cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDIES OF GRAPHITE SINGLE CRYSTALS

A number of chemical reactions of graphite have been followed by kinetic studies on single crystals and by simultaneous microscope and electron microscope studies of the surface structure. The reactions studied include reactions with CO2, O2, O3, O, and a preliminary study of the sublimation process. For any one of these reactions, the effect of crystal perfection, previous heat treatment, previous neutron or gamma irradiation, and partial annealing of the ensuing radiation effects were studied. Furthermore, the effects of catalysts and of inhibitors on each reaction were examined. Most of the electron microscope studies were carried out by shadowing and replicating the graphite crystals. A method was also developed of preparing plane parallel or wedge-shaped single crystal fragments sufficiently thin for direct examination in the electron microscope. Some observations related to dislocations and radiation damage in these will be discussed.
The virtue of dependent failures in multi-site systems

A multi-site system consists of a collection of locally-managed networks called sites, each containing a collection of processors. In this paper, we present the multisite threshold model: a new failure model for multi-site systems that accounts for failures of sites. Using this model, we then derive quorum constructions that have two interesting features. First, they generate quorum systems that are more available than majority quorums. Second, our constructions reduce quorum sizes compared to the majority construction, thus reducing load on the processors and increasing the total capacity of the system. To show that our model is realistic, we discuss the implementability of this new model, motivating with data from a real system.
Abstract WP159: Acute Administration of Ethanol Reduced Brain Apoptosis by Regulating Expression of Apoptotic Proteins in Ischemic Stroke

Objectives: In our recent studies, acute ethanol administration appears to play a neuroprotective role after the onset of ischemic stroke by reducing infarct volume and behavioral dysfunction ( Stroke. 2012 43(1):205-10 ). In the present study, we sought to identify whether the ethanol-derived neuroprotection is associated with a reduction in apoptosis. Methods: Ethanol was given by intraperitoneal injections to Sprague-Dawley rats after 2 hours of middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion, followed by reperfusion. The actual degree of apoptotic cell death in control, ischemic rats, and ischemic rats treated with 1.5 g/kg ethanol was determined by the Cell Death Detection ELISA Assay (Roche). Levels of pro-apoptotic (Caspase-3, Bcl-2-associated X “BAX”, and Apoptosis-Inducing Factor “AIF”) and anti-apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL) were determined by Western blot at 3 and 24 hours after reperfusion. Results: Rats treated with ethanol at the 1.5 g/kg dosage demonstrated significantly reduced cell death as compared to those of stroke without treatment. Acute ethanol administration at the 1.5 g/kg dose significantly promoted the expression of anti-apoptotic factors and decreased the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins at 3 hours after reperfusion. This effect was maintained at 24 hours for Caspase-3 and AIF, but not for Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and Bax. We further demonstrated that administration of low dose of ethanol at 0.5 g/kg was not as effective in regulating protein expression as the 1.5 g/kg dose (1.5 g/kg dose being equivalent to the legal driving limit). Conclusions: Our study suggests that administration of ethanol at a 1.5 g/kg dosage after onset of stroke reduces apoptosis by creating a differential protein profile, with increased expression of anti-apoptotic proteins and decreased expression of pro-apoptotic ones. This study helps in validating ethanol as a new therapeutic approach in neuroprotection after stroke, and proposes a possible mechanism for its anti-apoptotic effect on neuronal cells.
Continuum modeling of inductor hysteresis and eddy current loss effects in resonant circuits

This paper presents experimental validation of a high-fidelity toroid inductor modeling technique. The aim of this research is to accurately model the instantaneous magnetization state and core losses in ferromagnetic materials. Quasi-static hysteresis effects are captured using a Preisach model. Eddy currents are included by coupling the associated quasi-static Everett function to a simple finite element model representing the inductor cross sectional area. The modeling technique is validated against the nonlinear frequency response from two different series RLC resonant circuits using inductors made of electrical steel and soft ferrite. The method is shown to accurately model shifts in resonant frequency and quality factor. The technique also successfully predicts a discontinuity in the frequency response of the ferrite inductor resonant circuit.
Compositional autonomy for humanoid robots with risk-aware decision-making

This paper lays the foundations of risk-aware decision-making within the context of compositional robot autonomy for humanoid robots. In a nutshell, the idea is to compose task-level autonomous robot behaviors into a holistic motion plan by selecting a sequence of actions from a feasible action set. In doing so, we establish a total risk function to evaluate and assign a risk value to individual robot actions which then can be used to find the total risk of executing a plan. As a result, various actions can be composed into a complete autonomous motion plan while the robot is being cognizant to risks associated with executing one composition over another. In order to illustrate the concept, we introduce two specific risk measures, namely, the collision risk and the fall risk. We demonstrate the results from this foundational study of risk-aware compositional robot autonomy in simulation using NASA's Valkyrie humanoid robot.
A test of the eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis as an explanation for the structure of low-amplitude aggressive signals in the song sparrow

Low-amplitude signals function in private exchanges of information between signalers and nearby receivers. The eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis proposes that selection favors quiet threat signals in order to avoid the costs of eavesdroppers. If true, then selection should favor other acoustic traits in addition to low amplitude that lead to quiet signals transmitting less effectively through the environment compared to broadcast signals. The “warbled” soft songs of male song sparrows differ from “crystallized” soft songs and from broadcast songs in a number of acoustic traits, suggesting that these songs may transmit less effectively. We tested this prediction in a field experiment by playing broadcast songs, crystallized soft songs, and warbled soft songs through a loudspeaker at the same amplitude and recording the propagated songs at five distances, at two heights, and in two different habitat types. Counter to our prediction, we found no evidence that either form of soft song transmits differently than broadcast song when all were played loudly. If anything, soft songs transmitted more effectively when all songs were played quietly. Our results do not support one prediction made by the eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis, although the possibility remains that reduced amplitude alone is sufficient to reduce eavesdropping. The question of why warbled soft song differs in acoustic structure remains unresolved. Quiet aggressive signals are a puzzle because their meek form seems counter to their purpose—to threaten and intimidate rivals. One explanation for quiet signals is that reducing the signal’s transmission range reduces the costs imposed by eavesdroppers, which predicts that quiet signals will transmit through the environment poorly relative to louder, broadcast signals. We tested this prediction by playing song sparrow “soft songs” and “broadcast songs” at the same amplitudes and measured their transmission properties at different distances and heights, and in two habitats. We found that soft and broadcast songs did not transmit differently when played loudly, and soft songs transmitted slightly better when played softly. Our results do not support the idea that quiet signals are explained by eavesdropping avoidance, at least not in the song sparrow.
A comparison of the success rates of resident and attending strabismus surgery: discussion.

Residency training involves surgery by resident surgeons at various levels of experience and proficiency, supervised by an experienced attending physician. We reviewed the results of strabismus surgery performed at four institutions with two residency training programs. Five hundred twenty-two cases with follow up greater than 6 weeks were evaluated. These cases included 315 attending procedures and 207 resident procedures under direct attending supervision. Success was defined as a strabismic deviation of 8 prism diopters or less. Average postoperative follow up was 57 weeks and did not differ between groups. There was no statistical difference between the resident success rate of 58% (121/207) and the attending success rate of 69% (217/315) after adjusting for population differences. The average final deviation of the patients postoperatively was 7 delta for the attending group and 10 delta for the resident group. Amblyopia was significantly more frequent in the resident cases (P < .001). Adjustable sutures were used significantly more often in attending cases (P < .0001). This study supports the premise that resident strabismus surgery is as successful as attending surgery. (Abstract reproduced from Wisnicki HJ, Repka MX, Raab E, et al. A comparison of the success rates of resident and attending strabismus surgery.
Comparative Studies and the Reasons of Reason

Cross–cultural and international comparative research embodies a conundrum the very analytics of comparativeness in the social and education science research, with variations in their themes, draw from particular European and North American Enlightenments’ notions of reason and rationality that provide their epistemological “foundations”1
OR55 : DEEP LIGAND SEQUENCING REVEALS OVER 200 HLA-A*02:01 TOXOPLASMA GONDII LIGANDS

Aim Advancements in mass spectrometry and nano-scale high pressure liquid chromatography have allowed for a more sensitive, rapid, and through characterization of the HLA ligandome. Coupled with an abundant and pure source of HLA, we set out to detect and identify ligands that are at or below the sensitivity of T-cell detection. The overall objective of this study was to apply cutting-edge proteomics techniques to dramatically improve our understanding of the peptide ligands that are presented by HLA of infected cells. Methods To identify HLA presented peptide ligands at high sensitivity, we utilized Deep Ligand Sequencing (DLS), an approach that funnels milligrams of HLA into a lingand pool that are analyzed in a two-dimensional LCMS system. Here, the characterized HLA was sHLA-A*02:01 harvested from T. gondii infected THP-1 cells. Peptide ligands were released from A*02:01 with an acid boil and separated into 40 fractions by RP-HLPC at pH10. Peptides in each of these 40 fractions were separated again using nano RP-HPLC at pH2, and the peptides were analyzed with an AB Sciex 5600 triple TOF mass spectrometer as they eluted from the nano column. Peptide sequences are determined using PEAKS and MASCOT at a 1% False Discovery Rate. All T. gondii sequences were validated with fragmentation of corresponding synthetic peptides. Results The DLS technique found that 201 novel T. gondii ligands from 97 proteins are presented by A*02:01. Of these ligands, 15% (31/201) came from the known antigenic dense granular proteins and 36 of the ligands were from 21 different hypothetical T. gondii proteins, confirming the expression of these hypothetical proteins. Strikingly, an additional 113 ligands share sequence between T. gondii and H. sapiens. Conclusions Cutting-edge mass spectrometers coupled to nano HPLC systems and high throughput bioinfromatic software has allowed us to survey the ligandome with an unprecedented depth. Here we applied these techniques to an intracellular pathogen and identified over 200 novel T. gondii ligands from a single HLA. These data will revolutionize T cell therapies for targeting infected cells. C. McMurtrey: Consultant; Company/Organization; Pure Protein LLC . W. Hildebrand: Scientific/Medical Advisor; Company/Organization; Pure Protein LLC.
Medicare and Medicaid

Upon completion of the chapter, the student will be able to: 1. Distinguish between Medicare and Medicaid. 2. Know the significance of Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D and the coverage provided by each. 3. Identify who is eligible for Medicare and how it is obtained. 4. Understand the role of Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans and Medicare Health Maintenance Organization (HMO).
Multidimensional Poverty Assessment among Adolescent Children in the Mouhoun Region of Burkina Faso, West Africa

Poverty is complex and multidimensional and particularly pronounced in children living in semi-arid West Africa. Unfortunately, few studies have addressed multidimensional child poverty in this region. Using novel data generated from 431 randomly selected households in the Boucle du Mouhoun region in Burkina Faso, the Alkire–Foster methodology was applied to estimate and decompose multidimensional poverty among adolescent children. Ten dimensions guided by the child poverty literature, data availability and the country’s SDGs were used. While deprivations in water and sanitation (89%), health (75%), nutrition (82%), and child labour (48.7%) were found to be more prevalent in the rural areas, child subjective well-being (73%) and child protection (61%) were more pronounced in the urban areas. Analysis of multiple overlaps in dimensions shows that all of the children suffer from deprivations in three or more dimensions simultaneously. Furthermore, when the poverty cut-off values were set at k = 20% (“Vulnerable to Poverty”), k = 30% (“Multidimensionally Poor”) and k = 50% (“Poverty Severity”), close to 95% of children are categorized as being in “Severe Poverty”, 68% as “Multidimensionally Poor”, and 38% as being “Vulnerable to Poverty”. Using binary logistic regressions, household size, age and marital status of household head, locality of child, income source, debt status, education, number of siblings, gender of child, adults and maternal health condition were found to be significantly correlated to poverty vulnerability, multidimensionally poor and poverty severity in the region. The implications of these findings for multidimensional child poverty targeted policies and interventions are discussed.
Mitochondria-encoded genes contribute to the evolution of heat and cold tolerance among Saccharomyces species

Over time, species evolve substantial phenotype differences. Yet, genetic analysis of these traits is limited by reproductive barriers to those phenotypes that distinguish closely related species. Here, we conduct a genome-wide non-complementation screen to identify genes that contribute to a major difference in thermal growth profile between two Saccharomyces species. S. cerevisiae is capable of growing at temperatures exceeding 40°C, whereas S. uvarum cannot grow above 33°C but outperforms S. cerevisiae at 4°C. The screen revealed only a single nuclear-encoded gene with a modest contribution to heat tolerance, but a large effect of the species9 mitochondrial DNA (mitotype). Furthermore, we found that, while the S. cerevisiae mitotype confers heat tolerance, the S. uvarum mitotype confers cold tolerance. Recombinant mitotypes indicate multiple genes contribute to thermal divergence. Mitochondrial allele replacements showed that divergence in the coding sequence of COX1 has a moderate effect on both heat and cold tolerance, but it does not explain the entire difference between the two mitochondrial genomes. Our results highlight a polygenic architecture for interspecific phenotypic divergence and point to the mitochondrial genome as an evolutionary hotspot for not only reproductive incompatibilities, but also thermal divergence in yeast.
Relationship processes and symptom burden in couples coping with metastatic lung cancer.

169Background: Attachment style is a complex behavioral control system rooted in neurophysiological processes which guides a person’s ability to elicit and respond to emotional closeness in an inti...
Holographic purification complexity

We study holographic subregion complexity, and its possible connection to purification complexity suggested recently by Ag\'on et al. In particular, we study the conjecture that subregion complexity is the purification complexity by considering holographic purifications of a holographic mixed state. We argue that these include states with any amount of coarse-graining consistent with being a purification of the mixed state in question, corresponding holographically to different choices of the cutoff surface. We find that within the complexity $=$ volume and complexity $=$ spacetime volume conjectures, the subregion complexity is equal to the holographic purification complexity. For complexity $=$ action (CA), the subregion complexity seems to provide an upper bound on the holographic purification complexity, though we show cases where this bound is not saturated. One such example is provided by black holes with a large genus behind the horizon, which were studied by Fu et al. As such, one must conclude that these offending geometries are not holographic, that CA must be modified, or else that holographic subregion complexity in CA is not dual to the purification complexity of the corresponding reduced state.
Social media’s contribution to political misperceptions in U.S. Presidential elections

There is considerable concern about the role that social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, play in promoting misperceptions during political campaigns. These technologies are widely used, and inaccurate information flowing across them has a high profile. This research uses three-wave panel surveys conducted with representative samples of Americans during both the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Presidential elections to assess whether use of social media for political information promoted endorsement of falsehoods about major party candidates or important campaign issues. Fixed effects regression helps ensure that observed effects are not due to individual differences. Results indicate that social media use had a small but significant influence on misperceptions about President Obama in the 2012 election, and that this effect was most pronounced among strong partisans. Social media had no effect on belief accuracy about the Republican candidate in that election. The 2016 survey focused on campaign issues. There is no evidence that social media use influenced belief accuracy about these topics in aggregate, but Facebook users were unique. Social media use by this group reduced issue misperceptions relative to those who only used other social media. These results demonstrate that social media can alter citizens' willingness to endorse falsehoods during an election, but that the effects are often small.
Time pressure disrupts level-2, but not level-1, visual perspective calculation: A process-dissociation analysis

Reasoning about other people's mental states has long been assumed to require active deliberation. Yet, evidence from indirect measures suggests that adults and children commonly display behavior indicative of having incidentally calculated both what other agents see (level-1 perspective taking) and how they see it (level-2 perspective taking). Here, we investigated the efficiency of such perspective calculation in adults. In four experiments using indirect measures of visual perspective taking, we imposed time pressure to constrain processing opportunity, and we used process-dissociation analyses to isolate perspective calculation as the process of focal interest. Results revealed that time pressure weakened level-2, but not level-1, perspective calculation-a pattern that was not evident in error-rate analyses. These findings suggest that perspective calculation may operate more efficiently in level-1 than in level-2 perspective taking. They also highlight the utility of the process-dissociation framework for unmasking processes that otherwise may go under-detected in behavior-level analyses.
Effective desensitization for a strong donor‐specific HLA antibody in a case of HLA‐mismatched allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

We describe a unique ABO compatible and 9/10 HLA-matched case of successful allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) after effective desensitization of a strong anti-HLA-A24 donor-specific antibody (DSA) with mean fluorescence intensity of approximately 18 000. Due to absence of a suitable matched unrelated donor the patient sibling was considered the best available donor, and it was decided to desensitize patient prior to transplant. The strength of HLA-A24 DSA slowly decreased over the course of treatment, necessitating a total of 23 sessions of therapeutic plasma exchange in order to bring the DSA strength to undetectable levels, followed by a successful transplant. In summary, the outcome of this case shows effective application of desensitization treatment to remove strong DSA in HCT patients.
Impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection on subsequent cervical cancer screening completion among under-screened US women: MyBodyMyTest-3 protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Screening substantially reduces cervical cancer incidence and mortality. More than half of invasive cervical cancers are attributable to infrequent screening or not screening at all. The current study, My Body My Test (MBMT), evaluates the impact of mailed kits for self-collection of samples for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing on completion of cervical cancer screening in low-income, North Carolina women overdue for cervical cancer screening. The study will enroll at least 510 US women aged 25–64 years who report no Pap test in the last 4 years and no HPV test in the last 6 years. We will randomize participants to an intervention or control arm. The intervention arm will receive kits to self-collect a sample at home and mail it for HPV testing. In both the intervention and control arms, participants will receive assistance in scheduling an appointment for screening in clinic. Study staff will deliver HPV self-collection results by phone and assist in scheduling participants for screening in clinic. The primary outcome is completion of cervical cancer screening. Specifically, completion of screening will be defined as screening in clinic or receipt of negative HPV self-collection results. Women with HPV-negative self-collection results will be considered screening-complete. All other participants will be considered screening-complete if they obtain co-testing or Pap test screening at a study-affiliated institution or other clinic. We will assess whether the self-collection intervention influences participants’ perceived risk of cervical cancer and whether perceived risk mediates the relationship between HPV self-collection results and subsequent screening in clinic. We also will estimate the incremental cost per woman screened of offering at-home HPV self-collection kits with scheduling assistance as compared to offering scheduling assistance alone. If mailed self-collection of samples for HPV testing is an effective strategy for increasing cervical cancer screening among women overdue for screening, this method has the potential to reduce cervical cancer incidence and mortality in medically underserved women at higher risk of developing cervical cancer. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02651883, Registered on 11 January 2016.
Financing a Career in Academic Medicine

This chapter provides an overview of how to successfully pursue a career in academic medicine while paying back loans accumulated during medical school. It addresses commonly perceived financial barriers in academia and sources of funding that support this career pathway. Also included is a description of several types of loans, loan repayment plans, and factors that may affect the process of financial planning. Additionally, a sample scenario illustrates an example of loan repayment strategy and planning. With greater knowledge of loan repayment programs and financial planning, as discussed in this chapter, students can make informed decisions about entering the field of academic medicine.
Maxillofacial Bone Grafting Materials

The goal of bone grafting is to replace normal bone volume and structure with healthy, well-vascularized bone that will undergo normal remodeling. The ideal bone will regenerate bone and not repair it. Currently four types of grafting material are available to clinicians for regenerative use in oral and maxillofacial surgery: autologous bone, allogeneic bone, xenogenic bone, and alloplastic bone. Additionally, bioactive agents, growth factors, are now being used to stimulate osteoinductive properties of native bone for bone regeneration. This article reviews the literature and summarizes the benefits and disadvantages of each respective graft and illustrates its use in clinical practice.
Ultra-Efficient Optical Switching Based on a Large Pockels Effect Embedded in Silicon Photonics

We have combined BTO with conventional silicon photonic platforms to enhance the performance of silicon photonics by exploiting the Pockels effect. We have demonstrated modulators, switches, and tuning elements with excellent performance exceeding that of silicon-based devices. © 2020 The Author(s)
Virtual advising for high-achieving high school students

Abstract We examine whether virtual advising – college counseling using technology to communicate remotely – increases postsecondary enrollment in selective colleges. We test this approach using a sample of approximately 16,000 high-achieving, low- and middle-income students identified by the College Board and randomly assigned to receive virtual advising from the College Advising Corps. The offer of virtual advising had no impact on overall college enrollment, but increased enrollment in high graduation rate colleges by 2.7 percentage points (5%), with instrumental variable impacts on treated students of 6.1 percentage points.
Economic policy uncertainty and stock returns—evidence from the Japanese market

This study examines the impact of changes in economic policy uncertainty (?EPU) on the Japanese (excess) stock return. Evidence of a negative?EPU coefficient implies that heightened economic policy uncertainty (EPU) will cause a decline in stock returns; however, a positive effect in the lagged coefficient of EPU suggests an increase in stock returns. This phenomenon also displays with a rise in uncertainties for fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade policy, global EPU or total uncertainty in Japanese market. Testing of asymmetrical impacts for an upward or downward shift in uncertainty indicates the presence of inverse relations between uncertainty changes and stock returns. Yet, the degree of asymmetry of uncertainty changes on stock returns is more significant from the Japanese own market as compared with U.S. influence.
Computational Model of G2-M DNA Damage Checkpoint Regulation in Normal and p53-null Cancer Cells

Abstract Cancer and normal cells can respond differently to the same stressful conditions. Their dynamic responses under normal and stressful conditions are governed by complex molecular regulatory networks. We developed a computational model of G2-M DNA damage checkpoint regulation to study normal and cancer cell cycle progression under normal and stressful conditions. Our model is successful in explaining cancer cell cycle arrest in conditions when some cell cycle and DNA damage checkpoint regulators are inhibited, whereas the same conditions only delay entry into mitosis in normal cells. We use the model to explain known phenotypes of gene deletion mutants and predict phenotypes of yet uncharacterized mutants in normal and cancer cells. We also use sensitive analyses to identify the ranges of model parameter values that lead to the cell cycle arrest in cancer cells. Our results can be used to predict the effect of a potential treatment on cell cycle progression of normal and cancer cells.
Model parameter estimation using coherent structure colouring

Lagrangian data assimilation is a complex problem in oceanic and atmospheric modelling. Tracking drifters in large-scale geophysical flows can involve uncertainty in drifter location, complex inertial effects and other factors which make comparing them to simulated Lagrangian trajectories from numerical models extremely challenging. Temporal and spatial discretisation, factors necessary in modelling large scale flows, also contribute to separation between real and simulated drifter trajectories. The chaotic advection inherent in these turbulent flows tends to separate even closely spaced tracer particles, making error metrics based solely on drifter displacements unsuitable for estimating model parameters. We propose to instead use error in the coherent structure colouring (CSC) field to assess model skill. The CSC field provides a spatial representation of the underlying coherent patterns in the flow, and we show that it is a more robust metric for assessing model accuracy. Through the use of two test cases, one considering spatial uncertainty in particle initialisation, and one examining the influence of stochastic error along a trajectory and temporal discretisation, we show that error in the coherent structure colouring field can be used to accurately determine single or multiple simultaneously unknown model parameters, whereas a conventional error metric based on error in drifter displacement fails. Because the CSC field enhances the difference in error between correct and incorrect model parameters, error minima in model parameter sweeps become more distinct. The effectiveness and robustness of this method for single and multi-parameter estimation in analytical flows suggest that Lagrangian data assimilation for real oceanic and atmospheric models would benefit from a similar approach.
REALIZATION OF ${\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}}_2({\mathbb C})}$ AT THE CRITICAL LEVEL

An explicit realization of the affine Lie algebra at the critical level is constructed using a mixture of bosons and parafermions. Subsequently, a representation of the associated Lepowsky–Wilson Z-algebra is given on a space of the tensor product of bosonic fields and certain semi-infinite wedge products.
Design Thinking: Rachel Ivy Clarke, Chicago, IL: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2020. 59 pp. $24.99. ISBN: 9780838907923

Book four of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Library Futures Series, Design Thinking proves to be a compelling book. With the print edition being only 59 pages, this seemingly quick read e...
Combination therapy for disseminated strongyloidiasis with associated vancomycin-resistant, linezolid-intermediate Enterococcus faecium meningitis: A case report.

What is known and objective The rhabditid nematode Strongyloides stercoralis is the major causative agent of disseminated strongyloidiasis (DS). In rare cases, DS has caused enterococcal meningitis. If DS-associated vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) meningitis is suspected, combination antibiotic therapy should be considered. Case summary We present a case of a 61-year-old male who developed DS associated with vancomycin-resistant and linezolid-intermediate E. faecium meningitis after receiving corticosteroids. The VRE meningitis was treated with high-dose daptomycin 12 mg/kg, linezolid, tigecycline and quinupristin/dalfopristin. Despite negative cultures, the patient expired. What is new and conclusion In patients with DS-associated VRE meningitis, early use of combination therapy may be warranted to improve patient outcomes.
Identification of household dangers by parents from adult versus child visual perspective.

Background: This study utilized videos from a child's and an adult's perspective to determine whether perspective influences the number of hazards identified by parents. Methods: The study measured number of household dangers parents' identified. Parents (n=106) were randomized to view either the child or adult perspective videos. Groups did not differ with respect to median age (p=0.51), education (p=0.55), or number of children living at home (p=0.64). Results: Median number of hazards identified in the bedroom was 3 for participants watching videos taken at either adult or child perspective (p=0.32). Parents viewing child perspective videos of the kitchen identified significantly more hazards (median=4) than parents viewing adult perspective videos (median=3) (p=0.0001). Conclusions: Although video height (perspective) did not influence the number of hazards identified in the bedroom, parents who observed the kitchen video taken at a child's height identified more hazards than those viewing a video at adult height.
'Elderhood' and Sabbath Rest as Vocation: Identity, Purpose, & Belonging.

Recognizing the challenges associated with aging in western culture and its particular vulnerability to despair, this paper turns to an Augustinian theological anthropology in conjunction with Geriatrician Louise Aronson’s social and medical description of aging among the human life stages. With Aronson, an Augustinian anthropology critiques western assumptions that autonomy, self-determination, and productivity are the primary arbiters of value. Instead, an aging anthropology marked by dependent participation, meaning found through purpose aimed at Sabbath rest, and an identity held secure through communal belonging serves as an antidote to the challenges of modern aging that ends in worship and hope.
Extinct and Alive: Towards A Broader Account of Loss

Extinction is usually associated with the death of the last remaining individual of a species, taxon, or population of organisms. Here I ask the question of whether extinction might also be applied to cases where individuals of the relevant category remain alive. Global impacts in the Anthropocene suggest extinction may be broader than typically thought. Technologies available in the emerging ‘synthetic age’ alter taxa in ways that may appropriately be characterized as extinction. The core of the more traditional account of extinction remains valuable. Losing the last few individuals of a taxon matters. But emerging types of loss may demand a broader understanding of extinction. This broader understanding could capture more of what humans are doing to the biosphere.
Correlations in Returns and Volatilities in Pacific-Rim Stock Markets

Most studies on the correlations in stock returns and volatilities focus on the contemporaneous relationships and spillover effects in major stock markets such as the US and Japan. This paper adds to the literature by focusing on the dynamic relationship in the volatilities of the returns in the Pacific-Rim stock markets. The causality in variances test method of Cheung and Ng (1996), a multivariate GARCH model and VAR analyses are employed to model conditional volatilities and study the dynamic responses of volatilities to innovations in conditional variances. The results suggest that while the stock markets are correlated in returns and volatilities contemporaneously and with lags, idiosyncratic factors play important roles in national stock markets. In addition, the dynamic adjustment of the market return volatilities can take a much longer time than previously reported in some of the countries studied.
Analysis of an IEEE 802.11 network activity during a small workshop

Understanding current performance and usage of IEEE 802.11 networks is valuable for effectively managing and deploying wireless networks in the future. This paper analyzes a wireless trace from NetGames'08 and compares the results with previous research. The analysis indicates increasing dominance of Web traffic, emerging p2p applications consuming significant uplink capacities, and differences in the overall volume and traffic patterns from prior wireless Internet traffic measurements. The workshop schedule greatly influences network usage with the number of people in the room significantly affecting the received signal strength.
Hypertension and vascular disease in the 1990s

Many pharmacologic agents are effective in normalizing blood pressure in the hypertensive patient. The major issues in antihypertensive therapy today transcend control of blood pressure and focus, instead, on safety considerations, patient acceptance, and additional benefits to target organs. With the drugs currently available, 10-15% of patients withdraw from therapy because of undesirable clinical side effects. Nonclinical side effects such as hyperlipidemia, hypokalemia, and hyperglycemia can limit the clinician's choice of drugs, especially for elderly patients. Antihypertensive agents should also limit target organ damage. The prevalence of stroke can be reduced solely by controlling blood pressure, but inhibition of cardiac ischemic events requires use of specific classes of agents. Beta blockers reduce mortality and reinfarction postmyocardial infarction, whereas angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors affect several factors leading to heart failure, including cardiac and vascular hypertrophy, remodeling and dilatation postmyocardial infarction, and arrhythmias. Specific actions on intrarenal and other vascular dynamics may make these drugs appropriate for use in patients with diabetes and perhaps hypertensive kidney disease and systemic arterial disease. The range of options available in antihypertensive therapy in the 1990s affords the physician the opportunity to meet additional goals of therapy, specific for each patient.
Partisan Signaling and Agenda Control in the U.S. House of Representatives

Theories of partisan influence in Congress suggest that the leadership can influence vote choices and legislative outcomes. Cox and McCubbins (2005) have theorized and Cox and Poole (2002) have found that party strength is most evident on procedural matters. In this paper, we take advantage of a new source of data providing updates from the Majority Leader’s Office that at times indicate the leadership’s positions on upcoming legislation and scheduled floor votes. Utilizing these data from recent congresses, we seek to offer a more nuanced explanation of voting in the U.S. House of Representatives. Whereas others have implicitly assumed that the party influences all procedural votes, our preliminary findings suggest that not all procedural votes are created equal. In fact, these floor updates indicate that the majority party offers direction on some procedural votes (e.g., ordering the previous question and special rules), but not on others (e.g., the motion to recommit). Our findings have direct implications for individual voting behavior and legislative outcomes in Congress.
Leveraging Research and Development: Assessing the Impact of the U.S. Advanced Technology Program

This paper examines the factors that affect a firm's chances of winning an award from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and the subsequent impact of the award on a firm's success in raising additional funds for its research and development (RD the halo effect from the award increases the success of these firms in attracting additional funding from other sources. Our conclusion is that the ATP is leveraging activities that have a strong potential for broad-based economic benefit.
Sustainable Social Work: An Environmental Justice Framework for Social Work Education

Environmental degradation is not experienced by all populations equally; hazardous and toxic waste sites, resource contamination (e.g., exposure to pesticides), air pollution, and numerous other forms of environmental degradation disproportionately affect low income and minority communities. The communities most affected by environmental injustices are often the same communities where social workers are entrenched in service provision at the individual, family, and community level. In this article, we use a global social work paradigm to describe practical ways in which environmental justice content can be infused in the training and education of social workers across contexts in order to prepare professionals with the skills to respond to ever-increasing global environmental degradation. We discuss ways for social work educators to integrate and frame environmental concerns and their consequences for vulnerable populations using existing social work models and perspectives to improve the social work prof...
The efficacy of minimally invasive discectomy compared with open discectomy: a meta-analysis of prospective randomized controlled trials

Object Advocates of minimally invasive discectomy (MID) have promoted this operation as an alternative to open discectomy (OD), arguing that there may be less injury to the paraspinal muscles, decreased postoperative pain, and a faster recovery time. However, a recently published large randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing these approaches reported inferior relief of leg pain in patients undergoing MID. The authors conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate complications and improvement in leg pain in patients with radiculopathy enrolled in RCTs comparing OD to MID. Methods The authors performed a literature search using Medline and EMBASE of studies indexed between January 1990 and January 2011. Predetermined RCT eligibility included the usage of tubular retractors during MID, a minimum follow-up duration of 1 year, and quantification of pain with the visual analog scale (VAS). Trials that only evaluated patients with recurrent disc herniation were excluded. Data on operative parameters, complications, ...
Postoperative evaluation for intracranial recurrence of medulloblastoma: MR findings with gadopentetate dimeglumine.

PURPOSE To characterize the gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR features of recurrent medulloblastoma. METHODS The postsurgical gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR images of 48 patients (206 head examinations) with prior resection of medulloblastoma were retrospectively evaluated for enhancement in the brain parenchyma, meninges (dura, pia-arachnoid), and ventricles. RESULTS Nineteen patients had recurrent tumor as determined by clinical course and positive imaging studies. Seventeen patients with recurrent disease had intracranial enhancement predominating in the pia-arachnoid (63%) or as a focal nodular brain lesion (26%). Three of these patients also had intraventricular metastases. None of the clinically healthy patients had these findings. One patient had recurrent tumor presenting within the fourth ventricle. Only 3 of 8 intraventricular lesions observed in the 4 patients initially enhanced with gadopentetate dimeglumine. Another patient with recurrent disease had extensive skeletal metastases without involvement of the central nervous system. Dural enhancement was observed in patients both with (42%) and without (38%) recurrent tumor. CONCLUSION The MR findings of pia-arachnoidal or focal nodular brain enhancement are highly specific in the diagnosis of recurrent medulloblastoma. Pia-arachnoidal or focal brain enhancement were also the most frequent patterns associated with recurrent tumor. Dural enhancement alone is not a reliable indicator of recurrent medulloblastoma. Not all intraventricular metastases enhance with gadopentetate dimeglumine, and careful evaluation for nonenhancing lesions within the ventricles should be made on postoperative MR examinations.
Set-membership theory applied to linear prediction analysis of speech

The theory of set membership (SM) identification is formulated, and applied to linear prediction (LP) analysis of speech. The LP parameters of a simulated vowel are identified as an illustration. The SM strategy results in a significant computational savings due to rejection of data which are informationless in the SM sense.
Revisiting PC1/3 Mutants: Dominant-Negative Effect of Endoplasmic Reticulum-Retained Mutants

Prohormone convertase 1/3 (PC1/3), encoded by the gene PCSK1, is critical for peptide hormone synthesis. An increasing number of studies have shown that inactivating mutations in PCSK1 are correlated with endocrine pathologies ranging from intestinal dysfunction to morbid obesity, whereas the common nonsynonymous polymorphisms rs6232 (N221D) and rs6234–rs6235 (Q665E-S690T) are highly associated with obesity risk. In this report, we revisited the biochemical and cellular properties of PC1/3 variants in the context of a wild-type PC1/3 background instead of the S357G hypermorph background used for all previous studies. In the wild-type background the PC1/3 N221D variant exhibited 30% lower enzymatic activity in a fluorogenic assay than wild-type PC1/3; this inhibition was greater than that detected in an equivalent experiment using the PC1/3 S357G background. A PC1/3 variant with the linked carboxyl-terminal polymorphisms Q665E-S690T did not show this difference. We also analyzed the biochemical properties ...
Palladium‐Catalyzed Alkyl‐Alkyl Suzuki Cross‐Couplings of Primary Alkyl Bromides at Room Temperature: (13‐Chlorotridecyloxy)Triethylsilane

8-Bromo-1-octanol Dichlorotriphenylphosphorane Imidazole 4-Penten-1-ol Chlorotriethylsilane Triethyl(pent-4-enoxy)silane 9-BBN Palladium(II) acetate Bicyclohexylphosphine Tripotassium phosphate monohydrate (13-Chlorotridecyloxy)trietylsilane Keywords: Palladium catalysts; Alkyl-akyl cross coupling; Suzuki coupling; Alkyl bromides; Room temperature; Alkyl halides; Alkyl electrophile; Unactivated bromides; Fragment couplings; Waste disposal
Biology of osteoclast activation in cancer.

ABSTRACT: Bone is a frequent site of cancer metastasis. Bone metastases can result in bone destruction or new bone formation. Bone destruction is mediated by factors produced or induced by tumor cells that stimulate formation and activation of osteoclasts, the normal bone-resorbing cells. Local bone destruction also occurs in patients with osteoblastic metastases and may precede or occur simultaneously with increased bone formation. Several factors, including interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, receptor activator of NF-kappaB (RANK) ligand, parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), and macrophage inflammatory protein-1-alpha (MIP-1α), have been implicated as factors that enhance osteoclast formation and bone destruction in patients with neoplasia. PTHrP seems to be the major factor produced by breast cancer cells that induces osteoclast formation through upregulation of RANK ligand. Enhanced RANK ligand expression also plays an important role in bone destruction in patients with myeloma. RANK ligand can act to e...