cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transport of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites between water and sediments as a further potential exposure for aquatic organisms

Although pharmaceuticals are frequently studied contaminants, their fate in the environment is still not completely clear. During a one year study, a complex approach including water, sediment and fish sampling was used to describe the behaviour of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites (PTMs) in the environment. Eighteen pharmaceuticals and seven of their metabolites were determined in a pond used for the tertiary treatment of wastewater effluent. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was applied to determine the PTMs concentrations in all matrices. Seasonal variations in concentrations were evaluated. The partitioning of contaminants between pond compartments was estimated by means of solid water distribution coefficients (Kd) and bioaccumulation factors (BAF) for the livers of fish. Kd values were almost stable throughout the year, which may be a sign of the continuous transport of PTMs between water and sediment under the experimental conditions. Almost all of the studied compounds, with exception of sertraline (BAF of 6200), were found to not be bioaccumulative in fish livers. The pond removal efficiency was calculated for all PTMs, and favourable conditions for natural pharmaceutical removal were proposed. Further aspects regarding fish pharmaceutical exposure need to be studied.
The effect of health insurance on childhood cancer survival in the United States.

BACKGROUND The effect of health insurance on childhood cancer survival has not been well studied. Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, this study was designed to assess the association between health insurance status and childhood cancer survival. METHODS Data on cancers diagnosed among children less than 15 years old from 2007 to 2009 were obtained from the SEER 18 registries. The effect of health insurance at diagnosis on 5-year childhood cancer mortality was estimated with marginal survival probabilities, restricted mean survival times, and Cox proportional hazards (PH) regression analyses, which were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and county-level poverty. RESULTS Among 8219 childhood cancer cases, the mean survival time was 1.32 months shorter (95% confidence interval [CI], −4.31 to 1.66) after 5 years for uninsured children (n = 131) versus those with private insurance (n = 4297), whereas the mean survival time was 0.62 months shorter (95% CI, −1.46 to 0.22) for children with Medicaid at diagnosis (n = 2838). In Cox PH models, children who were uninsured had a 1.26-fold higher risk of cancer death (95% CI, 0.84-1.90) than those who were privately insured at diagnosis. The risk for those with Medicaid was similar to the risk for those with private insurance at diagnosis (hazard ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.93-1.21). CONCLUSIONS Overall, the results suggest that cancer survival is largely similar for children with Medicaid and those with private insurance at diagnosis. Slightly inferior survival was observed for those who were uninsured in comparison with those with private insurance at diagnosis. The latter result is based on a small number of uninsured children and should be interpreted cautiously. Further study is needed to confirm and clarify the reasons for these patterns. Cancer 2017;123:4878-85. © 2017 American Cancer Society.
A superconducting nanowire can be modeled by using SPICE

Modeling of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors typically requires custom simulations or finite-element analysis in one or two dimensions. Here, we demonstrate two simplified one-dimensional SPICE models of a superconducting nanowire that can quickly and efficiently describe the electrical characteristics of a superconducting nanowire. These models may be of particular use in understanding alternative architectures for nanowire detectors and readouts.
Weed Management in Corn

Materials and Methods The crop rotation was corn following soybean. The seedbed was prepared with fall disking followed by spring field cultivation. Crop residue was 16 percent at planting. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Herbicides were applied in 20 gallons of water per acre. Visual estimates of crop injury and percentage weed control were made during the growing season. These observations are compared with an untreated control and made on a zero to 100 rating scale (0 percent = no control or injury; 100 percent = complete control or crop kill).
Trade-offs associated with axillary lymph node dissection: Implications of the eligibility versus enrollment in ACOSOG Z0011.

151 Background: Results from ACOSOG Z0011 suggest that axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) may not be necessary for patients following positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). Concerns have be...
Cancer Immunotherapy: On the Trail of a Cure?

Since its discovery in 1995, numerous studies have investigated the potential of using TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) as an alternative cancer therapeutic, since it is a potent inducer of apoptosis in tumor cells but not in normal cells and tissues. As a consequence, a great deal is known about TRAIL/TRAIL receptor expression, the molecular mechanism of TRAIL receptor signaling, and methods of altering tumor cell sensitivity to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Translating the preclinical TRAIL studies into the clinic is beginning, with the hope that TRAIL will retain all of its tumoricidal activity against human primary tumors in situ with no toxic side effects.
Non-causal temporal prior for video deblocking

Real-world video sequences coded at low bit rates suffer from compression artifacts, which are visually disruptive and can cause problems to computer vision algorithms. Unlike the denoising problem where the high frequency components of the signal are present in the noisy observation, most high frequency details are lost during compression and artificial discontinuities arise across the coding block boundaries. In addition to sparse spatial priors that can reduce the blocking artifacts for a single frame, temporal information is needed to recover the lost spatial details. However, establishing accurate temporal correspondences from the compressed videos is challenging because of the loss of high frequency details and the increase of false blocking artifacts. In this paper, we propose a non-causal temporal prior model to reduce video compression artifacts by propagating information from adjacent frames and iterating between image reconstruction and motion estimation. Experimental results on real-world sequences demonstrate that the deblocked videos by the proposed system have marginal statistics of high frequency components closer to those of the original ones, and are better input for standard edge and corner detectors than the coded ones.
Impact of MDSC emergence during ovarian cancer in cytokine-deficient mice. (TUM6P.1011)

We have been studying the emergence of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) following i.p. transfer of ID8 cells (mouse ovarian surface epithelial cell carcinoma) into intact, syngeneic, C57BL/6J (wild type, WT) mice. Our current work studies the impact of the cytokine (CK) environment on ID8 expansion and MDSC emergence in the peritoneal cavity (PerC). We wanted to determine if particular pro- (IFNg) or anti- (IL4, IL10) inflammatory CKs were drivers of disease in this model. We found that, relative to WT mice, the development of hemorrhagic ascites was accelerated in IL10 -/- , IL4 -/- , and IFNgR -/- mice. The greatest percentage and number of MDSCs was observed in IL10 -/- mice, which also had the greatest expansion of ID8 cells. ID8 triggered a marked increase in PerC Mfs, particularly in the IL10 -/- mice, and lymphocytes, particularly in the IFNgR -/- and IL4 -/- mice. However, for all mice, the percent representation of B cells in the total PerC cell pool declined markedly, particularly in the IL10 -/- mice (> 70%). Interestingly, beyond the peritoneal locus of disease, both B and T lymphocyte percentages dropped in the spleens of all mice. This was seen without a concomitant increase in the number of MDSCs or appearance of ID8 in the spleen. These observations reinforce that inflammation drives MDSC emergence and suggest that changes in lymphocyte populations could serve as biomarkers for assessing ovarian cancer.
Transgender Considerations in Physical Education

A transgender student at an Illinois high school was denied a motion for a preliminary injunction against her school, which would have allowed her to have full access to her preferred gender locker...
Harvest Season Influences Fertilizer Effects on Seed Production of Lanceleaf Coreopsis

Abstract Seasonal and fertilization effects on seed production were investigated for a north Florida ecotype of lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata L.) grown in containers. Since containerize...
Other Modalities: Assessment of Pulmonary Response and Measurement of Cardiac Output

In some clinical and/or research settings, it is helpful to incorporate additional technologies and modalities into the standard cardiopulmonary exercise test. This chapter discusses some of them, including exercise flow-volume loops, measurement of cardiac output (invasive and noninvasive), blood sampling during exercise, and exercise oscillatory ventilation.
Non-inferiority designs comparing placebo to a proven therapy for childhood pneumonia in low-resource settings:

Background/aims:After a new treatment is recommended to be first-line treatment for a specific indication, outcome and population, it may be unethical to use placebo as a comparator in trials for t...
Hypertension in kidney transplant recipients. Effect on long-term renal allograft survival.

To examine the effects of hypertension on renal graft function, we studied the clinical course of 144 kidney transplant recipients who had functioning grafts for three to 13 years. The patients were divided into three groups: normotensive (n = 32), controlled hypertensive (n = 49) and uncontrolled hypertensive group (n = 63). In addition to the difference in their blood pressure status, the three groups had significantly different levels of serum creatinine at entry to the study (mean +/- SE in mg/dL: 1.41 +/- 0.02, 8.89 +/- 0.02 and 2.30 +/- 0.03, respectively, P = .0002). Cumulative graft survival (CGS) at ten years for normotensive patients was 81%, whereas it was 58% for controlled hypertensive patients and 50% for uncontrolled hypertensive patients. The difference of CGS between normotensive and hypertensive patients was significant (P = .01), whereas the difference between the two hypertensive groups, controlled v. uncontrolled, was not. If serum creatinine levels at entry to the study were adjusted and the CGS of hypertensive patients was compared to normotensive patients with comparable levels of serum creatinine, the differences in CGS between the two groups were no longer significant. Regression analyses for potential prognostic factors revealed that serum creatinine levels were of more primary importance as a prognostic variable than blood pressure status. We conclude that hypertension is an important risk factor for renal graft survival, but control of hypertension alone does not appear to improve it. Graft survival appears to be influenced more by the severity of graft dysfunction at entry to the study irrespective of blood pressure control.
Investigation of a polar form of fluoroethylene dimer, (C2H3F)2, by microwave spectroscopy

Abstract The structure of fluoroethylene dimer ((C2H3F)2, (FE)2) has been determined using chirped-pulse Fourier-transform microwave (CP-FTMW) spectroscopy. Although the most stable structure was expected to be nonpolar, a planar, polar configuration was observed with sufficient intensity to measure spectra for four unique 13C substituted isotopologues in natural abundance. This allowed a least-squares fit of the structural parameters of the dimer to observed moments of inertia. The resulting structure has a T-shaped arrangement of C C bonds, similar to the recently studied FE⋯1,1-difluoroethylene complex. Both dimers contain a cyclic arrangement of CH⋯F contacts between the H–C–F end of one monomer and the H–C C–F side of the second monomer. ωB97X-D/6-31+G(d,p), MP2/6–311++G(2d,2p) and MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations give the expected nonpolar end-to-end structure, ranging from 9 cm−1 (DFT) to 63 cm−1 and 57 cm−1 (MP2/6–311++G(2d,2p) and aug-cc-pVDZ, respectively) more stable than the experimentally observed orientation. The ωB97X-D/6-31+G(d,p) calculations also indicate a nonplanar, polar configuration that is over 60 cm−1 more favorable than the nonpolar structure; however, MP2 calculations predict significantly higher energy, and spectroscopic results provide no evidence of that structure’s existence. The rotational constants of the observed T-shaped (FE)2 structure are A = 6582.8323(12) MHz, B = 1256.6203(4) MHz, C = 1060.3474(3) MHz, and the dipole moment components, determined via Stark effect measurements, are μa = 0.683 (3) D, μb = 0.301 (5) D, μtot = 0.746 (5) D.
Rapid Detection of IgM Antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 Virus via Colloidal Gold Nanoparticle-Based Lateral-Flow Assay

Last year, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, and it has rapidly spread to many other countries and regions. COVID-19 exhibits a strong human-to-human transmission infectivity and could cause acute respiratory diseases. Asymptomatic carriers are able to infect other healthy persons, and this poses a challenge for public health; the World Health Organization (WHO) has already announced COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Nucleic acid testing, considered as the current primary method for diagnosing COVID-19, might lead to false negatives and is difficult to be applied for every suspected patient because of the existence of asymptomatic carriers. Meanwhile, detecting specific antibodies in blood, such as the IgM antibody, against the SARS-CoV-2 virus is another choice for COVID-19 diagnosis, as it is widely accepted that IgM is an important indicator in the acute infection period. In this study, a colloidal gold nanoparticle-based lateral-flow (AuNP-LF) assay was developed to achieve rapid diagnosis and on-site detection of the IgM antibody against the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the indirect immunochromatography method. For preparing AuNP-LF strips, the SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein (SARS-CoV-2 NP) was coated on an analytical membrane for sample capture, and antihuman IgM was conjugated with AuNPs to form the detecting reporter. Optimization of AuNP-LF assay was carried out by altering the pH value and the amount of antihuman IgM. The performance of AuNP-LF assay was evaluated by testing serum samples of COVID-19 patients and normal humans. The results were compared with the real-time polymerase chain reaction. The sensitivity and specificity of AuNP-LF assay were determined to be 100 and 93.3%, respectively, and an almost perfect agreement was exhibited by Kappa statistics (κ coefficient = 0.872). AuNP-LF assay showed outstanding selectivity in the detection of IgM against the SARS-CoV-2 virus with no interference from other viruses such as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) and dengue virus (DFV). AuNP-LF assay was able to achieve results within 15 min and needed only 10-20 μL serum for each test. As a whole, in the light of its advantages such as excellent specificity and stability, easy operation, low cost, and being less time-consuming, AuNP-LF assay is a feasible method for the diagnosis of COVID-19 in primary hospitals and laboratories, especially in emergency situations in which numerous samples need to be tested on time.
Should You Fine-Tune BERT for Automated Essay Scoring?

Most natural language processing research now recommends large Transformer-based models with fine-tuning for supervised classification tasks; older strategies like bag-of-words features and linear models have fallen out of favor. Here we investigate whether, in automated essay scoring (AES) research, deep neural models are an appropriate technological choice. We find that fine-tuning BERT produces similar performance to classical models at significant additional cost. We argue that while state-of-the-art strategies do match existing best results, they come with opportunity costs in computational resources. We conclude with a review of promising areas for research on student essays where the unique characteristics of Transformers may provide benefits over classical methods to justify the costs.
Vascular Compressive Syndromes

Vascular compression can occur when local anatomy facilitates positional compression of a vessel. Symptoms are determined by the vascular bed supplied by the compressed vessel. These vascular compression syndromes arise in the thorax (thoracic outlet syndrome), abdomen (median arcuate ligament syndrome and nutcracker syndrome) and in the limbs (May-Thurner syndrome and adventitial cyst). While vascular compression is very common, clinical syndromes developing as a result of compression are rare.
Regime change in a large-floodplain river ecosystem: patterns in body-size and functional biomass indicate a shift in fish communities

Changes in species dominance may drive regime shifts because dominant biotic feedbacks reflect functional traits of a community. Changes in species dominance has been documented by a 25-year fish community dataset encompassing six reaches of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Specifically, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) abundance has declined across all reaches, whereas silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) and bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) have increased in abundance in the southern three reaches. To test whether signals in the data were consistent with regime transitions, changes in body-size patterns and trends in functional biomass and variance of functional biomass of the fish community were assessed. I further explored biomass thresholds relative to transitions. Shifts in body-size aggregations and trends in functional biomass support hypotheses that transitions from common carp dominance to a more functional diverse community represent alternate regimes. Results indicate such transitions occurred in the early 2000s for the two most northern reaches, and that the third most northern reach is nearing this transition. In the southern reaches, results indicate that transitions from common carp dominance to silver and bighead carp dominance also represent alternate regimes. Regime transitions support biomass thresholds between 8000 and 10,000 g per unit of day electrofishing effort of common carp and between 20 and 2000 g per unit effort in silver and bighead carp. Consistencies across reaches with similar dominance patterns provide support that reinforcing feedbacks, unique to the functional attributes of the dominant species, occur at similar biomass levels. Building knowledge of such feedback mechanisms is imperative to effectively manage for desired regimes.
Experiences Building an Answer Bot for Gitter

Software developers use modern chat platforms to communicate about the status of a project and to coordinate development and release efforts, among other things. Developers also use chat platforms to ask technical questions to other developers. While some questions are project-specific and require an experienced developer familiar with the system to answer, many questions are rather general and may have been already answered by other developers on platforms such as the Q&A site StackOverflow. In this paper, we present GitterAns, a bot that can automatically detect when a developer asks a technical question in a chat and leverages the information present in Q&A forums to provide the developer with possible answers to their question. The results of a preliminary study indicate promising results, with GitterAns achieving an accuracy of 0.78 in identifying technical questions.
Did the Policies in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Lead to Higher Development and Social Compliance? A Synthetic Control Analysis

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has recently experienced a series of policies sought to bring economic development, as well as intensive methods of social compliance. A unique leader, Chen Quanguo, brought these changes in the XUAR in 2016. This paper seeks to examine the effects of Chen’s regime. Figuring out if the policies brought forth by Chen actually had any significant change in development and social compliance is complicated, mainly due to the fact it is impossible to examine the XUAR with and without the regime of Chen. Using the synthetic control method, however, is one way of addressing if Chen had any meaningful effect on the region by constructing a counterfactual that seeks to mimic what would have happened to XUAR had Chen not been put in power. We specifically examine three outcomes: GDP per capita, arrest rates, and spending on public security. Our findings suggest that Chen had no significant effect on the development, but his policies led to much higher rates of arrest and larger spending on public security.
Comprehensive characterization of Alu-mediated breakpoints in germline VHL gene deletions and rearrangements in patients from 71 VHL families.

Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) is a hereditary multisystem disorder caused by germline alterations in the VHL gene. VHL patients are at risk for benign as well as malignant lesions in multiple organs including kidney, adrenal, pancreas, the central nervous system, retina, endolymphatic sac of the ear, epididymis, and broad ligament. An estimated 30%-35% of all families with VHL inherit a germline deletion of one, two, or all three exons. In this study, we have extensively characterized germline deletions identified in patients from 71 VHL families managed at the National Cancer Institute, including 59 partial (PD) and 12 complete VHL deletions (CD). Deletions that ranged in size from 1.09 to 355 kb. Fifty-eight deletions (55 PD and 3 CD) have been mapped to the exact breakpoints. Ninety-five percent (55 of 58) of mapped deletions involve Alu repeats at both breakpoints. Several novel classes of deletions were identified in this cohort, including two cases that have complex rearrangements involving both deletion and inversion, two cases with inserted extra Alu-like sequences, six cases that involve breakpoints in Alu repeats situated in opposite orientations, and a "hotspot" PD of Exon 3 observed in 12 families that involves the same pair of Alu repeats.
A data-driven optimized daylight pattern for responsive facades design

This study presents a data-driven approach for investigating practical aspects of responsive facades illuminance optimization. In this approach, the hourly indoor illuminance data and spatial infor...
The Legal Nature of FRAND Under U.S. Law

The legal nature of FRAND in the United States has evolved into a complex, integrated system that includes aspects of patent law, contract law, and antitrust law. A SEP owner who fails to commit to FRAND licensing may potentially incur antitrust liability if a SEP is intentionally concealed during the standard setting process. On the other hand, by making a FRAND declaration, a SEP owner both accepts limits on remedies for infringement of that patent and enters a binding contract in which potential licensees of the patent are third-party beneficiaries entitled to enforce the FRAND commitment. Antitrust law further encourages a SEP owner to honor its FRAND commitment, U.S. antitrust laws may be violated by a false FRAND declaration. Of these FRAND-related claims, contract issues are poised to be most important because they often resolve other claims related to SEPs. Indeed, U.S. courts in FRAND contract cases have both determined global FRAND rates and enjoined SEP owners from pursuing related patent infringement litigation both inside of and outside of the United States. SEP owners and potential licensees therefore may find themselves haled into U.S. courts to resolve global FRAND disputes, and the legal effect of FRAND under U.S. law thus extends well beyond the borders of the United States.
Stability of finite and infinite von Kármán vortex-cluster streets.

A wake of vortices with sufficiently spaced cores may be represented via the point-vortex model from classical hydrodynamics. We use potential theory representations of vortices to examine the emergence and stability of complex vortex wakes, more particularly the von K\'arm\'an vortex street composed of regular polygonal-like clusters of same-signed vortices. We investigate the existence and stability of these streets represented through spatially periodic vortices. We introduce a physically inspired point-vortex model that captures the stability of infinite vortex streets with a finite number of procedurally generated vortices, allowing for numerical analysis of the behavior of vortex streets as they dynamically form.
Changes in the Distribution of Alter-Tax Wealth: Will Wealth Tax Improve the Wealth Distribution Inequality in the United States?

This paper reviews the historical trends of the distribution of income and wealth in the United States. It also discusses the literature on whether imposing wealth tax suggested by Senator Warren and Sanders will improve the inequalities. The paper researches the tax policy regarding the Wealth taxes on ultra-wealthy households, the policy that has been proposed by Democratic presidential candidates to fight against inequality and raise extra revenue in the long term.
Dual-task speech performance in multiple sclerosis

Abstract Background Although extant dual-task studies suggest cognitive-motor interference may magnify existing non-speech motor impairments in multiple sclerosis (MS), cognitive-speech motor interference in MS has not been studied. This study evaluated the presence of cognitive-speech motor interference in MS and explored within subject differences in speech measures from the single-to dual-task condition for individuals with MS with co-occurring dysarthria and impaired cognition. Methods In this dual-task study, 21 individuals with MS and 21 controls read aloud a sentence (single-task) and completed a cognitive-linguistic task while simultaneously reading aloud a sentence (dual-task). Speech measures included speech and articulation rate, silent pause frequency and duration, and total sentence duration. Results Both groups had significantly slower speech in the dual-task condition. Relative to participants with dysarthria, speech rate and sentence duration difference scores approached significance or were significantly greater for participants with MS with dysarthria and cognitive impairment. These difference scores were associated with executive function and processing speed deficits and fewer years of education. Conclusion Significant negative compounding effects for speech rate and sentence duration suggest that the dual-task paradigm shows promise for identifying individuals with MS with cognitive impairment and dysarthria at increased risk of problems with effective communication. Further research is warranted to replicate this work and evaluate the consequences of these speech aberrancies on communication effectiveness that ultimately may affect employment, social relationships, and quality of life.
Guys and dolls: Two case reports of spontaneous interactions with dolls in male veterans with dementia.

Prior studies have described positive behavioral, emotional, and social responses to dolls in persons with dementia (PWD), but most have examined formal doll therapy in institutional settings and primarily included women. This study describes two cases of spontaneous doll interactions in male veterans who were participating in a research study of a gentle group movement program at an adult day center. A doll was present at the study site, and two participants chose to interact with it. Researchers analyzed class videos and thematically coded behavioral, emotional, and social responses to the doll. Mr. B was a 90-year-old World War II-era veteran with moderate Alzheimer's disease. Behavioral responses (n = 83) toward the doll included gazing, holding, and caressing. Emotional responses (n = 46) included chuckles, smiles, and laughter. Social responses (n = 59) involved conversations about the doll in which his ability to communicate verbally was markedly improved. Mr. C was a 68-year-old Vietnam veteran with mild Lewy body dementia. He also exhibited frequent behavioral (n = 10), social (n = 11) and emotional (n = 8) responses toward the doll. In addition, he reported having an intense, cathartic dream about the doll, crying "it brings me back to holding my son or my daughter." These case studies add to the literature supporting the benefits of doll use by PWD by describing the effects of spontaneous doll use in two male veterans. Results suggest that having dolls available and providing a nonjudgmental environment where doll use is encouraged and supported may have profound beneficial effects to diverse populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Overview of the Biomedical Aspects of HIV and Its Impact on Older Adults

This chapter presents a review of the basics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, beginning with the natural history of the infection and including HIV disease classifications. It includes a brief look at some of the common opportunistic infections (OIs) and conditions that may result from HIV infection. HIV testing and counseling procedures are described, along with key features in disease monitoring, followed by an overview of the changes in HIV disease and its treatment over time. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the biomedical impact and challenges of HIV as it affects older adults. The assumption that older adults are not at risk for HIV may result in either misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of illness and subsequently, in delayed treatment. Late diagnosis of HIV and age-related decreases in immune function, as well as the presence of other health conditions (comorbidities), appear to negatively affect survival among older adults. In spite of the obvious need for a fuller understanding of HIV as it affects older adults, older PLWHIV have been largely ignored in clinical research studies on HIV disease and its treatment.
Health Care Organization and Its Impact on Care of Diseases of the Hip

United States (U.S.) healthcare expenditures outpace that of other industrial nations and are not necessarily associated with improved health outcomes. To contain costs and improve quality and coverage in the U.S. healthcare system legislation has mandated a reorganization of healthcare around accountable care organizations (ACOs), patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), and bundled payments. ACOs and PCMHs utilize bundled payment schemes and represent novel delivery models, implemented as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), that will impact the care of diseases of the hip. New modes of healthcare delivery incentivize a shift toward provider-led organizations and establish a population health model that is oriented toward primary care as well as the management and prevention of orthopedic pathology across the entire continuum of disease pathology and care cycle. As healthcare continues to reorganize the orthopedic profession is faced with unique challenges including ensuring equal access to vulnerable population segments, minimizing non-value adding interventions and addressing supply side issues as demand for hip procedures increases.
SiS2 in circumstellar shells

Solid state SiS2 is proposed as the material responsible for the recently discovered 21 micrometer emission feature that is observed in the carbon-rich circumstellar shells of certain protoplanetary nebulae. Sulfurized SiC, or SiS2 mantles on grains of either SiC or a:C-H are discussed as possible forms for which no spectroscopic laboratory observations yet exist. The identification with a relatively minor species and required special abundance ratios are consistent with the low incidence rate that the 21 micrometer feature presents in the population of carbon rich objects. It is also consistent with the lack of a good correlation between the 21 micrometer feature and the other solid-state spectroscopic features that have been observed in protoplanetaries that would be expected if the feature arose from molecules composed of H, C, N, and O. SiS2 condensate is consistent with the circumstellar shell temperature range, T(sub CS) approximately equal to or less than 150 K, at which the feature appears, and the available mass of SiS2, M(sub SiS2) approx. = 5 x 10(exp -6) solar mass, that is possible in the circumstellar shell.
New Neutrino Detection Technology: Application of Massive Water Detectors to Accelerator Neutrino Physics

In surveying the field of new detector technology, it appears that the advent of massive, inexpensive water Cerenkov detectors may have a significant impact on future neutrino physics. These detectors offer the volumes necessary to perform experiments at very low fluxes, for example with long neutrino flight paths or with rare neutrino species (e. g. νe). As an illustration of the potential on the new techniques, we consider in detail an experiment dedicated to the study of the time evolution of a neutrino beam enriched with νe’s. The highest fluxes of νe appear to be achieved with current beam lines at the Brookhaven AGS or the CERN PS. An array of massive, inexpensive detectors allows a configuration optimized for good sensitivity to neutrino eigenmass differences from 0.6 eV to 20 eV and mixing angles down to 15° (comparable to the Cabibbo angle). The νe beam is formed using $$\mathop {\text{K}}\nolimits_{{\text{e3}}}^{\text{o}}$$ decays. A simultaneously produced νμ beam from $$\mathop {\text{K}}\nolimits_{{\text{e3}}}^{\text{o}}$$ decay serves as the normalizer. Pion generated νμ’s are suppressed to limit background. The detector consists of a series of seven water Cerenkov modules (each with 175T fiducial mass), judiciously spaced along the ν line to provide flight paths from 40m to 1000m. Simulation and reconstruction of neutrino events in a detector similar to the one considered show sufficient resolution in angle, energy, position and event timing relative to the beam.
PREDICTING THE LIKELIHOOD OF ALTERED STREAMFLOWS AT UNGAUGED RIVERS ACROSS THE CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES

An approach is presented in this study to aid water-resource managers in characterizing streamflow alteration at ungauged rivers. Such approaches can be used to take advantage of the substantial amounts of biological data collected at ungauged rivers to evaluate the potential ecological consequences of altered streamflows. National-scale random forest statistical models are developed to predict the likelihood that ungauged rivers have altered streamflows (relative to expected natural condition) for five hydrologic metrics (HMs) representing different aspects of the streamflow regime. The models use human disturbance variables, such as number of dams and road density, to predict the likelihood of streamflow alteration. For each HM, separate models are derived to predict the likelihood that the observed metric is greater than (‘inflated’) or less than (‘diminished’) natural conditions. The utility of these models is demonstrated by applying them to all river segments in the South Platte River in Colorado, USA, and for all 10-digit hydrologic units in the conterminous United States. In general, the models successfully predicted the likelihood of alteration to the five HMs at the national scale as well as in the South Platte River basin. However, the models predicting the likelihood of diminished HMs consistently outperformed models predicting inflated HMs, possibly because of fewer sites across the conterminous United States where HMs are inflated. The results of these analyses suggest that the primary predictors of altered streamflow regimes across the Nation are (i) the residence time of annual runoff held in storage in reservoirs, (ii) the degree of urbanization measured by road density and (iii) the extent of agricultural land cover in the river basin. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Matrix Element Dependence of Optical Excitation and Auger Decay of 5 d Core Holes in Bi 2 Te 3

The spectral dependence of the Auger component of the uv photoemission and the far-uv reflectance show that the optical excitation of $5d$ core states cannot be described in terms of simple density of states indicating that matrix element effects must be included.
ZnO nanostructure-modified QCM for dynamic monitoring of cell adhesion and proliferation.

Abstract Noninvasive examination of live cell function in real-time is essential in advancing the understanding of the dynamic progression of cell's biological processes. We present a dynamic and noninvasive method of monitoring the adhesion and proliferation of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) using a ZnO nanostructure-modified quartz crystal microbalance (ZnOnano-QCM) biosensor. The ZnOnano-QCM biosensor consists of a conventional QCM with ZnO nanostructures directly grown on its sensing electrode deployed in-situ of a standard cell culture environment. Cell adhesion to the ZnO surfaces with various morphologies is studied and the optimal morphology is chosen for the BAEC adhesion. The ZnOnano-QCM biosensor displays enhanced sensitivity compared to the standard QCM sensor with ∼10 times higher frequency shift and motional inductance, and ∼4 times higher measured motional resistance at full confluency. The dynamic motional resistance and inductance relating to the cells' viscoelastic properties during growth are extracted from the measured time-evolving acoustic spectra. The Butterworth-Van-Dyck (BVD) model is adapted for the ZnOnano-QCM biosensor system and is used to correlate the measured time-evolving acoustic spectra with the motional characteristics of cell attachment and proliferation.
Trauma Among Lesbians and Bisexual Girls in the Juvenile Justice System

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning (LGBTQ) youth are at particularly pronounced risk for experiencing trauma, and trauma appears to increase the risk for juvenile justice system involvement. While it is well documented that LGBTQ youth experience significantly higher rates of trauma and sexual orientation violence than do their heterosexual counterparts, the interconnectedness of trauma, delinquency, and sexual-minority status among teenage girls has not been well studied. In addition, the juvenile justice system is ill equipped to deal with LGBTQ youth, underequipped for addressing issues related to trauma, and may inflict further trauma through homophobia among staff and sexual majority peers. Given (a) the pronounced trauma-related treatment need among juvenile offending girls, and (b) the lack of research focused on sexual-minority girls in the justice system, this review will focus on recent trauma research involving juvenile justice system-involved and lesbian and bisexual girls. The authors review current trends and practices and make recommendations for how to improve services and treatment for justice system-involved girls.
Oral and respiratory control for preterm feeding

Purpose of review Feeding competency is a frequent and serious challenge to the neonatal intensive care unit survivors and to the physician–provider–parent teams. The urgency of effective assessment and intervention techniques is obviated to promote safe swallow, as attainment of oral feeding for the preterm infant/newborn is one of the prerequisites for hospital discharge. If left unresolved, feeding problems may persist into early childhood and may require management by pediatric gastroenterologists and feeding therapists. This review highlights studies aimed at understanding the motor control and development of nonnutritive and nutritive suck, swallow, and coordination with respiration in preterm populations.
The Thermodynamic Equation in Cumulus Dynamics

Abstract Neither the pseudo-adiabatic nor the saturation-adiabatic form of the thermodynamic equation used in meteorological practice is suitable for the study of cumulus dynamics inasmuch as this form ignores the microphysics of condensation and precipitation. A thermodynamic equation has been derived treating the cloud as a mixture of dry air, water vapor, and liquid water distributed into droplets, drops and/or other centers of condensation and evaporation. The equation implicitly includes the effect of fallout of the centers from their parent parcels of air and is explicitly supplemented by an equation of continuity for the centers. A simple way has been indicated for extending the basic equation which has been derived for condensation-evaporation centers of uniform mass (and fall velocity relative to air) to clouds having a population of centers of varying mass.
Pelvic Fracture in the Pregnant Patient

Pelvic fracture in the pregnant patient is a very rare occurrence that has very scant results on a medical literature search. We present a 33-year-old who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of car accident that along with traumatic rupture of membranes also suffered an open book fracture of the pelvis. Management in coordination with obstetrics as well as the orthopedic team, the patient underwent an external fixation which allowed for induction of labor to deliver the non viable fetus. Once stable after delivery, an internal fixation was done and patient went on to make a full recovery. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4021/jmc1006w
Ignition characteristics of single coal particles from three different ranks in O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres

Abstract This work assessed the ignition behavior of single-coal and single-char particles in O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres, with oxygen mole fractions in the range of 20–100%. Fuels included four pulverized coals from three different ranks (one high-volatile bituminous, one sub-bituminous and two lignites) as well as chars prepared from two of the coals. Particles of 75–90 μm were injected in a bench-scale, transparent drop-tube furnace (DTF), electrically-heated to 1400 K. Optical access of the furnace allowed the ignition of individual particles to be observed with high-speed cinematography. A particle’s ignition delay was defined as the time lapsed from the instant when the particle exited the injector to the onset of its luminous combustion in the furnace. The experiments were conducted at two different gas conditions inside the furnace: (a) quiescent gas condition (i.e., no flow or inactive flow) and, (b) an active gas flow condition in both the injector and the furnace. In the former case, the axial gas temperatures in the DTF were found to be similar in the N2 and CO2 background cases and, consequently, small differences were observed in the ignition delay and in the ignition behavior of coal particles in O2/CO2 and O2/N2 atmospheres. These small differences were easily accounted for by disparities in the physical properties of the background gases. Increasing the oxygen mole fraction in either N2 or CO2 reduced the ignition delay mildly. To the contrary, in the latter case, i.e., under the active gas flow condition the axial gas temperatures in the DTF were found to be disparate in the N2 and CO2 background cases. The ignition delay of coal particles was drastically prolonged in the slow-heating O2/CO2 atmospheres, relative to the faster-heating O2/N2 atmospheres, particularly at high-diluent mole fractions. Photographic evidence showed that under active gas flow, which is relevant to practical applications in utility furnaces, ignition of volatiles in envelope flames was suppressed in the presence of CO2. As a result, whereas in the quiescent gas condition, bituminous and sub-bituminous coal particles experienced homogeneous ignition in both O2/N2 and O2/CO2 atmospheres, in the active gas flow condition heterogeneous ignition was evident in O2/CO2. Lignite coal particles often fragmented before ignition; this increased the likelihood of heterogeneous ignition in both O2/N2 and O2/CO2, in either active or inactive gas flows.
Species-specific expression of sialosyl-Lex on polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), in relation to selectin-dependent PMN responses

Sialosyl-Lex (SLex) and its positional isomer sialosyl-Lea are the epitopes recognized by the lectin domain of E- and P-selectins. Expression of SLex in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) plays an important role in recruitment of these cells at sites of inflammation through activation of selectins. We studied expression of SLex in PMN of seven mammalian species in comparison with that in humans. Only PMN of humans (no other species) expressed SLex or other lacto-series epitopes such as Lex or Ley. The observed absence of these epitopes in rat PMN seems inconsistent with recent reports that the lung inflammation process in a rat model is inhibited by perfusion of SLex oligosaccharide (Mulligan MS,et al. (1993a)Nature364:149; (1993b)J Exp Med178:623). Rat selectins may be able to recognize SLex, even though this epitope is absent in rat PMN.
Verification and validation of distributed flight critical systems

This paper describes Honeywell's work on a NASA-sponsored multi-year program for verification and validation (VV (2) establishing a collection of reusable models supporting the validation and verification of a broad array of distributed systems, which enable effective engineering trade-offs to resolve debates about “best” design approaches; (3) improving open standards such as the Architecture Analysis Design Language (AADL); and (4) advancing the state-of-the-art in formal analysis and modeling tool chains.
Temporal scales of landscape change following storms on a human-altered coast, New Jersey, USA

Cycles of storm destruction and rebuilding of human facilities are as much a part of a predictable cycle of shoreline change as destruction and re-establishment of landforms and wildlife habitat by natural processes. An evaluation of the human-induced and natural geomorphic responses to three storms in two vulnerable developed areas in New Jersey reveals that storms can have limited effect in re-establishing a natural coastal resource base of lasting significance. Reconstruction of coastal landscapes by human action may be more rapid than natural restoration, decreasing the likelihood for geomorphic features to develop based on natural processes. Reliance on storm processes to create new natural habitat in locations where there is human investment in buildings and support infrastructure is not realistic unless a proactive stance is taken to include naturally-functioning characteristics of the coastal system in reconstruction efforts. By striving to control construction of shorefront buildings to reduce their potential for damage, managers may be taking attention away from the separate but critical issue of ensuring that post-storm reconstruction effort include the potential for replacing loss of natural geomorphic features and wildlife habitat.