cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Negative predictive value of ipsilateral axillary ultrasound in the pre-operative assessment of invasive breast cancer.

e12080Objective: To determine if a negative preoperative axillary ultrasound predicts a negative sentinel lymph node biopsy at surgery. Background: Axillary lymph node involvement is an important prognostic indicator in patients with breast cancer. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is currently the gold standard for determining the presence or absence of axillary metastases. Pre-operative axillary ultrasound is often used to evaluate axillary lymph node status prior to surgery and SLNB. Although there are no established guidelines on when preoperative axillary ultrasound is performed, at our institution we evaluate the axilla when invasive breast cancer is suspected. This study evaluated the negative predictive value (NPV) of axillary ultrasound compared to the pathology results of SLNB. Methods: In this single-center IRB-approved retrospective study, 3 years of breast imaging data (2014-2016) were reviewed. 137 patients had pathology verified invasive breast cancer with negative preoperative axillary ult...
Growing new generations of critical zone scientists

Critical Zone (CZ) science is entering its second decade. A new generation of scientists is emerging trained specifically in CZ science and are contributing to advances in environmental science across disciplines. Concurrently, the global scope of CZ science is being elevated as new countries invest in Critical Zone Observatories. Global CZ science has great potential to address a diverse array of questions beyond any single discipline. In this commentary we discuss a series of CZ science grand challenges that should be targeted by early-career researchers: understanding water availability in the CZ; expanding CZ science into new environments; communicating the societal relevance of CZ science including earthcasting to the public; seamlessly integrating biological sciences within the CZ framework; and scaling CZ processes over large spatial and temporal gradients. Targeting these grand challenges will push CZ science well into the future. We also highlight mechanisms for increased leadership within the CZ community.
A Linear Manifold Representation for Color Correction in Digital Images

Images captured using a camera loses its dynamic range of colors as they are digitized. This problem is not encountered by the human visual system as it supports a wider dynamic range. Our enhancement model is based on the human visual system involving three processing steps-color characterization, color enhancement and color correction. Each pixel in an image, along with its neighborhood forms color manifolds in RGB space. In the proposed color characterization method, these manifolds are modeled as lines. In the color enhancement step, a hyperbolic tangent function compresses the dynamic range of the image. This nonlinear function enhances the image preserving its details, but not the color relationships. Each enhanced pixel is projected to a point on the best fit line corresponding to its manifold to restore the original color relationships. Being a single-step convergence algorithm, it is faster than other iterative methods.
Loss of β-catenin in resident cardiac fibroblasts attenuates fibrosis induced by pressure overload in mice

Cardiac fibrosis is characterized by excessive extracellular matrix deposition that contributes to compromised cardiac function and potentially heart failure. Cardiac pressure overload resulting from trans-aortic constriction in mice leads to cardiac fibrosis and increased Wnt/β-catenin signaling in cardiac fibroblasts. Here, we conditionally induce β-catenin loss of function in resident cardiac fibroblasts using Tcf21 MerCreMer or in activated cardiac fibroblasts using periostin (Postn) MerCreMer . We show that β-catenin loss of function in cardiac fibroblasts after trans-aortic constriction significantly preserves cardiac function, and reduces interstitial fibrosis but does not alter the numbers of activated or differentiated cardiac fibroblasts in vivo. However, β-catenin is specifically required in resident cardiac fibroblasts for fibrotic excessive extracellular matrix gene expression and binds Col3a1 and Postn gene sequences in cultured cardiac fibroblasts after induction of Wnt signaling. Moreover, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy is blunted with cardiac fibroblast-specific loss of β-catenin after trans-aortic constriction in vivo. Thus, Wnt/β-catenin signaling in resident cardiac fibroblasts is required for excessive extracellular matrix gene expression and collagen deposition after trans-aortic constriction.Understanding the mechanisms causing cardiac fibrosis is key to prevention and therapy development of many heart diseases. Here, the authors show that Wnt/β-catenin signaling in resident cardiac fibroblasts is required for deposition of fibrotic extracellular matrix and the regulation of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in a mouse model of heart fibrosis.
The Paradoxes of Sexual Desire

Drive, motive, wish, lust, affection, love, and maturity are the elements contained within the dramas of sexual desire. Long-term observation of the fluctuating alignment of these ingredients may transform the clinician into a student of love.
Local immunomodulation with Fas ligand-engineered biomaterials achieves allogeneic islet graft acceptance

Islet transplantation is a promising therapy for type 1 diabetes. However, chronic immunosuppression to control rejection of allogeneic islets induces morbidities and impairs islet function. T effector cells are responsible for islet allograft rejection and express Fas death receptors following activation, becoming sensitive to Fas-mediated apoptosis. Here, we report that localized immunomodulation using microgels presenting an apoptotic form of the Fas ligand with streptavidin (SA-FasL) results in prolonged survival of allogeneic islet grafts in diabetic mice. A short course of rapamycin treatment boosted the immunomodulatory efficacy of SA-FasL microgels, resulting in acceptance and function of allografts over 200 days. Survivors generated normal systemic responses to donor antigens, implying immune privilege of the graft, and had increased CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T regulatory cells in the graft and draining lymph nodes. Deletion of T regulatory cells resulted in acute rejection of established islet allografts. This localized immunomodulatory biomaterial-enabled approach may provide an alternative to chronic immunosuppression for clinical islet transplantation. Islet transplantation for diabetes treatment requires immunosuppression to control rejection. A microgel presenting Fas ligand with immunomodulatory properties is now shown to prolong the survival of allogeneic islet grafts in vivo.
Risk-Benefit Analysis in a Multiobjective Framework

Over a year ago, the Washington Post commented in its editorial page of October 31, 1979—“Shape up, shape up, shape up!”—on the report issued by the Kemeny Commission: A truly unexpected result came out of the Kemeny Commission’s study of Three Mile Island. A group that set out to investigate a technology ended up talking about people. The Kemeny report reached two principal conclusions, neither of which concerned machine design, communications networks, backup systems or any other trappings of nuclear technology. In the commission’s own words, “It became clear that the fundamental problems were people-related problems.”
Constructing Polynomials over Finite Fields

A typical system used in cryptography is illustrated in Figure1.1,[6]. The text which is to be transmitted is first converted into a sequence of binary digits using some type of algebraic encoding. This sequence is referred to as the plaintext. The process of encryption (or enciphering) is accomplished by adding to the plaintext (mod 2) the bit sequence produced by a pseudo-random number generator. After transmitting the encrypted text, the plaintext is recovered by adding (mod 2) the same pseudo random sequence. This process of recovering the plaintext is usually called deciphering. Of course the entire procedure relies on the fact that for two binary digits a and b, addition modulo 2 (or equivalently, a binary exclusive or) has the property that a+b+b=a.
Overview of L. S. Vygotsky’s Psychological-Philosophical Theory

The approach Vygotsky took was instrumental (until 1930), cultural, and historical,23 where “Instrumental” referred to the basically mediated nature of all complex psychological functions. Unlike basic reflexes, which can be characterized by a stimulus—response process, higher functions incorporate auxiliary stimuli, which are typically produced by the person himself … The “cultural” aspect of Vygotsky’s theory involved the socially structured ways in which society organizes the kinds of tasks that the growing child faces and the kinds of tools, both mental and physical, that the young child is provided to master those tasks … The “historical” element merged into the cultural one. (Luria, 1979, p. 44)
What underpins BVA’s ethical decisions?

Recently, much has been written about the topic of veterinary ethics. In a debate article ‘Is BVA stifling free-reigning ethical debate?’ ( VR , 21 July 2018, vol 183, pp 102-103), Paul Roger outlined very clearly the serious concerns that apparently exist within the BVA. In response to Roger, John Fishwick stated that ethics are firmly embedded in policy making. Would it not …
Rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing from blood culture bottles with species agnostic real-time polymerase chain reaction

Development and implementation of rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing is critical for guiding patient care and improving clinical outcomes, especially in cases of sepsis. One approach to reduce the time-to-answer for antimicrobial susceptibility is monitoring the inhibition of DNA production, as differences in DNA concentrations are more quickly impacted compared to optical density changes in traditional antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Here, we use real-time PCR to rapidly determine antimicrobial susceptibility after short incubations with antibiotic. Application of this assay to a collection of 144 isolates in mock blood culture, covering medically relevant pathogens displaying high rates of resistance, provided susceptibility data in under 4 hours. This assay provided categorical agreement with a reference method in 96.3% of cases across all species. Sequencing of a subset of PCR amplicons showed accurate genus level identification. Overall, implementation of this method could provide accurate susceptibility results with a reduced time-to-answer for a number of medically relevant bacteria commonly isolated from blood culture.
E-103 Postoperative doppler peak systolic velocity predicts restenosis following carotid revascularization

Background Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid angioplasty with stenting (CAS) are widely practiced methods for primary and secondary stroke prevention in patients with carotid stenosis. Although existing trials have provided valuable data regarding perioperative and intermediate-term outcomes, further data is needed to refine patient selection and long-term management. Methods This was a single-center retrospective review of CEA and CAS cases performed by our neurovascular service. Patient and procedural characteristics and clinical and radiographic outcomes were recorded. Cumulative restenosis rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier survival method. A multiple regression model was constructed using Cox proportional hazards regression with forward stepwise inclusion, utilizing the following co-variates: CEA (vs. CAS), side of procedure, symptomatic presentation, preoperative peak systolic velocity (PSV), near-complete occlusion, postoperative PSV, age, sex, previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, dyslipidemia, and smoking. Results A total of 317 cases were included – 204 CEA and 113 CAS. Median follow-up duration was 353 days (interquartile range 50.5–856.5). Restenosis occurred in a total of 23 cases (17 CEA and 6 CAS), yielding cumulative restenosis rates of 8%, 10%, and 14% at one, three, and five years, respectively. Eleven of these patients underwent ipsilateral re-operation, and the remaining twelve were observed with serial imaging. After stepwise regression, only a single variable remained significant: postoperative PSV (hazard ratio 1.005 per cm/s; p=0.035). The median postoperative PSV was 133 cm/s in patients who developed restenosis, and 114 cm/s in those who did not. Conclusions The restenosis rates following CEA and CAS in this single-center, ‘real-world’ experience were similar to those from randomized controlled trials. Most cases of restenosis occurred within the first year. A higher PSV Doppler measurement obtained in the immediate postoperative period was predictive of restenosis during follow-up. Patients whose PSV remains elevated immediately after revascularization may warrant closer follow-up. Disclosures A. Witek: None. B. Howie: None. G. Toth: None.
High Accuracy Question Answering via Hybrid Controlled Natural Language

Knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) is key to the vision of the intelligent Web. Unfortunately, wide deployment of KRR is hindered by the difficulty in specifying the requisite knowledge, which requires skills that most domain experts lack. A way around this problem could be to acquire knowledge automatically from documents. The difficulty is that, KRR requires high-precision knowledge and is sensitive even to small amounts of errors. Although most automatic information extraction systems developed for general text understandings have achieved remarkable results, their accuracy is still woefully inadequate for logical reasoning. A promising alternative is to ask the domain experts to author knowledge in Controlled Natural Language (CNL). Nonetheless, the quality of knowledge construction even through CNL is still grossly inadequate, the main obstacle being the multiplicity of ways the same information can be described even in a controlled language. Our previous work addressed the problem of high accuracy knowledge authoring for KRR from CNL documents by introducing the Knowledge Authoring Logic Machine (KALM). This paper develops the query aspect of KALM with the aim of getting high precision answers to CNL questions against previously authored knowledge and is tolerant to linguistic variations in the queries. To make queries more expressive and easier to formulate, we propose a hybrid CNL, i.e., a CNL with elements borrowed from formal query languages. We show that KALM achieves superior accuracy in semantic parsing of such queries.
Book Review: Music and Capitalism by Timothy D. Taylor

Timothy D. Taylor, 2016. Music and Capitalism: A History of the Present . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 240 pp. Timothy Taylor’s Music and Capitalism: A History of the Present examines the relationships between capitalism and music. While not a new research idea, no other work to date
Sample Size Planning for Detecting Mediation Effects: A Power Analysis Procedure Considering Uncertainty in Effect Size Estimates

When planning mediation studies, researchers are often interested in the sample size needed to achieve adequate power for testing mediation. Power depends on population effect sizes, which are unknown in practice. In conventional power analysis, effect size estimates, however, are often used as population values, which could result in underpowered studies. Uncertainty in effect size estimates has been considered in other sample size planning contexts (e.g., t-test, ANOVA), but has not been handled properly for planning mediation studies. In the current study, we proposed an easy-to-use sample size planning method for testing mediation with uncertainty in effect size estimates considered. We conducted simulation studies to demonstrate the impact of uncertainty in effect size estimates on power of testing mediation, and to provide sample size suggestions under different levels of uncertainty. Empirical examples were provided to illustrate the application of our method. R functions and a web application were developed to facilitate implementation.
The New Childhood Studies: Reflections on Some Recent Collaborations between Anthropologists and Psychologists

Introduction One day, while living in the rain forest of Cote d’Ivoire, I was chatting with a young mother I’ll call “Au”. Previously, I had noticed that whenever her nine-month-old son, “Kwame,” saw me, he crawled nervously to his mother, clutching her long skirt or clambering firmly into her lap. Once, I left the duo for a few minutes. When I returned, Kwame was happily exploring the external microphone of my tape recorder that I had left on the ground. Remembering lab experiments by psychologists that aim to measure “stranger anxiety” in children just this age, I seized the opportunity to assess how anxious my presence made Kwame. Sitting down, I moved the microphone a bit nearer to me, just out of his reach – and in the opposite direction of his mother. With me back, Kwame stopped indulging his curiosity. Turning to look nervously at his mother, he dropped his interest in the microphone and retreated quickly to her lap, then her breast. Only after a long, reassuring breastfeeding session did he slowly detach from his mother. Eventually, he made his way to playing with a bowl next to her (Figure 4). The microphone that had fascinated him minutes before lay a scant 30 cm. from his reach. He glanced at it with regret – but turned back to the bowl. Those 30 cm. represented too great a distance to travel from his mother, in the presence of a stranger – myself. The profile of such a child was hardly exotic to me. My own son had acted similarly at that age. At the time, my husb
Financial Costs and Burden Related to Decisions for Breast Cancer Surgery

PURPOSE:Financial toxicity is a well-recognized adverse effect of cancer care, yet little is known about how women consider treatment costs when facing preference-sensitive decisions for breast can...
Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom.

We compared students’ self-reported perception of learning with their actual learning under controlled conditions in large-enrollment introductory college physics courses taught using 1) active instruction (following best practices in the discipline) and 2) passive instruction (lectures by experienced and highly rated instructors). Both groups received identical class content and handouts, students were randomly assigned, and the instructor made no effort to persuade students of the benefit of either method. Students in active classrooms learned more (as would be expected based on prior research), but their perception of learning, while positive, was lower than that of their peers in passive environments. This suggests that attempts to evaluate instruction based on students’ perceptions of learning could inadvertently promote inferior (passive) pedagogical methods. For instance, a superstar lecturer could create such a positive feeling of learning that students would choose those lectures over active learning. Most importantly, these results suggest that when students experience the increased cognitive effort associated with active learning, they initially take that effort to signify poorer learning. That disconnect may have a detrimental effect on students’ motivation, engagement, and ability to self-regulate their own learning. Although students can, on their own, discover the increased value of being actively engaged during a semester-long course, their learning may be impaired during the initial part of the course. We discuss strategies that instructors can use, early in the semester, to improve students’ response to being actively engaged in the classroom.
Abstract 247: Phagocytosis-mediated Activation of Smad3 in Macrophages Mediates Anti-inflammatory Transition and Protects From Adverse Post-infarction Remodeling

Macrophages are essential regulators in tissue injury, repair and fibrosis. Although activation of TGF-β signaling cascades critically modulates macrophage phenotype in vitro, the in vivo role of m...
Experimental Evaluation of Antenna Polarization and Elevation Effects on Drone Communications

In the next wave of swarm-based applications, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) need to communicate with peer drones in any direction of a three-dimensional (3D) space. On a given drone and across drones, various antenna positions and orientations are possible.We know that, in free space, high levels of signal loss are expected if the transmitting and receiving antennas are cross polarized. However, increasing the reflective and scattering objects in the channel between a transmitter and receiver can cause the received polarization to become completely independent from the transmitted polarization, making the cross-polarization of antennas insignificant. Usually, these effects are studied in the context of cellular and terrestrial networks and have not been analyzed when those objects are the actual bodies of the communicating drones that can take different relative directions or move at various elevations. In this work, we show that the body of the drone can affect the received power across various antenna orientations and positions and act as a local scatterer that increases channel depolarization, reducing the cross-polarization discrimination (XPD). To investigate these effects, we perform experimentation that is staged in terms of complexity from a controlled environment of an anechoic chamber with and without drone bodies to in-field environments where drone-mounted antennas are in-flight with various orientations and relative positions with the following outcomes: (i.) drone relative direction can significantly impact the XPD values, (ii.) elevation angle is a critical factor in 3D link performance, (iii.) antenna spacing requirements are altered for co-located cross-polarized antennas, and (iv.) cross-polarized antenna setups more than double spectral efficiency. Our results can serve as a guide for accurately simulating and modeling UAV networks and drone swarms.
uNVMe-TCP: A User Space Approach to Optimizing NVMe over Fabrics TCP Transport

Recently, NVM Express® has released the new TCP transport specification for NVMe over fabrics (NVMe-oF). And there are two kinds of implementations, i.e., one in kernel space and the other in user space. The implementation in the kernel (e.g., Linux kernel) is feasible, but there are several drawbacks such as performance, flexibility, and stability. In this paper, we would like to introduce uNVMe-TCP, which follows the specification and provides the NVMe/TCP transport in user space with improved performance and usage experience. We choose the optimization in user space since it is very difficult to optimize the whole NVMe I/O stack in kernel space through different kernel modules, and the optimization may affect other applications in user space. The idea of uNVMe-TCP is to optimize the whole NVMe I/O stack on TCP transport, i.e., leveraging the lock-free user space NVMe I/O stack and configurable network I/O stack (both kernel and user space TCP stack can be supported). Currently uNVMe-TCP provides the solution on both target and initiator side, and it can be tested against Linux kernel solution with good interoperability. Besides, some experiments are conducted to demonstrate the performance of uNVMe-TCP. Compared with the kernel solution, uNVMe-TCP shows 15% to 30% latency improvement on average with FIO benchmark. And the per CPU core performance of uNVMe-TCP is promising, i.e., it is 2.2 times of the kernel on average with the increasing number of connections. Furthermore, uNVMe-TCP is also scalable in CPU aspect.
Synergistic effect of ferric oxide on dimethylnitrosamine carcinogenesis in the Syrian golden hamster.

The carcinogenic effect of dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) injected subcutaneously in Syrian golden hamsters as well as the synergistic effect of intratracheal instillations of ferric oxide were studied. DMN alone induced cavernous hemangiomas, hemangioendotheliomas, hemangioendotheliosarcomas, as well as one hepatoma of the liver and one papilloma of the forestomach, but no tumors of the respiratory system. When ferric oxide was given in addition to DMN, liver tumors of vascular and biliary origin were seen, in addition to tumors of the nasal cavity, neuroepithelial tumors and one adenoma. It was concluded that subcutaneously injected DMN is a powerful hepatic carcinogen for the Syrian golden hamster, producing liver tumors of vascular, bile duct as well as liver cell origin. The lack of tumorigenic effect in the respiratory system was considered to be due to the lack of metabolism of DMN in the lung.
Economic Value Added (EVA) for Performance Evaluation of Public Organizations

This study tests whether economic value added (EVA) as a performance evaluation metric incentivizes public administrators to increase the performance of public organizations. It utilizes data from Wind Info Database (WIND) and finds that the adoption of EVA as a performance evaluation metric incentivizes public administrators to increase the overall efficiency of the public organizations under study. The study suggests that public administrators make prudent investment and operating decisions after the adoption of EVA as their performance evaluation metric, thereby increasing the overall organizational performance. Using 2274 firm-year observations for the period from 2009 to 2010 in China, this paper uses first-difference change analysis methodology that takes care of firm-level unobservable heterogeneities and addresses endogeneity concerns, thereby producing robust results. The change analysis setting has been used in prior studies to find the effect of certain treatment (e.g., Lyons et al. 2001; Kerr et al. 2006; Pal and Pohit 2014). Lyons et al. (2001) argue that the change analysis focuses on studying differences before and after services (i.e., the presence and absence of treatment) that are received. In our research design, the treatment is adoption of EVA by the SASAC, which occurred in year 2010.
Simulations of X-59 low-booms propagated through measured atmospheric profiles in Galveston, Texas

During NASA's Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 (QSF18) test, residents of Galveston, Texas and surrounding communities were exposed to low amplitude sonic booms for a community noise survey. Despite the flight test lasting only 11 days, substantial weather variability occurred including snow and record high temperatures. Similar atmospheric variability could occur in future community noise flight tests with the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology aircraft that is currently being constructed. X-59 is designed to have a Stevens Mark VII Perceived Level (PL) of 75 dB in a standard atmosphere. In this work, X-59's low-boom performance in real atmospheres was tested by using NASA's PCBoom code to simulate propagation of its nearfield pressure through the atmospheric profiles measured during QSF18. Results indicate undertrack booms would not exceed 75 PLdB in these atmospheres. A range of about 8.5 PLdB between the loudest and quietest undertrack boom was observed indicating adjustments to the X-59 flight condition may be needed to achieve target loudness levels during future sonic boom community noise surveys. Attenuation rate, ray tube area, path length and other quantities throughout propagation of the loudest and quietest booms are presented, which indicate humidity differences below 15kft were a primary driver of the PL differences.
Third-Party Interests and the Property Law Misfit in Patent Law

Courts and scholars have long parsed the characteristics of patent grants and likened them, alternately, to real or personal property law, monopolies, public franchises and other regulatory grants, or a hybrid of these. The characterizations matter, because they can determine how patents are treated for the purposes of administrative review, limitations, and remedies, inter alia. And these varied treatments in turn affect incentives to innovate. Patents are often likened to real property in an effort to maximize rights and allow inventors to internalize all of the benefits from their activities. And courts often turn first to real property analogies when faced with novel issues in patent law; yet they do not always end there. Sometimes, patents are public rights. Sometimes, they are protected by liability rules rather than property rules. And sometimes, a U.S. patent cannot stop the resale or importation of goods it covers. Patents are very much like real property, it seems, except for when they are not. This Article argues that these decisions are justified by a number of misfits between patent rights and traditional property rights and identifies and explores a previously understudied misfit that results from a lack of possession on the part of the patent holder and third-party property rights on the part of potential infringers. One well-studied misfit is that patent law imposes steeper information cost on third parties than is typically thought to attend private property. There are a number of other misfits, however, that have been under-examined. For example, patent law presumes a robust public domain — that is, a vast swath of “unowned” ideas, whereas traditional real and personal property entitlements do not expire and render goods or land available to all. Another understudied misfit occurs because patents affect third parties’ freedom to use their own property over which they exercise dominion. Traditional forms of property, in contrast, presume some level of dominion by owners. This Article identifies and describes the set of patent law misfits and shows how, taken together, they explain the Court’s deviations from a property law framework. More than simply explanatory or predictive, however, this insight has normative weight. The misfit is real, and in contexts where it is most relevant, a strict application of property rules will work against the values embedded in the patent system. For this reason, we need a clear account of when and why property rights may be a starting point — but ought not be an ending point — for doctrinal evolution in patent law.
Salvage therapy of bleeding esophageal tumor by fully covered self-expandable metallic stent: A case report:

The role of self-expandable metallic stents is gradually evolving for a diverse group of benign and malignant gastrointestinal tract problems, with luminal obstruction being by far the most common....
Fasciculoventricular and Atrioventricular Accessory Pathways in Patients with Danon Disease and Preexcitation: A Multicenter Experience

Background Studies have suggested that a fasciculoventricular pathway (FVP) may be the cause of preexcitation in patients with Danon disease, a rare X-linked dominant genetic disorder of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Objective The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of ventricular preexcitation on resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) in patients with Danon disease and the electrophysiological study (EPS) results of those with preexcitation. Methods Patients with confirmed Danon disease diagnosed with preexcitation (PR ≤120 ms, delta wave, QRS >110 ms) on ECG were included from a multicenter registry. The incidence of arrhythmias, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) procedures, ICD shocks, and EPS results were collected. Results Thirteen of 40 patients (32.5%) with Danon disease were found to have preexcitation (mean age 17.3 years; 38% women). EPS performed in 9 of 13 patients (69%) demonstrated FVP only in 2 (22.2%), extranodal pathway without exclusion of FVP in 2 (22.2%), and both FVP and extranodal pathway in 5 (55.6%). Two patients had malignant accessory pathway (AP) properties. Over median follow-up of 842 days (interquartile range 138–1678), 11 patients (85%) had ICD placement, and 6 (46.1%) underwent heart transplantation. No patients required therapy for ventricular tachycardia, and 2 patients (15%) had paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Conclusion In a large multicenter cohort of patients with Danon disease, there was a high prevalence of FVP and extranodal pathways diagnosed on EPS in those with preexcitation. These findings suggest patients with preexcitation and Danon disease should undergo EPS to assess for FVP and potentially malignant extranodal AP.
Synchronous Temperature Variation Monitoring During Ultrasound Imaging and/or Treatment Pulse Application: A Phantom Study

Ultrasound attenuation through soft tissues can produce an acoustic radiation force (ARF) and heating. The ARF-induced displacements and temperature evaluations can reveal tissue properties and provide insights into focused ultrasound (FUS) bio-effects. In this study, we describe an interleaving pulse sequence tested in a tissue-mimicking phantom that alternates FUS and plane-wave imaging pulses at a 1 kHz frame rate. The FUS is amplitude modulated, enabling the simultaneous evaluation of tissue-mimicking phantom displacement using harmonic motion imaging (HMI) and temperature rise using thermal strain imaging (TSI). The parameters were varied with a spatial peak temporal average acoustic intensity ( $I_{spta}$ ) ranging from 1.5 to 311 W.cm−2, mechanical index (MI) from 0.43 to 4.0, and total energy ( $E$ ) from 0.24 to 83 J.cm−2. The HMI and TSI processing could estimate displacement and temperature independently for temperatures below 1.80°C and displacements up to $\sim -117 \mu {\text{m}}$ ( $I_{spta} , $MI , and $E ) indicated by a steady-state tissue-mimicking phantom displacement throughout the sonication and a comparable temperature estimation with simulations in the absence of tissue-mimicking phantom motion. The TSI estimations presented a mean error of ±0.03°C versus thermocouple estimations with a mean error of ±0.24°C. The results presented herein indicate that HMI can operate at diagnostictemperature levels (i.e., $720 \text{ mW.cm}^{-2} ). In addition, the combined HMI and TSI can potentially be used for simultaneous evaluation of safety during tissue elasticity imaging as well as FUS mechanism involved in novel ultrasound applications such as ultrasound neuromodulation and tumor ablation.
Association between palliative care referral and burden of illness among cancers of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx.

To evaluate the burden of illness––length of stay (LOS), total charges, and discharge disposition––among cancers of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx (CLOP) patients with and without palliative care (PC) referral. This cross-sectional study utilized the 2017 National inpatient sample database to identify hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of CLOP. Generalized linear models were used to assess the association between PC referral status and the outcomes—LOS, total charges, and discharge disposition while controlling for patients’ characteristics. There were 4165 PC referral among 52, 524 CLOP patients. The geometric mean of LOS for non-PC referral patients was 3.7 days, and for PC referral was 5.02 days, P < 0.001. In the adjusted analysis, CLOP patients with PC referral were more likely to have a higher LOS (Coefficient: 1.16; 95% CI, 1.01–1.25) compared to those without PC referral. The geometric mean of total charge among non-PC referral group was 48,308 USD, and CLOP-PC referral was 48,983 USD, P = 0.72. After adjusting for covariates, there was still no significant difference between the PC and non-PC referral groups. Discharge disposition were considerably different across the non-PC vs. PC referral groups. Compared to non-PC referral patients, PC referral patients were more likely to be discharge to skilled nursing facility, intermediate care, and another type of facility (aOR = 7.10; CIs, 5.51–9.12), or home health care (aOR = 4.13; CIs, 3.31–5.15). During primary hospitalization, total charges was not different between patient non-PC and PC referral groups; however, the LOS and discharge dispositions were significantly different.
Mandatory Reporting and Adolescent Sexual Assault

Adolescents experience alarmingly high rates of sexual violence, higher than any other age-group. This is concerning as sexual violence can have detrimental effects on teens' personal and relational well-being, causing long-term consequences for the survivor. Still, adolescents are hesitant to report the assault or seek out services and resources. When an adolescent survivor does seek out services, they may interact with a provider who is a mandatory reporter. This scoping review sought to synthesize the current U.S.-based research on the role, challenges, and impact of mandatory reporting (MR) in the context of adolescent sexual assault. Database searches using key words related to MR, sexual assault, and adolescence identified 29 peer-reviewed articles. However, none of these articles reported on empirical investigations of the phenomenon of interest and instead consisted of case studies, commentaries, and position papers. The scoping review was expanded to provide a lay of the land of what we know about the intersection of adolescent sexual assault and MR. Results of the review indicate that though implemented broadly, MR policies vary between individuals, organizations, and states and have historically been challenging to implement due to this variation, conflicts with other laws, tension between these policies and providers' values, and other factors. Based on the available literature, the impact of MR in the context of adolescent sexual assault is unknown. There is a critical need for research and evaluation on the implementation and impact of MR policies, especially in the context of adolescents and sexual violence.
Mesenteric Resection in Upper Abdominal Surgery

The mesenteric resection in upper abdominal surgery is directed toward the primary pathology of the accompanying organ. The most surgical common procedure that includes resection of the mesentery is small bowel resection. Mesenteric resection is performed in these cases as an extension of treatment for ischemia, trauma, cancer, ulceration, bleeding, obstruction, or Crohn’s disease.
Paper Clips Make Inexpensive Team Markers

(1968). Paper Clips Make Inexpensive Team Markers. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 39, No. 7, pp. 86-86.
Analysis Protocol for Discrimination of Automotive Paints by SEM-EDXA Using Beam Alignment by Current Centering

A testing protocol for elemental analysis of automotive paint by scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, based on beam alignment by current centering and using an attached optical microscope was developed to improve the reliability of sample comparisons. Six light-green paint samples (three color pairs) from the 1983 Reference Collection of Automotive Paints were used for developing this protocol. X-ray spectral data were acquired using a JEOL JSM-35CF scanning electron microscope with an attached optical microscope and a Tracor Northern energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer and software. The instrumental conditions for the analyses were as follows: 20-kV accelerating voltage, 0.5-nA beam current, 30-mm detector distance, 35° detector take-off angle, 0° sample tilt, and × 200 magnification. The software acquisition parameters were 1 000 000 integral counts per spectrum and a 0.2 to 10-eV spectral range. Statistical analyses were used to examine the reliability of the X-ray spectral data acquired using this protocol. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the elemental means of all paint samples were significantly different than the means of the same sample in replicate analyses. Simple visual comparison of data between samples, along with ANOVA, provided discrimination of all paint samples.
Nonparametric correlation (r subscript s)

Spearman's correlation coefficient (rS) for ranked data, often known as Spearman's rho, actually represents the standard Pearson product-moment correlation applied to ranked data. Data on X and Y are replaced by their ranks, and then the correlation between the ranks is computed. Keywords: Pearson correlation; Kendall's tau; ranked correlations
Efficiency of Asynchronous Systems and Read Arcs in Petri Nets

Two solutions to the MUTEX-problem are compared w.r.t. their temporal efficiency. For this, a formerly developed efficiency-testing for asynchronous systems is adapted to nets with so-called read arcs. The close relation between efficiency-testing and fairness is pointed out, and it is shown that read arcs are necessary for any solution to the MUTEX-problem.
Inhibition of HIV-1 Entry by Inducing a Nonproductive Conformational Change in gp120

Conformational change in HIV-1 gp120 is a dynamic process essential for HIV-1 entry. It is not clear whether the dynamic nature of gp120 could be exploited to abort the viral entry machinery. Here we show that a small molecule entry inhibitor, IC9564, induces a conformational change in gp120 and locks the envelope into fusion incompetent conformation. Binding of IC9564 to HIV-1 envelope results in the exposure of CD4i epitopes that are ally concealed in gp120. As a result of the conformational effect, IC9564 significantly enhances the neutralizing activity of 17b that binds to an epitope overlapping chemokine receptor binding site. Unlike CD4, IC9564-induced conformational change in gp120 does not trigger a conformational change in gp41. In fact, IC9564 inhibits CD4 induced conformational changes in gp41. The binding site of IC9564 remains elusive due to the fact that mutations in both gp120 and gp41 could change IC9564 sensitivity. Nevertheless, a common effect of these mutations is that conformation of gp120 is changed to conceal conserved epitopes such as CD4i. In summary, IC9564 exploits the dynamic nature of HIV-1 gp120 by inducing a nonproductive conformational change in gp120 and prevents HIV-1 from entering the cells. from 2005 International Meeting of The Institute of Human Virology Baltimore, USA, 29 August – 2 September 2005
Polyadenylic Acid Sequences in Yeast Messenger Ribonucleic Acid

Polyadenylate sequences are found covalently linked to yeast mRNA molecules. The poly(A) sequences are relatively homogeneous in size and have an average chain length of about 50 residues. They are located at the 3′ end of the mRNA molecule. Our data suggest that some mRNA molecules may not contain poly(A) sequences and that no poly(A) sequences are present in rRNA. The occurrence of poly(A) sequences in the mRNA molecules of mammals and yeast suggests that this may be a general feature of eucaryotic organisms.
Detection Schemes for Antigen-Antibody Reactions

Immunochemical assays are based on the fact that the mammalian immune system forms protein molecules, which bind with high affinity to an antigen molecule. All kinds of molecules can be antigen molecules, and the specificity of these proteins, called antibodies, is rather high. When an animal is injected (immunized) with an antigen, the resulting immune response leads to the generation of a variety of antibody molecules against the antigen, a serum. The composition of the serum depends on the history of the animal. Therefore it is not always easy to reproduce the exact antibody mixture of a serum in different immunizations. These antibody mixtures are very specific, because they recognize a number of different sites or epitopes on the antigen molecule. Each of these antibody molecules is made by one B-cell type. These B-cells can be isolated and grown. A colony which is generated from a single B-cell creates one kind of antibody molecule, a monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies bind or recognize one epitope on an antigen molecule. As a consequence, monoclonal antibodies bind to any molecule which shows this epitope or molecular geometry. Once a B-cell culture is established, monoclonal antibodies can be reproduced in large quantities.
Technology, human agency and Dewey's constructivism: Opening democratic spaces in virtual classrooms

This article examines whether the ubiquitous presence of technology in schools negatively affects democratic learning by promoting instrumental rationality and, hence, reifying social reality. The author suggests that structural critiques of educational technology ignore the considerable impact of human agency on shaping related learning outcomes. By combining Dewey's constructivism with Internet technology, the article suggests student agency and participatory democratic learning are actually encouraged. Rather than condemning educational technology as necessarily socially reproductive, then, the author concludes that democratic educators should appropriate classroom technologies and utilise them in ways to promote the critical consciousness of students.
Rapid fibrin plug formation within cutaneous ablative fractional CO2 laser lesions

Background Ablative fractional laser procedures have been shown to facilitate topical drug delivery into the skin. Past studies have mainly used ex vivo models to demonstrate enhanced drug delivery and in vivo studies have investigated laser created channels over a time course of days and weeks rather than within the first few minutes and hours after exposures. We have noticed rapid in vivo fibrin plug formation within ablative fractional laser lesions impairing passage through the laser created channels. Material and Methods In vivo laser exposures were performed in a porcine model. A fractional CO2 laser (AcuPulse™ system, AcuScan 120™ handpiece, Lumenis, Inc., Yokneam, Israel) was programmed in quasi-continuous wave (QCW) mode, at 40W, 50 mJ per pulse, 5% coverage, nominal 120 µm spot size, 8 × 8 mm square pattern, 169 MTZs per scan. Six millimeters punch biopsies were procured at 0, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, 90 minutes after completion of each scan, then fixed in 10% formalin. 12 repeats were performed of each time point. Skin samples were processed for serial vertically cut paraffin sections (5 μm collected every 25 μm) then H&E and special immunohistochemistry staining for fibrin and platelet. Dimensions of Microscopic Treatment Zones (MTZs) and extent of fibrin plug were assessed and quantified histologically. Ex vivo laser exposures of the identical laser parameter were performed on porcine and human skin at different storage conditions. Results Histology procured at various predetermined time intervals after in vivo fractional CO2 laser exposures revealed a rapidly forming fibrin plug initiating at the bottom of the MTZ lesions. At longer time intervals, the fibrin plug was extending towards the superficial sections. Within the first 5 minutes, more than 25% length of the entire laser-ablated channel was filled with a fibrin plug. With increased time intervals, the cavity was progressively filled with a fibrin plug. At 90 minutes, more than 90% length of the entire laser-ablated channel was occluded. Ex vivo exposures failed to produce any significant fibrin plug formation. Conclusions The current study has demonstrated rapid fibrin plug formation after ablative fractional laser procedures. It was shown that the passage through laser created pathways is critically time dependent for in vivo exposures. In contrast, ex vivo exposures do not exhibit such time dependent passage capacity. In particular, drug, substance, and cell delivery studies for ablative fractional laser treatments should take early fibrin plug formation into consideration and further investigate the impact on transdermal delivery. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.