cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CXCL8/IL8 Stimulates Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Expression and the Autocrine Activation of VEGFR2 in Endothelial Cells by Activating NFκB through the CBM (Carma3/Bcl10/Malt1) Complex

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent mitogen and permeability factor for endothelial cells that plays a central role in angiogenesis, vascular maintenance, inflammation, and cancer. VEGF also mediates the homeostatic adaptation to hypoxic conditions by promoting an increase in vascular density to compensate for decreased oxygenation. This process is triggered by an oxygen-sensitive transcription factor, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF1α), which becomes active in hypoxic tissues, leading to the synthesis and secretion of VEGF. The role of HIF1α in other processes that involve angiogenesis such as in inflammation is less clear. Of interest, endothelial cells not only respond to but also store and secrete VEGF, which is required for the maintenance of the integrity of the vascular system. How this intracellular pool of VEGF is regulated is still not understood. Here, we found that CXCL8/IL8, a potent proangiogenic and inflammatory chemokine, up-regulates VEGF mRNA and protein levels in endothelial cells by acting on its cognate receptor, CXCR2, and that this results in the autocrine activation of VEGFR2. Surprisingly, this process does not involve HIF1α but instead requires the activation of the transcription factor NFκB. Furthermore, we identified the components of the CBM complex, Carma3, Bcl10, and Malt1, as key mediators of the CXCL8/IL8-induced NFκB activation and VEGF up-regulation. Together, these findings support the existence of an NFκB-mediated pathway by which the proinflammatory chemokine CXCL8/IL8 controls the expression of VEGF in endothelial cells, thereby promoting the activation of VEGF receptors in an autocrine fashion.
Differential Role of “Signal 3” Inflammatory Cytokines in Regulating CD8 T Cell Expansion and Differentiation in vivo

Following an infection, naive CD8 T cells are stimulated by dendritic cells displaying pathogen-derived peptides on MHC-class I molecules (signal 1) and costimulatory molecules (signal 2). Additionally, pathogen-induced inflammatory cytokines also act directly on the responding CD8 T cells to regulate their expansion and differentiation. In particular, both type I interferons (IFNs) and IL-12 have been described as critical survival signals (signal 3) for optimal CD8 T cell accumulation during the expansion phase. Furthermore, expansion in numbers of antigen-specific CD8 T cells is coupled with their acquisition of effector functions to combat the infection. However, it still remains unclear whether these same cytokines also regulate the effector/memory differentiation program of the CD8 T cell response in vivo. Here, we demonstrate that defective signaling by either type I IFNs or IL-12 to the responding CD8 T cells impairs maximal expansion in response to DC immunization + CpG ODN, but neither of these cytokines is essential to regulate the effector/memory differentiation program. In addition, lack of direct IL-12 signaling to CD8 T cells accelerates the development of central memory phenotype in both primary and secondary antigen-specific memory CD8 T cells.
Structure-based mechanism of ADP-ribosylation by sirtuins.

Sirtuins comprise a family of enzymes found in all organisms, where they play a role in diverse processes including transcriptional silencing, aging, regulation of transcription, and metabolism. The predominant reaction catalyzed by these enzymes is NAD+-dependent lysine deacetylation, although some sirtuins exhibit a weaker ADP-ribosyltransferase activity. Although the Sir2 deacetylation mechanism is well established, much less is known about the Sir2 ADP-ribosylation reaction. We have studied the ADP-ribosylation activity of a bacterial sirtuin, Sir2Tm, and show that acetylated peptides containing arginine or lysine 2 residues C-terminal to the acetyl lysine, the +2 position, are preferentially ADP-ribosylated at the +2 residue. A structure of Sir2Tm bound to the acetylated +2 arginine peptide shows how this arginine could enter the active site and react with a deacetylation reaction intermediate to yield an ADP-ribosylated peptide. The new biochemical and structural studies presented here provide mechanistic insights into the Sir2 ADP-ribosylation reaction and will aid in identifying substrates of this reaction.
Open Innovation and Strategy

The increasing adoption of more open approaches to innovation fits uneasily with current theories of business strategy. Traditional business strategy has guided firms to develop defensible positions against the forces of competition and power in the value chain, implying the importance of constructing barriers rather than promoting value creation through openness. Recently, however, firms and even whole industries, such as the software industry, are experimenting with novel business models based on harnessing collective creativity through open innovation. The apparent success of some of these experiments challenges prevailing views of strategy. At the same time, many of these experimenters now are grappling with issues related to value capture and sustainability of their business models, as well as issues of corporate influence and the potential co-option of open initiatives. These issues bring us back to traditional business strategy, which can offer important insights. To make strategic sense of innovation communities, ecosystems, networks, and their implications for competitive advantage, a new approach to strategy—open strategy—is needed. Open strategy balances the tenets of traditional business strategy with the promise of open innovation.
Integrated pharmacogenetic prediction of irinotecan pharmacokinetics and toxicity in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

To define an integrated pharmacogenetic model for predicting irinotecan pharmacokinetic (PK) and severe toxicity, we evaluated multivariate analysis using 15 polymorphisms within seven genes with putative influence on metabolism and transport of irinotecan. A total of 107 NSCLC patients treated with irinotecan were evaluated for PK and genotyped for the UGT1A1*6, UGT1A1*28, UGT1A9*22, ABCB11236C>T, 2677G>T/A, 3435C>T, ABCC2-24C>T, 1249G>A, 3972C>T, ABCG234G>A, 421C>A, and SLCO1B1 -11187G>A, 388A>G, and 521T>C, and CYP3A5*3 polymorphisms. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses including genotypes and clinicopathologic factors were performed. SN-38 AUC was significantly correlated with ANCs (r=-0.3, p=0.009) and grade 4 neutropenia (p=0.01). The UGT1A1*6/*6, UGT1A9*1/*1 or *1/*22, and SLCO1B1 521TC or CC genotypes, and female-gender were predictive for higher AUC(SN-38) in multivariate analysis. Among them, SLCO1B1 521TC or CC and UGT1A1*6/*6 genotypes were independently predictive for grade 4 neutropenia in multivariate analysis (OR=3.8 and 7.4, respectively). Although no significant association was observed between PK parameters and grade 3 diarrhea, UGT1A9*1/*1, ABCC23972CC, and ABCG234GA or AA genotypes were independently predictive for grade 3 diarrhea in multivariate analysis (OR=6.3, 5.6, and 5.1, respectively). Patient selection based on integrated pharmacogenetic model would be helpful for predicting irinotecan-PK and severe toxicities in NSCLC patients.
Potential of an Electric Prosthesis for Dynamic Facial Reanimation

Chronic facial paralysis is a devastating condition with severe functional and emotional consequences. The current surgical armamentarium permits the predictable reestablishment of a protective blink as well as good resting symmetry. Yet the ultimate goal of symmetric, spontaneous emotional expression remains elusive despite significant progress in the areas of peripheral nerve grafting and free tissue transfer. This commentary explores the possibility of an implantable electrical prosthesis for facial reanimation. It reviews animal studies supporting this concept as well as recent human data suggesting that such an implant could rescue denervated facial musculature, thus overcoming a major hurdle for existing reanimation techniques.
Hypotheses Generation Pertaining to Ayurveda Using Automated Vocabulary Generation and Transitive Text Mining

Automated extraction of knowledge from voluminous documents is a vast research area. Text mining is a promising approach for extracting knowledge from unstructured textual documents. The objective of this paper is to mine documents pertaining to Ayurveda, which are retrieved from PubMed into a databank, and find novel transitive associations among biological objects. This paper discusses the extraction of biological objects from the databank using an Automated Vocabulary Discovery (AVD) algorithm. A text-mining process is described for finding transitive (novel) associations among the extracted biological objects. The text mining algorithm, in addition to identifying novel associations (termed hypotheses), also assigns a numerical significance score to them. The expectation is that those with higher score have greater likelihood of being true than those with lower scores. Experimental results as well as their validation results are presented, demonstrating that the method has the potential to predict novel and interesting true associations.
Using Instructional Technology to Improve Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge of Phonological Awareness

Teacher understanding of phonological awareness (PA) and how to teach PA is related to student outcomes; however, many teachers have an inadequate understanding of PA. The purpose of this study is to describe an intervention intended to improve preservice teachers’ understanding of PA, using an example of instructional technology called Content Acquisition Podcasts (CAPs). In this study, teacher candidates randomly assigned to watch a CAP on PA significantly outperformed matched peers who read a practitioner-friendly article on the same topic. Findings hold important implications for the field of teacher education, support, and development in reading pedagogy.
Tools to support secure enterprise computing

Secure enterprise programming is a difficult and tedious task. Programmers need tools that support different levels of abstraction and that track all the components that participate in distributed enterprises. Those components must cooperate in a distributed environment to achieve higher level goals. A special case of secure enterprise computing is multilevel secure (MLS) computing. Components that may reside in different security domains have to cooperate to achieve higher-level missions. To ease the programmer's burden, we are developing an MLS workflow management system (WFMS), called MLS METEOR. A programmer can specify a distributed programming logic through a GUI based workflow design tool. Based on the programming logic, MLS METEOR will generate a distributed runtime system that handles communication among different hosts, even those that reside in different classification domains, The multilevel security enforcement of MLS METEOR does not depend on the WFMS itself but rather on the underlying MLS infrastructure and a few security critical components. The paper concentrates on the system organization of MLS METEOR and the rationale for this structure. We explain which portions of the system can be used in generic enterprise computing and which portions are specific to MLS computing.
Preliminary evidence for small-fiber neuropathy in fibromyalgia patients

Kim SH, Kim DH, Oh DH, Clauw DJ: Characteristic electron microscopic findings in the skin of patients with fibromyalgia – preliminary study. Clin. Rheumatol. 27(3), 407–411 (2008). Peripheral tissue abnormalities may contribute to the increased pain sensitivity of fibromyalgia (FM) patients. To address this issue, the authors obtained skin biopsies from the deltoid region of 13 FM patients and five healthy, pain-free control subjects. After fixation, all tissues were examined using electron-microscopy (EM) by an investigator who was blinded to the participants’ diagnosis. In contrast to healthy controls, the skin biopsies from nine out of 13 FM patients showed axons that were localized to the periphery of unmyelinated Schwann cell sheaths. These findings were associated with ballooning of Schwann cells, diminished folding of Schwann cell sheaths and smaller axonal size. Myelinated nerve fibers were unremarkable. The EM findings of this study show that the cutaneous nerve endings of FM patients possess unu...
The causes and spatial pattern of land degradation risk in southern Mauritania using multitemporal AVHRR‐NDVI imagery and field data

Multitemporal 1 km NOAA/AVHRR Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) maximum composite imagery was utilized in combination with rainfall, soil types, and field survey data on dominant rural activities to assess the risk of land degradation in southern Mauritania. Mauritania is one of eight continental West African Sahel countries that stretch from Chad to the northwestern Atlantic coast, and from the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert to the northern limit of the Sudanian climatic zone. The major environmental problem these countries are currently facing is the temporally and spatially erratic character of rainfall, frequently leading to general or local droughts since the late-1960s with subsequent increase of human pressure on the natural resource base and degradation. Image deviation was applied to maximum NDVI composites of the growing season (June to October) for the period 1990–99 to detect temporal and spatial change patterns over the study area. Only pixels whose values were lower than their temporal mean minus 0ċ5 standard deviation were retained as areas under threat. These were combined with soil types and the spatial pattern of deforestation (fuelwood and building material collection areas) grazing, and agricultural land to determine the causes of lowering primary biological productivity. The results show that the below-normal NDVI values generally coincide with the patterns of below-normal rainfall: deforestation, and overgrazing areas, agricultural land, and low primary biological productivity soil types. Thus the observed substantial decrease in biomass production results from the combined impacts of frequent rainfall deficits and uncontrolled resource-base exploitation by the local population. Large chunks of land that show consistent low biomass production are also observed on unproductive soils. Finally, the below-normal rainfall, below-average NDVI values, and human impacts images were cross-classified to produce a three-class (low, moderate, and high) land degradation risk map along with a table containing the area covered by each class. A Boolean mask of the degradation risk map applied to the soils map showed that all soil types in southern Mauritania are at risk of degradation. These products could serve as a strong basis for decision making in regard to planning resource allocation for environmental rehabilitation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hair highlights and severe acute irritant dermatitis (“burn”) of the scalp

Context: These days, most celebrities—young and old—have their hair highlighted. That is why it is not surprising that even the youth have their hair highlighted as they emulate their favorite actors, unaware of the harmful consequences of this unsafe procedure. Hair highlighting involves decolorizing melanin pigments of select hair strands through an oxidation reaction under alkaline conditions by the active ingredients of the highlighting mixture—hydrogen peroxide, persulfates, and metasilicate. Hydrogen peroxide and the persulfates are flammable, necessitating that regulatory bodies (namely, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [FDA] and the Cosmetic Ingredient Review [CIR] Expert Panel, the European Union’s (EU), European Economic Community [EEC] directives, the Australian government’s National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme [NICNAS], and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN]) to regulate the permissible amounts of these chemicals in hair highlighting products.Ob...
Akt Controls Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation In Vitro and In Vivo by Delaying G1/S Exit

Constitutive activation of serine/threonine kinase Akt causes uncontrolled cell-cycle progression in different cell types and in malignancy. To investigate how Akt activation modulates cell-cycle progression in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in vitro and in the intact animal, we inhibited Akt-dependent signaling by adenovirus-mediated transfection of a dominant-negative Akt mutant (AA-Akt). We observed reduced proliferation rate (P<0.01), DNA synthesis (P<0.01), and a significant arrest in G1/S exit (P<0.01) both in vitro in response to serum stimulation and in vivo after vascular injury. In vivo transfection of the balloon-injured vessel with AA-Akt reduced SMC proliferation, resulting in decreased neointima compared with control virus (P<0.01). These effects were at least in part modulated, both in vitro and in vivo, by increased p21Cip1 expression, as demonstrated by lack of effect of AA-Akt on cell proliferation in p21-/- mouse SMCs. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that Akt-dependent signaling enhances cell-cycle progression of nontransformed SMCs in vitro and in response to vascular injury in the intact animal. These results suggest a role for Akt signaling in modulating the response of normal tissues to stress and the response of the arterial wall to acute and possibly repetitive injuries that ultimately contribute to restenosis and atherosclerosis.
Apolipoprotein E and Alzheimer's disease: signal transduction mechanisms.

The three common apolipoprotein E (ApoE) alleles differentially contribute to the risk of Alzheimer9s disease (AD). While the APOE genotype alters susceptibility to disease expression, individuals with APOE ϵ4 alleles have the highest risk of developing AD; the APOE ϵ4 allele is neither essential nor sufficient on its own to cause AD. Since the discovery, in 1992, of the involvement of APOE in AD, many scientists have explored the role of the ApoE isoforms in the central nervous system in an effort to elucidate their roles in the pathophysiological mechanism of this disease. While many hypotheses have been proposed, none has been proven. ApoE was discovered through investigations into cholesterol metabolism. In serum and in cerebrospinal fluid ApoE binds lipoprotein particles, which contain cholesterol esters, and is critical in the shuttling of cholesterol from cell to cell. Trafficking of ApoE is mediated by specific interactions with cell-surface receptors. As described later, several families of ApoE receptors with diverse functions have been discovered. The roles of these receptors are proving increasingly complex since additional interactions with other ligands and with other intracellular proteins are rapidly being identified. It was once thought that these receptors only shuttle ApoE-containing phospholipid particles from the extracellular environment into the cell, but they also transduce a number of additional intracellular signals and interactions. Molecular signalling cascades initiated by the various ApoE receptors modulate a number of critical cellular processes. To date, two functional classes of ApoE receptors have been identified. The first is the low-density lipoprotein receptor family and the second the scavenger receptor families.
Constraint hierarchies

Constraints describe relations that must be maintained, and provide a useful tool for such applications as interactive simulations, algorithm animation, and graphical user interface construction. We describe a major overhaul and extension to the constraint satisfaction mechanism in ThingLab, a constraint-oriented simulation laboratory written in the Smalltalk-80 language. First, a specification is presented of constraint hierarchies. Such hierarchies include both required constraints and default constraints of differing strengths, thus adding considerable expressive power to the system. Second, an algorithm for satisfying constraint hierarchies is described. The new satisfier is substantially faster than the previous version, even though it also includes new functionality.
Memories True or False? Physiological Measures May Answer the Question

The fallibility of memory has important implications for various disciplinary fields, as well as societal interests. Research on false memory abounds in terms of the ability of researchers to impla...
Study on Wang Pang’s New Theory Of Nature on Zhuangzi

By understanding Wang Pang’ new political academic thought, this paper makes research into the philosophical core of Natural which Wang Pang formed by explaining Zhuangzi from the perspective of new learning of politic research thought, covering the deep origin of Wang Pang’ new idea of nature, internal structure of Nature,Dao and Saga and the political behaviour under the guidance of new idea of Nature.
Palisading granulomas of the prostate associated with prior prostatic surgery.

AbstractWe report a case of a unique granulomatous lesion of the prostate and recurrent bladder neck obstruction. The lesion was histologically identical to a rheumatoid nodule and it has only been seen in patients who have undergone prior prostatic surgery. There appears to be no clinical correlation with connective tissue disease, and the lesion differs clinically and morphologically from other types of granulomatous prostatitis.
Functional recovery from spinal cord trauma following dexamethazone and chlorpromazine therapy in dogs

The spinal cords of 20 normal dogs were exposed via dorsal laminectomies and damaged with a known impact force. Ten dogs were treated with dexamethazone and 10 dogs with chlorpromazine for five days after surgery. The results showed that neither drug had a significantly beneficial effect on the functional recovery of the spinal cords, when compared to a control group of similarly traumatised dogs.
Risk Model of Bacterial Coinfection in Children with Severe Viral Bronchiolitis.

Background Among children with respiratory failure from viral lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), up to 39% will develop pulmonary bacterial coinfection, yet nearly all will receive antibiotics. We sought to identify patients with viral LRTI requiring mechanical ventilation at low risk of bacterial coinfection through the use of a risk prediction model. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study identifying all patients admitted to the intensive care unit with laboratory-confirmed viral LRTI requiring invasive mechanical ventilation over a 2-year period and partitioned data in experimental and validation datasets. A multivariate probit regression model was constructed including variables associated with bacterial coinfection in the experimental dataset. Model was validated and recalibrated using the validation dataset. Model discrimination was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results There were 126 patients included in the analysis. Variables associated with bacterial coinfection included tracheostomy in situ, Gram-stained smear white blood cells, and bacteria. The final recalibrated model discriminating between no coinfection and coinfection had an area under the curve of 0.8696. Conclusion Our prediction model identifies patients with viral LRTI requiring mechanical ventilation at very low risk of bacterial coinfection and has the potential to decrease antibiotic utilization without negatively impacting clinical outcome.
Calculating the Cost and Risk of Comorbidities in Total Joint Arthroplasty in the United States

Abstract Background With increased scrutiny regarding the cost and safety of health care delivery, there is increasing interest in judicious patient selection for total joint arthroplasty (TJA) procedures. It is unknown which comorbidities incur the greatest increase in risk to the patient and cost to the system after TJA. Therefore, this study sought to characterize the association of common preoperative comorbidities with both the risk for postoperative in-hospital complications and the total hospital cost in patients undergoing TJA. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the National Inpatient Sample. All elective, unilateral, primary or revision total knee or hip arthroplasty procedures in patients aged 40-95 years from 2008 to 2012 were identified. Common preoperative comorbidities were identified with use of clinical comorbidity software. Risk of complication and cost were calculated for each comorbidity. Results A total of 4,323,045 patients were identified. Patient comorbidities increased the risk of major postoperative complications, with the highest risk associated with congestive heart failure (CHF; relative risk [RR], 4.402), valvular heart disease (VHD; RR, 3.209), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; RR, 2.813). Likewise, comorbidities increased overall hospital costs, with the largest additional costs associated with coagulopathy (+$3787), CHF (+$3701), and electrolyte disorders (+$3179). The cumulative number of comorbidities was associated with increased risk ( R 2 = 0.86) and cost ( R 2 = 0.90). Conclusion The findings of our study suggest that greater comorbidity burden is associated with increased risk and cost in TJA. Specifically, this article identifies the patient comorbidities that incur the greatest increase in postoperative complications (CHF, VHD, COPD) and cost (coagulopathy, CHF, electrolyte disorders) after TJA.
CHAPTER 41 – EGF family ligands

This chapter provides an overview of the mammalian ErbB signaling network that has vital roles in the development and homeostasis, and its components are frequent and important targets for deregulation leading to cancer and other diseases. The network comprises multiple polypeptide ligands belonging to the epidermal growth factor (EGF) superfamily, and four related type I receptor tyrosine kinases, ErbB 1-ErbB4, which initiates signal. The EGF superfamily includes members of the EGF and Neuregulin subfamilies. The EGF group includes six independent gene products: EGF, transforming growth factor-alpha (TGFα), amphiregulin (AR), heparin-binding EGF (HB-EGF), betacellulin (BTC), and epiregulin (EREG) transduction. An apparent seventh member, epigen, was recently described. Transforming growth factor alpha (TGFα) is the best studied member of the EGF family.
What's in a Name? Exploring Pansexuality Online

ABSTRACTPansexuality is a growing sexual identity that has become immensely popular in U.S. culture within the previous decade. Currently, little is known about the distinct difference between pansexuality and other sexual orientations/identities; most of what is known comes from popular press and statements by celebrities that have publicly identified as pansexual. As a method of distinguishing and privileging pansexuality as a distinct sexuality, a document and content analysis related to pansexuality was conducted on public blogs and posts from the Internet. Several themes were analyzed, including definition, comparison to bisexuality, identity development, celebrities/media, normalization, and panerasure. Through analysis of 55 unique online posts related to the topic, a proposal consensus statement is offered that attempts to give voice to the pansexual identity as distinctive. In addition, a discussion is offered related to the development and media influence of the pansexual identity—including the ...
Comparative genomics reveals convergent rates of evolution in ant–plant mutualisms

Symbiosis—the close and often long-term interaction of species—is predicted to drive genome evolution in a variety of ways. For example, parasitic interactions have been shown to increase rates of molecular evolution, a trend generally attributed to the Red Queen Hypothesis. However, it is much less clear how mutualisms impact the genome, as both increased and reduced rates of change have been predicted. Here we sequence the genomes of seven species of ants, three that have convergently evolved obligate plant–ant mutualism and four closely related species of non-mutualists. Comparing these sequences, we investigate how genome evolution is shaped by mutualistic behaviour. We find that rates of molecular evolution are higher in the mutualists genome wide, a characteristic apparently not the result of demography. Our results suggest that the intimate relationships of obligate mutualists may lead to selective pressures similar to those seen in parasites, thereby increasing rates of evolution. Mutualisms in which ants protect plants in exchange for food and shelter have arisen independently multiple times. Here, Rubin and Moreau sequence the genomes of three mutualistic ant species and four of their non-mutualistic relatives and show that the transition to mutualism is associated with elevated evolutionary rates across the genome
Dopaminergic rules of engagement for memory in Drosophila

Dopamine is associated with a variety of conserved responses across species including locomotion, sleep, food consumption, aggression, courtship, addiction and several forms of appetitive and aversive memory. Historically, dopamine has been most prominently associated with dynamics underlying reward, punishment, or salience. Recent emerging evidence from Drosophila supports a role in all of these functions, as well as additional roles in the interplay between external sensation and internal states and forgetting of the very memories dopamine helped encode. We discuss how cell-specific resolution and manipulation are elucidating the rules of dopamine's involvement in encoding valence and memory.
Soviet vacuum metallurgy

During a visit to the USSR, an intensive study by the author revealed the broad scope of Soviet research in and development of vacuum metallurgical techniques.
How Do Students Use Self-Testing Across Multiple Study Sessions When Preparing for a High-Stakes Exam?

Testing is a potent learning tool, but how do students use testing across multiple study sessions? In two studies, we investigated students’ use of testing to learn course materials for a high-stakes exam across four sessions. Of primary interest was (a) whether students used self-testing similarly across sessions and (b) whether students used self-testing to reach high levels of retrieval success across sessions. In each session, students learned the same key-concept definitions with the options to test, study (Studies 1 and 2), or judge the quality of their recall responses (Study 2). In earlier sessions, students relied less on testing than studying. In subsequent sessions—when students had better learned the concepts—they relied more on testing (relative to studying), presumably to evaluate their learning progress. Furthermore, students used testing and studying to successfully retrieve the concepts within each session and hence reached high levels of retrieval success across sessions.
Deep Brain Stimulation Management of Essential Tremor with Dystonic Features.

Clinical Vignette: A 64-year-old female with essential tremor (ET) presents for evaluation of deep brain stimulation (DBS) candidacy. Examination revealed subtle dystonic features as well as a disabling postural-action tremor. Clinical Dilemma: Can dystonia occur in the setting of the diagnosis of ET and can its presence alter DBS target selection? Clinical Solution: Unilateral DBS implantation of the ventralis intermedius (Vim) led to improvement in both tremor and dystonic posturing. Gap in Knowledge: Case reports of DBS in dystonic tremor suggest Vim, globus pallidus internus (GPi), and subthalamic targets may all be effective, to varying degrees, in improving both tremor and dystonia. More rigorous studies are needed to identify the optimal target(s). Expert Commentary: This case underscores the limited evidence available to guide a clinician’s choice of DBS targets in patients with ET and dystonia. The severity of the dystonia and the presence of more generalized dystonia may alter the thinking about optimal targeting. Vim, GPi, and subthalamic targets appear potentially acceptable options, though Vim is usually the first target attempted when postural-action tremor is the chief complaint. Occasionally, a second rescue DBS lead may be necessary.
Social cognition or social class and culture? On the interpretation of differences in social cognitive performance.

BackgroundThe ability to understand others’ mental states carries profound consequences for mental and physical health, making efforts at validly and reliably assessing mental state understanding (MSU) of utmost importance. However, the most widely used and current NIMH-recommended task for assessing MSU – the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task (RMET) – suffers from potential assessment issues, including reliance on a participant's vocabulary/intelligence and the use of culturally biased stimuli. Here, we evaluate the impact of demographic and sociocultural factors (age, gender, education, ethnicity, race) on the RMET and other social and non-social cognitive tasks in an effort to determine the extent to which the RMET may be unduly influenced by participant characteristics.MethodsIn total, 40 248 international, native-/primarily English-speaking participants between the ages of 10 and 70 completed one of five measures on TestMyBrain.org: RMET, a shortened version of RMET, a multiracial emotion identification task, an emotion discrimination task, and a non-social/non-verbal processing speed task (digit symbol matching).ResultsContrary to other tasks, performance on the RMET increased across the lifespan. Education, race, and ethnicity explained more variance in RMET performance than the other tasks, and differences between levels of education, race, and ethnicity were more pronounced for the RMET than the other tasks such that more highly educated, non-Hispanic, and White/Caucasian individuals performed best.ConclusionsThese data suggest that the RMET may be unduly influenced by social class and culture, posing a serious challenge to assessing MSU in clinical populations given shared variance between social status and psychiatric illness.
SpaceSkin: development of aerospace-grade electronic textile for simultaneous protection and high velocity impact characterization

This paper introduces the concept of an aerospace-grade electronic textile and summarizes design studies and early prototype development for on-fabric hypervelocity impact characterization. Whereas most damage detection technologies for aerospace systems rely on enhancements to the structure's inner shell, the outermost protective skin of a space habitat or a spacesuit - traditionally a woven fabric - is directly exposed to the relevant environment. Therefore, we propose weaving sensory fibers into traditional fibrous aerospace skins for direct measurement of local conditions, yielding a material that can simultaneously sense and protect. Specifically, this paper documents design considerations for multifunctional Beta cloth, in which piezoelectric yarn is directly woven into Teflon-coated fiberglass, the material used as the outermost skin of the International Space Station. A review of hypervelocity plasma generation then motivates a strawman design for on-textile plasma charge and RF emission sensing, which may be useful for further characterization of hypervelocity impactors. An aerospace-grade electronic textile is distinct from a traditional e-textile in that it must be validated not only for its sensing capabilities but also for its robustness to hazards presented in a space environment.
Unique Features of Human Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 9 (PRMT9) and Its Substrate RNA Splicing Factor SF3B2

Human protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) 9 symmetrically dimethylates arginine residues on splicing factor SF3B2 (SAP145) and has been functionally linked to the regulation of alternative splicing of pre-mRNA. Site-directed mutagenesis studies on this enzyme and its substrate had revealed essential unique residues in the double E loop and the importance of the C-terminal duplicated methyltransferase domain. In contrast to what had been observed with other PRMTs and their physiological substrates, a peptide containing the methylatable Arg-508 of SF3B2 was not recognized by PRMT9 in vitro. Although amino acid substitutions of residues surrounding Arg-508 had no great effect on PRMT9 recognition of SF3B2, moving the arginine residue within this sequence abolished methylation. PRMT9 and PRMT5 are the only known mammalian enzymes capable of forming symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) residues as type II PRMTs. We demonstrate here that the specificity of these enzymes for their substrates is distinct and not redundant. The loss of PRMT5 activity in mouse embryo fibroblasts results in almost complete loss of SDMA, suggesting that PRMT5 is the primary SDMA-forming enzyme in these cells. PRMT9, with its duplicated methyltransferase domain and conserved sequence in the double E loop, appears to have a unique structure and specificity among PRMTs for methylating SF3B2 and potentially other polypeptides.
Effects of Providing Patients a Direct Phone Number to Surgeon in a Military Hospital

Ineffective communication remains a critical issue in healthcare today, leading to worse care for patients and billions of dollars lost in inefficiencies, gaps in care, and lawsuits. One idea to improve communication is to provide patients with a direct phone line to a surgeon. Our institution trialed this idea by providing all surgical patients with a direct phone line to a general surgery resident. By surveying patients before and after implementation of the direct-access resident cell phone, we sought to determine if patients were more satisfied with their care and/or utilized hospital resources differently. Overall, we found no significant differences in patient satisfaction or perceived ease of access to care. We did, however, find that the phone line implementation decreased patients’ ED visits, readmissions, and self-reported complications. Therefore, we conclude that a direct phone line to a surgeon is beneficial in the military patient population as it is in the civilian one, and the decision to use a direct phone line, or similar other direct communication methods, should be promoted to all practices.
Rabies Outbreak in Captive Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) Used in a White-Nose Syndrome Vaccine Trial.

Abstract: An outbreak of rabies occurred in a captive colony of wild-caught big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Five of 27 bats exhibited signs of rabies virus infection 22–51 d after capture or 18–...
Simple adaptive control to attenuate bridge’s seismic responses considering parametric variations:

Parametric variations occur throughout a bridge’s service life as a result of temperature variations, cracking, localized damage, and fatigue. Existing bridge’s parameters are difficult to estimate...
Intermediation and Diversity in the Market for Online News

Digital news content on the internet brings individuals access to more news sources than had been possible with traditional media. But at the same time, digital intermediaries such as search engines, news aggregators and social media play an increasing role in linking potential readers to news. The overall effect of digital intermediaries on diversity in news consumption is poorly understood. From a theoretical perspective, economic models of search predict that institutions that reduce the transaction costs of locating preferred content should increase variety in consumption. Yet technology that channels users of Google News and other news aggregators to the most popular sites can at the same time reduce diversity in news consumption. The overall effect of intermediation on diversity in news consumption is thus an empirical question. This project measures the causal effect of search engines, aggregators and other new media institutions on the diversity of news read on the internet. Using monthly, household-level data on visits to news sites from 2002-2010 developed for the project, the study measures the share of news site visits accessed via search and aggregation over time. The study documents the relationship between intermediated news consumption and the number of unique news sites visited, both for the overall population and for minority readers, who benefit more from variety in traditional news markets. The study directly evaluates the role of Google News by measuring how the top stories on Google News affect the way in which viewers access the websites of the relevant news sources. The implications of this research for public policy are substantial. The right of organizations to aggregate news content produced by media firms is actively litigated, most visibly in challenges by the Associated Press against Google and individual bloggers. The policy effect depends crucially on how intermediaries affect consumption. The effect of intermediaries also plays an important role in anti-trust treatment of alliances and mergers between technology firms and content providers, as a key concern with such relationships is their effect on diversity. Diversity is one of the three benchmark goals of the Federal Communications Commission in formulating and modifying its media ownership rules, which are currently under review.
Rodent Oncology: Diseases, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics

Cancer incidence in rodent species varies dramatically from a common occurrence in mice and rats to just a limited number of documented cases in chinchillas and degus. This article summarizes common tumors, both benign and malignant, that have been reported to occur in rodents. Outlined are clinical signs, diagnostics, and treatments that have been described for rodents presenting with specific neoplasms.
Father's Bonding With an Infant Born Prematurely: A Qualitative Meta-synthesis.

There is no current theory that explains the process of a fathers’ bonding with their infants born prematurely. Through meta-synthesis of 19 qualitative studies, we developed a conceptual framework...
Complement dysregulation is associated with severe COVID-19 illness.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) may manifest as thrombosis, stroke, renal failure, myocardial infarction, and thrombocytopenia, reminiscent of other complement-mediated diseases. Multiple clinical and preclinical studies have implicated complement in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 illness. We previously found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein activates the alternative pathway of complement (APC) in vitro through interfering with the function of complement factor H, a key negative regulator of APC. Here, we demonstrated that serum from 58 COVID-19 patients (32 patients with minimal oxygen requirement, 7 on high flow oxygen, 17 requiring mechanical ventilation and 2 deaths) can induce complement-mediated cell death in a functional assay (the modified Ham test) and increase membrane attack complex (C5b-9) deposition on the cell surface. A positive mHam assay (>20% cellkilling) was present in 41.2% COVID-19 patients requiring intubation (n=7/17) and only 6.3% in COVID-19 patients requiring minimal oxygen support (n=2/32). C5 and factor D inhibition effectively mitigated the complement amplification induced by COVID-19 patient serum. Increased serum factor Bb level was associated with disease severity in COVID-19 patients, suggesting that APC dysregulation plays an important role. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins directly block complement factor H from binding to heparin, which may lead to complement dysregulation on the cell surface. Taken together, our data suggest that complement dysregulation contributes to the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and may be a marker of disease severity.
SPACs: Insider IPOs

Proponents have hailed special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) as the democratization of capitalism. In a SPAC, a publicly traded shell corporation acquires a private target, thereby taking it public in a manner that circumvents the rigors of a traditional initial public offering (IPO). Known as the “poor man’s private equity,” SPACs have been touted for giving the masses an otherwise rare chance to invest in private companies, and thereby reap the high returns usually reserved for the wealthy. Our original hand-collected data tell a different story. We focus on two harms that SPACs present. First, they are singularly illiquid investments—even when nominally public, SPACs are generally owned and traded by the very few. Second, SPACs evolved to eliminate meaningful shareholder voice on the acquisition of a private target, using instead a species of “empty voting,” meaning that any such vote had no economic impact. By rendering the shareholder vote a nullity, SPACs can now virtually guarantee that a target will go public. This laxity of process creates the risk that subpar firms will trade side by side with quality public companies, tarnishing the market as a whole. We are the first to examine this absence of liquidity and shareholder power, both of which are products of SPACs’ domination by insiders. This Article’s original data on SPACs’ empty voting, delinquent public filings, and thin-to-nonexistent trading provide empirical evidence that a small group of insiders use SPACs to manipulate the merger process, free of traditional IPO safeguards. We conclude with a reform proposal to reunite shareholders’ economic interest with voting power. This potential reform addresses the concerns of liquidity and lack of selectivity, while also providing a viable alternative to the traditional IPO.
Manifest destiny 2.0: genre trouble in game worlds

Genres and videogames – these are two well-trodden terms whose definitions might seem intuitive at first glance, but that quickly prove complex and disputatious at the least degree of scrutiny. In ...
Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC: The Persistence of Scarcity

Part I traces the history of broadcast regulation, emphasizing the development of the scarcity doctrine and the subsequent deregulatory trend. Part II examines the FCC's 2003 rule changes and the Third Circuit's analysis of those modifications in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. Part III analyzes the assumptions underlying the FCC's proffered explanation for its rule changes, ultimately concluding that they lack justification, and offers suggestions for responsible ownership deregulation. Part IV calls on Congress to reassert itself as the final arbiter of media policy.
What's in a name? exploring the metaphysical implications of data warehousing in concept and practice

Data warehousing is an information technology (IT) innovation based on an evocative metaphor for physical materials management. This metaphor has implications not only for the design of corporate-wide databases but also for the meaning and utility of data used in business analysis and for relationships between IS staff and end-users. While acknowledging that data warehousing offers many benefits, this paper argues that the data warehousing approach has been applied without critical reflection on the cognitive mappings implied by the underlying metaphor and that possible consequences of its use as a guide for organizing IT practices have not been fully explored. The paper examines the metaphorical implications of data warehousing in concept and presents findings of an empirical study of a data warehousing project that illustrated limitations of metaphor in practice. Drawn from these conceptual and empirical analyses, a critique of the metaphor highlights inherent limitations in the data warehousing concept for conceptualizing key aspects of the organizational data management problem. Implications for theory and practice are considered.