cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 658: Association of tumor mutational burden (TMB) with DNA repair mutations and response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Background: Identifying optimal biomarkers for response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is critical. Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is a potential biomarker of genomic instability and neoantigen binding sites to activated effector T cells. The goal of this study was to examine the association of TMB with overall survival for patients treated with checkpoint blockade and to correlate TMB with mutational status, including DNA repair mutations. Methods: We retrospectively examined TMB using next-generation sequencing (FoundationOne) for 82 patients with NSCLC in our institution. TMB included coding base substitutions and indel alterations, but excluded potentially functional mutations. TMB high versus low was stratified based on 15 mutations per megabase pair. We correlated TMB with DNA repair mutations, mutational status, and smoking history. In addition, survival data were obtained for 35 patients who were treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. Results: TMB was associated with significantly longer overall survival for patients treated with checkpoint blockade (Table 1, p Conclusions: Higher TMB was associated with improved survival for patients treated with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies. In addition, TMB was correlated with DNA repair mutations, number of coding mutations, prior treatment, and smoking. Our results indicate that TMB can be used as a biomarker for response to checkpoint blockade in NSCLC. Citation Format: Andrew A. Davis, Young Kwang Chae, Sarita Agte, Alan Pan, Nisha Mohindra, Victoria Villaflor, Kirtee Raparia, Francis J. Giles. Association of tumor mutational burden (TMB) with DNA repair mutations and response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [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 658. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-658
Submillimeter alignment of more than three contiguous vertebrae in spinal SRS/SBRT with 6-degree couch.

The purpose of this study is to identify regions of spinal column in which more than three contiguous vertebrae can be reliably and quickly aligned within 1 mm using a 6-degree (6D) couch and full body immobilization device. We analyzed 45 cases treated over a 3-month period. Each case was aligned using ExacTrac x-ray positioning system with integrated 6D couch to be within 1° and 1 mm in all six dimensions. Cone-Beam computed tomography (CBCT) with at least 17.5 cm field of view (FOV) in the superior–inferior direction was taken immediately after ExacTrac positioning. It was used to examine the residual error of five to nine contiguous vertebrae visible in the FOV. The residual error of each vertebra was determined by expanding/contracting the vertebrae contour with a margin in millimeter integrals on the planning CT such that the new contours would enclose the corresponding vertebrae contour on CBCT. Submillimeter initial setup accuracy was consistently achieved in 98% (40/41) cases for a span of five or more vertebrae starting from T2 vertebra and extending caudally to S5. The curvature of spinal column along the cervical region and cervicothoracic junction was not easily reproducible between treatment and simulation. Fifty-seven percent (8/14) of cases in this region had residual setup error of more than 1 mm in nearby vertebrae after alignment using 6D couch with image guidance. In conclusion, 6D couch integrated with image guidance is convenient and accurately corrects small rotational shifts. Consequently, more than three contiguous vertebrae can be aligned within 1 mm with immobilization that reliably reproduces the curvature of the thoracic and lumbar spinal column. Ability of accurate setup is becoming less a concern in limiting the use of stereotactic radiosurgery or stereotactic body radiation therapy to treat multilevel spinal target.
Toward Improved Catholyte Materials for Redox Flow Batteries: What Controls Chemical Stability of Persistent Radical Cations?

Catholyte materials are used to store positive charge in energized fluids circulating through redox flow batteries (RFBs) for electric grid and vehicle applications. Energy-rich radical cations (RCs) are being considered for use as catholyte materials, but to be practically relevant, these RCs (that are typically unstable, reactive species) need to have long lifetimes in liquid electrolytes under the ambient conditions. Only few families of such energetic RCs possess stabilities that are suitable for their use in RFBs; currently, the derivatives of 1,4-dialkoxybenzene look the most promising. In this study, we examine factors that define the chemical and electrochemical stabilities for RCs in this family. To this end, we used rigid bis-annulated molecules that by design avoid the two main degradation pathways for such RCs, viz., their deprotonation and radical addition. The decay of the resulting RCs are due to the single remaining reaction: O-dealkylation. We establish the mechanism for this reaction and...
A Novel Kalman Filter Based NLOS Localization Method for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have the focus of research in recent years. Moreover, positioning is very important for wireless sensor networks. However, the positioning accuracy still has large error in the case of non-line-of-sight. In this paper, we propose an improved Kalman filter algorithm to reduce the influence of NLOS error. For the case of NLOS, the measurement residual Ei(k) is updated firstly. This method can effectively reduce the NLOS error, which makes the positioning result more accurate. The simulation results show that the proposed localization algorithm can accurately apply to the normal NLOS location problem.
Punctuated changes in the morphology of an endemic diatom from Lake Titicaca

High levels of biodiversity and endemism in ancient lakes have motivated research on evolutionary processes in these systems. Drill-core records from Lake Titicaca (Bolivia, Peru), an ancient lake in the high-elevation Altiplano, record the history of climate, landscape dynamics, and diatom evolution. That record was used to examine the patterns and drivers of morphological evolution of an endemic species complex of diatoms in the lake, the Cyclostephanos andinus complex. In an attempt to delineate species within the complex based on morphology, no discernible evidence was found for species separation based on an ordination analysis of multiple characters, but multiple populations were detected based on the distribution of valve size in individual samples. Likelihood modeling of phyletic evolution showed that size evolved through punctuated change. Correlation of size trends with environmental variables indicates that C. andinus size responded to regional environmental change driven by global processes that influenced Lake Titicaca by affecting lake level and thermal stratification.
Mental health needs in forcibly displaced populations: critical reflections.

The mental health consequences of armed conflicts on civilian populations have begun to draw more attention, primarily because of the increasing number of civilians in conflict zones and greater se...
Distal Measurements Can Produce False Negative Results: A Prospective Secondary Analysis of a Natural History Study

INTRODUCTION Most prospective studies of quit attempts (QAs) or abstinence measure the ability of variables to predict quitting many weeks or months later. This design ignores more proximal fluctuations in the predictor that may be more relevant. The present secondary analysis compares 6-week (distal) and daily (proximal) changes in cigarettes per day (CPD) as predictors of making a QA. METHODS Daily smokers reported CPD and QAs nightly throughout a 12-week natural history study. We provided no treatment. In the distal analysis, we tested whether reduction in CPD between baseline and 6 weeks predicted making a QA during the following 6 weeks. In the proximal analysis, we identified episodes of one or more days of ≥10% reduction in CPD and tested whether reduction predicted making a QA on the day immediately after the reduction episode. We tested the following predictors: (1) reduction in CPD of ≥10% (yes/no), (2) percent reduction, (3) absolute magnitude of reduction, and (4) CPD at the end of reduction. RESULTS In the distal analysis, reduction did not predict making a QA. In the proximal analysis, any reduction (OR = 3.0), greater percent reduction (OR = 1.6), greater absolute reduction (OR = 1.3), and fewer CPD on the final day of an episode (OR = 11.8) predicted making a QA the next day (all p < .001). DISCUSSION Relying on distal measurements to identify causes of a behavior may produce false-negative results. Increased use of technological advances will make assessments of the more valid proximal measurements more feasible. IMPLICATIONS This secondary analysis tested distal and proximal predictors of making a quit attempt among the same participants and found that distal tests did not, but proximal tests did predict quit attempts. Relying on distal measurements may result in false negatives.
Association Between Sleep Architecture and Measures of Body Composition

THE PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN THE US HAS DOUBLED OVER THE PAST 3 DECADES.1 DURING THIS SAME TIME PERIOD, SELF-REPORTED SLEEP DURATION has decreased,2,3 and it is estimated that only one-quarter of adults sleep ≥ 8 hours per day.3 A number of recent epidemiologic studies have suggested an association between total sleep time and the risk of obesity.4–7 Specifically, body mass index (BMI) has been shown to increase as total sleep duration decreases. However, few studies have assessed the relationship between sleep architecture and BMI. Sleep is regulated by 2 distinct processes: (1) a homeostatic process that depends on the amount of prior sleep and wakefulness; and (2) a circadian process that is driven by an endogenous pacemaker. Of the various stages of sleep, slow wave sleep (SWS) is the deepest stage and has the highest arousal threshold.8 In subjects with previous sleep loss, SWS appears to be preferentially recovered compared with REM sleep which may reflect increased homeostatic drive (i.e., sleep pressure).9 Studies have shown that on recovery nights following a period of sleep loss, there is first rebound and recuperation of SWS, after which recovery of other sleep stages occurs.10–13 Despite this preservation of SWS, its functional significance is unclear. It has been hypothesized that SWS is important for the consolidation of memory.14,15 The role of SWS in metabolism and energy conservation in human beings is unknown. Small clinical studies performed 20-30 years ago evaluated the relationship between REM sleep (but not SWS) and body weight, with inconsistent results.16–19 A recent small experimental study in healthy subjects showing insulin resistance occurring the morning after selective SWS sleep deprivation has provided intriguing data implicating SWS as a mediator of glucose homeostasis.20 We recently reported from the Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men study (MrOS Sleep Study) that decreased total sleep time (TST) assessed by actigraphy was related to increased odds of obesity.21 This study examines whether, in the same large cohort of community-dwelling older men, SWS specifically, rather than just TST, is associated with BMI and other measures of body composition, independent of confounding factors (including age, race, physical activity, sleep disordered breathing, and sleep efficiency). A secondary aim of this study was to determine whether REM sleep (as a percentage of TST) is associated with measures of body composition, independent of other confounding factors.
IR Characterization of Tip-Functionalized Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Vibrational frequencies of functionalized groups (−COOH, −CONH2, and −COOCH3) of tip-modified single-wall carbon nanotubes are estimated using density functional theory. Both metallic (5,5) and sem...
Dark Dunes of Mars: An Orbit-To-Ground Multidisciplinary Perspective of Aeolian Science

Abstract The action of wind in the evolution of landscape for Mars is a dynamic mechanism that has longevity beyond many other recognized processes, and it is a mechanism that spans all geological and climatic eras. This chapter discusses the current understanding of dunefield geography, dune and ripple migration, variations in mineralogy between polar and equatorial dunefields, and the working of an extraterrestrial aeolian system, the Bagnold dunefield. Highlights from the in situ investigations by the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity will discuss the granulometry, geomorphology, mineralogy, geochemistry, activity, and history that the rover has discovered in the study of the Bagnold dunes, alongside the relationships the dunefield has with the regional geology, and to wind as a geological process.
Implications of Pediatric Palliative Consultation for Intensive Care Unit Stay.

Abstract Background: The impact of specialty pediatric palliative care (PPC) on intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay for children is unclear. Objective: To estimate the impact of PPC consultati...
Preventing the Abuse of Service Animal Regulations

Federal and state rules governing service animals, ostensibly for the protection of people with disabilities, are confusing and uncoordinated. At least five different sets of federal laws or administrative rules apply to the use of service, emotional support, or assistance animals. State laws vary greatly and may be at odds with the federal laws. The net effect of this confusion is to create a legal climate in which abuse of the rules is easy, enforcement lax, and backlash inevitable. As a result, rather than protecting people with disabilities, the rules have created an environment where service animal fraud is rampant and the backlash has created more discrimination against people with disabilities. This article reviews the relevant law and its problems. Part I outlines existing federal law; Part II, state law. Part III then explores the extent to which federal law may preempt inconsistent state rules. Part IV, finally, suggests possible solutions to the problem of service animal fraud and its detrimental impact on people with disabilities.
Identification of DOT1L inhibitors by structure-based virtual screening adapted from a nucleoside-focused library.

Abstract Disruptor of Telomeric Silencing 1-Like (DOT1L), the sole histone H3 lysine 79 (H3K79) methyltransferase, is required for leukemogenic transformation in a subset of leukemias bearing chromosomal translocations of the Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL) gene, as well as other cancers. Thus, DOT1L is an attractive therapeutic target and discovery of small molecule inhibitors remain of high interest. Herein, we are presenting screening results for a unique focused library of 1,200 nucleoside analogs originally produced under the aegis of the NIH Pilot Scale Library Program. The complete nucleoside set was screened virtually against DOT1L, resulting in 210 putative hits. In vitro screening of the virtual hits resulted in validation of 11 compounds as DOT1L inhibitors clustered into two distinct chemical classes, adenosine-based inhibitors and a new chemotype that lacks adenosine. Based on the developed DOT1L ligand binding model, a structure-based design strategy was applied and a second-generation non-nucleoside DOT1L inhibitors was developed. Newly synthesized compound 25 was the most potent DOT1L inhibitor in the new series with an IC50 of 1.0 μM, showing 40-fold improvement in comparison with hit 9 and exhibiting reasonable on target effects in a DOT1L dependent murine cell line. These compounds represent novel chemical probes with unique non-nucleoside scaffold that bind and compete with the SAM binding site of DOT1L, thus providing foundation for further medicinal chemistry efforts and developing more potent compounds.
Magnetocentrifugal launching of jets from disks around Kerr black holes

Strong magnetic fields modify particle motion in the curved space-time of spinning black holes and change the stability conditions of circular orbits. We study conditions for magnetocentrifugal jet launching from accretion disks around black holes, whereby large scale black hole lines anchored in the disk may fling tenuous coronal gas outward. For a Schwarzschild black hole, magnetocentrifugal launching requires that the poloidal component of magnetic fields makes an angle less than $60^\circ$ to the outward direction at the disk surface, similar to the Newtonian case. For prograde rotating disks around Kerr black holes, this angle increases and becomes $90^\circ$ for footpoints anchored to the disk near the horizon of a critically spinning $a=M$ black hole. Thus, a disk around a critically spinning black hole may centrifugally launch a jet even along the rotation axis.
Distributed inverse optimal control

Abstract This paper develops a distributed approach for inverse optimal control (IOC) in multi-agent systems. Here each agent can only communicate with certain nearby neighbors and only accesses segments of system’s trajectory, which is not sufficient for the agent to solve the IOC problem alone. By introducing the concept of the data effectiveness and bridging the connection between each segment and its contribution to solving IOC, we formulate the IOC problem as a problem of achieving least-square solutions via a distributed algorithm. Simulations are provided to validate the proposed distributed IOC approach.
The compounded burden of being a black and disabled student during the age of COVID-19

In this piece, I share my thoughts about how the field of public health can better understand the impact of intersectionality in disability, higher education and health care. Intersectionality can ...
Recurrence rates after surgical management of labial adhesions.

INTRODUCTION Labial adhesions (LA) involves fusion of the labia minora in the midline. LA can range from involving just a small portion of the labia minora or the entire length, covering the urethra and vaginal opening. Treatment for labial adhesions includes the use of topical creams, manual lysis or surgical separation. The recurrence rate has been reported as 55%, 33% and 0% respectively. Only one study with a cohort of 9 patients examines recurrence rates after surgical release (0%). OBJECTIVE To verify the previous findings that surgical repair has low recurrence rate. We hypothesize the recurrence rate of LA after surgical repair to be lower than more conservative methods but that the recurrence rate is not 0%. STUDY DESIGN A retrospective review was performed of consecutive cases of LA that were treated surgically from August 2018 to October 2020. The surgical technique used involved opening the LA bluntly then oversewing each labia with fine absorbable suture. All patients were scheduled for clinic or telephone follow up 3 months postoperatively. Patient demographics, indication for procedure, history of prior treatment, operative time, complications, recurrence and length of follow up were recorded and are described using non-parametric methods. RESULTS Thirty-two female patients underwent surgical treatment of LA using the above-described technique. Median age at surgery was 3.7 y (IQR 2.7-5.3). Most patients (78.1%) had failed prior initial treatment, most commonly topical estrogen creams. Median follow up was 4.3 mos with 10 patients being lost to follow up. Only 2 patients experienced a recurrence at a median of 3.5 months. CONCLUSIONS This series verifies prior findings that, in the short-term, surgical repair has a lower recurrence rate than topical treatment or manual lysis. However, the recurrence rate is 9%, higher than previously reported. Further studies into longer-term follow up are underway.
Ultrafast sum-frequency generation for studies of coupled gas-surface interactions

The first detection of surface-bound free rotors with exceptionally long rotational and vibrational coherence lifetimes was detected for both CO and CH4 adsorption to Au at near-ambient pressures. Hybrid femtosecond/picosecond sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy was used to detect rovibrational coherence recurrences with coherence lifetimes lasting several 10’s of picoseconds. The observations challenge our understanding of weak adsorption of molecules to metal surfaces.
Ideals and Strong Axioms of Determinacy.

We show that the following two theories are equiconsistent: (T) ZFC, CH and "There is a dense ideal on the first uncountable cardinal such that if j is the generic embedding associated with it then its restriction on ordinals is independent of the generic object is". (S) ZF, ADR and "Theta is a regular cardinal." The main result of this paper is that T implies that the minimal model of S exists. Woodin, in unpublished work, showed that the consistency of S implies the consistency of T. We will also give a proof of this result, which, together with our main theorem, establishes the equiconsistency of T and S. Our main result partially resolves a well-known conjecture of Woodin, and completely solves one of the main Core Model Induction problems dating back to 90s.
The politics of extremism in South Asia

South Asia is home to a range of extremist groups from the jihadists of Pakistan to the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. In the popular mind, extremism and terrorism are invariably linked to ethnic and religious factors. Yet the dominant history of South Asia is notable for tolerance and co-existence, despite highly plural societies. Deepa Ollapally examines extremist groups in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Northeast India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka to offer a fresh perspective on the causes of extremism. What accounts for its rise in societies not historically predisposed to extremism? What determines the winners and losers in the identity struggles in South Asia? What tips the balance between more moderate versus extremist outcomes? The book argues that politics, inter-state and international relations often play a more important role in the rise of extremism in South Asia than religious identity, poverty, and state repression.
Flow Cytometric Measurement of Intracellular pH: A Dosimetric Approach to Metabolic Heterogeneity

Cell heterogeneity may be expressed in many ways such as variability in morphology, genetics, growth rate, cell cycle distribution, membrane antigen expression, clonogeni-city, metabolic and biochemical activity, and therapeutic sensitivity. Virtually all forms of functional heterogeneity must ultimately be expressed as some difference in biochemical, metabolic or physiological patterns of activity. Not surprisingly, this may be clinically significant since growth rate, for example, can influence drug sensitivity [1]. However, quantifying metaboUc heterogeneity in tumour cells, and assessing its significance in a dosimetric sense, requires the capability either to measure the relevant biochemical pathways in each cell or to find a suitable measurement from which differences may be inferred. Since the precise pattern of metabolic activity that determines sensitivity or resistance to cytotoxic therapy is largely unknown, and since biochemical techniques preclude measurements on individual cells, a flow cytometric approach is indicated.
Leveraging oceanographic resources in teacher and student science programs

In the past decade, it has become apparent that the United States depends upon a workforce with strong science and mathematical skills, as well as the ability to apply these skills to emerging technologies. Because deficiencies exist in these areas, reform in math and science education in the United States has gained increased focus and led to the establishment of the National Education Goals (United States Code Title 1. Section 102. National Education Goals). Goal No. 5 states, "United States students will be the first in the world in mathematics and science achievement." With this goal in mind, the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) established a new educational initiative called OCEANS ALIVE (Oceanographic Career Enhancement And Naval Science: Adventurous Learning in Variable Environments). The mission of OCEANS ALIVE is to inform and interest middle and high school students and teachers in operational naval oceanography. During a three-day voyage aboard a state-of-the-art oceanographic survey ship, students learn practical applications of math and science principles and also become aware of career opportunities in the multidisciplined field of oceanography. OCEANS ALIVE provides a combination of lectures and hands-on learning experiences aboard ship to show students that math and science skills are needed to think creatively, make decisions, and solve problems.
Making the Web More Useful as a Source for Linguistic Corpora

Both as a corpus and as a source of texts for corpora the Web offers significant benefits in its virtually comprehensive coverage of major languages, content domains and written text types, yet its usefulness is limited by the generally unknown origin and reliability of online texts and by the sheer amount of “noise” on the Web. This paper describes and evaluates linguistic methods and computing tools to identify representative documents efficiently. To test these methods, a pilot corpus of 11,201 online documents in English was compiled. “Noise filtering” techniques based on n-grams helped eliminate both virtually identical and highly repetitive documents. Individual review of the remaining unique texts revealed that Web pages under 5 KB or over 200 KB tend to have a lower “signal to noise” ratio and therefore can be excluded a priori to reduce unproductive downloads. This paper also compares a selection of these web texts (4,949 documents totaling 5.25 million tokens) with the written texts from the British National Corpus (BNC) to assess their similarity. Generally, both corpora are quite similar, but important differences are outlined. With judicious selection Web pages provide representative language samples, often prove more useful than off-the-shelf corpora for special information needs, and complement and verify data from traditional corpora.
Joint labeling of multiple regions of interest (ROIS) by enhanced auto context models

Accurate segmentation of a set of regions of interest (ROIs) in the brain images is a key step in many neuroscience studies. Due to the complexity of image patterns, many learning-based segmentation methods have been proposed, including auto context model (ACM) that can capture highlevel contextual information for guiding segmentation. However, since current ACM can only handle one ROI at a time, neighboring ROIs have to be labeled separately with different ACMs that are trained independently without communicating each other. To address this, we enhance the current single-ROI learning ACM to multi-ROI learning ACM for joint labeling of multiple neighboring ROIs (called eACM). First, we extend current independently-trained single-ROI ACMs to a set of jointly-trained cross-ROI ACMs, by simultaneous training of ACMs for all spatially-connected ROIs to let them to share their respective intermediate outputs for coordinated labeling of each image point. Then, the context features in each ACM can capture the cross-ROI dependence information from the outputs of other ACMs that are designed for neighboring ROIs. Second, we upgrade the output labeling map of each ACM with the multi-scale representation, thus both local and global context information can be effectively used to increase the robustness in characterizing geometric relationship among neighboring ROIs. Third, we integrate ACM into a multi-atlases segmentation paradigm, for encompassing high variations among subjects. Experiments on LONI LPBA40 dataset show much better performance by our eACM, compared to the conventional ACM.
Mobile Social Networks

Mobile social networks are services accessed through mobile devices that enable users to connect with others and share information, images, content, and news. Early mobile social networks began in the late 1990s and facilitate social interaction in public spaces. Research on mobile social networks draws primarily on media sociology, critical theory of media, and design studies. Key tensions addressed in mobile social network research surround sociality, sense of place, and privacy. Topical areas of research on mobile social networks focus on social identity and collective action, pervasive computing, and gaming. Future areas for development and exploration include the combining of interpersonal communication and media theories, commercialization of data and networks, historical comparisons, and privacy. Keywords: commercialization; mobile communication; mobile gaming; pervasive computing; privacy; social identity; urban computing
Reactivity of HNO-Induced Modifications and Its Relevance to Phospholamban Function

HNO, a potential heart failure therapeutic, is known to post-translationally modify cysteine residues. Among reactive nitrogen oxide species, the modification of cysteine residues to sulfinamides [RS(O)NH2] is unique to HNO. Because this modification can alter protein structure and function, we have examined the reactivity of sulfinamides in several systems, including small organic molecules, peptides, and a protein. At physiological pH and temperature, relevant reactions of sulfinamides involve reduction to free thiols in the presence of excess thiol and hydrolysis to form sulfinic acids [RS(O)OH]. In addition to utilizing ESI-MS and other spectroscopic methods to study sulfinamide reduction, we have applied 15N-edited 1H-NMR techniques to sulfinamide detection and used this method to explore sulfinamide hydrolysis. We have also investigated the effect of local environment on the reactivity of HNO with C-terminal cysteines. Our findings indicate that the nature of HNO-derived modifications of C-terminal ...
Ebola Virus Disease: Experience and Decision Making for the First Patients outside of Africa

David Stephens and colleagues describe their experience of treating patients with Ebola virus disease at Emory University in the United States.
Temperature dependence of infrared and Raman intensities

Abstract Explicit expressions are developed for the temperature dependence of infrared and Raman intensities in both the anharmonic and the harmonic oscillator approximations. In the harmonic approximation for gases, the infrared intensities of degenerate vibrations, as well as those of nondegenerate vibrations, are found to be independent of the temperature. In the same approximation, both the Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman intensities exhibit distinct temperature dependences which do not vary with normal mode degeneracy. The temperature dependence of vibrational intensities in condensed states is discussed, and the applicability of certain equations to the evaluation of the internal field relevant to infrared and Raman spectra is examined.
Diasporas, migration, and trade: the Indian diaspora in North America

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the migration of the Indian diaspora to Canada and the USA and its role in fostering trade and investment between them using its transnational social networks.Design/methodology/approach – This study was based on interviews with 25 Indian immigrants, 13 in Canada and 12 in the USA.Findings – The social networks that immigrants had in both their country of residence (COR) and country of origin (COO) act as conduits of trade and investment between the two. The Indian diaspora further facilitates economic engagement between the COO and COR by running cross‐border businesses, introducing Indian products and brands in the COR, introducing the Indian culture and helping non‐Indians to invest in India. Within the COO, the diaspora's social networks often helped Indians in India connect with markets, suppliers and potential business partners in the COR.Research limitations/implications – The sample size was 25 people and was restricted to managers, executives and en...
MR prediction of benign and malignant vertebral compression fractures.

We reviewed spinal MR images of 58 patients with 98 compressed vertebrae. Benign (47 vertebrae) or malignant (51 vertebrae) etiology was established by biopsy or radiologic follow-up. Compressed vertebrae were analyzed for presence and characteristics of signal abnormality, altered vertebral contour, Schmorl's nodes, pedicular involvement, and contrast uptake. Statistical analysis was performed. Diffuse and homogeneous decrease in signal intensity on T1-weighted images, convex vertebral contour, involvement of the pedicles, and a lumbar location were more frequently observed in malignant fractures (P < .01). A thoracic location, lack of signal change, or a band-like abnormality and absence of pedicular involvement or contour abnormality characterized benign fractures (P < .01). Schmorl's nodes and enhancement did not help establish a diagnosis. When a constellation of MR criteria are applied, the accuracy of the diagnosis of malignant and benign vertebral compression fractures may reach 94%.
Change of substrate specificity of rat liver microsomal fatty acyl-CoA synthetase activity by triton X-100

The effect of Triton X-100 on the activities and apparent molecular size of fatty acyl-CoA synthetase, solubilized and partially purified from rat liver microsomes, was studied. In the presence of Triton X-100, the activity for lignoceroyl-CoA synthesis was decreased, but activity was restored when the detergent was removed. The appearance and disappearance of lignoceroyl-CoA synthesis appeared related to the size, of the aggregated from of the enzyme. On the other hand, activity for palmitoyl-CoA synthesis was not significantly affected by the detergent. Because available evidence suggests that both fatty acids are converted to CoA esters by the same enzyme, it seems likely that the substrate specificity of the enzyme is influenced by changes in the aggregation state branes may determine the substrate specificity of acyl-CoA synthetase.
Understanding charts and graphs

Abstract : Many charts and graphs do not convey information effectively. This paper develops a way of analyzing the information in charts and graphs that reveals the design flaws in the display. The analytic scheme requires isolating four types of constituents in a display, and specifying their structure and interrelations at a syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic level of analysis. As the description is constructed, one checks for violations of acceptability principles, which are derived from facts about human visual information processing and from an analysis of the nature of symbols. Violations of these principles reveal the source of potential difficulties in using a display.
Numerical simulation of Reversed-Field Pinch dynamics

Abstract The Reversed-Field Pinch (RFP) is presented as a driven nonlinear dynamical system that evolves on time scales long compared with the fastest normal modes of the system. Numerical methods for the simulation of these processes, and examples of their application to experimentally observable phenomena, are presented.
Network approximation for transport properties of high contrast materials

We show that the effective complex impedance of materials with conductivity and dielectric permittivity that have high contrast can be calculated approximately by solving a suitable resistor-capacitor network. We use variational principles extensively for the analysis and we assess the accuracy of the network approximation by numerical computations.
Observations of Hbeta 4861 A proton auroral emissions at mid-latitude

An observational program was designed to enhance the knowledge of the behavior of the proton auroral oval at mid-latitudes as a function of local time and global auroral activity for the purpose of determining the proton energy input rates into the atmosphere. Ground-based observations of H(beta ) 4861 angstrom and N2+ 4709 angstrom auroral emissions were made from Ottawa, Canada (45.2 degree(s) North, 283.7 degree(s) East) during most new moon periods from October 1977 to May 1981. Data were collected with a filter wheel photometer operated in the meridian scanning mode at a rate of about two scans per minute. Corrections for instrumental sensitivity and for atmospheric extinction and viewing angle were applied to the raw data. A subset of the final results was used in the current analysis to investigate the relationship between the brightness of the most intense mid-latitude proton aurora and auroral magnetic activity.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Fatty Acid Composition of Muscle, Liver, and Depot Fat of Wild and Cultured Common Snapping Turtles Chelydra serpentina

Abstract This study was conducted to compare the fatty acid composition of muscle, liver, and depot fat of common snapping turtles Chelydra serpentina from the wild with those of captive common snapping turtles fed a diet of known fatty acid composition. Total lipid from each tissue was separated by thin-layer chromotography, methylated, and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The fatty acid composition of total lipid, polar lipid, and nonpolar lipid in muscle and depot fat of wild and captive turtles exhibited greater variability than liver polar lipid. Cultured turtles contained significantly lower levels of linolenic and arachidonic acids in liver polar lipid than wild turtles. Total n-9 fatty acids were significantly higher in whole-lipid and nonpolar fractions of muscle, liver, and depot fat of cultured turtles indicating de novo synthesis. Total polyunsaturated fatty acids were significantly lower in total lipid of muscle tissue from cultured turtles. Total polyunsaturated fatty acids were significantly lower in both depot fat and liver nonpolar lipid of cultured turtles, but did not differ (P > 0.05) in the polar lipid fractions of cultured and wild turtles.
Multidimensional models for the evaluation of political candidates

Abstract This study deals with the question of what models best approximate how individuals integrate and combine information to evaluate political candidates. One hundred and six students were asked to evaluate 20 hypothetical candidates with varying positions on 3 issues. In addition, subjects were asked to rate: (a) their own position on each issue; (b) the importance of each issue; and (c) their willingness to take action in support of their position. Using a theoretical framework developed by Commbs, discrepancies between the subject's and candidate's position on the three issues were used as predictors of their evaluations. To determine how this information would be combined to reach an evaluation, four models were compared: (1) linear compensatory; (2) subjectively weighted linear compensatory; (3) conjunctive; and (4) negative disjunctive. The results showed that most of the subjects were best fitted by a conjunctive (nonlinear) model while the linear model provided the second best fit. Furthermore, subjects with extreme positions were best approximated by the conjunctive model while those who were high on both extremity of position and willingness to act were best fitted by nonlinear strategies (conjunctive or disjunctive). Implications of the results for the structure of attitudes and the possible combination of attitude components are discussed.
NHE8 plays important roles in gastric mucosal protection

Sodium/hydrogen exchanger (NHE) 8 is an apically expressed membrane protein in the intestinal epithelial cells. It plays important roles in sodium absorption and bicarbonate secretion in the intest...
Sequestosome 1/p62, a Scaffolding Protein, Is a Newly Identified Partner of IRS-1 Protein

Defects in the insulin-signaling pathway may lead to the development of skeletal muscle insulin resistance, which is one of the earliest abnormalities detected in individuals with the metabolic syndrome and predisposes them to develop type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have shown that deletion of the mouse sequestosome 1/p62 gene results in mature-onset obesity that progresses to insulin and leptin resistance and, ultimately, type 2 diabetes. Sequestosome 1/p62 is involved in receptor-mediated signal transduction and functions as an intracellular signal modulator or adaptor protein. Insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) plays a central role in transducing the insulin signal via phosphorylation, protein-protein interactions, and protein modifications. Mapping studies demonstrated that the SH2 domain at the amino terminus of sequestosome 1/p62 interacts with IRS-1 upon insulin stimulation. Further, IRS-1 interacts with p62 through its YMXM motifs at Tyr-608, Tyr-628, and/or Tyr-658 in a manner similar to its interaction with p85 of phosphoinositol 3-kinase. Overexpression of p62 increased phosphorylation of Akt, GLUT4 translocation, and glucose uptake, providing evidence that p62 participates in the insulin-signaling pathway through its interactions with IRS-1.
Comparison of ventricular and lumbar cerebrospinal fluid T cells in non-inflammatory neurological disorder (NIND) patients

The aim of the present study was to define the cellular composition of ventricular, as compared with lumbar, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in patients with non-inflammatory neurological disorders (NIND). We addressed this issue by determining the cellular composition of lumbar CSF from patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) who were undergoing lumbar CSF drainage during evaluation for shunting procedures, and evaluating ventricular CSF from a subset of these who underwent subsequent placement of ventriculoperitoneal shunts. We determined the cellular composition of lumbar CSF from 18 patients with NPH, and found that the leukocyte differentials, and relative proportions of CD4+ and CD8+ central memory (TCM), effector memory (TEM) and naive cell (TNaive) populations, were equivalent to those found previously in studies of CSF from patients with NIND. We further evaluated cells in the ventricular CSF of five patients who had previously undergone lumbar drainage. Leukocyte differential counts, as well as CD4+ and CD8+ TCM, TEM, and TNaive proportions, were equivalent in matched ventricular and lumbar CSF samples. These observations support the hypothesis that leukocytes enter the CSF in a selective fashion, at its site of formation in the choroid plexus. The results implicate CSF T cells in the immune surveillance of the central nervous system.
Photoinduced transformation of wild-type and D96N-mutant 4-keto-bacteriorhodopsin gelatin films

Abstract Spectral and kinelic transformation studies of gelatin films based on 4-keto wild-type bacteriorhodopsin (BR) and 4-keto D96N mutant BR were carried out using absorbance spectroscopy. Spectral heterogeneity in the 400 nm range, assumed to be associated with the M-intermediate state, previously characterized for films of 4-keto wild-type BR, was observed in the 4-keto D96N mutant BR. This heterogeneity is associated to a greater extent with chromophore replacement than with amino acid replacement. The time constants of the M-decay are larger for all kinetic components for 4-keto D96N mutant in the absence of sodium azide. In addition, the contribution of the most long-lived component of the M-state decay is almost twice as large as for the film without sodium azide as it is for a film with sodium azide. This sodium azide effect on the M-state decay kinetics is opposite to that observed in the 4-keto wild-type BR. The comparison of the kinetics and spectral transformations of both pigments suggests that films containing 4-keto D96N mutant hold greater promise as media for information storage and retrieval.
Structured-Chromosome Evolutionary Algorithms for Variable-Size Autonomous Interplanetary Trajectory Planning Optimization

In interplanetary trajectory optimization, events such as planetary gravitational-assist maneuvers (swingbys) and deep-space maneuvers can be added/removed from the trajectory plan to reduce the cost or the flight time. This renders the number of design variables in the optimization problem variable. Global optimization methods that optimize this type of multimodal objective function can only handle problems with a fixed number of design variables. This paper presents the structured-chromosome evolutionary algorithm framework that is developed to handle variable-size design space optimization problems. In this framework, a solution (chromosome) is represented by a hierarchical data structure where the genes in the chromosome are classified as dependent and nondependent genes. This structure provides the capability to apply genetic operations between solutions of different lengths, and thus to automatically determine the number of swingbys, the planets to swingby, launch and arrival dates, and the number o...
Comparison of video laryngoscopy to direct laryngoscopy for intubation of patients with difficult airway characteristics in the emergency department

The objective of the study is to compare the efficacy of video laryngoscopy (VL) to direct laryngoscopy (DL) on the first pass intubation success of patients with difficult airway characteristics (DACs) in the emergency department (ED). Over a 6-year period, between July 1 2007 and June 30 2013, all intubations performed in an academic ED were recorded in a continuous quality improvement (CQI) database by the operators. The CQI form included information such as patient demographics, operator level of training, device(s) used, number of attempts and outcome of each attempt. In addition, operators performed a difficult airway assessment and noted the presence or absence of the following difficult airway characteristics (DACs): airway edema, cervical immobility, facial/neck trauma, large tongue, obesity, short neck, small mandible, and blood or vomit in the airway. Patients <18 years of age and those not intubated by an emergency physician (EP) were excluded from the analysis. Multivariate regression models were developed to determine the effect of device type (VL or DL) on first pass intubation success as the number of DACs increased. A total of 2,423 intubations were included in this study. First pass success by the number of DACs was as follows in the VL and DL groups, respectively: no DACs [90.8 % (95 % CI 87.5–93.4) vs. 82.0 % (95 % CI 78.0–85.5)]; one DAC [85.1 % (95 % CI 81.2–88.5 %) vs. 69.4 % (95 % CI 63.9–74.5 %)]; two DACs [(80.5 % (95 % CI 74.7–85.6 %) vs. 65.8 % (95 % CI 57.6–73.3 %)]; three or more DACs [68.9 % (95 % CI 63.8–73.7 %) vs. 54.1 % (95 % CI 46.3–61.8 %)]. After adjusting for potential confounders, VL was associated with higher odds of first pass success for patients with no DACs (aOR 2.0, 95 % CI 1.2–3.3), one DAC (aOR 3.2, 95 % CI 1.9–5.6), two DACs (aOR 2.3, 95 % CI 1.1–4.9), and three or more DACs (aOR 2.9, 95 % CI 1.5–5.5). In patients with DACs, VL was associated with a higher first pass success than DL. VL is recommended as the primary intubating device for patients with predicted difficult airways in the ED.
The asymmetric contact process on a finite set

The contact process onZ has one phase transition; let λ c be the critical value at which the transition occurs. Let σ N be the extinction time of the contact process on {0,...,N}. Durrett and Liu (1988), Durrett and Schonmann (1988), and Durrett, Schonmann, and Tanaka (1989) have respectively proved that the subcritical, supercritical, and critical phases can be characterized using a large finite system (instead ofZ) in the following way. There are constants γ1(λ) and γ2(λ) such that if λ λ c , lim N→⫗ log σ N /N = γ2(λ); if λ=λ c , lim N→⫗ σ N /N=∞ and lim N→⫗ σ N /N 4=0 in probability. In this paper we consider the asymmetric contact process onZ when it has two distinct critical values λ c1 λ c2. We show that for λ∈[λ c1<λ c2), lim N→⫗ σ N /N=-1/α, (where α i is an edge speed) and for λ=λ c2, lim N→⫗ logσ N /logN=2 in probability.