cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
HLA-D region genes associated with autoantibody responses to histidyl-transfer RNA synthetase (Jo-1) and other translation-related factors in myositis

Myositis has been associated with HLA-B8 and DR3, especially in white patients with polymyositis and serum anti-Jo-1 antibodies. Twenty-eight patients with myositis and serum translation-related autoantibodies anti-Jo-1, anti-PL-7, anti-PL-12, anti-KJ, and anti-SRP were studied for HLA class II specificities by Southern blotting with HLA-DR beta, DQ beta, and DQ alpha probes. The association of HLA-DR3 (DRw17) with anti-Jo-1 antibodies in white myositis patients was confirmed (P = 0.003, relative risk 8.9). However, HLA-DRw52 haplotypes, regardless of subtype, were present in all of the white and black patients with serum anti-Jo-1 and other translation-related autoantibodies. Moreover, one anti-Jo-1 positive patient had HLA-DRw8, an HLA-DRw52 haplotype on which the DR beta 3 gene has been partially deleted. No HLA-DQ specificity or allele was common to all patients. The HLA-DR3, DR5, DRw6, and DRw8 haplotypes, which bear the HLA-DRw52 specificity, share the most homology in the DR beta 1 first hypervariable region at amino acid positions 9-13. Thus, this DR beta 1 region appears to be the most likely candidate "epitope" for translation-related autoimmune responses in inflammatory myositis.
Effects of Behavioral Contingencies on Adolescent Active Videogame Play and Overall Activity: A Randomized Trial.

Abstract Objective: This study evaluated the effect of four active videogames (AVGs) varying in behavioral contingencies (behavior–consequence relations) on adolescent AVG play and overall activity...
Sequential monitoring of clinical trials: The role of information and brownian motion

Sequential monitoring has been a topic of major interest in clinical trials methodology over the past two decades. This paper presents a unified conceptual framework for sequential monitoring that covers a wide variety of monitoring procedures in a wide variety of clinical trial settings. The central elements of this framework consist of a suitable concept of statistical information and a scheme for using this concept as a basis for summarizing the accumulating results of a trial in a standardized form, through a stochastic process that can be shown to approximate classical Brownian motion. The ideas are developed in a simple step-by-step fashion and illustrated by several practical examples.
Dicer expression and microRNA dysregulation associate with aggressive features in thyroid cancer.

Background. Altered miRNA expression and down-regulation of Dicer has been shown in various cancers. We investigated Dicer expression and global miRNA environment in correlation with malignant features of thyroid tumors. Methods. Dicer gene expression was assessed for 22 normal thyroids, 16 follicular adenomas, 28 papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs), 10 tall-cell variants of PTC, 11 follicular variants of PTC, as well as the four thyroid cell lines BCPAP, TPC1, KTC1, and TAD2 via quantitative polymerase chain reaction. BRAF (V600E) mutation screening was completed for 31 neoplasms. Next-generation sequencing was performed on a subset of PTC and normal thyroid. Protein levels were assessed via Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Results. Dicer mRNA was down-regulated in malignant thyroid samples and cell lines compared with normal tissues, benign neoplasms, and the fetal cell line TAD2. Decreased Dicer gene expression in malignant tissues was correlated greatly with aggressive features: extrathyroidal extension, angiolymphatic invasion, multifocality, lymph node and distant metastasis, recurrence, and BRAF (V600E) mutation. Conversely, increased levels of Dicer protein were observed in malignant tissues and cell lines. Sequencing yielded 19 differentially expressed miRNAs. Eight samples had a nonsignificant a global down-regulation in malignant tissues. Conclusion. Dysregulation of Dicer and possibly altered expression of miRNAs are associated with aggressive features in thyroid cancers. These findings suggest that disruption in normal miRNA processing involving Dicer may play a role in thyroid cancer progression. (Surgery 2014;156:1342-50.)
SCF Xα — SW ionization energies of XNO (X = Cl, F and Br) and XON (X = Cl, and F)

Abstract Ionization energies of the nitrosyl halides XNO (X = Cl, F, and Br) have been obtained using the SCF X α scattered-wave method and transition state procedure. The results are comapred to other theoretical and experimental ionization energies as well as among themselves. Ionization energies of nitrogen hypohalides XON (X = Cl and F) have also been computed and compared to those of XNO (X = Cl and F). It was found that the present results yield a good agreement with the experimental ionization energies.
Amitosis in Chara

The history of the nucleus and its method of division during ontogeny have been studied in Chara contraria and C. zeylanica. The results indicate that amitoses in the internodal cells of Chara are not manifestations of degeneration but, on the contrary, that they follow an orderly sequence. Amitosis involves a change in the form of the nucleus of the internodal initial to a ring-like one and division of the ring into two crescentic portions. A similar pattern of amitosis is repeated until, in older internodal cells, the minute, crescentic nuclei appear in clusters, often in denser masses of cytoplasm.
A study of the behavioral disruption of mice induced by l-methionine and related compounds.

Mice housed in groups normally huddle together. The daily administration of 250 mg/kg l-methionine induced disruption of this normal grouping behavior. Several compounds related to the metabolic pathway of methionine were also tested. The data indicated that the behavioral disruption observed was more likely due to the resultant increase in the level of one of the metabolites of methionine rather than to the increase in the number of available methyl groups.
A Computer Controlled Television Detector for Light, X-Rays and Particles

A versatile, high resolution, software configurable, two-dimensional intensified vidicon quantum detector system has been developed for multiple research applications. A thin phosphor convertor allows the detection of X-rays below 20KeV and non-relativistic particles in addition to visible light, and a thicker scintillator can be used to detect X-rays up to 100KeV and relativistic particles. For rates of 100 to 105 events/sec the position of each event is computed and from 105 to 1012/sec the intensity at each pixel is determined. Faceplates may be changed to allow any active area from 1 to 40mm square, and active areas up to 200mm square are possible. The image is integrated in a digital memory on any software specified array size up to 4000 × 4000. The array size is selected to match the spatial resolution, which ranges from 10? to 100? depending on the operating mode, the active area, and the photon or particle energy. All scan and data acquisition parameters are under software control to allow optimal data collection for each application.
Alterations in insulin binding induced by changes in vivo in the levels of glucocorticoids and growth hormone.

Previous studies have shown that the sensitivity of tissues to insulin is diminished in states of glucocorticoid and GH excess and is increased when these hormones are deficient. To evaluate the role of the insulin receptor in these states, we have studied [125I]insulin binding to purified liver plasma membranes obtained from rats with a variety of perturbations of both glucocorticoids and GH. Glucocorticoid excess was produced in rats by administration of ACTH (40 U /day for 4 days dexamethasone (1mg/day for 4 days). This resulted in an insulinresistant state. Associated with this insulin resistance, there was a 50–60% decrease in insulin binding to its specific receptors in liver. Conversely, adrenalectomy, which produces an increase in insulin sensitivity, was associated with an increase in insulin binding to liver. Computer-assisted Scatchard analysis using a negative cooperative model for the insulin-receptor interaction indicated that, in contrast to our findings with obesity, the changes in insulin...
Bispectral Index™ values are higher during halothane vs. sevoflurane anesthesia in children, but not in infants

Background: Previously, we have shown in adult patients that bispectral index score (BIS) values are significantly higher during halothane anesthesia (53–61 units) as compared with those observed during equipotent concentrations of sevoflurane (39–43 units). Because halothane is frequently used in the pediatric setting, we tested the hypothesis that BIS values observed in children might also be higher during general anesthesia with halothane than with sevoflurane. Methods: Forty-one healthy, unpremedicated pediatric patients scheduled for elective operations received either halothane or sevoflurane titrated as appropriate for surgical stimulation. Results: During maintenance sevoflurane anesthesia (n = 20), the mean BIS values and percent end-tidal concentrations were 44 ± 14 and 2.1 ± 0.6, respectively, whereas for the halothane group (n = 21) the corresponding values were 61 ± 7 and 1.1 ± 0.4, respectively. Conclusion: These findings suggest that BIS values are higher during halothane vs. sevoflurane anesthesia in children, but not in infants
High-brightness tabletop soft X-ray lasers at high repetition rate: injection-seeding of solid target plasma amplifiers and other developments

We have recently demonstrated high repetition rate tabletop lasers operating at wavelengths as short as 10.9 nm based on collisional transient excitation of ions in plasmas created by laser heating of solid targets. As a further step in the development of these lasers into very high brightness and fully coherent soft x-ray sources, we have demonstrated injection seeding of the amplifiers with high harmonic seed pulses. We report results of an experiment in which a 32.6 nm Ne-like Ti amplifier was used to amplify a seed pulse from the 25 th harmonic of Ti:Sapphire into the gain saturation regime. Simultaneous amplification of the 27 th harmonic at 30.1 nm was also observed. The seeded soft x-ray laser beam was measured to approach full spatial coherence. We have demonstrated that this scheme is scalable to shorter wavelengths and that is capable of producing extremely bright soft x-ray laser pulse with essentially full coherence.
A novel empirical free energy function that explains and predicts protein-protein binding affinities.

Abstract A free energy function can be defined as a mathematical expression that relates macroscopic free energy changes to microscopic or molecular properties. Free energy functions can be used to explain and predict the affinity of a ligand for a protein and to score and discriminate between native and non-native binding modes. However, there is a natural tension between developing a function fast enough to solve the scoring problem but rigorous enough to explain and predict binding affinities. Here, we present a novel, physics-based free energy function that is computationally inexpensive, yet explanatory and predictive. The function results from a derivation that assumes the cost of polar desolvation can be ignored and that includes a unique and implicit treatment of interfacial water-bridged interactions. The function was parameterized on an internally consistent, high quality training set giving R 2 = 0.97 and Q 2 = 0.91. We used the function to blindly and successfully predict binding affinities for a diverse test set of 31 wild-type protein–protein and protein–peptide complexes ( R 2 = 0.79, rmsd = 1.2 kcal mol − 1 ). The function performed very well in direct comparison with a recently described knowledge-based potential and the function appears to be transferable. Our results indicate that our function is well suited for solving a wide range of protein/peptide design and discovery problems.
The predictive ability of critical thinking, nursing GPA, and SAT scores on first-time NCLEX-RN performance.

Abstract Aim. This study was conducted to investigate the predictability of several variables in achieving first-time success on the NCLEX-RN®. Background. Several researchers have attempted to investigate the differences between students who passed the NCLEX-RN the first time and those who failed. No studies used a large enough failure group to have statistical significance. Method. The three specific variables in this study were nursing GPA, SAT combined math and verbal scores, and critical thinking measured on a standardized assessment examination. An ex post facto study design was used to examine data from the records of associate degree nursing graduates during a three-year period. Results. The most significant predictors of NCLEX-RN success were the students' nursing GPA and the overall standardized assessment examination score. Conclusion. The findings of this study could potentially influence the identification of students at risk for NCLEX-RN failure.
The elastic constants of the constituent phases of dental amalgam

The pressure variations of the elastic constants of the constituent phases of dental amalgam (γ–Ag3Sn, γ1–Ag2Hg3, and γ2–HgSn7–8) were investigated in the 0–50 kilobar range. The velocities of propagation of longitudinal and transverse ultrasonic waves were measured using an ultrasonic interferometer and a solid media pressure apparatus. Computer analysis yields the pressure dependence of the bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratio; atmospheric pressure values are obtained by back extrapolation from the high pressure measurements. The values of these elastic constants are related to the crystallographic structures of the individual alloys. The possibility of high pressure first order polymorphic transitions in γ and γ2 is also discussed.
ZONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE VESTIBULO-CEREBELLUM IN THE CONTROL OF HORIZONTAL EXTRAOCULAR MUSCLES USING PSEUDORABIES VIRUS: I. FLOCCULUS/VENTRAL PARAFLOCCULUS

Much literature has studied the relationship between the organization of neurons in the flocculus/ventral paraflocculus and vestibulo-ocular reflex pathways. Although activation of a flocculus central zone produces ipsilateral horizontal eye movement, anatomical tracing evidence in rats suggests that there may not be a simple one-to-one correspondence between flocculus/ventral paraflocculus zones and control of single extraocular muscles or coplanar pairs of antagonistic extraocular muscles. This study used the retrograde transynaptic transport of pseudorabies virus to identify the topographical organization of Purkinje cells in the flocculus/ventral paraflocculus that control the lateral rectus (LR) and medial rectus (MR) muscles in rats. A survival time of 80 h and 84 h was necessary to observe consistent transynaptically labeled cells in the flocculus/ventral paraflocculus following injections of pseudorabies virus into the MR and LR, respectively. The organization of Purkinje cells in the dorsal flocculus and ventral paraflocculus abided by the traditional boundaries, whereas the labeling pattern in the ventral flocculus showed a more complex, interdigitated arrangement. In agreement with prior studies, transynaptically labeled neurons were also observed in specific vestibular nuclear regions within the medial and superior vestibular nuclei and dorsal Y group. The distribution of labeled neurons in ipsilateral and contralateral vestibular nuclei was associated with features of ipsilateral and contralateral retrograde labeling of Purkinje cells in flocculus/ventral paraflocculus. Importantly, this study provides the first evidence of vestibulo-cerebellar zones controlling individual extraocular muscles and also overlapping distribution of neurons in flocculo-vestibular zones that influence the LR and MR motoneuron pools. This suggests that some of these neurons may be responsible for controlling both muscles.
A Review of Ethnicity, Culture, and Acculturation Among Asian Caregivers of Older Adults (2000-2012)

This review identified domains of care experiences among studies of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese caregivers in the United States and Canada between 2000 and 2012. Using a narrative approach, 46 peer-reviewed journal articles were found through electronic databases and references. Considering caregivers' assimilation to host countries, attention was given to their culture, socioeconomic resources, immigrant status, filial responsibility, generation, and acculturation. Three primary domains were identified across subgroups. The caregivers' experiences domain was a strong sense of filial responsibility and its varied effects on caregiving experience; in the cultural values domain, reciprocity, and familism. In the acculturation domain, caregivers' generations influenced their experiences. Because our society is rapidly changing demographically and culturally, studies of older adults and their caregivers that are not only inclusive of all racial/ethnic groups but also sensitive to specific racial/ethnic and cultural subgroup differences are necessary to inform policy and practice.
Autoregulation of Mononuclear Phagocyte Function

Among phagocytic cells the mononuclear phagocyte is particularly notable for the diversity of its functions. One explanation for such diversity is the fact that mononuclear phagocytes respond in a variety of ways to a number of different stimuli. Some of these stimuli can be produced by the mononuclear phagocytes themselves, raising the possibility that these cells are autoregulatory. It is my intention to consider this possibility here. Four classes of secretory products with autoregulatory potential will be considered, including proteinases, complement proteins, interferons, and prostaglandins.
SELF-HEALING DESIGN IN DEEP SCALED CMOS TECHNOLOGIES

CMOS technologies are suffering from increased variability due to process, supply voltage and temperature (PVT) variations as we enter the tens-of-nanometer regime. Analog and mixed-signal circuits have failed to effectively exploit the high-speed and low-noise properties that deep scaled CMOS technologies provide due to marginality issues. Large variations in leakage current and threshold voltage also make highly integrated digital designs challenging. In addition, device aging introduces a temporal dimension to variations in circuit performance. Consequently, there is an increasing need for a new design methodology that can provide high yield and reliability under severe parametric variations. Although several post-silicon calibration and repair strategies have been proposed to address the PVT variations, no coherent design strategy for a SoC has been developed so far. We espouse a self-healing technique based on real-time sensing and built-in feedback due to its inherent advantage of dynamic adaptation to temporal variations. This tutorial paper outlines our vision of improving marginalities in deep scaled CMOS technologies using a generic and systematic self-healing design including a system-level auto-correction algorithm. It also illustrates this methodology with design examples.
Shape instabilities and pattern formation in solidification: A new method for numerical solution of the moving boundary problem

Abstract When a solidification front is advancing into a region of supercooled liquid, its shape is subject to instabilities which can lead to complex modes of growth. The evaluation of the growth pattern is determined by the interaction of the driving force of the instability due to heat diffusion with the restabilizing force due to surface tension, and its full development is a highly nonlinear process. A new method for solving the two-phase heat diffusion problem under these conditions is described. The method is based on a single-domain treatment (weak formulation) of the moving boundary problem, with the temperature field near the interface approximated by a piecewise linear function in the spirit of the finite-element technique. Calculated results for a model problem are in excellent agreement with the predictions of an analytical approximation.
Colonization of Cimex lectularius with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Summary A recent paper published by Lowe and Romney in Emerging Infectious Diseases titled, Bed bugs as Vectors for Drug-Resistant Bacteria has sparked a renewed interest in bed bug vector potential. We followed a pyrethroid resistant strain of the human bed bug (Cimex lectularius, L.) fed either human blood or human blood with added methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for 9 days post-feeding. Results indicated that while the bed bug midgut is a hospitable environment for MRSA, the bacteria does not survive longer than 9 days within the midgut. Additionally, MRSA is not amplified within the midgut of the bug as the infection was cleared within 9 days. Due to the weekly feeding behaviours of bed bugs, these results suggest that bed bug transmission of MRSA is highly unlikely.
Studies of the Peripheral Metabolism of Triiodothyronine and Reverse Triiodothyronine in the Rat: A Comparison of Extraction and Chromatographic Methods of Analysis*

Studies were performed of the peripheral metabolism of radioiodine-labeled T3 and rT3 in the rat. Two methods of analysis were employed to determine the residual concentrations of labeled hormones after their single iv injection: trichloroacetic acid-ethanol extraction, as employed by others, and a recently described technique for the chromatography of plasma on columns of Sephadex G-25. In the case of both T3 and rT3, Sephadex chromatography regularly revealed the appearance in plasma of labeled iodoprotein, radioiodide, and a peak of unidentified radioiodinated materials that eluted just before T3 (pre-T3). Radioiodine in the pre- T3 zone, whether generated from T3 or rT3, proved to be almost completely TCA-precipitable and ethanolextractable. Consequently, for both T3 and rT3, plasma disappearance curves derived by the precipitation-extraction technique were at all time points higher than were curves representing chromatographically isolated administered hormone. In the case of rT3, and to a lesser ext...
Instantaneous concentration fluctuations in point‐source plumes

A model for the variance σ of instantaneous plume concentrations, at a level corresponding to that of the Gaussian formulas for the mean field, is developed and tested against available data. Starting from the Eulerian species transport equation, theoretical and empirical information is used to estimate parameters and simplify the form of the transport equation for σ in a meandering frame of reference. Then, introduction of a localized production of fluctuations (LPF) scheme allows construction of analytical expressions for σ that provide a direct means for calculating the concentration variance inside the instantaneous boundaries of plumes resulting from continuous point emissions in turbulent flows with uniform mean velocity.
“At Risk” Women Who Think That They Have No Chance of Getting HIV: Self-Assessed Perceived Risks

During the past two decades, a fair amount of inconclusive research has been conducted to examine the relationship between perceived risk of contracting HIV and actual HIV risk behavior practices. The present study examines HIV risk perceptions among a sample of 250 urban, economically-disadvantaged, primarily minority women. In particular, we focus on differences between those saying that they have no chance whatsoever of contracting HIV and those who indicated at least some possibility of becoming HIV-infected. Three research questions are addressed: (1) Are there differences between these groups attributable to their risk behavior practices? (2) To what extent do women who think that they are not at risk for HIV engage in risky behaviors that could expose them to HIV? (3) What are the most salient predictors of the women's perceived risk classification? Results showed that women perceiving themselves to have at least some HIV risk engaged in higher rates of risky behaviors than their counterparts who perceived themselves to have no possibility of contracting HIV. Despite this finding, more than one-half of the "no perceived risk of HIV" sample had engaged in at least one risky practice during the preceding year and more than one-quarter had engaged in at least two such behaviors. Age, childhood maltreatment experiences, self-esteem, number of HIV risk behaviors practiced, amount of illegal drug use reported, and number of times having sex were significant predictors of women's perception of having some HIV risk versus having no HIV risk.
Flux distribution and core losses of switched reluctance motors

The pole and yoke flux waveforms for a prototype switched reluctance motor (SRM) are presented. These flux waveforms are obtained from measured voltage signals from search coils, installed inside the SRM during its construction, through a numerical integration routine. Harmonic components for both of these flux waveforms are also presented along with eddy current loss and hysteresis loss coefficients.
Extent of lumbar discectomy in modern-day neurosurgery.

umbar disc herniation is one of the most common pathologic conditions affecting the lumbar spine, with an inciL dence of 1% to 2% inNorthAmerica andwith over 300,000 lumbar discectomies performed annually (5, 7, 10, 11). Although routine lumbarmicrodiscectomies decrease leg pain and disability, same-level recurrent lumbar discherniation is a complication that is not infrequent. Recurrent disc herniation in this setting is noted in multiple published studies to be within the range of 3% to 18%, and recurrence of radiculopathy is seen in 17% to 33%. This not only contributes to increased patient cost, but also dramatically increases the economic burden to the United States health care system, not to mention economic cost from patient missed work days (4, 8). In fact, Ambrossi et al. estimated that reoperation led to a normalized cost of $298,797 per 100 primary discectomies (1).
A neuromorphic impulsive circuit for processing dynamic signals

The electronic implementation of a highly parallel neuromorphic circuit which processes and classifies dynamic signals is described. The authors discuss the silicon implementation of an artificial dendritic tree that has a spatiotemporal processing capability that is modeled after biological neurons which have extensive passive dendritic branching. Background material is presented on biological neuron behavior that is important in processing dynamic signals. The architecture and circuit details of artificial dendrites and artificial synapses are presented. The properties of both active and passive biological dendritic trees as well as the dynamic and static behavior of chemical synapses were studied. A simple and scalable electronic circuit implemented in standard CMOS technology is described. >
Tracking user goals in an information-seeking environment

This paper presents a model for hypothesizing and tracking the changing task-level goals of a speaker during the course of an information-seeking dialogue. It allows a complex set of domain-dependent plans, forming a hierarchial structure of component goals and actions. Our model builds the user's plan as the dialogue progresses, maintains both a local and a global plan context, and differentiates between past goals and goals currently pursued by the user. This research is part of a project to develop a robust natural language interface. If an utterance cannot be interpreted normally or a response cannot be generated due to pragmatic overshoot, the strong expectations about the utterance provided by our context model can be used as an aid in processing the input and producing useful responses.
Optimizations in financial engineering: The Least-Squares Monte Carlo method of Longstaff and Schwartz

In this paper we identify important opportunities for parallelization in the least-squares Monte Carlo (LSM) algorithm, due to Longstaff and Schwartz, for the pricing of American options. The LSM method can be divided into three phases: path-simulation, calibration and valuation. We describe how each of these phases can be parallelized, with more focus on the calibration phase, which is inherently more difficult to parallelize. We implemented these parallelization techniques on Blue Gene using the Quantlib open source financial engineering package. We achieved up to factor of 9 speed-up for the calibration phase and 18 for the complete LSM method on a 32 processor BG/P system using monomial basis functions.
Cohesive Relations for Surface Atoms in the Iron-Technetium Binary System

Iron-technetium alloys are of relevance to the development of waste forms for disposition of radioactive technetium-99 obtained from spent nuclear fuel. Corrosion of candidate waste forms is a function of the local cohesive energy (Eloc) of surface atoms. A theoretical model for calculating Eloc is developed. Density functional theory was used to construct a modified embedded atom (MEAM) potential for iron-technetium. Materials properties determined for the iron-technetium system were in good agreement with the literature. To explore the relationship between local structure and corrosion, MEAM simulations were performed on representative iron-technetium alloys and intermetallics. Technetium-rich phases have lower Eloc, suggesting that these phases will be more noble than iron-rich ones. Quantitative estimates of Eloc based on numbers of nearest neighbors alone can lead to errors up to 0.5 eV. Consequently, atomistic corrosion simulations for alloy systems should utilize physics-based models that consider not only neighbor counts, but also local compositions and atomic arrangements.
Vancomycin Therapy in Severe Staphylococcal Infections

Vancomycin was developed in the 1950s, when available therapy for severe staphylococcal infections was unsatisfactory. Early clinical experiences with vancomycin indicated a cure rate of 70%. The introduction of p-lactamase-resistant penicillins and cephalosporins, which have a lower potential for toxicity, resulted in limited use of vancomycin. The current renewal of interest in vancomycin for treatment of severe staphylococcal infections stems primarily from the efficacy of this drug against methicillinresistant pathogens and its utility in a number of unique clinical situations. In addition, the development of more purified preparations of vancomycin has lowered the frequency of adverse side effects. Before vancomycin became available in the 1950s, treatment of severe staphylococcal infections was inadequate. The principle agents in use then were either bacteriostatic drugs (e.g., chloramphenicol, erythromycin, novobiocin, and the tetracyclines) or unsatisfactory bactericidal antibiotics (e.g., bacitracin and streptomycin). The incidence of drug-resistant strains was high: 25%-50% of the staphylococci causing hospital-acquired infections were resistant to the available agents. The mortality from severe staphylococcal infections was >60%. Clinical responses improved dramatically when vancomycin became available. Problems of toxicity-chiefly aching, fever, and phlebitiswere significant at first. The severity and frequency of these adverse reactions were minimized by dilution and slow administration of the agent and by frequent selection of a new vein for infusion.
Knowledge, satisfaction, and perceived cancer risk among women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ.

The prevalence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has increased through more widespread use of screening mammography. Little is known about what women with DCIS understand about their disease and future health. Although there is a wealth of information about the psychological characteristics of women with invasive breast cancer, there is virtually no information about women who have received treatment for DCIS. Seventy-six women diagnosed with DCIS who were identified through the Duke University Tumor Registry completed a mailed self-administered questionnaire including a broad range of items to measure knowledge, satisfaction with care, risk perceptions, and psychological distress. Women with DCIS have knowledge deficits about DCIS and breast cancer, as well as concerns about recurrence and misperceptions about the likelihood for DCIS metastasis. Women were generally satisfied with their care. They were less satisfied with information related to prognosis and with perceived support from their doctors. Th...
Genetics of atherosclerosis.

INTRODUCTION 171 HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION OF CAUSES OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE (CAD) ... . ... . . ... . . 172 INTERMEDIATE QUANTITATIVE RISK FACTOR TRAITS FOR GENETIC STUDIES OF CAD 173 GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF QUANTITATIVE RISK FACTOR TRAITS 174 STRATEGIES USED IN THE STUDY OF GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF QUANTITATIVE RISK FACTOR TRAITS 176 Top-Down, an Unmeasured Genotype Approach. .... . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 176 Bottom-Up, a Measured Genotype Approach . . ......... . 179 A Hybridization of Strategies . . ......... 182 CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .... ...... 182
Feast or flee: bioelectrical regulation of feeding and predator evasion behaviors in the planktonic alveolate Favella sp. (Spirotrichia).

Alveolate (ciliates and dinoflagellates) grazers are integral components of the marine food web and must therefore be able to sense a range of mechanical and chemical signals produced by prey and predators, integrating them via signal transduction mechanisms to respond with effective prey capture and predator evasion behaviors. However, the sensory biology of alveolate grazers is poorly understood. Using novel techniques that combine electrophysiological measurements and high-speed videomicroscopy, we investigated the sensory biology of Favella sp., a model alveolate grazer, in the context of its trophic ecology. Favella sp. produced frequent rhythmic depolarizations (∼500 ms long) that caused backward swimming and are responsible for endogenous swimming patterns relevant to foraging. Contact of both prey cells and non-prey polystyrene microspheres at the cilia produced immediate mechanostimulated depolarizations (∼500 ms long) that caused backward swimming, and likely underlie aggregative swimming patterns of Favella sp. in response to patches of prey. Contact of particles at the peristomal cavity that were not suitable for ingestion resulted in depolarizations after a lag of ∼600 ms, allowing time for particles to be processed before rejection. Ingestion of preferred prey particles was accompanied by transient hyperpolarizations (∼1 s) that likely regulate this step of the feeding process. Predation attempts by the copepod Acartia tonsa elicited fast (∼20 ms) animal-like action potentials accompanied by rapid contraction of the cell to avoid predation. We have shown that the sensory mechanisms of Favella sp. are finely tuned to the type, location, and intensity of stimuli from prey and predators.
The Net Remedy: An Electronic Lesson

The "Net Remedy" is the remedy "neat and clean." This is the remedy that disputants get, or have to provide, after all additions and subtractions are accounted for.
Of Tubs and Toil: Kohler Workers in an Empire of Hygiene, 1920–2000

This paper examines contests over the intimate and global geographies of domestic hygiene advanced by the Kohler Company, a plumbing-ware manufacturer that promoted “American” standards living in its welfare-capitalist industrial village of Kohler, Wisconsin. Drawing from the approaches of labor history, cultural history, and critical geography, it demonstrates the value of combining these methodologies. The perspectives of Kohler workers on “American” living standards, it reveals, complicate cultural histories that cast such workers as uncritical audiences for imperializing claims about the superiority of American sanitation. The paper argues that workers who struggled to unionize the Kohler plant challenged company definitions of “American” standards and generated alternative, laborite maps of domestic hygiene and the labor associated with it among local immigrant workers and laborers elsewhere in the world. It considers the legacy of those maps in the context of the company’s changing global networks of production and consumption.
Conclusion: Women and Political Activism at the Turn into the Twentieth Century

Fifty years after Constance Fenimore Woolson published “The Lady of Little Fishing” in one of the short story collections upon which literary critic Fred Lewis Pattee bases his assessment of her work, he declared that, “during the ‘seventies,” Woolson “undoubtedly … was the most ‘unconventional’ feminine writer that had yet appeared in America.” No doubt because of the unconventionality that, among other things, distinguished Woolson's writing, Henry James considered his friend and correspondent to be “a very intelligent woman” and “gifted authoress” and claimed that, other than William Dean Howells, Woolson was the only English-language novelist he read. However, James was not the only one to voice his opinions. Woolson, in an 1882 letter to James, admits to being confounded by his choice of subject matter in The Portrait of a Lady . “How did you ever dare write a portrait of a lady?” she wonders. “Fancy any woman's attempting a portrait of a gentleman! … [I]n my small writings, I never dare put down what men are thinking, but confine myself simply to what they do and say” (535). However, what men do and say, as Woolson depicts both in “The Lady of Little Fishing,” reveal how their private as well as their public lives depend upon the woman public speaker who enters their community. Written at the end of the era I consider, the short story that many scholars consider to be Woolson's best highlights my project's main premises, showing, first, how discourses about American women's voices and their relation to public speech shape and order a culture in radical transition, second, how women's speech undermines the social change in which it is implicated, and, third, how women writers employ this politically revisionist speech in their fiction in order to contribute to the politics of the public arena.
Theory of RFI Measurements in Shielded Enclosures

Electromagnetic theory is applied to the of establishing reliable and meaningful shielded enclosure RFI measurements. It is shown that numerous problems arising in practice are predictable from the theory. It is recognized that much remains to be done to resolve the problem. However, the work reported herein indicates that proper application of the theory should result in improved procedures, unique characterization o f RFI sources, improved data correlation, and data of value to the RFI analyst.
The Epac-Phospholipase Cε Pathway Regulates Endocannabinoid Signaling and Cocaine-Induced Disinhibition of Ventral Tegmental Area Dopamine Neurons.

Exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) is a direct effector for the ubiquitous second messenger cAMP. Epac activates the phospholipase Ce (PLCe) pathway. PLCβ has been linked to the synthesis of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). Here, we report that Epac facilitates endocannabinoid-mediated retrograde synaptic depression through activation of PLCe. Intracellular loading of a selective Epac agonist 8-CPT-2Me-cAMP into ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons enabled previously ineffective stimuli to induce depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition (DSI) and long-term depression of IPSCs (I-LTD) in the VTA. DSI and I-LTD are mediated by 2-AG since they were blocked by a diacylglycerol lipase inhibitor. The effects of 8-CPT-2Me-cAMP on DSI and I-LTD were absent in Epac2 and PLCe knock-out mice, but remained intact in Epac1 knock-out mice. These results identify a novel mechanism for on-demand synthesis of retrograde signaling 2-AG by the Epac2-PLCe pathway. We investigated the functional significance of Epac2-PLCe-2-AG signaling in regulating inhibitory synaptic plasticity in VTA dopamine neurons induced by in vivo cocaine exposure. We showed that cocaine place conditioning led to a decrease in the frequency and amplitude of spontaneous IPSCs and an increase in action potential firing in wild-type mice, but not in Epac2 or PLCe knock-out mice. Together, these results indicate that the Epac2-PLCe-2-AG signaling cascade contributes to cocaine-induced disinhibition of VTA dopamine neurons.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) is an endogenous cannabinoid that depresses synaptic transmission through stimulation of CB1 receptors. Among the six isoforms of phospholipase C (PLC; PLCβ, PLCγ, PLCδ, PLCe, PLCζ, PLCη), only PLCβ has been linked to 2-AG synthesis. Here we demonstrate that 8-CPT-2Me-cAMP, a selective agonist of the cAMP sensor protein Epac, enhances 2-AG-mediated synaptic depression in ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons via activation of PLCe. These results identify a novel mechanism for 2-AG synthesis via activation of the Epac-PLCe pathway. Furthermore, we show that cocaine-induced conditioned place preference and disinhibition of VTA dopamine neurons were impaired in mice lacking Epac or PLCe. Thus, the Epac-PLCe signaling pathway contributes to cocaine-induced disinhibition of VTA dopamine neurons and formation of drug-associated memories.
Deep Learning and Bayesian Methods

A revolution is underway in which deep neural networks are routinely used to solve diffcult problems such as face recognition and natural language understanding. Particle physicists have taken notice and have started to deploy these methods, achieving results that suggest a potentially significant shift in how data might be analyzed in the not too distant future. We discuss a few recent developments in the application of deep neural networks and then indulge in speculation about how such methods might be used to automate certain aspects of data analysis in particle physics. Next, the connection to Bayesian methods is discussed and the paper ends with thoughts on a significant practical issue, namely, how, from a Bayesian perspective, one might optimize the construction of deep neural networks.
Discovering Novel Antigens

This chapter aims to highlight the importance of autoantigen discovery for the development of immunological interventions following diagnosis and/or progression of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that specifically targets and destroys pancreatic β cells within the Islets of Langerhans. Both humoral (B-cell) and cell-mediated (T-cell) autoimmunity will be discussed, specifically focusing on the experimental models through which novel autoantigens have been discovered, characterized, and exploited for diagnostic purposes.
Discovery and Engineering of Pathways for Production of α-Branched Organic Acids

Cell-based synthesis offers many opportunities for preparing small molecules from simple renewable carbon sources by telescoping multiple reactions into a single fermentation step. One challenge in this area is the development of enzymatic carbon–carbon bond forming cycles that enable a modular disconnection of a target structure into cellular building blocks. In this regard, synthetic pathways based on thiolase enzymes to catalyze the initial carbon–carbon bond forming step between acyl coenzyme A (CoA) substrates offer a versatile route for biological synthesis, but the substrate diversity of such pathways is currently limited. In this report, we describe the identification and biochemical characterization of a thiolase-ketoreductase pair involved in production of branched acids in the roundworm, Ascaris suum, that demonstrates selectivity for forming products with an α-methyl branch using a propionyl-CoA extender unit. Engineering synthetic pathways for production of α-methyl acids in Escherichia coli ...
A beam finite element for analysis of composite beams with the inclusion of bend-twist coupling

Abstract Material-induced bend-twist coupling in laminated composite beams has seen applications in engineered structures for decades, including airplane wings and turbine blades. Numerical studies and analytical formulations of the dynamics of bend-twist coupled laminated beams and plates have been investigated in recent years, yet can be cumbersome to implement quickly and efficiently. In early stages of design, employing a stiffness method approach to predict the load-deformation relationship and structural natural frequencies can be more efficient than developing a shell finite element model for each design iteration. A weak-form approach to the development of an accurate bend-twist coupled composite laminate beam element is presented herein. Comparisons are made between the stiffness matrix terms using the presented method and a shell finite element model of an idealized beam; the proposed method shows good agreement for a suite of beams with varying degrees of bend-twist coupling. The method is then extended to the calculation of natural frequencies by combining the new stiffness matrix with a corresponding consistent mass matrix to formulate the eigenvalue problem and shows very good agreement with both analytical and shell element solutions.
“Hold on! I’ll Just Google It!”: Critical Conversations Regarding Dimensions of Diversity in a School Leadership Preparation Program:

This case outlines a dilemma encountered by faculty and graduate assistants in a K-12 educational administration graduate program. The case offers a detailed illustration of tensions arising when faculty were asked to increase “diversity” within their program. Faculty uncover disrupting institutional systems of domination that often play a significant role in understanding how to prepare leaders to serve in authentic and meaningful ways. Implications for the development of social justice–oriented school leaders included an intentional examination of these issues.
Transport of Air Pollution from Asia to North America

There are a number of implications of these results. For example, those measuring atmospheric chemistry over NA typically have very little information about potential significance of trans-Pacific transport, particularly on short time scales when most measurements are taken. Our results suggests that NA aerosol and chemical data may need to be reconciled with intercontinental transport to explain synoptic-scale variability, particularly for enigmatic high episodes that appear to have no local origin. For regional scale chemical modeling that relies on static or monthly averaged boundary conditions for either Pacific air or descending free tropospheric air over NA, this study provides insight into the potential synoptic-scale consequences of these boundary condition assumptions. Results presented in this paper suggest that regional scale models that pose static chemical boundary conditions for Pacific “background” air may suffer from unexplained variability in tracer time series when compared to observations. Finally, from an ozone policy perspective there could be significantly different consequences of an Asian ozone signal that arrives as a smooth constant background increase, versus one that arrives episodically as a mixture of weak and strong events. Episodes that contribution 40 ppb of ozone to surface ozone levels in NA due to Asian emissions are certain to exacerbate local pollution events and contribute significantly to the frequency of elevated (80 – 100 ppb) ozone exposures. This is especially of concern in elevated areas more frequently exposed to free tropospheric air.
Renal cell carcinoma in a cat with polycystic kidney disease undergoing renal transplantation

Case summaryA 10-year-old spayed female American Shorthair cat underwent renal transplantation due to worsening chronic kidney disease secondary to polycystic kidney disease. During transplantation...