cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Against Market Rationality: Moral Critiques of Economic Analysis in Legal Theory

A set of common themes and concerns runs through three bodies of theory that might otherwise appear unconnected: environmental ethics, civic republicanism, and commodification. In very different contexts, authors in all three areas seem to ask some very similar questions. Collected together, these questions comprise a novel critique of the economic analysis of law - a "moral" critique that is quite different from technical and distributional critiques that have been offered in the past.The argument, in a nutshell, is that the choice whether to submit any "good" to market trading, and the related choice whether to think and speak of that good in cost-benefit terms, presuppose a controversial, and often submerged, moral choice. Markets, these theorists argue, maximize satisfaction of a limited range of the preferences we have - the preferences we have when we think only of, and act only for, ourselves. But we also have a range of preferences (and attributes and qualities) that markets cannot satisfy - preferences that are not self-interested, but other-regarding; preferences about our own preferences, as well as the public good. To understand these latter preferences in market terms is not just mistaken but ethically wrong, because it denies the reality of the important aspects of our humanity that markets are incapable of expressing.Part I describes the way in which the arguments made by theorists of environmental ethics, civic republicanism, and commodification converge on the notion that there is a moral dimension to the choice of rhetoric and institutions - market or nonmarket - in which we express our values. Part II describes some of the problems common to all three theories: vagueness, ambiguity, and romanticism. Part III pulls together the three broad conceptual themes that most unite these disparate fields. The first theme emphasizes the diversity of ways in which we value different social "goods," a diversity often obscured by the tendency of markets to measure value solely in terms of prices and money. The second common theme emphasizes the extent to which choices among alternative approaches to law and policy making - especially the choice between cost-benefit and other approaches - are significant apart from the results they produce. These choices reflect how we think about various social "goods" - and how we think is a matter of independent ethical significance because it helps define the kind of community we will have. The third common theme emphasizes the importance of providing, as a counterbalance to market institutions, institutions in which people can deliberate collectively, in terms other than those of self-interest, questions about what their preferences ought to be. If nothing else, the similarity of themes among these otherwise divergent schools of thought suggests a deep aspiration for a way to speak about values that is neither economic nor market oriented.
New Protocol For Measuring Lepidoptera Wing Damage

ABSTRACT. Lepidoptera may acquire damage to their wings throughout their lifespan. The ability to quantify the accumulated damage is relevant when studying the impact of wing damage on territorial behavior, mating systems, predation, or assessing relative age of the insect, but unfortunately, methods for accurate insect wing damage quantification are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new protocol that provides a simple method for accurately quantifying wing damage of live Lepidoptera, without the removal of them from the field. Using a combination of Adobe Photoshop® and Scion Image®, 3 photographs of wild Papilio (Pterourus) homerus butterflies with wing damage were analyzed and compared to an older method of visually estimating wing damage. Of the 12 individual wings analyzed, 7 were significantly different (p ≤ 0.05), and the new protocol yielded precise results. The newly described protocol is an inexpensive and accurate method for determining percent wing damage on insects without h...
Neuropathology of Autism

A computerized imaging program was used to measure cell column morphological features in area 9 of the prefrontal cortex and areas 21 and posterior 22 in the temporal lobe of 9 brains of autistic patients and controls, in a study at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta.
Epilepsy Outcome in Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia

The clinical, electroencephalographic, and neuroimaging features and course of seizures in 16 patients with periventricular (subependymal) nodular heterotopia (PNH) were investigated at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Management of oropharyngeal dysphagia in the neurologically intact and developmentally normal child.

Purpose of reviewAn enigmatic group of children with normal development and intact neurologic function display clinical, radiographic, and endoscopic evidence of persistent laryngeal penetration and/or aspiration during feeds, known as oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD). Identifying the etiology of OPD i
Design and Control of Stacked-Column Distillation Systems

The separation of close-boiling, low-relative volatility components by distillation requires many trays and high reflux ratios (high energy consumption). Temperature-sensitive components often limit temperatures, so vacuum conditions must be used in which pressure drop through trays or packing becomes very important. More trays produce higher base pressures and higher base temperatures for a given pressure in the reflux drum. Therefore, it may be impossible to achieve the desired separation in single column if the maximum temperature limits the number of trays. In this situation, multiple columns must be used to stay within the feasible number of trays per vessel. Each column has its own condenser and reboiler. The bottoms from the upper column is fed to the top of the lower column, and the overhead vapor from the lower column is condensed, pumped to a higher pressure, and fed into the base of the upper column. This stacked column configuration has high energy and capital cost, but it may be the only feas...
The Risk of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence in Adulthood:The Association with Educational Level

In this analysis of prospectively gathered data, the authors sought to estimate the degree to which risk of alcohol abuse and dependence might be elevated among adults who attended but did not complete high school and among those who attended college without earning a degree. Study subjects were selected in 1980-1984 by taking probability samples of adult household residents at five sites of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program: New Haven, Connecticut; Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis, Missouri; Durham-Piedmont, North Carolina; and Los Angeles, California. At baseline, participants completed standardized interviews that measured sociodemographic variables and assessed whether they had met diagnostic criteria for currently or formerly active alcohol abuse-dependence syndromes. The interviews were readministered 1 year later to identify incident cases among the 13,673 participants. After subjects were sorted into risk sets by age and residence census tract and after persons with a prior history of alcohol abuse or dependence were excluded, there were in 156 risk sets 160 incident cases and 526 subjects at risk for future occurrence of alcohol syndromes. Compared with adults who had earned a college degree, those who had attended high school without completion were at increased risk (relative risk (RR) = 6.23, 95 percent confidence interval (CI) 2.41-16.09) as were adults who had attended college without earning a degree (RR = 3.25, 95 percent CI 1.36-7.76). In contrast, risk of alcohol disorders among adults with a high school diploma but no college was not reliably greater than the level of risk for those with a college degree (RR = 1.88, 95 percent CI 0.79-4.47).
Combined Bone Marrow and Kidney Transplantation for the Induction of Specific Tolerance

The induction of specific tolerance, in order to avoid the detrimental effects of lifelong systemic immunosuppressive therapy after organ transplantation, has been considered the “Holy Grail” of transplantation. Experimentally, tolerance has been achieved through clonal deletion, through costimulatory blockade, through the induction or infusion of regulatory T-cells, and through the establishment of hematopoietic chimerism following donor bone marrow transplantation. The focus of this review is how tolerance has been achieved following combined bone marrow and kidney transplantation. Preclinical models of combined bone marrow and kidney transplantation have shown that tolerance can be achieved through either transient or sustained hematopoietic chimerism. Combined transplants for patients with multiple myeloma have shown that organ tolerance and prolonged disease remissions can be accomplished with such an approach. Similarly, multiple clinical strategies for achieving tolerance in patients without an underlying malignancy have been described, in the context of either transient or durable mixed chimerism or sustained full donor hematopoiesis. To expand the chimerism approach to deceased donor transplants, a delayed tolerance approach, which will involve organ transplantation with conventional immunosuppression followed months later by bone marrow transplantation, has been successful in a primate model. As combined bone marrow and organ transplantation become safer and increasingly successful, the achievement of specific tolerance may become more widely applicable.
Serum Complement and Chronic Glomerulonephritis

Biopsy studies are differentiating several types of glomerular injury in patients with primary persistent glomerulonephritis, and in a majority serial measurements show serum complement levels to be normal rather than low (as tradition holds). These findings suggest that mechanisms other than, or in addition to, the antigen-antibody reaction may be responsible for the condition classically known as “chronic nephritis.”
Abstract B74: Combined inhibition of ALK and CDKs involved in transcriptional regulation is synergistic in ALK-mutated neuroblastoma

Activating mutations in the anaplastic lymphoma receptor tyrosine kinase (ALK) represent important therapeutic targets in neuroblastoma (NB). One of the more common mutations, ALKF1174L, is sensitive to the FDA-approved ALK inhibitor, crizotinib, only at high doses and mediates acquired resistance to crizotinib in ALK-rearranged cancers. To identify compounds that would enhance the cytotoxic effect of crizotinib, we conducted a high throughput small molecule screen for compounds that synergize with crizotinib in NB cells expressing the ALKF1174L mutation. We identified two pan-selective cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors, AT7519 and SNS-032, which have overlapping efficacy against the cell cycle-regulating CDK2 and transcriptional elongation-regulating CDK9. Both inhibitors demonstrated synergistic activity with crizotinib, leading to downregulation of pALK and downstream signaling and significantly increased apoptosis over that of either single agent alone. This effect was observed in NB cells expressing not only ALKF1174L, but also in the other commonly observed ALKR1275Q mutation. Synergy was also noted with ceritinib (LDK378), a structurally unrelated ALK inhibitor, in combination with both AT7519 and SNS-032. The combination of crizotinib and SNS-032 led to the inhibition of CDK9-mediated transcriptional elongation as indicated by downregulation of RNA polymerase II phosphorylation at serine 2. Additionally, the combination also induced proteolytic cleavage of elongation-regulating BRD4, suggesting alternative mechanisms contributing to transcriptional inhibition in addition to direct inhibition of CDK9 activity These findings were comparable with results obtained using compounds that were highly selective for CDK7, which has roles in transcriptional initiation as well as in CDK9 activation. Finally, in murine xenogaft models of ALK-mutated NB, the combination led to inhibition of tumor growth and prolongation of survival compared to single agents alone. Together, these data support further pre-clinical and clinical efforts to explore the therapeutic potential of combining ALK inhibitors with transcriptional CDK inhibitors in ALK-mutated NB. Citation Format: Nathan F. Moore, Edmond Chipumuro, Clark M. Hatheway, Tinghu Zhang, Nathanael S. Gray, Rani E. George. Combined inhibition of ALK and CDKs involved in transcriptional regulation is synergistic in ALK-mutated neuroblastoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2015 Nov 5-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(12 Suppl 2):Abstract nr B74.
3481 Novel applications of soehendra stent retriever in therapeutic ercp.

Introduction: Soehendra stent retrievers (SSR,Wilson-Cook Inc) were originally designed for stent retrieval. Recently SSR has been employed for dilation of strictures, but experience is limited.We have found SSR to be a valuable tool in several other maneuvers during therapeutic ERCP. Aim: To analyze the success, complications and clinical outcomes of newer applications of SSR during ERCP. Method: Patients with tight strictures of the bile and pancreatic ducts were studied. These strictures allowed guide wire access, but defied 5Fr catheter advancement and conventional balloon or catheter dilation. After wire access was achieved, The SSR was passed up to the distal margin of the stricture. Rotation and forward pressure were applied to the SSR to traverse the stricture slowly. Following dilation, stent placement was performed, and cytology obtained from the SSR threads. Patients with hilar tumors had Wallstent (WS) mesh space dilation using SSR for placement of a second WS. Patient demographics, indications, success of dilation and stenting, complications and procedure outcome were studied. Results: 37 patients underwent SSR use in the study period, 13 for stent retrieval alone. Twenty-four patients underwent SSR dilation as shown in the table below. 3 patients had pain during dilation requiring additional meperidine. In majority of patients (12/20), it was possible to place a stent of identical diameter to that of the SSR used. Cytology was positive for malignancy in 3 of 5 patients with cancer. Conclusions: Dilation using the Soehendra stent retriever is safe and highly successful (83%) for strictures defying conventional techniques. Novel applications including transpapillary pseudocyst drainage,Wallstent mesh dilation and tissue acquisition for cytology can also be performed successfully using this device.
Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness: Hypocrisy and the servant problem

Not the least remarkable aspect of Jonathan Swift's defense of hypocrisy, the Project for the Advancement of Religion (1709), is the extent to which Swift foregrounds the very word hypocrisy. Swift makes no attempt to downplay the most controversial aspects of his program for bestowing material rewards on virtue and its simulacra alike, and the rhetorical success of Swift's Project depends in a very real sense on his careful management of two terms. One of these is hypocrisy. The other is livery, a word whose signification in eighteenth-century discourse is curiously divided: used metaphorically, it offers a conventional analogy for appearances or surfaces, while its literal meaning is associated with an explosive set of arguments about the rights and duties of the servant class. As Swift puts it in the Project , “Hypocrisy is much more eligible than open Infidelity and Vice: It wears the Livery of Religion, it acknowledgeth her Authority, and is cautious of giving Scandal” (11.57). The phrase “the Livery of Religion” momentarily undermines Swift's positive argument for hypocrisy as the best approximation of virtue, introducing into his metaphor a key word in contemporary attacks on the behavior and morals of servants in livery. The rhetorical instabilities that accompany the intrusion of anti-servant polemic into moral writing affect a wide range of texts produced and published at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The Suggested Evolutionary Relationships and Classification of Tree Shrews

The tree shrews (family Tupaiidae) of Southeast Asia are small, scansorial, squirrel-like mammals which occupy a range of arboreal, semi-arboreal, and forest floor niches. They are insectivorous/omnivorous and predominantly diurnal, although one species (Ptilocercus lowii) is crepuscular or nocturnal. The only monographic description of all genera and species of the family was that by Lyon (1913). Most taxonomists have accepted Lyon’s subdivision of Tupaiidae into two subfamilies: (1) the diurnal subfamily Tupaiinae, containing five genera (Tupaia, Anathana, Dendrogale, Lyonogale, and Urogale); and (2) the crepuscular (or nocturnal) subfamily Ptilocercinae, containing the single genus Ptilocercus. The geographic distribution of the family extends from India to the Philippines, and from southern China to Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali, including the many islands within this region. This distribution corresponds closely with the limits of the Zoogeographic Oriental Region.
CD63 Regulates Epstein-Barr Virus LMP1 Exosomal Packaging, Enhancement of Vesicle Production, and Noncanonical NF-κB Signaling

Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) is an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded oncoprotein that is packaged into small extracellular vesicles (EVs) called exosomes. Trafficking of LMP1 into multivesicular bodies (MVBs) alters the content and function of exosomes. LMP1-modified exosomes enhance the growth, migration, and invasion of malignant cells, demonstrating the capacity to manipulate the tumor microenvironment and enhance the progression of EBV-associated cancers. Despite the growing evidence surrounding the significance of LMP1-modified exosomes in cancer, very little is understood about the mechanisms that orchestrate LMP1 incorporation into these vesicles. Recently, LMP1 was shown to be copurified with CD63, a conserved tetraspanin protein enriched in late endosomal and lysosomal compartments. Here, we demonstrate the importance of CD63 presence for exosomal packaging of LMP1. Nanoparticle tracking analysis and gradient purification revealed an increase in extracellular vesicle secretion and exosomal proteins following LMP1 expression. Immunoisolation of CD63-positive exosomes exhibited accumulation of LMP1 in this vesicle population. Functionally, CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of CD63 resulted in a reduction of LMP1-induced particle secretion. Furthermore, LMP1 packaging was severely impaired in CD63 knockout cells, concomitant with a disruption in the perinuclear localization of LMP1. Importantly, LMP1 trafficking to lipid rafts and activation of NF-κB and PI3K/Akt pathways remained intact following CD63 knockout, while mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) and noncanonical NF-κB activation were observed to be increased. These results suggest that CD63 is a critical player in LMP1 exosomal trafficking and LMP1-mediated enhancement of exosome production and may play further roles in limiting downstream LMP1 signaling.IMPORTANCE EBV is a ubiquitous gamma herpesvirus linked to malignancies such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Burkitt's lymphoma, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. In the context of cancer, EBV hijacks the exosomal pathway to modulate cell-to-cell signaling by secreting viral components such as an oncoprotein, LMP1, into host cell membrane-bound EVs. Trafficking of LMP1 into exosomes is associated with increased oncogenicity of these secreted vesicles. However, we have only a limited understanding of the mechanisms surrounding exosomal cargo packaging, including viral proteins. Here, we describe a role of LMP1 in EV production that requires CD63 and provide an extensive demonstration of CD63-mediated exosomal LMP1 release that is distinct from lipid raft trafficking. Finally, we present further evidence of the role of CD63 in limiting LMP1-induced noncanonical NF-κB and ERK activation. Our findings have implications for future investigations of physiological and pathological mechanisms of exosome biogenesis, protein trafficking, and signal transduction, especially in viral-associated tumorigenesis.
Neuromodulation and Strategic Action Choice in Drosophila Aggression

In this review, I discuss current knowledge and outstanding questions on the neuromodulators that influence aggressive behavior of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. I first present evidence that Drosophila exchange information during an agonistic interaction and choose appropriate actions based on this information. I then discuss the influence of several biogenic amines and neuropeptides on aggressive behavior. One striking characteristic of neuromodulation is that it can configure a neural circuit dynamically, enabling one circuit to generate multiple outcomes. I suggest a consensus effect of each neuromodulatory molecule on Drosophila aggression, as well as effects of receptor proteins where relevant data are available. Lastly, I consider neuromodulation in the context of strategic action choices during agonistic interactions. Genetic components of neuromodulatory systems are highly conserved across animals, suggesting that molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling Drosophila aggression can she...
Abstract 13237: Placental Growth Factor as a Predictor of Long-term Outcome in Patients With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

Background: Placental growth factor (PlGF), a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), contribute to atherogenesis through vascular inflammation and plaque destabilization. We reported high PlGF levels (≥14.5 pg/ml) were independent predictor of adverse events in patients with chronic kidney disease, but the significance of PlGF in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) patients was not clear. Methods: We have studied consecutive 437 patients with ADHF admitted to our hospital from 2011.4 through 2014.12. Among these patients, 281 patients measured PlGF levels were studied. The primary endpoint was all-cause death. Results: To investigate the impact of PlGF levels on prognosis of ADHF, we divided patients into 2 groups according to previous cutoff levels (14.5 pg/ml). There was no significant differences in age, left ventricular ejection fraction, and estimated glomerular filtration rate between high PlGF group (≥14.5 pg/ml, n=49) and low PlGF group ( Conclusions: The high placental growth factor levels at acute phase in patients with acute decompensated heart failure predicts the long-term clinical outcome independent from various prognostic factors.
Supershear damage propagation and sub-Rayleigh crack growth from edge-on impact: A peridynamic analysis

Abstract Edge-on impact experiments on AlON, a transparent ceramic with superior ballistic performance, show combined intergranular and transgranular fracture. An initial fast-propagating damage front transitions into slower-propagating localized cracks. We develop a peridynamic model for polycrystalline AlON to investigate the failure evolution observed in experiments. We use a computational polycrystalline structure with the same average grain size as the samples used in experiments. The peridynamic model helps explain the reasons behind the observed failure front supershear propagation speed (higher than 2 times the shear wave speed), and the subsequent transition to sub-Rayleigh propagating localized cracks. The computed propagation speeds for the damage front, and the cracks that emanate from it, match very well those measured in experiments. Elastic anisotropy, material microstructure, and brittle failure are the only ingredients used here to determine damage evolution in edge-on impact on brittle polycrystalline materials, under no confinement. Other possible dissipation mechanisms, like twinning, plasticity, friction, are not included in the model. These are likely second-order effects in the evolution of damage and failure for this material and at these impact speeds.
A reverse-coupled bipolar coil structure for an integrated LCC-compensated inductive power transfer system

This paper proposes a reverse-coupled bipolar coil structure to realize an integrated LCC-compensated inductive power transfer (IPT) system. Two unipolar coils are connected reversely, resulting in a bipolar structure, which is used as the compensation inductor in an LCC-compensated IPT system. This bipolar coil is integrated into the main coil to save space, and its dimensions are designed to eliminate its magnetic coupling with the same-side main coil and simplify the circuit analysis. The working principle of the integrated IPT system is presented, which shows that the proposed bipolar coil can help improve the system performance with position and angular misalignment in the horizontal plane. A prototype is designed and implemented to validate the proposed bipolar coil structure. The primary coil dimension is 450mm×450mm, and the secondary coil size is 300mm ×300mm. Experiments show that it can achieve 2.15kW power transfer with 89.9% dc-dc efficiency across an airgap of 200mm. When there is 150mm misalignment, the system power and efficiency are not significantly affected, and it can still maintain 80.5% of the well-aligned power with 89.0% efficiency.
Gambling on War: Confidence, Fear, and the Tragedy of the First World War

The First World War left a legacy of chaos that is still with us a century later. Why did European leaders resort to war and why did they not end it sooner? Roger L. Ransom sheds new light on this enduring puzzle by employing insights from prospect theory and notions of risk and uncertainty. He reveals how the interplay of confidence, fear, and a propensity to gamble encouraged aggressive behavior by leaders who pursued risky military strategies in hopes of winning the war. The result was a series of military disasters and a war of attrition which gradually exhausted the belligerents without producing any hope of ending the war. Ultimately, he shows that the outcome of the war rested as much on the ability of the Allied powers to muster their superior economic resources to continue the fight as it did on success on the battlefield.
Interpretation of Urine Electrolytes and Osmolality

Measurement of urine Na+, Cl−, and K+ is rather common in hospitalized patients, and these urine electrolytes are useful in the diagnostic evaluation of volume status, hyponatremia, acute kidney injury (AKI), metabolic alkalosis, hypokalemia, and urine anion gap (urine net charge). A spot urine sample is generally adequate for determination of these electrolytes. In addition, urine creatinine is determined to calculate the fractional excretion of Na+, K+, or other electrolytes. Also, urine osmolality is helpful in the differential diagnosis of hyponatremia, polyuria, and AKI. Table 2.1 summarizes the clinical applications of urine electrolytes and osmolality.
Mitochondrial donation by mesenchymal stromal cells rescues alveolar surfactant secretion in sepsis

In sepsis, bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) protect against acute lung injury (ALI). However, underlying mechanisms are unclear. We reported, MSCs transfer mitochondria to cultu...
2.3 – Protein Structure

This chapter discusses the general principles underlying protein structure. It begins with the chemical structures of the 20 amino acids, grouping them as acidic, basic, polar, or nonpolar. It describes what is meant by hydrophobic and how one could measure hydrophobicity. The peptide bond is discussed. The four levels of protein structure are discussed: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary. The importance of hydrogen bonds, hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions, steric hindrance, and electrostatic interactions is discussed. The use of posttranslational modifications to stabilize protein structure is discussed, including acetylation, methylation, hydroxylation, gamma carboxylation, glycosylation, myristoylation, and phosphorylation. What makes proteins stick in membranes is particularly discussed.
The differentiation and characterization of canine adenoviruses 1 and 2 that are used for vaccine production in the United States

Monoclonal antibodies were produced against the Mirandola strain of canine adenovirus type 1 (CAV-1) and the Manhattan strain of canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2). The monoclonal antibodies were used in an indirect fluorescence-antibody (IFA) test and in an vitro virus neutralization (VN) assay to examine several strains of each viral type, including those used for vaccine production in the United States. Out of 36 monoclonal antibodies produced against the Mirandola strain, 18 were type-specific for CAV-1 by IFA and 13 of those neutralized the virus in vitro. The other 18 antibodies bound both CAV-1 and CAV-2 by IFA; however, 7 of those specifically neutralized only CAV-1. The 160 monoclonal antibodies made against the Manhattan strain of CAV-2 yielded 77 type-specific antibodies by IFA, of which 39 neutralized only CAV-2 in vitro. The remaining 83 monoclonal antibodies recognized both CAV-1 and CAV-2 by IFA, with 3 of those neutralizing both viral types, and none neutralizing only CAV-2. Although type 1 CAV could be readily differentiated from type 2 CAV by using monoclonal antibodies in the IFA and VN tests, strains within each type could not be differentiated. Viral proteins were examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and radioimmune precipitation (RIP) with hyperimmune dog serum to each type. Monoclonal antibodies were also used in RIP to identify the viral proteins associated with type specificity, group specificity, and neutralization.
Dietary diversity is inversely correlated with pre-pregnancy body mass index among women in a Michigan pregnancy cohort.

Background During pregnancy, healthy maternal body weight and a nutritionally complete diet provide a favorable environment for fetal development. Yet nearly two-thirds of women of reproductive age in the United States (US) are either overweight or obese. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between a measure of dietary diversity and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of women enrolled in a US pregnancy cohort. Methods Dietary data was obtained from one 24-hour dietary recall collected during the third trimester of pregnancy (n = 40). Pre-pregnancy BMI was calculated from pre-pregnancy weight and height self-reported by survey at the time of enrollment. Using the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) indicator developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, dietary data was categorized and scored. Results Overall, 35% of participants did not achieve minimum dietary diversity (MDD-W ≥5). In addition, 45% of participants were obese, 35% were normal weight and 20% were overweight. Women with higher BMI had lower MDD-W scores than women with lower BMI (p < 0.05). The median MDD-W for both normal and overweight women was ≥5 indicating that normal and overweight pregnant women tended to consume a diet that was high in micronutrients. Conversely, the median MDD-W for obese women was below 5 meaning these women tended to consume a diet that was low in micronutrient density. The most commonly consumed food group was grain. In addition, 75% of all participants consumed sweetened drinks. Individuals with an MDD-W score ≥5, were more likely to have consumed dark green leafy vegetables, vitamin A-rich fruits or vegetables, other vegetables and other fruits than those with MDD-W scores <5. Discussion In this study, we show that a food group diversity indicator that has been shown to reflect adequacy of micronutrient intake in populations from less economically developed countries may also be informative in US populations. Furthermore, these results reflect the importance of encouraging all pregnant women with less varied diets to consume more fruits and vegetables.
Translational Methods in Nephrology: Individual Treatment Effect Modeling

When we treat a patient, we are guided by the ethical principle of beneficence: to do good for them. How often do we achieve that goal? The best available data on interventions tested in randomized trials suggest that, even for medications that are efficacious on a population level, our
Afraid of the stock market

This study demonstrates the way investors psychological traits influence their financial behaviors in the stock market. Results from the Health and Retirement Study show that anxious individuals are reluctant to participate in the stock market and have a lower level of risky investments. Anxiety’s effect is more pronounced for less educated investors, implying that anxiety about the unknown stock market drives this effect. Analysis of individual traumatic experiences as instruments for the current anxiety level suggests a causal effect of anxiety on investment decisions.
Algebraic structures and differential geometry in two-dimensional string theory

Abstract A careful treatment of closed string BRST cohomology shows that there are more discrete states and associated symmetries in D = 2 string theory than has been recognized hitherto. The full structure, at the SU (2) radius, has a natural description in terms of abelian gauge theory on a certain three-dimensional cone Q. We describe precisely how symmetry currents are constructed from the discrete states, explaining the role of the “descent equations”. In the uncompactified theory, we compute the action of the symmetries on the tachyon field, and isolate the features that lead to nonlinear terms in this action. The resulting symmetry structure is interpreted in terms of a homotopy Lie algebra.
Including SN-Curve Uncertainty in Fatigue Reliability Analyses of Wind Turbines

The reliability of wind turbines with respect to fatigue loads is affected by uncertainties in dynamic load effects and the material’s resistance to the fatigue loads. The design standard published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specifies partial safety factors to account for these uncertainties and is intended to produce systems that are reliable with respect to fatigue loading. This paper presents a method to directly propagate the uncertainty in both the dynamic response and the fatigue resistance of a component through to the subsequent accumulated damage. Damage indices are calculated using both the proposed method and the IEC safety factors, providing a comparison of the two uncertainty quantification methods.
Libra and the Art of Task Sizing in Big-Data Analytic Systems

Despite extensive investigation of job scheduling in data-intensive computation frameworks, less consideration has been given to optimizing job partitioning for resource utilization and efficient processing. Instead, partitioning and job sizing are a form of dark art, typically left to developer intuition and trial-and-error style experimentation. In this work, we propose that just as job scheduling and resource allocation are out-sourced to a trusted mechanism external to the workload, so too should be the responsibility for partitioning data as a determinant for task size. Job partitioning essentially involves determining the partition sizes to match the resource allocation at the finest granularity. This is a complex, multi-dimensional problem that is highly application specific: resource allocation, computational runtime, shuffle and reduce communication requirements, and task startup overheads all have strong influence on the most effective task size for efficient processing. Depending on the partition size, the job completion time can differ by as much as 10 times! Fortunately, we observe a general trend underlying the tradeoff between full resource utilization and system overhead across different settings. The optimal job partition size balances these two conflicting forces. Given this trend, we design Libra to automate job partitioning as a framework extension. We integrate Libra with Spark and evaluate its performance on EC2. Compared to state-of-the-art techniques, Libra can reduce the individual job execution time by 25% to 70%.
Engagement in Nonbiomedical Practices for Fertility Enhancement: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: This scoping review aims to (1) describe the scope and coverage of the body of literature on nonbiomedical practices used for enhancing fertility, (2) summarize and map the existing evidence on the extent and types of nonbiomedical practices used, and (3) examine how the research on this topic has been conducted with particular attention paid to how participants are asked about their use of nonbiomedical practices for fertility enhancement. Design: We conducted a scoping review by which four databases were searched (PubMed, Psychinfo, Socindex, and CINHAL). Articles were screened for inclusion by two researchers through a title and abstract screening followed by a full-text screening. Data were extracted from included articles and results summarized and compared across studies and regions. Results: A total of 32 studies were identified from 16 countries in five regions of the world. The majority of studies were clinic-based, primarily recruiting participants from fertility clinics in urban and suburban areas. More than half of the studies included only women, a few studies included only men, and the remainder of studies included both men and women. Most quantitative studies reported the prevalence of nonbiomedical practice use, which ranged from 8% to 83%; however, there was variation across studies regarding the time frame for which these percentages were derived. Few studies reported on other measures of the extent of use such as duration or frequency. A variety of nonbiomedical practices were identified with biologically based treatments, particularly herbal medicine use, being the most common followed by religious and spiritual interventions. Regional differences were identified. Variation in the wording and format of the question(s) used in survey instruments asking participants about their use of nonbiomedical practices exists and may impact participants' reporting of use. Conclusions: Infertility affects millions of individuals worldwide often with severe social, emotional, and financial consequences. To enhance fertility and, in some cases, overcome infertility, many individuals and couples are engaging in a variety of nonbiomedical practices. This scoping review describes the scope and nature of the existing literature on the use of nonbiomedical practices for fertility enhancement and highlights important gaps and limitations in the conduct of this research. A more comprehensive and inclusive investigation of nonbiomedical practices for enhancing fertility is needed to improve our understanding of how individuals and couples are managing infertility, identify educational and counseling needs, and to improve research related to effectiveness and safety of nonbiomedical practices.
Use of Transthoracic Echocardiogram to Detect Left Ventricular Thrombi.

Background The presence of a left ventricular thrombus (LVT) poses a risk of thromboembolic complications and excludes patients from undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation without the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography are used to detect LVT in patients with heart disease; however, the detection validity of these imaging studies has not been definitively elucidated. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients with end-stage heart failure who underwent LVAD implantation from May 2012 to August 2018 in a single center was completed. To be included, patients’ medical records had to have presurgical TTE and transesophageal echocardiographic images, as well as intraoperative digital and visual exploration observations. A total of 301 patients underwent LVAD implantation; 239 of these patients had an LVAD implanted with the use of CPB. A total of 230 patients had complete data sets and were included in the analysis. Results Preoperative TTE identified LVT in 23 of the 230 patients (10%); 15 patients (6.5%) had LVT confirmed by surgical intraventricular visualization. Of the patients with visual LVT confirmation, preoperative TTE identified an LVT in all but 1 case (93%; 14 of 15). Preoperative TTE of LVT had a high sensitivity (94%) and specificity (96%), as well as high negative predictive value (99%). Conclusions The results of this study show that preoperative TTE is highly accurate for LVT detection. The high negative predictive value could have significant implications for the choice of surgical procedure because with TTE, surgeons can reasonably determine whether LVAD placement procedure can be attempted without CPB support.
Interactions between Viperin, IRAK1 and TRAF6 couple innate immune signaling to antiviral ribonucleotide synthesis

Summary Viperin is a radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) enzyme that plays a multifaceted role in the cellular antiviral response. Viperin was recently shown to catalyze the SAM-dependent formation of 3′-deoxy-3′,4′-didehydro-CTP (ddhCTP), which inhibits some viral RNA polymerases. Viperin is also implicated in regulating K63-linked poly-ubiquitination of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase-1 (IRAK1) by the E3 ubiquitin ligase TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 6 (TRAF6) as part of the Toll-like receptor-7 and 9 (TLR7/9) innate immune signaling pathways. We show that IRAK1 and TRAF6 activate viperin to efficiently catalyze the radical-mediated dehydration of CTP to ddhCTP. Furthermore, poly-ubiquitination of IRAK1 requires the association of viperin with IRAK1 and TRAF6. Poly-ubiquitination appears dependent on structural changes induced by SAM binding to viperin but does not require catalytically active viperin. The synergistic activation of viperin and IRAK1 provides a mechanism that couples innate immune signaling with the production of the antiviral nucleotide ddhCTP.
Epidemiology of cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest complicating non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: 18-year US study.

AIMS This study aims to evaluate the impact of the combination of cardiogenic shock (CS) and cardiac arrest (CA) complicating non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). METHODS AND RESULTS Adult (>18 years) NSTEMI admissions using the National Inpatient Sample database (2000 to 2017) were stratified by the presence of CA and/or CS. Outcomes of interest included in-hospital mortality, early coronary angiography, hospitalization costs, and length of stay. Of the 7 302 447 hospitalizations due to NSTEMI, 147 795 (2.0%) had CS only, 155 522 (2.1%) had CA only, and 41 360 (0.6%) had both CS and CA. Compared with 2000, the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) for CS, CA, and both CS and CA in 2017 were 3.75 (3.58-3.92), 1.46 (1.42-1.50), and 4.52 (4.16-4.87), respectively (all P < 0.001). The CS + CA (61.2%) cohort had higher multiorgan failure than CS (42.3%) and CA only (32.0%) cohorts, P < 0.001. The CA only cohort had lower rates of overall (52% vs. 59-60%) and early (17% vs. 18-27%) angiography compared with the other groups (all P < 0.001). CS + CA admissions had higher in-hospital mortality compared with those with CS alone (aOR 4.12 [95% CI 4.00-4.24]), CA alone (aOR 1.69 [95% CI 1.65-1.74]), or without CS/CA (aOR 22.66 [95% CI 22.06-23.27]). The presence of CS, either alone or with CA, was associated with higher hospitalization costs and longer hospital length of stay. CONCLUSIONS The combination of CS and CA is associated with higher rates of acute non-cardiac organ failure and in-hospital mortality in NSTEMI admissions as compared with those with either CS or CA alone.
Percutaneous Implantation of Adult Sized Stents for Coarctation of the Aorta in Children ≤20 kg: A 12-Year Experience.

Background: Stent implantation (SI) is more effective than balloon angioplasty for the treatment of coarctation of the aorta (CoA). Due to technical factors, balloon angioplasty is more commonly pe...
Let it rip: the mechanics of self-bisection in asexual planarians determines their population reproductive strategies.

Asexual freshwater planarians reproduce by transverse bisection (binary fission) into two pieces. This process produces a head and a tail, which fully regenerate within 1-2 weeks. How planarians split into two offspring - using only their musculature and substrate traction - is a challenging biomechanics problem. We found that three different species, Dugesia japonica, Girardia tigrina and Schmidtea mediterranea, have evolved three different mechanical solutions to self-bisect. Using time lapse imaging of the fission process, we quantitatively characterize the main steps of division in the three species and extract the distinct and shared key features. Across the three species, planarians actively alter their body shape, regulate substrate traction, and use their muscles to generate tensile stresses large enough to overcome the ultimate tensile strength of the tissue. Moreover, we show that how each planarian species divides dictates how resources are split among its offspring. This ultimately determines offspring survival and reproductive success. Thus, heterospecific differences in the mechanics of self-bisection of individual worms explain the observed differences in the population reproductive strategies of different planarian species.
Theories of Semantics on the Web

In this chapter, we explore theories of semantics for the Web. In particular, we first inspect the source of the fission, what is known as the ‘Identity Crisis’ of the Semantic Web, which first became visible as an argument between Hayes and Berners-Lee. This problem has as its root the issue of how to determine what a URI means or refers to. We inspect the original theory of meaning, the theory of sense and reference by Frege. Then we move to theories of semantics that attempted to get rid of the notion of sense, namely logical atomism, and notice its similarity with certain interpretations of the formal semantics of the Semantic Web, even though the formal semantics of the Semantic Web makes no appeal to ‘sense-data.’ Then the famous counter-argument, the causal theory of reference of Kripke and its extension to natural kinds by Putnam is introduced. An extended parallel is shown between this Kripkean theory of the Web and Berners-Lee’s position is elaborated. Finally, we return to Frege’s notion of sense in search of a third tenable position.
The Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Economic Checks and Balances

This article examines contract law’s role in the subprime mortgage crisis, specifically in the way that the laissez faire paradigm of traditional contract law focuses on the self-interest of the contractual parties and in the way contract law has led to a business culture dominated by a “survival of the fittest” mentality.
HAVENN: horizontally and vertically expandable neural networks

The toughest challenge facing hardware designers of artificial neural networks is the expandability problem, since no single VLSI chip is likely to accommodate all components of a real world application. In this paper, the authors present a microelectronic system architecture with virtually unlimited expandability at a relatively low cost in additional hardware and reduced system performance. The horizontally and vertically expandable neural network (HAVENN) architecture consists of three types of chips: a single layer neural network chip, a summer chip and a repeater chip. The most important features of the proposed architecture are: a balanced distribution of(circuit) complexity between board level and chip level, easy implementation, true parallel operation and versatility. >
A unified framework for filterbank and time-frequency basis vectors in ASR frontends

For many years, filterbanks have been widely used as one step of frontend feature extraction for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). In this paper, we propose a unified framework for ASR frontends, by first moving the nonlinear amplitude scaling, and then combining the filterbank weights with the cosine basis vectors. As part of this framework, we also show that the delta terms used to encode feature dynamics can also be viewed as one realization of a set of “unified” basis vectors over time. With this framework, frontends can be developed, analyzed and evaluated through their basis vectors over frequency and time.