cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Programmed cell death-1 and programmed cell death ligand-1 antibodies-induced dysthyroidism.

Background Monoclonal antibodies blocking the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) or its ligand (PD-L1) are a group of immune checkpoints inhibitors (ICIs) with proven antitumor efficacy. However, their use is complicated by immune-related adverse events (irAEs), including endocrine adverse events (eAEs). Purpose We review the incidence, time to onset and resolution rate of dysthyroidism induced by PD-1/PD-L1 Ab, and the clinical, biological and radiological findings. We aim to discuss the potential mechanisms of PD-1/PD-L1 Ab-induced dysthyroidism, and to propose a management algorithm. Methods We performed a literature search of available clinical trials regarding PD-1/PD-L1 Ab in the PubMed database. We selected all English language clinical trials that included at least 100 patients. We also present selected case series or reports, retrospective studies and reviews related to this issue. Findings In patients treated with PD-1 Ab, hypothyroidism occurred in 2-10.1% and hyperthyroidism occurred in 0.9-7.8%. When thyroiditis was reported separately, it occurred in 0.34-2.6%. Higher rates were reported when PD-1 Ab were associated with other ICI or chemotherapy. The median time to onset of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism after PD-1 Ab initiation was 23-45 days and 2-3.5 months, respectively. Regarding PD-L1 Ab, hypothyroidism occurred in 0-10% and hyperthyroidism in 0.5-2% of treated patients. The average time to onset of dysthyroidism after PD-L1 Ab was variable and ranged from 1 day after treatment initiation to 31 months. Conclusion Dysthyroidism occurs in up to 10% of patients treated with PD-1/PD-L1 Ab. Hypothyroidism and reversible destructive thyroiditis are the most frequent endocrine adverse events (eAE) in PD-1/PD-L1 treated patients. Immune and non-immune mechanisms are potentially involved, independently of the presence of thyroid antibodies.
Neuropsychology of Chemotherapy in Brain Tumor Patients

Abstract Increasing survival rates and persistent cognitive complaints from brain tumor patients have led to the recognition that cognitive impairment from cancer or cancer-related treatment is a significant problem for survivors. Definitions, incidence rates, and potential etiologies are being researched, along with the neurotoxic effects from chemotherapy and radiation in relation to brain functioning. Both diagnostic techniques and neurocognitive profiling of cancer patients will be presented. Lastly, evidence-based coping strategies and cognitive interventions will be described for those experiencing cognitive deficits following cancer treatment.
Addressing Diversity in Leisure Studies: Three Case Studies

An awareness surrounding diversity issues is evolving in numerous ways within leisure studies, but many questions remain unanswered about using effective teaching strategies. The purpose of this pa...
Disaster Relief Provision

Providing examples from many past relief operations conducted in both developed and developing countries, this chapter presents major undesirable aspects of disaster relief disbursement. A clear understanding of these aspects is necessary for emergency managers and planners to improve their capability and performance in future disaster relief operations. These aspects are not completely new to the environmental hazard and disaster researchers because the inherent weaknesses of relief disbursement are closely associated with a several key concepts/traditions (e.g., vulnerability, political-ecological paradigm, and participatory exclusion) of the subfield. After briefly discussing these concepts, crucial aspects of disaster relief disbursement, such as biased relief distribution, and timeliness and misuse/non-use of disaster relief, are presented. Biased distribution is typically caused because of the income, age, gender, religious and ethnic affiliation, and immigration status of disaster survivors as well as region- and area-specific relief distribution. How to evaluate effectiveness of disaster relief distribution is presented next, and finally determinants of disaster relief at the country and individual/household levels are covered.
Chemical Interactions of Acidic Precipitation and Terrestrial Vegetation

Acidic precipitation — wet or frozen precipitation with a H+ concentration greater than 2.5 ueq liter-1 (equivalent to a pH of about 5.6) — is a significant air pollution problem in North America and Europe. The northeastern portion of the United States is at the center of the high acidic rainfall area in North America.1 The high H+ concentration of precipitation (rain, snow, fog, sleet, and mist) in the northeastern United States is explained by the presence of strong acids. Sulfuric acid contributes a portion of the acidity,2–4 and nitrate and chloride are significant anion components of the total acidity in precipitation.5,6 A significant amount of sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is converted into sulfuric acid and various aerosols of ammonium sulfate. Particulate sulfur compounds and sulfur oxides may be incorporated into precipitation with conversion to H2SO4.2 About 90% of the sulfur in the atmosphere of the northeastern United States is contributed by antrhopogenic sources.7 An estimate for nitrogen inputs into the atmosphere of the Adirondack Mountain Region indicates that 34% of the anions in rain could be attributed to nitrates.8 Acidic precipitation is only a portion of the total acidity brought to the earth’s surface from the atmosphere. Dry fall plus acidic precipitation is termed acidic deposition.
Mentoring Across Differences

Introduction Effective mentoring can contribute to wellness and career growth and satisfaction. However, the same social forces and interpersonal dynamics affecting all relationships can compromise...
Parent coaching at 6 and 10 months improves language outcomes at 14 months: A randomized controlled trial.

Previous studies reveal an association between particular features of parental language input and advances in children's language learning. However, it is not known whether parent coaching aimed to enhance specific input components would (a) successfully increase these components in parents' language input and (b) result in concurrent increases in children's language development. The present randomized controlled trial assigned families of typically developing 6-month-old infants to Intervention (parent coaching) and Control (no coaching) groups. Families were equivalent on socioeconomic status, infants' gender, and infants' age. Parent coaching took place when infants were 6 and 10 months of age, and included quantitative and qualitative linguistic feedback on the amount of child-directed speech, back-and-forth interactions, and parentese speech style. These variables were derived from each family's first-person LENA recordings at home. Input variables and infant language were measured at 6, 10, and 14 months. Parent coaching significantly enhanced language input as measured by two social interaction variables: percentage of speech directed to the child and percentage of parentese speech. These two variables were correlated, and were both related to growth in infant babbling between 6 and 14 months. Intervention infants showed greater growth in babbling than Control infants. Furthermore, at 14 months, Intervention infants produced significantly more words than Control infants, as indicated by LENA recordings and parent report via the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Together, these results indicate that parent coaching can enrich specific aspects of parental language input, and can immediately and positively impact child language outcomes. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/7wqR28gPiwo.
Sustainable technology for energy and environmental benign building design

Abstract A sustainable technology has been proposed to satisfy the total energy and gas demand for a building which can be produced by the building itself without any outsource connection. To satisfy the energy demand of 100% of a building some portion of its exterior curtain wall skin can be used as the black body acting PV (photovoltaic) panel to capture solar energy and convert it into electricity energy. The domestic waste including humane feces is proposed to be implemented into transforming process in site where sludge shall be collected into a closed anaerobic detention tank at cellar to introduce into a bioreactor; allowing to produce biogas (CH4) by Methenogenesis, then store, and utilize it for cooking and HAVC equipment. Then, the separated waste water to be collected and treated in site by applying all primary, secondary, and tertiary process and the treated water be used for gardening, and landscaping. Combined all these technologies simply would be an innovative field in sustainable science where a building can itself produce electricity and gas without any outsource connection to meet its total energy and gas demand which is benign to the environment.
Decentralized Machine Learning

In the past decade we have seen very rapid growth in two fields: cloud services, and neural networks. These two are connected, in that logs from services are the fuel that has powered data-hungry deep learning algorithms. However, there are several forces on the other side of the coin, pushing neural capabilities onto the device and out of the cloud. These include: the development of power-efficient on-device neural processors; scaling laws relating energy density, size, and bandwidth; and an increasing demand for data privacy. This talk will address these trends, technologies designed to address them (including Federated Learning, quantization, and device-friendly architectures like MobileNet), and the product landscape emerging from these new developments.
Reduction in voluntary activation of elbow and wrist muscles in individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke

After a stroke, descending drive is impaired due to the loss of corticospinal and corticobulbar projections which causes a reduction in voluntary activation or an inability of the nervous system to activate muscles to their full capacity, which in turn contributes to weakness of the upper extremity. Voluntary activation has not been quantified at specific joints in the upper extremity, in part because directly assessing changes descending drive is difficult. In this study, voluntary activation of elbow and wrist flexors and extensors was assessed in participants with chronic hemiparetic stroke using twitch interpolation. Twitch interpolation uses electrical stimulation to estimate voluntary activation and relies on the principle that there is an inverse relationship between the amplitude of a twitch evoked by a stimulus and the voluntary force output during stimulation (Taylor, 2009). We measured voluntary activation using twitch interpolation as well as maximum voluntary torque (MVT) of the elbow and wrist flexors and extensors in the paretic and non-paretic limb of ten participants post stroke and the dominant and non-dominant limb of 2 control participants. Results show, MVT interlimb differences were significantly greater for stroke participants compared to control, across muscle groups (p[≤]0.005). For stroke participants, MVT interlimb differences were significantly greater at the wrist compared to the elbow (P=0.003). Voluntary activation was significantly less in the paretic limb compared to the non-paretic, dominant and non-dominant limbs, across participants and muscle groups (p<0.005 for all four muscle groups). For the stroke participants, the voluntary activation interlimb difference was significantly greater for the wrist muscles compared to the elbow muscles (p<0.005). There was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.39, P = .022) between each participants impairment level, as measured by a hand specific subscore of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment, and the wrist extensor voluntary activation in the paretic limb but the relationship was not significant for the other muscle groups.
Driving organization and systems change toward trauma-responsive services in child welfare: supervisor and administrator perspectives on initial implementation

ABSTRACTDespite trauma as a prevalent and substantial need among children in foster care, child welfare systems are challenged with fully implementing trauma-responsive programs and policies. Furth...
Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Lacrimal Sac: Clinical-Pathologic Analysis, Including Molecular Genetics.

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess whether mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lacrimal sac is a counterpart of CRTC1/3-MAML2 gene fusion-related salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Methods In this retrospective observational case series, pathology records were searched for all cases of lacrimal sac mucoepidermoid carcinoma diagnosed between 1990 and 2018. Data collected included demographics, clinical findings, management, and follow-up. Pathologic parameters assessed included tumor morphology, immunohistochemistry, and MAML2 and EGFR fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies. Results Six patients with mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lacrimal sac, 5 males and 1 female, with a median age of 63 years (range 24-66) were identified. Five tumors were managed with radical resection and 1 patient underwent orbital exenteration. None of the patients developed recurrence or metastases with an average follow-up of 18 months (range 13-23). All tumors had morphologic and immunohistochemical features of mucoepidermoid carcinoma and overexpressed EGFR. MAML2 FISH was negative for MAML2 rearrangement in all tumors. EGFR FISH demonstrated EGFR amplification in 1 tumor. Conclusions Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the lacrimal sac is not a lacrimal sac counterpart of CRTC1/3-MAML2 gene fusion-related salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma. EGFR pathway activation and EGFR amplification in a subset of these neoplasms suggest the potential role for anti-EGFR agents.
Placement of Catheters for Hemodialysis/Pheresis (HD) Utilizing Ultrasound (US) and Fluoroscopy

This chapter describes the surgical procedure for placement of catheters for hemodialysis/pheresis (HD) utilizing ultrasound (US) and fluoroscopy, as performed by the following approaches: fluoroscopic/ultrasonographic guidance. The text includes an introduction that outlines the indications, risks, benefits and alternatives, essential steps, needed equipment, and variations in operative techniques. This is followed by a template operative dictation, which provides the reader with an operative report, such as is found in a patient chart or electronic medical record. A description is provided of the following critical concepts for this procedure: confirm anatomy/indications, review protocols, gather supplies, utilize ultrasound guidance to localize internal jugular vein, prep and drape, access vessel, Seldinger technique to place HD catheter, secure catheter in place following tunneling, and imaging chest radiograph (CXR)/fluoroscopy to evaluate placement and check for pneumothorax.
Assessment of Risk Factors of Breast Cancer among Women Attending Tertiary Care Hospital of CHATTISGARH: a Case Control Study

Breast cancer is a multifactorial disease. This study was undertaken to study various risk factors associated with breast cancer. This was a case control study conducted between August 2017 to August 2018 at Department of surgery, Dr.B.R.A.M Hospital and Pt.JNM Medical college, Raipur, (C.G.). Cases were women with histopathologically confirmed breast cancer. Controls were age-matched women without any current breast problem or previous breast cancer. A total of 138 cases and 138 controls were enrolled. They were interviewed for menstrual history, breast feeding history, abortion history, family history etc. after obtaining informed written consent. The significant risk factors were age > 25 years at first child birth (OR 2.80, 95%CI 1.13–6.95), breast feeding history of 25 years, breast feeding duration of <2 years, history of abortion and comorbidities increases the risk of developing breast cancer.
Relation Between Pediatric Emergency Department Activity and Patient Complexity.

Objectives Potentially projecting pediatric emergency department (ED) volume trends is a matter that has been researched extensively. It is vital to understand the relation between patient complexity and department volumes to properly staff and allocate resources within the ED. Multiple studies have analyzed ED volumes based on disease severity; however, the degree of illness was determined by triage classification. This study proposed a novel method of evaluating the relation between pediatric ED patient complexity, centered on Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code, and day of the week. Methods This was a retrospective study of pediatric patients presenting to the ED between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2015. This study looked at the relation between individuals with CPT codes who were evaluated in the pediatric ED on a particular day of the week and evaluated in the pediatric ED either the day before, the day of, and the day after a legal holiday. Results A total of 81,698 (54%) male and 70,002 (46%) female patients were analyzed. No relation was noted between ED patient complexity, based on their CPT code, and the day of the week (P = 0.41). Individual, nonstatistically significant differences between the day of the week and pediatric ED volumes were identified, however. Conclusions We identified no relation between pediatric ED patient complexity, assessed by CPT code, and the day of the week. Furthermore, a more multifactorial and granular analysis may be necessary to model resource constraints by type and time of day to more effectively manage ED resources. CPT-based modeling may benefit superimposed financial analyses of demand-capacity management.
Cost-Utility of Sildenafil for Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn.

OBJECTIVE While advanced therapies for severe persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) such as inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) are standard treatments in high-income countries, these therapies are often unavailable in resource-limited settings such as middle-income countries. However, there are small clinical trials illustrating the efficacy of sildenafil at reducing mortality in PPHN. This analysis sought to determine the cost-utility of enteral sildenafil for the treatment of severe PPHN. STUDY DESIGN A Markov-state transition model was constructed for the two clinical approaches to compare costs, clinical outcomes, and quality of life: (1) "conventional," (2) "sildenafil." The impact of sildenafil was modeled as a relative risk modifier of the conventional strategy's mortality risk. Transitional probabilities, costs, and utility metrics were extracted from the literature. Sensitivity analyses for each model input as well as 100-patient Monte Carlo simulations were used to test the durability of the model conclusion. RESULTS The sildenafil strategy was cost-effective for upper but not lower middle-income countries with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $2,339 per quality-adjusted life year. This conclusion was durable across a wide-range of model assumptions; the sildenafil strategy only failed to meet criteria for cost-effectiveness when sildenafil therapy had a mortality relative risk efficacy of >0.89, if life expectancy in that country is <40 years, or if the lifetime forecasted costs of a survivor's life was quite high. CONCLUSION Enteral sildenafil is a cost-effective intervention for severe PPHN for upper middle-income countries where ECMO and iNO are not available. KEY POINTS · PPHN is a common life-threatening condition in newborns.. · Sildenafil improves survival of PPHN.. · Sildenafil is cost-effective for upper-middle income countries..
Endoscopy for Gastric Cancer Screening is Cost-effective for Asian Americans in the United States

Abstract Background & Aims Endoscopic screening for gastric cancer is routine in some countries with high incidence and is associated with reduced gastric cancer-related mortality. Immigrants from countries of high incidence to low incidence of gastric cancer retain their high risk, but no screening recommendations have been made for these groups in the United States. We aimed to determine the cost effectiveness of different endoscopic screening strategies for noncardia gastric cancer, compared with no screening, among Chinese, Filipino, Southeast Asian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese Americans. Methods We generated a decision-analytic Markov model to simulate a cohort of asymptomatic 50-year-old Asian Americans. The cost effectiveness of 2 distinct strategies for endoscopic gastric cancer screening was compared with no screening for each group, stratified by sex. Outcome measures were reported in incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs), with a willingness to pay threshold of $100,000/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). Extensive sensitivity analyses were performed. Results Compared with performing no endoscopic gastric cancer screening, performing a 1-time upper endoscopy with biopsies, with continued endoscopic surveillance if gastric intestinal metaplasia was identified, was cost effective, whereas performing ongoing biennial endoscopies, even for patients with normal findings from endoscopy and histopathology, was not. The lowest ICERs were observed for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans (all below $73,748/QALY). Conclusions Endoscopic screening for gastric cancer with ongoing surveillance of gastric preneoplasia is cost-effective for Asian Americans ages 50 years or older in the United States. The lowest ICERs are for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans (all below $73,748/QALY).
Trends in the Age of Cigarette Smoking Initiation Among Young Adults in the US From 2002 to 2018

Importance Success in reducing the prevalence of adolescent smoking could reflect complete prevention of smoking initiation or a shift in the age of cigarette smoking initiation from adolescence into early adulthood. Objective To assess trends in early adult (ages 18-23 years) vs adolescent (age <18 years) cigarette smoking initiation and transition to daily cigarette smoking from 2002 to 2018. Design, Setting, and Participants Ages at initiation of smoking and the transition to daily smoking were ascertained from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2002-2018), an annual, population-based, repeated cross-sectional study representative of the US population. This cross-sectional analysis was restricted to young adults who completed the survey at ages 22 to 23 years during survey years 2002 to 2018 to limit potential age-related recall bias. Retrospectively collected age of cigarette smoking initiation was assessed among ever cigarette smokers; age of transition to daily smoking was assessed among ever daily cigarette smokers. Data analysis was performed from June 2019 to July 2020. Exposures Calendar year of survey (2002 to 2018). Main Outcomes and Measures The main outcomes were population-weighted cigarette smoking prevalence and cigarette smoking initiation and transition to daily smoking in adolescence (age <18 years) vs early adulthood (ages 18-23 years). Results Among 71 756 young adults aged 22 to 23 years (38 226 women [50.5%]), ever cigarette smoking prevalence decreased from a population-weighted estimate of 74.6% (95% CI, 73.1%-75.9%) in 2002 to 51.4% (95% CI, 49.3%-53.5%) in 2018 (P < .001). Daily smoking prevalence rates similarly decreased from 41.1% (95% CI, 39.1%-43.1%) in 2002 to 20.2% (95% CI, 18.6%-21.8%) in 2018 (P < .001). However, among 48 015 ever smokers, the proportion initiating smoking in early adulthood (ages 18-23 years) increased over this time, from 20.6% (95% CI, 18.5%-22.8%) in 2002 to 42.6% (95% CI, 39.6%-45.7%) in 2018 (P < .001). Similarly, among 24 490 daily cigarette smokers, the proportion who transitioned to daily smoking in early adulthood increased from 38.7% (95% CI, 35.9%-41.6%) in 2002 to 55.9% (95% CI, 52.0%-59.8%) in 2018 (P < .001). Conclusions and Relevance A substantial proportion of beginning smokers and most new daily smokers are now young adults, reflecting a shift from adolescence to early adulthood, a population segment once considered beyond the critical risk period for cigarette smoking onset. Expanding the long-standing emphasis on adolescent surveillance and prevention in adolescence to include the young adult population is warranted.
“This is similar to Vincent Chin”: Intertextuality, referring expressions, and the discursive construction of Asian American activist identities in an online messaging community:

While the linguistic practices of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities have become more widely documented, little is known about how AAPIs discursively create shared political identit...
REACT: real-time contact tracing and risk monitoring using privacy-enhanced mobile tracking

Contact tracing is an essential public health tool for controlling epidemic disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital contact tracing using real-time locations or proximity of individuals can be used to significantly speed up and scale up contact tracing. In this article, we present our project, REACT, for REAal-time Contact Tracing and risk monitoring via privacy-enhanced tracking of users' locations and symptoms. With privacy enhancement that allows users to control and refine the precision with which their information will be collected and used, REACT will enable: 1) contact tracing of individuals who are exposed to infected cases and identification of hot-spot locations, 2) individual risk monitoring based on the locations they visit and their contact with others; and 3) community risk monitoring and detection of early signals of community spread. We will briefly describe our ongoing work and the approaches we are taking as well as some challenges we encountered in deploying the app.
Agilent Technologies, Inc.: Advance your materials analysis with the Cary 7000 UMS: a turn-key solution for research, development, and QA/QC in optics, thin films/coatings, solar, and glass

Agilent Technologies Inc.is a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets. Now in its 20th year delivering insight and innovation toward improving the quality of life, Agilent instruments, software, services, solutions and people provide trusted answers to customers' most challenging questions. The company generated revenues of $5.16 billion in fiscal 2019 and employs 16,300 people worldwide. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "A." www.agilent.com
Ocular myasthenia gravis – How effective is low dose prednisone long term?

Abstract Introduction Controversy persists on the best treatment to control ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) and reduce conversion to generalized myasthenia gravis (GMG). We hypothesized that low dose prednisone could accomplish both in a cohort of OMG patients followed after three years. Methods We reviewed the records of 168 patients who presented with OMG. Our study included 103 of the OMG patients who met inclusion criteria, requiring follow up for a minimum of 3 years without disease generalization. Low dose prednisone was defined as ≤7.5 mg per day. The main outcome was having single vision without ptosis blocking vision, measured by binocular single vision (BSV) and upper lid position. We also analyzed late progression to GMG. Results Of 87 patients treated with prednisone, chronic low dose prednisone alone restored BSV in 47 patients (46% of all patients) without GMG. Pyridostigmine monotherapy restored BSV in 11/14 patients (11% of all patients). Other immunomodulatory therapy (OIT) was needed in 38 patients (37%). Medical therapy maintained BSV at last evaluation (mean follow up 8.2 ± 5.0 years) in 93 patients (90%). GMG developed in 10 patients (10%) during the follow-up period. Conclusion In OMG patients who do not generalize before 3 years, chronic long term prednisone at lower doses is moderately effective in maintaining optimum BSV. However, OIT are commonly required in these patients. In these OMG patients receiving prednisone and/or OIT, conversion to GMG after three years of disease is uncommon.
Agmatine requires GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors to inhibit the development of neuropathic pain

A decarboxylated form of L-arginine, agmatine, preferentially antagonizes NMDArs containing Glun2B subunits within the spinal cord and lacks motor side effects commonly associated with non-subunit-selective NMDAr antagonism, namely sedation and motor impairment. Spinally delivered agmatine has been previously shown to reduce the development of tactile hypersensitivity arising from spinal nerve ligation. The present study interrogated the dependence of agmatine's alleviation of neuropathic pain (spared nerve injury (SNI) model) on GluN2B-containing NMDArs. SNI-induced hypersensitivity was induced in mice with significant reduction of levels of spinal GluN2B subunit of the NMDAr and their floxed controls. Agmatine reduced development of SNI-induced tactile hypersensitivity in controls but had no effect in subjects with reduced levels of GluN2B subunits. Ifenprodil, a known GluN2B-subunit-selective antagonist, similarly reduced tactile hypersensitivity in controls but not in the GluN2B-deficient mice. In contrast, MK-801, an NMDA receptor channel blocker, reduced hypersensitivity in both control and GluN2B-deficient mice, consistent with a pharmacological pattern expected from a NMDAr antagonist that does not have preference for GluN2B subtypes. Additionally, we observed that spinally delivered agmatine, ifenprodil and MK-801 inhibited nociceptive behaviors following intrathecal delivery of NMDA in control mice. By contrast, in GluN2B-deficient mice, MK-801 reduced NMDA-evoked nociceptive behaviors, but agmatine had a blunted effect and ifenprodil had no effect. These results demonstrate that agmatine requires the GluN2B subunit of the NMDA receptor for inhibitory pharmacological actions in pre-clinical models of NMDA receptor-dependent hypersensitivity.
Reconsidering the Use of the Mindset Assessment Profile in Educational Contexts

The Mindset Assessment Profile is a popular questionnaire purportedly designed to measure mindset—an individual’s belief in whether intelligence is malleable or stable. Despite its widespread use, the questionnaire appears to assess an individual’s need for cognition and goal orientation more than mindset. We assessed the reliability, construct validity, and factor structure of the Mindset Assessment Profile in a sample of 992 undergraduates. The reliability of the Mindset Assessment Profile was questionable (α = .63) and significantly lower than the reliability of the Implicit Theories of Intelligence Questionnaire (α = .94), an established measure of mindset. The Mindset Assessment Profile also lacked convergent and discriminant validity. Overall scores on the Mindset Assessment Profile correlated significantly more strongly with need for cognition than with mindset. Item-level analyses supported this finding: most items correlated weakly or not at all with mindset, and correlated significantly more strongly with need for cognition and learning goal orientation. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that three factors were underlying scores on the Mindset Assessment Profile: need for cognition, mindset, and performance goal orientation. Based on its questionable reliability and poor construct validity, we do not recommend that researchers and educators use the Mindset Assessment Profile to measure mindset.
Longitudinal Impact of Faculty Participation in a Course Design Institute (CDI): Faculty Motivation and Perception of Expectancy, Value, and Cost

Course design institutes (CDIs), which systematically guide faculty through the (re)design of courses, often transpire in an intensive residency or learning community format. Little is known, to date, of the long-term impact of such initiatives, particularly in the context of faculty motivation. This longitudinal study explores changes in faculty attitudes toward teaching, offering insight into the multifaceted gains and limiting factors influencing motivation as conceptualized by the expectancy-value-cost model (Barron & Hulleman, 2015). Findings reveal that CDI engagement bolsters the value placed on teaching, but arrives at a noteworthy cost to faculty. Implications for CTLs and instructional faculty are explored.
Challenges encountered in comparing international policy responses to COVID-19 and their effects.

Background A variety of policies have been implemented around the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study originally aimed to identify and compare policy responses of different countries and their effects on the pandemic. It quickly evolved into an identification of the heterogeneity among existing policies and the challenges in making meaningful comparisons of the impact of these policies. Methods The process of collecting and comparing data from different sources was analysed through inductive thematic analysis to understand the obstacles that impede research designed to compare COVID-19 data and related policies. Results We identified the following obstacles: (1) no single reputable source of information and too much noise; (2) a lack of standards for how to measure and report data across countries; (3) variations in the content, implementation and enforcement of policies; and (4) politics, instead of science, leading the efforts in pandemic management. Conclusion Heterogeneity in existing policies makes it challenging to compare the effects of various policies worldwide on the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings call for an automatically updated informatics infrastructure across the globe for collecting and maintaining standardized data from multiple sources. There is a strong need for steadfast utilization of scientific and technical experts to inform and influence health policy. Increased investment in public health and emergency planning is essential to overcome the current pandemic, as well as future public health emergencies. Focused leadership and collaboration from world leaders in a unified mission to decrease the mortality and morbidity of the COVID-19 pandemic is imperative.
A Large Liquid Hydrogen Bubble Chamber

As a result of the successful operation of the smaller bubble chambers previously described,1 the University of California Radiation Laboratory is planning a large liquid hydrogen bubble chamber. The National Bureau of Standards is assisting the Radiation Laboratory in the design and development of a 500 liter liquid hydrogen bubble chamber. The chamber has an observation window of Z0 x 72 inches. The design pressures for the chamber are such that it is capable of being used with both hydrogen and deuterium. The design conditions are 27°K and 6 atmospheres for hydrogen and 34°K and 9 atmospheres for deuterium.
On the theory of elliptic functions based on ₂₁(\frac{1}3,\frac{2}3;\frac{1}2;)

Based on properties of the hypergeometric series 2 F 1 (1/3, 2/3; 1/2; z), we develop a theory of elliptic functions that shares many striking similarities with the classical Jacobian elliptic functions.
The triumph of what (if anything)? Rethinking political ideologies and political institutions in twentieth-century Europe

This note explores new ways of thinking about the history of political thought in twentieth-century Europe. It argues that more attention ought to be paid to the interaction between political thought or imagination on the one hand and, on the other, actual political institutions as they were designed, sometimes destroyed, an often re-designed in the course of twentieth-century European history. With this comes a clearer focus on ‘in-between figures’ (such as public lawyers). The note then outlines an argument concerning the emergence—even triumph—of a particular set of institutions and normative ideas (or sometimes just intuitions) in Western Europe after 1945, a set that was largely extended to Southern as well as Eastern Europe towards the end of the century. What is summed up as a conception of constrained civilian democratic administrative statehood did not reflect any traditional ‘ism’ and constituted a genuinely new ideological configuration. Have you forgotten the other bankruptcies? What was Chris...
The fingerprint of human-induced changes in the ocean's salinity and temperature fields

[1] The ocean's salinity field is driven primarily by evaporation, precipitation, and river discharge, all key elements of the Earth's hydrological cycle. Observations show the salinity field has been changing in recent decades. We perform a formal fingerprint-based detection and attribution analysis of these changes between 1955–2004, 60°S and 60°N, and in the top 700 m of the water column. We find that observed changes are inconsistent with the effects of natural climate variability, either internal to the climate system (such as El Nino and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) or external (solar fluctuations and volcanic eruptions). However, the observed changes are consistent with the changes expected due to human forcing of the climate system. Joint changes in salinity and temperature yield a stronger signal of human effects on climate than either salinity or temperature alone. When examining individual depth levels, observed salinity changes are unlikely (p < 0.05) to have arisen from natural causes over the top 125 m of the water column, while temperature changes (and joint salinity/temperature changes) are distinct from natural variability over the top 250 m.
Engineering fully silicided large MOSFET driver for maximum It1 performance

Simultaneous optimization of LDD and Anti-punch-through implant conditions for ESD performance of very large width silicided output driver nMOSFET without snapback mode of operation is reported. Physical mechanisms responsible for performance improvement and device sensitivity to pulse rise time, with little or no dependence on TLP pulse width are detailed.
Adhesive organs of the gastrotricha

The lateral and posterior adhesive organs of an undescribed species ofNeodasys can be seen by electron microscopy to have only one gland cell type. This gland has dense spherical secretion granules like secretion granules of the viscid glands of other gastrotrichs, and it extends to the exterior through a tubular extension of the animal's cuticle, the adhesive tubule, as in other gastrotrichs. Each adhesive gland ofNeodasys has a prominent striated rootlet that extends through its full length, attaching at its distal end to a basal-body-like structure at the tip of the gland's neck. Unlike other gastrotrichs,Neodasys has no second gland type that would be equivalent to a releasing gland. The lateral adhesive organs have a sensory cell closely associated with the gland cell but not in direct communication with the lumen of the tubule; it bears a single cilium that projects alongside the adhesive tubule. The posterior adhesive organ has adhesive gland cells whose necks reach to adhesive tubules on toe-like extensions of the animal's body; sensory cells here are not in a one-to-one association with the tubules; a secretory myoepithelial cell extends to the tip of each toe. The adhesive organs ofNeodasys are interpreted as being of a form that would have been found in a common ancestor to the gastrotrichs and from which the duo-gland organs of other gastrotrichs might have been derived.
COX-2: Where are we in 2003? - Be strong and resolute: continue to use COX-2 selective inhibitors at recommended dosages in appropriate patients

Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 selective inhibitors have been shown to have comparable efficacy to nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Large outcome studies have shown that patients with OA and RA not taking low-dose aspirin have fewer symptomatic and complicated upper GI events when treated with COX-2 selective inhibitors than with nonselective NSAIDs. When used in recommended dosages, there is no convincing evidence that patients treated with COX-2 selective inhibitors have an increased incidence of cardiovascular thrombotic events, including non-fatal myocardial infarction, than patients treated with either placebo or nonselective NSAIDs other than naproxen. Co-therapy with low-dose aspirin is recommended in patients with OA and RA at increased risk for cardiovascular events; the need for gastroprotective therapy in such patients is controversial.
Inescapable but not escapable stress leads to increased struggling behavior and basolateral amygdala c-fos gene expression in response to subsequent novel stress challenge

Control over an aversive experience can greatly impact the organism's response to subsequent stressors. We compared the effects of escapable (ES) and yoked inescapable (IS) electric tail shocks on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hormonal (corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)), neural (c-fos mRNA) and behavioral (struggling) response to subsequent restraint. We found that although the HPA axis response during restraint of both previously stressed groups were higher than stress-naive rats and not different from each other, lack of control over the tailshock experience led to an increase in restraint-induced struggling behavior of the IS rats compared to both stress-naive and ES rats. Additionally, c-fos expression in the basolateral amygdala was increased selectively in the IS group, and relative c-fos mRNA expression in the basolateral amygdala positively correlated with struggling behavior. Restraint-induced c-fos expression in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area critical for mediating some of the differential neurochemical and behavioral effects of ES and IS, was surprisingly similar in both ES and IS groups, lower than that of stress-naive rats, and did not correlate with struggling behavior. Our findings indicate that basolateral amygdala activity may be connected with the differential effects of ES and IS on subsequent behavioral responses to restraint, without contributing to the concurrent HPA axis hormone response.
Adaptive Multiscale Entropy Analysis of Multivariate Neural Data

Multiscale entropy (MSE) has been widely used to quantify a system's complexity by taking into account the multiple time scales inherent in physiologic time series. The method, however, is biased toward the coarse scale, i.e., low-frequency components due to the progressive smoothing operations. In addition, the algorithm for extracting the different scales is not well adapted to nonlinear/nonstationary signals. In this letter, we introduce adaptive multiscale entropy (AME) measures in which the scales are adaptively derived directly from the data by virtue of recently developed multivariate empirical mode decomposition. Depending on the consecutive removal of low-frequency or high-frequency components, our AME can be estimated at either coarse-to-fine or fine-to-coarse scales over which the sample entropy is performed. Computer simulations are performed to verify the effectiveness of AME for analysis of the highly nonstationary data. Local field potentials collected from the visual cortex of macaque monkey while performing a generalized flash suppression task are used as an example to demonstrate the usefulness of our AME approach to reveal the underlying dynamics in complex neural data.
Keyboard Shortcut Users: They Are Faster at More than Just Typing:

Software efficiency may be important for employees who want to be viewed as valuable assets in a company. One efficient method people can employ is the use of the keyboard to issue commands (KICs) because KICs are faster than other methods, e.g. menus or icons. Furthermore, using KICs may reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries (RSIs). This paper examines the question of whether KIC users utilize different types of interaction techniques more quickly than non-KIC users. Participants were exposed to five conditions, each consisting of different computer tasks. One condition was used to determine KIC usage, the independent variable. The other four conditions were used to objectively measure performance in time (i.e., efficiency), one of the dependent variables. After each condition, participants completed the NASA-TLX survey, which was used as a subjective measure of workload, the second dependent variable. Task performance correlated strongly or moderately with KIC usage for all conditions, which ind...
Reference optimization for a common-path optical coherence tomography probe using angle polishing

In this study, we polished the tip of single mode fiber to an angle that optimizes the reference power of a common-path optical coherence tomography (CP OCT) system. OCT images obtained with optimized reference show significantly improved signal to noise ratio.
Improving Student Teamwork in a Collaborative Project-Based Course

While collaborative student projects can be effective in improving student learning, the failure of students to work together effectively remains a widely reported problem in collaborative learning. This article describes a team-building intervention designed to improve the students' abilities to work together in teams successfully. The intervention consisted of an initial team-building workshop with subsequent evaluation and feedback. The results include positive student perceptions of team performance and the overall value of collaborative learning.
Dietary status and dietary diversity of native highland Bolivian children

Dietary information from 117 Bolivian boys was collected using the 24‐hour recall method. Nutritional adequacy, dietary diversity and dietary quality and their relation to resource‐demographic variables were assessed. The children's diets were adequate for all nutrients except calories, calcium, niacin and thiamin according to FAO standards. The dietary quality index, however, indicated the diets diverged considerably from that normally considered adequate for fat and protein intakes. The children were also characterized by a low or passive activity profile which may be a reflection of dietary inadequacy. Increased dietary diversity and quality were positively correlated with family income and mother's education, and negatively correlated with the employment status of the mother.
Proximity potential for heavy ion reactions on deformed nuclei

The usual treatment of the deformed optical model for analysis of heavy ion induced inelastic scattering data involves a deformed (target) radius, a spherical (projectile) radius and a potential strength dependent on the surface separation along the line between the two centers. Several authors using various approaches have shown that this center line potential is geometrically inadequate especially for description of higher L deformation parameters probed in heavy ion induced inelastic scattering experiments. A quantitatively adequate form of the deformed proximity potential suitable for use with a coupled channels reaction code in the analysis of inelastic scattering data above the Coulomb barrier is described. A major objective is to be able to extract reliably higher deformed multipole moments from such data. The deformed potential calculated in the folding model will serve as a geometrically exact benchmark to evaluate the accuracy of the proximity potential prescriptions. (WHK)