cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Expectant Chat About Script Maturity

Using scripts to automate common administrative tasks is a ubiquitous practice. Powerful scripting languages and approaches support seemingly 'efficient' scripting practices that actually compromise the robustness of our scripts, as well as indirectly detracting from the stability and maturity of our support infrastructure. This is especially true for scripts that automate complex interactive processes using the scripting tools Expect or Chat. I present a formal methodology for the design and implementation of interactive scripting that, with a little more effort than writing a simple Expect script, produces scripts with substantially improved robustness and permanence. My scripting tool Babble interprets a detailed structural description of an interactive session as a script. Using this declarative, fourth-generation language, one can craft interactive scripts that are easier to perfect, inherently more robust, easier to maintain over time, and self-documenting.
The effect of siblings on children's social skills and perspective taking

The current study examined associations between sibling characteristics (being an only child, having an older brother, younger brother, older sister, or younger sister) and two aspects of social competence, and how these processes may differ based on child gender. Participants included 112 children ages 5 to 7 with either one or no siblings. Results suggested that siblings' influence on social competence is complex. For perspective taking, sibling characteristics and child's gender did not have significant main effects. However, interactions between older brother and child gender and between younger brother and child gender showed that girls without a sibling had greater perspective taking than girls with brothers, whereas, boys with brothers seemed to benefit somewhat from their presence. Furthermore, increases in social skills over one year were observed among children with a younger sister compared to only children. Implications of siblings' influence on children's perspective taking and social skills are discussed. Highlights Researchers examined how sibling characteristics influenced social competence based on child's gender. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested girls without a sibling had greater perspective taking than girls with brothers, boys with brothers seemed to somewhat benefit in perspective taking and increases in social skills over one year were observed among children with a younger sister. Findings suggest the influence of siblings are more complex than simply having a sibling or not.
Dielectric RESURF as an alternative to shield RESURF for an improved and easy-to-manufacture low voltage trench MOSFETs

Shielded-gate trench or “Shield RESURF (REduced SURface Field)” MOSFETs have been well known for its lower R DS(ON) × Area, and lower R ds(on) ×Q gd figure of merits (FoMs), and used widely in the low to medium voltage applications (25 V to 200 V). However, this improvement is achieved at the expense of higher output capacitance or output charge (C oss or Q oss ), which has become an increasingly important factor contributing to the MOSFET's switching power loss. In this paper, we will investigate the conventional single gate trench MOSFET structure based on the “dielectric RESURF” principle to offer a simpler wafer processing and consequently cheaper die cost, along with reduced switching losses at the output capacitance (Q oss ), without compromising much the other key figure of merits such as R ds(on) ×Area, and R ds(on) ×Qg.
Introduction to DNA Viruses

The genomes of DNA viruses are replicated by either host or virally encoded DNA polymerases. There is considerable diversity among DNA virus genomes and the relative stability of DNA allows for genomes much larger than possible for RNA viruses. Genomes of DNA viruses that infect animals range in size from less than 2 kb of single-stranded DNA to over 375 kb of double-stranded DNA. There are even larger DNA viruses that infect eukaryotic microorganisms. The genomes of DNA viruses vary in structure, size, and genome structure thus replication strategies are diverse. A feature common to many DNA viruses is their dependence on host DNA replication to provide enzymes (for example, DNA polymerases) and the deoxynucleotide triphosphate precursors required for DNA synthesis.
The Fragile Trump Coalition

In this essay, political scientists Betsy Sinclair, Steven S. Smith and Patrick D. Tucker report on the development of the Trump coalition over the primary and general election campaign season of 2016 and into the first year of his presidency. They find evidence that class, populism, and ethnocentricism played a role in support for Trump during the primary season. They also find that during his first year in office Trump’s performance was disapproved primarily by people who supported the establishment Republican candidates during the primary season. Fractures in the policy views of Republicans and varying attitudes about Trump’s personal qualities pose challenges to Trump and his party.
Genetic Models of Parkinson’s Disease and Their Study in Nonhuman Primates

Abstract Neurotoxin-based models of Parkinson's disease (PD) have been frequently used for testing antiparkinsonian therapies in nonhuman primates (NHPs). Yet, such models have limitations for mimicking the complexity of the PD syndrome and mechanisms of neurodegeneration found in human PD. Several genetic traits have been linked to sporadic and familial PD cases. Mutations in the α-synuclein (α-syn) gene (SNCA) were the first to be identified in familial PD cases and led to the identification of α-syn as the main component of the Lewy bodies (LBs), a hallmark PD pathology. Since then, different approaches has been studied to model genetic-linked PD in NHPs. Viral vectors encoding for α-syn wild type or mutated have been injected into the brain to recreate regional PD pathology or into fertilized oocytes to induce transgenesis. More recently, inoculations of α-syn or LBs have been attempted. In this chapter we review these models, the current limitations in their characterization and validation, and reflect on the challenges that PD NHP research faces to continue to provide meaningful contributions to the field.
Molecular determinants of coronavirus mhv- induced demyelination

Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) is a member of the coronavirus family of the nidovirales order. MHV is an enveloped virus with single-stranded, positive genomic RNA of about 31kb. Infection of susceptible strains of mice with the MHV-JHM and A59 strains results in acute encephalomyelitis and chronic demyelinating disease with features similar to the human demyelination disease multiple sclerosis (MS). Because the mechanism of demyelination in MS is not completely understood, various experimental models, including MHV infection in mice, have been used to study the pathogenesis of inflammatory autoimmune demyelination. The spike (S) glycoprotein of MHV has been implicated as the most critical genomic determinant of MHV pathogenesis and demyelination. However, other genes and proteins are likely to contribute to MHV pathogenesis as well.
Abstract 18434: Modulation of N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) as a Novel Mechanism of Human CD34+ Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes in Cardiac Repair

Introduction: Exosomes transfer selective set of miRNAs from the cell of their origin that is crucial to regulating gene expression and function of the recipient cells. Our lab has shown that human...
Neural Systems for Motion Analysis: Single Neuron and Network Approaches

This chapter employs large-scale computer simulations to investigate properties of the visual cortex, in particular the motion pathway. We have modeled the direction and orientation sensitive portions of the pathway using a biological model of the dendritic structure of a neuron and with a Jordan-Elman recurrent network. While biologically motivated, our study is not meant to imply a functional underlying architecture based on our simulations, but to provide a computational system for possible use in machine vision applications. The construction and simulation of large-scale neuronal networks using simplified models is governed by the tradeoff between biological fidelity for a full model and the decrease in computational complexity for the simplified one.
Business Method Patents: Do Owners Gain/Sustain Competitive Advantage?

The importance of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) as strategic business tools has been widely acknowledged by both practitioners and academics. Hence, researchers have long been interested in the business value of IT and its influence on gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. Many claim that IT is subject to easy duplication and lack of protection and therefore sustained competitive advantage from IT is not a reality. However, other researchers have been able to show that the strategic use of IT applications can lead to longer term superior performance. Business method patents could be the missing link between the strategic use of IT and sustained competitive advantage. These patents have become much more valuable and enforceable in recent years providing protection for the patent owner that has not been considered by academicians. In this study, 40 patenting firms were matched with 40 nonpatenting competitors and their performance was compared in order to explore patentprotected IT-enabled sustained competitive advantage. The ownership of business method patents was not found to be a significant contributor to competitive advantage. However, patent-owning firms that were able to gain an initial performance improvement were more likely to maintain that advantage over time.
GEOCHEMICAL MASS BALANCES AND CYCLES OF THE ELEMENTS

The role of hydrothermal convection associated with volcanism in the chemical transport in the Earth’s crust has been known for a long time. The focus until fairly recently, however, had been on processes observed at volcanic sites on land. It was known that the dominant source of water emanating from hot springs and fumaroles was of meteoric origin and that despite the obvious relation to deep sources of magma, juvenile water was virtually impossible to identify at these sites. Precipitation permeated the surface and, as ground water, provided both the reaction solution and the transporting medium for elements released by the hydrothermal alteration of rocks. Many of these chemical species were then deposited around the vents of fumaroles, geysers and hot springs resulting in the characteristic deposits seen in many places. Deposition also took place within the cooler environment of the upper aquifer.
Integrated multiomic analysis from chromatin to translation of stimulus-regulated gene activity exposes dominant patterns of nuclear-level control

Background Limitations in molecular oxygen reduce ATP production and dramatically curtail energy demanding processes in eukaryotes. Little is known of the influence of hypoxia on nuclear regulatory mechanisms and their integration with mRNA accumulation and translation. Here we apply multomic technologies to evaluate epigenetic to translational regulation in response to hypoxic stress in seedlings of Arabidopsis. We focus on hypoxia-responsive (HRG) and RIBOSOMAL PROTEIN (RP) genes that encode actively and poorly translated mRNAs under hypoxia, respectively. Results Evaluation of hypoxia-induced dynamics in eight chromatin readouts including chromatin accessibility, histone modifications, RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) activity plus three RNA populations (nuclear, polyadenylated, and ribosome-associated) identified distinct patterns of nuclear regulation. HRGs coordinately increased promoter accessibility, Histone 2A.Z eviction, Histone 3-lysine 9 acetylation, and RNAPII engagement. Many HRG promoters were bound by HYPOXIA-RESPONSIVE ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR (ERF) 2 (HRE2) or had cis-elements targeted by related ERFs. Hypoxia sustained RP transcription but the transcripts were largely retained in the nucleus. We discovered heat and oxidative stress genes with pronounced hypoxia-induced RNAPII engagement accompanied by elevated nuclear and ribosome-associated but not polyadenylated transcripts. These heat stress genes had cis-elements recognized by HEAT SHOCK FACTOR transcriptional activators, 59 biased histone marks, less H2A.Z eviction and Histone 3-lysine 4 trimethylation than genes bound by HRE2 and coordinately upregulated from transcription through translation. Genes of the circadian cycle, photosynthesis, and development also displayed notable nuclear regulation. Conclusions Hypoxia triggers dominant patterns in nuclear regulatory control that differentiate cohorts of genes associated with stress responses and growth.
Oscillator-Based Transparent Control of an Active/Semiactive Ankle-Foot Orthosis

Transparency, defined as the ability of a robot to exert nil interaction force on the user, is a key requirement for any wearable robot for assistance, rehabilitation, or functional augmentation. In this study, we propose a new controller to improve the transparency of a powered orthosis. The proposed controller takes advantage of the cyclic nature of human walking to predict the upcoming undesired interaction forces and compensate them in real time. Results from validation tests with a group of $N=12$ healthy subjects who walked with a powered ankle-foot orthosis indicate that the proposed controller can reduce undesired interaction torques by 19.1% at slow speed and 17.43% at fast speed, compared to a conventional zero-torque controller. When the same controller was implemented in a semiactive actuation mode, these figures increased to 20.06% and 19.59%, respectively, proving the versatility of the proposed approach.
Compression and Decompression in Mathematics 1

Since antiquity, it has been recognized that the human body and brain are small, local, and limited. Working memory is equally limited. How can immense ranges of meaning be managed within the limits of the processes of thought? Blending is a conceptual operation that helps to make intractable mental networks tractable. Blending can operate on large networks of mental spaces to produce tight, conceptually congenial, compressed blended spaces. These compressed blended spaces can then serve as manageable platforms for thinking. Working from the congenial blend, the mind can extend to this or that part of a mental network that would otherwise be too large, complex, and capacious to handle. Such mental acts of compression and decompression are essential tools of mathematical thinking and mathematical invention. This article analyzes patterns of compression and decompression in mathematics.
Candida albicans cell wall integrity transcription factors regulate polymicrobial biofilm formation with Streptococcus gordonii

Polymicrobial biofilms play important roles in oral and systemic infections. The oral plaque bacterium Streptococcus gordonii is known to attach to the hyphal cell wall of the fungus Candida albicans to form corn-cob like structures in biofilms. However, the role of C. albicans in formation of polymicrobial biofilms is not completely understood. The objective of this study was to determine the role of C. albicans transcription factors in regulation of polymicrobial biofilms and antibiotic tolerance of S. gordonii. The proteins secreted by C. albicans and S. gordonii in mixed planktonic cultures were determined using mass spectrometry. Antibiotic tolerance of S. gordonii to ampicillin and erythromycin was determined in mixed cultures and mixed biofilms with C. albicans. Additionally, biofilm formation of S. gordonii with C. albicans knock-out mutants of 45 transcription factors that affect cell wall integrity, filamentous growth and biofilm formation was determined. Furthermore, these mutants were also screened for antibiotic tolerance in mixed biofilms with S. gordonii. Analysis of secreted proteomes resulted in the identification of proteins being secreted exclusively in mixed cultures. Antibiotic testing showed that S. gordonii had significantly increased survival in mixed planktonic cultures with antibiotics as compared to single cultures. C. albicans mutants of transcription factors Sfl2, Brg1, Leu3, Cas5, Cta4, Tec1, Tup1, Rim101 and Efg1 were significantly affected in mixed biofilm formation. Also mixed biofilms of S. gordonii with mutants of C. albicans transcription factors, Tec1 and Sfl2, had significantly reduced antibiotic tolerance as compared to control cultures. Our data indicates that C. albicans may have an important role in mixed biofilm formation as well as antibiotic tolerance of S. gordonii in polymicrobial biofilms. C. albicans may play a facilitating role than being just an innocent bystander in oral biofilms and infections.
Evaluation of pulse oximetry as a surrogate for PaO2 in awake dogs breathing room air and anesthetized dogs on mechanical ventilation

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the ability of arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation measurement via pulse oximetry (SpO2 ) to serve as a surrogate for PaO2 in dogs. DESIGN Two-part study: prospective observational and retrospective components. SETTING University teaching hospital. ANIMALS Ninety-two dogs breathing room air prospectively enrolled on a convenience basis. Retrospective evaluation of 1,033 paired SpO2 and PaO2 measurements from 62 dogs on mechanical ventilation. INTERVENTIONS Dogs with concurrent SpO2 and PaO2 measured on room air had a data sheet completed with blood gas analysis. SpO2 , PaO2 , and FiO2 values were collected from medical records of dogs on mechanical ventilation. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Predicted PaO2 was calculated from SpO2 using the dog oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve. The correlation coefficient between measured and predicted PaO2 was 0.49 (P < 0.0001) in room air dogs and 0.74 (P < 0.0001) in ventilated dogs. In room air dogs, Bland-Altman analysis between measured minus predicted PaO2 versus the average showed a mean bias of -6.0 mm Hg (95% limit of agreement, -35 to 23 mm Hg). The correlation coefficient between PaO2 /FiO2 and SpO2 /FiO2 ratios was 0.76 (P < 0.0001). After combining data sets, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed the optimal cutoff value for detecting hypoxemia (PaO2 < 80 mm Hg) was an SpO2 of 95%, with sensitivity and specificity of 77.8% and 89.5%, respectively. Using this cutoff, 6.9% of SpO2 readings failed to detect hypoxemia, whereas 7.2% predicted hypoxemia that was not present. CONCLUSIONS The SpO2 was not clinically suitable as a surrogate for PaO2 , though it performed better in mechanically ventilated dogs. As sensitivity for the detection of hypoxemia was poor, pulse oximetry does not appear to be an acceptable screening test. The SpO2 /FiO2 ratio may have value for evaluation of anesthetized dogs on supplemental oxygen. Arterial blood gas analysis remains ideal for assessment of oxygenation.
Primary Peritoneal Carcinoma Diagnosed During Prophylactic Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy for a BRCA-1–Positive Patient

Background: BRCA-mutation carriers are identified as having an increased risk of developing ovarian, breast, and/or primary peritoneal cancers. Risk-reduction surgery is currently the leading optio...
Association of macular disease with long-term use of pentosan polysulfate sodium: findings from a US cohort.

Background/Aims A series at a single clinical centre recently demonstrated an association between the interstitial cystitis drug pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS) and a vision-threatening pigmentary maculopathy. The aim of this study was to determine if an association exists between PPS use and macular disease in a large national cohort. Methods A retrospective, matched cohort study using data from a large US medical claims database from 2002 to 2016 was performed. A total of 3012 and 1604 PPS users were compared with 15 060 and 8017 matched controls at 5 and 7 years, respectively. The primary outcome measures included (1) any new diagnosis of a hereditary or secondary pigmentary maculopathy (atypical maculopathy outcome), and (2) any new diagnosis of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or drusen in addition to the aforementioned diagnoses (atypical maculopathy+AMD outcome). Results At the 5-year and 7-year follow-up, 9 (0.3%) and 10 (0.6%) PPS patients progressed to the atypical maculopathy outcome compared with 32 (0.2%) and 25 (0.3%) control patients, respectively. 103 (3.4%) and 87 (5.4%) PPS patients developed the atypical maculopathy+AMD outcome compared with 440 (2.9%) and 328 (4.1%) control patients at 5 and 7 years, respectively. At 5 years, multivariate analysis showed no significant association (p>0.13). At 7 years, PPS users had significantly increased odds of having the atypical maculopathy+AMD outcome (OR=1.41, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.83, p=0.009). Conclusions PPS exposure was associated with a new diagnosis of macular disease at the 7-year follow-up in a large national cohort.
Parallel Adaptive Frameless Rendering with NVIDIA OptiX

In virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) systems, latency is one of the most important causes of simulator sickness. Latency is difficult to limit in traditional renderers, which sample time rigidly with a series of frames, each representing a single moment in time, depicted with a fixed amount of latency. Previous researchers proposed adaptive frameless rendering (AFR), which removes frames to sample space and time flexibly, and reduce latency. However, their prototype was neither parallel nor interactive. We implement AFR in NVIDIA OptiX, a concurrent, real–time ray tracing API taking advantage of NVIDIA GPUs, including their latest RTX ray tracing components. With proper tuning, our prototype prioritizes temporal detail when scenes are dynamic (producing rapidly updated, blurry imagery), and spatial detail when scenes are static (producing more slowly updated, sharp imagery). The result is parallel, interactive, low-latency imagery that should reduce simulator sickness.
Proposed Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam

Engineering studies by the Bureau of Reclamation indicate a third power plant at Grand Coulee Dam with installed capacity 3,600,000 kw is technically and economically feasible. This site, with existing large storage capacity, high head, and its location with respect to downstream reregulatory pondage and Canadian upstream storage to be developed under the Columbia River Treaty, is the most logical and desirable location for adding generating capacity needed in the Pacific Northwest. The plant is economically well-justified with a benefit-cost ratio of 3.24 to 1. The third power plant will be located below the dam on the right bank of the Columbia River in the area now occupied by the right-bank switchyard. Proposed construction includes a forebay dam and forebay, the third power plant and switchyard, a permanent visitors center, and riverbank protective works. Modification of the two existing power-plants and left-bank switchyard and relocation of the right-bank switchyard is planned to accommodate the new facilities. Bureau-developed digital computer programs will be extensively used in design of the plant, with the first unit scheduled to go on line less than 8 yr after availability of funds. Construction program would be more or less continuous through completion of all twelve 300,000-kw units.
Immediate Contralateral Mastopexy/Breast Reduction for Symmetry Can Be Performed Safely in Oncoplastic Breast-Conserving Surgery.

Background Oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery expands the indications for breast conservation. When performed using modified mastopexy/breast reduction techniques, the optimal timing of the contralateral symmetrizing mastopexy/breast reduction remains unclear. This study examined the effect of the timing of symmetrizing mastopexy/breast reduction on oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery outcomes. Methods A retrospective study was conducted of all patients who underwent oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery using mastopexy/breast reduction techniques at a single center from 2010 to 2016. Patients who received synchronous (immediate) contralateral breast symmetrizing mastopexy were compared with those who underwent a delayed symmetrizing mastopexy procedure. Demographic, treatment, and outcome data were collected. Descriptive statistics were used and multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate the various relationships. Results There were 429 patients (713 breasts) included in the study; of these, 284 patients (568 breasts) underwent oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery involving mastopexy/breast reduction techniques and immediate symmetrizing mastopexy, and 145 patients underwent delayed contralateral symmetrizing mastopexy. The overall complication rate was similar between the immediate and delayed groups (25.4 percent versus 26.9 percent, respectively; p = 0.82), as was the major complication rate (10.6 percent versus 6.2 percent; p = 0.16). Complications resulted in a delay in adjuvant therapy in 18 patients (4.2 percent); in two patients (0.7 percent), this delay resulted from a complication in the contralateral symmetrizing mastopexy breast. Immediate contralateral symmetrizing mastopexy was not associated with increased risk of complications per breast (p = 0.82) or delay to adjuvant therapy (p = 0.6). Conclusion Contralateral mastopexy/breast reduction for symmetry can be performed at the time of oncoplastic breast-conserving surgery in carefully selected patients without significantly increasing the risk of complications or delay to adjuvant radiation therapy. Clinical question/level of evidence Therapeutic, III.
Bladder Preservation for Patients With Bladder Paragangliomas: Case Series and Review of the Literature.

Abstract Bladder paragangliomas are rare tumors, with no prospective studies or guidelines on the management of this disease. We present a case series of 6 patients managed with bladder preservation over a median follow-up period of 124 months. We also present a review of the recent literature on bladder paragangliomas. We aim to provide a timely synthesis of the recent evidence on bladder paragangliomas as changing paradigms necessitate individualized treatment.
Combined effects of gender affirmation and economic hardship on vulnerability to HIV: a qualitative analysis among U.S. adult transgender women.

Transgender women (“trans women”), particularly African-American and Latina trans women, have disproportionately high prevalence of HIV in the United States (U.S.). In order to decrease gender dysphoria and overcome discrimination, trans women affirm their gender through social and medical transition, often in contexts of economic hardship and sexual risk. This study qualitatively examined how gender-affirming behaviors enhance or diminish vulnerability to HIV in light of structural and economic barriers to gender transition. We conducted individual interviews with 19 adult trans women in two U.S. cities (Richmond, VA and St. Louis, MO) who reported one or more sexual risk behaviors and recent economic hardship related to employment/income, housing, or food security. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The majority (74%) of trans women were racial/ethnic minorities with mean age of 26.3 years. Gender-affirming behaviors varied with 58% of trans women having legally changed their name and gender marker; 79% having initiated hormone therapy; and 11% having not initiated any medical or legal changes. None had undertaken surgical changes. Findings suggested that the process of gender transitioning resulted in both increasing and decreasing HIV risk. The high need for gender affirmation by male sex partners contributed to trans women’s exposure to sexual objectification, sexual risk behaviors, and conflicting interests in HIV prevention messaging. Loss of housing and employment due to transition along with the high costs of transition products and medical visits increased reliance on sex work and created new obstacles in accessing HIV services. Trans women experienced lower HIV risk as they acquired legal and medical transition services, reshaped interactions with sex partners, and received gender-affirming support by others, including health providers, employers, peers, and housing professionals. Sexual abstinence was viewed as a negative consequence of incomplete transition, although characterized as a period of low HIV risk. Structural and policy initiatives that promote safe gender transition and economic stability in trans women may play a critical role in reducing HIV in this population. Addressing the harmful pressures for U.S. trans women to conform to perceived feminine stereotypes may also serve an important role.
The direct and indirect impacts of liberal immigration policies on the United States' economy

Many studies have suggested that stringent labor protections and higher labor costs can limit foreign direct investment (FDI) in host countries. This would imply that the decisions of foreign firms are sensitive to the degree of flexibility in the labor market in the U.S. The U.S. has a steady stream of immigration, which has preserved the stability of the labor supply for the U.S. market. This makes the U.S. a good test case for the relationship between immigration and FDI because it is not only the largest host for FDI but also has the largest immigrant population in the world in absolute terms and is experiencing a significant reduction in labor supply and an increase in the minimum cost of labor. Utilizing a time-series analysis of data from 1970 to 2016, this study suggests that expansive immigration policies directly increase FDI inflows in the U.S. and indirectly increase FDI inflows by lowering labor costs and securing a stable supply of labor.
Upper Limb Movement Classification Via Electromyographic Signals and an Enhanced Probabilistic Network

Few studies in the literature have researched the use of surface electromyography (sEMG) for motor assessment post-stroke due to the complexity of this type of signal. However, recent advances in signal processing and machine learning have provided fresh opportunities for analyzing complex, non-linear, non-stationary signals, such as sEMG. This paper presents a method for identification of the upper limb movements from sEMG signals using a combination of digital signal processing, that is discrete wavelet transform, and the enhanced probabilistic neural network (EPNN). To explore the potential of sEMG signals for monitoring motor rehabilitation progress, this study used sEMG signals from a subset of movements of the Arm Motor Ability Test (AMAT) as inputs into a movement classification algorithm. The importance of a particular frequency domain feature, that is the ratio of the mean absolute values between sub-bands, was discovered in this work. An average classification accuracy of 75.5% was achieved using the proposed approach with a maximum accuracy of 100%. The performance of the proposed method was compared with results obtained using three other classification algorithms: support vector machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN), and probabilistic neural network (PNN) in terms of sEMG movement classification. The study demonstrated the capability of using upper limb sEMG signals to identify and distinguish between functional movements used in standard upper limb motor assessments for stroke patients. The classification algorithm used in the proposed method, EPNN, outperformed SVM, k-NN, and PNN.
Annotation of Sequence Variants in Cancer Samples Processes and Pitfalls for Routine Assays in the Clinical Laboratory

As DNA sequencing of multigene panels becomes routine for cancer samples in the clinical laboratory, an efficient process for classifying variants has become more critical. Determining which germline variants are significant for cancer disposition and which somatic mutations are integral to cancer development or therapy response remains difficult, even for well-studied genes such as BRCA1 and TP53. We compare and contrast the general principles and lines of evidence commonly used to distinguish the significance of cancer-associated germline and somatic genetic variants. The factors important in each step of the analysis pipeline are reviewed, as are some of the publicly available annotation tools. Given the range of indications and uses of cancer sequencing assays, including diagnosis, staging, prognostication, theranostics, and residual disease detection, the need for flexible methods for scoring of variants is discussed. The usefulness of protein prediction tools and multimodal risk-based or Bayesian approaches are highlighted. Using TET2 variants encountered in hematologic neoplasms, several examples of this multifactorial approach to classifying sequence variants of unknown significance are presented. Although there are still significant gaps in the publicly available data for many cancer genes that limit the broad application of explicit algorithms for variant scoring, the elements of a more rigorous model are outlined.
Fintech: New Battle Lines in the Patent Wars?

Historically, financial institutions have relied on trade secrets and first-mover advantages, rather than patents, to protect their inventions. For the few financial patents that were issued, conventional wisdom was that they weren’t terribly interesting or important. In our 2014 study on financial patents, we showed that banks were breaking from past patterns and increasingly seeking patent protection. We explained that financial institutions were primarily building their patent portfolios as a defensive measure — i.e., to protect themselves from infringement suits. Indeed, the finance industry successfully lobbied Congress to include provisions in the America Invents Act of 2011 that made it easier to invalidate financial patents through administrative review. Yet, two significant developments call for a revisit of our 2014 study: first, the rise of fintech and, second, the recent $300 million verdict in the first bank-on-bank patent infringement suit — USAA v. Wells Fargo. This paper explores how the rise of fintech has changed the purpose of patenting among banks, and what a possible fintech patent war would mean for the future of both the financial and patent systems in this country.
Primary Cilia: A Closer Look at the Antenna of Cells.

A recent study reports the three-dimensional structure of a primary cilium with unprecedented clarity. The results highlight the architectural differences with motile cilia and provoke a reassessment of the relationship between the ciliary cytoskeleton and microtubule-based transport in cilia.
Moving Beyond Standard Informed Consent for Interventional Organ Transplant Research.

Achieving valid informed consent from a human research participant involves an ongoing process designed to protect the participant and ensure their rights, safety, and well-being are not compromise...
Survey of Recent Developments for Hardware Trojan Detection

The outsourcing of the design and manufacturing of Integrated Circuits (ICs) poses a severe threat to our critical infrastructures as an adversary can exploit them by bypassing the security features by activating a hardware Trojan. These malicious modifications in the design introduced at an untrusted fabrication site can virtually leak any secret information from a secure system to an adversary. This paper discusses all three different hardware Trojan models, such as combinational, sequential, and analog Trojans. We provide a survey of the recent advancements in Trojan detection techniques classified based on their applicability to different Trojans types. We describe a practical approach recently developed using the characterization of Electro-Optical Frequency Mapping (EOFM) images of the chip to detect a hardware Trojan by identifying malicious state elements. This survey also presents open problems with Trojan detection and suggests future research directions in hardware Trojan detection.
Tunneled femoral dialysis catheter: Practical pointers*:

One of the most challenging aspects of providing end-stage kidney disease care is to achieve adequate long-term access to the bloodstream to support hemodialysis (HD) therapy. Although upper extremity arteriovenous fistula remains the vascular access of choice for patients on HD, complications such as central venous stenosis, access thrombosis, or exhaustion of suitable access sites in the upper extremity, ultimately result in pursuing vascular access creation in the lower extremity. The current review focuses on the indications, contraindications, and clinically relevant practical procedural tips to successfully place a tunneled femoral dialysis catheter. The review highlights some of the prevailing misconceptions regarding femoral catheter placement practices.
Vocal Fold Paresis and Voice Outcomes following Vocal Fold Mass Excision.

Summary Objective To correlate the surgical results of vocal fold mass excision with pre-operative existence of vocal fold paresis. Methods Data were collected on 66 patients who underwent excision of benign vocal fold masses from 2015 to 2020. The pre- and post-operative strobovideolaryngoscopy (SVL) examinations for all patients included were evaluated blindly by three otolaryngologists using THE Voice-Vibratory Assessment with Laryngeal Imaging (VALI) Form for scar severity, mucosal wave, free edge contour, glottal closure, and phase closure. The success of mass excision surgery was determined based on the presence of the following criteria post-operatively: 1) improved mucosal wave motion 2) improved phase closure or glottic closure 3) improved free edge contour and 4) lack of worsening of vocal fold scar severity. Surgery was considered successful if 3 or 4 criteria were met, partially successful if 1 or 2 criteria were met, and unsuccessful if no criteria were met. The percent recruitment of the thyroarytenoid, posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA), and cricothyroid muscles were used evaluated the severity of paresis as mild (70-99% recruitment), moderate (40-60% recruitment), or severe (0-39% recruitment). VHI-10 scores were used as subjective measures of pre- and post-operative voice. Results Sixty-six patients (26 male, 40 female) were included in this study, with a mean age of 37.25 ± 16.6 (range 18-78). Twelve patients had no evidence of VF paresis noted during the initial clinical evaluation; and 52 patients had paresis and had undergone laryngeal EMG. 81% of these patients had mild paresis, 12.8% had moderate paresis, and 5.8% had severe paresis. Based on pre- and post-operative strobovideolaryngoscopy, there was improvement in mucosal wave in 44.9% of cases, improvement of phase or glottic closure in 85.4% of cases, improved free edge contour in 95.5% of cases, and worsening of scar in 38.5% of cases. 39.6% of surgeries were fully successful, 33.3% of surgeries were partially successful, and 27.1% were not successful. There was a significant correlation between female gender and vocal fold paresis (P = 0.048). Paresis severity did not correlate with complete or partial surgical success (P = 0.956), pre-operative VHI-10 scores (P = 0.519), post-operative VHI-10 scores (P = 0.563), or strobovideolaryngoscopy parameters. Unilateral and bilateral paresis did not correlate with any other parameter of surgical success (P >0.05). Conclusion This study suggests that there is no correlation between pre-operative vocal fold paresis and voice outcomes after mass excision surgery, that the majority of mass excision surgeries (72.9%) are successful based on improvement in stroboscopic parameters, and that the proportion of patients with moderate and severe paresis is consistent across all laryngeal nerves.
Clinical Care Pathways in Cancer Surgery

Patients with resectable cancers present unique challenges to surgical and anesthetic teams. These patients frequently require invasive and lengthy procedures that incur higher levels of disability. At the same time, the pressure to return cancer surgery patients to adjuvant cancer therapies places an additional responsibility on care teams. To meet this need, many cancer centers are utilizing enhanced recovery pathways of care. Although many of the practices contained within these pathways have been vetted in non-oncologic and minimally invasive oncologic procedures, major oncologic surgery poses unique challenges to their implementation. The purpose of this review is to highlight the challenges and opportunities that enhanced recovery protocols bring to oncologic surgery. Additionally, special considerations for the measurement of recovery in cancer patients are discussed.
Neonatal stimulation and maturation of the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the neonatal stimulation and maturation of the 24-hour adrenocortical rhythm. An outstanding characteristic of normal endocrine function is its daily rhythm. Such circadian rhythms are thought to be endogenous and merely synchronized by environmental cues, the most prepotent of which is the daily light-dark cycle. Nevertheless, these rhythms are not necessarily present at birth. The 24-hr light-synchronized rhythm in plasma levels of corticosterone is first observed in experimentally naive rats between 22 and 25 days of age. Environmental stimulation of the infant rat by handling or, particularly, electric shock stimulation accelerates development of the adrenocortical rhythm. In animals subjected to daily electric shock stimulation rhythmicity is apparent by 16 days of age. Normal development of the adrenal rhythm is associated with maturational processes within the central nervous system. Although the mechanism remains unknown, it is suggested that early life experiences influence the development of these processes which are necessary for the expression of rhythmic phenomena.
Energy Balance and Weight Control (Male and Female): Considerations

Energy balance is a complex process influenced by numerous factors including sex, age, acute and chronic exercise, genetic factors, as well as metabolic-, stress-, and sex-related hormones. This chapter focuses on sex-related differences in weight control with special attention to the roles of leptin, insulin, ghrelin, catecholamines, cortisol, estrogen, and androgens; their impact on appetite, metabolism, and body fat distribution is also discussed. Some of the most notable sex differences in energy balance are in the amount and distribution of body fat. Women tend to have greater fat mass than men and tend to store more fat subcutaneously while men store more in visceral locations. Women also have a more difficult time achieving negative caloric balance following exercise as their appetites are not suppressed to the same degree as men’s. The hormonal factors supporting the conservation of mass for reproduction in females are also proposed in this chapter. Finally, sex differences in resting hormone levels and their impact on fuel metabolism during rest and exercise are discussed.
Gregory J. Inwood, Carolyn M. Johns and Patricia L. O'Reilly, (eds). Intergovernmental Policy Capacity in Canada: Inside the Worlds of Finance, Environment, Trade, and Health.

To many outsiders, Canada is one of best-run democracies in the world as evidenced by its strong performance during the recent global recession. It also fares well in the topics of the book—finance...
The classification game: complexity regularization through interaction

We show that if a population of neural network agents is allowed to interact during learning, so as to arrive at a consensus solution to the learning problem, then they can implicitly achieve complexity regularization. We call this learning paradigm, the classification game. We characterize the game-theoretic equilibria of this system, and show how low-complexity equilibria get selected. The benefit of finding a low-complexity solution is better expected generalization. We demonstrate this benefit through experiments.
Micro-optical resonators and applications in optoelectronic oscillator

Whispering gallery mode resonators are attractive elements for photonics applications, since they offer extremely high quality factors (as high as 1010) with a small size. We have applied microresonators in the realization of a high performance, and small size optoelectronic oscillator (OEO). Specifically, we have studied the use of microspherical resonators as the optical delay element in the optoelectronic feedback loop of the OEO, and a highly efficient lithium niobate modulator based on a micro-resonator.
The bvgA gene of Bordetella pertussis encodes a transcriptional activator required for coordinate regulation of several virulence genes.

The bvg region of the respiratory pathogen Bordetella pertussis coordinately regulates the expression of several unlinked virulence determinants in response to environmental signals. The DNA sequence of the bvg region contains three genes (bvgA, bvgB, and bvgC). Transcription of a single-copy fusion consisting of the upstream region of a bvg-activated B. pertussis gene (fhaB) attached to the promoterless lac operon in Escherichia coli requires the entire bvgABC region in trans. Activation of the fhaB::lacZYA fusion is sensitive to the same environmental stimuli in E. coli that modulate the expression of bvg-activated genes in B. pertussis. Our data show that overexpression of the bvgA gene from a strong heterologous promoter results in transcriptional activation of the fhaB::lacZYA fusion even in the absence of the bvgB and bvgC products. Activation of fhaB transcription by bvgA overexpression in E. coli is no longer repressed by environmental conditions. The bvgA product has been identified by maxicell analysis as a 23-kilodalton protein. A B. pertussis mutant containing an in-frame deletion in bvgA was constructed. This mutant was nonhemolytic and no longer produced filamentous hemagglutinin and pertussis toxin. The mutation in this strain was complemented by returning the bvgA gene in trans. Transcriptional chloramphenicol acetyltransferase fusions to the fhaB and ptx promoter regions were returned to both the B. pertussis bvgA deletion mutant and its parental wild-type strain. Analysis of these strains indicated that the deletion mutant was defective in transcription of both ptx and fhaB. We conclude from these data that bvgA, bvgB, and bvgC comprise an operon encoding the components essential for coordinate regulation and sensory transduction. The BvgA protein is a transcriptional regulatory factor. The bvgB and bvgC products may be important in regulating the activity of BvgA in response to the changing environmental stimuli that B. pertussis encounters during the diseases whooping cough. Images
Non-small cell lung cancer and elevated eosinophil count: A case report and literature review

Abstract In earlier work it was unclear whether there was any true prognostic value when high numbers of eosinophils were seen in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients. As time passed, it became somewhat clearer that this occurrence may correlate with a poor prognosis in these patients. These ideas reflected what we came to know about the pathophysiology of hypereosinophilia in the blood in this setting. With paraneoplastic processes and distant metastases (to the bone marrow) thought to function at least in part as the mechanism of hypereosinophilia in these patients, it became more evident why these patients tended to have a poorer prognosis. However interestingly and paradoxically, there also has been work indicating that this occurrence may actually be protective against metastatic disease. Here, we present the case of a sixty year old Caucasian female who presented with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), diffusely metastatic at presentation, who also presented with hypereosinophilia which proved to be a poor prognostic indicator in this case.