cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of initial trust on video-mediated social support

This study1 explores how initial trust in a provider of social support and person-centeredness in supportive messages affect outcomes in video-mediated social support interactions. A controlled study was conducted with 240 participants who were randomly assigned to a condition in a 3 (initial trust in the support provider: affective, cognitive, and neutral) x 2 (person-centeredness of the support message: high or low) experimental setup. Results show that the effects of person-centeredness in support messages are the same as reported elsewhere for Face-to-Face (FtF) or text-based computer-mediated scenarios: high person-centered messages led to higher perceptions of support quality than low person-centered messages regardless of perceptions of initial trust in the support provider. Results also show that participants perceived the support provider's quality to be higher if personal information (affective trust) about the support provider was available over expertise information (cognitive trust). Ethnicity of participants also had a significant effect on perceptions of support provider's quality. Caucasians reacted much more positively to the message with high person-centeredness and much more negatively to the message with low person-centeredness than other ethnic groups. Asians perceived support provider's quality highly regardless of person-centeredness. Hispanics and African Americans fell somewhere in between. This study demonstrates important implications in message delivery for video-mediated social support.
Secure Neural Circuits to Mitigate Correlation Power Analysis on SHA-3 Hash Function

Correlation Power Analysis, is recently demonstrated as a viable attack model for Keccak, which is the new hash function selected by NIST for SHA-3. Early studies show that CPA attacks can be launched on this algorithm with conventional CMOS implementations. To mitigate such power attacks, in this research we propose secure neural primitives using memristor neural logic blocks. Five different mitigation techniques are proposed, including baseline dualcore design, theta Plane Masking, neural logic block based theta Plane Masking, Analog neural logic block theta Plane Masking, and Analog dual-neural logic block theta Plane Masking. A framework for the CPA attack was designed and the mitigation techniques were assessed based on the number of power traces used, correlation coefficients, confidence ratios, and transistor count. Success rate of guessing a key during SHA-3 operations, while configured as a MAC, is used as a system benchmark. Secure neural primitives are shown to be robust to the CPA attacks.
The Landscape of Non-Convex Quadratic Feasibility

Motivated by applications such as ordinal embedding and collaborative ranking, we formulate homogeneous quadratic feasibility as an unconstrained, non-convex minimization problem. Our work aims to understand the landscape (local minimizers and global minimizers) of the non-convex objective, which corresponds to hinge losses arising from quadratic constraints. Under certain assumptions, we give necessary conditions for non-global, local minimizers of our objective and additionally show that in two dimensions, every local minimizer is a global minimizer. Empirically, we demonstrate that finding feasible points by solving the unconstrained optimization problem with stochastic gradient descent works reliably by utilizing large initializations.
Communication and Understanding Around the World

Communication and understanding is a global issue. This presentation takes a systems theoretic perspective to the discussion of communication. It begins with the description of complex information processing systems which are at the heart of communication and their various features. Human beings are identified as these complex information processing systems. The presentation goes on to discuss the importance of recognizing that communication is often taken for granted. The advantages of viewing human communication from a systems perspective, the differences between a linear information transfer model and a transactional model of communication are pointed out. The implications for intercultural communication and understanding, of modeling communication in this way, and more about the applications of these considersations for people concerned with simulations and games are also included.
Simulation of Hypothetical Criticality Accidents Involving Homogeneous Damp Low-Enriched UO2 Powder Systems

This paper describes the development of a computer model for predicting the excursion characteristics of a postulated, hypothetical, criticality accident involving a homogeneous mixture of low-enri...
Recovering Conditional Return Distributions by Regression: Estimation and Applications

I propose a regression approach to recovering the return distribution of an individual asset conditional on the return of an aggregate index based on their marginal distributions. This approach relies on the identifying assumption that the conditional return distribution of the asset given the index return does not vary over time. I show how to empirically implement this approach using option price data. I then apply this approach to examine the cross-sectional equity risk premium associated with systematic disaster risk, to estimate the exposure of banks to systemic shocks, and to extend the Ross (Journal of Finance, 2014) recovery theorem to individual assets.
Effect of elevated ambient temperatures on puberty in gilts.

Effects of elevated ambient temperature on puberty and related physiological responses were studied in 40 gilts. Group 1 (n = 20) gilts were born in September and Group 2 (n = 20) gilts were born in March. Gilts were placed in environmentally controlled chambers at 140 d of age. After a 10-d acclimation period at 20 degrees C, 35% relative humidity (RH), and 12 h light (L)/12 h dark (D), gilts within each group were randomly assigned to one of two treatments: control (C; 15.6 degrees C, 35% RH, 12 h L/12 h D) or heat stress (HS; 33.3 degrees C, 35% RH, 12 h L/12 h D). Daily detection of estrus with a boar began at 180 d of age and continued for 50 d. All gilts not reaching puberty by 230 d of age received 1,000 IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and 7 d later were examined by laparotomy. Rectal temperatures (REC) and respiration rates (RESP) were taken twice daily. Food intake (FI) and water usage (WC) were recorded daily. Blood samples were collected weekly and BW recorded at 150, 190, and 230 d of age. No differences (P greater than .05) were observed due to season of birth. Heat-stressed gilts had greater (P less than .001) REC and RESP and consumed more (P less than .01) water than C gilts. Food intake and ADG were not different between treatments (P greater than .05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Leakage of Water into Sodium in Steam Generators and Test Rigs

When water and sodium react, hydrogen is released to enter cover gas spaces and become absorbed into the sodium. Changes in hydrogen concentration are measured with suitable instruments to monitor ...
Dialling down the temperature.

In line with the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’, advantaged individuals recognize their privileged position and work to avoid collapsing a common pool resource, but they will not accept excessive free-riding by poorer individuals.
Graph Matching and Pseudo-Label Guided Deep Unsupervised Domain Adaptation

The goal of domain adaptation is to train a high-performance predictive model on the target domain data by using knowledge from the source domain data, which has different but related data distribution. In this paper, we consider unsupervised domain adaptation where we have labelled source domain data but unlabelled target domain data. Our solution to unsupervised domain adaptation is to learn a domain-invariant representation that is also category discriminative. Domain-invariant representations are realized by minimizing the domain discrepancy. To minimize the domain discrepancy, we propose a novel graph-matching metric between the source and target domain representations. Minimizing this metric allows the source and target representations to be in support of each other. We further exploit confident unlabelled target domain samples and their pseudo-labels to refine our proposed model. We expect the refining step to improve the performance further. This is validated by performing experiments on standard image classification adaptation datasets. Results showed our proposed approach out-perform previous domain-invariant representation learning approaches.
PlateDesigner: a web-based application for the design of microplate experiments.

SUMMARY In biological assays, systematic variability, known as a batch effect, can often confound the effects of true biological conditions and has been well documented for a variety of high-throughput technologies. In microplate-based multiplex experiments, such as Luminex or OLINK assays, researchers need to consider both position and plate effects. Those effects can be easily accounted for if the experiments are properly designed, which includes randomization of the samples across multiple experimental runs. However, doing the ad hoc randomization becomes challenging when handling multiple samples. PlateDesigner is the first web-based application that provides randomization for microplate experiments, ensuring that the main principles of the experimental design, such as grouping samples from the same biological units and balancing the distribution of experimental conditions, are applied. Creating randomizations with PlateDesigner is simple and the results can be exported in a variety of formats, and easily integrated with microplate readers and statistical analysis software. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION PlateDesigner is written in R/Shiny and is hosted online by the Center of Biostatistics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This application is freely available at platedesigner.net.
Safety and Efficacy of Donor Leukocyte Infusion for Single Unit Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation to Accelerate Immune Reconstitution Prior to Thymopoiesis

Success of reduced intensity umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in chemotherapy naive patients is limited by an increased risk of mixed chimerism, infection, and delayed immune reconstitution (IR). In a prospective clinical trial, we utilized risk-adapted alemtuzumab dosing, tested the safety of donor leukocyte infusion (cDLI) from a fraction of the thawed graft and evaluated it's efficacy in impacting IR, viral infection, and/or donor chimerism. Patients with inborn errors of metabolism, immunity, or hematopoiesis underwent a single unit UCBT following a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen of alemtuzumab, hydroxyurea, fludarabine, melphalan, and thiotepa (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00744692). Up to 5% of the graft was re-cryopreserved for potential cDLI and administered in cases of declining donor Tcell chimerism, viral infection, or delayed IR. Alemtuzumab levels were obtained on the day of UCBT. Chimerism and IR were measured at standard time points. 33 patients had cDLI stored and 18 patients received cDLI at a median of 65 days post-UCBT. Indications included mixed whole blood or CD3 chimerism, viral infection, or delayed IR. All patients engrafted with neutrophils at a median of 15 days post-UCBT, however, one patient experienced secondary graft failure at day +38, despite cDLI 28 days post-UCBT. Improvement in chimerism was seen in 5 of 9 patients, viral load and/or symptoms of infection in 5 of 9 patients and absolute CD3 count in 5 of 5 patients. 15 patients developed acute grade I-III GVHD at a median of 69 days post-UCBT. In those who received cDLI, 8 developed grade I-II skin GVHD at a median of 19 days post-cDLI. 2 patients with a history of GVHD received subsequent cDLI without GVHD flare. No patients who received cDLI developed grade III or IV acute or extensive chronic GVHD, while 4 patients who did not receive cDLI developed grade III GVHD affecting skin and/or the gastrointestinal tract. There was no difference in the cumulative incidence of acute GVHD between those who received cDLI and those who did not (44% vs. 33%; p=0.81). The 3-year overall and event-free survival of all patients was 94% and 91% respectively, with treatment-related mortality (TRM) of 5% 1 year post-UCBT. We report outcomes on the largest prospective trial utilizing cord blood grafts for nonmalignant disease. cDLI is safe in patients undergoing single-unit UCBT as all engrafted. Greater than half of the patients had improvement in the primary indication for its use, without increased GVHD risk. Greatest benefit was seen in patients with delayed IR and TRM at 1 year was exceptionally low. In sum, cDLI may be a simple and effective way to address mixed chimerism, infection, and accelerate IR during the vulnerable time prior to the onset of thymopoiesis. Further characterization of the merits of cDLI should be explored in a larger clinical trial.
Paenibacillus 79R4, a potential rumen probiotic to enhance nitrite detoxification and methane mitigation in nitrate-treated ruminants.

Abstract The effects of supplemental nitrate administered alone or with a denitrifying ruminal bacterium, designated Paenibacillus 79R4 (79R4) intentionally selected for enhanced nitrate- and nitrite-metabolizing ability, on select rumen fermentation characteristics was examined in vivo. Rumen and blood samples were collected from cannulated Holstein steers one day prior to and one day after initiation of treatments applied as three consecutive intra-ruminal administrations of nitrate, to achieve the equivalent of 83 mg sodium nitrate/kg body weight day, given alone or with the nitrite-selected 79R4 (provided to achieve 106 cells/mL rumen fluid). Results revealed a day effect on methane-producing activity, with rates of methane production by ruminal microbes being more rapid when collected one day before than one day after initiation of treatments. Nitrate-metabolizing activity of the rumen microbes was unaffected by day, treatment or their interaction. A day by treatment interaction was observed on nitrite-metabolizing activity, with rates of nitrite metabolism by rumen microbes being most rapid in populations collected one day after initiation of treatment from steers treated with nitrate plus 79R4. A day by treatment interaction was also observed on plasma methemoglobin concentrations, with concentrations being lower from steers one day after initiation of treatments than from collected one day prior to treatment initiation and concentrations being lowest in steers treated with nitrate plus 79R4. A major effect of treatment was observed on accumulations of most prominent and branched chain volatile fatty acids produced and amounts of hexose fermented in the rumen of animals administered nitrate, with concentrations being decreased in steers administered nitrate alone when compared to steers treated with nitrate plus the 79R4. These results demonstrate that the nitrite-selected Paenibacillus 79R4 may help prevent nitrite toxicity in nitrate-treated ruminants while maintaining benefits of reduced methane emissions and preventing inhibition of fermentation efficiency by the microbial ecosystem.
Adjuvant chemotherapy is not associated with a survival benefit for patients with early stage mucinous ovarian carcinoma.

Abstract Objective Primary mucinous ovarian carcinoma (MOC) is a rare histologic subtype of ovarian cancer. The benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with MOC is unclear. Patients and methods Patients diagnosed with stage I mucinous ovarian cancer (MOC) between 2004 and 2015 were identified from the U.S National Cancer Database. Those with a history of another primary tumor were excluded. Factors independently associated with the receipt of chemotherapy were identified using logistic regression. Impact of chemotherapy on overall survival (OS) for patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2014 was assessed using was Kaplan-Meier curves, and compared with the log-rank test. A multivariate Cox analysis was performed to control for confounders. Results We identified 4811 patients with a median age at diagnosis of 51 years (IQR: 21). Chemotherapy was administered to 1488 (30.9%) patients; 20.2% and 60.2% for those with stage IA/IB and IC respectively, p Conclusions In a large cohort of patients with stage I MOC, receiving chemotherapy was not associated with a survival benefit.
Linking chromophoric organic matter transformation with biomarker indices in a marine phytoplankton growth and degradation experiment

Abstract The production and transformation of marine chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) provides a window into the marine biological pump as it is present at all depths and can be measured both in the field and via satellite. However, outside of lignin for terrestrial DOM, few studies have linked marine CDOM characteristics with biomarker indices. In this study, we quantified five fluorescent components of marine CDOM and base-extractable particulate organic matter (BEPOM) in a growth and degradation experiment using a natural plankton assemblage, and compared those results to bacterial abundances, hydrolytic enzyme activities , and amino acid concentrations and associated diagenetic indices. Rotating glass bottles containing plankton were sampled initially (day 0), during the mid-exponential (day 13) and stationary (day 20) growth phases, and again following a dark degradation period that lasted 42 days. Protein-like fluorescence (tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like) was correlated with the total amino acid concentrations for both the DOM and BEPOM through all phases of the incubation. However, tryptophan-like fluorescence showed a stronger correlation for aromatic amino acids . The concentration of particulate organic carbon changed significantly during each phase of the experiment and this substrate correlated with hydrolytic enzyme activities and bacterial abundance. This heterotrophy diagenetically altered the POM during the stationary phase and ultimately resulted in the increased production of more humic-like CDOM after degradation in the dark. Results from this study indicate that CDOM formation and cycling may play a prominent role in the ocean's nitrogen cycle.
Establishing arbitrary comparative relations and referential transformations of stimulus function in individuals with autism

Relational Frame Theory posits that complex language develops through arbitrarily applicable relational networks, with potential implications for individuals with autism. Responding relationally based on comparison occurs when participants respond to any number of comparative properties, such as "bigger" or "faster." Experiment 1 established two 3-member comparative networks, in which a stimulus A was conditioned as "bigger" or "faster" than a stimulus B, and the stimulus B was conditioned as "bigger" or "faster" than a stimulus C in 2 children with autism. Both participants met the mastery criterion for the trained relations and demonstrated the emergence of the untrained combinatorially entailed A-C and C-A relations. The participants could also match the arbitrary A stimuli with larger or faster objects and the C stimuli with smaller or slower objects. The results were replicated in Experiment 2 with the same participants, where a 5-member relational network was established for the bigger/smaller relation.
Low-Power Sensor Localization in Three-Dimensional Using a Recurrent Neural Network

This letter discusses a novel low-power circuit to self-localize a mobile sensor node in the three-dimensional space using a passive optical receiver. Self-localization of sensors, where a sensor node computes its spatial location by itself, reduces transmission demand, and improves real-time conformity of mobile wireless sensor systems. Our approach forms an over-determined system of angles-of-arrival (AoAs) to mobile sensor received from an optical anchor grid. The AoA system is solved with a linear program (LP) solver, which is implemented using a nonlinear feedback recurrent neural network. To solve the primal and dual LP optimization problems in the AoA system, we show a single multifunctional data path that does not require matrix inversions; thereby, enables within-sensor low-power computations to self-localize. Additionally, unlike other optical indoor positioning architectures, our approach does not require measurements of received signal strength and, thereby, is insensitive to power and alignment imbalances in the anchor grid. We show proof-of-concept field programmable gate array (FPGA) and ASIC simulations of our approach and validate its operation under noisy AoA data and for different numbers of anchors. An FPGA implementation in 180 nm CMOS achieves a peak $\sim$ 0.12 mega localization operations per second per Watt (MOPS/W), while ASIC design in 45 nm CMOS shows a peak $\sim$ 7.7 MOPS/W.
The fundamental building blocks of cortical development are established in human exencephaly.

The presence and status of progenitor/stem cells in excencephalic brain have not been previously examined. Brain sections of excencephalic 17-week fetus were stained for specific stem and mature cell markers. The ventricles were open, the developing cerebral cortex was thin in the radial dimension, and the ventricular surface was undulated. There was a decreased ratio of subventricular/ventricular zone radial glia precursor cells (RGCs; PAX6+ and HOPX+ cells), a decreased number of intermediate progenitor cells (IPCs; TBR2+), a decreased number of neurons (MAP2+), and an increased number of astrocytes (S100b+), compared to the control. MAP2+ neurons, S100b+ astrocytes, and OLIG2+ oligodendrocytes were present within the subventricular zone. This indicates that the underlying condition did not initially preclude radial glial cells from undergoing asymmetric divisions that produce IPCs but halted the developmental progression. RGC and IPC presence in the developing cerebral cortex demonstrates that the fundamental building blocks of cortical formation had been established and that a normal sequence of developmental steps had been initiated in this case of exencephaly. These data expand our understanding of exencephaly etiology and highlight the status of cortical progenitor cells that may be linked to the disorder.
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ORBITAL OR ROTATIONAL ATHERECTOMY AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES AMONG PATIENTS WITH CALCIFIC CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE: INSIGHTS FROM THE CLINICAL ASSESSMENT, REPORTING AND TRACKING (CART) PROGRAM

Optimal treatment for in-stent restenosis (ISR) remains a matter of debate. While rotational atherectomy and laser atherectomy have been used as neointimal debulking techniques for ISR, there has been few reports on orbital atherectomy (OA) for ISR. The aim of the study was to evaluate the
Medical conditions and physical function deficits among multiple primary cancer survivors.

Survivors of multiple primary cancers make up a sizable proportion of all cancer survivors, yet little is known about the health of this population. We examined the prevalence of medical conditions and physical function deficits among multiple primary survivors compared with single primary survivors and individuals without a cancer history. Participants were enrolled in the Cancer Prevention Study (CPS)-II Nutrition Cohort in 1992/1993. Prevalent medical conditions (diabetes, heart conditions, cerebrovascular conditions, emphysema/chronic bronchitis, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis), physical function limitations, use of a cane or walker, balance difficulties, and falls within the past year were assessed on a follow-up survey completed in 2011. We estimated age- and sex-adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs), comparing multiple primary survivors (N = 1003) to single primary survivors (N = 12,849) and participants without cancer (N = 63,578). The prevalence of medical conditions did not differ substantially between multiple primary survivors and either comparison group. However, multiple primary survivors were more likely to report severe limitations in physical function than the single primary (PR = 1.48 (95% CI, 1.28–1.71)) and no-cancer (PR = 1.64 (95% CI, 1.42–1.88)) groups. Using a cane or walker and balance difficulties were also significantly more common among multiple primary survivors. Despite a similar prevalence of comorbid medical conditions, severe functional limitations were significantly more common among multiple primary survivors than single primary survivors or individuals without cancer. Assessment of functional status and treatment of physical deficits may be an especially critical component of care for older patients with a history of multiple cancer diagnoses.
Maintenance Therapy with Nebulizers in Patients with Stable COPD: Need for Reevaluation

Patients with stable COPD rely heavily on inhaled bronchodilators and corticosteroids to control symptoms, maximize quality of life, and avoid exacerbations and costly hospitalizations. These drugs are typically delivered by hand-held inhalers or nebulizers. The majority of patients are prescribed inhalers due to their perceived convenience, portability, and lower cost, relative to nebulizers. Unfortunately, poor inhaler technique compromises symptom relief in most of these patients. In contrast to one or two puffs through an inhaler, nebulizers deliver a drug over many breaths, through tidal breathing, and hence are more forgiving to poor inhalation technique. To what extent susceptibility to errors in their use may influence the relative effectiveness of these two types of inhalation device has received little attention in COPD research. In 2005, a systematic review of the literature concluded that nebulizers and inhalers are equally effective in patients who are adequately trained to use their inhalation device. This conclusion was based on two small clinical trials that only examined objective measures of lung function. Since then, additional studies have found that maintenance therapy administered by nebulizers could improve patients’ reported feelings of symptom relief, quality of life, and satisfaction with treatment, compared to therapy administered by inhalers. Because it has been 15 years since the publication of the systematic review, in this article we summarize the results of studies that compared the effectiveness of inhalers with that of nebulizers in patients with stable COPD and discuss their implications for clinical practice and need for future research.
Effect of conventional ventilation and inhaled nitric oxide In Infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn

Objective To evaluate the effects of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy combined with conventional ventilation in the infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).Methods NO inspiration was added for 22 infants with PPI-IN ventilated with FiO2≥0. 9,PIP≥30 cm H2O,PEEP≥3 cm H2O,RR≥50 bpm for 4～6 hours,with SpO2 still < 90% and PaO2 <55 mm Hg. The iNO concentration started at (10～20)×10-6 for 20 infants,and (20～40)×10-6 for 2 infants. The iNO would be stopped when the concentration reached 40×10 -6 without any sign of improvement. The SpO2 ,blood gas analyses,blood pressure, heart rate and NO: concentration were moraitored during therapy and the resulting data compared to readings before administration of int. Results Clinical situation were significantly improved in 20 (91%) of the infants with SpO2 gradually going up after 10 minutes of int. Before iNO,mean Fit2 was 0. 9±0. 1 ,SpO2 was(76. 3±13.3)% ,and Pat2 was (46. 4±10. 1 ) man Hg. From 1 to 6 hours after iNO,SpO2 increased to(95. 1±3.8)% ,Pat2 increased to(92. 8±24.7) mm Hg,FiO2 decreased to 0.6 s0. 1.The differences were significant (P < 0. 01 ). Eighteen of 22 (82%) infants surviving. Conclusion iNO is effective in alleviating PPHN in infants. There are no remarkable side effects. It is more beneficial to start the iNO concentration at (10～20)×10-6 while some infants may need NO concentration at up to (20～40)×10-6. Key words: Nitric oxide; Inhalation treatment; Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn; Conventional ventilation; Infants, newbom
Eukaryotic plankton communities across reef environments in Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panamá

Variation in light and temperature can influence the genetic diversity and structure of marine plankton communities. While open-ocean plankton communities receive much scientific attention, little is known about how environmental variation affects plankton communities on tropical coral reefs. Here, we characterize eukaryotic plankton communities on coral reefs across the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama. Temperature loggers were deployed, and midday light levels were measured to quantify environmental differences across reefs at four inshore and four offshore sites (Inshore = Punta Donato, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Point, Cristobal, Punta Laurel and Offshore = Drago Mar, Bastimentos North, Bastimentos South, and Cayo de Agua). Triplicate vertical plankton tows were collected midday, and high-throughput 18S ribosomal DNA metabarcoding was leveraged to investigate the relationship between eukaryotic plankton community structure and inshore/offshore reef environments. Plankton communities from STRI Point were additionally characterized in the morning (~ 08:00), midday (~ 12:00), and late-day (~ 16:00) to quantify temporal variation within a single site. We found that inshore reefs experienced higher average seawater temperatures, while offshore sites offered higher light levels, presumably associated with reduced water turbidity on reefs further from shore. These significant environmental differences between inshore and offshore reefs corresponded with overall plankton community differences. We also found that temporal variation played a structuring role within these plankton communities, and conclude that time of community sampling is an important consideration for future studies. Follow-up studies focusing on more intensive sampling efforts across space and time, coupled with techniques that can detect more subtle genetic differences between and within communities will more fully capture plankton dynamics in this region and beyond.
Abstract LB-052: Photochemistry mediated tumor priming potentiates cytoreduction of distant metastases to enable potential surgical cure in a late stage model of pancreas cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease for which the 5 year survival rate remains Citation Format: Sriram Anbil, Zhiming Mai, Michael Pigula, Tayyaba Hasan. Photochemistry mediated tumor priming potentiates cytoreduction of distant metastases to enable potential surgical cure in a late stage model of pancreas cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-052.
Examining Parity among Black and Hispanic Resident Physicians

The US physician workforce does not represent the racial or ethnic diversity of the population it serves. To assess whether the proportion of US physician trainees of Black race and Hispanic ethnicity has changed over time and then provide a conceptual projection of future trends. Cross-sectional, retrospective, analysis based on 11 years of publicly available data paired with recent US census population estimates. A total of 86,303 (2007–2008) to 103,539 (2017–2018) resident physicians in the 20 largest US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education resident specialties. Changes in proportion of physician trainees of Black race and Hispanic ethnicity per academic year. Projected number of years it will then take, for specialties with positive changes, to reach proportions of Black race and Hispanic ethnicity comparable to that of the US population. Among the 20 largest specialty training programs, Radiology was the only specialty with a statistically significant increase in the proportion of Black trainees, but it could take Radiology 77 years to reach levels of Black representation comparable to that of the US population. Obstetrics/Gynecology, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, and Orthopedic Surgery demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the proportion of Hispanic trainees, but it could take these specialties 35, 54, 61, and 93 years respectively to achieve Hispanic representation comparable to that of the US population. Among US residents in the 20 largest specialties, no specialty represented either the Black or Hispanic populations in proportions comparable to the overall US population. Only a small number of specialties demonstrated statistically significant increases. This conceptual projection suggests that current efforts to promote diversity are insufficient.
Association of Race with Early Outcomes of Elective Posterior Spinal Fusion for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Propensity-Matched and Subgroup Analysis.

Objective To investigate the impact of race on 30-day postoperative complication rates of elective posterior spinal fusions (PSF) for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Methods Patients who underwent PSF between 2012 and 2018 were reviewed from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program pediatric database. Propensity score matching was utilized to evaluate whether patient race (i.e., black vs. white) was correlated with postoperative complications. Results A total of 4051 PSF for AIS cases met criteria for inclusion. Of these, 3221 (79.5%) patients were white and 830 (20.5%) were black. Several baseline characteristics significantly differed between cohorts. Patients in the black cohort had a significantly higher body mass index, a greater proportion of female patients, higher ASA scores, preoperative diagnosis of asthma or cardiac risk factors, and prior use of steroids. The total number of vertebral segments fused was also greater in the black cohort. After controlling for differences in baseline characteristics with propensity score matching analysis, the only significant difference in morbidity and mortality identified was a higher incidence of venous thromboembolism among the black cohort (2.8% vs. 0.1%; P Conclusions In contrast to prior literature, our analysis did not identify black race as an independent risk factor for higher perioperative morbidity or mortality in patients of young age group undergoing elective PSF for AIS, except the higher incidence of venous thromboembolism. The findings of the present study suggest that previously reported perioperative morbidity and mortality outcomes in black patients may be secondary to baseline health characteristics, and not due to race itself.
Interfacing Photosystem i Reaction Centers with a Porous Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide Electrode to Perform Light-Driven Redox Chemistry

A biohybrid electronic system incorporating photosystem I (PSI) on a porous antimony-doped tin oxide electrode has been developed. The resulting light-powered reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleot...
Preference for the Color Rendition of Skin

Quite a bit is known about group preference for how light sources render object colors, as distilled into Annexes E and F of TM-30-20 (ANSI/IES 2020). One area that is weakly substantiated, however...
Regulating Hospital Prices Based On Market Concentration Is Likely To Leave High-Price Hospitals Unaffected.

Concern about high hospital prices for commercially insured patients has motivated several proposals to regulate these prices. Such proposals often limit regulations to highly concentrated hospital...
A Model for Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Systems

An adaptive computing system is one that modifies its behavior based on changes in the environment. Since one common type of environment change in a distributed system is network or processor failure, fault-tolerant distributed systems can be viewed as an important subclass of adaptive systems. As such, use of adaptive methods for dealing with failures in this context has the same potential advantages of improved efficiency and structural simplicity as for adaptive systems in general. This paper describes a model for adaptive systems that can be applied in many failure scenarios arising in distributed systems. This model divides the adaptation process into three different phases—change detection, agreement, and action—that can be used as a common means for describing various fault-tolerance algorithms such as reliable transmission and membership protocols. This serves not only to clarify the logical structure and relationship of such algorithms, but also to provide a unifying implementation framework. Several adaptive fault-tolerant protocols are given as examples. A technique for implementing the model in a distributed system using an event-driven approach for composing protocols in parallel is also presented.
Performance of antenna diversity combining for OFDM-CDMA systems in ground-based communications

We present the comparative diversity performance of the uniform circular array (UCA) and the uniform linear array (ULA) in ground-based communications. In ground-based communications, ULA is the most commonly used antenna system for sectorized cell systems like commercial cellular systems. For omni-directional cell communication systems, such as many ground-based military communication systems, however, there has been increased interest in using UCA. We compare the performance of UCA and ULA based on BER (bit-error-rate) results. The analytical BER is derived as a function of spatial fading antenna correlation for both types of antenna arrays. Results show that, for a similar aperture size, the UCA outperforms the ULA. This is most pronounced for small and moderate angle spread.
Chapter 13 Molecular aspects of muscarinic receptor assembly and function

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on recent mutagenesis studies that have led to novel insights into the structure and assembly of muscarinic receptors. The five mammalian muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (ml-m5) are typical members of the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The studies aimed at identifying the structural elements governing the selectivity of muscarinic receptor/G protein interactions are also discussed. This is the first study describing a specific, functionally relevant site of interaction between a GPCR and its cognate Gα-subunit(s). Because proper receptor/G protein coupling is thought to involve several intracellular receptor domains and, at least, three sites on the Gα-subunits, it is likely, however, that additional interactions modulate the specificity of receptor/G protein coupling and further increase the efficiency of G protein activation. It should be of great interest to investigate whether GPCRs that are linked to G proteins different from G i/o operate through a molecular mechanism similar to that described in the chapter.
Cardiovascular risk factors and small vessel disease of the brain: Blood pressure, white matter lesions, and functional decline in older persons

Several potential vascular risk factors exist for the development and accumulation of subcortical white matter disease in older people. We have reported that in older people followed for up to 4 years white matter hyperintensity (WMH) lesions on magnetic resonance imaging nearly doubled in volume and were associated with alterations in mobility and cognitive function. Herein we review the genetic, metabolic, and vascular risk factors that have been evaluated in association with the development and pathogenesis of WMH in older persons. Our research efforts have focused on systemic hypertension, particularly in the out-of-office setting as 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) has proven to be a stronger indicator of the progression of WMH in older people and the associated functional decline than doctor’s office BP. Based on relations between 24-hour systolic BP levels, the accrual of WMH, and functional decline, we have designed the INFINITY trial, the first interventional study to use ambulatory BP to guide antihypertensive therapy to address this problem in the geriatric population.
Quantum Mechanics in Biology: Photoexcitations in DNA

We consider here the theoretical and quantum chemical description of the photoexcitated states in DNA duplexes. We discuss the motivation and limitations of an exciton model and use this as the starting point for more detailed excited state quantum chemical evaluations. In particular, we focus upon the role of interbase proton transfer between Watson/Crick pairs in localizing an excitation and then quenching it through intersystem crossing and charge transfer.
Behavioral Activation for Depression: A Clinician's Guide

Introduction: The Development of Behavioral Activation. The Core Principles of Behavioral Activation. The Structure and Style of Therapy. Identifying the Ingredients of the Behavioral Antidepressant. Activity Scheduling and Structuring. Solving Problems and Countering Avoidance. How Thinking Can Be Problematic Behavior. Troubleshooting Problems with Activation. Tying it All Together: Relapse Prevention and Beyond. Appendix 1: Charts and Worksheets for Depressed Clients. Appendix 2: Notebook and Weekly Therapy Plan. Appendix 3: Notebook and Posttherapy Plan. Appendix 4: ACTIVATE Reference Sheet for Therapists.
Development of polymer blend morphology during compounding in a twin‐screw extruder. Part IV: A new computational model with coalescence

In Part II of this series of publications, the first generation model of morphology evolution during polymer blending in a twin-screw extruder was presented. The model was based on a simplified flow analysis, and an assumption that dispersion occurs via drop fibrillation followed by disintegration. In the present Part IV, several modifications of the model are discussed. (i) The flow analysis was refined by computing the pressure profiles. (ii) The flow paths and strain history of the dispersed droplets within the screw elements are computed directly, which makes it possible to determine the drop susceptibility to deformation and break. (iii) Besides the fibrillation mechanism, a drop-splitting mechanism for low supercritical capillary numbers is incorporated. (iv) The choice of breakup mechanism is based on micro-rheological criteria. (v) The coalescence effects are taken into account. (vi) The theoretical model is self-consistent, without adjustable parameters. The validity of theoretical assumptions was evaluated by comparing the model predictions with the experimental droplet diameters at different positions in the twin-screw extruder
Prolonged hemodynamic benefits from a high-dose bolus injection of human atrial natriuretic factor in congestive heart failure.

The physiologic and potential pharmacologic roles of atrial natriuretic factor in congestive heart failure have remained confusing. We have evaluated the hemodynamic responses to human atrial natriuretic factor [ANF (102-126)] given as bolus intravenous doses of 2.0 or 4.5 µg/kg to 12 patients with congestive heart failure. Responses were monitored with pulmonary and systemic arterial catheters in place. By 30 minutes after 4.5 µg/kg ANF (n = 6), heart rate decreased from 97 ± 16 to 91 ± 15 beats/min, right atrial pressure from 14 ± 4 to 12 ± 3 mm Hg, and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure from 33 ± 3 to 23 ± 2 mm Hg (all p < 0.05); responses persisted for 120 minutes. Mean arterial pressure, cardiac index, stroke volume index, and pulmonic and systemic vascular resistances did not change significantly. The 2.0 µg/kg ANF dose produced similar responses, but only heart rate and right atrial pressure decreased significantly. No clinically important side effects were noted. High-dose ANF bolus doses can be administered simply and safely and improve hemodynamic parameters in chronic heart failure. Therefore ANF does have pharmacologic activity in heart failure and may have therapeutic potential. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1991) 50, 557–563; doi:10.1038/clpt.1991.181
Charged particle radiotherapy for lesions encircling the brain stem or spinal cord.

Abstract Since 1981, a specialized technique has been under development at the University of California Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for charged particle irradiation of tumors partially or completely encircling the brain stem or spinal cord. By dividing the target volume into two or more portions and using a combination of beams, a reasonably homogeneous irradiation of the target volume can be obtained which protects critical CNS structures from over-irradiation. This technique requires knowledge of the physical and biological effects of charged particles, precise, reproducible patient immobilization, careful treatment planning based upon Metrizamide contrast CT and/or MRI scanning, compensation for tissue inhomogeneities, and accurate, verifiable radiation delivery. Uncertainties in the dose distribution must be taken into account when prescribing treatment. We have used this technique in 47 patients with a variety of tumors abutting the brain stem and spinal cord, including chordoma, chondrosarcoma, meningioma, osteosarcoma and metastatic tumors. The results have shown a significant local control rate (62%) and the incidence of serious complications has been acceptable (13%). The median follow-up is 20 months with a range of 6–90 months. We conclude that charged particles can be safely and effectively used to irradiate lesions encircling the brain stem or spinal cord to doses higher than can be achieved with low-LET irradiation.
A Comparison of Western Business Instruction in China With U.S. Instruction: A Case Study of Perceived Program Emphases and Satisfaction Levels

This research presents a case study of a joint business degree program between an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB‐I) accredited business school in the United States and a Chinese PhD granting partner university. The case investigates the impact of a U.S.‐based curriculum, taught by U.S. instructors and which uses all English instruction on Chinese student perceptions of program emphases and satisfaction. It compares these perceptions with those of U.S. sister students. The comparison reveals program dissatisfaction among Chinese students when contrasted to U.S. students and for the most part a failure to attend to the program emphases of the West. Reasons for the departures are explored and strategies for improvement are developed.
Business Models for Mobile Commerce Services: Requirements, Design, and the Future

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) is generating considerable interest and has led to the design and development of new services, but it lacks a suitable business model. This article presents business model requirements, existing models, and ways to design effective business models for emerging m-commerce services.
Detection of a calmodulin-sensitive cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase in rat parotid gland.

Abstract Calmodulin coupled to Sepharose has provided a rapid and sensitive means of isolating a cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity which is stimulated by the calmodulin-Ca 2+ complex, from rat parotid gland. Initial experiments established that phosphodiesterase activity sensitive to calmodulin and Ca 2+ could not be demonstrated in crude extracts of rat parotid gland or after partial purification of rat parotid phosphodiesterase over DEAE-cellulose. However, it was possible to readily demonstrate the presence of a cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity regulated by calmodulin if the extracts were first purified by batch ion-exchange chromatography over DEAE-cellulose followed by affinity chromatography with calmodulin coupled to Sepharose. The batch ion-exchange chromatography step removed the major portion of free parotid calmodulin which could compete with calmodulin-coupled Sepharose for the proteins regulated by calmodulin. Thus, by employing an initial chromatography step over DEAE-cellulose to separate phosphodiesterase activity from calmodulin, it was possible to increase the recovery of calmodulin-sensitive phosphodiesterase after affinity chromatography with calmodulin coupled to Sepharose. This approach should be useful for demonstrating the presence of and for purifying other parotid proteins regulated by calmodulin.