cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Host Response Signature to Staphylococcus aureus Alpha-Hemolysin Implicates Pulmonary Th17 Response

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia causes significant morbidity and mortality. Alpha-hemolysin (Hla), a pore-forming cytotoxin of S. aureus, has been identified through animal models of pneumonia as a critical virulence factor that induces lung injury. In spite of considerable molecular knowledge of how this cytotoxin injures the host, the precise host response to Hla in the context of infection remains poorly understood. We employed whole-genome expression profiling of infected lungs to define the host response to wild-type S. aureus compared with the response to an Hla-deficient isogenic mutant in experimental pneumonia. These data provide a complete expression profile at 4 and at 24 h postinfection, revealing a unique response to the toxin-expressing strain. Gene ontogeny analysis revealed significant differences in the extracellular matrix and cardiomyopathy pathways, both of which govern cellular interactions in the tissue microenvironment. Evaluation of individual transcript responses to Hla-secreting staphylococci was notable for upregulation of host cytokine and chemokine genes, including the p19 subunit of interleukin-23. Consistent with this observation, the cellular immune response to infection was characterized by a prominent Th17 response to the wild-type pathogen. These findings define specific host mRNA responses to Hla-producing S. aureus, coupling the pulmonary Th17 response to the secretion of this cytotoxin. Expression profiling to define the host response to a single virulence factor proved to be a valuable tool in identifying pathways for further investigation in S. aureus pneumonia. This approach may be broadly applicable to the study of bacterial toxins, defining host pathways that can be targeted to mitigate toxin-induced disease.
Allostasis and Allostatic Load in the Context of Poverty in Early Childhood

This paper examined the relation of early environmental adversity associated with poverty to child resting or basal level of cortisol in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1135 children seen at 7, 15, 24, 35, and 48 months of age. We found main effects for poor housing quality, African American ethnicity, and low positive caregiving behavior in which each was uniquely associated with an overall higher level of cortisol from age 7 to 48 months. We also found that two aspects of the early environment in the context of poverty, adult exits from the home and perceived economic insufficiency, were related to salivary cortisol in a time-dependent manner. The effect for the first of these, exits from the home, was consistent with the principle of allostatic load in which the effects of adversity on stress physiology accumulate over time. The effect for perceived economic insufficiency was one in which insufficiency was associated with higher levels of cortisol in infancy but with a typical but steeper decline in cortisol with age at subsequent time points.
Missing self recognition and self tolerance of natural killer (NK) cells.

Natural killer cells express inhibitory receptors specific for polymorphic MHC molecules, which enables them to mediate “missing self recognition”, the capacity to attack self cells that extinguish expression of MHC class I molecules. A key question is: how are NK cells rendered self-tolerant? It was proposed that all NK cells express at least one inhibitory receptor specific for self MHC, but we recently identified an NK cell subset that does not. Instead, these NK cells, like anergic B and T cells, are hyporesponsive to stimulation. These findings indicate that NK cell activity can be modulated independently of inhibitory receptors specific for MHC molecules, and that such modulation may contribute to self tolerance. This review summarizes current understanding of NK cell recognition and self tolerance.
A segment-based approach to automatic language identification

A segment-based approach to automatic language identification is discussed which is based on the idea that the acoustic structure of languages can be estimated by segmenting speech into broad phonetic categories. Automatic language identification can then be achieved by computing features that describe the phonetic and prosodic characteristics of the language, and using these feature measurements to train a classifier to distinguish between languages. As a first step in this approach, a multilanguage neural-network-based segmentation and broad classification algorithm using seven broad phonetic categories has been built. The algorithm was trained and tested on separate sets of speakers of American English, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil. It currently performs with an accuracy of 82.3% on the utterances of the test set. >
Sodium concentrations affect metabolite uptake and cellular metabolism.

Rates of uptake of glucose (measured with 3H-2-deoxy-d-glucose), galactose, and leucine increase after exposure of chick embryo cells to increasing concentrations of Na+ over the range 100 to 200 mM. Uptake of nucleosides was unaffected by [Na+] over this range. Prior exposure of cells was required for the [Na+] effect on uptake. Changes were measureable within two hours after changing [Na+], and although the capacity for deoxyglucose uptake remained constant thereafter, the capacity for leucine uptake continued to change during the next few hours. Inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide, or of RNA synthesis by Actinomycin D, failed to prevent these uptake changes. Analysis of the kinetics of uptake showed that only the Km for uptake of deoxyglucose or leucine was affected by [Na+]; the maximum V for each compound remained the same. Effects of [Na+] could be distinguished from the increased capacity for glucose uptake induced by glucose starvation. Incorporation of both radioactive uridine into RNA, and radioactive thymidine into DNA, were affected by [Na+], but the differences were not correlated with uptake of other metabolites. No differences in countable mitoses were apparent, although the growth of chick embryo cells increased slightly with increasing [Na+]. Changes in uptake due to differing [Na+] also were observed in mammalian (rat NRK) cells. However, no effects of [Na+] on rates of cell growth or saturation density were observed with these cells.
5α-Reductase activity in human placenta

The concentration of 5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione in peripheral blood of pregnant women is higher than that found in blood obtained from nonpregnant women throughout the luteal phase of the ovulatory cycle. The in vitro synthesis of 5 alpha-reduced pregnanes from [3H]progesterone by placental tissue was investigated using tissue minces and homogenates in the presence of added nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate. The metabolites, [3H]5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione and [3H]3 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnan-20-one, were isolated and characterized employing a combination of chromatographic techniques, derivative formation, and crystallization with authentic [14C]5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione and [14C]3 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-pregnan-20-one to constant 3H:14C ratios. In short-term incubations with placenta homogenates, the apparent pH optimum for the synthesis of 5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione was 8.8. There was no evidence for the formation of 5 beta-reduced pregnanes from [3H]progesterone by placental tissue. The in vitro metabolism of [3H]progesterone by minces of five term placentas, during 1 hour incubations at pH 7.4, was studied. The rate of formation of 5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione varied from 109 to 197 pmoles/gm placental tissue/hr.
Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Accountants with Regard to Advertising Professional Services

The results of this study indicated that consumers had a favorable attitude toward advertising by accountants, though some specific differences were found between users and nonusers of accounting services. The importance of consumer demographic characteristics and the appropriateness of advertising media were also examined. The major implication is the traditional void in advertising activity by accountants should now be reexamined.
Myocardial Ischemia and Infarction

When a coronary artery is occluded, the reduction of blood flow results in (1) tissue hypoxia, (2) an accumulation of metabolic products, and (3) failure in substrate delivery. Therefore, ischemia has a greater impact on the tissue supplied by the occluded artery than does hypoxia in the absence of ischemia. The magnitude of tissue injury depends on both the degree and the duration of the ischemia. Using electron microscopy and measurements of regional myocardial perfusion, my colleagues and I correlated cardiomyocyte changes (reversible vs. irreversible) with the magnitude of the perfusion decrement [1]. Other investigators have determined that in canine hearts subjected to a <10 % reduction in blood flow, cardiomyocyte death first appears after about 20 min [2, 3]. This topic is discussed in a subsequent section of this chapter. Clinically, ischemic myocardial injury is manifested by (1) cardiomyocyte death, (2) contractile dysfunction, (3) arrhythmias, and (4) microvascular dysfunction [4].
Heterogeneous effects of housing vouchers on the mental health of US adolescents

Objectives. To assess the mental health effects on adolescents of low-income families residing in high-poverty public housing who received housing vouchers to assist relocation.Methods. We defined treatment effects to compare 2829 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in families offered housing vouchers versus those living in public housing in the Moving to Opportunity experiment (1994–1997; Boston, MA; Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY). We employed model-based recursive partitioning to identify subgroups with heterogeneous treatment effects on psychological distress and behavior problems measured in 2002. We tested 35 potential baseline treatment modifiers.Results. For psychological distress, Chicago participants experienced null treatment effects. Outside Chicago, boys experienced detrimental effects, whereas girls experienced beneficial effects. Behavior problems effects were null for adolescents who were aged 10 years or younger at baseline. For adolescents who were older than 10 y...
Aggregate Structure: Effect on the Agglomerate Morphology and Cohesivity

Abstract The relationship between the structure of individual aggregates of carbon black and the packing density and perceived cohesivity of the agglomerates they form is investigated. Five grades of carbon black aggregates have been analyzed for their size and shape characteristics. The aggregates exhibit fractal-like structures and can be distinguished in terms of their perimeter fractal dimension. The cohesivity of agglomerates formed from individual grades of aggregates has been measured using a tensile-test method. These results can be interpreted in terms of Hamaker constants that characterize the cohesive interaction on the length scale of either the aggregate or primary particle. To build a framework in which the morphology and cohesivity of agglomerates can be linked through knowledge of aggregate characteristics, we utilize a three-parameter shape function to describe the configuration of the aggregates. Here, the two-dimensional projections of the aggregates are assumed to be given in polar coo...
Abstract 4530: Nanoparticle formulation of KU55933 as a potent radiosensitizer.

KU55933 is a potent and specific inhibitor of the Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) protein. Given ATM9s critical role in DNA damage repair, specifically double-strand break repair, KU55933 holds high potential as a radiosensitizer. Indeed, previous preclinical studies have demonstrated the radiosentization effect of KU55933. However, clinical translation of KU55933 as a radiosensitizer has been prevented due to concerns of its potential toxicity. Systemic administration of KU55933 would sensitize normal cells as well as cancer cells to the effects of radiotherapy. Such sensitization would not improve the therapeutic index of radiotherapy. Therefore, the key challenge in the translation of KU55933 is to identify methods that can selectively deliver KU55933 to tumors while minimizing normal tissue dose. While traditional drug delivery methods cannot overcome this challenge, the development of nanoparticle (NP) drug delivery vehicles offers a unique opportunity. NPs are known to preferentially accumulate in tumors while provide low drug dose to nearby normal tissues. We hypothesize that NP delivery of KU55933 can not only improve the therapeutic efficacy of KU55933, but also lower its toxicity. In this study, we engineered a NP formulation of KU55933 using a biodegradable lipid-polymer NP. We then compared the radiosensitization effect of NP KU55933 to that of KU55933 in vitro using the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines H23, A549 and H460. Clonogenic survival assays showed that NP KU55933 is a more potent radiosensitizer than KU55933. The differential radiosensitization effect of both KU55933 formulations was also evaluated in a xenograft mouse model of NSCLC. We validated our in vitro results by demonstrating that NP KU55933 is more effective than KU55933 as radiosensitizer in flank xenograft models of NSCLC. To compare the toxicity of NP KU55933 and KU55933, we determined the skin toxicity after radiotherapy with the two drug formulations. We found lower skin toxicity in mice treated with the NP KU55933 than that for KU55933. In conclusion, our studies demonstrate that NP formulation of KU55933 can enhance the radiosensitization effect and decreases the toxicity in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggest that NP KU55933 holds potential for clinical translation. Citation Format: Haydee Lara, Michael B. Foote, Edina C. Wang, Manish Sethi, Patricia Casbas-Hernandez, Andrew Z. Wang. Nanoparticle formulation of KU55933 as a potent radiosensitizer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4530. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4530
Clinging to the Common Law in an Age of Statutes: Criminal Law in the States

Statutes and Common Law share an uneasy relationship within Criminal Law. The promulgation of the Model Penal Code over fifty years ago was heralded as a remarkable accomplishment, and so it was. Adopted in part or in whole by many states, it brought order to the unruly world of Criminal Law doctrine. Or so it seemed. But a troubling phenomenon has followed, one in which judges, indeed all within the criminal justice system, rely on Common Law notions, some of which flatly flout state codes. Though they cannot be reconciled with their code counterparts, often no attempt is made to do that, as judge-made law trumps all.This brief piece examines this development within the law of accomplice liability. It traces this pathological development in an area in which one would think legislative policy would inevitably displace more subjective and visceral notions of what produces just results. More generally, it demonstrates the uneasy (im)balance between these two sources of law.
Oxygen isotope thermometry reveals high magmatic temperatures and short residence times in Yellowstone and other hot-dry rhyolites compared to cold-wet systems

The eruption and storage temperatures of rhyolitic magmas are critical factors for understanding the mechanisms of their eruption and petrogenesis. Temperatures are particularly important when comparing the magmatic histories of hot-dry rhyolites from the Yellowstone-Snake River Plain (YSRP) and Iceland to cold-wet rhyolites such as the Bishop Tuff. Here we employ mineral pair oxygen isotope fractionations for estimating rhyolite temperatures independent of pressure and other compositional factors. We report high precision oxygen isotope analyses of quartz, pyroxene, magnetite, and zircon that we use to estimate crystallization and storage temperatures. Temperatures for YSRP and Icelandic rhyolites are highest for quartz-magnetite and quartz-clinopyroxene (~950 °C), with lower quartz-zircon (850 °C) temperatures that are similar to estimates of zircon saturation. The magnitude and pattern of these temperatures is consistent with crystallization from near-liquidus rhyolites. In contrast, oxygen isotope temperatures calculated for the Bishop and other “cold-wet” type tuffs define low ~760 °C temperatures for all three mineral pairs consistent with prolonged mineral residence at near-solidus conditions. Preservation of a down-temperature crystallization sequence of hot magnetite and clinopyroxene with colder zircon in hot-dry YSRP and Icelandic rhyolites suggest <1000 yr magma residence, where magnetite does not have sufficient time to diffusively equilibrate oxygen in a lower temperature melt. This is consistent with recently determined high precision U-Pb crystallization ages zircons from the same units indicating magma generation shortly before eruption.
Planetary science: Pluto's polygons explained

The Sputnik Planum basin of Pluto contains a sheet of nitrogen ice, the surface of which is divided into irregular polygons tens of kilometres across. Two studies reveal that vigorous convection causes these polygons. See Letters p.79 & 82
The Transport of 14-MeV Neutrons Through Heavy Materials 150 < A < 208

The emission spectra from holmium (0.8 mfp), tantalum (1 and 3 mfp), gold (1.9 mfp), and lead (1.0 mfp) have been measured using the sphere transmission and time-of-flight techniques. The 14-MeV incident neutrons are from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory insulated-core-transformer accelerator using the /sup 3/H(d,n)/sup 4/He reaction. These materials were chosen to span a wide range of heavy nuclei, including deformed (holmium and tantalum), spherical (gold), and closed-shell (lead) nuclei. The neutron emission spectra have been measured in the 1- to 15-MeV energy interval and the results compared with Monte Carlo calculations performed using the neutron-photon transport code TART and evaluated neutron cross-section files. An alternative representation of the secondary neutron spectra has been carried out by using model calculations for precompound processes and collective effects in the calculations of the pulsed sphere emission spectra. Their importance in the quality of the agreement between measurements and calculations is discussed. The measurements are compared with the predictions of two evaluated neutron libraries, the ENDF/B-V and evaluated nuclear data library (ENDL). In addition, calculations have been carried out using neutron cross sections calculated directly from well-accepted nuclear models by the ALICE/LIVERMORE 82 and ECIS 79 codes. The quality of the agreementsmore » between the measurements and calculations obtained with the latter cross sections and those from the ENDL library is reasonably good for all the targets, and these are systematically better than the results obtained with the ENDF/B-V files. Discrepancies between measurements and calculations as great as 80% are found using the ENDF/B-V files for the emission of neutrons from gold in the 5- to 10-MeV energy range.« less
Comparing Android App Permissions

With increasingly more apps added to the Google Play Store, the security of those apps is a concern. Users cannot sort apps based on their expected permissions. An interface was designed that allows users to specify their ideal permissions for an app. The ideal permissions are used to evaluate a list of apps based on proximity to that ideal. Apps are presented to indicate greater or less security using cues of color and presentation order. A survey was conducted to see whether the interface discouraged users from downloading an app that requires many permissions when compared to information provided by the Google Play Store. Most users showed significant concern towards their mobile app security, with 50 % of the users responding to the interface with greater concern over the app requiring many permissions. The research concludes that increasing user awareness of security increases user selection of more secure apps.
Labour — The Grand Desideratum

Although the Andamans were a penal settlement, the British always cherished a vision of transforming their imperial outpost into a flourishing agricultural colony like the other island colonies in the Indian Ocean. For the colonial administration the challenges were many. Converting the Andamans, covered with dense tropical forests, marshes and swamps, into a naval station, a port of call or a convict station, let alone an agricultural colony, required expending huge amounts of labour. Working the colony was a task beyond the convicts alone and necessitated the importation of free labour, Chinese contractors, Indian traders and merchants, and contractual labour. The use of free labour alongside convict labour raked up controversy that the Settlement could ill-afford. In addition, the long-term goal of transforming the Islands into a profitable entity had to be reconciled with the day-to-day working of the penal colony whose management rested in the hands of the individual superintendents and officials who had their own personal and divergent conceptions of working the island space. So far historians have discussed the ideological significance of labour in the Andamans as a crucial integrative and controlling (or reforming) device.2 This chapter focuses on the actual working of the labour regime in the Andamans. It examines how the colonial administration organized and allocated labour to the convict workforce and thereby attempted to reconcile and meet the challenges that it faced.
A direct-conversion receiver for multi-carrier 3G/4G small-cell base stations in 65nm CMOS

We present a 65nm direct conversion receiver for small cell 3G/4G basestations. The receiver supports up to 100MHz of RF BW and carrier frequencies from 400MHz to 6GHz, with 80dB image rejection and 76dB in-band SFDR. The direct conversion architecture eliminates IF filtering and the need for RF filtering of images and M×N mixing products, reducing basestation size and cost.
Treatment of Metastatic Prostate Cancer in Older Adults.

The aging of the population, along with rising life expectancy, means that increasing numbers of older men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and a large proportion of these men will present with metastatic disease. In this paper, we discuss recent advances in prostate cancer treatment. In particular, we review management approaches for older patients with metastatic prostate cancer based on the decision tree developed by the International Society of Geriatric Oncology, which categorized older men as “fit,” “vulnerable,” and “frail” according to comprehensive geriatric assessment.
Tensile properties of accident-tolerant aluminum-bearing ferritic steels

Abstract Tensile behavior of Kanthal APMT™ steel was studied over a temperature range from room temperature to 500 °C at three strain rates (10 −4 , 10 −3 and 10 −2 s −1 ). Yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and percentage elongation to fracture were evaluated. Serrated plastic flow was observed in a specific temperature/strain rate regime, signifying occurrence of dynamic strain aging (DSA). Characteristic features of DSA such as plateau/peak in yield and tensile strength as a function of temperature, ductility minima and negative strain rate sensitivity were also observed. The activation energy of serrated flow was found to be influenced by diffusion of interstitial impurity modified by high concentration of chromium. Microstructural examination and Vickers hardness testing were also performed on Kanthal APMT™ steel. Room temperature tensile properties of the APMT™ steel were compared with those of Goodfellow FeCralloy™ steel in the light of relevant strengthening mechanisms.
Markov Decision Process-Based Distributed Conflict Resolution for Drone Air Traffic Management

Ensuring safety and providing timely conflict alerts to small unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, is important to their integration into civil airspace. This paper proposes a short-term conflict avoidance algorithm for an automated low-altitude, small unmanned aircraft traffic management system. The goal is to balance between aircraft safety and efficiency subject to uncertainty in the environment, aircraft, and pilot response. The proposed algorithm generates advisories for each aircraft to follow, and is based on decomposing a large multiagent Markov decision process and fusing their solutions. As a result, the method scales well and resolves conflicts efficiently. Further, this paper presents a massively distributed architecture used to implement the conflict avoidance algorithm on a practical scale in which simultaneous conflicts can be solved in parallel in tens of milliseconds. Our controller significantly outperforms two baseline algorithms based on uncoordinated and closest-threat heurist...
Head pose estimation from images using Canonical Correlation Analysis

Head pose estimation, though a trivial task for the human visual system, remains a challenging problem for computer vision systems. The task requires identifying the modes of image variance that directly pertain to pose changes, while generalizing across face identity and mitigating other image variances. Conventional methods such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) fail to identify the true relationship between the observed space and the pose variable, while supervised methods such as Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) neglect the continuous nature of pose variation and take a discrete multi-class approach. We present a method for estimating head pose using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), where pose variation is regarded as a continuous variable and is represented by a manifold in feature space. The proposed technique directly identifies the underlying dimension that maximizes correlation between the observed image and pose variable. It is shown to increase estimation accuracy and provide a more compact image representation that better captures pose features. Additionally, an enhanced version of the system is proposed that utilizes Gabor filters for providing pose sensitive input to the correlation based system. The preprocessed input serves to increase the overall accuracy of the pose estimation system. The accuracy of the techniques is evaluated using the Pointing '04 and CUbiC FacePix(30) pose varying face databases and is shown to produce a lower estimation error when compared to both PCA and LDA based methods.
Dyssynchrony, Contractile Function, and Response to Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Background—Despite benefits of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with severe but less symptomatic heart failure, approximately 30% of patients do not fully respond to treatment. W...
Media Reporting and Emergency Room Testing Trends

Physicians have a duty to learn the facts and use their medical expertise to allay patients' fears rather than order unnecessary tests when a certain disease or condition receives a great deal of media coverage. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Noncoding RNAs in breast cancer

Recent advances in RNA sequencing technologies have unveiled the complexity of RNA world outdating the traditional view that many noncoding RNA (ncRNA) transcripts are transcriptional noise, while the protein coding genes are important players in cancer signaling. Accumulating evidence suggests that they are not only key regulators of gene expression, but also direct targets of cancer pathways. These are mainly classified according to their size: microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) being the most studied. The field has rapidly expanded and it is impossible to cover all the nuances in a single chapter. Noncoding RNAs, including miRNAs (~22 nucleotides long RNAs) and lncRNAs (>200 nucleotides), regulate gene expression at the transcriptional levels or post-transcriptionally by modulating the function of transcription factors, directing chromatin reorganization and modification, or by inhibiting the translation or stability of messenger RNA (mRNA). Here, we provide an overview of the role of ncRNAs in breast cancer and their prognostic and predictive potential in the clinical practice.
Systemically Screwing Dads: Out of Control Paternity Schemes

In 1983 in Lehr v. Robertson the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that paternity opportunity interests for biological fathers in children born to unwed mothers usually implicate federal constitutional life, liberty or property interests and thus warrant guarantees of fair procedures in adoptions. In 1989 in Michael H. v. Gerald D., the court reiterated that for any such father, there is the unique opportunity to develop a relationship with his offspring, though a similar paternity opportunity may be unavailable where the child is born to a mother married to another. Under Lehr and Michael H., when paternity schemes systematically and unfairly interfere with men who wish, or might wish, to pursue paternity opportunities, these schemes should fail. The Lehr court specifically recognized that governmental systems that likely omit many responsible fathers for reasons beyond their control can be procedurally inadequate.Unfortunately, many contemporary American paternity schemes are now out of control. They frequently omit many responsible fathers who have little or no control over the unique opportunity to develop a parent-child relationship. As well, often these omissions undercut rather than promote the general policies underlying paternity laws, including dual parenthood and equality. In particular, current state birth certificate, safe haven and adoption schemes are flawed under U.S. Supreme Court precedents like Parratt v. Taylor in 1981 and Monell v. Department of Social Services in 1978.Flawed paternity schemes can be easily fixed. Suggested reforms are presented after a brief review of control and the unique paternity opportunity interest under Lehr; the general requirements for procedurally adequate paternity regimes; the policies guiding contemporary American paternity laws; and, the deficiencies in current American birth certificate, safe haven and adoption schemes.
Books and Exhibits

(1991). Books and Exhibits. Journal of Museum Education: Vol. 16, New Views from Zoos, pp. 23-26.
Genetic Risk in Chronic Pancreatitis: The Trypsin-Dependent Pathway

Genetic investigations have provided unique insight into the mechanism of chronic pancreatitis in humans and firmly established that uncontrolled trypsin activity is a central pathogenic factor. Mutations in the PRSS1, SPINK1, and CTRC genes promote increased activation of trypsinogen to trypsin by stimulation of autoactivation or by impairing protective trypsinogen degradation and/or trypsin inhibition. Here we review key genetic and biochemical features of the trypsin-dependent pathological pathway in chronic pancreatitis.
The Jewel in the Crown: Specific Aims Section of Investigator-Initiated Grant Proposals

The specific aims section of National Institutes of Health and other grants is the most important component, as it summarizes the scientific premise, gap in current knowledge, hypotheses, methods, and expected results of the project proposed. The reviewer usually reads this section first and forms an immediate opinion, usually confirmed on reading the entire grant. This treatise reviews the philosophical background underlying generation of hypotheses, emphasizes the important characteristics of the specific aims section, and offers a point-by-point roadmap for writing. This perspective arose out of a new Endocrine Society initiative in which senior investigators review the specific aims of next-generation members.
Difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse: A path analysis.

Abstract Introduction Alcohol and drugs are widely used among college students. Emotion dysregulation has been identified as a key mechanism in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of alcohol and drug misuse. Yet, research in this area has been limited by its narrow focus on dysregulation stemming from negative emotions. The goal of the current study was to extend past research by examining the relation of difficulties regulating positive emotions to alcohol and drug misuse. Methods Participants were 311 college students (Mage = 19.24; 66.1% female; 66.0% White) who completed measures assessing difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse. Results Structural equational modeling was used to model the relation between difficulties regulating positive emotions and alcohol and drug misuse. In a hypothesized structural model, higher levels of difficulties regulating positive emotions were found to relate to greater alcohol and drug misuse. Moreover, an alternative model provided support for an association of greater drug (but not alcohol) misuse to higher levels of difficulties regulating positive emotions. Conclusions If replicated, findings may suggest the utility of targeting difficulties regulating positive emotions in treatments aimed at reducing alcohol and drug misuse among college students.
Infrared Light Structured Sensor Three-dimensional Approach to Estimate Kidney Volume: A Validation Study.

Abstract Objective To validate a new procedure for the three-dimensional estimation of total renal parenchyma volumeusing a structured-light infrared laser sensor. Methods To evaluate the accuracy of the sensor for assessing renal volume, we performed 3 experiments. Twenty freshly excised porcine kidneys were obtained. Experiment A, the water displacement method was used to obtain a determination of the renal parenchyma volume after immersing every kidney into 0.9% saline. Thereafter a structured sensor (Occipital, San Francisco, CA) was used to scan the kidney. Kidney sample surface was presented initially as a mesh and then imported into MeshLab (Visual Computing Lab, Pisa, Italy) software to obtain the surface volume. Experiment B, a partial excision of the kidney with measurement of the excised volume and remnant was performed. Experiment C, a renorrhaphy of the remnant kidney was performed then measured. Bias and limits of agreement (LOA) were determined using the Bland-Altman method. Reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results Experiment A, the sensor bias was −1.95mL (LOA: −19.5 to 15.59, R 2 = 0.410) with slightly overestimating the volumes. Experiment B, remnant kidney after partial excision and excised kidneyvolume were measured showing a sensor bias of −0.5mL (LOA −5.34 to 4.20, R 2 = 0.490) and −0.6mL (LOA: −1.97.08 to 0.77, R 2 = 0.561), respectively. Experiment C, the sensor bias was −0.89mL (LOA −12.9 to 11.1, R 2 = 0.888). ICC was 0.9998. Conclusion The sensor is a reliable method for assessing total renal volume with high levels of accuracy.
Seeking Explanations for Pharmacological and Toxicological Phenomena in the Metabolic Reactions of the Intestinal Flora

It is an honor to attend this Symposium organized to pay respects to the late Professor Piet De Somer. The range of the subject matter under discussion is testimony to the breadth of Prof. P. De Somer’s scientific interests just as the Rega Institute is an Embodiment of his recognition that scientific progress requires the commitment of tangible resources. Clearly Prof. De Somer was a scientist who recognized the need to explore practical means to foster a productive relationship between scientific progress and its practical applications.
NUMERICAL MODEL OF THE ARRESTED TOPOGRAPHIC WAVE

Abstract Longshore currents in the coastal boundary layer under conditions of the arrested topographic wave (Csanady, 1976) are modeled with finite-difference techniques. The numerical solution of this paper has the significant advantage of utilizing realistic complicated bottom topography as opposed to the linear slope required in the analytical solution. The model is driven by realistic observed winds rather than stylized wind fields periodic in wave number space. The analysis is based on the approach of a vertically averaged velocity with a linear bottom friction and omits density considerations. The distribution of cross-shore and longshore current velocity output from the model is compared to both (1) the analytical solution and (2) field data from several coastal regions.
Frequently deleted genes in ovarian cancer as indicators of platinum response.

5583 Background: Integrating chromosomal deletions/amplifications with sequencing alterations is increasingly important in the determination of key drivers of outcome in cancer (Leary 2008, Curtis ...
Fitting a Square Peg in a Round Hole: A Simple Case of Chest Pain

A 39-year-old female presents to the emergency department with chest pain and shortness of breath. Her electrocardiogram suggests ST-elevation myocardial infarction, but she has no atherosclerotic risk factors. She is gravida 4, para 4, and four weeks postpartum from uncomplicated vaginal delivery. She is diaphoretic and anxious, but otherwise her exam is unremarkable. Cardiac enzymes are markedly elevated and point-of-care echocardiogram shows inferolateral hypokinesis and ejection fraction of 50%. In this clinicopathological case, we explore a classically underappreciated cause of acute coronary syndrome in healthy young women.
Cost-effectiveness of small scale biomass supply chain and bioenergy production systems in carbon credit markets: A life cycle perspective

Abstract Numerous tools and policies are being developed to promote and incentivize the development and deployment of clean fuel technologies. Carbon emission trading is known as one of the most effective market-based tools to control the generation of carbon emissions. Evaluating the best scenarios to deploy, clean energy solutions must include technology, supply chain, carbon emission and investments analyses. There is still a debate about the feasibility and sustainability of bioenergy scenarios for the different markets. Adapting life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) tools, this study compared the cost-effectiveness of four bio-based energy generation pathways with a diesel-based power generation as the baseline scenario within the context of Canadian remote and rural communities. This analysis provides a ranking of these bioenergy pathways and highlights the potential carbon offsets and credits of the bio-based pathways in comparison with the baseline scenario. Additional tools including multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) are required to provide a complete decision-making platform.
Finding influential groups in networked systems: The most degree-central clique problem

Abstract Degree centrality of a cluster of vertices in a network is defined as the number of vertices outside the cluster that are adjacent to at least one vertex in the cluster. The concept of degree centrality is often used in the network analysis literature to quantify the influence of the vertex cluster within the network. That is, a large value of degree centrality shows that the cluster is adjacent to a large number of vertices outside the cluster, thus indicating its high potential for directly influencing outside components in the network. In this paper, we study the most degree-central clique problem, which is defined as the problem of finding a clique of maximum degree centrality in a network. In other words, we seek an influential cohesive cluster of vertices with no restrictions on the size of the cluster, but requiring that the cluster is highly cohesive by itself, i.e., it forms a clique. We establish that the decision version of considered problem is NP-complete. Then, we explore important theoretical properties of the problem and consequently exploit them to implement a specialized combinatorial branch-and-bound algorithm. Finally, using a collection of randomly generated and real-life networks, we compare the performance of our exact algorithm against an integer programming formulation, along with the discussion of some interesting insights.
High-Accuracy Preintegration for Visual-Inertial Navigation.

Visual-inertial navigation that is able to provide accurate 3D localization in GPS-denied environments has seen popularity in recent years due to the proliferation of cost-effective cameras and inertial measurement units (IMUs). While an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is often used for sensor fusion, factor graph-based optimization has recently revealed its superior performance, which, however, is still compromised by the lack of rigorous IMU preintegration (i.e., integrating IMU measurements in a local frame of reference). To address this issue, in this paper, we analytically derive preintegration based on closed-form solutions of the continuous IMU measurement equations. These expressions allow us to analytically compute the mean, covariance, and bias Jacobians for a set of IMU preintegration factors. These accurate factors are subsequently fused with the visual information via visual-inertial factor graph optimization to provide high-precision trajectory estimates. The proposed method is validated on both Monte Carlo simulations and real-world experiments.
ACCURATE COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AND SUPERSYMMETRIC PARTICLE PROPERTIES

Future satellite, balloon and ground based experiments will give precision determinations of the basic cosmological parameters and hence determine the amount of cold dark matter in the universe accurately. We consider here two cosmological models, the νCDM model and the ΛCDM model, and examine within the framework of supergravity grand unification the effect this will have for these models on supersymmetry searches at accelerators. In the former example, the gluino (neutralino) mass has an upper bound of about 720(100) GeV and gaps (forbidden regions) may develop at lower energies. In the latter case the upper bound occurs at gluino (neutralino) mass of about 520(70) GeV with the squarks and selectron becoming light when gluino (neutralino) masses are greater than 420(55) GeV. Both models are sensitive to non-universal soft breaking masses, and show a correlation between large (small) dark matter detector event rates and low (high) b→ s + γ branching ratio.
‘I’m going to need a lot of therapy for this someday:’ Finding your ‘grit’ in graduate school during COVID

Completing a social work graduate degree can be an exciting and a challenging time for students, but the addition of a global pandemic is likely impacting their educational experiences. Using a mod...
Main Inequalities on Rn3

Chapter 2 covers the foundational inequalities for integrals of functions in Euclidean space. The two key results in this chapter are that symmetric decreasing rearrangement of a continuous function decreases the modulus of continuity, and that certain integral expressions increase when functions are replaced by their symmetric decreasing rearrangement. Other results include the Hardy-Littlewood inequality and the contractivity of rearrangements in the L-infinity norm.
Evaluating the effectiveness of spare parts replenishment methods for warranty service satisfaction

After a mobile communication device (MCD) has been sold, the customer may find that there is a defect. MCD manufacturers usually contract a third-party warranty service provider (WSP) to perform repairs of manufacturing defects and to ship a repaired MCD back to the customer. The contract established between the MCD manufacturer and the WSP clearly specifies the minimum required service levels for repair lead time and fill rate that must be met by the WSP. In this research, the ability of two distinct spare parts replenishment methods to meet minimum required service levels at a minimum cost was evaluated using a discrete event simulation approach. The results show that both methods satisfy minimum service level requirements with no significant difference in average total system cost. However, the results also indicate that their performance with respect to average repair lead time and average fill rate is significantly different.
Shear-Warp deluxe: the Shear-Warp algorithm revisited

Despite continued advances in volume rendering technology, the Shear-Warp algorithm, although conceived as early as 1994, still remains the world's fastest purely software-based volume rendering algorithm. The impressive speed of near double-digit framerates for moderately sized datasets, however, does come at the price of reduced image quality and memory consumption. In this paper, we present the implementation and impact of certain measures that seek to address these shortcomings. Specifically, we investigate the effects of: (i) post-interpolated classification and shading, (ii) matched volume sampling on zoom, (iii) the interpolation of intermediate slices to reduce inter-slice aliasing, and (iv) the re-use of encoded RLE runs for more than one major viewing direction to preserve memory. We also study a new variation of the shear-warp algorithm that operates on body-centered cubic grids. We find that the reduction of the number of voxels that this grid affords translates into direct savings in rendering times, with minimal degradation in image quality.
The New γ-CFAR Detector For Astronomical Image Processing

In this paper, we propose a new constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector based on a family of gamma kernels which provide the ability to change the scale and shape of a stencil that models the local area in an image. This new detector is called the CFAR detector. The scale and shape can be selected adaptively after training in such a way so as to give minimum false alarms. The detector makes the maximal use of intensity information to discriminate targets from background clutter. A significant increase in the signal-to-noise ratio can be attained.
Inductive inference of logical DES controllers using the L* algorithm

It is well known that learning procedures such as the L* algorithm will infer minimal deterministic finite automatons (DFA) in polynomial time through the use of membership and equivalence queries. This paper introduces a modification of the L*-algorithm that can be used for the inductively inferring optimal logical DES controllers in which prior knowledge of the plant is confined to a finite lookahead window of predicted behaviours.
Assessment of Adult Neurogenesis in Mice

Adult neurogenesis is a lifelong developmental process that occurs in two discrete regions in the adult mammalian brain: the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus (DG) and the subventricular zone (SVZ) along the lateral ventricles. Despite immense interest in the therapeutic potential of adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) residing along these two neurogenic regions, molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating this process are not fully defined. Defining the regulatory mechanisms responsible for the genesis of new neurons in the adult brain is integral to understanding the basic biology of aNSCs. The techniques described here provide a basic blueprint to isolate, culture, and perform experiments using aNSCs in vitro as well as providing methods to perform immunohistochemistry on brain sections. Curr. Protoc. Toxicol. 56:12.20.1-12.20.16. © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: neurogenesis; adult neural stem cells (aNSC); immunohistochemistry; primary culture; primary cell isolation; brain section
Elicited imitation as a measure of second language proficiency: A narrative review and meta-analysis

Elicited imitation (EI) has been widely used to examine second language (L2) proficiency and development and was an especially popular method in the 1970s and early 1980s. However, as the field embraced more communicative approaches to both instruction and assessment, the use of EI diminished, and the construct-related validity of EI scores as a representation of language proficiency was called into question. Current uses of EI, while not discounting the importance of communicative activities and assessments, tend to focus on the importance of processing and automaticity. This study presents a systematic review of EI in an effort to clarify the construct and usefulness of EI tasks in L2 research.The review underwent two phases: a narrative review and a meta-analysis. We surveyed 76 theoretical and empirical studies from 1970 to 2014, to investigate the use of EI in particular with respect to the research/assessment context and task features. The results of the narrative review provided a theoretical basis...