cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relation of body mass index and waist-to-height ratio to cardiovascular disease risk factors in children and adolescents: the Bogalusa Heart Study

Background: Several investigators have concluded that the waist-to-height ratio is more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors than is the body mass index (BMI; in kg/m 2 ). Objectives: We examined the relation of the BMI-for-age z score and waist-to-height ratio to risk factors (lipids, fasting insulin, and blood pressures). We also compared the abilities of these 2 indexes to identify children with adverse risk factors. Design: Children aged 5-17 y (n = 2498) in the Bogalusa Heart Study were evaluated. Results: As assessed by the ability of the 2 indexes to 1) account for the variability in each risk factor and 2) correctly identify children with adverse values, the predictive abilities of the BMI-for-age z score and waist-to-height ratio were similar. Waist-to-height ratio was slightly better (0.01-0.02 higher R 2 values, P < 0.05) in predicting concentrations of total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio and LDL cholesterol, but BMI was slightly better in identifying children with high systolic blood pressure (0.03 higher R 2 , P < 0.05) in predicting measures of fasting insulin and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. On the basis of an overall index of the 6 risk factors, no difference was observed in the predictive abilities of BMI-for-age and waist-to-height ratio, with areas under the curves of 0.85 and 0.86 (P = 0.30) and multiple R 2 values of 0.320 and 0.318 (P = 0.79). This similarity likely results from the high intercorrelation (R 2 = 0.78) between the 2 indexes. Conclusions: BMI-for-age and waist-to-height ratio do not differ in their abilities to identify children with adverse risk factors. Although waist-to-height ratio may be preferred because of its simplicity, additional longitudinal data are needed to examine its relation to disease.
The use of lipid microtubes as a novel slow-release delivery system for laryngeal injection.

Objectives/Hypothesis: The potential utility of direct injection of bioactive substances in the treatment of vocal fold tissue fibrosis is limited by rapid clearance from the injection site. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of a lipid-based microtube delivery system to preserve the biological activity of injected substances and prolong their duration of pharmacological effects in the larynx. Study Design: Prospective in vitro and case–control in vivo murine study Methods: Lipid-based microtubes were loaded with Texas red-dextran (MT-TR) and hepatocyte growth factor (MT-HGF). In vitro and in vivo (using a murine vocal fold injection model) release of MT-TR and MT-HGF were determined to assess duration of microtube-mediated delivery. The biologic effects of MT-HGF on fibroblasts were assessed after treatment in the presence of transforming growth factor (TGF)-b. Results: In vitro release kinetics demonstrated slow release of MT-TR and MT-HGF, correlating with in vivo results demonstrating persistence of MT-HGF at 4 weeks postinjection. Bioefficacy was maintained, as MT-HGF was shown to inhibit TGFb-mediated induction of procollagen mRNA levels in vitro 24 hours after treatment in fibroblast cells. Sustained release of HGF from microtubes at 6 days exacerbated the effects of TGF-b and increased levels of procollagen mRNA. Conclusions: Microtubes have significant potential utility as an efficacious means of sustained-release delivery of bioactive agents to the larynx. Atthough the role of HGF as an antifibrotic agent is questioned, its sustained bioefficacy after microtube encapsulation distinguishes microtubes from other delivery vehicles.
B cells and Immunological Tolerance

Work from multiple groups continues to provide additional evidence for the powerful and highly diverse roles, both protective and pathogenic, that B cells play in autoimmune diseases. Similarly, it has become abundantly clear that antibody-independent functions may account for the opposing influences that B cells exercise over other arms of the immune response and ultimately over autoimmunity itself. Finally, it is becoming apparent that the clinical impact of B-cell depletion therapy may be, to a large extent, determined by the functional balance between different B-cell subsets that may be generated by this therapeutic intervention. In this review, we postulate that our perspective of B-cell tolerance and our experimental approach to its understanding are fundamentally changed by this view of B cells. Accordingly, we first discuss current knowledge of B-cell tolerance conventionally defined as the censoring of autoantibody-producing B cells (with an emphasis on human B cells). Therefore, we discuss a different model that contemplates B cells not only as targets of tolerance but also as mediators of tolerance. This model is based on the notion that the onset of clinical autoimmune disease may require a B-cell gain-of-pathogenic function (or a B-cell loss-of-regulatory-function) and that accordingly, disease remission may depend on the restoration of the physiological balance between B-cell pathogenic and protective functions.
Bayesian priors for tree calibration: Evaluating two new approaches based on fossil intervals

Background: Studies of diversification and trait evolution increasingly rely on combining molecular sequences and fossil dates to infer time-calibrated phylogenetic trees. Available calibration software provides many options for the shape of the prior probability distribution of ages at a node to be calibrated, but the question of how to assign a Bayesian prior from limited fossil data remains open. Results: We introduce two new methods for generating priors based upon (1) the interval between the two oldest fossils in a clade, i.e., the penultimate gap (PenG), and (2) the ghost lineage length (GLin), defined as the difference between the oldest fossils for each of two sister lineages. We show that PenG and GLin/2 are point estimates of the interval between the oldest fossil and the true age for the node. Furthermore, given either of these quantities, we derive a principled prior distribution for the true age. This prior is log-logistic, and can be implemented approximately in existing software. Using simulated data, we test these new methods against some other approaches. Conclusions: When implemented as approaches for assigning Bayesian priors, the PenG and GLin methods increase the accuracy of inferred divergence times, showing considerably more precision than the other methods tested, without significantly greater bias. When implemented as approaches to post-hoc scaling of a tree by linear regression, the PenG and GLin methods exhibit less bias than other methods tested. The new methods are simple to use and can be applied to a variety of studies that call for calibrated trees.
Transcriptional Profiling of Newly Generated Dentate Granule Cells Using TU Tagging Reveals Pattern Shifts in Gene Expression during Circuit Integration.

Abstract Despite representing only a small fraction of hippocampal granule cells, adult-generated newborn granule cells have been implicated in learning and memory (Aimone et al., 2011). Newborn granule cells undergo functional maturation and circuit integration over a period of weeks. However, it is difficult to assess the accompanying gene expression profiles in vivo with high spatial and temporal resolution using traditional methods. Here we used a novel method [“thiouracil (TU) tagging”] to map the profiles of nascent mRNAs in mouse immature newborn granule cells compared with mature granule cells. We targeted a nonmammalian uracil salvage enzyme, uracil phosphoribosyltransferase, to newborn neurons and mature granule cells using retroviral and lentiviral constructs, respectively. Subsequent injection of 4-TU tagged nascent RNAs for analysis by RNA sequencing. Several hundred genes were significantly enhanced in the retroviral dataset compared with the lentiviral dataset. We compared a selection of the enriched genes with steady-state levels of mRNAs using quantitative PCR. Ontology analysis revealed distinct patterns of nascent mRNA expression, with newly generated immature neurons showing enhanced expression for genes involved in synaptic function, and neural differentiation and development, as well as genes not previously associated with granule cell maturation. Surprisingly, the nascent mRNAs enriched in mature cells were related to energy homeostasis and metabolism, presumably indicative of the increased energy demands of synaptic transmission and their complex dendritic architecture. The high spatial and temporal resolution of our modified TU-tagging method provides a foundation for comparison with steady-state RNA analyses by traditional transcriptomic approaches in defining the functional roles of newborn neurons.
Designing implodable underwater systems to minimize implosion pulse severity

Underwater implosion is the rapid and catastrophic collapse of a pressure vessel subjected to external pressure, resulting in a very short but high-pressure pulse in the surrounding water that can potentially damage adjacent structures or personnel. Any system with an internal pressure below external pressure is susceptible to implosion. The pressure pulse from a single implosion has been known to trigger subsequent sympathetic implosions. This work investigates methods of reducing the implosion pulse severity for unstiffened metallic cylindrical pressure vessels. The implosion pulse energy is proportional to the maximum system kinetic energy developed during collapse. It can be reduced by (1) increasing the plastic energy dissipated by the collapsing structure, or (2) increasing the energy required to compress the internal gas. Plastic energy dissipation is increased by triggering higher buckling modes through introduction of geometric imperfections. Numerical simulations show that this technique can reduce implosion pulse energy for a sample cylinder by up to 33%, while reducing the buckling strength of the cylinder by only 0.5%. The energy required for gas compression can be increased by initially pressurizing the interior of the implodable. The benefit from this technique is bounded by other limitations on internal pressure, such as equipment and human survivability. A slight increase in gas compression energy is also realized by substituting a noble gas for air. These techniques can be applied, singly or in combination, to any implodable design to significantly reduce the pulse severity and minimize the risk of sympathetic implosions.
Equivalent circuits

EQUIVALENT circuits have been used from time to time in the solution of various magnetic and electrical problems. They have been found valuable in that they clarify the problem, simplify the analysis, and provide a means of replacing magnetic coupling with pure impedance links, thereby permitting the use of the calculating board for solution.
A novel mechanism by which hydrogen peroxide decreases calcium sensitivity in airway smooth muscle.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that H2O2decreases the amount of force produced by a given intracellular Ca2+ concentration (i.e., the Ca2+ sensitivity) in airway smooth muscle...
Angiotensin II exacerbates lipopolysaccharide-induced contractile depression in rabbit cardiac myocytes

In sepsis, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) depresses cardiac function by inducing production of nitric oxide (NO) and its second messenger cGMP. LPS also stimulates ANG II production. We hypothesized that...
Gasket temperature: an alternate technique for estimating sample temperature in a multi-anvil apparatus

ABSTRACTIt is common for sample temperatures to be estimated by the power input to the furnace in multi-anvil experiments in which a thermocouple cannot be used or the thermocouple failed during heating. Uncertainties using this technique are often on the order of ±85°C or larger. This paper describes a new method for estimating sample temperature using a second thermocouple outside all pressure media. Temperatures recorded at this external (gasket) thermocouple trend linearly with the internal (sample) thermocouple temperature. Because of thermal lag, it is necessary to determine the first gasket temperature (T0) corresponding to the desired sample temperature. Accurate prediction of T0 for the desired sample temperature can come from relatively few (5–6) gasket-temperature measurements made during the initial temperature ramp over a small temperature range (500–600°C). Using this method and manually ramping to T0 allows for uncertainties in sample temperature estimation as small as ±20°C.
Computing the margin of victory in IRV elections

Efficient post-election audits select the number of machines or precincts to audit based in part on the margin of victory (the number of ballots that must be changed in order to change the outcome); a close election needs more auditing than a landslide victory. For a simple "first-pastthe-post" election, the margin is easily computed based on the number of votes the first and second place candidates received. However, for instant runoff voting (IRV) elections, it is not immediately obvious how to compute the margin of victory. This paper presents algorithmic techniques for computing the margin of victory for IRV elections. We evaluate our method by attempting to compute the margin of victory for 25 IRV elections in the United States. The margin of victory computed can then be used to conduct post-election audits more effectively for IRV elections.
Head-to-Modifier Reanalysis: The Rise of the Adjectival Quantifier Viel and the Loss of Genitive Case Assignment

The quantifier viel changes from exhibiting properties of a head in Old High German to exhibiting properties of a modifier in Modern German. This is accompanied by changes in word order vis-a-vis its quantified constituent and the loss of the ability to assign genitive case to some of the quantified constituents. Assuming that quantifying expressions may have various syntactic representations, we argue that viel develops from a quantifying noun to a particle in Card0 to an adjectival quantifier in Spec, CardP, and that this structural change in the position of viel can account in part for the morphosyntactic properties of the quantified element. The development of viel from a quantifying noun to a quantifying particle—a case of head-to-head reanalysis—is typical of grammaticalization. However, the change from a particle to an adjectival quantifier represents head-to-specifier reanalysis, which we relate to degrammaticalization due to analogy with other inflected elements of the DP. The change in word order and case properties of the quantified constituent represents a third type of reanalysis, whereby an embedded nominal undergoes downward reanalysis. Depending on the structural size—that is, whether a DP-layer is present or not—the dependent nominal either integrates into the matrix nominal agreeing with viel or, if too large, it takes up a new embedded position as a complement of the matrix head noun, retaining genitive. We demonstrate that in each case, the morphological change lags behind the syntactic reanalysis. *
Why Might Information Exacerbate the Gender Gap in Civic Participation? Evidence from Mali

Summary Civic engagement fails to foster democratic representation when women or other marginalized groups face barriers to participation, as they do in many societies. Rather than flattening civic participation, a randomly assigned civic education course in Mali widened the gender gap when it increased civic activity among men while decreasing it among women. Qualitative data collected through focus groups and interviews reveal mechanisms by which the intervention generated these perverse consequences for women. In a place where women are traditionally unwelcome actors in the public sphere, female participation in the course constituted deviation from a pre-existing social norm. As compensation, women self-impose limits to future civic participation and men erect new barriers as a form of backlash. These findings are consistent with the “resource paradox” described in the literature in which increasing resources among women can yield negative outcomes when asymmetric or gendered social norms neutralize, or even invert, whatever benefits the resource confers on the woman. The civics intervention did, however, work to improve civic and political knowledge for men and women. Together, these findings suggest that resource constraints limit civic participation, but increasing informational resources cannot overcome discriminatory gender norms—and may even exacerbate them. One implication of the study is that future participatory interventions like this one should be more attuned to the social constraints faced by women and other marginalized groups to both avoid setting untenable expectation and anticipate reactions to breaches of the status quo.
Reproductive Regulations and Rhetoric: Which Bodies, What Choices?

Denbow, J. M. (2015). Governed through choice: Autonomy, technology, and the politics of reproduction. New York, NY: New York University Press. Price: $28.00 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-4798-4391-6Wher...
Outcomes Following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancies in Patients with or without Advanced Care Planning.

Background: Given the elective nature of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the increased mortality and the potential loss of decision making capacity, patients undergoing HSCT are encouraged to have advanced care planning (ACP). This however could result in undue anxiety for the patient and their families since going through the process of having ACP explicitly raises the possibility of death. We compared the outcomes of patients with or without ACP who received HSCT for hematologic malignancies. Study Design: Patients age ≥19 yrs undergoing first allogeneic or autologous HSCT for a hematological malignancy between 2001 and 2003 were included in this study. Psychosocial assessments, including discussions about ACP, defined as having living will, power of attorney for health care, and life support instructions, conducted prior to transplant, were reviewed. Patients were classified according to presence or absence of ACP at HSCT. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to compare the risk of 100-day mortality between those with and without ACP while controlling for patient-, disease-, and transplant-related variables. Other outcomes evaluated include: days of hospitalization and in-hospital mortality. Results: Of the 380 eligible patients, psychosocial assessments were available for 343 patients (90%). Of these, 146 either had ACP (n=138, 40%) or completed it (n=8, 2%) during the pre-transplant process, while 197 did not have it but were open to the idea of having it in the future (n=161, 47%) or did not plan to have ACP (n=36, 11%). Older patients (p Conclusions: The absence of differences in the outcomes of patients with or without ACP suggests that engagement in ACP is not reflective of HSCT risk. Factors other than outcome of HSCT need to be considered while counseling patients regarding ACP. The fact that only 40% of patients engaged in ACP prior to HSCT and 11% were not interested in ACP suggests that other factors determine interest in ACP and that a policy of discussing ACP with all HSCT patients will not result in universal acceptance of ACP.
Flood risk management with HEC-WAT and the FRA compute option

United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) policy states that USACE will analyze water resources projects, including flood risk management projects, using a risk framework that incorporates watershed, systems and life-cycle approaches. However, software to directly support these requirements has not been available. The current software sed within USACE to perform these types of analyses, HEC-FDA (Flood Damage Reduction Analysis), has a number of limitations. For this reason and others, USACE’s Hydrologic Engineering Center (CEIWR-HEC) developed the Watershed Analysis Tool (HEC-WAT). HECWAT was initially developed to assist USACE personnel conduct water resources studies of complex riverine systems with an integrated, comprehensive and systems based approach. However, since USACE also requires a life-cycle analysis, CEIWR-HEC added capability through the Flood Risk Analysis (FRA) compute option that allows risk analysis computations while incorporating a life-cycle approach. HEC-WAT/FRA includes systems and life-cycle approaches, event-based sampling, parameter sampling, and the ability to do scenario and alternative analyses. Applications of the FRA compute include levee certification studies, dam and levee safety studies, and planning and design studies. This paper will introduce HEC-WAT/FRA, describe scientific advancements included within it and provide applications to demonstrate how it will advance USACE modeling approaches.
How and Why Segmentation Improves ROI

The advantages to selecting and appealing to a priority target audience segment are similar to the advantages of knowing what kind of fish you want to catch when you head out on a fishing trip. (1) First, you’ll know what bait to use. Knowledge about the segment’s unique demographics, psychographics, geographics, related behaviours, stage of change, barriers to overcome, and benefits to promise will inspire a unique offer, one where product, price and place strategies are “custom” designed to appeal to the segment you want to attract. (2) Second, you’ll know what kind of hook will help “seal the deal”. Knowledge about what appeals most to your target audience about your offer will help craft persuasive messages, choose credible messengers, and develop engaging creative elements. (3) Third, you’ll know where to go to find them. Knowledge about the unique media channels that the target audience uses will help you select those channels most likely to reach the greatest numbers, with the least amount of expenditures. (4) Fourth, you’ll know when they are typically looking for food. Knowledge about unique openings for the segment will inspire the frequency and timing of media placement and selection of the most effective decision points, or situations, when the target audience is most likely to be tempted by your offer and persuaded by promotional messages. In the end, by tailoring the 4Ps for an attractive market segment, not only will you “catch more of the fish you want most”, you will accomplish this with less time and money, therefore increasing your return on investment (ROI). This chapter will describe each of the four unique advantages in more detail and will then outline the steps involved in calculating a ROI for your efforts. A hypothetical example using diabetes prevention will be used to illustrate the application of the 4Ps. In addition, a brief case story for each of the 4Ps will illustrate how strategies can (and should) be targeted to the unique profile of a target audience. It should be acknowledged that the 4P model used in this chapter is based on the traditional commercial marketing “labels” for the major tools in the marketer’s toolbox—ones available to the marketer to influence a target audience to buy their product. Labels, descriptions and the number of tools that social marketers use to influence target audience behaviours can vary (Peattie and Peattie 2003; Tapp and Spotswood 2013).
Socialism and Social Change II: TV, Advertising, Consumerism and Lifestyle

Socialists were not implacably opposed to the main agent of mass culture — television. Labour heartily approved of the BBC’s long exercise in educating public taste’, but commercial television, broadcasting from 1955, was a different matter. From May 1952, when a government white paper proposed ending the BBC’s monopoly, socialist hackles were raised: not least because it was felt this was being foisted on the nation in the absence of popular support, and contrary to the report of the Beveridge Committee on Broadcasting (1949–51), by a commercial lobby and Tory MPs exploiting the government’s slender majority.2
Unusual Sexual Syndromes

Sexual behaviors differ from society to society and from individual to individual. Beliefs about which sexual practices are good, moral, and natural and which are wrong, immoral, and unnatural are mutable. Certain types of sexual behaviors are thought to be exhibited by only a small portion of the people of our society. Because of the presumed rarity and because of the difference between these practices and accepted sexual norms, these sexual behaviors are of interest to those who study human behavior. In this chapter we will attempt to review objectively the information available on the syndromes of necrophilia, vampirism, zoophilia, autoerotic asphyxia, coprophilia, rare types of incest, and hypersexuality. The intention is to provide the reader with a clear and objective view of the range of human sexual behavior.
Abstract PL3: Global cost of cancer care

According to a 2014 IMS health report, cancer drugs represent 26% of specialty drug spending, more than $32B in the US in 2014, and specialty drug spending is growing faster than any other sector of healthcare. Unsurprisingly, cancer drugs are the largest sub-segment. These price rises are not just an economic curiosity. Because of the structure of many insurance products, the co-insurance on these expensive drugs is crippling, impacting access on a large scale. A recent study reported that more than 10% of Medicare beneficiaries with a cancer diagnosis face out of pocket expenses exceeding their incomes. In a nationally representative survey conducted in 2006, twenty-five percent of patients reported exhausting all or most of their savings. In a recent analysis of discontinuation rates among patients taking Gleevec and other highly effective drugs for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, patients with high copayments were 42% more likely to be nonadherent. Dr. Bach has researched this problem with a data-driven set of related projects that aim to achieve substantive change to pricing of and access to specialty drugs, beginning with cancer drugs because of established expertise, but expanding to other analogous areas rapidly. In 2009, Dr. Bach9s team began tracking the launch prices of new cancer drugs, a project which has shown a 100-fold increase in introductory cancer drug prices, after adjusting for inflation. A follow-on study found that the increase in price is not accompanied in an increase in clinical value, with the cost of a year of life increasing by $8,500 a year. In 2012, on behalf of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Bach publicly rejected the pricing of the cancer drug, Zaltrap, by announcing the hospital9s position in the New York Times. In response, the company lowered its price by 50%, proving that the price is not tied to any specific metric (i.e. R&D costs), but is rather determined by what the market can bear. Dr. Bach launched a project in 2015 called the DrugAbacus (drugabacus.org), an interactive web based tool that allows users to manipulate various metrics to determine the ‘value’ of cancer drugs. DrugAbacus shifted the conversation of value-based pricing from one of theory to one more focused on implementation, and has been cited as a source of pricing for both CVS and Express Scripts. The Zaltrap stance, the DrugAbacus, and much of his work has made MSKCC a leader in using evidence to shift the discussion on drug pricing, a consistent theme of which has been that the price a manufacturer sets is a product of the marketplace, not a product of the costs of their business or something else structural. Citation Format: Bach PB. Global cost of cancer care [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PL3.
Physicians, Patients, and Firearms: The Courts Say "Yes".

This commentary discusses a recently overturned Florida law that sought to limit physicians discussing firearm safety with patients.
"You Have to Approach Us Right": A Qualitative Framework Analysis for Recruiting African Americans Into mHealth Research.

Background. Despite the high ownership of smartphones, African Americans (AAs) remain underrepresented in health research and specifically mobile health (mHealth) research. This may be due to ineff...
The General Public's Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Resource Management, Collaboration, and Community Assistance Centers During Disasters.

BackgroundThe key to resilience after disasters is the provision of coordinated care and resource distribution to the affected community. Past research indicates that the general public lacks an understanding regarding agencies’ roles and responsibilities during disaster response.Study ObjectivesThis study’s purpose was to explore the general public’s beliefs regarding agencies or organizations’ responsibilities related to resource management during disasters. In addition, the public’s attitudes towards the management and use of community disaster assistance centers were explored.MethodsQualitative interviews were conducted with members of the general public. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was used to analyze the data and identify themes that describe the public’s expectations of disaster response agencies and the use of community disaster assistance centers.ResultsA total of 28 interviews were conducted. Half of the participants (n=14) were black, 57% (n=16) were female, and the mean age was 49 years. The general public has developed trust and distrust toward response organizations and governmental agencies based on past experiences during disasters. The public wishes to have local agencies to help lead disaster response, but expects a collaboration between all response organizations, including the government. The managing agency overseeing community disaster assistance centers was not perceived as important, but the proximity of these centers to community members was considered critical.ConclusionsThe general public prefers that local agencies and leaders manage disaster response, and they expect collaboration among response agencies. Community assistance centers need to be located close to those in need, and be managed by agencies trusted by the general public. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:446–449)
Implicit causality bias in adults with traumatic brain injury.

Abstract Introduction Individuals with moderate or severe traumatic brain injury often experience impairments in pragmatic language functions. Pragmatic language has been studied primarily in connected language genres such as narratives. It may be, however, that individuals with traumatic brain injury also miss microscopic cues, such as social cues embedded in single word meanings or sentence structure. The current study examined one type of sentence-level pragmatic language cue: implicit causality bias. Implicit causality bias is the attribution of an interpersonal transitive verb action to either the subject noun phrase or object noun phrase of a sentence, and is an inherent property of English-language verbs. Method In this study, 19 adults with traumatic brain injury and 18 typical adults were asked to provide sensible and spontaneous completions to 96 sentence fragments. Each fragment contained one interpersonal transitive verb and two noun phrases to which the cause of the verb could be attributed. Results Adults with traumatic brain injury showed significantly less implicit causality bias than typical adults, and also made more errors in assigning the causality of a clause. Conclusions These results challenge assumptions regarding intact implicit processing in adults with traumatic brain injury, and reveal mechanisms by which communication could fail in everyday social interactions.
Quality Insights: A pi tail mathematical postulation of the limit of quality

In the pursuit of better quality under the spirit of continuous improvement, it is appropriate to inquire about the potential limit of quality. Using quality engineering and technology tools and techniques, can we continue to improve quality indefinitely, inching toward the limit of quality ever so infinitesimally? This paper presents a postulation of an asymptomatic approach to the limit of quality based on the mathematical reasoning of pi. While there is no mathematical correlation of pi to the physical quality of a product, it is interesting and inspirational to conduct research on the move toward the best possible point on the quality curve. In this regard, the motivational question is 'what is the limit of quality?' The methodology of this paper suggests some interesting analogies.
Differential associations of functional and cognitive health outcomes with pre-frailty and frailty states in community-dwelling older adults.

This study examined associations of pre-frailty and frailty states with cognitive and functional health outcomes among community-residing older adults (N = 457) in the Bronx, New York. Results: older adults who met criteria for frailty demonstrated poorer performance in attention, verbal memory, and overall global cognitive functioning compared to healthy controls. Moreover, pre-frail and frail older adults had significantly worse health outcomes including greater perceived difficulty with lower and upper extremity functioning and perceived limitations in completing daily activities, suggesting the need for targeted interventions in the community that may ameliorate age-related health decline.
Making Anaglyph Images From SEM Images Using Adobe PhotoShop

Three-dimensional images, or anaglyphs, can provide useful information as to height relationships between components of an image. They can also enliven presentations before diverse groups. Imagine a boardroom full of executives having their 5th straight meeting of the day. You are there to present preliminary research information that could lead to a major contract. After requesting that everyone to put on red/blue glasses (not exactly the height of fashion), you proceed to show stereo images of hair samples with obviously different degrees of roughness. Correlation is drawn between the different samples and the nutritional components of the dietary supplement being tested. A picture not only saves a lot of words. It also leaves a lasting image in the minds of the observers that could easily translate into $. Besides, it's fun to look at neat 3-D images!
A super-resolution algorithm for multiband signal identification

Recent advances in convex optimization have led to super-resolution algorithms that provide exact frequency localization in multitone signals from limited time-domain samples. Such localization is accomplished by minimizing a certain atomic norm, which can be implemented in a semidefinite program. In this work, we consider the identification of multiband signals, which are comprised of multiple, unknown narrow bands of frequency content at multiple carrier frequencies. Integrating a basis of modulated discrete prolate spheroidal sequences (DPSS's) into the atomic norm minimization framework, we introduce a technique for estimating the unknown band positions based on limited time-domain samples of the signal.
Do capital flows drive credit growth and consumption in Central and Eastern Europe

Domestic credit expansion in CEE economies, fuelled in part by foreign capital inflows, helped increase household welfare before the 2008 financial crisis caused a contraction across the region. Ho...
Nutrition, Health, and Economic Performance

Health is critical to the economic well-being of households. The impact of health on economic outcomes is particularly significant in developing countries where health problems are most severe, where physical labor is of importance, and where economic and health shocks, particularly among women, have adverse consequences due to a range of market failures. This article also discusses how inequality in health adversely affects the economic vitality of households. Although infectious and communicable diseases remain the major threat, the emergence of chronic and degenerative diseases is having increasingly important economic implications in terms of loss of productivity and cost of treatment.
3 – VIBRATION OF SOLIDS AND STRUCTURES

This chapter offers a brief introduction to vibration theory. This introduction is necessary because many of the SHM methods to be discussed in later chapters will utilize concepts and formulae from vibration theory.
Why Aren't We Teaching Aeronautical Decision Making?

Fifteen years of aviation research into the causes of human performance errors in aviation provided a basis for the current study. Detailed analyses of human performance error accidents produced the conclusion that approximately half of these accidents were decision related. Since traditional pilot training stressed aeronautical knowledge and flying skills while relying on experience to teach and practice decision making, an obvious question was: Can we teach decision making as a way to accelerate the normal learning based on experience and to reduce these accidents? This paper attempts to answer that question and to provide guidelines for both future research and the next generation of aeronautical decision making training materials.
Non-trauma-focused meditation versus exposure therapy in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomised controlled trial.

Summary Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex and difficult-to-treat disorder, affecting 10–20% of military veterans. Previous research has raised the question of whether a non-trauma-focused treatment can be as effective as trauma exposure therapy in reducing PTSD symptoms. This study aimed to compare the non-trauma-focused practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) with prolonged exposure therapy (PE) in a non-inferiority clinical trial, and to compare both therapies with a control of PTSD health education (HE). Methods We did a randomised controlled trial at the Department of Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System in CA, USA. We included 203 veterans with a current diagnosis of PTSD resulting from active military service randomly assigned to a TM or PE group, or an active control group of HE, using stratified block randomisation. Each treatment provided 12 sessions over 12 weeks, with daily home practice. TM and HE were mainly given in a group setting and PE was given individually. The primary outcome was change in PTSD symptom severity over 3 months, assessed by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Analysis was by intention to treat. We hypothesised that TM would show non-inferiority to PE in improvement of CAPS score (Δ=10), with TM and PE superior to PTSD HE. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01865123. Findings Between June 10, 2013, and Oct 7, 2016, 203 veterans were randomly assigned to an intervention group (68 to the TM group, 68 to the PE group, and 67 to the PTSD HE group). TM was significantly non-inferior to PE on change in CAPS score from baseline to 3-month post-test (difference between groups in mean change −5·9, 95% CI −14·3 to 2·4, p=0·0002). In standard superiority comparisons, significant reductions in CAPS scores were found for TM versus PTSD HE (–14·6 95% CI, −23·3 to −5·9, p=0·0009), and PE versus PTSD HE (–8·7 95% CI, −17·0 to −0·32, p=0·041). 61% of those receiving TM, 42% of those receiving PE, and 32% of those receiving HE showed clinically significant improvements on the CAPS score. Interpretation A non-trauma-focused-therapy, TM, might be a viable option for decreasing the severity of PTSD symptoms in veterans and represents an efficacious alternative for veterans who prefer not to receive or who do not respond to traditional exposure-based treatments of PTSD. Funding Department of Defense, US Army Medical Research.
Molecular (Raman, NIR, and FTIR) spectroscopy and multivariate analysis in consumable products analysis1

Ensuring the integrity of quality control and assurance of consumable products across consumer goods distribution and supply chains is pertinent to ensure consumer products of high quality to guara...
Anatomy and Physiology: Mechanisms of Nociceptive Transmission

Nociceptive transmission is facilitated by a complex network of neural structures, from peripheral nerves to the integrative network of the spinal cord and brain. The fundamental components of the pain pathway include (1) transduction of noxious stimuli into a neuronal signal, (2) transmission of the nociceptive signal to the CNS, (3) perception and integration in higher-order cortical structures, and (4) modulation via reciprocal and descending tracts. Nociceptive signaling often, but not always, manifests as the sensation of pain. Whereas nociception is the neural process that arises from tissue injury, pain is the resulting unpleasant sensory or emotional experience that results from the integration of multiple excitatory and inhibitory tracts in the brainstem and cortex.
Computed Tomography Findings as a Novel Predictor of Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis Outcomes

Accurate prediction of outcomes for alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) is critical, as prognosis determines treatment eligibility. Computed tomography (CT) features may provide prognostic information beyond traditional models. Our aim was to identify CT features that predict outcomes in AH. We studied 108 patients retrospectively with definite or probable AH, who underwent admission abdominal CT. A radiologist blinded to outcome evaluated eight CT features. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality. Twenty-five (23.2%) patients died within 90 days. While traditional prognostic tools, including Maddrey discriminant function (DF), predicted 90-day mortality (OR 1.01 [1.00, 1.03], P = 0.02), abdominal CT findings were also accurate predictors. On abdominal CT, patients with severe AH had larger volume of ascites (moderate/large volume: 34.0 vs. 8.2%, P < 0.0001), longer liver length (17.1 vs. 15.1 cm, P = 0.001), greater liver heterogeneity (moderate/severe: 21.3 vs. 8.2%, P = 0.007), and more likely to have splenomegaly (42.6 vs. 18.0%, P = 0.009) than those with mild AH. Univariate analysis revealed that ascites volume (OR 2.59 [1.35, 4.96], P = 0.004) predicted 90-day mortality. In multivariate analysis, degree of ascites predicted 90-day mortality when controlling for Maddrey DF (OR 2.36 [1.19, 4.69], P = 0.01) and trended toward significance when controlling for MELD score (OR 2.02 [0.95, 4.30], P = 0.07). CT findings in AH differentiate disease severity and predict 90-day mortality; therefore, the role of CT warrants further investigation as a tool in AH management.
Deep Variational Inference

This chapter begins with a review of variational inference (VI) as a fast approximation alternative to Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, solving an optimization problem for approximating the posterior. VI is scaled to stochastic variational inference and generalized to black-box variational inference (BBVI). Amortized VI leads to the variational auto-encoder (VAE) framework which is introduced using deep neural networks and graphical models and used for learning representations and generative modeling. Finally, we explore generative flows, the latent space manifold, and Riemannian geometry of generative models.
Application of Reinforcement and Deep Learning Techniques in Brain–Machine Interfaces

From early adoption in rehabilitation, the brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) have dovetailed into applications empowering humans in controlling external devices such as prosthesis and wheelchairs with a high level of autonomy. The success of such brain–machine interfaces depends on the decoding algorithms that translate the brain activity into the human’s intention or cognition state. Taking advantage of this decoding, a machine can have a robust perception of human’s cognitive state and modify its actions accordingly. This decoding process can be viewed as a machine learning problem where features of brain activities are mapped to some labeled events or classes in a controlled environment. This mapping traditionally relies on the subject and task-specific signal processing approaches. Thus, the conventional machine learning methods fail to generalize well and transfer the learned features between different tasks and subjects, especially in out-of-the-lab applications. Recently, deep learning (DL) has shown great success in learning the patterns from very large data and generalizing well on different applications. With respect to brain activity analysis, deep learning and reinforcement learning (RL) techniques can significantly simplify analysis pipelines and facilitate better generalization between subjects, tasks, and also learn intricate coupled dynamics. In this regard, this paper provides information on the state of the art and challenges in implementing deep learning and reinforcement learning algorithms in brain–machine interfaces. In order to demonstrate the use of deep learning techniques in BMIs, we also present a case study of physical human–robot interaction where the brain activity is used to classify the task difficulty while interacting with the robot.
Sexual harassment: what is at Stake at JJ Steak

Sexual harassment is widespread in restaurants, but is often ignored, brushed under the rug, or even encouraged. With their young, predominately female employees and low-wage earners, restaurants a...
The relationship of cognitive change over time to the self-reported Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire in a general population.

Objective The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between longitudinally assessed cognitive functioning and self-reported dementia status using the Ascertain Dementia 8-item questionnaire (AD8) in a national population-based sample. Methods The analysis included 14,453 participants from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study. A validated cutoff of ≥2 symptoms endorsed on the AD8 (administered 10 years after enrollment) represented positive AD8 status. Incident cognitive impairment was defined as change from intact to impaired status in the Six-Item Screener score, and cognitive decline was defined by trajectories of Letter "F" Fluency from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Animal Fluency, Word List Learning, and Word List Delayed recall, all from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease battery. Logistic regression models controlled for demographics, health variables, and depressive symptoms. Results Sensitivity and specificity of the AD8 to detect incident cognitive impairment were 45.2% and 78.4%, respectively. Incident cognitive impairment and a one-word decline in WLL increased the odds of self-reported positive AD8 by 96% (95% CI: 1.68-2.28) and 27% (95% CI: 1.17-1.37), respectively. There was a strong association between high depression risk and self-reported positive AD8 in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Incident cognitive impairment and high depression risk were the strongest predictors of self-reported positive AD8 in this population-based sample. Our results inform the utility of the AD8 as a self-report measure in a large, national sample that avoids selection biases inherent in clinic-based studies. The AD8 is screening measure and should not be used to diagnose dementia clinically.