cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Persistent NF-κB activation in renal epithelial cells in a mouse model of HIV-associated nephropathy

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated nephropathy (HIVAN) is caused, in part, by direct infection of kidney epithelial cells by HIV-1. In the spectrum of pathogenic host-virus interactions,...
Healthy older women

Health in older women in this discussion is considered from four perspectives of fitness: (a) physical, (b) intellectual, (c) social and (d) purpose. The important point is that it is not health, per se, which is so crucial in women's later lives, but rather their attitudes and their coping strategies to meet new situations, losses and crises. In addition, the responses of others, including professionals, are important in enabling older women to live productive lives in spite of adversity. Examples of positive models of women growing old with varying degrees of health problems are provided.
Phytomelatonin: a review

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has been detected in a number of plant species. Indeed, there exists evidence that this classically-considered animal indole is actually both synthesized in and taken up by plants. Among the actions that melatonin may carry out in plant tissues, its role as an antioxidant or growth promoter is most strongly supported by the experimental evidence. Other suggested functional implications include the co-ordination of photoperiodic responses and regulation of plant reproductive physiology, defence of plant cells against apoptosis induced by harsh environmental conditions, its participation as a free radical scavenging agent and/or up-regulator of certain protective enzymes in the senescent process. This review presents a detailed summary of the investigations that have been performed to date in the plant melatonin (phytomelatonin) field. The purpose of this summary is to bring the reader up to date on what is known about melatonin in plants and to encourage plant scientists to investigate this novel research topic; this would certainly assist in solving the numerous questions that still remain regarding the role of melatonin in plants.
Renal Osteodystrophy in Children

The association between renal insufficiency and bone disease has been recognized for more than 100 years since Lucas, in 1883, described anemia, dwarfism, and “late form of rickets” in children with chronic renal failure.(1) Although the term renal rickets has been used to describe this bone disorder, the clinical and histologic differences between vitamin D deficiency and juvenile renal osteodystrophy are sizable. Advanced osteodystrophy consists of bone pain, metaphyseal fractures, osteitis fibrosa cystica, delayed bone age, linear growth failure, severe bowing, and slipped epiphyses.(2) Mehls et al.(3) have made the point that childhood uremic bone disease has a unique epiphyseal lesion, largely related to secondary hyperparathyroidism, that is histologically distinct from D deficiency and which accounts for the widened growth plate and for retardation in bone age (Fig. 1). Childhood uremic osteodystrophy has certain real differences from adult renal bone disease (Table 1) that are often dramatically highlighted.(3–5)
Resource allocation with stochastic optimal control approach

A control-theoretic decision making system is proposed for an agent (decision maker) to “optimally” allocate and deploy his/her resources over time among a dynamically changing list of opportunities (e.g., financial assets), in an uncertain market environment. The solution is a sequence of actions with the objective of optimizing total reward function. This control-theoretic approach is unique in a sense that it solves the problem at distinct time epochs over a finite time horizon and strategies are discovered directly. Rather than basing a decision making system on forecasts or training via a reinforcement learning algorithm using current state data, we train our system via a Q-learning algorithm using Geometric Brownian Motion as an asset price function. While the above problem is quite general, we focus solely on the problem of dynamic financial portfolio management with the objective of maximizing the expected utility for a given risk level. The performance functions that we consider for our system are realized mean return, drawdown and standard deviation. We find that our model achieves a better return and drawdown compared to a known market index as a benchmark.
Quantum optical and mechanical interfaces for spin qubits

We will describe our recent theoretical and experimental work towards developing novel optical and mechanical quantum interfaces and quantum transducers for spin qubits in diamond. Novel applications of these techniques will be discussed.
Changing the (Magisterial) Subject: Women Teaching-with-Authority-from Vatican II to Tomorrow.

Pope Francis has stated that ‘The challenge [for the church] today is this: to think about the specific place of women also in those places where the authority of the church is exercised for variou...
In vivo inhibition of the mTOR pathway and reversal of Akt-dependent prostate intraepithelial neoplasia requires induction of mitochondrial pathway mediated cell-death

5128 Loss of PTEN function in human cancers leads to activation of PI3K signaling including activation of Akt. Activation of Akt in the murine prostate results in a highly penetrant prostate intraepithelial neoplasia phenotype associated with the hallmarks of increased mTOR activity. Here, we find that administration of a rapamycin derivative (RAD001; everolimus) selectively inhibits phosphorylation of mTOR pathway substrates and completely reverses the PIN phenotype within 2-weeks. Phenotype reversal was accompanied by decreased rates of proliferation, and by the striking induction of apoptosis within the intraluminal epithelial cells. This mTOR dependent survival pathway is, at least in part, dependent on mitochondrial death effector pathways, as compound mice expressing Akt and Bcl-2, while sensitive to the anti-proliferative activity of mTOR inhibition, were resistant to mTOR-dependent apoptosis. These data raise the possibility that clinical resistance to mTOR inhibition might emerge through expression of Bcl-2 or other pro-survival oncogenes.
Chest Wall Reconstruction

Reconstruction of the chest wall requires a thorough knowledge of both the anatomy of the defect and regional tissue with potential for use in defect coverage. The combination of preoperative defect assessment with selection of a reliable reconstructive technique gives the surgeon the ability to provide stable chest wall reconstruction with preservation of form and function.
Online Educational Video Improves Bowel Preparation and Reduces the Need for Repeat Colonoscopy Within Three Years

Abstract Purpose Unsatisfactory bowel preparation has been reported in up to 33% of screening colonoscopies. Patients' lack of understanding about how a good bowel preparation can be achieved is one of the major causes. Patient education has been explored as a possible intervention to improve this important endpoint and has yielded mixed results. We compared the proportion of satisfactory bowel preparations and adenoma detection rates between patients who viewed and did not view an educational video on colonoscopy. Methods An educational video on colonoscopy, accessible via the Internet, was issued to all patients with planned procedures between 2010 and 2014. Viewing status of the video was verified through a unique code linked to each patient's medical record. Excellent, good, or adequate bowel preparations were defined as "satisfactory," whereas fair, poor, or inadequate bowel preparations were defined as "unsatisfactory." Results A total of 2530 patients undergoing their first outpatient screening colonoscopy were included; 1251 patients viewed the educational video and 1279 patients did not see the video. Multivariate analysis revealed higher rates of satisfactory bowel preparation in the educational video group (92.3% [95% confidence interval [CI], 84.8-96.3] vs 87.4% [95% CI, 76.4-93.7], P P Conclusion Patient-centered educational video improves bowel preparation quality and may reduce the need for an earlier repeat procedure in patients undergoing screening colonoscopy.
Local stabilization of discrete-time T-S fuzzy systems with magnitude- and energy-bounded disturbances

Recently, the local stability and local stabilization problems have been investigated by several authors for nonlinear systems described by Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems. In this paper, we study the local stabilization problem for discrete-time T-S fuzzy systems with magnitude- and energy-bounded disturbances. The control design problem is cast as a linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization. The state-feedback controller is designed in such a way that, if the initial state is within a certain domain, then the state trajectories under bounded disturbances will not escape the fuzzy modelling region of the state space. Finally, examples are given to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.
Consistency Relations of the Large Scale Structure

The CMB is great source of observational knowledge in cosmology and it is has been extensively used, in particular by Planck [1]. To obtain even more information on cosmology, the next step is to rely on the large scale structure, via galaxy surveys for example. This has two main advantages. First, contrarily to the CMB which is a 2-D surface, galaxy surveys span the full 3-D space, which greatly increases their statistical power. Second, they probe the late time universe, where the effects of dark energy are expected to be the strongest, which means more constraining power. However, even within \(\Lambda \)CDM+GR, it is still hard to make accurate late-time predictions at small scales. Indeed, if for the CMB the physics is well described by the linear regime, at late-time the structure has grown into the non linear regime, which means a breakdown of the usual perturbative tools. Moreover, if the dark matter distribution can be predicted through N-body simulations for example, this cannot be said for galaxies. The problem is that galaxies are what we observe when doing those experiments, so that one needs models to relate their distribution to that of dark matter. This limits the theoretical control we have on predicting the galaxies’ distribution.
Long-Term Recordings of Live Human Cells Using Phase Contrast Microscopy

This chapter provides an overview of the commonly used methods for long-term live cell time-lapse analysis of individual untransformed human cells. A detailed discussion on phase contrast and differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy is presented. It provides information on illumination, temperature control, and focus stability. This is followed by some general considerations of the optical systems suitable for live cell time-lapse analysis. It discusses the construction and preparation of culture chamber for the use of sealed cell preparations. It also provides brief information on phototoxicity of live cells under observation. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion on correlative immunofluorescence characterization of cells previously followed in vivo.
Primary peritoneal low-grade serous carcinoma in a man: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract Primary peritoneal serous carcinoma (PPSC) almost always occurs in women, though rare cases have been reported in men. To date, only three cases of PPSC occurring in male patients have been published in the English literature. Here we describe the fourth case of primary peritoneal serous carcinoma in a male patient and the first showing morphologically and immunophenotypically confirmed low-grade serous histology. In addition to the classic morphologic features of low-grade serous carcinoma, the tumor cells show strong immunoreactivity for CK7, PAX8, WT-1 and ER, and very focal weak immunoreactivity for calretinin and CK5/6, supporting Mullerian serous differentiation. Mild to moderate cytological atypia and a wild-type staining pattern for p53 support a low-grade designation. Absence of a clinically detectable testicular or paratesticular primary tumor supports a primary peritoneal origin. The patient died shortly after his diagnosis; an autopsy was not performed.
Modeling linear VR for DDR4 termination scheme of ADDR/CMD/CTRL signals

A Gm-C topology based linear voltage regulator (VR) model to terminate address, command and control (ADDR/CMD/CTRL) signals was proposed in this work. A dynamic resistive divider (DRD) enabled accurate modeling of the load regulation curve and the transition from sink to source mode. Validation proved the model's accuracy to predict performance which in turn will enable optimization and avoid over-designing the power delivery network (PDN).
Use of Intracranial Pressure Monitoring Frequently Refutes Diagnosis of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension.

Background The diagnosis and management of patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) frequently relies on lumbar puncture to ascertain intracranial pressure (ICP). However, ICP values derived this way may be spurious owing to patient body habitus and behavior. We recently incorporated direct continuous ICP monitoring into the work-up for IIH. Methods Through billing records, we identified all patients during a 3-year period who had a diagnosis of IIH and who underwent ICP monitoring before shunt placement or revision. Patient demographics and clinical data were reviewed. Results Of 30 patients who underwent ICP monitoring with an intraparenchymal wire, 17 had undergone lumbar puncture within the previous 6 months. Results from lumbar punctures showed an elevated opening pressure in all 17 patients, whereas only 2 patients (12%) were found to have consistently elevated ICP with direct ICP monitoring. Of 15 patients being evaluated for shunting, 4 (27%) were found to have elevated ICP. Of the 15 patients with existing shunts, 2 patients (13%) were found to have malfunctioning shunts after pressure monitoring, and 3 patients (20%) had shunts that were found to be unnecessary and were removed. No patient experienced any complication from invasive monitoring. Conclusions Direct ICP monitoring is the gold standard for determining ICP and can be safely and effectively applied to the work-up and treatment of patients with IIH to reduce the occurrence of misdiagnosis and unnecessary surgery.
Seasonal change in the gut.

We live in a dynamic environment where diet, weather, social interactions, lifestyles, and a host of other factors change on a regular basis. Consequently, the microbial composition of even a healthy person's gut is subject to natural variations; however, not much is known about these variations. On page 802 of this issue, Smits et al. ( 1 ) study seasonal changes in the gut microbiome of the Hadza population (see the photo), a hunter-gatherer community residing near Lake Eyasi in Tanzania, Africa, during the wet and dry seasons of 2013 and 2014. Using a new methodology, they identify operational taxonomic units (OTUs)—clusters of reads that are a proxy for taxons—that respond to seasonal changes in diet, activity, and the external environment, thereby maintaining a healthy gut.
The impact of tillage on pinto bean cultivar response to drought induced by deficit irrigation

Abstract Drought stress is a major factor limiting yield of dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and drought tolerant cultivars are being developed. Reducing tillage in row crops has advantages of conserving moisture and increasing water infiltration, and may alter the response of dry bean cultivars to drought stress. The goal of this study was to evaluate the response of eight pinto bean cultivars to deficit irrigation when grown under conventional (CT) vs strip tillage (ST). Drought was imposed to one half of the plots approximately 30 days after emergence by reducing irrigation by 48% [deficit irrigation (DI)] compared to full replacement of estimated evapotranspiration (FI = full irrigation). DI reduced bean seed yields 48 and 46% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Dry bean cultivars varied in their response to drought stress by year. ST improved bean stands both years and moderated the decline in soil water, particularly in the upper 0–15 cm of the soil profile under DI when compared to CT. Mid-season shoot length, top biomass, leaf area index, and canopy cover were generally greater, and light transmittance through the plant canopy lower in ST compared to CT. ST increased bean seed yield 9% in one of two years over CT. ST improvements in crop stand, shoot and canopy development, and seed yield were consistent across irrigation levels and cultivars. Pinto bean growth and yield responses to ST were generally either favorable or neutral when compared to CT suggesting that implementing ST could benefit dry bean performance under both favorable and limited water conditions.
American Indians: Working with Individuals and Groups:

The historical and cultural backgrounds of the importance of group interaction among American Indian people are discussed. Case examples are provided that describe the culture-specific skills neces...
Strategic planning for applying biotechnology to woody plant genetics and breeding

Biotechnology can be used to produce products or knowledge, or both (e.g. [22]). But biotechnology means different things to different people. There are the so-called old biotechnologies of, for instance, vegetative propagation, and genetic selection and breeding. Indeed, ‘casual’ vegetative propagation and breeding are about as old as agriculture, and have been systematized for centuries [10,44]. There are also what are collectively termed the new biotechnologies, for example, recombinant DNA (e.g., genetic engineering, gene mapping); somaclonal in vitro genetic selection; in vitro embryo rescue; in vitro sexual hybridization; in vitro somatic cellular hybridization; in vitro vegetative propagation (i.e., micropropagation, micrografting); and in vitro production of haploid, aneuploid, or polyploid plants. However, like other technologies, the new biotechnologies have past histories. For example, protoplast fusion was first achieved 56 years ago [33] and is the basis of somatic cellular hybridization.
Light Regulation of the Menstrual Cycle

Abstract The 1967 report of Edmund Dewan that a bedside 100 watt bulb could stabilize irregular menstrual cycles was initially greeted with skepticism. Recent studies of light treatments of humans have indicated that both bright and dim light have real biological effects. To examine the validity of Dewan's report, our group has treated two samples of women with irregular menstruation with randomly-assigned 100 watt bedside night lights or dim red light placebos. In both groups, the 100 watt treatments significantly decreased the duration of menstrual cycles and reduced their variability. Effective were treatments both from days 10–14 and from days 13–17 of the menstrual cycle (counting the first bleeding as day 1). The night light effect on long cycles in oligomenorrheic women seems to be a genuine and rather powerful biological effect and not a result of suggestion. Use of light to regulate menstrual cyclicity may have clinical value both for rhythm contraceptive methods and for treatments of infertility. Further study of night light effects on the menstrual cycle may expand our understanding of reproductive endocrinology. Extensive clinical testing is needed to determine the optimal intensities, timing, and durations of night light treatments for producing endocrine benefits.
Unique pharmacological interactions of taurine and chelerythrine in the retina.

The effects of taurine and chelerythrine (CHT) on ATP-dependent calcium uptake and the phosphorylation of the ~20 kDa phosphoprotein in the retina were compared. In the absence of the CHT, taurine stimulated ATP-dependent calcium uptake and attenuated the phosphorylation of the ~20 kDa phosphoprotein. On the other hand, CHT produced the opposite results in the absence of taurine. When the two agents were used simultaneously, it was found that CHT non-competitively inhibited the action of taurine to stimulate calcium uptake, while taurine non-competitively inhibited the action of CHT to stimulate the phosphorylation of the ~20 kDa phosphoprotein. The data present an unusual pharmacological mechanism for controlling the signal transduction pathway involving the two distinct cellular processes being studied. Given the unique data, a control system is proposed in which the function of the ~20 kDa phosphoprotein is linked to the stimulation of ATP-dependent calcium uptake.
Using MPI with Cn and the Common Language Infrastructure: Research Articles

We describe two different libraries for using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) with the Cn programming language and the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). The first library provides Cn bindings that closely match the original MPI library specification. The second library presents a fully object-oriented interface to MPI and exploits modern language features of Cn. The interfaces described here use the PsInvoke feature of the CLI to dispatch to a native implementation of MPI, such as LAMsMPI or MPICH. Performance results using the Shared Source CLI demonstrate only a small performance overhead. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Symmetrical Parabolic Approximation in College Physics

Complicated functions appearing in physics are frequently simplified by a symmetrical parabolic approximation for obtaining useful results. The symmetrical parabolic approximation is employed in ma...
Superficial bladder cancer.

The majority (75% to 80%) of patients with bladder cancer have superficial disease. Overall, the prognosis for these patients is good, but recurrence and progression of the disease remain significant obstacles to successful management. As our understanding of the natural history of the disease increases and the tools available for diagnosis and treatment improve, the challenge is to identify early and with certainty those patients who will progress to invasion and metastasis so that aggressive treatment can be employed while there is still a chance for a cure.
Sustaining Pedagogical Change via Faculty Learning Community.

The necessity of a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) literate population continues to be a high priority worldwide. One approach to build and bolster a STEM-literate workforce is to explore approaches for strengthening the teaching of college-level STEM courses. The use of collaborative student learning pedagogy is broadly accepted as an effective approach to improve student learning outcomes over traditional methods, such as lecture. How to encourage and sustain the use of such evidence-based teaching practices in STEM fields is a critical topic. To achieve pedagogical change among college faculty, research supports a faculty learning community (FLC) structure. FLCs are a way to facilitate deeper understanding of a topic within a community of practice. Of particular interest for this paper is whether any FLC-supported pedagogical change was sustained by the faculty after the FLC ended and if so why. Engineering faculty found success in implementing paradigmatic pedagogical changes by engaging in an FLC that intentionally provided structures to promote a community of practice. This paper reports on the endurance of these pedagogical changes up to 2 years following conclusion of the FLC, with evidence summarizing reasons why many of the faculty had absorbed much of the once-new pedagogical approaches into their ongoing practices. FLC structures that faculty credit to their pedagogical change and the enduring impacts of those changes are described. These results offer evidence that it is possible to structure faculty support for them to make enduring pedagogical change, rather than temporary or one-time changes as part of a particular initiative. The findings, discussion, and conclusions of this study are likely to be of interest to faculty developers, innovative university leadership, or faculty exploring ways of sustaining a pedagogical change.
Early Outcomes of Patients With Locally Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy Versus Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy: The Mayo Clinic Experience

Abstract Purpose There are very little data available comparing outcomes of intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with locally advanced NSCLC (LA-NSCLC). Methods Seventy-nine consecutively treated patients with LA-NSCLC underwent definitive IMPT (n = 33 [42%]) or IMRT (n = 46 [58%]) from 2016 to 2018 at our institution. Survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Acute and subacute toxicities were graded based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.03. Results Median follow-up was 10.5 months (range, 1-27) for all surviving patients. Most were stage III (80%), received median radiation therapy (RT) dose of 60 Gy (range, 45-72), and had concurrent chemotherapy (65%). At baseline, the IMPT cohort was older (76 vs 69 years, P Conclusions Compared with IMRT, our early experience suggests that IMPT resulted in similar outcomes in a frailer population of LA-NSCLC who were more often being reirradiated. The role of IMPT remains to be defined prospectively.
Image-guided focused ultrasound therapy system and method for improved anticancer drug delivery

Vascular abnormalities in a complex tumor microenvironment is one of the major challenges for effective drug delivery and cancer treatment. It has been well established that noninvasive focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with a microbubble (MB) contrast agent can safely and reversibly increase the permeability of blood vessel walls, thereby temporarily allowing anticancer agents to pass through them and into the tumor tissue. Termed FUS-mediated drug delivery, most previous studies have used a single focused US beam for cancer treatment in small animal models, which limited the ability to treat the entire tumor burden. To that end, the goal of this research was to reveal the effectiveness of tumor treatment when using multi-FUS system and method. An infrared dye (IR-780) functioned as a surrogate chemotherapeutic drug and allowed detection in live animals. Athymic nude female mice implanted with MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells were used to evaluate both single FUS and multi-FUS therapeutic strategies. Each animal was injected in the tail vein with a bolus mixture of MB (2.3 x 107 Definity, Lantheus Medical Imaging) and IR-780 dye (50 µg). During US therapy, a custom pulsed sequence was applied using an image-guided FUS system (HIFUPlex-06, Verasonics Inc) for a duration of 10 min in the selected zone of the tumor. Animals were imaged using a whole-body optical imaging system (Pearl Trilogy, LI-COR Biosciences) and accumulated IR-780 dye was quantified up to 48 h after application of FUS-mediated drug delivery. After euthanasia, IR-780 dye was also quantified from homogenized tumor tissue samples. Overall, preliminary results showed that the multi-FUS therapy approach significantly increased drug uptake (increased by about 71 % at 48 h) in the targeted tumor tissue compared to the single FUS method.
Acute Hemothorax Causing Hemorrhagic Shock Following Small-bore Thoracocentesis in a Patient on Clopidogrel: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Clopidogrel is one of the most commonly prescribed thienopyridines used postcoronary stenting for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). There have been several concerns regarding performing small-bore thoracocentesis on patients on clopidogrel in our practice. We present an 85-year-old male with a history of diabetes, atrial fibrillation, diastolic heart failure, chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage three, who recently had a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) requiring a drug-eluting stent (DES) to the left anterior descending (LAD) artery, and was on dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT). He was admitted with worsening shortness of breath and found to have bilateral pleural effusions. He required several small-bore, ultrasound-guided thoracocentesis on the right side while on clopidogrel. Intensivists or residents did all the procedures. The patient went into a hemorrhagic shock following his third small-bore thoracocentesis, requiring pressors, blood and platelet transfusions, and a surgical intercostal (IC) drain insertion. He eventually became clinically stable. An IC arteriogram within 24 h ruled out IC artery injury. Healthcare professionals perceive small-bore thoracocentesis as a safe procedure done on medical, surgical, intensive care, and interventional radiology (IR) units. The overall consensus is that it is safe to perform it on patients taking clopidogrel. We emphasize through this case report the bleeding risks associated with performing such procedures on patients while on clopidogrel and considering holding clopidogrel when feasible or bridging with an intravenous anti-platelet drug.
Effect of Intermittent High-Mechanical Index Impulses on Left Ventricular Strain.

Background Intermittent high–mechanical index (MI) impulses from a transthoracic ultrasound transducer are recommended for regional wall motion analysis and assessment of myocardial perfusion following intravenous administration of ultrasound enhancing agents (UEAs). High-MI impulses (>1.0) applied in this setting have also been shown to increase microvascular blood flow through a purinergic signaling pathway, but their effects on left ventricular (LV) myocardial function are unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of transthoracic intermittent high-MI impulses during intravenous UEA infusion in patients with normal and abnormal resting systolic function. Methods Fifty patients referred for echocardiography to evaluate LV systolic function during continuous infusion of UEAs (Definity 3% infusion) were prospectively assigned to low-MI ( Results There were no differences between groups with respect to age, gender, resting GLS, biplane LV ejection fraction, or cardiac risk factors. Resting GLS in group 1 was −15.5 ± 5.2% before UEA infusion and −15.5 ± 5.4% at 10 min after UEA infusion. In comparison, GLS increased in group 2 (−15.3 ± 5.0 before infusion and −16.8 ± 4.8% at 10 min, P Conclusions High-MI impulses during infusion of a commercially available contrast agent can improve LV systolic function and may have therapeutic effect in patients with LV dysfunction.
Agonism, Democracy, and the Moral Equality of Voice:

Agonism emerged three decades ago as an assault on the overemphasis in political theory on justice and consensus. It has now become the norm. But its character and relation to core values of democr...
Usaha Kuliner Berskala Mikro dan Kecil di Desa Gunung Sindur Kabupaten Bogor: Kondisi Pasca Covid-19

Pandemi Covid-19 menyebabkan masyarakat melakukan kegiatan di rumah saja untuk memutus mata rantai penyebaran virus sesuai dengan kebijakan pemerintah. Kebijakan tersebut pada akhirnya membuat banyak kegiatan yang memerlukan interaksi secara langsung harus dihindari dan membatasi kegiatan masyarakat untuk tidak keluar rumah. Di tengah keadaan yang tidak pasti, usaha kecil dan menengah, khususnya dibidang kuliner harus mampu beradaptasi secara cepat. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk untuk mengetahui kemampuan dan pengetahuan dari sekompok usaha kuliner yang berada pada wilayah kabupaten bogor dalam beradaptasi di era pamdemi Covid-19. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif deskriptif dengan mengunakan data primer dan data sekunder. Selanjutnya sumber data tersebut dianalisis secara deskriptip. Hasil penelitian ditemukan sebanyak 41,67% atau 10 pelaku usaha mengalami penurunan omset, omset stabil sebanyak 12,5% atau 3 pelaku usaha kuliner dan peningkatan penjualan sebanyak 45,83% atau 11 pelaku usaha kuliner mengalami peningkatan omset penjualan. Strategi yang diterapkan usaha kuliner mikro dan kecil selama pandemik Covid didapatkan hasil diantaranya: (1) Menggunakan berbagai media social dan market place sebagai sarana berdagang (2) Mengganti produk yang relevan dengan kondisi kebutuhan pasar di era Covid (3) Memberikan promo dan discount menarik
Vulnerabilities of coastal and inland fisheries to climate change: Assessing adaptation policy to improve resiliency of social ecological system of Bangladesh

Abstract Fisheries are vital for the food security and livelihoods of coastal nations but are particularly susceptible to impacts of climate change. Bangladesh’s fisheries sector is especially vulnerable, given its geography and population density, with millions at risk for climatic impacts and, consequently, food insecurity. This chapter assesses the climate change policy of Bangladesh with regard to their effort to integrate capacity building and adaptation policies to build climate resilient fisheries. Using an adaptive pathway framework to increase resiliency, with considerations toward limits and barriers to access that can reduce adaptive capacity, this chapter closely analyzes the opportunities and pitfalls of fisheries policy of Bangladesh. This initial assessment concludes that, although relatively progressive and thorough, Bangladesh’s fisheries policy plans fall into several maladaptive pathways and normative assumptions that actually reduce resiliency. Furthermore, the plans do not acknowledge the many limits and barriers to access that prevent the most vulnerable communities from increasing their adaptive capacity, which can lead to a reduction of general community-level resilience overall.
NLRP3 inflammasomes that induce antitumor immunity

Inflammasomes have emerged as context-dependent regulators of inflammation and protective immunity in vertebrates. Depending on the cell type and stimulus, inflammasome activities lead to interleukin (IL)-1 release from living (hyperactive) or dead (pyroptotic) cells. Herein, we review the mechanisms by which inflammasomes can impact CD8+ T cell-mediated antitumor immunity. We describe recent work demonstrating the differential impact of pyroptosis in cancer cells and dendritic cells (DCs) on antitumor immunity. We further highlight the surprising ability of inflammasomes within hyperactive DCs to facilitate the use of tumor lysates as immunogens, promoting CD8+ T cell-mediated antitumor responses. These context-dependent roles of inflammasomes in living and dead cells offer much opportunity for future research and should inform discussions of next-generation immunotherapy development.
Contextual Bandit Applications in a Customer Support Bot

Virtual support agents have grown in popularity as a way for businesses to provide better and more accessible customer service. Some challenges in this domain include ambiguous user queries as well as changing support topics and user behavior (non-stationarity). We do, however, have access to partial feedback provided by the user (clicks, surveys, and other events) which can be leveraged to improve the user experience. Adaptable learning techniques, like contextual bandits, are a natural fit for this problem setting. In this paper, we discuss real-world implementations of contextual bandits (CB) for the Microsoft virtual agent. It includes intent disambiguation based on neural-linear bandits (NLB) and contextual recommendations based on a collection of multi-armed bandits (MAB). Our solutions have been deployed to production and have improved key business metrics of the Microsoft virtual agent, as confirmed by A/B experiments. Results include a relative increase of over 12% in problem resolution rate and relative decrease of over 4% in escalations to a human operator. While our current use cases focus on intent disambiguation and contextual recommendation for support bots, we believe our methods can be extended to other domains.
An Operationally Relevant Framework for Mapping Spot Fire Transmission Potential

Spotting is known to be an important fire spread mechanism and cause of fireline breaches during windy conditions, yet current fire modeling systems provide only coarse metrics of spotting behavior that are underutilized in fire operations. We developed a spatial framework to quantify and map potential sources and sinks of spot fire transmission across linear control features based on models of ember production, ember transport, and receiving fuel bed ignition probability. The framework provides several spatially explicit measures of spotting potential conditional on fire extent and weather that are designed to support fire management decisions related to control line selection and resource allocation to tasks such as line prep, retardant application, and holding operations. We evaluate the utility of the framework using two wildfire case studies with growth episodes attributed to spotting. In its current form, the model is most appropriate for relative evaluation of spot fire transmission potential from wind-driven fires. The spotting source and sink metrics may also help managers begin to think prescriptively about the control tactics necessary on both the source and receiving sides of firelines to avoid spotting breaches. Improvements to the input data and component models are needed to progress towards desired estimates of conditional breach probabilities.
Self-Referral Remedies

In a previous essay we considered the matter of increasing utilization of diagnostic imaging from the point-of-view of threats to radiology hegemony by physicians in other specialties. Much concern has been raised about self-referral by non-radiologists and its effect on healthcare costs, radiation exposure for those tests using ionizing radiation and overall a balkanization of radiology into many self-contained and hence poorly regulated pockets of imaging initiatives. This is, of course, a very big problem but before proceeding to remedies one must recognize that it is not the whole issue. In a debate several years ago held at a Spring meeting of the American College or Radiology, one did not hear anything about radiologist self-referral. The absence of discussion about this phenomenon does not mean that our adversaries will not discuss it when the debate starts to rage. They will for sure consider that point, at least to counter the proposals organized Radiology offers, which will have the effect of regulating or removing competition. That story needs to be recited and debated if we are to retain credibility in the matter at hand i.e. how do we limit or stop the unfettered self promotion of imaging by non-radiologists?
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOLUTIONS OF POLYSACCHARIDES.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the physical properties of polysaccharides. New refined methods of paper chromatography and gas chromatography are making the determination of structure more accurate and much easier, as it is preferable that additional effort might be directed toward separation techniques and assessment of homogeneity. The task of isolating a product and ensuring its homogeneity provides no rapid results but surely lays the basis of a structural investigation that is of permanent value to the knowledge of the natural polymers. Theories concerning the solution behavior of polymers met with limited success in predicting polymer dimensions. Much more work of both a theoretical and practical nature will have to be carried out, particularly on charged polysaccharides, before a satisfactory treatment of their hydrodynamic behavior can be claimed.
Isolation and characterization of an isolate (HN) of Marek's disease virus with low pathogenicity.

Abstract A cytopathic agent was isolated and characterized as an isolate of Marek's disease herpesvirus (MDHV) with low pathogenicity, and referred to as the HN isolate. This isolate of MDHV did not cause clinical Marek's disease (MD) or death in a highly susceptible line of chickens within 5 weeks after exposure. Gross lesions of limited extent were noted in a few of the inoculated birds. Microscopic nerve lesions in the inoculated and contact-infected birds were invariably minimal, closely resembling C-type MD lesions.
A strain-dependency of Myosin off-rate must be sensitive to frequency to predict the B-process of sinusoidal analysis.

Muscle force arises as the result of many myosin molecules, each producing a force discrete in magnitude and in time duration. In previous work we have developed a computer model and a mathematical model of many myosin molecules acting as an ensemble and demonstrated that the time duration over which myosin produces force at the molecular level (referred to here as “time-on”) gives rise to specific visco-elastic properties at the whole muscle level. That model of the mechanical consequences of myosin-actin interaction predicted well the C-process of small length perturbation analysis and demonstrated that the characteristic frequency 2πc provided a measure of the myosin off-rate, which is equal to the reciprocal of the mean time-on. In this study, we develop a mathematical hypothesis that a strain-dependence of the myosin off-rate at the single molecule level can result in a negative viscous modulus like that observed at low frequencies, i.e., the B-process. We demonstrate here that a simple monotonic strain-dependency of the myosin off-rate cannot account for the observed B-process. However, a frequency-dependent strain-dependency, as may occur when visco-elastic properties of the myosin head are introduced, can explain the observed negative viscous modulus. These findings suggest that visco-elastic properties of myosin constitute the specific molecular mechanisms that underlie the frequency-dependent performance of many oscillatory muscles such as insect flight muscle and mammalian cardiac muscle.
Aperture Synthesis Maps of HCN, HCO+, CO, and 3 mm Continuum Toward M82

The Hat Creek millimeter interferometer was used to map emission from the J = 1 → 0 transitions of HCN, HCO+, and CO, and from 3 mm continuum toward the starburst galaxy M82. These are the first aperture synthesis maps of extragalactic thermal emission from molecules other than CO.
Interdigital Neuroma: Intermuscular Neuroma Transposition Compared with Resection:

This prospective, randomized study compares the treatment of an interdigital neuroma (IDN) by the standard resection operation with a technique in which the IDN is transposed into the inter-muscula...
Anger, Aggression, and Risky Behavior on the Road: A Preliminary Study of Urban and Rural Differences

This study explored the relationship of gender and urban/rural driving to anger, anger expression, aggression, and risky behavior while driving. Some small gender effects were found. Men and women did not differ on anger or forms of anger expression, but men reported more aggressive and risky behavior. There were no urban/rural differences, except for one interaction. Urban males reported less overall driving anger than did other groups. Results are discussed in terms of absence of urban/rural differences and the need to explore potential differences in larger, more powerful designs that employ more diversified measures of anger and the impact of driving anger on a person's life.
A Prospective, Controlled Trial of a Pharmacy-Driven Alert System to Increase Thromboprophylaxis rates in Medical Inpatients

Although venous thromboembolism is an important cause of morbidity and mortality within the hospital, a significant proportion of at-risk inpatients do not receive measures known to reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The objective of the present study was to determine whether a pharmacy-driven alert system would, compared to usual care, be associated with a higher rate of adequate venous thromboembolism prevention measures among at-risk inpatients on a general internal medicine service. The study was a prospective, controlled trial set at a university-based teaching hospital. The participants were adults who were admitted (Monday through Friday) to the general internal medicine inpatient service from 19 June to 21 September 2006. Their treatment included a pharmacist assessment of venous thromboembolism risk and a pharmacist-driven alert to the treating physician. The Proportion of at-risk patients receiving adequate thromboprophylaxis within 36 h of admission was recorded. Overall, 140 patients were at sufficient risk for venous thromboembolism to be included. In the usual care group, prophylactic measures were ordered for 49 (61%) of the 80 patients at moderate to high risk. In the pharmacist-alert group, 44 (73%) of the 60 moderate to high venous thromboembolism-risk patients received adequate thromboprophylaxis (P = 0.15). Although we did not observe a statistically significant difference between the groups, our results are consistent with previous reports suggesting that alert systems can increase the proportion of hospitalized patients who receive adequate measures to prevent venous thromboembolism.
Synergetic effects in the flow injection analysis determination of catechol in the presence of excess ascorbic acid by series dual-band amperometric detection

Abstract The deviations at high concentrations (>10 −5 M) in the calibration curves for the determination of catechol in catechol/ascorbic acid mixtures by flow injection analysis using series dual-band poly(3-methylthiophene)-coated electrodes has been re-examined. The cyclic voltammetry (at pH≅7.4) of catechol/ascorbate and catechol/urate mixtures and NMR measurements show these deviations are the result of the simultaneous homogeneous catalytic reaction of dehydrocatechol with ascorbate.
Characterizing Aggression and Its Association to Anger and Hostility Among Male Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

ABSTRACTObjectives: The basis for the associations among anger, hostility, aggressive behavior, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains unclear. We suggest classifying aggressive behavior may elucidate the associations among these factors. On the basis of diagnostic and neurobiological similarities between impulsive aggression (IA) and PTSD, we proposed that IA was the predominant form of aggression in PTSD and that anger and hostility would not significantly predict PTSD when IA was also included as a predictor. Methods: We used cross-sectional self-report data obtained from two samples of male veterans (N = 136). Results: Over 70% of veterans with PTSD reported IA compared to 29% of those without PTSD. IA, not anger, hostility, or premeditated aggression significantly predicted a diagnosis of PTSD. Conclusions: Associations between anger and PTSD may be unique to individuals with IA, and considering impulsive and premeditated aggressors separately may account for the heterogeneity found within...
Orientation of Nonsense Codons on the Genetic Map of the Lac Operon

Intracodon recombination is used to orient the nonsense codons UGA, UAG, and UAA on the genetic map of the (lactose) lac operon of Escherichia coli. The 5'-end of these triplets is toward the operator end of the operon. A hypothesis is presented to explain the fact that the frequency of recombination between adjacent nucleotides is many times lower than expected.
Design and simulation of logic gates using single electron transistors at room temperature

The Single Electron Transistor (SET) is a nanoscale three terminal device that provides current conduction characteristics comparable to a MOSFET and can be used for developing nanoscale logic circuits. In this paper, we have determined the design parameters of an SET to observe current oscillations at room temperature. These parameters have been used to design SET-based logic gates for room temperature operation. The circuit architectures of the proposed SET-based logic gates are identical to the corresponding CMOS gates. Complementary operations of an SET as n- and p-type devices were achieved by controlling the charge on the SET island by using the appropriate tuning gate voltages. We have proposed room temperature designs for the NOT, NOR, NAND, And-Or-Invert (AOI) and Or-And-Invert (OAI) gates. Their operations have been verified by simulations with a SPICE package which includes the SET-SPICE model.