cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract LB-90: DUPA-99mTc localizes to prostate cancer in men with locally advanced and metastatic disease.

Objectives: Currently, the absence of an effective prostate cancer targeted imaging agent limits the ability to correctly clinically stage prostate cancer. The conjugation of a high affinity PSMA-targeting ligand, 2-[3-(1, 3-dicarboxy propyl)-ureido] pentanedioic acid (DUPA) to technetium 99m (99mTc) has generated a new prostate cancer imaging agent termed DUPA-99mTc. The objective of this phase 0 clinical trial was to confirm the preclinical data demonstrating high affinity localization to human prostate cancer cells and tissues. Methods: Nine men with advanced and metastatic prostate cancer confirmed by CT scan and/or bone scan were enrolled in the Phase 0 trial to investigate both the biologic efficacy and toxicity of the DUPA-99mTc agent. Dosimetry studies of images, blood and urine at 5 and 20 mCi doses were obtained at baseline, 5 min, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours. Results: Nine men with documented prostate cancer were enrolled. Seven of the nine subjects were evaluable. One patient did not receive a full iv dose and another received poorly labeled DUPA-99mTc (70%). The remaining seven patients, who received DUPA-99mTc in excess of 95% labeled product, demonstrated localization to all cancerous areas seen on pre-enrollment images (CT and Bone Scans) plus additional lesions in several of the patients. Two men who had biopsy-confirmed locally recurrent prostate cancer had scans prior to resection, and tissue was monitored intra-operatively and ex-vivo to confirm the higher 99mTc counts in malignant tissue compared to normal tissue. No significant toxicity was demonstrated with administration of the DUPA-99mTc in any subject. Conclusions: DUPA-99mTc compound can be reliably administered to men with prostate cancer without toxicities and with equal or superior imaging compared to conventional CT and bone scans. A Phase I/II trial will be conducted to confirm the performance of this imaging agent in a larger patient population. Citation Format: Thomas A. Gardner, James W. Fletcher, Song-Chu Ko, Philip S. Low, Timothy L. Ratliff. DUPA-99mTc localizes to prostate cancer in men with locally advanced and metastatic disease. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-90. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-LB-90
Variations in the vitamin B12 content of selected samples of pork and beef muscle.

In a recent paper1 a fairly quantitative assay procedure for a growth factor in liver preparations was described. This assay procedure involves placing rats on the basal ration for a 2 week depletion period and following the growth response during another 2 week period when the material to be tested is given. Further work has shown that crystalline vitamin B12 will give a quantitative response in this assay (Fig. 1).
EPR line shifts and line shape changes due to Heisenberg spin exchange and dipole-dipole interactions of nitroxide free radicals in liquids: 9. An alternative method to separate the effects of the two interactions employing ¹⁵N and ¹⁴N.

A method to separate the effects of Heisenberg spin exchange (HSE) and dipole–dipole (DD) interactions on EPR spectra of nitroxide spin probes in solution by employing 15N and 14N nitroxide spin probes in parallel experiments is developed theoretically and tested experimentally. Comprehensive EPR measurements are reported of 4-oxo-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-d16;1-15N-1-oxyl (perdeuterated 15N Tempone; 15pDT), in 70 wt % aqueous glycerol as functions of concentration and temperature. The method, termed the relative broadening constant method (RBCM), is demonstrated by using the present results together with those in the literature that employed perdeuterated 14N Tempone (14pDT) under identical conditions. In principle, the separation of DD and HSE is dependent on the model of diffusion and molecular-kinetic parameters; however, within present day experimental uncertainties, the RBCM method turns out to be insensitive to the model. The earlier methods to separate DD and HSE by measuring the dispersion co...
Some Thoughts on Sican Marked Adobes and Labor Organization

This paper explores the applicability of the segmentary construction-labor tax model of marked adobe distribution proposed for the solid adobe Mochica pyramids in the Moche Valley on the Peruvian North Coast for Middle Sican monumental architecture in Batan Grande farther north. The model is found inadequate to account for the Middle Sican brick-marking pattern characterized by, among other things, a very high frequency of marking and lack of a one-to-one correspondence between brick size/shape and mark. The difference seems due in part to the chamber-fill building technique of the Middle Sican pyramids which required large scale, unitary construction. Cluster analysis was carried out to assess the relative merits of various alternative models. The most plausible models are those that posit a relatively complex labor organization and specify the role of local, lower-level administrators.
The effect of profound dehydration on electrical impedance of mouseskeletal muscle.

To determine if electrical impedance myography (EIM) technique can still be used safely to monitor muscle in cases of severe dehydration, we measured the electrical impedance at 1 kHz - 1 MHz (37 frequencies) of n=8 wild type mice during 48 h of fluid deprivation and compared to the results of n=8 mice that were provided with water ad libitum. Based on the relative change in the R0 (8% p=0.59) parameter from the Cole impedance model, there is a non-significant change in regard to the muscle extracellular fluid when compared to the relative change of body weight and body water loss (19.6% p<0.0001 and 26.1% p<0.0001 respectively). The negligible changes of the phase at 50 kHz (1% p=0.88) confirm both the muscle fibers structural integrity and viability remained intact for that period of time. Accordingly, EIM can still be used to determine the status of muscle even during profound dehydration.
A XPS investigation of SO2 adsorption on ceria–zirconia mixed-metal oxides

Abstract The interaction between ceria–zirconia mixed-metal oxide model catalysts and SO2 was studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). An in situ reaction cell was employed to expose the polycrystalline ceria–zirconia mixed-metal oxide catalyst wafers to various partial pressures of SO2 at elevated temperatures. Six compositions of CeO2/ZrO2 solid solutions were examined in this study, which include CeO2/ZrO2 molar ratios of 1:0, 9:1, 7:3, 5:5, 2:8, and 0:1. The samples were exposed to SO2 at temperatures from 298 to 873 K and pressures reaching 1000 Torr. XPS results show an increased adsorption of SO2 at either elevated temperatures or higher ceria mole fractions. Additionally, both a sulfate (SO4) and sulfite (SO3) surface species were identified. No significant change in sulfate-to-sulfite ratio as a function of temperature, exposure pressure, or composition was observed under the conditions of this study. However, surface hydroxyl functionalization was found to play an important role in the adsorption of sulfur dioxide on the materials studied.
S05.4 Potential incongruities in relative measures of disparities in sexually transmitted diseases

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in pregnancy prevalent in many resource limited settings are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes that include spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, preterm rupture of membranes, premature delivery and postpartum endometritis. Antenatal clinic attendance provides opportunity to screen the women for STIs, offer prompt treatment for curable STIs or prophylaxis for viral infections such as HIV and to promote prevention. Although routine screening for syphilis and HIV is recommended as part of antenatal care (ANC), optimal screening rates have not been achieved. This is due antenatal clinic non-attendance, non-availability of screening tests and where available, health system inefficiencies such long wait time before test results are available or need for women to make return visits to receive results. Use of point-of care tests that detect syphilis and HIV have been shown to increase the number of women tested for HIV and syphilis, are inexpensive, easy to use and do not require a sophisticated laboratory. In resource limited settings, prompt detection and treatment of the other STIs is hampered by lack of screening tests. Often, health providers rely on syndromic approach to diagnose and manage STIs. This approach alleviates the need for laboratory services but misses women with asymptomatic infections and has poor diagnostic performance. Pregnant women with STIs are at an increased risk of acquiring HIV and transmitting the infection to their infants. Increased availability of HIV testing and provision of effective PMTCT regimens has dramatically reduced the number of new paediatric HIV infections. However, STIs, apart from HIV, have not been viewed as a public health priority and adequate resources allocated to combat them. To optimise maternal and infant outcomes, there is need to prioritise development of low-cost tests to detect STIs during pregnancy and to ensure women are provided with effective treatment promptly.
Transition State Features in the Hepatitis Delta Virus Ribozyme Reaction Revealed by Atomic Perturbations.

Endonucleolytic ribozymes constitute a class of non-coding RNAs that catalyze single-strand RNA scission. With crystal structures available for all of the known ribozymes, a major challenge involves relating functional data to the physically observed RNA architecture. In the case of the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme, there are three high-resolution crystal structures, the product state of the reaction and two precursor variants, with distinct mechanistic implications. Here, we develop new strategies to probe the structure and catalytic mechanism of a ribozyme. First, we use double-mutant cycles to distinguish differences in functional group proximity implicated by the crystal structures. Second, we use a corrected form of the Bronsted equation to assess the functional significance of general acid catalysis in the system. Our results delineate the functional relevance of atomic interactions inferred from structure, and suggest that the HDV ribozyme transition state resembles the cleavage product in ...
Recycler barrier RF buckets

The Recycler Ring at Fermilab uses a barrier rf systems for all of its rf manipulations. In this paper, I will give an overview of historical perspective on barrier rf system, the longitudinal beam dynamics issues, aspects of rf linearization to produce long flat bunches and methods used for emittance measurements of the beam in the RR barrier rf buckets. Current rf manipulation schemes used for antiproton beam stacking and longitudinal momentum mining of the RR beam for the Tevatron collider operation are explained along with their importance in spectacular success of the Tevatron luminosity performance.
Golding's the Spire as an Architectonic Novel

In his article "Golding's The Spire as an Architectonic Novel" Stephan Schaffrath analyzes William Golding's work as an excellent example of one of Mikhail Bakhtin's early critical concepts. In contrast to most literary entertainment which thrives on the readers' suspension of disbelief, The Spire challenges readers to actively and consciously interpret its text, thus raising readers' awareness as participants in the reading act. The Spire achieves this by presenting readers with a novelistic world seen more or less through the eyes of a pseudo narrator, a third-person narration style that consistently and regularly — yet subtly — delves into the main character's mind. The Spire constitutes a commentary on the human tendency to take positivistic shortcuts in epistemological endeavors by building into its narrative fabric Bakhtin's notion of the once-occurrent, never-repeatable nature of one and every act. Stephan Schaffrath, "Golding's The Spire as an Architectonic Novel" page 2 of 8 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 18.1 (2016):
Irreversible electroporation in the curative treatment of Ewing's sarcoma.

Ewing9s sarcoma (ES) is the second most common paediatric cancer of the bone. Standard therapy includes surgery or radiation for local control of primary and relapsed lesions and chemotherapy for systemic control. Irreversible electroporation (IRE), which uses short electrical pulses to induce pores and ablate neoplastic cells, has emerged as an alternative method of local control for inoperable metastatic liver and lung lesions. We present the first case in which IRE was used for local control of bony ES. This method has achieved successful local tumour control in our patient for 3 years.
Hybrid cloud support for large scale analytics and web processing

Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) systems, such as Google App Engine (GAE), simplify web application development and cloud deployment by providing developers with complete software stacks: runtime systems and scalable services accessible from well-defined APIs. Extant PaaS offerings are designed and specialized to support large numbers of concurrently executing web applications (multi-tier programs that encapsulate and integrate business logic, user interface, and data persistence). To enable this, PaaS systems impose a programming model that places limits on available library support, execution duration, data access, and data persistence. Although successful and scalable for web services, such support is not as amenable to online analytical processing (OLAP), which have variable resource requirements and require greater flexibility for ad-hoc query and data analysis. OLAP of web applications is key to understanding how programs are used in live settings. In this work, we empirically evaluate OLAP support in the GAE public cloud, discuss its benefits, and limitations. We then present an alternate approach, which combines the scale of GAE with the flexibility of customizable offline data analytics. To enable this, we build upon and extend the AppScale PaaS - an open source private cloud platform that is API-compatible with GAE. Our approach couplesGAE and AppScale to provide a hybrid cloud that transparently shares data between public and private platforms, and decouples public application execution from private analytics over the same datasets. Our extensions to AppScale eliminate the restrictions GAE imposes and integrates popular data analytic programming models to provide a framework for complex analytics, testing, and debugging of live GAE applications with low overhead and cost.
The Geopolitics of European Regionalism: Competing European/Eurasian Perspectives

This chapter is concerned with the geopolitical lens of European regionalism. It examines the order-creation effects of the EU’s relationship with the wider Europe on the example of the European Neighborhood Policy, the EU’s core Eurasian policy. Such questions add another dimension to the focus on sustainability with regard to the classical method of expansion of EU-centered regionalism implemented under the EU’s enlargement policy. The chapter integrates insights from international relations theory and foreign policy analysis in order to explore the interaction between the EU and its neighbors to the East with a special focus on Russia’s competing model of Eurasian regionalism, embedded in the Eurasian Economic Union.
Smart physical layer based directional communication networking

In this paper, a smart physical layer based directional communication networking approach is described. It consists of “smart nodes,” equipped with multiple directional antennas and propagation modeling capabilities. This approach brings more “intelligence” (digital logic) in the physical layer to enable full directional communication networking operation without requiring changes in the upper OSI layers. Smart nodes consist of six-sectors, each having a scanning array for user discovery and a dynamic beamforming array for maintaining communication with users. Procedures are developed to enable seamless full-directional link between mobile users and smart nodes, within WiFi and LTE set standards. Simulations are performed using Matlab, and obtained results show successful tracking and continued maintenance of high data rate communication with mobile users.
You’ve Got It! Pronouns Increase Self-Referencing and Engagement on Facebook: An Abstract

Producing engaging brand-to-fan communications is critical when marketing on social networking sites such as Facebook. This research conducts a textual analysis of brand-to-fan interactions on Facebook and finds that consumer engagement is enhanced when second-person pronouns (e.g., “you”) are included in brand posts. A behavioral experiment confirms this relationship and identifies consumer self-referencing as a mediator. These results offer managers a subtle approach for increasing consumer engagement with brand communications on popular social networking sites such as Facebook.
Abstract 633: Protein Kinase D Regulates VEGFR-2 Transcriptional Activity in Endothelial Cells Through AP-2β

Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF) signals primarily through its cognate receptor VEGFR-2 to control vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. Dysregulation of these physiological processes contributes to the pathologies of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Protein kinase D (PKD) plays a crucial role in the regulation of angiogenesis by modulating endothelial cell proliferation and migration. In human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOEC), knockdown of PKD-1 or PKD-2 downregulates VEGFR-2 and significantly inhibits VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation and migration. We sought to determine the molecular mechanism through which PKD modulates VEGFR-2 expression. Based on bioinformatics data, activating enhancer binding protein 2 (AP2) binding sites exist within the VEGFR-2 promoter. Thus, we hypothesized PKD may downregulate VEGFR-2 through AP2-mediated transcriptional repression of the VEGFR-2 promoter. Indeed, AP2β binds the VEGFR-2 promoter upon PKD knockdown in HUVEC as evident by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Luciferase reporter assays using serial deletions of AP2β binding sites within the VEGFR-2 promoter revealed transcriptional activity negatively correlated with the number of AP2β binding sites, thus confirming negative regulation of VEGFR-2 transcription by AP2β. Next, using siRNA, we demonstrated that upregulation of AP2β decreased VEGFR-2 expression and loss of AP2β enhanced VEGFR-2 expression. In vivo studies confirmed this finding as we observed increased VEGFR-2 immunostaining in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord of embryonic day 13 AP2β knockout mice. We hypothesize that PKD directly regulates AP2β function by serine phosphorylation and ongoing studies are being conducted to determine phosphorylation sites in AP2β directly regulated by PKD. Taken together, we demonstrate AP2β negatively regulates VEGFR-2 transcription and VEGFR-2 is a major downstream target of PKD. Our findings describing how PKD regulates angiogenesis may contribute to the development of therapies to improve the clinical outcome of patients afflicted by heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Venous Stents: Current Status and Future Directions

Venous outflow obstruction is a dominant contributor to chronic venous disease. Treatment of venous disease has historically been limited by available vascular stent technology not specifically designed for the venous system. The ideal venous stent must provide requisite flexibility, strength, and accurate deployment for the anatomical and pathophysiological conditions of chronic venous disease. Venous stent technology is advancing with multiple dedicated venous stents currently available in Europe and with investigational device exemption studies ongoing in the United States. These technological advancements are promising for patients suffering from chronic venous disease. This article discusses the current status and future directions of venous stents.
Stockout risk of production-inventory systems with compound Poisson demands

Abstract Production-inventory systems with continuous production or continuous manufacturing have been implemented in a variety of manufacturing contexts. Most recently, the Commissioner of the FDA has called on drug and biological product manufacturers to begin switching from batch manufacturing processes to continuous production. Motivated by prevailing applications and the emerging and promising landscape in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, this paper studies a continuous-review production-inventory system with a constant production rate and compound Poisson demands, in which the cost of the system is assessed via inventory holding, stockout penalty and production costs. For any initial inventory, we derive a closed-form expression for the expected discounted cost function until stockout occurrence. We systemically quantify the stockout risk on four different dimensions (i.e., time, volume, frequency and percentage) and derive explicit expressions for each type of risk metric. The objective is to derive the production rate that minimizes the expected discounted system cost subject to a given risk tolerance level on stockouts. With the aid of the derived explicit forms of stockout risk and the cost function, we develop a computationally-efficient algorithm for the optimal solution. Extensive numerical studies are conducted to illustrate our results with rich insights. Numerically, we show that it is outrageously costly to reduce stockout risk, especially when this risk is relatively low; the value of risk is more sensitive to the stockout risk level if the demand distribution has a higher volatility.
TCTAP C-148 Revascularization of Chronic Total Occlusion to Facilitate Weaning from Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Patients with Cardiogenic Shock

### Patient Initials or Identifier Number Mr. C. (case 1) and Mr. T. (case 2) ### Relevant Clinical History and Physical Exam Case 1: Mr. C, a 45 y/o man without underlying disease but a smoking history for >20 years, presented with AMI and profound cardiogenic shock and then VT attacked. CPCR
Endocrine Responses to Stressful Psychological Events

Hormonal response is one of the three major effector systems of the central nervous system. Early work in the field emphasized the ubiquity of endocrine responses to a wide variety of stressful stimuli, as if stress response represented one final common pathway. More recent research has appreciated the significance of individual differences in the responses of human subjects confronted with challenging or threatening stimuli, and has also shown the relevance of whether the individual perceives the event as potentially challenging or threatening.
Phylogenetics of New World ‘justicioids’ (Justicieae: Acanthaceae): Major Lineages, Morphological Patterns, and Widespread Incongruence with Classification

The New World ‘justicioid’ lineage (Acanthaceae: Acanthoideae: Justicieae) includes about 500 species and encompasses extensive variation in flower shape, size, and color along with remarkable diversity in anther, seed, and pollen mophology. Species richness of this lineage is due to the inclusion of the New World members of the polyphyletic genus Justicia in addition to five smaller Neotropical genera: Cephalacanthus, Clistax, Harpochilus, Megaskepasma, and Poikilacanthus. Although previous studies have shown that the New World ‘justicioid’ lineage is monophyletic, none have focused specifically on relationships among these plants nor has the current infrageneric classification of Justicia for the New World been tested. This is the first phylogenetic study to include a dense sample of taxa from the New World ‘justicioid’ lineage. We use DNA sequence data for five plastid, nuclear ribosomal ITS, and one low copy nuclear region (8315 bp) for 134 in-group taxa to estimate the phylogenetic framework for the group, and test the current infrageneric classification of New World Justicia. Most of the currently recognized sections of New World ‘justicioids’ are not monophyletic. On the other hand, our phylogenetic results identify nine major clades, many of which are supported by a combination of structural traits. The results of this study provide a foundation for the placement of other species of New World Justicia that have yet to be sampled for phylogenetic analysis, as well as for future comparative studies of evolutionary processes and revisionary work on this diverse and complex lineage.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging for IMRT

3.4 Clinical Applications of MRI/MRS . . . . . . . . . . . 179 3.4.1 Recent Advances in MR Imaging . . . . . . . . 179 3.4.2 Applications in Head and Neck Cancer . . . . . 180 3.4.3 Applications in Breast Cancer . . . . . . . . . . 180 3.4.4 Applications in Lung and Elsewhere . . . . . . 180 3.4.5 Potential Applications of MRSI in Treatment Planning for Radiotherapy . . . . . . . . . . . 181 3.4.6 MRSI for Brain Gliomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 3.4.7 MRI Combined with MRSI for Prostate Cancer 182 3.4.8 Other Potential Applications of MRSI for Cancer182 3.4.9 Potential of MRSI for Targeting IMRT . . . . . 183
Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera y la voz de las cosas

En este articulo quiero reflexionar acerca de la relacion entre cultura material y produccion literaria durante el fin del siglo. Lo hare examinando una serie de cronicas del escritor modernista mexicano Manuel Gutierrez Najera, "Memorias de un paraguas" y "Historia de un peso falso". Leo dichas cronicas como textos representativos de un modernismo no tanto atraido por el lujo y la moda, sino mas bien preocupado y atento a los objetos "banales" de uso cotidiano. Textos que, como quiero proponer, apuntan a la redefinicion de las mismas categorias de sujeto, objeto, mercancia, o cosa, y que nos muestran un nuevo pacto entre palabra y objeto.
Error analysis of oral paragraph reading in individuals with aphasia

Background: Acquired reading impairments that commonly occur in individuals with aphasia can significantly impact their quality of life. Few studies have examined errors during oral connected text ...
The Borderland of Fear: Vincennes, Prophetstown, and the Invasion of the Miami Homeland

Review of: The Borderland of Fear: Vincennes, Prophetstown, and the Invasion of the Miami Homeland, by Patrick Bottiger
Large-alphabet encoding for higher-rate quantum key distribution

The manipulation of high-dimensional degrees of freedom provides new opportunities for more efficient quantum information processing. It has recently been shown that high-dimensional encoded states can provide significant advantages over binary quantum states in applications of quantum computation and quantum communication. In particular, high-dimensional quantum key distribution enables higher secret-key generation rates under practical limitations of detectors or light sources, as well as greater error tolerance. Here, we demonstrate high-dimensional quantum key distribution capabilities both in the laboratory and over a deployed fiber, using photons encoded in a high-dimensional alphabet to increase the secure information yield per detected photon. By adjusting the alphabet size, it is possible to mitigate the effects of receiver bottlenecks and optimize the secret-key rates for different channel losses. This work presents a strategy for achieving higher secret-key rates in receiver-limited scenarios and marks an important step toward high-dimensional quantum communication in deployed fiber networks.
Interviral Recombination between Plant, Insect, and Fungal RNA Viruses: Role of the Intracellular Ca 2+ /Mn 2+ Pump.

Recombination is one of the driving forces of viral evolution. RNA recombination events among similar RNA viruses are frequent, although RNA recombination could also take place among unrelated viruses. In this paper, we have established efficient interviral recombination systems based on yeast and plants. We show that diverse RNA viruses, including the plant viruses tomato bushy stunt virus, carnation Italian ringspot virus, and turnip crinkle virus-associated RNA; the insect plus-strand RNA [(+)RNA] viruses Flock House virus and Nodamura virus; and the double-stranded L-A virus of yeast, are involved in interviral recombination events. Most interviral recombinants are minus-strand recombinant RNAs, and the junction sites are not randomly distributed, but there are certain hot spot regions. Formation of interviral recombinants in yeast and plants is accelerated by depletion of the cellular SERCA-like Pmr1 ATPase-driven Ca2+/Mn2+ pump, regulating intracellular Ca2+ and Mn2+ influx into the Golgi apparatus from the cytosol. The interviral recombinants are generated by a template-switching mechanism during RNA replication by the viral replicase. Replication studies revealed that a group of interviral recombinants is replication competent in cell-free extracts, in yeast, and in the plant Nicotiana benthamiana We propose that there are major differences among the viral replicases to generate and maintain interviral recombinants. Altogether, the obtained data promote the model that host factors greatly contribute to the formation of recombinants among related and unrelated viruses. This is the first time that a host factor's role in affecting interviral recombination is established.IMPORTANCE Viruses with RNA genomes are abundant, and their genomic sequences show astonishing variation. Genetic recombination in RNA viruses is a major force behind their rapid evolution, enhanced pathogenesis, and adaptation to their hosts. We utilized a previously identified intracellular Ca2+/Mn2+ pump-deficient yeast to search for interviral recombinants. Noninfectious viral replication systems were used to avoid generating unwanted infectious interviral recombinants. Altogether, interviral RNA recombinants were observed between plant and insect viruses, and between a fungal double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus and an insect virus, in the yeast host. In addition, interviral recombinants between two plant virus replicon RNAs were identified in N. benthamiana plants, in which the intracellular Ca2+/Mn2+ pump was depleted. These findings underline the crucial role of the host in promoting RNA recombination among unrelated viruses.
Corrosion effects on the bond behaviour of steel bars in self-compacting concrete

Abstract This paper presents an experimental investigation conducted in order to evaluate the bond strength behaviour of reinforced self-compacted concrete elements under corrosion conditions. Reinforced block and beam samples were formulated using deformed steel bars with dimensions of O12.5 mm and O25 mm. The hardened concrete samples were either cured in tap water or exposed to salt solution with concentrations similar to those available in the soil and groundwater at the southern parts of Iraq. A suitable epoxy was used for coating part of the formulated samples. The preliminary mechanical properties and the rate of corrosion were firstly measured, the pullout and flexural bond-slip tests were then carried out. A comparison was also made with the relevant code of practice. The results obtained showed that both of compressive strength and density features exhibited notable increase at early ages when the samples are exposed to salt solution. The adverse effect of such curing condition appeared at the later ages when the corrosion rate became more intensive. The highest decrease in the value of pullout strength was observed for the reinforced concrete block samples containing epoxy coating reaching to 44.5% less than those cured in tap water. Identical behaviour was also noted for the flexural bond-slip aspect. An appreciable improvement was suggested for the expression of bond strength proposed by the CEB-FIP (CEB-FIP, 2010).
Fast Thompson Sampling Algorithm with Cumulative Oversampling: Application to Budgeted Influence Maximization.

We propose a cumulative oversampling (CO) technique for Thompson Sampling (TS) to construct optimistic parameter estimates with significantly fewer samples than existing oversampling frameworks. We apply CO to a novel budgeted variant of the Influence Maximization (IM) semi-bandits with linear generalization of edge weights. Combining CO with the oracle we design for the offline problem, our online learning algorithm simultaneously tackles budget allocation, parameter learning, and reward maximization. We show that for IM semi-bandits, our TS-based algorithm achieves a scaled regret comparable to that of the best UCB-based algorithms while significantly outperforming UCB-based alternatives in numerical experiments. Before this work, TS-based algorithms for IM semi-bandits had larger regret bounds that were linearly dependent on the reciprocal of the minimum observation probability of an edge.
Symposium: endocrinologyUnderstanding rickets

Rickets is a condition that has been recognized for many centuries and is due to defective mineralization of the growth plate in growing children. This defect compromises the mechanical support and mineral reservoir functions of the skeleton which leads to the typical skeletal deformities and the disordered mineral metabolism. Either calcium and/or phosphate may be deficient in the aetiology of rickets. Considerable advances in the pathophysiology of hypophosphataemic rickets have been made in recent years. Advances in genetics have led to the identification of all forms of inherited rickets. However nutritional vitamin D deficiency rickets remains the most prevalent cause worldwide and has made a resurgence in many developed countries in recent years. This article reviews the current knowledge about the different causes of rickets and provides guidelines on diagnosis and management.
Pragmatic randomized trial of a pre-visit intervention to improve the quality of telemedicine visits for vulnerable patients living with HIV.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has required a shift of many routine primary care visits to telemedicine, potentially widening disparities in care access among vulnerable populations. In a public...
Understanding Social-Mediated Disaster and Risk Communication with Topic Model

To aid mitigating disaster and risk, this chapter concentrates on identifying the complex disaster and risk communication patterns with a particular focus on open discussions about disasters on social media. It reviews the literature on disaster and risk communication along with the introduction of the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication model (CERC). This chapter highlights the importance of utilizing big data tools to unpack the conundrum of social-mediated disaster and risk communication. Lastly, it includes a case study that aims to understand the communication patterns that emerged from the Hurricane Maria resolution stage. Topic modeling, semantic analysis, content analysis, and word-cloud were integrated to capture five topics related to Hurricane Maria: food support, mental and physical health, fatalities, government’s responses, and water supply. Findings suggest that the public was concerned about inadequate support for the victims of Hurricane Maria and worried about how the affected community could recover from the disaster. Government and emergency management agencies should advance social media use in future management plans to initiate interactive communication. These institutions should utilize social media to recognize the public’s concerns, communicate remediation, and offer relief responses in a timely manner.
AFRO-DESCENDANT WOMEN SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFICIARIES AND THEIR PERCEPTIONS ABOUT CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS IN BRAZIL AND THE UNITED STATES

This article examines Afro-descendant women social welfare beneficiaries’ political perceptions of conservative-leaning politicians. Low-income Afro-descendant women are often not the focus in political opinion studies. This study focuses on this subset of the population. These women shed light on the political climate in both Brazil and the USA in 2018. In-depth interviews were conducted in the Brazilian city, Salvador and the American city, Milwaukee. These interviews reveal that low-income Afro-descendant women overwhelmingly shared negative opinions of Michel Temer and Donald Trump and these women tended to vote for the left-leaning candidate in presidential elections.
No Spurious Solutions in Non-convex Matrix Sensing: Structure Compensates for Isometry

The paper is concerned with the theoretical explanation of the recent empirical success of solving the low-rank matrix sensing problem via nonconvex optimization. It is known that under an incoherence assumption (namely, RIP) on the sensing operator, the optimization problem has no spurious local minima. This assumption is too strong for real-world applications where the amount of data cannot be sufficiently high. We develop the notion of Kernel Structure Property (KSP), which can be used alone or combined with RIP in this context. KSP explains how the inherent structure of an operator contributes to the non-existence of spurious local minima. As a special case, we study sparse sensing operators that have a low-dimensional representation. Using KSP, we obtain novel necessary and sufficient conditions for no spurious solutions in matrix sensing and demonstrate their usefulness in analytical and numerical studies.
Skills Training: How the Master Clinician Understands and Teaches Competencies

Publisher Summary Therapists can either underestimate client's abilities and potential, leading to one set of problematic therapy outcomes, or overestimate clients' abilities, leading to another set of undesirable outcomes. In the case of skill deficits, therapists may need to respond appropriately to them, sometimes by teaching clients how to avoid situations that call for these skills or in the usual case, by teaching clients the requisite skills so they can be more successful emotionally and instrumentally in these situations. Some of the examples of skills training include parent training, marital and couples' skills, assertion training, and social skills training. Psychological skills training relies on the mechanisms of ‘‘learning’’ that are relatively well-researched, clear, and understood, instead of on less well-researched, clear, and understood mechanisms such as cathartic insight or authentic living. Psychological skills training potentially decreases power differentials, and thereby, potential abuses between trainer and client in several ways. By stressing that the trainer relies on and can improve on the same skill as the client, the trainer avoids creating a potentially invidious dichotomy in which the healthy (or rational) is helping the sick (or irrational). Explication of goals gives the client a better basis for independently determining his or her own progress and status. Finally, explicating the content of training (e.g., assertion skills) puts the client in a better position to understand therapy.
Dark adaptation and recovery from light adaptation: smokers versus nonsmokers.

Abstract : Since the published data concerning the effects of smoking on visual sensitivity at night are inconsistent, a new study was initiated to investigate this question. Thirty Army aviators between the ages of 19 and 39 volunteered to participate in this study. Of these subjects, 15 smoked and 15 were non-smokers. Each subject was seated in a light-controlled room and exposed to a standardized bright light for 5 minutes. Immediately after the bright light was extinguished, the subject's visual sensitivity was tested by gradually increasing the intensity of a test light until the subject could see it. This was continued over a period of 35 minutes by which time the subjects had reached their maximum light sensitivity. Each subject then wore a pair of AN/PVS-5 Night Vision Goggles for 5 minutes after which his visual sensitivity again was tested for 20 minutes. Our data do not show any differences in visual sensitivity between aviators who smoke and those who do not smoke. Blood samples were analyzed to compare serum levels of nicotine, cotinine and carboxyhemoglobin with the visual data. Again, no correlation exists between sensitivity and blood measures related to smoking. Aviators who smoke reach the same level of sensitivity to light as non-smokers and they do so in the same amount of time. Visual recovery after wearing the Night Vision Goggles also followed the same time course regardless of smoking history.
Improving Time-To-Collision Estimation by IMM Based Kalman Filter

ABSTRACT In a CAS system, the distance and relative velocity between front and host vehicles are estimated to calculate time-to-collision (TTC). The distance estimates by different methods will certainly include noise which should be removed to ensure the accuracy of TTC calculations. Kalman filter is a good tool to filter such type of noise. Nevertheless, Kalman filter is a model based filter, which means a correct model is important to get the good filtering results. Usually, a vehicle is either moving with a constant velocity (CV) or constant acceleration (CA) maneuvers. This means the distance data between front and host vehicles can be described by either constant velocity or constant acceleration model. In this paper, first, CV and CA models are used to design two Kalman filters and an interacting multiple model (IMM) is used to dynamically combine the outputs from two filters. In detail, IMM technique is used to estimate the mode probabilities for CV and CA based Kalman filters and mix the two filter results based on the mode probabilities. Then the motion equation is used to calculate the TTC based on the distance and velocity estimates obtained from the IMM based filter. The experimental results on both simulated and real estimated distance data are found to be satisfactory and indicate that the proposed algorithm does improve the signal-to-noise ratio of distance data.
Black Hole Accretion Disc Instability and Soft X-Ray Transients

Time dependent behaviour of the accretion discs in low-mass X-ray binaries are studied as a model for soft X-ray transients. For relevant accretion rates, the disc suffers a thermal instability leading to intermittent accretion onto the central compact object. It is shown that the effect of X-ray irradiation of the outer disc by the central disc is small in the case of black hole binaries, and so the propagation of the cooling waves is not prevented.
EPIDEMIOLOGIC ASSOCIATIONS WITH NUCLEAR, CORTICAL, AND POSTERIOR SUBCAPSULAR CATARACTS

Data from the 1971-1972 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used to examine the associations between specific cataract types and age, race, sex, number of years spent in school, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, urban versus rural residence, and average daily ultraviolet spectrum B (UV-B) radiation counts at the site of examination. Separate comparisons were made of persons with no lens changes (n = 1,299) and persons with cortical (n = 55), nuclear (n = 104), and posterior subcapsular cataracts (n = 18). Persons with more than one type of cataract were excluded from the analysis. Cortical cataracts were associated with age (relative risk (RR) = 11.4 for age 70 years vs. age 50 years), race (RR = 3.5 for blacks vs. whites), sex (RR = 3.0 for women vs. men), educational achievement (RR = 1.8 for less than nine years of schooling vs. college), and UV-B count (RR = 3.6 for 6.0 X 10(3) counts vs. (2.6 X 10(3) counts). Nuclear cataracts were associated with age (RR = 38.6 for age 70 years vs. age 50 years), race (RR = 1.8 for black vs. white), and residence (RR = 1.6 for rural vs. urban). Posterior subcapsular cataracts were associated with diabetes (RR = 6.6 for diabetes present vs. diabetes absent) and systolic blood pressure (RR = 2.2 for 160 mmHg vs. 120 mmHg). Cortical cataracts were more common in women and more often found in locations with increased UV-B radiation counts than either nuclear or posterior subcapsular cataracts. In diabetics, the risk of posterior subcapsular cataracts was greater than the risk of nuclear cataracts (p less than 0.05) and also appeared to be greater than the risk of cortical cataracts (p = 0.06).
Collection of Clinical and Epidemiological Data for Genetic Linkage and Association Studies

Modern gene-mapping can include linkage studies, which correlate the presence of disease to broad genomic regions in either small or large family units, and association studies, which can narrow the location of a disease-predisposing trait to a single gene using either case-control or family data. This unit provides an overview of key concepts and presents guidelines for collecting diagnostic, epidemiological, and genealogical data from potential study participants. The commentary discusses the use of publicly available data from online resources, methods for evaluating evidence of genetic versus environmental influences in a disease or disease-related endophenotype, and use of e-forms to capture data electronically. Curr. Protoc. Hum. Genet. 72:1.1.1-1.1.20 © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: genetics and genomics; genetic linkage analysis; genetic association analysis
Vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for childhood allergic disease and asthma

Purpose of review Over the past 2 years, the number of studies relating vitamin D deficiency and asthma and allergies has increased significantly. The purpose of this review is to update the last review in this journal and examine the evidence of the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and childhood asthma and allergies. Recent findings In the past 2 years since the last review, there have been many studies, both cross-sectional and prospective, that have investigated the effects of vitamin D on the inception and severity of asthma and allergies. Most, but not all, studies have shown that low vitamin D levels increase the risk for asthma and allergies, but a few suggest an increased risk with high levels. Results from small trials of short duration suggest that vitamin D supplementation decreases severity of eczema and decreases the risk for asthma exacerbations. Summary Data that vitamin D deficiency results in increased risks for asthma and allergies continues to accumulate. However, the optimal level of vitamin D that decreases both the risk for development and severity of these disorders remains elusive. Results of ongoing clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation will be needed before recommendations can be firmly established.