cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A globally convergent primal--dual interior point algorithm for convex programming

In this paper, we study the global convergence of a large class of primal--dual interior point algorithms for solving the linearly constrained convex programming problem. The algorithms in this class decrease the value of a primal--dual potential function and hence belong to the class of so-called potential reduction algorithms. An inexact line search based on Armijo stepsize rule is used to compute the stepsize. The directions used by the algorithms are the same as the ones used in primal--dual path following and potential reduction algorithms and a very mild condition on the choice of the "centering parameter" is assumed. The algorithms always keep primal and dual feasibility and, in contrast to the polynomial potential reduction algorithms, they do not need to drive the value of the potential function towards -- ź in order to converge. One of the techniques used in the convergence analysis of these algorithms has its root in nonlinear unconstrained optimization theory.
Notes: Representations of cyclic groups acting on complete simplicial fans

Let @s be a complete simplicial fan in finite dimensional real Euclidean space V, and let G be a cyclic subgroup of GL(V) which acts properly on @s. We show that the representation of G carried by the cohomology of X"@s, the toric variety associated to @s, is a permutation representation.
Agriculture Intensification, Economic Identity, and Shared Invisibility in Amazonian Peasantry: Caboclos and Colonists in Comparative Perspective

The main focus of this contribution is to demonstrate the erroneous interpretation that has been carried out around the agricultural production systems of small-scale Amazonian rural producers, especially when analysed under the light of intensification. This mistaken judgement supports a depreciative vision of these social groups and their contributions to the regional economy. Both land use patterns, caboclo and colono, are often based on the co-existence of intensive and extensive activities that, simultaneously, minimise risk and guarantee the consolidation of rural property, as well as the expansion (or retraction) of activities geared towards the market. The author suggests the adoption of the term ‘small-scale producers’ to refer to these populations, which would contribute, in Brondizio’s opinion, to the creation of a more positive socio-economic identity for these populations within the region's agricultural and resource economy. The author closes his analysis as he concludes that the redefinition of these populations’ identity as small-scale rural producers would provide a great step ahead in the sense of overcoming prejudices incorporated by regional and national societies.
In vitro hypercoagulability on whole blood thromboelastometry associated with in vivo reduction of circulating red cell mass in dogs

Background Previous studies have reported a strong correlation between indicators of red cell mass (RCM) and thromboelastometry results (TEM) in several species, specifically an association of apparent hypercoagulability with decreased RCM. Objectives The objectives of the study were to (1) evaluate the effect of decreased circulating RCM on TEM results in dogs, and (2) determine the relative contributions of citrate dilution vs in vivo reduction of RCM to hemostatic potential. Materials and Methods Thirteen healthy dogs had one unit of blood removed on day 0. Whole blood, EDTA, and citrated blood samples for evaluation of TEM variables and PT, APTT, platelet count, fibrinogen, thrombin–antithrombin (TAT), and thrombin generation were collected at baseline, and 3 and 21 days after blood removal. Blood samples were also corrected to a PCV of 45% by adding citrate or removing plasma. Results On day 3 after blood removal, the PCV was significantly decreased (45 ± 6%) compared with baseline (52 ± 6%) and day 21 (50 ± 4%, P < .001), accompanied by TEM variables indicating hypercoagulability, which returned to baseline values by day 21. Other coagulation variables such as PT, APTT, platelet count, TAT, or plasma thrombin generation remained unchanged, with the exception of fibrinogen that was significantly higher on day 3. No changes were related to citrate dilution. Conclusions Transiently decreased RCM in vivo was accompanied by TEM variables indicating hypercoagulability, which was not confirmed by other coagulation variables. This suggests an artifact of TEM, which presents a potential limitation of this technology in patient populations with abnormal RCM.
Partial differential equation-based GPR signature discrimination for automatic detection of bridge deck delamination

Accurate assessment of the quality of concrete bridge decks and identification of corrosion induced delamination leads to economic management of bridge decks. It has been demonstrated that ground penetrating radar (GPR) can be successfully used for such purposes. The growing demand on GPR has brought into the challenge of developing automatic processes necessary to produce a final accurate interpretation. However, there have been few publications targeting at automatic detection of bridge deck delamination from GPR data. This paper proposes a novel method using partial differential equations (PDEs) to detect rebar (or steel-bar) mat signatures of concrete bridges from GPR data so that the delamination within the bridge deck can be effectively located. The proposed algorithm was tested on both synthetic and real GPR data and the experimental results have demonstrated its accuracy and reliability, even for diminished contrast and low signal-to-noise ratio.
Neuromodulation of calcium current by extracellular ATP in isolated ventricular myocytes.

The effects of extracellular ATP on the L-type Ca2+ current (ICa), action potential, and resting and intracellular Ca2+ levels were examined in enzymatically isolated myocytes from the right ventricles of ferrets. Extracellular ATP decreased the peak amplitude of ICa in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The concentration-response relationship for ATP inhibition of ICa was well described by a conventional Michaelis-Menten relationship with a half maximal inhibitory concentration of IRM and a maximal effect of 50%. Extracellular ATP did not change the resting myoplasmic Ca2+ levels; however, it did decrease the Ca2+ transient. The effects of extracellular ATP were mediated independently of adenosine Al receptors and a pertussis-toxin sensitive G protein. Pharmacological characterization of receptor subtype using ATP analogs was consistent with ATP binding to a P2Y type receptor.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL SURF BEAT

Surface elevation and velocity measurements in shallow water on beaches show large fluctuations known as surf beat in the long period range from approximately 20s to 2000s (Munk, 1949; Tucker, 1950). A laboratory study was conducted to determine if two shoaling primary waves of nearly equal frequency would generate two-dimensional surf beat at their difference frequency. The experiments, carried out in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Hydraulics Laboratory 30 m glass walled wave channel, show that the beat frequency motion in the channel consists of the sum of a forced progressive wave and two free standing waves. The progressive wave is forced by the local nonlinear interaction of the primary waves and grows sharply in shallow water. One of the free standing waves is generated directly by the wavemaker. The data is consistent with the hypotheses that the second, much larger, free wave is generated in shallow water as the reflection of the long, forced progressive wave, leading to the observed standing wave surf beat pattern.
Recent advances in the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

Purpose of reviewPulmonary hypertension is a debilitating life-threatening disease of all ages. The long-term prognosis can be dismal despite maximal medical therapy. There have been significant advances in our understanding of the pathobiology and genetics of this disease, and novel pharmacological
“Made-in-America Revolutions”? The “Black University” and the American Role in the Decolonization of the Black Atlantic

The global race revolution of the twentieth century is arguably the central story of mod ern international history. The end of European empires in what Cold War intellectuals and policy makers christened the "Third World" forces historians to rethink traditional periodizations. Scholars speak of a "pre-Columbian" era before the spread of Western empires overseas; the retreat of those empires logically suggests the arrival of a post Columbian era. As colonized peoples seized self-rule, ethnic minorities led a parallel fight for equality in the West. In both cases the basic mission was the same. In the colonized lands creating nations meant delineating "imagined communities" and sovereign states to house them. In the metropoles the fight for civil rights meant redefining existing na tionalities to encompass ethnic minorities and to fulfill a long-denied promise of equal citizenship. The chronological coincidence of these struggles, in retrospect, was not mere coincidence. Both hark back to fundamental, constitutive questions of citizenship and nationhood, questions long disallowed under both imperial and segregationist rule. The literature on these intertwined developments?Third World decolonization and Ameri can desegregation?has coalesced into a synthesis of international history, one under scoring the millennial importance of the global race revolution.1
Bit-efficient sub-millisecond wavefront measurement using a lock-in camera for time-reversal based optical focusing inside scattering media(Conference Presentation)

Optical focusing plays a central role in biomedical optical imaging, manipulation, and therapy. However, in scattering media, direct optical focusing becomes infeasible beyond ~10 mean free paths. To break this limit, time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRUE) optical focusing phase-conjugates ultrasonically tagged diffuse light back to the ultrasonic focus, thus forming a focus deep inside scattering media. In previous works, the speed of wavefront measurement was limited by the low frame rate of the camera used to record the four images required for phase-shifting holography. Moreover, most of the bits of a pixel value were used to represent an informationless background caused by the large amount of untagged light, increasing the amount of data to transfer and necessitating the use of costly high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Here, we developed a digital TRUE focusing system based on a lock-in camera (300×300 pixels), in which each pixel performs analog lock-in detection on chip. Since only the information of the signal, not that of the background, is digitized, the lock-in camera reduces the amount of data to transfer, and enables the use of cheap low-resolution ADCs. Using this lock-in camera, we were able to measure the wavefront of ultrasonically tagged light in less than 0.3 ms, and to achieve TRUE focusing in between two ground glass diffusers. Even when the signal-to-background ratio dropped to 6.32×10^-4, a phase sensitivity as low as 0.51 rad could still be realized, which is more than enough for digital optical phase conjugation.
Achieving Continuous Anion Transport Domains Using Block Copolymers Containing Phosphonium Cations

Triblock and diblock copolymers based on isoprene (Ip) and chloromethylstyrene (CMS) were synthesized by sequential polymerization using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer radical polymerization (RAFT). The block copolymers were quaternized with tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)phosphine (Ar3P) to prepare soluble ionomers. The ionomers were cast from chloroform to form anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with highly ordered morphologies. At low volume fractions of ionic blocks, the ionomers formed lamellar morphologies, while at moderate volume fractions (≥30% for triblock and ≥22% for diblock copolymers) hexagonal phases with an ionic matrix were observed. Ion conductivities were higher through the hexagonal phase matrix than in the lamellar phases. Promising chloride conductivities (20 mS/cm) were achieved at elevated temperatures and humidified conditions.
Effects of moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages on endocrine function in postmenopausal women. Bases for hypotheses.

That alcoholic beverage consumption has not yet received attention as a variable that might influence the estrogenization of postmenopausal women is discussed within the context of the growing proportion of postmenopausal women in the population, their disease risk vis-a-vis estrogenization, and survey findings that report that the majority of postmenopausal women use alcoholic beverages to at least some degree. The available literature is reviewed concerning the effects of acute or chronic ethanol administration, alcoholic beverage consumption, or the administration of phytoestrogen-containing congeners of bourbon on the endocrine status of postmenopausal women or relevant animal models. The basic components of postmenopausal endocrine function and the factors known to affect endocrine status are presented. The importance of incorporating known endocrine-modulating factors into the design of future studies so as to maximize the detection of alcohol effects in postmenopausal women is emphasized.
Two-Decade Trends in the Prevalence of Atherosclerotic Risk Factors, Coronary Plaque Morphology, and Outcomes in Adults Aged ≤45 Years Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Data are limited about the prevalence trends of risk factors, lesion morphology, and clinical outcomes of coronary artery disease in patients, aged ≤45 years, undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), between the bare-metal stent (BMS; 1994 to 2002) and drug-eluting stent (DES; 2003 to 2012) eras. From the PCI database at the Cleveland Clinic, we identified 1,640 patients aged ≤45 years and without a history of coronary artery bypass grafting who underwent PCI from 1994 to 2012. There were 883 patients in the BMS era cohort with a mean follow-up period of 13.15 years and 757 in the DES era cohort with a mean follow-up of 5.02 years. The DES era had more obese (51.8% vs 44.7%, p
A combinatorial model for dentate gyrus sparse coding

The dentate gyrus forms a critical link between the entorhinal cortex and CA3 by providing a sparse version of the signal. Concurrent with this increase in sparsity, a widely accepted theory suggests the dentate gyrus performs pattern separation-similar inputs yield decorrelated outputs. Although an active region of study and theory, few logically rigorous arguments detail the dentate gyrus's DG coding. We suggest a theoretically tractable, combinatorial model for this action. The model provides formal methods for a highly redundant, arbitrarily sparse, and decorrelated output signal.To explore the value of this model framework, we assess how suitable it is for two notable aspects of DG coding: how it can handle the highly structured grid cell representation in the input entorhinal cortex region and the presence of adult neurogenesis, which has been proposed to produce a heterogeneous code in the DG. We find tailoring the model to grid cell input yields expansion parameters consistent with the literature. In addition, the heterogeneous coding reflects activity gradation observed experimentally. Finally, we connect this approach with more conventional binary threshold neural circuit models via a formal embedding.
Structural and electronic modifications of pyridones and pyrones via regioselective bromination and trifluoromethylation

Abstract We report regioselective functionalization of pyridones and pyrones via electrophilic bromination (Br2) or radical trifluoromethylation (NaSO2CF3/tBuOOH) at the 3-position. Counter-intuitively, the 3-position EW groups decreased the carbonyl stretching energy by 6–23 cm−1; however, 3,5-dibromination increased the C O frequency by 10–22 cm−1 compared to the 3-Br pyridones. X-ray crystallography revealed pyridone tautomers with contracted C O bond metrics. pKa values and 1H NMR shifts for the series 3-H→Br→CF3 revealed the expected trend of increasing acidity (pKa = 8.85 → 8.33→6.78, MeOH) and increasing chemical shifts (10.97 → 11.42→11.71 DMSO-d6). We conclude that the paradoxical decrease in CO stretching frequencies by the 3-positoin EW groups is explained by an ‘assistive’ electron-withdrawing effect, whereby the 3-position EW group assists the electronegative oxygen atom in recruiting more electron density, and – as a result – attaining more oxyanion character (decreased the C O bond strength).
Extreme Learning Machine Based Modified Deep Auto-Encoder Network Classifier Algorithm

Aiming to solving the problem of slow training speed and learning efficiency existed in the deep auto-encoder network, this paper puts forward a new kind of modified deep auto-encoder network model based on extreme learning machine (ELM-MDAE). Through training the deep auto-encoder networks with the training method of extreme learning machine, the classification accuracy and training time of ELM-MDAE are compared with traditional deep auto-encoder network utilizing the rolling bearing fault vibration dataset released by Case Western Reserve University in United States. Experiments turn out to be that the average diagnostic accuracy rate could reach to 98.42%, and the average training time is 3.70 s with the method established in this paper. Therefore, ELM-MDAE possesses a better classification ability and fewer training time.
SAMG: sparsified graph-theoretic algebraic multigrid for solving large symmetric diagonally dominant (SDD) matrices

Algebraic multigrid (AMG) is a class of high-performance linear solvers based on multigrid principles. Compared to geometric multigrid (GMG) solvers that rely on the geometric information of underlying problems, AMG solvers build hierarchical coarse level problems according to the input matrices. Graph-theoretic Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) algorithms have emerged for solving large Symmetric Diagonally Dominant (SDD) matrices by taking advantages of spectral properties of graph Laplacians. This paper proposes a Sparsified graph-theoretic Algebraic Multigrid (SAMG) framework that allows efficiently constructing nearly-linear sized graph Laplacians for coarse level problems while maintaining good spectral approximation during the AMG setup phase by leveraging a scalable spectral graph sparsification engine. Our experimental results show that the proposed method can offer more scalable performance than existing graph-theoretic AMG solvers for solving large SDD matrices in integrated circuit (IC) simulations, 3D-IC thermal analysis, image processing, finite element analysis as well as data mining and machine learning applications.
Nanoporous metals by alloy corrosion: Bioanalytical and biomedical applications.

Nanoporous metals obtained by dealloying have attracted significant attention for their unusual catalytic properties, and as model materials for fundamental studies of structure–property relationships in a variety of research areas. There has been a recent surge in the use of these metals for biomedical and bioanalytical applications, where many exciting opportunities exist. The goal of this article is to provide a review of recent progress in using nanoporous metals for biological applications, including as biosensors for detecting biomarkers of disease and multifunctional neural interfaces for monitoring and modulating the activity of neural tissue. The article emphasizes the unique properties of nanoporous gold and concludes by discussing its utility in addressing important challenges in biomedical devices.
Differential effects of brief cbt versus treatment as usual on posttreatment suicide attempts among groups of suicidal patients

Objective:The purpose of this study was to examine variability in outcomes (suicide attempt rates) across subgroups of patients who were randomly enrolled in brief cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and treatment as usual.Methods:A secondary analysis was conducted of data collected during a randomized clinical trial of brief CBT for suicide prevention in a sample of 176 U.S. military personnel who reported active suicide ideation in the past week or a suicide attempt in the past month. Latent-class analysis was used to identify empirically distinct and clinically meaningful patient subgroups. Rates of suicide attempts during a two-year follow-up period were compared across classes and treatment groups.Results:Three latent classes corresponding to low (N=55), moderate (N=40), and high (N=57) suicide risk were identified. The classes significantly differed with respect to psychiatric symptom severity but not demographic or historical variables. Rates of suicide attempts during the two-year follow-up signifi...
Mechanochemical formation of heterogeneous diamond structures during rapid uniaxial compression in graphite

We predict mechanochemical formation of heterogeneous diamond structures from rapid uniaxial compression in graphite using quantum molecular dynamics simulations. Ensembles of simulations reveal the formation of different diamondlike products starting from thermal graphite crystal configurations. We identify distinct classes of final products with characteristic probabilities of formation, stress states, and electrical properties and show through simulations of rapid quenching that these products are nominally stable and can be recovered at room temperature and pressure. Some of the diamond products exhibit significant disorder and partial closure of the energy gap between the highest-occupied and lowest-unoccupied molecular orbitals (i.e., the HOMO-LUMO gap). Seeding atomic vacancies in graphite significantly biases toward forming products with small HOMO-LUMO gap. We show that a strong correlation between the HOMO-LUMO gap and disorder in tetrahedral bonding configurations informs which kinds of structural defects are associated with gap closure. The rapid diffusionless transformation of graphite is found to lock vacancy defects into the final diamond structure, resulting in configurations that prevent $s{p}^{3}$ bonding and lead to localized HOMO and LUMO states with a small gap.
Alternative Activity Pattern Generation for Stated Preference Surveys

We present a systematic method for generating activity-driven, multi-day alternative activity patterns that form choice sets for stated preference surveys. An activity pattern consists of informati...
Urinary concentrations of AICAR and mannitol in athlete population.

Both AICAR and mannitol are prohibited for use in sports, but no decisive criteria that would guide anti-doping laboratories on data interpretation have been established so far. In an attempt to help harmonize reporting and management of analytical findings, reference population data collected for US athletes are presented. Upon analysis of 12 377 samples, mean urinary AICAR concentration was found to be 647 ± 365 ng/mL with median value of 574 ng/mL, 99th percentile at 1786 ng/mL and 99.7th percentile at 2151 ng/mL. Based on these results, we suggest that any sample with AICAR concentration greater than 2000 or 2500 ng/mL be analyzed by carbon isotope ratio mass spectrometry to establish the origin. Urinary mannitol concentrations demonstrate larger variation with the mean value of 72 ± 140 μg/mL and median at 41 μg/mL (n = 6407). While the 99.7th percentile for mannitol was measured to be 1094 μg/mL, the population data alone is not sufficient to suggest a threshold value. It is also shown that the use of mannitol as a sweetener in amounts of up to 20 g per day results in a urinary concentration of about 14 mg/mL. As only intravenous mannitol is prohibited in sports, controlled excretion studies are needed to see whether intravenous administration could in fact be discriminated from dietary intake. An important observation is that mannitol present in mg/mL quantities significantly increases urine specific gravity, which makes a widely accepted normalization approach not applicable.
Morphological and pharmacological characterization of the porcine popliteal artery: A novel model for study of lower limb arterial disease.

OBJECTIVE This study was undertaken to characterize structural and pharmacological properties of the pig popliteal artery in order to develop a novel system for the examination of lower limb blood flow regulation in a variety of cardiovascular pathologies, such as diabetes-induced peripheral artery disease. METHODS Popliteal arteries were isolated from streptozocin-induced diabetic pigs or age-matched saline-injected control pigs for morphological study using transmission electron microscopy and for examination of vasoreactivity to pharmacological agents using wire myography. RESULTS Transmission electron microscopy of the porcine popliteal artery wall revealed the presence of endothelial cell-smooth muscle cell interactions (myoendothelial junctions) and smooth muscle cell-smooth muscle cell interactions, for which we have coined the term "myo-myo junctions." These myo-myo junctions were shown to feature plaques indicative of connexin expression. Further, the pig popliteal artery was highly responsive to a variety of vasoconstrictors including norepinephrine, phenylephrine, and U46619, and vasodilators including acetylcholine, adenosine 5'-[β-thio] diphosphate, and bradykinin. Finally, 2 weeks after streptozocin-induced diabetes, the normalized vasoconstriction of the pig popliteal artery to norepinephrine was unaltered compared to control. CONCLUSIONS The pig popliteal artery displays structural and pharmacological properties that might prove useful in future studies of diabetes-associated peripheral artery disease and other lower limb cardiovascular diseases.
A polarization based study of gold nanoparticles entrapped in single-wall carbon nanotube doped nanoscaffold

Abstract The pulses of light scattering which exhibit varying degrees of polarization are heterogeneously sensitive to the degree of polarization of suspended particles. The light scattering information has been used to discriminate gold nanoparticles entrapped in single-wall carbon nanotubes-doped nanoscaffold. The present work reports a polarization study to characterize gold nanoparticles of two different sizes entrapped in single-wall carbon nanotubes-doped nanoscaffold.
Cystitis and Pyelonephritis: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Urinary tract infections, including cystitis and pyelonephritis, are the most common bacterial infection primary care clinicians encounter in office practice. Dysuria and frequency in the absence of vaginal discharge and vaginal irritation are highly predictive of cystitis. Urine culture is recommended for the diagnosis and management of pyelonephritis, recurrent urinary tract infection, and complicated urinary tract infections. Antibiotics targeted toward Escherichia coli, Proteus, Klebsiella, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus are the recommended treatment. The duration of treatment varies by specific drug and type of infection, ranging from 3 to 5 days for uncomplicated cystitis to 7 to 14 days for pyelonephritis.
Effects of diet and hyperlipidemia on levels and distribution of circulating lysophosphatidic acid

Lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs) are bioactive radyl hydrocarbon-substituted derivatives of glycerol 3-phosphate. LPA metabolism and signaling are implicated in heritable risk of coronary artery disease. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of these processes attenuate experimental atherosclerosis. LPA accumulates in atheromas, which may be a consequence of association with LDLs. The source, regulation, and biological activity of LDL-associated LPA are unknown. We examined the effects of experimental hyperlipidemia on the levels and distribution of circulating LPA in mice. The majority of plasma LPA was associated with albumin in plasma from wild-type mice fed normal chow. LDL-associated LPA was increased in plasma from high-fat Western diet-fed mice that are genetically prone to hyperlipidemia (LDL receptor knockout or activated proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9-overexpressing C57Bl6). Adipose-specific deficiency of the ENPP2 gene encoding the LPA-generating secreted lysophospholipase D, autotaxin (ATX), attenuated these Western diet-dependent increases in LPA. ATX-dependent increases in LDL-associated LPA were observed in isolated incubated plasma. ATX acted directly on LDL-associated lysophospholipid substrates in vitro. LDL from all human subjects examined contained LPA and was decreased by lipid-lowering drug therapies. Human and mouse plasma therefore contains a diet-sensitive LDL-associated LPA pool that might contribute to the cardiovascular disease-promoting effects of LPA.
The effects of acculturation and environment on lifestyle behaviors in Korean immigrants: the mediating role of acculturative stress and body image discrepancy.

ABSTRACTObjectivesDespite high rates of cardiometabolic diseases in Korean immigrants (KIs), little is known about cultural and environmental factors contributing to lifestyle behaviors. The purpos...
Hedgehog-Transmitted Trichophyton erinaceid Causing Painful Bullous Tinea Manuum.

Trichophyton is a species of fungus that commonly infects hedgehogs. As the popularity of keeping hedgehogs as pets increases, there have been reports of Trichophyton species infection in humans. Diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Trichophyton infection can be delayed owing to physicians’ low index of suspicion and unfamiliarity with the physical manifestations. We describe a case of a 27-year-old healthy man who developed tinea manuum after handling a pet hedgehog. Presenting symptoms included a worsening bullous eruption and severe pain. Both fungal and histopathological study confirmed Trichophyton infection. He was treated with oral and topical antifungal medication. All symptoms resolved 2 weeks after initiation of treatment.
Clinical utilization of blinatumomab and inotuzumab immunotherapy in children with relapsed or refractory B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Background The treatment paradigm for patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (rrALL) has been revolutionized given recent clinical trials demonstrating remarkable success of immunotherapies and leading to drug approvals by United States and European agencies. We report experience with commercial blinatumomab and inotuzumab use at two North American pediatric oncology centers in children and adolescents/young adults with B-ALL. Procedure Patients 0-25 years old treated with the CD19 × CD3 bispecific T cell-engaging antibody blinatumomab and/or the CD22 antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab from January 1, 2010, to June 1, 2018, were eligible. Disease status included relapsed B-ALL in second or greater relapse, primary chemotherapy-refractory B-ALL, or B-ALL complicated by severe infection precluding delivery of conventional chemotherapy. Results We identified 27 patients who received blinatumomab and/or inotuzumab outside of clinical trials during the study period. Four of the 13 patients (31%) with relapsed disease achieved minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative remission, and five patients (39%) underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). In the 12 patients with primary chemorefractory B-ALL treated with immunotherapy, 11 (92%) achieved MRD-negative remission as assessed by flow cytometry; 10 patients (83%) underwent subsequent HSCT. Two patients with B-ALL in MRD-negative remission received blinatumomab due to severe infection and remained in remission after chemotherapy continuation. Conclusions Blinatumomab and inotuzumab can induce deep remissions in patients with rrALL and facilitate subsequent HSCT or other cellular therapies. Blinatumomab can also serve as an effective bridging therapy during severe infection. The optimal timing, choice of immunotherapeutic agent(s), and duration of responses require further investigation via larger-scale clinical trials.
Current Sharing Analysis of SiC Power Modules in Parallel Operation

This paper seeks to study the contributing factors to current mismatch among parallelled SiC power modules, including the gate driver circuits, and the impedance of the bus barsm, the load connection and the load impedance. Compared with using silicon power devices, the effect of impedance asymmetry and inductive coupling is more pronounced with SiC power modules due to significantly lower on-resistance, lower load inductance and higher steady state di/dt. It is also revealed that nanosecond-level mismatch in the gate driver circuits can lead to significant dynamic current mismatch. Hardware tests and detailed simulations are carried out to explore these effects, and finally achieving 2.41% mismatch in dynamic switching energy and minimal mismatch in the steady state current sharing.
Social and sexual behaviors in C. elegans: the first fifty years.

For the first 25 years after the landmark 1974 paper that launched the field, most C. elegans biologists were content to think of their subjects as solitary creatures. C. elegans presented no short...
Immigration Policies and Access to the Justice System: The Effect of Enforcement Escalations on Undocumented Immigrants and Their Communities

Does intensifying immigrationenforcement lead to under-reporting of crime among undocumented immigrants and their communities? We empirically test the claims of activists and legal advocates that the escalation of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in 2017 negatively impacted the willingness of undocumented immigrants and Hispanic communities to report crime. We hypothesize that ICE cooperation with local law enforcement, in particular, discourages undocumented immigrants and their Hispanic community members from reporting crime. Using a difference-in-difference approach and FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data at the county level, we find that total reported crime fell from 2016 to 2017 in counties with higher shares of Hispanic individuals and in counties where local law enforcement had more cooperation with ICE. Using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), we show that these declines in the measured crime rate are driven by decreased crime reporting by Hispanic communities rather than by decreased crime commission or victimization. Finally, we replicate these results in a second case study by leveraging the staggered roll-out of the 2008–2014 Secure Communities program across US counties. Taken together, our findings add to a growing body of literature demonstrating how immigration enforcement reduces vulnerable populations’ access to state services, including the criminal justice system.
Building a Better Bar: The Twelve Building Blocks of Minimum Competence

The bar exam tries to distinguish minimally competent lawyers from incompetent ones: it exists to protect the public from the harms of incompetent legal representation. That protection is critical to maintaining the integrity of the profession, but the bar exam achieves that goal only if it effectively assesses minimum competence. Although the bar exam has existed for more than a century, there has never been an agreed-upon, evidence-based definition of minimum competence. Absent such a definition, it is impossible to know whether the bar exam is a valid measure of the minimum competence needed to practice law or an artificial barrier to entry. We designed this study to address these substantial gaps in our knowledge, build on the existing research, and develop an evidence-based definition of minimum competence. We conducted 50 focus groups using a protocol we developed to gather data about the knowledge and skills new lawyers need to practice competently. Of those focus groups, 41 were conducted with new lawyers, while the remaining nine were conducted with those who supervise new lawyers. The data from these focus groups suggest that minimum competence consists of 12 interlocking components — or “building blocks.” Based on the data, it is also clear that exams should be open book and provide greater time to complete. Multiple choice questions bear little resemblance to the cognitive skills lawyers use and should be avoided; instead, written performance tests do in fact resemble many of the tasks that new lawyers perform and are encouraged. Additionally, practice-based assessments, such as ones based on clinical performance, offer promising avenues for evaluating minimum competence beyond the bar exam. In this report, we also outline 10 recommendations that courts, law schools, bar associations, bar examiners, and other stakeholders should consider in their efforts to move towards better, evidence-based lawyer licensing.
Treatment Outcomes Among Black Adults Receiving Medication for Opioid Use Disorder

Largely due to structural racism, Black people with substance use disorder have worse outcomes than their White counterparts. The opioid epidemic has amplified these racial disparities. Little is known about strengths that buffer against the systemic issues that disproportionately impact Black adults with opioid use disorder (OUD), particularly those receiving buprenorphine for OUD. The objectives of this study are to (1) assess psychosocial and clinical predictors of OUD outcomes and (2) explore differences in OUD outcomes by gender among a sample of Black adults receiving buprenorphine. This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional survey and medical record review with a convenience sample recruited from an addiction medicine clinic. Analyses included Black participants who provided at least one urine drug test during the study period (n = 98). Prospective 6-month OUD outcomes (treatment retention, substance use recurrence, and buprenorphine continuation) were abstracted from the medical record. Univariate analyses explored differences by gender. Multivariate regressions assessed predictors of OUD outcomes. Participants were 53% women and middle-aged (47 ± 12 years). The majority (59%) had been in treatment for at least 1 year at study enrollment. Substance use recurrence was common, but many individuals remained in treatment. OUD outcomes did not differ by gender. Older age and absence of injection opioid use history were significant predictors of treatment retention and buprenorphine continuation. When provided access to high-quality treatment, Black adults with OUD demonstrate positive outcomes. Addressing structural racism and developing culturally informed treatment interventions are necessary to improve access to high-quality care for this community.
CTP and parS coordinate ParB partition complex dynamics and ParA-ATPase activation for ParABS-mediated DNA partitioning

ParABS partition systems, comprising the centromere-like DNA sequence parS, the parS-binding ParB-CTPase, and the nucleoid-binding ParA-ATPase, ensure faithful segregation of bacterial chromosomes and low-copy-number plasmids. F-plasmid partition complexes containing ParBF and parSF move by generating and following a local concentration gradient of nucleoid-bound ParAF. However, the process through which ParBF activates ParAF-ATPase has not been defined. We studied CTP- and parSF-modulated ParAF-ParBF complex assembly, in which DNA-bound ParAF-ATP dimers are activated for ATP hydrolysis by interacting with two ParBF N-terminal domains. CTP or parSF enhances the ATPase rate without significantly accelerating ParAF-ParBF complex assembly. Together, parSF and CTP accelerate ParAF-ParBF assembly without further significant increase in ATPase rate. Magnetic-tweezers experiments showed that CTP promotes multiple ParBF loading onto parSF-containing DNA, generating condensed partition complex-like assemblies. We propose that ParBF in the partition complex adopts a conformation that enhances ParBF-ParBF and ParAF-ParBF interactions promoting efficient partitioning.
Electrochemical Biosensor Development for Detection of Botulinum Toxin A (BoNT/A)

Effective methods for the detection of biological toxins are vital for food safety, human medicine, environmental maintenance, and safeguarding against biological warfare. In this project, we are d...
A highly linear CMOS amplifier for Variable Gain Amplifier applications

This paper reports the design of a highly-linear CMOS amplifier for Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA) applications. A better than -60 dB 3rd harmonic distortion at differential output level of 1 V peak-to-peak is obtained by utilizing a linearization scheme that does not rely on the active devices. The amplifier maintains 3 dB bandwidth over 300 MHz. A noise figure at 8.6 dB is obtained with source impedance of 200 ohms. It is implemented in standard CMOS 0.25 u process and consumes 40 mA current under 3.3 V power supply.
Gene silencing in transgenic soybean plants transformed via particle bombardment.

Transgenes are susceptible to silencing in plants especially when multiple copies of the gene of interest are introduced. Transgenic plants derived by particle bombardment, which is the common method for transforming soybean, have a tendency to have multiple integration events. Three independent transgenic soybean plants obtained via particle bombardment were analyzed for transgene silencing. A GUS transgenic soybean line had at least 100 copies of the GUS gene while there were approximately 60 copies of the transgene in the two soybean lines transformed with a 15-kDa zein storage protein gene from maize. Soybean plants transformed with the GUS gene showed variable GUS expression. The coding region and promoter of the GUS gene in the plants with low expression of GUS were heavily methylated. Variability in GUS expression was observed in the progeny of the high expressors in the T2 and T3 generations as well. Expression level of the 15-kDa zein gene in transgenic soybean plants showed correlation with the level of transgene methylation. The helper component-proteinase from potyviruses is known to suppress post-transcriptional gene silencing. Transgenic plants were inoculated with the soybean mosaic potyvirus (SMV) to test possible effects on transgene silencing in soybean. Infection with SMV did not suppress transgene silencing in these plants and suggests that the silencing in these plants may not be due to post-transcriptional gene silencing.
Developmental mechanisms for regulating signal amplification at excitatory synapses in the neocortex

Publisher Summary Sensory cortical areas exhibit a profound sensitivity to manipulation of inputs during the critical periods of development. The visual system is a classic example where profound structural and functional changes occur in synaptic circuits in response to imbalances in patterned input from the eyes. Although the sensitivity to various forms of sensory manipulation is greatest during particular critical periods of postnatal development, the cerebral cortex remains capable of a variety of profound alterations in its functional architecture well into adulthood. During the critical periods of postnatal development, there is evidence that major neuroanatomical reorganization contributes to the plasticity. In the adult cortex, the dynamic capacity for functional reorganization appears to be largely a function of variable synaptic efficiency. A particular synaptic covariance model (the Bienenstock, Cooper and Munro [BCM] model) has been successful in describing rules for transient changes in synaptic weights in visual cortex. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are critical for induction of covariance-induced synaptic potentiation and nitric oxide (NO) play a role in the process in the adult but not the immature cortex. Long-term synaptic depression is also developmentally regulated and shows a layer-specific maturational gradient that is revealed when excitatory synaptic transmission is studied in isolation from postsynaptic inhibition. A causal linkage between short-term modifications in synaptic efficiency and longer term changes in anatomical connections, such as ocular dominance column plasticity is still circumstantial and awaits experimental validation. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-mediated NO production is a viable process in the mature cortex.
Online denoising of discrete noisy data

Real-time data-driven systems often utilize discrete valued time series data and their functionality is highly dependent on the accuracy of such data. In order to improve the performance of these systems, an important pre-processing step is the denoising of data before performing any action (e.g. forecasting or control activities). Existing algorithms have primarily focused on the offline denoising problem, which requires the entire data to be collected before the denoising process. In this paper, the problem of online discrete denoising is considered. The online denoising problem is motivated by real-time applications, where the data must be utilizable soon after it is collected. Three online denoising algorithms are proposed which can strike a tradeoff between delay and accuracy of denoising. It is also shown that the proposed online algorithms asymptotically converge to a class of optimal offline block denoisers.
Test coverage: what does it mean when a board test passes?

Characterizing board test coverage as a percentage of devices or nodes having tests does not accurately portray coverage, especially in a limited access testing environment that today includes a variety of diverse testing approaches from visual and penetrative inspection to classical in-circuit test. A better depiction of test coverage is achieved by developing a list of potential defects referred to as the defect universe, where the capabilities of the chosen test strategy are not considered in development of this defect list. Coverage is measured by grading the capabilities of each test process against the defect universe. The defect universe is defined to be meaningful to the bulk of the electronics industry and to provide a consistent framework for coverage metrics and comparisons.
Puzzles Principles and engineering education

For this paper engineering programs were reviewed in terms of curriculum building and the technique of Puzzles Principles developed by the author is defined. This technique could not only enhance the teaching of capstone design courses, but generally could be incorporated in the design of curricula for effective engineering teaching. The concept of Puzzles Principles and its application can show how greatly engineering education can be planned and how the requirements suggested by the Engineer of 2020 can be implemented.
Real-time analysis of ternary complex on particles: direct evidence for partial agonism at the agonist-receptor-G protein complex assembly step of signal transduction.

We developed a novel and generalized approach to investigate G protein-coupled receptor molecular assemblies. We solubilized a fusion protein consisting of the β2-adrenergic receptor and green fluorescent protein (GFP) for bead-based flow cytometric analysis. β2-Adrenergic receptor GFP bound to dihydroalprenolol-conjugated beads, providing a Kd for the fusion protein and, in competition with β2-adrenergic receptor ligands, Kd values for agonists and antagonists. Beads displaying chelated nickel bound purified hexahistidine-tagged G protein heterotrimers and, subsequently, the binary complex of agonist with β2-adrenergic receptor GFP. The dose-response curves of ternary complex formation revealed maximal assembly for ligands previously classified as full agonists and reduced assembly for ligands previously classified as partial agonists. Guanosine 5′-3-O-(thio)triphosphate-induced dissociation rates of the ternary complex were the same for full and partial agonists. Soluble G protein, competing with ternary complexes on beads provided an affinity estimate of agonist-receptor complexes to G protein. When performed simultaneously, the two assemblies discriminated between agonist, antagonist or inactive molecule in a manner appropriate for high throughput, small volume drug discovery. The assemblies can be further generalized to other G protein coupled receptor protein-protein interactions.
A Note on Psychological Disorders Named After Cities

AbstractThis note surveys behavioral syndromes named after cities. Ten such syndromes are examined and are categorized in terms of their tourism, hostage taking, and metaphorical associations.