cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pulp and Periradicular Testing

Pulp and periradicular testing is crucial to the initial trauma evaluation and to subsequent monitoring of the traumatized teeth and supporting structures. An accurate diagnosis serves as the basis for therapeutic intervention and helps to ensure that destruction of the dental structures will be minimized and function will be regained. The purpose of this review is to present the current best evidence for accurate diagnostic testing of the pulp and periapex of traumatized teeth. Five databases were searched for literature pertaining to pulpal testing and trauma. Widely recognized textbooks were also consulted. Currently used pulp vitality testing is constrained by its subjective character and by the fact that it is a measure of neuronal status and not true pulpal viability. Tests that measure tissue perfusion more accurately reflect pulpal vitality, but they are not available commercially. This review discusses the specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of commonly used tests, with emphasis on the applicability of certain tests to specific patient presentations in trauma. Factors that influence test selection are discussed, and specific recommendations are made on the basis of best evidence. Although differences exist between the various studies as to the accuracy of commonly used pulpal and periradicular tests, most of these have acceptable predictive value. Pulpal and periradicular tests in the trauma patient should be used in conjunction with clinical and radiographic observations to arrive at a diagnosis and treatment plan.
The Use of Platelets to Affect Functional Healing of an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Autograft in a Caprine ACL Reconstruction Model

Many anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions have increased laxity postoperatively. We hypothesized that enhancing an ACL graft with a collagen-platelet composite (CPC) would improve knee laxity and graft structural properties. We also hypothesized the platelet concentration in the CPC would affect these parameters. Twelve goats underwent ACL reconstruction with autologous patellar tendon graft. In six goats, a collagen-platelet composite was placed around the graft (CPC group). In the remaining six goats, the collagen scaffold only was used (COLL group). Three goats were excluded due to complications. After 6 weeks in vivo, anterior-posterior (AP) laxity and tensile properties of the ACL reconstructed knees were measured and normalized against the contralateral intact knee. At a knee flexion angle of 30 degrees, the average increase in AP laxity was 40% less in the CPC group than the COLL group (p = 0.045). At 60 degrees, the AP laxity was 30% less in the CPC group, a difference that was close to statistical significance (p = 0.080). No differences were found between treatment groups with respect to the structural properties (p > 0.30). However, there were significant correlations between serum platelet concentration and AP laxity (R2 = 0.643; p = 0.009), maximum load (R2 = 0.691; p = 0.006), and graft stiffness (R2 = 0.840; p < 0.001). In conclusion, use of a CPC to enhance healing of an allograft ACL reconstruction inversely correlated with early sagittal plane laxity and the systemic platelet count was highly predictive of ACL reconstruction graft strength and stiffness at 6 weeks. These findings emphasize the importance of further research on delineating the effect of platelets in treating of ACL injuries.
Community structure and differential responses of aquatic turtles to agriculturally induced habitat fragmentation

Several studies have shown that wetland loss and habitat fragmentation can alter diversity and abundance of herpetofauna, but taxonomic attention has been skewed towards amphibians. We assessed responses of aquatic turtles to features at multiple spatial scales in an intensively farmed region of the Midwestern United States. Spatially hierarchical sampling was conducted from 2001 to 2003 in 35 randomly selected 23-km2 cells throughout the upper Wabash River basin in Indiana. Hoop nets were used at wetlands to capture common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina serpentina) (n=258), midland painted turtles (Chrysemys picta marginata) (151), eastern spiny softshells (Apalone spinifera spinifera) (70), red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) (59), northern map turtles (Graptemys geographica) (27), false map turtles (Graptemys pseudogeographica pseudogeographica) (6), Blanding’s turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) (3), and stinkpot turtles (Sternotherus odoratus) (3). We examined the degree to which these aquatic species were nonrandomly distributed in 14 landscapes. Assemblages of turtles generally were random and the extent of nestedness was influenced by the diversity of landcover, the proportion of grassland, and the total length of roads in each landscape. The occurrence and abundance of several species also were modeled to test hypotheses regarding the importance of site, patch, and landscape-level variables. Red-eared sliders appeared to be most sensitive to habitat fragmentation, whereas painted turtles, snapping turtles, map turtles, and spiny softshells were less affected. Factors at multiple spatial scales affect turtle distributions, suggesting differential responses to landscape fragmentation.
‘Government of the dative’ in French

Abstract This paper examines the French dative and accusative pronouns, lui and le , with particular attention to instances where the direct object is in the dative. Such instances, traditionally referred to as ‘government’, are of interest because they threaten the fundamental syntactic categories direct and indirect object. This analysis finds each of these pronouns to have a consistent semantic content. Lui indicates that its referent exerts a relatively greater degree of control over an event; le , a lesser degree. ‘Governing’ verbs are found to have some element of lexical meaning which parallels one of the ways in which the pronoun's meaning is regularly exploited. The regular association between the two is thus due to their similar appropriateness for communicating a particular message. These points are established with the help of counts and detailed examination of the distributional patterns of selected ‘governing’ verbs in modern French texts.
Systematic inclusion of defects in pure carbon single-wall nanotubes and their effect on the Raman D-band

The Raman D-band feature (1350 cm 1 ) is examined with 2.54 eV excitation for pure bulk carbon single-wall nanotube samples before and after treatments that increase defect densities. Upon employing mass-transport-limited oxidation to introduce defects, the D-band intensity increases approximately linearly with reaction time. A relatively constant ratio of the D-band intensity and the major tangential G-band intensity (D/G) is observed for the purified samples examined at 2.54 and 1.96 eV suggesting a characteristic number of defects is introduced for given synthesis and purification processes. The D/G ratio is 1/190 and 1/40 for excitation at 2.54 and 1.96 eV, respectively. � 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A Differential Equation Approach to the Bernstein Problem

In 1932 Bernstein [1] conjectured that the optimal set of nodes for polynomial interpolation were the set of nodes which made the values of the extreme points equal for the corresponding Lebesgue function. He believed also that this set of nodes was unique. In 1947 Erdos [2,3] conjectured that for each set of nodes a de La Vallee Poussin type theorem was valid for the extremal points. In 1977 Kilgore [4,5] and de Boor, Pinkus [6] gave independent proofs of these conjectures. In this paper we present a constructive proof of these results and outline an algorithm based on the construction. We believe that these two conjectures are valid for a general Tchebycheff system and we hope to test out these propositions using an algorithm based on our methods. In this connection one is referred to Cheney and Kilgore [7] for some results in this direction.
Partial Purification and Localization of Platelet‐Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase From Bovine Seminal Plasma

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a potent lipid mediator that is inactivated by platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH). Platelet-activating factor bioactivity has been detected in bovine sperm phospholipids and PAF-AH activity is extraordinarily high in bovine seminal plasma. The purpose of this study was to purify and characterize partially the PAF-AH in bovine seminal plasma. Platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase was partially purified from bovine seminal plasma using gelatin-agarose and ion-exchange chromatography and nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Enzyme activity was increased 11-fold over seminal plasma with a yield of 11%. Platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase activity was eluted from a single band with a R(f) of 0.258 from a nondenaturing preparative PAGE gel along with several other proteins of varying molecular weights. Following separation by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-PAGE under reducing conditions, PAF-AH was identified as a approximately 60-kD band by western blotting using antiserum directed against human blood PAF-AH. N-terminal sequencing of the approximately 60 kD band, followed by amino acid-sequence similarity searching, demonstrated a single-sequence match with PAF-AH from bovine blood. Based on western blotting, a approximately 60-kD band corresponding to PAF-AH was detected in seminal vesicle fluid but not in samples of washed, sonicated sperm or sperm plasma membranes where activity was low (<5% and <0.3%, respectively, of that in seminal plasma), suggesting that seminal plasma PAF-AH does not bind tightly to sperm. Specific PAF-AH activity measured in seminal vesicle fluid was in the lower range of that in seminal plasma. These results demonstrate that PAF-AH activity in bovine seminal plasma is due to PAF-AH secreted by the seminal vesicles with sequence homology to the enzyme in human blood.
Participant exclusion criteria in treatment research on neurological disorders: Are unrepresentative study samples problematic?

Abstract Objective Exclusion criteria are an important determinant of the external validity of treatment research findings, yet the prevalence and impact of exclusion criteria have not been studied systematically. Our objective was to describe prevalent exclusion criteria in treatment research on neurological disorders and to analyze their impact on sample representativeness and generalizability of findings. Design Narrative literature review of studies focusing on treatment for neurological disorders. Studies were identified from PubMed and bibliographies. Results Eight studies were included in the narrative review: 3 studies focused on Alzheimer's disease/dementia, 2 each focused on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and epilepsy, and 1 focused on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The total number of patients screened across all studies was 20,018, of which 14,721 (73.5%) were excluded. An average of 6 exclusion criteria was applied. The criteria that contributed most to exclusion were the presence of comorbid psychiatric conditions, a history of alcohol or other substance misuse, and cognitive impairments. Women and the elderly were underrepresented among included samples. Race/ethnicity proportions were seldom reported. Conclusion Exclusion criteria are used extensively in neurological treatment research and prevent about 3 in 4 patients from participating in research. This limits the generalizability of current findings. Further, because excluded individuals are disproportionately from vulnerable populations, extensive exclusion also raises ethical concerns. Exclusion criteria should be used only in cases where there is a strong rationale so that neurological treatment research can make a greater impact on clinical care.
Responses of a Riparian Forest-Floor Arthropod Community to Wildfire in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico

Abstract We documented patterns of species extirpation, shifts in species dominance, and rates of recolonization of litter-layer arthropod species following a catastrophic forest fire. The study site was located along the Rio Grande within the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Socorro County, NM, in a riparian forest dominated by cottonwood [Populus deltoides ssp. wislizenii (S. Watson) Eckenwalder] and salt cedar (Tamarix chinensis Loureiro). The forest-floor arthropod community was sampled with 18 pitfall traps during 1994–1997. The study site burned in June 1996, and the intense fire reduced the litter layer to mineral ash and killed all the above-ground portions of trees; salt cedar and some cottonwood trees began to stump-sprout shortly after the fire, and achieved heights of two m by October 1996. The prefire forest-floor arthropod community consisted of 80 species, dominated by spiders (Lycosidae, Gnaphosidae, Salticidae), beetles (Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Cryptophagidae, Tenebrionidae),...
Understanding Boumediene in Youngstown's Shadow

This Article argues that the key to understanding Boumediene as a separation of powers case is to understand that it is an implicit rejection of the Jackson-concurrence view of Youngstown. This is particularly noticeable when one traces the line from Hamdi to Hamdan to Boumediene, as the Court first adverts to Jackson-concurrence type rationales up to Hamdan, but abandons such an approach in the face of clear Congressional-Executive agreement in Boumediene.
Computer simulation modeling to determine trailhead quotas for overnight wilderness visitor use.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Limits on overnight visitor use may be needed when demand is very high and other management tools alone are inadequate to protect resource and experiential conditions. In the wilderness, trailhead quotas may be an effective management tool that allows for more visitor autonomy. For trailhead quotas to be effective; however, managers must have a very good understanding of the relationship between the trailhead origin of trips and the resulting spatiotemporal distribution of users. Simulation modeling can accurately determine this relationship, thus allowing managers to set informed and appropriate trailhead quotas. This study showed how a simulation model can be used to 1) monitor the distribution of overnight wilderness visitors in a large wilderness area with a complex trails network and 2) achieve an informed redistribution of overnight visitor use that reduces the number of areas that are overcapacity while still accommodating the same overall amount and the same temporal distribution of visitor use.
Serum biomarker discovery for ovarian serous carcinoma using novel proteomic methods

16058 Background: Ovarian serous carcinoma (OSC) is the most common ovarian cancer sub-type and fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths for women in the US. Unfortunately, more than two-third...
Obama's Woes

This short op-ed piece discusses Barack Obama's presidency, particularly with regard to Jewish issues and with Israel and the Middle East. The writer offers his rationale why the President's support among Jewish voters is slipping.
Translating Erratic Struggles: Reflections on Political Agency and Irregularity in Lampedusa

Based on an ongoing group effort with undocumented migrants, this article highlights a series of processes, problems, and instances that allow us to theorize the political subjectivity of undocumented migrants. More specifically, the essay draws on fieldwork in Lampedusa that culminated in the LampedusaInFestival event, without limiting itself to a single ethnographic study. This work looks at how the island of Lampedusa has acquired a symbolic status, serving as both the camp and the gateway of Europe, with the power to attract and catalyze different subjects, some of whom are active in political struggles — their undocumented status notwithstanding.
Cross circulation in normal and intoxicated parabionts.

SummaryErythrocyte and plasma transfer times determined simultaneously with Cr51 tagged cells and radio-iodinated human serum albumin (RISA) in normal parabionts at less than 30 days after union were statistically similar to each other, but plasma half-time transfer was as long or longer than that for erythrocytes in all but one of 33 pairs. Normal pairs reinvestigated 10 and 15 months after surgical union showed some slowing of cross circulation. Pairs in a state of intoxication, as determined by clinical appearance corroborated by differentials in peripheral blood values, showed a great slowing of cross-circulation time. In addition to this slowing of cross-circulation time the intoxicated pairs exhibited plasma transfer faster than that for erythrocytes which was opposite to the pattern for normal parabionts. When injected into the anemic animal, the majority of tagged erythrocytes crossed to the hyperemic rat demonstrating unequal exchange; when injected into the hyperemic animal, the erythrocytes ten...
Extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma arising in the broad ligament

The necessity for ultrastructural and immunohistochemical examination in establishing the diagnosis of extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma is reemphasized by the unusual presentation of such a tumor in the broad ligament of a 41-year-old woman. Implications for therapy are discussed.
An ecosystem approach to explaining religious diversity: why, how, and what?

In the target article Wilson and colleagues offer a general theoretical framework meant to advance our understanding of the adaptive nature of religion beyond specific cases, functional adaptations...
Agglomeration economies: a survey of the literature

Generally, agglomeration economies refer to the external economies associated with size and concentration. The benefits of size and concentration vary for different cross-sections of the urban population. Three such groupings may be identified: 1. Consumer agglomeration economies: larger concentrations of population can provide consumers with greater variety of goods and services than do smaller ones. For example, our largest cities can support professional sports, theater, opera and the symphony. In addition, they offer health, educational and welfare services, the availability of job opportunities, a complete range of medical and dental services, etc. 2. Business agglomeration economies: intra-industry concentration and/or metropolitan locations offer many advantages to business firms, some of which are greater the larger the intra-industry cluster and/or the larger the city. Examples of these are taken up in the following section and will therefore not be discussed here. 3. Social agglomeration economies: which affect all groups in society, although somewhat differently. Probably the most preeminent example under this heading is efficiency in public services.
RERC TechSAge: Making a Difference to the Lives of Older Adults with Disability Through Design and Technology

As with people who are experiencing normal aging, there is great potential for technology to provide supportive solutions for people aging with disability. Yet, while little is known about the needs and abilities of people aging with disability, universal design (UD), which is an approach that promotes usability for all, regardless of ability or impairment promising, offers great promise in developing effective technologies for people aging with disability. The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technologies to Support Successful Aging with Disability (RERC TechSAge) takes the unique approach of applying UD principles to rehab engineering research and the development of new technologies for older adults. This paper will provide an overview of TechSAge’s mission and conceptual framework and highlight three projects: User Needs research, the App for Locational Intelligence and Geospatial Navigation project (ALIGN) and the SmartBathroom. These and other TechSAge projects provide exemplars of how incorporating UD in front-end research and development, versus accommodating specific limitations after the fact, can extend usability of technology and environments for broad use, and particularly people aging with disability.
Linking freshwater fishery management to global food security and biodiversity conservation

Fisheries are an essential ecosystem service, but catches from freshwaters are often overlooked. Hundreds of millions of people around the world benefit from low-cost protein, recreation, and commerce provided by freshwater fisheries, particularly in regions where alternative sources of nutrition and employment are scarce. Here, we derive a gridded global map of riverine fisheries and assess its implications for biodiversity conservation, fishery sustainability, and food security. Catches increase with river discharge and human population density, and 90% of global catch comes from river basins with above-average stress levels. Fish richness and catches are positively but not causally correlated, revealing that fishing pressure is most intense in rivers where potential impacts on biodiversity are highest. Merging our catch analysis with nutritional and socioeconomic data, we find that freshwater fisheries provide the equivalent of all dietary animal protein for 158 million people. Poor and undernourished populations are particularly reliant on inland fisheries compared with marine or aquaculture sources. The spatial coincidence of productive freshwater fisheries and low food security highlights the critical role of rivers and lakes in providing locally sourced, low-cost protein. At the same time, intensive fishing in regions where rivers are already degraded by other stressors may undermine efforts to conserve biodiversity. This syndrome of poverty, nutritional deficiency, fishery dependence, and extrinsic threats to biodiverse river ecosystems underscores the high stakes for improving fishery management. Our enhanced spatial data on estimated catches can facilitate the inclusion of inland fisheries in environmental planning to protect both food security and species diversity.
Asymptomatic Alzheimer disease: Defining resilience

Objective: To define robust resilience metrics by leveraging CSF biomarkers of Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology within a latent variable framework and to demonstrate the ability of such metrics to predict slower rates of cognitive decline and protection against diagnostic conversion. Methods: Participants with normal cognition (n = 297) and mild cognitive impairment (n = 432) were drawn from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Resilience metrics were defined at baseline by examining the residuals when regressing brain aging outcomes (hippocampal volume and cognition) on CSF biomarkers. A positive residual reflected better outcomes than expected for a given level of pathology (high resilience). Residuals were integrated into a latent variable model of resilience and validated by testing their ability to independently predict diagnostic conversion, cognitive decline, and the rate of ventricular dilation. Results: Latent variables of resilience predicted a decreased risk of conversion (hazard ratio p 0.02, p p −15 ). These results were significant even when analyses were restricted to clinically normal individuals. Furthermore, resilience metrics interacted with biomarker status such that biomarker-positive individuals with low resilience showed the greatest risk of subsequent decline. Conclusions: Robust phenotypes of resilience calculated by leveraging AD biomarkers and baseline brain aging outcomes provide insight into which individuals are at greatest risk of short-term decline. Such comprehensive definitions of resilience are needed to further our understanding of the mechanisms that protect individuals from the clinical manifestation of AD dementia, especially among biomarker-positive individuals.
Should women have different ECG criteria for CRT than men

One of the key aspects of heart failure management is whether patients should be considered for device therapy. Clinical trials, which have employed QRS duration and morphology as measures of left ventricular dyssynchrony, have demonstrated the morbidity and mortality benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy. Women, however, are underrepresented in these trials, the basis of which current guidelines and standards of care are derived. Despite low enrollment of women, several studies highlight the statistically significant improvement in risk reduction that women gain from cardiac resynchronization therapy compared to men. This review discusses the foundation for current guidelines and the building evidence that women may reap more benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy than men. Given these data, a more individualized approach should be considered in prescribing this device therapy in the future, particularly in women.
Resezione Toracoscopica di Adenoma Paratiroideo Mediastinico

La prima resezione di una ghiandola paratiroide venne eseguita da Mandl nel 1925 in un paziente con una ghiandola cervicale di dimensioni aumentate [1]. Da allora la paratiroidectomia e risultato un intervento abbastanza comune in casi affetti da iperparatiroidismo primitivo.
The “Most Important Problem” dataset (MIPD): a new dataset on American issue importance

This article introduces the Most Important Problem Dataset (MIPD). The MIPD provides individual-level responses by Americans to “most important problem” questions from 1939 to 2015 coded into 58 di...
Effects of DNA Probe Length on the Performance of a Dynamics‐based Electrochemical Hg(II) Sensor

We investigated the effects of DNA probe length on the performance of a dynamics-based electrochemical metal ion (E-ION) Hg(II) sensor. A systematic comparison of three versions of the Hg(II) sensor fabricated using oligothymine (oligo-T) probes of different lengths (6, 12, and 18 bases) is presented here. Independent of the probe length, the sensing mechanism of the sensor remains the same. It is based on the specific interactions between Hg(II) and thymine (T), formation of the T-Hg(II)-T complexes rigidifies the methylene blue (MB)-modified oligo-T probes, resulting in a concentration-dependent reduction in the MB signal. Although there are noted differences in sensor characteristics such as the limit of detection and dynamic range, all three sensors have demonstrated to be specific and selective. Thus, depending on the specific sensor properties that are required for the analysis, a shorter or longer oligo-T probe should be employed. With further optimization, this sensor could find applications in real time detection of Hg(II) in environmental samples.
Behavioral Modeling Constructs

We now begin a more in-depth discussion of the constructs used to model the behavior of digital systems. These have been split into two groups. The first are statements that are, for the most part, similar to those found in programming languages: if-then-else, loops, etc. In the next chapter we take up the statements that are oriented toward modeling the concurrent nature of digital hardware.
Abstract 4998: Breast tumor FOXA1 protein expression and reproductive characteristics among African-American and European-American women

Background: Forkhead box protein A1 (FOXA1) plays a key role in determining estrogen receptor (ER) function and mammary ductal development and may repress the basal cell phenotype during differentiation of breast epithelium. While reproductive factors are known to influence breast cancer risk depending on the subtypes, data on the association of tumor FOXA1 protein expression and reproductive characteristics are very limited. Methods: Tissue microarrays comprising surgical tumors from 638 women (466 African-American [AA] and 172 European-American [EA], aged 20-75 years) with primary breast cancer in the Women’s Circle of Health Study (WCHS) were analyzed for FOXA1 expression by immunohistochemistry and automated image analysis. In-person interviews were conducted to obtain data on demographics, medical and family histories, and reproductive and menstrual histories. Logistic regression was performed for FOXA1 positivity (>10% cells with strong staining) with menopausal status, age at menarche, age at first live birth, parity, and breastfeeding, adjusting for age at diagnosis, family history of breast cancer, and history of benign breast disease. Results: FOXA1 expression was higher in tumors from EA compared to those from AA women (80% vs. 70% positivity, P=0.011). FOXA1 expression was highly correlated with ER positivity (88% positive in ER+ and 26% in ER- breast cancer among AA women; 90% and 29% respectively among EA women; both P Conclusion: In AA women, a higher number of live births, which has been related to greater risk of ER- breast cancer, is associated with lower FOXA1 expression. Because FOXA1 promotes luminal and represses the basal differentiation, respectively, the effects of parity on expression of FOXA1 may be the link whereby it increases risk of ER- breast cancer. (Funding: NIH P01CA151135, R01CA100598, R01CA185623, P30CA072720, K07CA201334; US Army Medical Research and Material Command DAMD-17-01-1-0334; the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; and the Philip L. Hubbell family) Citation Format: Ting-Yuan David Cheng, Rochelle Payne Ondracek, Song Yao, Wiam Bshara, Thaer Khoury, Gary R. Zirpoli, Warren Davis, Elisa V. Bandera, Michael Higgins, Christine B. Ambrosone. Breast tumor FOXA1 protein expression and reproductive characteristics among African-American and European-American women [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4998. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4998
Rates of bark formation on surfaces of saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea)1, 2

Abstract Twenty-one species of tall, long-lived columnar cactus species show extensive bark coverage (epidermal browning) in the Americas. Each species shows more bark coverage on equatorial-facing surfaces than on polar-facing surfaces. In addition, controlled experiments with supplemental UV-B irradiation show the initial stages of bark coverage. These two facts suggest that UV-B irradiation is the cause of sunlight-induced bark coverage. This sunlight-induced bark leads to premature morbidity and mortality. Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.) Britton & Rose) of southern Arizona is the most researched cactus species with regard to this bark coverage. The current effort focused on bark coverage rates on 12 cactus surfaces at 1.7 m height above ground by comparing logistic curves of relative bark coverage among stem surfaces. Logistic curves have been used to document progress of many diseases in humans. In this study, logistic curves were best fit to data with least squares analysis in all cases...
The Journal of Pediatric Surgery: Its First 50 Years

This article is based on the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Lecture at the 2017 meeting of the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons. This lecture was renamed The Jay L. Grosfeld /Journal of Pediatric Surgery Lecture in honor of Dr. Jay L. Grosfeld who was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery (JPS) from 1994 until his passing in 2016. The first part of this paper recounts the first 50years of JPS starting with the efforts of Drs. Koop and Gans to start a Journal devoted to Pediatric Surgery. The second part of the paper reviews the top ten citations in the first 50years of JPS. Finally, the last part of the article discusses what the future may hold for JPS.
The dynamics of gene expression in vertebrate embryogenesis at single-cell resolution

Time series of single-cell transcriptome measurements can reveal dynamic features of cell differentiation pathways. From measurements of whole frog embryos spanning zygotic genome activation through early organogenesis, we derived a detailed catalog of cell states in vertebrate development and a map of differentiation across all lineages over time. The inferred map recapitulates most if not all developmental relationships and associates new regulators and marker genes with each cell state. We find that many embryonic cell states appear earlier than previously appreciated. We also assess conflicting models of neural crest development. Incorporating a matched time series of zebrafish development from a companion paper, we reveal conserved and divergent features of vertebrate early developmental gene expression programs.
A suite-level review of the neutron single-crystal diffraction instruments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The nascent suite of single-crystal neutron diffractometers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has no equal at any other neutron scattering facility worldwide and offers the potential to re-assert single-crystal diffraction using neutrons as a significant tool to study nuclear and magnetic structures of small unit cell crystals, nuclear structures of macromolecules, and diffuse scattering. Signature applications and features of single-crystal neutron diffraction are high resolution nuclear structure analysis, magnetic structure and spin density determinations, contrast variation (particularly D2O/H2O) for nuclear structural studies, lack of radiation damage when using crystals of biological molecules such as proteins, and the fidelity to measure nuclear and magnetic diffuse scattering with elastic discrimination.
Justice in the Gaps: School Leader Dispositions and the Use of Data to Address the Opportunity Gap:

This article addresses what we are calling “the gaps,” the divergent and contextual understandings of “opportunity gap” and “achievement gap” evident in interviews with principals and school distri...
Understanding the Barriers to Reporting Sexual Harassment in Surgical Training

Objective To investigate the occurrence, nature, and reporting of sexual harassment in surgical training and to understand why surgical trainees who experience harassment might not report it. This information will inform ways to overcome barriers to reporting sexual harassment. Summary/ background data Sexual harassment in the workplace is a known phenomenon with reports of high frequency in the medical field. Aspects of surgical training leave trainees especially vulnerable to harassing behavior. The characteristics of sexual harassment and reasons for its underreporting have yet to be studied on the national level in this population. Methods An electronic anonymous survey was distributed to general surgery trainees in participating program; all general surgery training programs nationally were invited to participate. Results Sixteen general surgery training programs participated, yielding 270 completed surveys (response rate of 30%). Overall, 48.9% of all respondents and 70.8% of female respondents experienced at least 1 form of sexual harassment during their training. Of the respondents who experienced sexual harassment, 7.6% reported the incident. The most common cited reasons for nonreporting were believing that the action was harmless (62.1%) and believing reporting would be a waste of time (47.7%). Conclusion Sexual harassment occurs in surgical training and is rarely reported. Many residents who are harassed question if the behavior they experienced was harassment or feel that reporting would be ineffectual-leading to frequent nonreporting. Surgical training programs should provide all-level education on sexual harassment and delineate the best mechanism for resident reporting of sexual harassment.
Demographic, Regional, and Political Influences on the Sexual Health Care Experiences of Adolescent Sexual Minority Men.

Purpose: Adolescent sexual minority men (ASMM) are affected disproportionately by HIV, and little is known about their utilization of sexual health care services. We aimed to examine demographic, r...
Husserl, the active self, and commitment

In “On what matters: Personal identity as a phenomenological problem” (2020), Steven Crowell engages a number of contemporary interpretations of Husserl’s account of the person and personal identity by noting that they lack a phenomenological elucidation of the self as commitment. In this article, in response to Crowell, I aim to show that such an account of the self as commitment can be drawn from Husserl’s work by looking more closely at his descriptions from the time of Ideas and after of the self as ego or I and egoic experience as attentive experience. I specifically aim to sketch the beginning of a response to three questions I take Crowell to be posing to a Husserlian account of the person and personal identity: (1) What more than pre-reflective self-awareness can be attributed to the self on phenomenological grounds so that we can understand, phenomenologically speaking, how selves become persons? (2) How can what characterizes the self in addition to pre-reflective self-awareness be discerned in both our commitment to truth and our feeling bound by love and other emotive commitments that cannot be fully rationally justified, which Husserl acknowledges are both sources of personal self-constitution? And (3), do all selves become persons? In the paper I elaborate how my answers to the first two questions turn on the self not just being self-aware but active in a particular sense. And to begin to address the third question, I suggest that while any form of wakeful conscious experience is both self-aware and active, this activity of the self makes a difference for those who are socio-historically embedded in the way we are. Specifically, on the proposed Husserlian account, selves that are socio-historically embedded become persons in and through their active relating to what they attentively experience. In concluding, I indicate how this Husserlian account might compare to Crowell’s claim that “self-identity (ipseity) is not mere logical identity (A=A) but a normative achievement […] which makes a ‘personal’ kind of identity possible” (2020).
A new method for assessing landing kinematics in non-laboratory settings.

Abstract Objectives 1) Determine the concurrent validity of using automated 2D video analysis relative to 3D motion capture for assessing frontal and sagittal-plane knee kinematics during landing, 2) compare the accuracy of visually estimating joint center locations (2D Manual) with computing joint center locations using anatomical markers (2D Automatic), and 3) compare landing kinematics between a controlled laboratory setting and a non-laboratory setting. Design Validity/repeatability study. Settings Biomechanics research laboratory and non-laboratory athletic facility. Participants Thirty uninjured recreational athletes. Main Outcome Measures Peak knee flexion, knee flexion range of motion, peak knee frontal plane projection angle, and knee frontal plane projection angle range of motion during bilateral and unilateral landing were measured simultaneously in 3D using motion capture and in 2D using two low-cost video cameras during the first study session (biomechanics research laboratory), and in 2D only during the second study session (non-laboratory athletic facility). Results There was good to excellent agreement between 3D motion capture and both 2D Manual (ICC = 0.86–0.99) and 2D Automatic (ICC = 0.89–0.99) video analysis methods. There was good to excellent agreement between data collected in a laboratory and non-laboratory setting (ICC = 0.75–0.95). Conclusion The methods introduced in this study are inexpensive, reliable, and feasible for use in non-laboratory settings.
A qualitative assessment of discharge against medical advice among patients hospitalized for injection-related bacterial infections in West Virginia.

Abstract Background The incidence of infective endocarditis (IE) and other systemic bacterial infections is increasing, and people who inject drugs (PWID) have higher rates of discharge against medical advice (AMA) for these infections than patients whose infections are not injection-related. In this study, we characterize factors that contribute to AMA hospital discharge among PWID. Methods We conducted qualitative interviews with twenty PWID hospitalized with serious injection-related bacterial infections in West Virginia. Participants completed a brief survey and in-depth qualitative interview. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a codebook developed based on deductive and inductive thematic analysis. We also conducted medical records abstraction and used descriptive statistics to summarize medical and survey data. Results Average age was 34 years, 55% were female, 95% identified as white, and 75% had a primary diagnosis of IE. Drugs injected prior to hospitalization were methamphetamine (60%), prescription opioids (38%), and/or heroin/fentanyl (25%). Participants cited multiple contributors to AMA discharge including negative interactions with hospital staff that they perceived as stigmatizing, including being searched or monitored for illicit drug use; inadequate management of pain and withdrawal; boredom and confinement during lengthy hospitalizations; and isolation from family and other social supports. Conclusion We identified multiple factors contributing to AMA discharge that are amenable to intervention. Given the significant morbidity, mortality, and financial costs associated with hospitalizing PWID for serious injection-related bacterial infections, hospitals should be highly motivated to develop and test interventions designed to improve outcomes among these patients.
Hospital use following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

Abstract Most existing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) outcome studies omit emergency department (ED) use. To our knowledge, this study on ED use following ACDF surgery is the first to use a direct patient chart review and the first to include revision patients, 1–5 levels of ACDFs, and performance of corpectomy in the analysis. This study examines the frequency and basis of hospital service use within 30 days of ACDF surgery, specifically ED visits, hospital readmissions, and returns to the operating room. A retrospective chart review was performed for 1273 consecutive patients who underwent ACDF surgery at one institution from July 2013 to June 2016. Of the 1273 patients with ACDF, 97 (7.6%) presented to the ED within 30 days after surgery. Of 43 patients with revision ACDF, 9 (20.9%) returned to the ED, compared with 88 (7.2%) of 1230 patients with primary ACDF (P = 0.001). Of the 111 ED visits by 97 patients, 40 (36%) were for cervicalgia, 13 (12%) were for dysphagia, 8 (7%) were for trauma, 7 (6%) were for nausea, 4 (4%) were for medication refill, 3 (3%) were for dehiscence, 3 (3%) were for pneumonia, and 3 (3%) were for urinary tract infection. Of the ED presentations, 8 (7%) occurred during the first 2 days after surgery, and 46 (41%) occurred within the first postoperative week.
Online Learning Robust Control of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems.

In this work we address the problem of the online robust control of nonlinear dynamical systems perturbed by disturbance. We study the problem of attenuation of the total cost over a duration $T$ in response to the disturbances. We consider the setting where the cost function (at a particular time) is a general continuous function and adversarial, the disturbance is adversarial and bounded at any point of time. Our goal is to design a controller that can learn and adapt to achieve a certain level of attenuation. We analyse two cases (i) when the system is known and (ii) when the system is unknown. We measure the performance of the controller by the deviation of the controller's cost for a sequence of cost functions with respect to an attenuation $\gamma$, $R^p_t$. We propose an online controller and present guarantees for the metric $R^p_t$ when the maximum possible attenuation is given by $\overline{\gamma}$, which is a system constant. We show that when the controller has preview of the cost functions and the disturbances for a short duration of time and the system is known $R^p_T(\gamma) = O(1)$ when $\gamma \geq \gamma_c$, where $\gamma_c = \mathcal{O}(\overline{\gamma})$. We then show that when the system is unknown the proposed controller with a preview of the cost functions and the disturbances for a short horizon achieves $R^p_T(\gamma) = \mathcal{O}(N) + \mathcal{O}(1) + \mathcal{O}((T-N)g(N))$, when $\gamma \geq \gamma_c$, where $g(N)$ is the accuracy of a given nonlinear estimator and $N$ is the duration of the initial estimation period. We also characterize the lower bound on the required prediction horizon for these guarantees to hold in terms of the system constants.
Our Corpses, Our Selves: Anatomy and Identity in American Society

In 1884, when twenty-three-year-old Hannah Stout died of a rare disease, her family was afraid to bury her in the local cemetery. They knew that doctors frequently engaged in grave robbing, or paid others to do so for them. And they were certain that doctors would be particularly anxious to obtain Hannah's body for dissection or public exhibition because of the unusual nature of her disease. To thwart potential grave robbers, the family buried Hannah just outside their Indiana farmhouse, where they could keep a close watch on the corpse. As Michael Sappol points out in A Traffic of Dead Bodies, this story reveals two important points about anatomy and nineteenthcentury American culture and society. First, it suggests that the dead body had become an important commodity for nineteenth-century medical students and doctors who wished to learn anatomy. Second, the fact that families went to such lengths to protect the corpses of their relatives suggests that the dead body held great meaning for nineteenth-century Americans; it had become part of the "self." An insult or injury to a corpse became an insult to that person's identity. The dead body, then, became an important commodity at precisely the same moment that new concepts of the self suggested that dead bodies should be outside and protected from the marketplace. It was in this context, Sappol argues, that anatomy and dissection became important and highly contentious topics in nineteenth-century America. Sappol uses these two intertwined themes-the medical profession's focus on anatomy and Americans' newly anatomical understanding of selfhoodto shed light on two major topics in nineteenth-century American history: the professionalization of medicine and the creation of the modern self. Specifically, Sappol's intent is to explore the ways in which "the anatomical acquisition, dissection, and representation of bodies ... contributed to the making of professional, classed, sexual, racial, national, and speciated selves" (p. 1).