contract would get him to the requisite six years and allow him to enter free-agent status in 2016. The proposed seven-year contract, however, would bind Desmond contractually to the Nats for most (if not all) of his remaining peak career years—at least until he was 34, at the end of the 2020 season. See Table 1 for details. . . .
SARS-CoV-2 and pulmonary embolism: who stole the platelets?

Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 often develop venous and arterial thrombosis. The high patient mortality is partly attributed to thrombotic events. An emerging trend is the presence of immunological phenomena including antiphospholipid antibodies which may promote thrombosis. The mechanism for these observations is not clear though many patients with SARS-CoV-2 develop thrombocytopenia. We describe a patient with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonitis who presented with intermediate risk pulmonary embolism (PE). Careful attention to his daily platelet count suggested the possibility of immune mediated heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) which was confirmed by laboratory testing and resolved when anticoagulation was switched to a direct thrombin inhibitor. Since excessive platelet activation and in situ thrombosis occur in HIT, this case underscores the need to consider that thrombocytopenia in patients with SARS-CoV-2—most of whom receive heparinoids—may be unrecognized HIT. A central role for the platelet in the etiology of thrombosis during the COVID-19 pandemic should be explored.
Developing operational standards for Midwifery Centers.

Abstract Background Midwifery centres have been identified in over 56 countries. Consensus was reached on a global definition for midwifery centres, yet there is a lack of standards to assure consistent quality of care is provided. Methods Evidence-based standards and guidelines developed from American Association of Birth Centres (USA), Midwifery Unity Network (UK/EU), World Health Organization, International Childbirth Initiative, and White Ribbon Alliance, were gathered, duplicate standards were removed, and language was adapted for global use with sensitivity to low and middle countries (LMIC). An initial list of 52 midwifery centre standards were identified. Through an informal modified Delphi process these were reviewed by global midwifery centres experts, researchers, and midwifery centre staff at focus groups in Haiti, Mexico and Bangladesh for significance, language, and usability. The standards were then piloted at midwifery centres in eight countries (Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mexico, Haiti, Peru, Uganda and Trinidad). All feedback was incorporated into the final standards. Results A final list of 43 standards, organized into 3 domains including quality standards for care providers, dignity standards for women, and community standards for administration, were agreed on. Conclusion Midwifery centres are prevalent around the globe. Identifying standards for quality of care provides a foundation for the midwifery centre model to be replicated and ensure consistent quality of care. Evidence based standards for midwifery centres in LMIC, allows systems to embrace and encourage the implementation and growth of midwifery centres to address accessible, acceptable, respectful, woman-centred, community-engaged maternal health care that participates fully in the health care system.
Size-dependent structural behaviors of crumpled graphene sheets

Abstract Understanding the complex structural behaviors of crumpled graphene at a fundamental level is of critical importance in various engineering and technological applications. Here, we present a coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) study for investigating structural behaviors of graphene sheets having varying sizes (or masses) during the crumpling process. The simulation results reveal that larger size graphene sheets at the initial two-dimension (2D) state tends to become more self-adhering and self-folding upon crumpling compared to the smaller ones, before forming a sphere-like highly crumpled structure. The fractal dimension of the crumpled graphene sheets, i.e., a measure of packing efficiency, is predicted to be D = 2.395 from our CG modeling, which is largely consistent with previous measurements. Remarkably, the size-dependence of various structural properties of the crumpled graphene sheets, including radius of gyration, hydrodynamic radius, and viscosity radius, can be quantitively described by the power-law scaling relationships during the crumpling process. By systematically evaluating shape descriptors, it is found that the overall crumpling behaviors of graphene sheets can be characterized by three different regimes (i.e., less, intermediate, and highly crumpled states), which are associated with edge-bending, self-adhesion, and further compression mechanisms, respectively. Our study provides fundamental insights into the size-dependent structural behavior of graphene sheets under crumpling, which is crucial to develop the structure-property relationships towards designing and engineering crumpled matter.
Making the Modern American Fiscal State: Law, Politics, and the Rise of Progressive Taxation, 1877-1929, by Ajay K Mehrotra (Review)

Mehrotra’s award-winning book is a tour de force. It chronicles a transformative period in the development of the American fiscal state during which the old order — characterized by indirect, hidden, mercilessly regressive, and partisan taxation — gave way to a direct, transparent, steeply progressive, and professionally administered tax regime
Cell-free DNA analysis for detection of MYD88L265P and CXCR4S338X mutations in Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

MYD88L265P and CXCR4S338X variants are highly prevalent and impact disease presentation, prognosis, and/or treatment outcome in Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia (WM). The use of bone marrow (BM) aspirate represents the current "gold standard" for molecular testing in WM. Although these variants are identified in peripheral blood (PB), the diagnostic yield in PB is inferior to BM, particularly for previously treated patients. Tumor enrichment can significantly improve testing sensitivity, but is not feasible in most clinical laboratories. Recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of identifying MYD88 and CXCR4 mutations using cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from the plasma of WM patients. We therefore prospectively collected matched BM and PB samples from 28 consecutive WM patients. Overall, five different tissue fractions were isolated for analysis: CD19-selected BM, unselected BM, CD19-selected PB, unselected PB, and cfDNA. Quantitative allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assays for MYD88L265P and CXCR4S338X mutations were performed for each tissue fraction, and findings benchmarked against CD19-selected BM. Both MYD88L265P and CXCR4S338X were identified with high sensitivity and specificity in cfDNA derived from the plasma of WM patients, including previously treated patients. The use of cfDNA represents a non-invasive, convenient, and potentially cost-effective method for genotyping patients with WM. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Plea Bargaining for the People

Our criminal justice system must be democratic enough to allow for significant citizen participation. Unfortunately, our current system cuts the people out. Instead of juries, plea bargaining professionals like prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges decide most cases. Plea bargaining does efficiently process cases but, in addition to its well-known coercive aspects that warp case outcomes, ignores what I call “criminal justice citizenship.” This refers to the people’s privilege to participate on an equal basis in the criminal justice system. That participation strengthens our democracy, shores up the legitimacy of the system, and helps to ensure that the system, within constitutional constraints, does not become untethered from the people it is supposed to serve. Because the jury trial has all but disappeared, other participatory democratic institutions, like grand juries and plea juries, must play a more prominent role. Criminal justice citizenship is best described by three key principles: membership, participation and deliberation. Participation refers to public participation in democratic processes, including jury service and advisory boards. Membership requires distributing opportunities to participate broadly and equally. Deliberation means public dialogues that are enriched by broad participation and which influence official action. This article’s distinct contribution to plea bargaining literature is in its analysis of plea bargaining reform through the lens of criminal justice citizenship. Plea bargaining is terrible for citizenship, and while many reforms to plea bargaining have been proposed, only a few support citizenship. Any reform that tends to increase the system’s reliance on juries would likely strengthen criminal justice citizenship. But even where jury trials are rare, other forms of citizen juries can still be devised to give a broader swath of the people a more direct role in influencing and deciding case outcomes.
Deterministic chaos in the self-assembly of β sheet nanotubes from an amphipathic oligopeptide

Summary The self-assembly of designed peptides into filaments and other higher-order structures has been the focus of intense interest because of the potential for creating new biomaterials and biomedical devices. These peptide assemblies have also been used as models for understanding biological processes, such as the pathological formation of amyloid. We investigate the assembly of an octapeptide sequence, Ac-FKFEFKFE-NH2, motivated by prior studies that demonstrated that this amphipathic β strand peptide self-assembled into fibrils and biocompatible hydrogels. Using high-resolution cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), we are able to determine the atomic structure for two different coexisting forms of the fibrils, containing four and five β sandwich protofilaments, respectively. Surprisingly, the inner walls in both forms are parallel β sheets, while the outer walls are antiparallel β sheets. Our results demonstrate the chaotic nature of peptide self-assembly and illustrate the importance of cryo-EM structural analysis to understand the complex phase behavior of these materials at near-atomic resolution.
RESEARCH ARTICLE: Assessing the impact of a journal club elective on literature evaluation performance

Introduction: The study assessed the impact of a journal club (JC) elective on literature evaluation performance during the first three advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE). Methods: Students who took a JC elective were compared to students who did not take the JC elective in regards to scores on APPE JC and overall APPE literature evaluation. Results: Of 186 eligible participants, 22 participants completed the JC elective. APPE JC and APPE literature evaluation scores were similar between groups. First semester APPE JC scores were positively correlated with scores earned in the JC elective (r=0.452, p=0.045). Conclusions: Students in the elective did not have significantly different APPE JC scores compared to students who did not take the elective; however, there was a correlation and potential predictive association to APPE JC scores. The JC elective may identify students at risk of lower performance during APPEs so that they may receive additional support.
Transcriptional expression changes during compensatory plasticity in the prothoracic ganglion of the adult cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

Most adult organisms are limited in their capacity to recover from neurological damage. The auditory system of the Mediterranean field cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, presents a compelling model for investigating neuroplasticity due to its unusual capabilities for structural reorganization into adulthood. Specifically, the dendrites of the central auditory neurons of the prothoracic ganglion sprout in response to the loss of auditory afferents. Deafferented auditory dendrites grow across the midline, a boundary they normally respect, and form functional synapses with the contralateral auditory afferents, restoring tuning-curve specificity. The molecular pathways underlying these changes are entirely unknown. Here, we used a multiple k-mer approach to re-assemble a previously reported prothoracic ganglion transcriptome that included ganglia collected one, three, and seven days after unilateral deafferentation in adult, male animals. We used EdgeR and DESeq2 to perform differential expression analysis and we examined Gene Ontologies to further understand the potential molecular basis of this compensatory anatomical plasticity. Enriched GO terms included those related to protein translation and degradation, enzymatic activity, and Toll signaling. Extracellular space GO terms were also enriched and included the upregulation of several protein yellow family members one day after deafferentation. Investigation of these regulated GO terms help to provide a broader understanding of the types of pathways that might be involved in this compensatory growth and can be used to design hypotheses around identified molecular mechanisms that may be involved in this unique example of adult structural plasticity.
Thymoma and Myasthenia Gravis

The prognosis of thymoma appears to be correlated mainly with the extent of the tumor, the radically of surgical exeresis1,2 and, as it has recently been reported, with the histological type.3 Association with myasthenia gravis (MG) does not adversely affect patients’ survival.4
Viral etiology of mouse leukemia.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the principal experimental findings referring to the viral etiology of mouse leukemia that have been accumulated during the preceding decade. Leukemia is a relatively rare disease in mice. Although exact data are not available, it is apparent that the natural incidence of spontaneous leukemia in a mixed population of mice is relatively low. However, figures are available only for mice of certain inbred strains. One of the principal factors responsible for the development of spontaneous leukemia in mice was genetic, and thus inherited from one generation to another. Among the nongenetic factors recognized to influence the incidence of spontaneous leukemia in mice were estrogenic hormones, removal of thymus, and restriction of caloric food intake. A relatively high incidence of leukemia or allied neoplasms can be induced with hormones, carcinogenic chemicals, or by total-body X-ray irradiation in mice of various strains, which, under normal conditions of life, remain essentially free from this disease when undisturbed. Transmission of spontaneous lymphatic mouse leukemia by filtrates succeeded when filtrates prepared from Ak mice with spontaneous lymphatic leukemia were inoculated into newborn mice of the low leukemic C3H strain. The chapter also discusses the natural epidemiology of the leukemic virus in mice. The inoculation of cell-free Ak leukemic extracts into newborn mice of the Ak strain greatly accelerated the development of spontaneous leukemia in such animals. The leukemic agent is a submicroscopic spherical particle which readily passes bacteria-tight filters. The leukemic virus was found to be relatively sensitive to moderate heating.
Overview of the Effects and Influence of the Activity of Mount St. Helens in the 1980s

The cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, made an enormous impact on the science of volcanology. The eruption was in daylight in clear weather, which provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate relations among observations, products, and effects of a large explosive eruption. The May 18 events and subsequent activity stimulated perhaps the most intensive studies ever made at an active composite volcano, leading to greatly enhanced insights into both geologic and hydrologic processes operative in explosive volcanism. The eruption also disrupted much of the social and economic fabric of the Pacific Northwest. Volcanologists were called upon to explain the activity, in layman's terms, to government and corporate officials, the news media, schools, and the public at large. People eventually learned to live with the volcano and its uncertainties, and volcanologists better learned their role in helping society deal with a major natural disaster. Difficulties encountered at volcanic crises elsewhere in the world in the 1980s demonstrate that these are hard lessons. In future years, a paramount challenge for scientists will be to help society apply what has been learned at Mount St. Helens to crises both nearby and far away.
Iron Overload and Chelation Therapy

Iron overload (haemochromatosis) is a disorder of iron metabolism commonly due to hereditary haemochromatosis or chronic transfusions. Chelation is the only available treatment for transfusional iron overload. Keywords: iron; haemochromatosis; chelation; transfusions; ferritin
Analysis of ribosome binding sites from the s1 message of reovirus: Initiation at the first and second AUG codons☆

Abstract Two ribosome-protected initiation sites from the s1 message of reovirus have been characterized. Comparison of these sites with the previously determined sequence of s1 mRNA (Li et al. , 1980) reveals that wheat germ ribosomes select and protect the first two AUG triplets in that message. This is unusual, since ribosomes initiate at a single site, the 5′-proximal AUG, in almost all other eukaryotic messenger RNAs that have been examined. The first AUG codon in s1 mRNA is preceded by a pyrimidine in position −3, thus distinguishing it from most other eukaryotic messages, which have a purine (usually A) in that position. The behavior of s1 mRNA is consistent with the hypothesis that flanking nucleotides modulate the efficiency with which the migrating 40 S ribosomal subunit recognizes an AUG codon as a stop signal. If the first AUG triplet is flanked by suboptimal sequences, as in s1 mRNA, some 40 S ribosomes bypass that site and initiate at the next AUG downstream. The second AUG in the s1 message conforms to the consensus sequence (A-N-N-A-U-G-G) for eukaryotic initiation sites.
On the Decay of the Fourier Transform and Three Term Arithmetic Progressions

In this paper we prove a basic theorem which says that if the tail of the spectral L 2 norm of a function
J-R Curve Characterization of A533-B Weld Metal with Irradiation and Postirradiation Annealing

The potential benefit of a cyclic postirradiation annealing and reirradiation procedure is investigated as a means of mitigating the progressive embrittlement with irradiation of commercial reactor vessel steels. Materialcharacterizations include two representative A533-B weld deposits, each containing a high copper impurity level which is associated with a high sensitivity to radiation. Assessments made on the basis of the J-R curve and tearing modulus show that intermediate annealing at 399°C has resulted in a recovery of half of the toughness which was lost with the first irradiation. Subsequent reirradiations, to a total fluence of twice that of the initial irradiation, have resulted in no additional loss in toughness, thereby suggesting a concept of embrittlement arrest associated with the annealing procedure. The first evidence is presented of a correlation between the C V shelf energy and an average value of tearing modulus. While differences still exist between trends in C V and the tearing modulus, it appears that an analysis of vessel integrity with the tearing instability concept is possible based upon C V upper-shelf energy.
Overview of murine thrombosis models

There are a myriad of options on where and how to perform thrombosis studies in mice. Models have been developed for systemic thrombosis, larger and smaller vessels of both the arterial and venous systems as well as several different microvascular beds. However, there are important differences between the models and investigators need to be careful and thoughtful when they choose which model to use.
Sulfonation in chemical carcinogenesis — history and present status

Many laboratories have characterized the electrophilic metabolites of chemical carcinogens and their covalently bound adducts with genomic DNA in vivo. Recent studies from our laboratory have shown that enzymatic sulfonation of members of several classes of proximate carcinogens containing C- or N-hydroxy groups converts them to electrophilic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic sulfuric acid ester metabolites in mouse liver. These compounds form the subject of this report.
The modified leung-griffiths model for vapor-liquid equilibria: Application to polar fluid mixtures

Abstract The Leung—Griffiths model as modified by Moldover and Rainwater has proven successful for correlation of critical-region vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) surfaces of many binary nonpolar fluid mixtures. In this work the model is applied to four binary mixtures of polar fluids: diethyl ether + n-butanol and methanol + n-butanol as measured by Kay and Donham and the refrigerant mixtures R13B1 + R114 and R22 + R114 as measured by Uematsu, Watanabe and co-workers. The model provides accurate correlations of the polar mixtures, although the number of required adjustable parameters is in some cases larger than that needed for a nonpolar mixture with an equivalent critical locus.
Determination of Self-Association Equilibrium Constants of Ethanol by FTIR Spectroscopy

The self-association of ethanol diluted in CCl4 has been studied by IR spectroscopy. Three OH stretching bands were assigned to monomers, linear dimers, and linear multimers. The self-association was described with two equilibrium constants, one for the formation of dimers, K2, the other for the formation of multimers, KA. These equilibrium constants were determined for ethanol concentration ranging from 0.19 to 0.76 mol L-1 by using a method developed by Coggeshall and Saier. At T = 25 °C, K2 was found to be equal to 1.08 L mol-1 in terms of molar concentration or 18.4 in terms of molar fraction; KA was found to be equal to 3.52 L mol-1 in terms of molar concentration or 60.0 in terms of molar fraction. The enthalpy of formation for K2 was found to be equal to −4.61 kcal mol-1 and to −4.15 kcal mol-1 for KA.
Fluorescence-based peptide labeling and fractionation strategies for analysis of cysteine-containing peptides.

This study demonstrates that 1,5-I-AEDANS (5-({2-[(iodoacetyl)amino]ethyl}amino)naphthalene-1-sulfonic acid) can be used as a versatile fluorescence-based peptide quantification tool and provides readily interpretable tandem mass spectra for de novo peptide sequencing. Two AEDANS-cysteinyl-peptide fractionation strategies were evaluated. One AEDANS-cysteinyl-peptide fractionation strategy employs immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) to recover AEDANS-labeled peptides and reduce the complexity of peptide mixtures. In an alternate solid-phase approach, 1,5-I-AEDANS was coupled to an o-nitrobenzyl-based photocleavable resin to produce a resin that can label and isolate thiols and cysteine-containing peptides with a modified-AEDANS label (mAEDANS: 5-((4-amino-4-oxobutanoyl){2-[(iodoacetyl)amino]ethyl}amino)naphthalene-1-sulfonic acid). This fractionation protocol enriches cysteine-containing peptides more specifically than the IMAC strategy. Using micro-LC-ESI-MS with an on-line fluorescence dete...
DNA synthesis inhibition in response to benzo[a]pyrene dihydrodiol epoxide is associated with attenuation of p34cdc2: Role of p53

Our previous findings demonstrated that DNA damage by polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) triggers a cellular protective response of growth inhibition (G1-S cell cycle arrest and inhibition of DNA synthesis) in human fibroblasts associated with accumulation of p53 protein, a growth-inhibitory transcription factor. Here, we report that BPDE (the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite of the PAH benzo[a]pyrene) treatment triggers a variable extent of inhibition of DNA synthesis/cell growth, which does not correspond to the extent of increased p53 accumulation. BPDE treatment of cells significantly attenuates expression of p34cdc2, a cell cycle activating protein. Although the role of cdc2 down-regulation in inhibition of cell cycle progression is well known, cdc2 down-regulation in response to cellular insult by PAHs has not been reported. Unlike p53 accumulation, there is a correspondence between DNA synthesis/cell growth inhibition and cdc2 down-regulation by BPDE. BPDE-induced cdc2 down-regulation is p53 dependent, although there is no correspondence between p53 accumulation and cdc2 down-regulation. BPDE-induced cdc2 down-regulation corresponded with accumulation of the cell cycle inhibitor protein p21 (transactivation product of p53). DNA synthesis/cell growth inhibition in response to DNA-damaging PAHs may involve down-regulation of cdc2 protein mediated by p53 activation (transactivation ability), and the extent of p53 accumulation is not the sole determining factor in this regard.
FACULTY SALARIES AND THE MAXIMIZATION OF PRESTIGE

Through the lens of the emerging economic theory of higher education, we look at the relationship between salary and prestige. Starting from the premise that academic institutions seek to maximize prestige, we hypothesize that monetary rewards are higher for faculty activities that confer prestige. We use data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF), and regression analysis to examine the determinants of salaries. The results are consistent with the theory that faculty members are financially rewarded for enhancing institutional prestige. There is some evidence that the rewards are higher in science and engineering. Spending more time on teaching has no effect on salary, even in comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Findings suggest that other types of institutions are emulating research institutions in their pursuit of prestige. Looking at faculty salaries through this lens raises serious questions about the implications of the current reward system in higher education.
Reconceptualizing Family, Work and Labor Organizing: Working Women in Troy, 1869-1890:

This study of women collar workers in Troy, New York (1860-1890) examines the impact of the relationship between work and family life on labor organizing. It poses a neglected question: under what conditions did women form successful unions, become aware of shared interests and develop alliances with men, despite obstacles to permanent organization? By analyzing collar women's employment patterns, family and ethnic networks, as well as work-related factors such as level of expertise and status within the occupation and community, the popular view that working women were a homogeneous group characterized by temporary labor force participation, lack of identification with their work, passivity, and isolation from each other and male workers is challenged. Distinctions between women in different collar occupations shed additional light on levels and characteristics of women's labor activism and group consciousness. The relationship between ethnic and family ties and Troy's industrial structure fostered coope...