cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cell Division Induces and Switches Coherent Angular Motion within Bounded Cellular Collectives

Abstract Collective cell migration underlies many biological processes, including embryonic development, wound healing, and cancer progression. In the embryo, cells have been observed to move collectively in vortices using a mode of collective migration known as coherent angular motion (CAM). To determine how CAM arises within a population and changes over time, here, we study the motion of mammary epithelial cells within engineered monolayers, in which the cells move collectively about a central axis in the tissue. Using quantitative image analysis, we find that CAM is significantly reduced when mitosis is suppressed. Particle-based simulations recreate the observed trends, suggesting that cell divisions drive the robust emergence of CAM and facilitate switches in the direction of collective rotation. Our simulations predict that the location of a dividing cell, rather than the orientation of the division axis, facilitates the onset of this motion. These predictions agree with experimental observations, thereby providing, to our knowledge, new insight into how cell divisions influence CAM within a tissue. Overall, these findings highlight the dynamic nature of CAM and suggest that regulating cell division is crucial for tuning emergent collective migratory behaviors, such as vortical motions observed in vivo.
Continuing Political Force of Relics in the Modern Asian Society: The Buddha's Tooth Relic at Foguangshan

Dharma. Thus one of the ways in which Buddhism moved into China was through relics carried along major trade routes by merchants. This portability also allowed rulers to create a Buddhist landscape by distributing relics, rather than by recreating the landscape of India, as we will see later in this paper. This movement of relics and discovery of new relics provoked issues of authenticity as relics could be counterfeited for personal gain. Although there have been some cases in which relics have been tested by methods such as flames, the majority of the burden of authenticating relics relied on text, such as chronicles like the Thūpavaṃsa and Dhātuvaṃsa in Sri Lanka, 12 Schopen, “Relics,” 260-262. 13 Ibid., 265. 14 Tansen Sen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, & Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations (Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2003), 59. 15 Sharf, “On the Allure of Relics,” 77-8.
Assessment of Treatment Effects on HIV Pathogenesis Under Treatment By State Space Models

In this chapter, we have developed a method to estimate the efficiency of the drugs and the numbers of infectious and noninfectious HIV in HIV-infected individuals treated with antiretroviral drugs. As an illustration, we have applied the method to some clinical and laboratory data of an AIDS patient treated with various antiviral drugs. For this individual, the estimates show that the HAART protocol has effectively controlled the number of infectious HIV virus to below 400/ml copies although the total number of HIV copies was very high in some intervals.
Should Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Women be Repaired at a Lower Diameter Threshold

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) primarily affects male patients; however, female patients with AAA have a faster rate of aneurysm growth, have higher risk of rupture even at smaller diameters, and have worse outcomes following repair of ruptured and intact aneurysms. Furthermore, early natural history studies and randomized controlled trials evaluating surveillance versus repair in small aneurysms were conducted primarily in male patients. Therefore, there are limited data regarding the ideal threshold for elective repair of AAA in women, either by aortic diameter or by alternative measures. We review the existing literature regarding AAA in women and consider the most appropriate threshold for repair.
The Advanced ACTPol 27/39 GHz Array

Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) will observe the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at multiple frequencies and high resolution to place improved constraints on inflation, dark matter, and dark energy. Foregrounds from synchrotron and dust radiation are a source of contamination that must be characterized and removed across a wide range of frequencies. AdvACT will thus observe at five frequency bands from 27 to 230 GHz. We discuss the design of the pixels and feedhorns for the 27/39 GHz multichroic array for AdvACT, which will target the synchrotron radiation that dominates at these frequencies. To gain 35% in mapping speed in the 39 GHz band where the foreground signals are faintest, the pixel number was increased through reducing the pixel diameter to $$1.08\lambda $$ at the lowest frequency, which represents a 22% decrease in size compared to our previously most tightly packed pixels.
Effect of multiple phosphorylations on movement of smooth muscle and cytoplasmic myosin.

Smooth muscle contraction is initiated by phosphorylation of the 20,000 Da light chain subunit of myosin (Sellers and Adelstein, 1987; Hartshorne, 1987). The enzyme responsible for this phosphorylation, myosin light chain (MLC) kinase, is dependent upon both calcium and calmodulin for activity. In addition to its role in muscle contraction, myosin plays an important contractile role in many nonmuscle cells (Korn and Hammer, 1988). This cytoplasmic myosin is also regulated by light chain phosphorylation. Phosphorylation of smooth muscle and cytoplasmic myosin by MLC kinase results in their activation as judged by a large increase in the actin-activated MgATPase activity.
Regulation of Amniotic Fluid Volume: Evolving Concepts

Studies in late gestation fetal sheep have provided several new insights into the regulation of amniotic fluid (AF) volume (AFV): There are four quantitatively important amniotic inflows and outflows that include fetal urine production, lung liquid secretion, swallowing, and intramembranous absorption. Of these, AFV is regulated primarily by modulating the rate of intramembranous absorption of AF water and solutes across the amniotic epithelial cells into the underlying fetal vasculature. Modulation of the rate of intramembranous absorption depends on the presence of stimulators and inhibitors present in the AF. A stimulator of intramembranous absorption is present in fetal urine. In addition, AF contains a non-renal, non-pulmonary inhibitor of intramembranous absorption presumably secreted by the fetal membranes. Although passive bidirectional movements of water and solutes occur across the intramembranous pathway, intramembranous absorption is primarily a unidirectional, vesicular, bulk transport process mediated through VEGF activation of transcytotic transport via caveolae. Further, the stimulators and inhibitors of intramembranous absorption alter only the active, unidirectional component of intramembranous absorption while the passive components are not altered under experimental conditions studied thus far. Future progress depends on identifying the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate active and passive intramembranous absorption as well as their regulatory components.
Intimal Lesion Growth: An Assessment of Important Cellular Events

The theme of this book is vascular remodeling, and perhaps one reason why this concept is of current interest is because our knowledge of arterial lesion growth in experimental animals after angioplasty has not been predicative of the process of lesion growth in humans. In particular, agents found to be important in inhibiting lesions in small mammalian arteries after balloon injury have not been useful in predicting the outcomes in humans after angioplasty (1). One possibility, therefore, is that the growth of lesions in humans does not involve those cellular processes which occur in the rat artery. The role of this chapter is to try to point out some of the differences that may have been responsible for this belief and to highlight the key molecular events that are known to take place in lesion growth in our experimental models.
Opportunistic mycobacterial infections.

Infections with nontuberculous Mycobacterium species have been recognized with increasing frequency in recent years, particularly among patient who are immunosuppressed, have prior lung disease, or have undergone invasive procedures and operations. The infections may be self-limited and mild, as in cases of Mycobacterium marinum infection, or disseminated and life-threatening, as in some cases of M. intracellulare infection. Diagnosis of these infections can present a problem, both because the organisms can be difficult to grow in the laboratory and because they are found in the environment. Furthermore, distinguishing infection from colonization is often difficult. Therapy is complicated because many of the isolates are resistant to antituberculosis drugs, and the results of susceptibility testing with other drugs do not necessarily correlate with therapeutic responses. In addition, the epidemiology of such infections is difficult to study because of the lack of definitive markers.
On the roll–coupling instabilities of high–performance aircraft

Highperformance aircraft configurations, characterized by a small span and swept wings, have rolling moments of inertia that are significantly smaller than the pitching or yawing moments of inertia. As a result, nonlinear coupling during highrollrate manoeuvres produces significant yawing and pitching moments. For certain critical flight conditions, inertial coupling causes jump phenomena called rollcoupling instabilities. These jump phenomena typically occur as a result of turningpoint bifurcations of the aircraft steady states. Analysis of the moment balances along the steady solution branches provides physical insight into the causes of these instabilities and potential means of eliminating them. Analysis performed by using the full eightdegreeoffreedom equations of motion shows that the critical controlsurface deflections are essentially the same as for the fifth and sixthorder equations of motion. Solving the full eightdegreeoffreedom equations allows one to determine the orientation of the aircraft ...
Differential cortical microstructural maturation in the preterm human brain with diffusion kurtosis and tensor imaging.

During the third trimester, the human brain undergoes rapid cellular and molecular processes that reshape the structural architecture of the cerebral cortex. Knowledge of cortical differentiation obtained predominantly from histological studies is limited in localized and small cortical regions. How cortical microstructure is differentiated across cortical regions in this critical period is unknown. In this study, the cortical microstructural architecture across the entire cortex was delineated with non-Gaussian diffusion kurtosis imaging as well as conventional diffusion tensor imaging of 89 preterm neonates aged 31–42 postmenstrual weeks. The temporal changes of cortical mean kurtosis (MK) or fractional anisotropy (FA) were heterogeneous across the cortical regions. Cortical MK decreases were observed throughout the studied age period, while cortical FA decrease reached its plateau around 37 weeks. More rapid decreases in MK were found in the primary visual region, while faster FA declines were observed in the prefrontal cortex. We found that distinctive cortical microstructural changes were coupled with microstructural maturation of associated white matter tracts. Both cortical MK and FA measurements predicted the postmenstrual age of preterm infants accurately. This study revealed a differential 4D spatiotemporal cytoarchitectural signature inferred by non-Gaussian diffusion barriers inside the cortical plate during the third trimester. The cytoarchitectural processes, including dendritic arborization and neuronal density decreases, were inferred by regional cortical FA and MK measurements. The presented findings suggest that cortical MK and FA measurements could be used as effective imaging markers for cortical microstructural changes in typical and potentially atypical brain development.
Performance evaluation of the 5-Ring GE Discovery MI PET/CT system using the national electrical manufacturers association NU 2-2012 Standard.

The GE Discovery MI PET/CT system has a modular digital detector design allowing three, four, or five detector block rings that extend the axial field-of-view (FOV) from 15 to 25 cm in 5 cm increments. This study investigated the performance of the 5-ring system and compared it to 3- and 4-ring systems; the GE Discovery IQ system that uses conventional photomultiplier tubes; and the GE Signa PET/MR system that has a reduced transaxial FOV. Methods PET performance was evaluated at three different institutions. Spatial resolution, sensitivity, counting rate performance, accuracy, and image quality were measured in accordance with National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU 2-2012 standards. The mean energy resolution, mean timing resolution, and PET/CT subsystem alignment were also measured. Phantoms were used to determine the effects of varying acquisition time and reconstruction parameters on image quality. Retrospective patient scans were reconstructed with various scan durations to evaluate the impact on image quality. Results Results from all three institutions were similar. Radial/tangential/axial full width at half maximum spatial resolution measurements using the filtered back projection algorithm were 4.3/4.3/5.0 mm, 5.5/4.6/6.5 mm, and 7.4/5.0/6.6 mm at 1, 10, and 20 cm from the center of the FOV, respectively. Measured sensitivity at the center of the FOV (20.84 cps/kBq) was significantly higher than systems with reduced axial FOV. The peak noise-equivalent counting rate was 266.3 kcps at 20.8 kBq/ml, with a corresponding scatter fraction of 40.2%. The correction accuracy for count losses up to the peak noise-equivalent counting rate was 3.6%. For the 10-, 13-, 17-, 22-, 28-, and 37-mm spheres, contrast recoveries in the image quality phantom were measured to be 46.2%, 54.3%, 66.1%, 71.1%, 85.3%, and 89.3%, respectively. The mean energy and timing resolution were 9.55% and 381.7 ps, respectively. Phantom and patient images demonstrated excellent image quality, even at short acquisition times or low injected activity. Conclusion Compared to other PET/CT models, the extended axial FOV improved the overall PET performance of the 5-ring GE Discovery MI scanner. This system offers the potential to reduce scan times or injected activities through increased sensitivity.
Perceptions of Tactile and Visual Iconicity by Blind and Sighted Groups

Signs selected from lists used in studies with mentally retarded and autistic children and previously rated for visual iconicity were presented tactilely to 13 blind persons. Visual and tactile rat...
Eye Movement Abnormalities Are Ubiquitous in the Spinocerebellar Ataxias.

Oculomotor abnormalities are common in the spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs). In studies of SCAs 1, 2, 3, and 6, eye movement abnormalities correlate with disease severity. Oculomotor abnormalities may be the sole motor manifestation of early and/or premanifest disease; however, not all ataxia rating scales include oculomotor assessment. We sought to identify the prevalence and characteristics of oculomotor abnormalities at first presentation in a large SCA cohort, including those in earlier stages of disease. We performed a retrospective assessment of initial clinical examinations of SCA patients followed in the Massachusetts General Hospital Ataxia Unit and assessed with the Brief Ataxia Rating Scale (BARS). One hundred thirty-four SCA patients were assessed: 17 SCA1, 13 SCA2, 55 SCA3, 2 SCA5, 22 SCA6, 11 SCA7, 9 SCA8, and 5 SCA17, mainly in the early stages of disease (67.2% stage 0–1). Oculomotor abnormalities were present on initial assessment in 94.8%, including 7/9 stage 0 and 77/81 stage 1 patients. Stage 0/1 patients had frequent saccadic intrusions, nystagmus, and hypo/hypermetric saccades. Saccadic slowing was present even in early stage SCA7 and SCA2, eventually leading to ophthalmoplegia. The burden of oculomotor abnormalities correlated with disease stage, duration, and severity, remaining highly significant even when controlling for age. The ubiquitous presence of oculomotor abnormalities in the SCAs, particularly early in the course, underscores the importance of oculomotor assessment in ataxia rating scales such as BARS. These findings highlight the potential for quantitative physiological oculomotor measures as clinical biomarkers in natural history studies and clinical trials.
Aggressive pituitary tumors in the young and elderly.

Aggressive pituitary tumors (APTs) represent rare pituitary adenomas (PAs) with local invasion of surrounding tissues, increased risk for multiple recurrence, rapid tumor growth, or resistance to standard therapies. The most common APTs in children and adolescents are giant prolactinomas and somatotropinomas. Few cases of Crooke’s cell adenomas, silent corticotroph adenomas and pituitary carcinomas have also been reported in the literature. Pediatric patients with APTs have higher risk of harboring germline genetic defects, most commonly in the MEN1 and AIP genes. Since certain genetic defects confer a more aggressive behavior to PAs, genetic testing should be considered in tumors with young onset and positive family history. The management of pediatric APTs involves usually a combination of standard therapies (surgical, medical, radiation). Newer agents, such as temozolomide, have been used in few cases of pediatric pituitary tumors with promising results. In the elderly, PAs are more commonly non-functioning. Their management often poses dilemmas given the coexistence of age-related comorbidities. However, standard surgical treatment and temozolomide seem to be safe and well tolerated in elderly patients.
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE OF ALARM EAVESDROPPING ON AMAZONIAN MIXED-FLOCK FOLLOWERS BY TWO SOCIAL SENTINEL SPECIES: THE DUSKY-THROATED ANTSHRIKE THAMNOMANES ARDESIACUS AND THE CINEREOUS ANTSHRIKE T. SCHISTOGYNUS

Mixed-species flocks of bird represent an ecological phenomena resulting from a diversity of complex interactions and evolutionary pressures. Paleotropical, Neotropical and temperate forests include many examples of passerine bird who interact by forming mixed-species flocks and by eavesdropping on the alarm calls produced by heterospecifics. In the mixed-flock systems of Amazonia, species of antshrike ( Thamnomanes sp. ) have been shown to provide other flock members valuable information regarding threats from predation through their frequent alarm calls. Several species of flock attendees respond to the alarms of antshrikes with predator-avoidance behaviors, but no study has yet shown a reciprocal relationship between flock members and flock-leading antshrikes. Apparently distinct from mixed-flock systems of other forests, there has been little evidence to support that flock-leading species of antshrike benefit from the alarm signals of other flock members. Using alarm signals recorded during in situ exposures of mixed-flock species to trained raptors, we conducted a playback experiment to 16 different mixed flocks to see to what degree antshrikes may be eavesdropping on the alarms of Myrmotherula antwrens. 8 Dusky-throated Antshrike Thamnomanes ardesiacus and 8 Cinereous Antshrike T. schistogynus were presented with i) conspecific alarms ii) White-flanked Antwren Myrmotherula axillaris alarms iii) Grey Antwren M. menetriesii alarms and iv) a control. The results of our experiment support that the alarms of the two species of antwren illicit a significant response from both species of antshrike. Our model also shows the responses of antshrikes to antwren alarms are indistinguishable from their response to conspecific alarms, yet different from a control (Marginal R 2 =.36, Conditional R 2 =.37). This suggests that highly social flock-leading species such as Thamnomanes antshrikes may benefit from the information provided by flock mates regarding predators. Further, these patterns are consistent with eavesdropping interactions observed within mixed-flocks in ecologically similar but geographically distant forests.
High-Risk Airway Management in the Emergency Department: Diseases and Approaches, Part II

Abstract Background Successful airway management is critical to the practice of emergency medicine. Thus, emergency physicians must be ready to optimize and prepare for airway management in critically ill patients with a wide range of physiologic challenges. Challenges in airway management commonly encountered in the emergency department are discussed using a pearl and pitfall discussion in this second part of a 2-part series. Objective This narrative review presents an evidence-based approach to airway and patient management during endotracheal intubation in challenging cases commonly encountered in the emergency department. Discussion Adverse events during emergent airway management are common with postintubation cardiac arrest, reported in as many as 1 in 25 intubations. Many of these adverse events can be avoided by proper identification and understanding the underlying physiology, preparation, and postintubation management. Those with high-risk features including trauma, elevated intracranial pressure, upper gastrointestinal bleed, cardiac tamponade, aortic stenosis, morbid obesity, and pregnancy must be managed with airway expertise. Conclusions This narrative review discusses the pearls and pitfalls of commonly encountered physiologic high-risk intubations with a focus on the emergency clinician.
The present and future of systemic and microenvironment-targeted therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains one of the deadliest cancer diagnoses with 5-year survival rates as low as 3%. For decades, gemcitabine remained the mainstay of systemic therapy before the approvals of FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine with nab-paclitaxel. Despite these advances in the early 2010s, almost all patients progress on systemic chemotherapy and significant effort is needed to identify novel therapeutic targets. A promising array of approaches is currently under investigation, enabled by deeper understanding of the immune system within the tumor microenvironment (TME) and of the key vulnerabilities in pathways essential for tumor survival. In this review, we will explore the different approaches to boost tumor immunity and to target tumor metabolic pathways that are currently under clinical investigation for systemic treatment, and highlight the promising therapeutic areas that may give rise to the next generation of therapies for pancreatic cancer.
Host protein chaperones, RNA helicases and the ubiquitin network highlight the arms race for resources between tombusviruses and their hosts

Positive-strand RNA viruses need to arrogate many cellular resources to support their replication and infection cycles. These viruses co-opt host factors, lipids and subcellular membranes and exploit cellular metabolites to built viral replication organelles in infected cells. However, the host cells have their defensive arsenal of factors to protect themselves from easy exploitation by viruses. In this review, the author discusses an emerging arms race for cellular resources between viruses and hosts, which occur during the early events of virus-host interactions. Recent findings with tomato bushy stunt virus and its hosts revealed that the need of the virus to exploit and co-opt given members of protein families provides an opportunity for the host to deploy additional members of the same or associated protein family to interfere with virus replication. Three examples with well-established heat shock protein 70 and RNA helicase protein families and the ubiquitin network will be described to illustrate this model on the early arms race for cellular resources between tombusviruses and their hosts. We predict that arms race for resources with additional cellular protein families will be discovered with tombusviruses. These advances will fortify research on interactions among other plant and animal viruses and their hosts.
WHAT ABOUT THE BODY

Christian ministry must, by necessity, deal with the body. What this article aims to do is outline a biblical theology of the body and then examine practical implications for ministry, especially counseling. How do we minister to embodied souls? How much and what type of attention should be paid to the body in our Christian ministries and biblical counseling? Two common and often controversial questions will be addressed in this article. What is the role of the body in what is commonly understood as emotional or mental problems or mental disorders? And then, what about medication for these problems? Keywords : Counseling. Psychology. Psychotropic medication. Mental disorders. RESUMO : O ministerio cristao deveria, por necessidade, lidar com o corpo. O que este artigo pretende fazer e delinear uma teologia biblica do corpo e, em seguida, examinar as implicacoes praticas para o ministerio, especialmente para o aconselhamento. Como podemos ministrar para almas encarnadas? Quanto e que tipo de atencao deve ser dada para o corpo em nossos ministerios cristaos e aconselhamento biblico? Duas perguntas comuns e muitas vezes polemicas serao abordadas neste artigo: Qual e o papel do corpo no que e comumente entendido como problemas emocionais ou mentais ou transtornos mentais? E entao, que medicacao deve ser usada para estes problemas? Palavras-chaves : Aconselhamento. Psicologia. Medicacao psicotropica. Transtornos mentais.
Responsive Neurostimulation of the Mesial Temporal White Matter in Bilateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Background Responsive neuromodulation (RNS) is a treatment option for patients with medically refractory bilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). A paucity of data exists on the feasibility and clinical outcome of hippocampal-sparing bilateral RNS depth lead placements within the parahippocampal white matter or temporal stem. Objective To evaluate seizure reduction outcomes with at least a 1-yr follow-up in individuals with bilateral MTLE undergoing hippocampus-sparing implantation of RNS depth leads. Methods A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data was performed on patients at our institution with bilateral MTLE who were implanted with RNS depth leads along the longitudinal extent of bitemporal parahippocampal white matter or temporal stem. Baseline and postoperative seizure frequency, previous surgical interventions, and postimplantation electrocorticography and stimulation data were analyzed. Results Ten patients were included in the study (7 male, 3 female). Overall seizure frequency declined by a median 44.25% at 3.13 yr (standard deviation 3.31) postimplantation. Four patients (40%) achieved 50% responder rate at latest follow-up. Two of four patients with focal onset bilateral tonic-clonic seizures became completely seizure-free. Forty percent of patients were previously implanted with a vagus nerve stimulator, and 20% underwent a prior temporal lobectomy. All depth lead placements were confirmed as radiographically located in the parahippocampal white matter or temporal stem without hippocampus violation. There were no cases of lead malposition. Conclusion Extrahippocampal or temporal stem white matter targeting during RNS surgery for bitemporal MTLE is feasible and allows for electrographic seizure detection. Larger controlled studies with longer follow-up are needed to validate these preliminary findings.
Spawning and gravidity of the endangered freshwater mussel Epioblasma capsaeformis (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in captivity for production of glochidia

Understanding the reproductive biology of the endangered Epioblasma capsaeformis of the eastern United States is critical to conservation efforts at mussel hatcheries. We studied how males influenc...
CashTagNN: Exploiting the Use of CashTags to Predict Stock Market Prices Using Convolutional Networks

In this paper, the authors present a system, CashTagNN, which uses the sentiment and subjectivity scores of tweets that include cashtags to model stock market movement, and in particular, predict opening stock market prices. Currently, the system focuses on two companies: Apple and Johnson \& Johnson. The system uses two machine learning methods for prediction, a feed-forward neural network, and a deep convolutional neural network. The authors use stock market prices in March and October 2016 as training data, with stock market prices in November 2016 as test data. The time series used for training and testing consists of stock prices recorded at one minute, five minutes, and one-hour intervals. Results show that the Feed Forward Network Model, in this case, outperforms the Deep Convolutional Network model.
A call for a moratorium on damage-centered early childhood teacher education: envisioning just futures for our profession

Calling for a moratorium on damage-centered early childhood teacher education, in this article, I urge U.S. early childhood teacher educators to envision and commit to a just future for our profess...
Characterizing Dementia Caregivers’ Information Exchange on Social Media: Exploring an Expert-Machine Co-development Process

Social media platforms have introduced new opportunities for supporting family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Existing methods for exploring online information seeking and sharing (i.e., information exchange) involve examining online posts via manual analysis by human experts or fully automated data-driven exploration through text classification. Both methods have limitations. In this paper, we propose an innovative expert–machine co-development (EMC) process that enables rich interactions and co-learning between human experts and automatic algorithms. By applying the EMC in analyzing ADRD caregivers’ online behaviors, we illustrate steps required by the EMC, and demonstrate its effectiveness in enhancing human experts’ representations of ADRD caregivers’ online information exchange and developing more accurate automatic classification models for ADRD caregivers’ information exchange.
Geriatric assessment and medical preoperative screening (GrAMPS) program for older hernia patients.

The incidence of older adults undergoing inguinal and ventral hernia repairs is increasing. Older adults are disproportionately affected by age-related risk factors, which are often under-recognized and may adversely affect surgical outcomes. These age-related risk factors often termed “geriatric syndromes,” include multimorbidity, frailty, cognitive impairment, depression, obesity, functional impairment, polypharmacy, and poor subjective health. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of age-related risk factors in older patients undergoing elective hernia repair. Patients aged 60 years or older with a planned elective surgical repair of a ventral or inguinal hernia were prospectively enrolled in a clinic. Subjects completed several validated screening tools for geriatric syndromes. Seventy patients completed preoperative assessments (mean age: 68.5 years). In total, 24 (34.3%) screened positive for previously unrecognized objective cognitive impairment (Mini-Cog) and 33 (47.1%) for a subjective memory concern. Sixty patients (85.7%) met criteria for polypharmacy. Additionally, 48 (68.6%) screened positive for either pre-frailty (37, 52.9%) or frailty (11, 15.7%), and 66 (94.3%) had multimorbidity. Twenty-five (35.7%) patients self-rated their health as “poor” or “fair,” and 18 (25.7%) patients endorsed some functional impairment. There is a high prevalence of age-related risk factors in older patients undergoing elective hernia repair. Further, these factors are often unrecognized and underappreciated despite their potential to significantly impact informed consent and shared decision making. Additional study is required to define the impact of these age-related risk factors on surgical outcomes, which will inform preoperative risk assessment and optimization through modifiable risk reduction.
Thermal Modelling of a Single-Oil Cooled and Lubricated Electrical Drivetrain with Advanced Cooling Methods

The increasing need for high power density electrical drivetrains necessitates advanced cooling approaches to avoid overheating of components. Unfortunately, the use of multiple coolants requires different cooling circuits with according equipment which hampers the way towards high power densities. Therefore, in this work, we present a full thermal-hydraulic model of an electrical drivetrain which is cooled by a single oil cooling circuit using the Simscape Matlab environment. The thermal-hydraulic model is verified using more advanced computational tools, and is aimed to investigate the thermal response of the electrical drivetrain under varying load conditions and using different cooling approaches.
The Effects of 304L Stainless Steel Pre-Oxidation on Bonding to Alkali Barium Silicate Glass

An oxidation treatment, often termed "pre-oxidation". is performed on austenitic stainless steel prior to joining to alkali barium silicate glass to produce hermetic seals. The resulting thin oxide acts as a transitional layer and a source of Cr and other elements which diffuse into the glass during the subsequent bonding process. Pre-oxidation is performed in a low pO 2 atmosphere to avoid iron oxide formation and the final oxide is composed of Cr 2 O 3 , MnCr 2 O 4 spinel, and SiO 2 . Significant heat-to-heat variations in the oxidation behavior of 304L stainless steel have been observed, which result in inconsistent glass-to-metal (GTM) seal behavior. The objectives of this work were to characterize the stainless steel pre-oxidized layer and the glass/oxide/304L interface region after glass sealing. The 304L oxidation kinetics were determined by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and the glass/metal seals characteristics were studied using sessile drop tests, in which wetting angles were measured and glass adhesion was analyzed. The pre-oxidized layers and glass/metal interface regions were characterized using metallography, focused ion beam (FIB) sectioning, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The results show that poor glass sealing behavior is associated with a more continuous layer of SiO 2 at the metal/oxide interface.
Micro-adsorption detector

Abstract A description of a commercially available micro-adsorption detector (Varian) is given. Detector response was monitored by a digital data logging system producing a paper tape. This digital data was analyzed using a DEC PDP-8/I. Investigation of the mechanism of response showed the detector response to be a complex function of both adsorption and desorption processes. This contradicts the earlier published conclusions: (a) that the peak response was merely the differential of the sample concentration profile and (b) that the positive peak was due only to adsorption processes and the negative peak was due solely to desorption processes. The investigation and results are discussed in this paper. Correlation between sample size and (a) the first half of the positive peak area, (b) total peak area, (c) total negative peak area, and (d) total peak area were tested. Statistical analysis of the detector response showed that only the first half of the positive peak area was proportional to sample concentration. For quantitative analysis it was also shown that total peak height, or positive peak height could also be used. This work is discussed in Part II of this series.
Cysticercosis: a zebra in the neighborhood.

Demographic information about a specific subset of patients can help physicians recognize conditions they do not expect to find in the larger population. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Macrocycles containing tin. : Ditopic, tricyclic, Lewis acidic hosts with four binding sites

Abstract Preparation of the title class of anion-binding hosts is described, and the chloride binding properties of one host are reported.
Password Streaming for RFID Privacy

We propose a novel privacy-protecting RFID system using password streaming. Our scheme assumes a centralized back-end system containing a database of tag passwords. A reader uses this database to broadcast password "guesses" continuously in its domain, without it needing to scan for the presence of tags. A tag that receives a matching password tells the reader it is present, and the password is replaced with a new one that is synchronized both in the tag and the database. Our scheme also assumes multiple readers with their respective domains in a large physical space. As tags and attackers (adversaries intent on compromising privacy) move between domains, the back-end system coordinates the readers' password streams to defend against attacks. Our scheme pushes the computational complexity to the back-end system, very much in the spirit of RFID. It defends against stronger types of attacks than those in [4].
Charge asymmetric dissociation induced by sequential and non-sequential strong field ionization

Summary form only given. For the first time with near-infrared radiation, we observe the charge asymmetric dissociation (CAD) of N(2,0) and O(2,0) using 30 fs 800 nm Ti:sapphire laser pulse. More significantly, unlike the previous observations in the soft X-ray and the UV, the N/sup 2+/ fragment has a slow kinetic energy release, which may indicate the CAD of N(2,0) is in the excited states. However, like the previous observations, the formation of N(2,0) involves a non-sequential vertical transition. But O(2,0) involves a non-vertical excitation process. Furthermore, the threshold intensity of these two channels is not enough to provide the dipole coupling to populate the CAD states. These results rule out the hypothesis of a dipole coupling to the charge transfer states, and provide evidence that CAD is the natural result of strong field excitation and ionization. Moreover, the quite different behavior of N(2,0) and O(2,0) has to be related to the different electronic structures of N/sub 2/ and O/sub 2/: N/sub 2/ has a closed shell electronic structure, while the outermost orbital (1/spl pi//sub g/)/sup 2/ of the ground state O/sub 2/ is only half filled. The detailed electronic structure can lead to different behaviors of molecules interacting with strong laser fields.
Health and Fitness App Use in College Students: A Qualitative Study

Background: College students experience weight gain that can contribute to serious health issues. Health education efforts with college students are increasingly utilizing new technologies. Smartphone applications (apps) in particular are growing in popularity and use in all young adults. Purpose: Formative research was conducted to describe how college students in the southwestern United States use health/fitness apps to change behavior. Method: College students (n = 27) ages 18-30 reporting use of health/fitness apps were recruited on a large public university campus and participated in interviews about app choice, behavioral goals, features, and reasons for continued use. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes using a 4-person coding team and the qualitative research software NVivo. Results: Most participants downloaded an app to meet a goal and felt that the app helped them meet it. Two distinct groups emerged, those who used apps to support an established behavior and those wh...
Seroprevalence and risk factors for canine H3N8 influenza virus exposure in household dogs in Colorado.

Background: Since 2004, canine influenza virus (CIV) has spread throughout the United States. While studies suggest that CIV is commonly detected in shelter dogs, little is known about its prevalence in household dogs. Objectives: To evaluate the seroprevalence of CIV in pet dogs presented for care in a veterinary hospital in Colorado and to investigate risk factors that might predispose these dogs to CIV infection. Animals: One hundred and forty dogs presenting to the Community Practice service, 110 dogs seen at other clinical services at Colorado State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital in 2009, and samples from 75 dogs seen before 2004. Methods: In this prospective study, samples were tested with hemagglutination inhibition assays, using 3 CIV isolates. To identify risk factors for CIV infection, 140 owners completed questionnaires at time of sampling. Results: CIV seroprevalence was 2.9% (4/140) for dogs seen by the Community Practice service and 4.5% (5/110) for dogs seen by other hospital services (P= .48). All sera collected before 2004 tested negative for CIV. No differences were seen in antibody titers to the 3 CIV isolates tested. Data from the questionnaires indicated an association between CIV seropositivity and canine daycare visits (P < .001). Conclusion and Clinical Importance: CIV seropositivity in household dogs in Colorado is low, although it has increased since 2004. Antibody titers to the 3 CIV isolates were comparable, suggesting that measurable antigenic drift has not yet occurred. Finally, dogs boarded in kennels or attending daycare might be at an increased risk of CIV infection.
Quark-model perspectives on three-nucleon forces in nuclear physics

We stress the point that, as long as nucleons possess substructure of some kind, three-nucleon forces must exist in different forms. Using a quark model to characterize the nucleon substructure, we may classify three-nucleon forces into three distinct categories, viz.: (i) Three-nucleon forces of type I, such as the Tucson-Melbourne (2π)-exchange three-body force, which can be formulated in terms of the hadron degrees of freedom, (ii) three-nucleon forces of type II which describe modifications to nucleon-nucleon interactions arising from the fact that the quark substructure of the two interacting nucleons is modified by the presence of a third nucleon, and (iii) three-nucleon forces of type III which are induced by the fact that, as three nucleons overlap one another, the constituents may rearrange among themselves to minimize the total energy. Possible manifestions of these three-nucleon forces, especially those of type II, are discussed in some detail.
Effect of Irradiation on Incidence of Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Miniature Swine

Abstract Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) is a major complication of clinical organ and cell transplantation. Conditioning and immunosuppressive regimens that significantly impair T cell immunity, including depleting antibodies and calcineurin inhibitors, increase the risk of PTLD after transplantation. Swine PTLD has been shown to closely resemble human PTLD in morphology, histology, and viral-driven reactivation of B cells. Previously, we reported high incidences of PTLD after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in miniature swine recipients conditioned with thymic irradiation (TI) in addition to T cell depletion and cyclosporine A monotherapy after transplantation. Replacement of TI with 100 cGy of total body irradiation resulted in similar numbers of B cells early post-transplantation, greater numbers of T cells at day 0, and markedly decreased incidence of PTLD, suggesting that a threshold number of T cells may be necessary to prevent subsequent B cell proliferation and development of overt PTLD. Results from this large cohort of animals provide insight into the important effect of irradiation and T cell immunity on the incidence of PTLD after HCT and reinforce the pig model as a valuable tool for the study of PTLD and HCT.
Age is an independent poor prognostic factor in cutaneous head and neck melanoma

Objective/Hypothesis To evaluate age as an independent prognostic factor in cutaneous head and neck melanoma. Study Design Prospective case-control study. Methods We selected 12,195 patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database with cutaneous head and neck melanoma diagnosed from 2004 to 2009. Patients were stratified into ages 1 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years, and 65+ years. Meanwhile, stage was stratified into early (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] stage I-II) versus late (AJCC stage III-IV). We calculated overall survival and compared it to age-matched cancer-free controls to obtain overall relative survival. Finally, we performed a Cox multivariate regression by age and stage. Results Age had a statistically significant (P < .05) stratified decrease in overall survival for both early- and late-stage melanoma. However, we only found a statistically significant (P < .05) stratified decrease in overall relative survival for late-stage melanoma. Early-stage melanoma had no statistical difference in overall relative survival between the 45 to 64 years group and all other age groups studied. Finally, our multivariate Cox regression of stage, gender, race, and age found a hazard ratio [HR] of 2.005 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.493-1.693, P < .001) for the 45 to 64 years age group, and an HR of 4.174 (95% CI: 3.153-5.526, P < .001) for the 65+ years age group. Conclusions Age at diagnosis is a poor prognostic factor for patients with cutaneous head and neck carcinoma. It plays an important role in survival, with a linear increase in risk as age increases. This risk is clinically significant with patients ages 65+ years, having an HR four times the risk of patients 1 to 44 years old. Level of Evidence 3b. Laryngoscope, 124:462–465, 2014
Physics and Physicians

The physician of tomorrow will almost certainly have to be a more sophisticated physicist than his predecessors of today or of yesterday. The physician is, perhaps unconsciously and perhaps reluctantly, a physicist to a very significant degree. Students anticipating a career in medicine need to be told and sold this idea since it affects their interest in physics courses during premedical training.
Further studies on the effects of cyclooxygenase inhibitors on compensatory renal growth.

The primary stimulus for compensatory renal growth is unknown. This process may be regulated by a circulating renotropic factor or may reflect a growth response to increased work. Prostaglandins appear to participate in compensatory renal growth as indomethacin has been shown to attenuate increases in both renal mass and function after uninephrectomy in rats. The goal of the present study was to test the effects of other cyclooxygenase inhibitors on compensatory renal growth and to evaluate the effects of indomethacin on renal growth in vitro in response to the purported renotropic factor. Both ibuprofen and meclofenamate retarded compensatory renal growth two days after uninephrectomy in rats (p<0.05). The addition of indomethacin to the medium of kidney slices incubating with sera from uninephrectomized rats reduced renal DNA synthesis, whereas indomethacin had no effect on renal growth when added to slices incubating with sera from intact animals. These data provide more support for an important role for prostaglandins in compensatory renal growth.
Intraoperative ultrasound: application in pediatric pyeloplasty.

Objectives To describe a simple method of using a readily available portable ultrasound device to confirm distal stent placement for antegrade placed stents. Antegrade placement of internal double- J ureteral stents during open or laparoscopic pyeloplasty has become an alternative to retrograde placement but might be less reliable owing to the lack of confirmation of the distal stent position. Methods The SonoSite S-Nerve ultrasound system was used with a L38 × 10-5 MHz linear array transducer to evaluate the distal curl of the double- J stent within the bladder intraoperatively during da Vinci robotic-assisted pyeloplasty. The patient did not require repositioning or removal of the robotic arms. Results Visualization of the stent was successful in all patients with an age range of 8 months to 17 years. Conclusions We present the first published method of using ultrasonography to assess and confirm distal stent placement intraoperatively during antegrade stent placement. This simple method uses off-the-shelf equipment available within most operating rooms. In addition, intraoperative ultrasound confirmation of double- J stent placement allows for the ease of antegrade placement with the distal visual confirmation of the stent position without necessitating fluoroscopy or patient repositioning.