cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enteral Feeding in a Community Hospital: Analysis of Physician Management Versus Dietitian Management

Text: A nutrition care plan for a patient is of little value unless it is efficiently implemented. As the expert in medical nutrition therapy, a Registered Dietitian has more nutrition care education than any other health care professional. While qualified to write medical nutrition therapy recommendations, the conversion of a Registered Dietitian’s recommendations to nutrition orders has been the missing link in the patient care process. Traditionally, the autonomy of dietitians in providing nutrition care in the clinical setting has been limited by the need for a physician’s order in nutrition care implementation. Establishing nutrition order writing privileges for Registered Dietitians would, in turn, allow the dietitian to assume a leadership role in nutrition care and likely result in efficient implementation of nutrition care plans. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the length of time to achieve goal rate of enteral feeding for inpatients of a community hospital when regulated by a dietitian versus a physician. Findings indicated management of enteral feedings by the dietitians at Ingalls Memorial Hospital resulted in fewer days to reach goal rate, on average, than those managed by the physician. The results showed that the mean number of days to reach enteral feeding goal rate under dietitian management was 2.2 while the average number of days to reach goal rate under physician management was 3.6.
Model Based Test Generation for Microprocessor Architecture Validation

Functional validation of microprocessors is growing in complexity in current and future microprocessors. Traditionally, the different components (or validation collaterals) used in simulation based validation, like simulators and test generators, to validate the system, architecture, microcode, and RTL abstractions of the processor, were manually derived from the specification document. The incomplete informal specification document along with manual translation introduces inconsistency and bugs in the validation collaterals, resulting in increased cost and time to validate the processor. We envision a novel metamodeling based microprocessor modeling and validation environment (MMV) to address this problem. MMV provides a language independent modeling environment to describe the processor at various abstraction levels, a refinement flow to consistently move from one abstraction to the next lower abstraction and code generators to automatically generate the validation collaterals from the models. As a first step towards our vision, in this paper, we describe architectural modeling in MMV and automatic generation of random and coverage directed test suites from the models. We demonstrate the practicality of our approach for validating real world instruction set architectures (ISA) by modeling and generating test cases for eight complex instructions from Intel1 reg virtualization technology
Massive-Training Artificial Neural Network Coupled With Laplacian-Eigenfunction-Based Dimensionality Reduction for Computer-Aided Detection of Polyps in CT Colonography

A major challenge in the current computer-aided detection (CAD) of polyps in CT colonography (CTC) is to reduce the number of false-positive (FP) detections while maintaining a high sensitivity level. A pattern-recognition technique based on the use of an artificial neural network (ANN) as a filter, which is called a massive-training ANN (MTANN), has been developed recently for this purpose. The MTANN is trained with a massive number of subvolumes extracted from input volumes together with the teaching volumes containing the distribution for the “likelihood of being a polyp;” hence the term “massive training.” Because of the large number of subvolumes and the high dimensionality of voxels in each input subvolume, the training of an MTANN is time-consuming. In order to solve this time issue and make an MTANN work more efficiently, we propose here a dimension reduction method for an MTANN by using Laplacian eigenfunctions (LAPs), denoted as LAP-MTANN. Instead of input voxels, the LAP-MTANN uses the dependence structures of input voxels to compute the selected LAPs of the input voxels from each input subvolume and thus reduces the dimensions of the input vector to the MTANN. Our database consisted of 246 CTC datasets obtained from 123 patients, each of whom was scanned in both supine and prone positions. Seventeen patients had 29 polyps, 15 of which were 5-9 mm and 14 were 10-25 mm in size. We divided our database into a training set and a test set. The training set included 10 polyps in 10 patients and 20 negative patients. The test set had 93 patients including 19 polyps in seven patients and 86 negative patients. To investigate the basic properties of a LAP-MTANN, we trained the LAP-MTANN with actual polyps and a single source of FPs, which were rectal tubes. We applied the trained LAP-MTANN to simulated polyps and rectal tubes. The results showed that the performance of LAP-MTANNs with 20 LAPs was advantageous over that of the original MTANN with 171 inputs. To test the feasibility of the LAP-MTANN, we compared the LAP-MTANN with the original MTANN in the distinction between actual polyps and various types of FPs. The original MTANN yielded a 95% (18/19) by-polyp sensitivity at an FP rate of 3.6 (338/93) per patient, whereas the LAP-MTANN achieved a comparable performance, i.e., an FP rate of 3.9 (367/93) per patient at the same sensitivity level. With the use of the dimension reduction architecture, the time required for training was reduced from 38 h to 4 h. The classification performance in terms of the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve of the LAP-MTANN (0.84) was slightly higher than that of the original MTANN (0.82) with no statistically significant difference (p-value= 0.48).
Use of Optical Tweezers to Fabricate Tunable Filters in Photonic Crystal Fibers

Tunable optical filters are fabricated in hollow core photonic crystal fibers by using optical tweezer beams directed transversely to the fiber to load and space silica microspheres in the fluid filled hollow core.
Applying a "somatic alphabet" approach to inferring orientation, motion, and direction in clusters of force sensing resistors

A fully "sensitive skin" can be thought of as the ultimate goal for the application of somatic sensors. This paper describes further work in the creation of a "somatic alphabet" for humanoid robotics. Populations of individual force sensing resistors are combined into receptive fields. This paper details the algorithms used to infer direction of motion of the centroid of a stimulus as well as orientation.
Biological correlates of modernization in a Guatemalan highland municipio

SummaryThe demographic correlates of modernization were studied in a municipio of the Guatemalan highlands using, as indicators of modernization, the introduction of chemical fertilizers and of a religious revitalization movement, Accion Catolica. Records, taken from interviews, of 340 women divided into declines (decennial groups) within ten-year birth cohorts extending from before 1925 to 1954, were checked for representativeness against the birth registries for the entire municipio for the years 1965–69.A steady decrease in the age of marriage of successive cohorts, based on probits, from 17·4 to 14·2 years, occurred, and the age at first birth declined from 20·9 to 15·9 years. There has also been a steady increase in the mean number of livebirths so that, e.g., the 10–19 year decline of the youngest cohort has more than doubled the number of live births of the same decline among the oldest cohort. Pre-school mortality of children has fallen drastically which, combined with increased fertility, has res...
Synthesis of a novel benzyl-octahydropyrazino[1,2-a]pyrimidin-6-one derivative as a convenient internal bicyclic peptidomimetic

A substituted hydropyrazino[1,2-a]pyrimidin-6-one derivative was synthesized stereoselectively via the intramolecular N-acyliminium ion cyclization between an amide nitrogen and an Nα-acetal derived from Cbz-protected aminopropyl-phenylalaninamide in very good yields. The formation of a single diastereomer is due to the low energy chairlike conformation of its bicyclic structure. This methodology provides a convenient tool to build internal bicyclic peptidomimetics.
Early Diffusion Weighted MRI as a Negative Predictor for Disabling Stroke After ABCD2 Score Risk Categorization in Transient Ischemic Attack Patients

Background and Purpose— The prognostic value early diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWMRI) adds in the setting of transient ischemic attack (TIA), after risk stratification by a clinical score, is unclear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate, after ABCD2 score risk categorization in admitted TIA patients, whether negative DWMRI performed within 24 hours of symptom onset improves on the identification of patients at low risk for experiencing a disabling stroke within 90 days. Methods— At 15 North Carolina hospitals, we enrolled a prospective nonconsecutive sample of admitted TIA patients. We excluded patients not undergoing a DWMRI within 24 hours of admission and patients for whom a dichotomized (≤ or >3) ABCD2 score could not be calculated. We conducted a medical record review to determine disabling ischemic stroke outcomes within 90 days. Results— Over 35 months, 944 TIA patients met inclusion criteria, of whom 4% (n=41) had a disabling ischemic stroke within 90 days. In analyses stra...
Step-families and Childbearing Desires in Europe

Increases in union stability and non-union childbearing during the latter half of the 20th century produced substantial increases in the prevalence of step-families. Research on step-family fertility in several European countries and the United States show that, net of a couple’s combined number of children (hers, his and theirs), birth risks are elevated when the child is the couple’s first or second. These patterns have been interpreted in terms of unique values of first and second shared children that overcome costs of rearing larger numbers of children in stepfamilies. Such inferences require that all births are wanted or that unwanted births are as likely for couples with as for those without stepchildren. Analyses of several European fertility and family surveys show that previously observed patterns of stepfamily childbearing are replicated in desires for another child, providing stronger support for motivational explanations of childbearing patterns in step-families.
Surface-structure-controlled sectoral zoning of the rare earth elements in fluorite from Long Lake, New York, and Bingham, New Mexico, USA

Abstract The concentration and distribution of rare earth elements (REE) in sectorally zoned fluorite crystals from Long Lake, New York, and the Hansonburg Mining District, Bingham, New Mexico, have been studied using cathodoluminescence and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microanalysis (SXRFMA). In cubo-octahedral samples from Long Lake, New York, Ce, Nd, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, and Tm are preferentially partitioned into the |111| sector relative to the |100| sector. Partition coefficients (K d = concentration in |111| sector/concentration in |100| sector) range between 3.5 for Ce, to 1.4 for Tm, with a general decrease in K d as elements deviated from the ionic radius of Ca 2+ , for which REE substitute in fluorite. Diffusion of the REE has occurred, as evidenced by gradual changes in composition over distances of 0.2 to 0.3 mm at sector boundaries. In Bingham samples, three different partition coefficients were determined for Dy: K d|100|/|111| = 2.83, K d |100|/|110| = 1.77, and K d |110|/|111| = 1.60. These are mean K d values for a 95% confidence interval. In another sample from the same deposit, Dy, Er, and Gd were found to be preferentially incorporated into the |100| sector relative to the |210| sector with average K d |100|/|210| of 3.1, 2.4, and 2.9, respectively. In a third sample, Nd was found to be preferentially incorporated into the |110| sector relative to the |321| sector with an average K d |110|/|321| value of 2.3. Compositional heterogeneities in a given sector (concentric zoning) have been resolved using SXRFMA but are significantly less than the concentration difference across sector boundaries. Often fluorite exists in a wide variety of morphologies, as is the case in the Hansonburg Mining District of Bingham. We suggest caution when using the REE as petrogenetic indicators because fluorite trace element chemistry can vary greatly among crystals within a deposit depending on the internal morphology of a particular crystal.
Climate change in the northeastern US: regional climate model validation and climate change projections

A high resolution regional climate model (RCM) is used to simulate climate of the recent past and to project future climate change across the northeastern US. Different types of uncertainties in climate simulations are examined by driving the RCM with different boundary data, applying different emissions scenarios, and running an ensemble of simulations with different initial conditions. Empirical orthogonal functions analysis and K-means clustering analysis are applied to divide the northeastern US region into four climatologically different zones based on the surface air temperature (SAT) and precipitation variability. The RCM simulations tend to overestimate SAT, especially over the northern part of the domain in winter and over the western part in summer. Statistically significant increases in seasonal SAT under both higher and lower emissions scenarios over the whole RCM domain suggest the robustness of future warming. Most parts of the northeastern US region will experience increasing winter precipitation and decreasing summer precipitation, though the changes are not statistically significant. The greater magnitude of the projected temperature increase by the end of the twenty-first century under the higher emissions scenario emphasizes the essential role of emissions choices in determining the potential future climate change.
Mutant p53 and ETS2, a Tale of Reciprocity

TP53 is one of the most frequently inactivated tumor suppressor genes in human cancer. However, unlike other tumor suppressor genes whose expression is lost, TP53 is usually inactivated as a result of a single nucleotide change within the coding region. Typically, these single nucleotide mutations result in a codon change that creates an amino acid substitution. Thus, unlike other tumor suppressor genes whose expression is lost due to genetic or epigenetic changes, the p53 gene primarily suffers missense mutations, and therefore, the cells retain and express a mutant form of the p53 protein (mtp53). It is now well established that mtp53 contributes to tumor development through its gain-of-function (GOF) activities. These GOF activities can arise from novel protein-protein interactions that can either disable other tumor suppressors (e.g., p63 and p73) or enable oncogenes such as ETS2, an ETS family member. In this review, I will focus on the identification of the mtp53/ETS2 complex and outline the diverse activities that this transcriptional regulatory complex controls to promote cancer.
Extending Bernoulli's Inequality

(1994). Extending Bernoulli's Inequality. The College Mathematics Journal: Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 230-230.
Neural-immunologic interactions in asthma

Recent investigations offer insights into the possible cause of asthma: Rather than being due to either neural or immunologic events, the fault may lie in concurrent malfunctioning of two interacting systems. Antigenic stimulation, for example, can affect neural depolarization and firing; by the same token, nerve stimulation can affect the growth and function of inflammatory cells.
Identifying Areas for Improvement in the HIV Screening Process of a High-Prevalence Emergency Department

Abstract Since 1993, the Centers for Disease Control recommendations for HIV testing were extended to include persons obtaining care in the emergency department (ED). Situated in Newark, New Jersey, the University Hospital (UH) ED serves a community with a greater than 2% HIV prevalence, and a recent study showed a UH ED HIV seroprevalence of 6.5%, of which 33% were unknown diagnoses. Electronic records for patients seen in the UH ED from October 1st, 2014, to February 28th, 2015, were obtained. Information was collected on demographics, ED diagnosis, triage time, and HIV testing. Random sampling of 500 patients was performed to identify those eligible for screening. Univariate and multivariate analysis was done to assess screening characteristics. Only 9% (8.8–9.3%) of patients eligible for screening were screened in the ED. Sixteen percent (15.7–16.6%) of those in the age group18–25 and 12% (11.6–12.3%) of those in the age group 26–35 were screened, whereas 8% (7.8–8.2%) of those in the age group 35–45 ...
Deep Reinforcement Learning as Foundation for Artificial General Intelligence

Deep machine learning and reinforcement learning are two complementing fields within the study of intelligent systems. When combined, it is argued that they offer a promising path for achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). This chapter outlines the concepts facilitating such merger of technologies and motivates a framework for building scalable intelligent machines. The prospect of utilizing custom neuromorphic devices to realize large-scale deep learning architectures is discussed, paving the way for achieving human level AGI.
The Economics of Workplace Drug Testing

Workplace drug testing is routinely criticized as irrational, unproductive, and even motivated by nefarious intent. This article analyzes the costs and benefits of workplace drug testing within the context of a complex business environment. Even in a drug-policy vacuum, workplace drug testing is shown to be rational under certain circumstances. The rationality of a drug-testing regime strengthens during a societal War on Drugs and weakens slightly as society transitions into a drug-enforcement regime that experiences legalization at the state level and enforcement at the national level. Throughout, however, the optimum level of workplace drug testing is likely never zero.
The Impact of the Chukwin Mini-Unit on Students' Understanding of Natural Selection

Abstract Natural selection is a widely misunderstood yet critical element to understanding evolution, a concept already fraught with controversy and challenges to its instruction. This necessitates creative methods to improve student learning in this area. A constructivist mini-unit incorporating simulation-based games involving a population of imaginary creatures called Chukwins was created to maximize student learning and motivation. It was tested in one elementary and three junior high classrooms in different locations. Changes in understanding were assessed before and after treatment. Surveys and interviews provided additional evidence on students' attitudes toward the mini-unit and its impact on their learning and engagement. Students made statistically significant improvements on assessments regarding natural selection, reducing their number of misconceptions and slightly improving their ability to apply it. Retention scores indicate that the changes are long-lasting.
Low stress drops observed for aftershocks of the 2011 Mw 5.7 Prague, Oklahoma, earthquake

In November 2011, three MW ≥ 4.8 earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks occurred along the structurally-complex Wilzetta fault system near Prague, Oklahoma. Previous studies suggest that wastewater injection induced a MW4.8 foreshock [Keranen et al., 2013], which subsequently triggered a MW5.7 mainshock [Sumy et al., 2014]. We examine source properties of aftershocks with a standard Brune-type spectral model, and jointly solve for seismic moment (M0), corner frequency (f0), and kappa (κ) with an iterative Gauss-Newton global downhill optimization method [Neighbors et al., 2016]. We examine 934 earthquakes with initial moment magnitudes (MW) between 0.33-4.99 based on the pseudo-spectral acceleration, and recover reasonable M0, f0, and κ for 87 earthquakes with MW 1.83-3.51 determined by spectral fit. We use M0 and f0 to estimate the Brune-type stress drop, assuming a circular fault and shear-wave velocity at the hypocentral depth of the event. Our observations suggest that stress drops range between 0.005-4.8 MPa with a median of 0.2 MPa (0.03-26.4 MPa with a median of 1.1 MPa for Madariaga-type), which is significantly lower than typical eastern United States intraplate events (>10 MPa). We find that stress drops correlate weakly with hypocentral depth and magnitude. Additionally, we find the stress drops increase with time after the mainshock, although temporal variation in stress drop is difficult to separate from spatial heterogeneity and changing event locations. The overall low median stress drop suggests that the fault segments may have been primed to fail as a result of high pore fluid pressures, likely related to nearby wastewater injection.
Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: A Spontaneous Large Animal Model of Human HCM

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common disease in pet cats, affecting 10-15% of the pet cat population. The similarity to human HCM, the rapid progression of disease, and the defined and readily determined endpoints of feline HCM make it an excellent natural model that is genotypically and phenotypically similar to human HCM. The Maine Coon and Ragdoll cats are particularly valuable models of HCM because of myosin binding protein-C mutations and even higher disease incidence compared to the overall feline population. The cat overcomes many of the limitations of rodent HCM models, and can provide enhanced translation of information from in vitro and induced small animal models to human clinical trials. Physicians and veterinarians working together in a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach can accelerate the discovery of more effective treatments for this and other cardiovascular diseases affecting human and veterinary patients.
Robotic-assisted spleen preserving distal pancreatectomy: a technical review

Minimally-invasive spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy is indicated for benign or borderline malignant lesions confined to the pancreatic body and tail. With the introduction of the da Vinci robotic system, preliminary case series have suggested an improved spleen preservation rate, higher rate of margin negative resections and improved lymph node yield versus the standard laparoscopic approach. In this article, we described our approach to robotic-assisted distal pancreatectomy with both vessel-conserving (Kimura) and vessel-sacrificing (Warshaw) variations.
Public Policy Reform and Informal Institutions: The Political Articulation of the Demand for Work in Rural India

Summary The emphasis on rights that individual citizens can claim from the state represents a significant institutional development for poverty alleviation policies. In India, important legislation was passed in 2005 to guarantee rural households 100 days of work paid at a statutory wage rate. This Right to Work legislation has enabled the implementation of the world’s largest public works program—the “Mahatma Gandhi” National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or NREGS. This study explores variation in policy outcomes under NREGS within a rural district of North India (Uttar Pradesh). It finds that this variation is the product of the interaction between formal and informal institutions. As such, the demand for work benefits does not emerge spontaneously from self-selecting rural citizens, but is articulated by local elected officials who are pressurised to accommodate demands for rents from the bureaucracy. Specifically, local elected officials are compelled to proceed to a selective activation of the demand for benefits to ensure the generation of a surplus which will form the basis of bureaucratic rent payments. The study relies on qualitative data, specifically interviews with past beneficiaries of the scheme, bureaucrats tasked with policy implementation, and elected village leaders (the Gram Pradhans in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh) to document the conditions under which a surplus is extracted and rent payments made. The study shows that caste and political leadership structures at the local level affect the generation of surpluses and the payment of rents by Gram Pradhans to the bureaucracy. While the Right to Work legislation represents progress for poverty alleviation, policies such as NREGS that emphasize rights and the expression of a demand for benefits need to consider more carefully the conditions under which this demand emerges as well as the ways in which discretionary authority can thwart the goals of public policy.
Prognostic risk model for patients with high-risk polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Polycythemia Vera (PV) and Essential Thrombocythemia (ET) are the most frequent Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms, the other entity being myelofibrosis. Management of patients with PV and ET is fraught with difficulties as they have an inherent tendency to cause thrombotic and hemorrhagic events. There are no curative treatment options, therefore it is important that a risk-adapted treatment approach is applied.Areas covered: This review discusses existing literature about prognosis in PV and ET, and addresses critical aspects related to defining ‘high-risk’ disease. In addition to the traditional risk factors such as age and prior thrombotic history, we discuss the prognostic impact of additional parameters such as cardiovascular risk factors, white blood cell count, karyotype and gene mutations.Expert commentary: We use age>60 years, presence of JAK2 mutation and a prior thrombotic history as the principle determinants of ‘high-risk’ for thrombosis in PV...
Upland groundwater pumping and stream flow, San Jose Creek, Monterey County

To evaluate possible effects of groundwater pumping on streamflow in tributaries draining the Rancho San Carlos development near Carmel, Monterey County, California site, I compared pre- and post-development rainfall to stream runoff. Despite higher annual precipitation, unusually low summer flows occurred in San Jose Creek after 2000, when Rancho San Carlos groundwater pumping began. These results suggest that pumping groundwater has affected flow in streams, potentially affecting recharge to the Carmel River, and flows to steelhead trout and water supply for the Monterey Peninsula.
Belief state representation in the dopamine system

Learning to predict future outcomes is critical for driving appropriate behaviors. Reinforcement learning (RL) models have successfully accounted for such learning, relying on reward prediction errors (RPEs) signaled by midbrain dopamine neurons. It has been proposed that when sensory data provide only ambiguous information about which state an animal is in, it can predict reward based on a set of probabilities assigned to hypothetical states (called the belief state). Here we examine how dopamine RPEs and subsequent learning are regulated under state uncertainty. Mice are first trained in a task with two potential states defined by different reward amounts. During testing, intermediate-sized rewards are given in rare trials. Dopamine activity is a non-monotonic function of reward size, consistent with RL models operating on belief states. Furthermore, the magnitude of dopamine responses quantitatively predicts changes in behavior. These results establish the critical role of state inference in RL.
Occupational labour shortages

There are many factors that can be taken into account in migration policy, such as family reunification, increasing the nation’s stock of human capital, increasing gross domestic product, and alleviating occupational labour shortages. This chapter examines the concept of occupational labour shortages and describes how occupation-based immigration policy in the United States currently is structured and proposals that have been considered to improve how occupational labour shortages are measured and used in immigration policy. The chapter first explains the economic concept of occupational labour shortages and describes the reasons why shortages might arise. Next, the chapter discusses how occupational labour shortages can be recognised. This is followed by a summary of findings from an analysis of whether there are shortages for four occupations in the United States, and the conclusions from the study. The second part of the chapter deals with occupation-based immigration in the United States. The current US system for permanent and temporary labor is described, and current and past proposals for improving the system are discussed.
Frozen Section Assessment of the Colorectum in the Pediatric Population

The most common indication for intraoperative consultation among pediatric patients with gastrointestinal symptoms is evaluation for the possibility of Hirschsprung’s disease. Intraoperative documentation of ganglion cells, or their absence, is crucial to the immediate management of the patient. Unfortunately, detecting ganglion cells in colonic samples obtained from neonatal patients may be challenging for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their immature appearance in frozen section samples.
Local atomic geometry and Ti 1 s near-edge spectra in PbTiO 3 and SrTiO 3

We study Ti 1s near-edge spectroscopy in PbTiO3 at various temperatures above and below its tetragonal-to-cubic phase transition, and in SrTiO3 at room temperature. Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) runs on 80-atom supercells are used to determine the average internal coordinates and their fluctuations. We determine that one vector local order parameter is the dominant contributor to changes in spectral features: the displacement of the Ti ion with respect to its axial O neighbors in each Cartesian direction, as these displacements enhance the cross section for transitions to Eg-derived core-hole exciton levels. Using periodic five-atom structures whose relative Ti-O displacements match the root-mean-square values from the AIMD simulations, and core-hole Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) calculations, we quantitatively predict the respective Ti 1s near-edge spectra. Properly accounting for atomic fluctuations greatly improves the agreement between theoretical and experimental spectra. The evolution of relative strengths of spectral features vs temperature and electric field polarization vector are captured in considerable detail. This work shows that local structure can be characterized from first-principles sufficiently well to aid both the prediction and the interpretation of near-edge spectra.
Fluorescence Spectroscopy as a Tool for Studying Drug Interactions with Biological Systems

The first commercially available spectrophotofluorometers were based on a design by Dr. R. L. Bowman (Bowman et al. 1955). The instrument which he developed was built in response to a request by Dr. B. B. Brodie, a pharmacologist, who needed more sensitive instrumentation for the detection and assay of drugs and their metabolites in body tissues and fluids. While pharmacologists were slow to use this technique to study the molecular basis of drug interactions with biological systems, biochemists and biophysicists quickly added this new tool to an evergrowing array of physical instrumentation. Recently, however, the great potential of fluorescence spectroscopy as a tool for studying how drugs interact with macromolecules has been realized and exploited (Chen 1972; Chignell 1972).
Statistical Detection of Relatives Typed with Disjoint Forensic and Biomedical Loci

Summary In familial searching in forensic genetics, a query DNA profile is tested against a database to determine whether it represents a relative of a database entrant. We examine the potential for using linkage disequilibrium to identify pairs of profiles as belonging to relatives when the query and database rely on nonoverlapping genetic markers. Considering data on individuals genotyped with both microsatellites used in forensic applications and genome-wide SNPs, we find that ∼30%–32% of parent-offspring pairs and ∼35%–36% of sib pairs can be identified from the SNPs of one member of the pair and the microsatellites of the other. The method suggests the possibility of performing familial searches of microsatellite databases using query SNP profiles, or vice versa. It also reveals that privacy concerns arising from computations across multiple databases that share no genetic markers in common entail risks, not only for database entrants, but for their close relatives as well.
Gene expression regulation and chromatin binding by tumor suppressor protein p53 in human lymphoblastoid cell lines

4513 The p53 tumor suppressor protein is an important mediator of stress response in mammalian cells. Following activation, p53 binds to specific response element (RE) sequences in DNA and activates expression of nearby genes. We recently identified several genes (SEI1, ADAR2, SCGB1D2, and EOMES) with putative polymorphic p53 RE sequences upstream of their promoters, and showed that expression of these genes is altered both by ultraviolet light (UV) exposure and by transfection of exogenous p53 protein into p53 null cell lines. It is possible that the polymorphisms in these candidate REs will differentially affect these expression changes, and thus the biological activity of the target genes. Measuring the impact of the polymorphic REs, however, will require examination of gene expression in multiple cell lines. Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) transformed lymphoblastoid cells are an attractive genetic model for these studies, as they are isolated from multiple individuals of diverse heritage. However, we show here that although candidate gene expression is reproducibly altered by UV exposure in some lymphoblastoid cell lines, it is not altered in others. Additionally, both basal and induced expression of some candidate genes vary greatly between lines (>1000 fold for EOMES). Although some of these changes may be caused by genetic variation between lines, the extensive variation we observe suggests a major perturbation of the p53 response pathway in some cultured lines. We also examined the direct binding of p53 to polymorphic RE sequences via chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). In general, binding correlates well with gene expression changes. In particular, the SEI1 and ADAR2 RE sequences are enriched in p53 ChIP DNA fractions by approximately 5.9 and 3.9 fold, respectively, versus mock-precipitated fractions. Interestingly, at least one gene (ADAR2) shows pronounced downregulation of expression, and this correlates with enhanced p53 binding at its promoter RE. We conclude that these candidate genes are in fact bona fide p53 targets. We also suggest that lymphoblastoid cell lines, which are increasingly important models for studying genetic variation in human tissue, may display substantial uncharacterized variation in both basal and induced expression of p53-responsive genes.
Dental prophylaxis and 5-fluorouracil related oral mucositis in head and neck cancer patients: A population-based cohort study

Abstract Background It is hard to prevent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) related oral mucositis (OM). The aim of this study was to determine the association between dental prophylactic modalities and the risk of OM in HNC patients with 5-FU-related treatment. Methods During 2000 to 2008, 20,715 HNC (ICD-9-CM 140-149) patients with newly 5-FU-related chemotherapy were selected from the registry of LHID-CIP, and the date of 5-FU therapy initiation was defined as the index date. These HNC patients were stratified into three groups according to their cancer locations: oral cancers (ICD-9-CM 140-145), nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC, ICD-9-CM 147) and other cancers (ICD-9-CM 146, 148 and 149).The end date was defined as the date of OM diagnosis, withdrawal from the NHI program, or the 21thday after the day of 5-FU therapy initiation, whichever came first. Patients with OM diagnosis (ICD-9 CM 528.00, 528.01, 528.2, and 528.9). The records of dental treatment was determined for each patient within 180 days prior to the index date, which included fluoride gel application, chlorhexidine mouth rinse, scaling, and major oral surgery. Based on the different dental prophylactic modalities, all HNC subjects were stratified into different groups. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were determined by multiple logistic regression model. Results 13,969 HNC participants, including 482 5-FU-related OM subjects and 13,487 controls were enrolled. Fluoride gel application and scaling were significantly related to OM development (p Conclusions This study highlighted a remarkable association between dental prophylactic modalitiesand the risk of 5-FU-related OM in HNC population.Clinical practitioners have to be vigilant about the joint effect of scaling and fluoride gel application in the increased risk of OM. Optimal timing of scaling and appropriate fluoride gel application strategy are necessary in reducing the risk of 5-FU-related OM. Editorial acknowledgement This study is supported in part by Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence (MOHW105-TDU-B-212-133019), China Medical University Hospital, Academia Sinica Taiwan Biobank Stroke Biosignature Project (BM10501010037), NRPB Stroke Clinical Trial Consortium (MOST 105-2325-B-039-003), Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CMRPG3I0151), Far Eastern Memorial Hospital (FEMH-2019-C-039), Tseng-Lien Lin Foundation, Taichung, Taiwan, Taiwan Brain Disease Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan, and Katsuzo and Kiyo Aoshima Memorial Funds, Japan. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy of Polymer Matrix Composites for Real-Time Analysis of Trace Surface Contaminants: A Review

Abstract Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a materials characterization technique that has been advanced and refined to provide in situ, real-time quality control of polymer matrix composite (PMC) surfaces. A LIBS system was designed and assembled at the NASA Langley Research Center in order to detect ultralow concentrations of silicone contamination on carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials. The LIBS instrument provides high sensitivity detection and nearly non-destructive inspection of PMC substrates prior to adhesive bonding. This review focuses on work conducted using LIBS as a characterization tool for surface contaminants for improved adhesive bonding and coating processes of CFRP materials. In addition, this work describes how the LIBS technique was advanced by analyzing the laser parameters, studying the laser-matter interactions, and comparing results to X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Discussion is also presented on LIBS instrumentation, recommendations for laser parameters and instrumentation components, LIBS technique maturity, applications, and limitations.
Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) currently include 10 subtypes; each gene is abbreviated CLN . Phenotypic range is wide. Most new variants have a late infantile onset. Most adult cases have a mutation in CLN5 , one of the late infantile types. Older classifications based on the age of onset, ethnicity, and ultrastructure need confirmation by enzyme and genetic testing. Myoclonus is the main epileptic feature. Common antiepileptic drugs exacerbate seizures. Behavior and depression treatment may be challenging; dopamine D2 blockers l -DOPA are best avoided. Autofluorescent lipopigment inclusions or vacuoles remain the only common trait among this hodgepodge of eponyms and diseases.
A concentric framework for leveraging big data for business value

One focal area of big data research is to identify ways to create and reap business value from big data. Studies in this area have been based on one of three perspectives: architectural, strategical management and knowledge management. While these perspectives have academic and practical merits in isolation, they fail to integrate unique features of big data. To fill this void in the extant literature, we propose an integrated framework, which we call a concentric framework that differentiates value-adding factors of big data from those that affect technological requirements of a big data infrastructure. The concentric framework consists of three layers: explicit characteristics at the outer layer, implicit elements at the middle layer, and synergistic value in the core. We illustrate each layer of the framework using examples and identify tools and methods that can aid decision makers to use the framework for leveraging big data to create business value.
The perceived impact of fluency on personalities of adults who stutter: implicit evidence of self-stigma

The NEO-FFI is an extensively used instrument that has been used to identify personality differences between those who stutter and matched controls or group norms. The goal of this study was to use...
Resilience correlates with patient reported outcomes after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.

Abstract Background Personal and social factors may account for much of the variation in patient reported outcome scores, yet little evidence exists on how psychological properties affect patient outcomes following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA). The objective of this study is to determine if resilience, characterised by the ability to return to a healthy level of function after experiencing stress, correlates with patient reported outcome scores after rTSA. Hypothesis Resilience score will correlate positively with patient reported outcomes after rTSA. Methods Seventy-three patients were identified that had undergone primary rTSA with minimum 2-year follow-up (4.7 ± 1.8). These patients completed a phone survey that included the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), a measure of general resilience in all aspects of life, along with American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon (ASES), Penn, and Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE) scores. Mean outcome scores were calculated to identify any correlation between resilience and clinical outcomes. Results The mean BRS score was 23.8 ± 4.8 (range 12.0–30.0), with 41 patients classified as normal resilience (NR), 17 patients as low resilience (LR), and 15 as high resilience (HR). Postoperative BRS scores correlated with ASES (r = 0.31, p = 0.008), Penn (r = 0.25, p = 0.03), and SANE score (r = 0.32, p = 0.007). The mean ASES score was 14.0 points lower in the LR group (77.0 points), compared to the HR group (91.0 points; p = 0.04). Similarly, the LR group had a mean SANE score that was 18.6 points lower than the HR group (73.4 and 91.9 points, respectively; p = 0.021). Discussion The observation that greater general life resilience correlates with lower pain intensity, lesser magnitude of limitations, and perception of greater normality of the shoulder after reverse total shoulder arthroplasty emphasises the importance of addressing personal and social health opportunities along with the physical in musculoskeletal care. Resilience may be a useful predictor of outcomes following rTSA. Level of evidence III.
Privatization, Competition, and Corruption: How Characteristics of Bribe Takers and Payers Affect Bribe Payments to Utilities

Many recent studies have looked at the macroeconomic, cultural and institutional determinants of corruption at the cross-national level. This study complements these existing cross-country studies by focusing on firm-level evidence of microeconomic factors affecting bribes paid in a single sector of the economy. Using enterprise-level data on bribes paid to utilities in 21 transition economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, we examine how characteristics of the utilities taking bribes and the firms paying bribes affect the equilibrium level of corruption in the sector. Bribe takers (utility employees) are more likely to take bribes in countries with greater constraints on utility capacity, lower levels of competition in the utility sector, and where utilities are state-owned. Bribe payers (enterprises) are more likely to pay bribes when they are more profitable, have greater overdue payment to utilities, and are de novo private firms. A thorny issue in the empirical literature on corruption is how to distinguish between the "endogenous harassment" and "speed money" theories of corruption. The former receives stronger support from some of the results than the latter.
Alemtuzumab, total skin electron beam, and non-myeloablative allogeneic haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation in advanced sezary syndrome: a retrospective cohort study.

Sezary syndrome (SS) is an extremely rare form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (incidence 0.01 cases/100,000 person-years) associated with debilitating morbidity and poor overall prognosis.1,2 For patients with relapsed or treatment-refractory SS, traditional therapies are limited and predominantly palliative.1 Multiple prior single-center studies suggest allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) with total-skin electron beam (TSEB) may offer durable remission to a subset of these patients.
Attention in Skilled Behavior: an Argument for Pluralism

Peak human performance—whether of Olympic athletes, Nobel prize winners, or you cooking the best dish you’ve ever made—depends on skill. Skill is at the heart of what it means to excel. Yet, the fixity of skilled behavior can sometimes make it seem a lower-level activity, more akin to the movements of an invertebrate or a machine. Peak performance in elite athletes is often described, for example, as “automatic” by those athletes: “The most frequent response from participants (eight athletes and one coach) when describing the execution of a peak performance was the automatic execution of performance” (Anderson et al. 2014). While the automaticity of skilled behavior is widely acknowledged, some worry that too much automaticity in skill would challenge its ability to exhibit human excellence. And so two camps have developed: those who focus on the automaticity of skilled behavior, the “habitualists,” and those who focus on the higher-level cognition behind peak performance, the “intellectualists.” We take a different tack. We argue that skilled behavior weaves together automaticity and higher-level cognition, which we call “pluralism.” That is, we argue that automaticity and higher-level cognition are both normal features of skilled behavior that benefit skilled behavior. This view is hinted at in other quotes about automaticity in skill—while expert gamers describe themselves as “playing with” automaticity (Taylor and Elam 2018), expert musicians are said to balance automaticity with creativity through performance cues: “Performance cues allow the musician to attend to some aspects of the performance while allowing others to be executed automatically” (Chaffin and Logan 2006). We describe in this paper three ways that higher-level cognition and automaticity are woven together. The first two, level pluralism and synchronic pluralism, are described in other papers, albeit under different cover. We take our contribution to be both distinguishing the three forms and contributing the third, diachronic pluralism. In fact, we find that diachronic pluralism presents the strongest case against habitualism and intellectualism, especially when considered through the example of strategic automaticity. In each case of pluralism, we use research on the presence or absence of attention (e.g., in mind wandering) to explore the presence or absence of higher-level cognition in skilled behavior.
Statin effect on coronary calcium distribution, mass and volume scores and associations with immune activation among HIV+ persons on antiretroviral therapy.

BackgroundInflammation has been associated with whole heart coronary artery calcification (CAC) among people with HIV (PWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART); however, prior studies have not evaluate...