cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A design procedure for the phase-controlled parallel-loaded resonant inverter

High-frequency-link power conversion and distribution based on a resonant inverter has been recently proposed. The design of several topologies is reviewed and a simple approximate design procedure is developed for the phase-controlled parallel-loaded resonant inverter. This design procedure seeks to ensure the expected benefits of resonant conversion and is verified by data from a laboratory 2.5 kVA, 20-kHz converter. A simple phasor analysis is introduced as a useful approximation for design purposes. Experimental results show that under transient conditions such as load short-circuit, a reversal of the expected commutation sequence is possible. This should be accounted for in the design of the power circuit, or prevented by the design of the controller. >
Effect of an Acidic Pyruvate‐based Peritoneal Dialysis Solution on the pH of a Residual Peritoneal Dialysate Fluid

: An acidic (pH 5.2) pyruvate-based peritoneal dialysis solution or an equally acidic lactate-based counterpart was added to a residual fluid (i.e., peritoneal effluent) obtained from each of 6 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients. It was found that the residual fluids were able to raise the pH of the resultant residual fluid/peritoneal dialysis solution mixture to a higher level in the case of the pyruvate-based solution than in the case of the lactate-based one. Key Words: Acidic-Pyruvate-Lactate-Peritoneal dialysis solution-Residual fluid-pH.
Local Th1 / Th2 cytokine production during experimental vaginal candidiasis: potential importance of transforming growth factor-ß

Host defense mechanisms against vaginal Candida albicans infections are poorly understood. Despite the protective role of T helper (Th)1-type cell-mediated immunity (CMI) against mucosal C. albicans infections, studies using an estrogen-dependent murine model of vaginal candidiasis have shown a lack of effect of systemic Th1-type CMI against a vaginal C. albicans infection, and a lack of changes in local T cells during infection. In the present study, the local Th1- (interleukin [IL]-2, interferon [IFN]-γ and IL-12) and Th2- (IL-4, IL-10 and transforming growth factor [TGF]-β1) type cytokines were evaluated in vaginal tissue during an experimental C. albicans infection. Results showed constitutive expression of TGF-β1 in vaginal tissue of naive mice that was two-fold higher than the levels of the other cytokines examined. These high levels of TGF-β1 were further increased as a result of pseudoestrus and/or infection, and were corroborated at the messenger RNA level. Furthermore, the levels of TGF-β in nai...
Clinical implications of immunity to oncogenic viruses.

The evidence pointing to a viral etiology for at least some forms of human cancer, a possibility that has long been considered on the basis of animal studies, has continued to accumulate to such an extent that viral oncologists must now reevaluate their clinical and experimental data in order to consider which specific approaches are now ready for clinical trials. Although ethical restrictions continue to inhibit attempts to prove that specific viruses cause certain human tumors, as outlined by Bryan et al. (1967; Bryan, 1962), epidemiological studies have been able to suggest not only which human tumors are most likely to be caused by infectious agents (Burkitt, 1962; Cole et al., 1968; Correa and O’Conor, 1971; Heath and Hasterlik, 1963; Kessler, 1974; Levine, 1974; Levine and Gravell, 1975; Morrow et al., 1971) but some have even suggested the pattern of the agents’ transmission (Kessler, 1976; Vianna et al., 1971).
A review of high-efficiency motors: Specification, policy, and technology

Abstract Although nearly all countries in the world have taken active measures to mitigate the greenhouse effect, which is the primary cause of extreme climate change, the electric motor accounts for 40–50% of the total global electricity consumption, thus becoming the primary appliance requiring high-efficiency standards. In this report, a survey is conducted on high-efficiency motor promotion cases in Taiwan and developed countries. Furthermore, a comparison of the policy, technology, regulatory, and trend aspects is summarized. We conclude that the research and technical development of DC brushless motors is the most popular program in the motor industry, and permanent magnet synchronous motors are essentially the most welcome product in the market. The corresponding R&D items include the optimization of the motor design, electromagnetic enhancement of silicon steel sheets, promotion of the advantages of the permanent magnetic field, modification of the wire-winding technology, and improvements in the electronic control technology. Described at the end of this report, the suggested policies for the development of high-efficiency motors are applicable to Taiwan as well as other countries. The energy saving and carbon reduction issues as well as the approach of the high-energy price era have led to the rapid development and popularization of high-efficiency motors.
Trends and predictors of HPV vaccination among U.S. College women and men.

Abstract Background HPV vaccination was recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for young adult females in 2006 and males in 2011 to prevent HPV-related cancers and genital warts. As this prevention mechanism continues to disseminate, it is necessary to monitor the uptake of this vaccine. College students represent an important population for HPV vaccination efforts and surveillance due to increased risk for HPV infection and representing a priority population for catch-up HPV vaccination. The purpose of this study was to assess the trends in HPV vaccination among U.S. college females and males from 2009 to 2013, and to examine whether predictors for HPV vaccination differ between males and females. Methods The National College Health Assessment-II (Fall 2009–2013) was used to assess trends in HPV vaccination using hierarchical logistic regression across genders and demographics. Data from 2013 were used to assess demographic variables associated with HPV vaccination for males and females, respectively. The analysis was conducted in 2015. Results Females had nearly double the rates of HPV vaccination compared to males over time. All demographic sub-groups had significant increases in vaccine rates over time, with select male sub-groups having more accelerated increases (e.g., gay). Young age (18–21 vs. 22–26 years) was a significant predictor for HPV vaccination among males and females, while race/ethnicity was a predictor of vaccination among females only. Conclusions These findings identified specific demographic sub-groups that need continued support for HPV vaccination . Campus health centers may be rational settings to facilitate clinical opportunities for HPV vaccination among unvaccinated college students.
Using a trust model in decision making for supply chain management

One of the critical factors for a successful cooperative relationship in a supply chain partnership is trust. Many real-world applications, such as Supply Chain Management (SCM), can be modeled using multi-agent systems. One shortcoming of current SCM models is that their trust models are ad hoc and do not have a strong theoretical basis. As a result, they are unable to model subtleties in agent behavior that can be used to build a more accurate trust model. We propose a trust model for SCM that is grounded in probabilistic game theory. In this model, trust can be gained through direct interactions and/or by asking for information from other trustworthy agents. We will use this model to simulate and study supply chain market behavior.
Economic Impact of Smoke-Free Air Laws in North Dakota on Restaurants and Bars.

INTRODUCTION In late 2012, North Dakota expanded its statewide smoke-free air law to cover all restaurants and bars in the state. Several North Dakota communities also had local ordinances that prohibited smoking in restaurants and bars prior to the statewide law. Previous work found no effect of the initial statewide law or several local laws on restaurant and bar sales. METHODS Using quarterly county-level employment data from 1990 to 2014, we examined whether the expanded statewide law or pre-existing local laws were associated with significant changes in employment in restaurants and bars in North Dakota. Separate models were estimated for restaurant and bar employment using two methods of controlling for smoke-free air law coverage. RESULTS We found no evidence of a significant association between employment in restaurants and bars in North Dakota and the expanded statewide law or pre-existing local laws. Prior employment levels in restaurants and bars and prevailing economic conditions were the main drivers of restaurant and bar employment, not smoke-free air laws. CONCLUSIONS This study examines the economic impact of smoke-free air laws in North Dakota on restaurant and bar employment following the expansion of the statewide law in late 2012 to cover all restaurants and bars. We find no significant adverse effect of smoke-free air laws on restaurants and bars, consistent with results from previous studies conducted in North Dakota and throughout the United States. IMPLICATIONS This study is the first to analyze the economic impact of smoke-free air laws in North Dakota on restaurant and bar employment following the 2012 expansion of the statewide law to cover all restaurants and bars. We find no evidence of a significant adverse effect of smoke-free air laws on restaurants and bars, consistent with results from previous studies conducted in North Dakota and throughout the United States. Prior employment levels and prevailing economic conditions proved to be the main drivers of restaurant and bar employment, not smoke-free air laws.
Role of Photoeffects in Integrated Rapid Isothermal Processing

Rapid isothermal processing (RIP) based on incoherent radiation as the source of energy is emerging as a practical alternative to furnace processing. In this paper, we show that in addition to the well established short time processing feature, RIP can also be used as a reduced substrate temperature processing technique.
The geography of mental health and general wellness in Galveston Bay after Hurricane Ike: a spatial epidemiologic study with longitudinal data

OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate a spatial epidemiologic approach that could be used in the aftermath of disasters to (1) detect spatial clusters and (2) explore geographic heterogeneity in predictors for mental health and general wellness. METHODS: We used a cohort study of Hurricane Ike survivors (n=508) to assess the spatial distribution of postdisaster mental health wellness (most likely resilience trajectory for posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS] and depression) and general wellness (most likely resilience trajectory for PTSS, depression, functional impairment, and days of poor health) in Galveston, Texas. We applied the spatial scan statistic (SaTScan) and geographically weighted regression. RESULTS: We found spatial clusters of high likelihood wellness in areas north of Texas City and spatial concentrations of low likelihood wellness in Galveston Island. Geographic variation was found in predictors of wellness, showing increasing associations with both forms of wellness the closer respondents were located to Galveston City in Galveston Island. CONCLUSIONS: Predictors for postdisaster wellness may manifest differently across geographic space with concentrations of lower likelihood wellness and increased associations with predictors in areas of higher exposure. Our approach could be used to inform geographically targeted interventions to promote mental health and general wellness in disaster-affected communities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 13). Language: en
The doctor-patient relationship: communication, informed consent and the optometric patient

BACKGROUND The communication between doctor and patient contributes to the benefit that the patient derives from the treatment provided. METHODS Two-way conversation gives the doctor knowledge about the patient that is essential to diagnosis and treatment, and provides information needed by the patient to participate in eye care decisions. Moreover, the doctor and patient develop a relationship of mutual trust and respect through this communication that is central to good health care. CONCLUSIONS We often hear of the legal reasons for seeking the patient's consent to our proposed treatment, but the ethical reasons are equally compelling.
Role of GATA-4 in Differentiation and Survival of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Cell and tissue regeneration is a relatively new research field and it incorporates a novel application of molecular genetics. Combinatorial approaches for stem-cell-based therapies wherein guided differentiation into cardiac lineage cells and cells secreting paracrine factors may be necessary to overcome the limitations and shortcomings of a singular approach. GATA-4, a GATA zinc-finger transcription factor family member, has been shown to regulate differentiation, growth, and survival of a wide range of cell types. In this chapter, we discuss whether overexpression of GATA-4 increases mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transdifferentiation into cardiac phenotype and enhances the MSC secretome, thereby increasing cell survival and promoting postinfarction cardiac angiogenesis. MSCs engineered with GATA-4 enhance their capacity to differentiate into cardiac cell phenotypes, improve survival of the cardiac progenitor cells and their offspring, and modulate the paracrine activity of stem cells to support their angiomyogenic potential and cardioprotective effects.
25th Annual Vascular Surgery Seminar and Meeting of the Society for Military Vascular Surgery.

The 25th Annual (Silver Anniversary) Vascular Surgery Seminar and Meeting of the Society for Military Vascular Surgery was held in the Jay P. Sanford Auditorium at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), 4-6 December 1997. This highly successful exchange included active duty military surgeons, military surgeons in the reserves, retired military officers continuing second careers in civilian vascular surgery, distinguished visiting professors from the United States and abroad, International Guest Scholars, USUHS Faculty as well as colleagues and friends. The emphasis continued to be directed to ensuring that military vascular surgery remains current, recognizing the rich heritage of contributions to vascular surgery in general that have come from surgeons serving on battlefields around the world, particularly in this 20th century.
Abstract 1446: Discovery of a distinct human lung tissue microbiome and its epidemiologic and clinical features

The human lung tissue microbiota remains largely uncharacterized although a number of studies based on airway samples suggest the existence of a viable human lung microbiota. Here we characterized the microbiota taxonomic and derived functional profiles in 165 non-malignant lung tissue samples from cancer patients. We show that the lung microbiota is unique, differing from the microbiota of oral, nasal, stool, skin, and vagina samples. Microbiota diversity increases with environmental exposures, such as air particulates, residence in low to high population density areas, and pack-years of tobacco smoking. Moreover, the non-malignant lung tissue microbiota is altered in subjects with chronic bronchitis or advanced stage of lung cancer, and differs significantly from the microbiota in lung tumor samples. These findings provide insights on the human lung microbiota composition and function, and their link to human life style and clinical outcomes. Citation Format: Guoqin Yu. Discovery of a distinct human lung tissue microbiome and its epidemiologic and clinical features. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1446.
Hamiltonian tomography of photonic lattices

In this paper we introduce an approach to Hamiltonian tomography of noninteracting tight-binding photonic lattices. To begin with, we prove that the matrix element of the low-energy effective Hamiltonian between sites $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}$ may be obtained directly from ${S}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\beta}}(\ensuremath{\omega})$, the (suitably normalized) two-port measurement between sites $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ and $\ensuremath{\beta}$ at frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$. This general result enables complete characterization of both on-site energies and tunneling matrix elements in arbitrary lattice networks by spectroscopy, and suggests that coupling between lattice sites is a topological property of the two-port spectrum. We further provide extensions of this technique for measurement of band projectors in finite, disordered systems with good band flatness ratios, and apply the tool to direct real-space measurement of the Chern number. Our approach demonstrates the extraordinary potential of microwave quantum circuits for exploration of exotic synthetic materials, providing a clear path to characterization and control of single-particle properties of Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard lattices. More broadly, we provide a robust, unified method of spectroscopic characterization of linear networks from photonic crystals to microwave lattices and everything in between.
Daily Goals and Psychological Well-Being in Midlife and Older Women: Physical Pain Interacts With Goal Conflict

Pain can limit resources for goal pursuit and increase resource competition between goals. Pursuing goals with high value and low resource conflict should provide benefit, particularly for women who experience physical pain. Women (aged 50–75; N = 200) reported on goals and well-being in daily diaries (n = 1,380). Higher goal value associated with higher well-being. Goal conflict effects depended on physical pain: for women with no pain, more goal conflict associated with lower well-being; for women with pain, the opposite. Women without pain may be taxed by goal conflict, whereas women with pain may regulate goal conflict in response to available resources.
eAnalytics: Dynamic Web-based Analytics for the Energy Industry

eAnalytics is a web application built on top of R that provides dynamic data analytics to energy industry stakeholders. The application allows users to dynamically manipulate chart data and style through the Shiny package’s reactive framework. eAnalytics currently supports a number of features including interactive datatables, dynamic charting capabilities, and the ability to save, download, or export information for further use. Going forward, the goal for this project is that it will serve as a research hub for discovering new relationships in the data. The application is illustrated with a simple tutorial of the user interface design.
Can Primary Care Practices Help Address the Health Crisis Fueled by Prescription Opioids

Korthuis and colleagues review models for delivery of treatment for opioid use disorder through primary care. The editorialists discuss the findings and highlight opportunities for primary care pra...
The geography of hotspots of rarity-weighted richness of birds and their coverage by Natura 2000

A major challenge for biogeographers and conservation planners is to identify where to best locate or distribute high-priority areas for conservation and to explore whether these areas are well represented by conservation actions such as protected areas (PAs). We aimed to identify high-priority areas for conservation, expressed as hotpots of rarity-weighted richness (HRR)-sites that efficiently represent species-for birds across EU countries, and to explore whether HRR are well represented by the Natura 2000 network. Natura 2000 is an evolving network of PAs that seeks to conserve biodiversity through the persistence of the most patrimonial species and habitats across Europe. This network includes Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), where the latter regulated the designation of Special Protected Areas (SPA). Distribution maps for 416 bird species and complementarity-based approaches were used to map geographical patterns of rarity-weighted richness (RWR) and HRR for birds. We used species accumulation index to evaluate whether RWR was efficient surrogates to identify HRRs for birds. The results of our analysis support the proposition that prioritizing sites in order of RWR is a reliable way to identify sites that efficiently represent birds. HRRs were concentrated in the Mediterranean Basin and alpine and boreal biogeographical regions of northern Europe. The cells with high RWR values did not correspond to cells where Natura 2000 was present. We suggest that patterns of RWR could become a focus for conservation biogeography. Our analysis demonstrates that identifying HRR is a robust approach for prioritizing management actions, and reveals the need for more conservation actions, especially on HRR.
Advances in thermal modification of joint capsular and musculoskeletal collagenous tissue

Thermal modification of joint capsular tissue has gained great popularity in the orthopedic community as a treatment method for joint instability since this new operative technique was introduced in 1994. Heating joint capsular tissue to approximately 60 to 80°C by laser or radiofrequency (RF) energy produces significant dimensional alterations (shrinkage and thickening) of the tissue treated, resulting in postoperative stabilization of the joint. Initial clinical trials in patients with shoulder instability indicated that the majority of the patients were able to return to high-level athletic performance following thermal modification of joint capsular tissue. A series of in vitro experimental studies demonstrated that the joint capsular tissue could be shortened by up to 45% through the application of laser or RF energy, although significant loss of the tissue’s mechanical properties and thermal damage of the tissue were observed with higher energy applications. In vivo experimental studies demonstrated initial deleterious effects of thermal energy application, followed by an active reparative response by cellular fibrous tissue with concomitant improvement of mechanical properties. Other studies using a different animal model showed that despite significant immediate postoperative tissue shrinkage, the tissue stretches over time if the tissue is subjected to physiological loading. Based on these scientific studies, it is proposed that thermal modification of joint capsular tissue relies not only on the initial effect (shrinkage), but to a great extent, the tissue’s biological response (repair of the thermally modified tissue with new thicker tissue) to achieve postoperative joint stability. Currently, arthroscopic thermal modification of shoulder joint capsular tissue is performed clinically at many hospitals, with generally good to excellent outcomes to date. Development and improvement of thermal energy delivery devices are actively being investigated for various clinical applications. Recently, the treatment of other joint disorders such as patellar instability have been examined. In addition, the potential for thermal modification of other musculoskeletal tissues such as cartilage is being explored. Thermal modification of musculoskeletal tissues have the potential to enhance joint stability and may become a prominent modality in the treatment of joint disorders. However, it should be emphasized that thermal treatment does cause initial deleterious effects on the tissue’s properties, and that long term results have yet to be evaluated. Carefully controlled clinical and scientific studies should further clarify the advantages and disadvantages of this technique.
Topical lotions utilized in outpatient rehabilitation clinics as a potential source of bacterial contamination.

Soft tissue mobilization and massage requiring lotions or creams are commonly used interventions in outpatient rehabilitation clinics. For at least 50 years hand creams used in healthcare settings ...
Coronary Artery Disease in Patients ≥80 Years of Age

Abstract Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients ≥80 years of age. Nonetheless, older patients have typically been under-represented in cardiovascular clinical trials. Understanding the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and optimal means of diagnosis and treatment of CAD in older adults is crucial to improving outcomes in this high-risk population. A patient-centered approach, taking into account health status, functional ability and frailty, cognitive skills, and patient preferences is essential when caring for older adults with CAD. The present systematic review focuses on the current knowledge base, gaps in understanding, and directions for future investigation pertaining to CAD in patients ≥80 years of age.
Genome-Wide Genetic Analysis Using Genetic Programming: The Critical Need for Expert Knowledge

Human genetics is undergoing an information explosion. The availability of chip-based technology facilitates the measurement of thousands of DNA sequence variation from across the human genome. The challenge is to sift through these high-dimensional datasets to identify combinations of interacting DNA sequence variations that are predictive of common diseases. The goal of this study is to develop and evaluate a genetic programming (GP) approach to attribute selection and classification in this domain. We simulated genetic datasets of varying size in which the disease model consists of two interacting DNA sequence variations that exhibit no independent effects on class (i.e. epistasis). We show that GP is no better than a simple random search when classification accuracy is used as the fitness function. We then show that including pre-processed estimates of attribute quality using Tuned ReliefF (TuRF) in a multi-objective fitness function that also includes accuracy significantly improves the performance of GP over that of random search. This study demonstrates that GP may be a useful computational discovery tool in this domain. This study raises important questions about the general utility of GP for these types of problems, the importance of data preprocessing, the ideal functional form of the fitness function, and the importance of expert knowledge. We anticipate this study will provide an important baseline for future studies investigating the usefulness of GP as a general computational discovery tool for large-scale genetic studies.
Nematicidal Compounds from Plants

Current chemicals available for control of plant-parasitic nematodes are far from perfect with respect to environmental safety, mammalian toxicity, or expense (Hague and Gowen, 1987; Johnson and Feldmesser, 1987; Thomason, 1987). During the past decade, several agriculturally important nematicides have been deregistered or restricted in use because of concern about groundwater contamination or adverse effects on human health. Other nematicides face the possibility of similar restrictions. Because annual losses to agricultural productivity induced by plant-parasitic nematodes are at least 6 billion dollars in the U.S. and 77 billion dollars in the world (Sasser and Freckman, 1987), the need to develop safe chemical control agents is acute. Unfortunately, only about 0.2% of the latter figure is being spent on plant nematology research, teaching, and extension (Sasser and Freckman, 1987).
Changing Color of Selected Objects

The project for this chapter was completed by the FAU student Mila Manastasova as part of the Introduction to Image and Video Processing class at Florida Atlantic University taught in Spring 2018.
Evaluation of Intra- and Interscanner Reliability of MRI Protocols for Spinal Cord Gray Matter and Total Cross-Sectional Area Measurements.

Author(s): Papinutto, Nico; Henry, Roland G | Abstract: BackgroundIn vivo quantification of spinal cord atrophy in neurological diseases using MRI has attracted increasing attention.PurposeTo compare across different platforms the most promising imaging techniques to assess human spinal cord atrophy.Study typeTest/retest multiscanner study.SubjectsTwelve healthy volunteers.Field strength/sequenceThree different 3T scanner platforms (Siemens, Philips, and GE) / optimized phase sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR), T1 -weighted (T1 -w), and T2 *-weighted (T2 *-w) protocols.AssessmentOn all images acquired, two operators assessed contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM), and between WM and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); one experienced operator measured total cross-sectional area (TCA) and GM area using JIM and the Spinal Cord Toolbox (SCT).Statistical testsCoefficient of variation (COV); intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC); mixed effect models; analysis of variance (t-tests).ResultsFor all the scanners, GM/WM CNR was higher for PSIR than T2 *-w (P l 0.0001) and WM/CSF CNR for T1 -w was the highest (P l 0.0001). For TCA, using JIM, median COVs were smaller than 1.5% and ICC g0.95, while using SCT, median COVs were in the range 2.2-2.75% and ICC 0.79-0.95. For GM, despite some failures of the automatic segmentation, median COVs using SCT on T2 *-w were smaller than using JIM manual PSIR segmentations. In the mixed effect models, the subject was always the main contributor to the variance of area measurements and scanner often contributed to TCA variance (P l 0.05). Using JIM, TCA measurements on T2 *-w were different than on PSIR (P = 0.0021) and T1 -w (P = 0.0018), while using SCT, no notable differences were found between T1 -w and T2 *-w (P = 0.18). JIM and SCT-derived TCA were not different on T1 -w (P = 0.66), while they were different for T2 *-w (P l 0.0001). GM area derived using SCT/T2 *-w versus JIM/PSIR were different (P l 0.0001).Data conclusionThe present work sets reference values for the magnitude of the contribution of different effects to cord area measurement intra- and interscanner variability.Level of evidence1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 4 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2019;49:1078-1090.
Cardiovascular Diseases in African Americans: Fostering Community Partnerships to Stem the Tide

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine highlighted community partnerships as important in strategies for ensuring the public's health in the 21st century. Whether defined narrowly as the neighborhood or more broadly as the entire nation, communities represent settings in which health is supported and protected by healthy social connections and environments or risked and damaged by detrimental social, environmental, and policy determinants, as well as adverse behavioral and lifestyle choices. In this article, cardiovascular disease in African Americans is used as an example to highlight the successes achieved during the last half-century in reducing mortality rates, the persisting challenge of suboptimal adoption of evidence-based practices to promote community health and prevent disease, and the still widespread and pervasive health disparities. The article concludes with a call for the scientific community to embrace implementation research in strategic partnership with community stakeholders to stem the tide of cardiovascular disease and reduce related cardiovascular health disparities.
Relations of Virtue

It is argued in this chapter that business firms can and do provide an incubator that enables the Aristotelian category of friendships of advantage to develop into friendships of virtue. This contradicts other literature that views acquaintances of utility as the business norm, and expresses pessimism concerning more advanced virtuous development of friendship within the business firm. It is argued here, however, that this virtuous development is integral to the Kantian social aim of pursuing a moral community, an aim which declares the appropriate moral motivation for business, and that certainly should incorporate a role for developing virtuous relations as a component of that pursuit. An atmosphere that encourages the development of relations of virtue is feasible, exists in real business, and is optimal for pursuit of moral business communities.
Modeling Cost, Energy, and Total Organic Carbon Trade-Offs for Stormwater Spreading Basin Systems Receiving Recycled Water Produced Using Membrane-Based, Ozone-Based, and Hybrid Advanced Treatment Trains.

To address water scarcity, cities are pursuing options for augmenting groundwater recharge with recycled water. Ozone-based treatment trains comprising ozone and biologically activated carbon poten...
Gene expression differences between matched pairs of ovarian cancer patient tumors and patient-derived xenografts.

As patient derived xenograft (PDX) models are increasingly used for preclinical drug development, strategies to account for the nonhuman component of PDX RNA expression data are critical to its interpretation. A bioinformatics pipeline to separate donor tumor and mouse stroma transcriptome profiles was devised and tested. To examine the molecular fidelity of PDX versus donor tumors, we compared mRNA differences between paired PDX-donor tumors from nine ovarian cancer patients. 1,935 differentially expressed genes were identified between PDX and donor tumors. Over 90% (n = 1767) of these genes were down-regulated in PDX models and enriched in stroma-specific functions. Several protein kinases were also differentially expressed in PDX tumors, e.g. PDGFRA, PDGFRB and CSF1R. Upon in silico removal of these PDX-donor tumor differentially expressed genes, a stronger transcriptional resemblance between PDX-donor tumor pairs was seen (average correlation coefficient increases from 0.91 to 0.95). We devised and validated an effective bioinformatics strategy to separate mouse stroma expression from human tumor expression for PDX RNAseq. In addition, we showed most of the PDX-donor differentially expressed genes were implicated in stromal components. The molecular similarities and differences between PDX and donor tumors have implications in future therapeutic trial designs and treatment response evaluations using PDX models.
Illuminations of the Tabernacle of Moses and of Ezra in the Codex Amiatinus (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Amiatino 1): Bede, Cassiodorus and the Antiquitates Judaicae of Flavius Josephus

Features of the two illuminations from the first quire of the Codex Amiatinus, the bifolium of the tabernacle of Moses (6v and 7r, formerly 2v/II and 7r/III) and the miniature of the Jewish priest Ezra, who is identified by inscription (2r, formerly 4r/V), correspond more closely with text from the Jewish Antiquities of Flavius Josephus than with the parallel accounts in Scripture. Cassiodorus had the Jewish Antiquities of Flavius Josephus rendered from Greek into Latin, referring to the seventh chapter (that is, chapter 6) of book 3 as the source for his illustration of the tabernacle of Moses; and this illumination, according to Bede, was available as a model at Wearmouth–Jarrow. It appears that Bede also took part in fashioning the miniature of Ezra, both the verse inscription and the image itself, which also reflects more closely passages from Cassiodorus’ so-called Latin Josephus than the corresponding sections of the Bible.
Enhanced Generative Model for Unsupervised Discovery of Spatially-Informed Macroscopic Emphysema: The Mesa Copd Study

Pulmonary emphysema, overlapping with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), contributes to a significant amount of morbidity and mortality annually. Computed tomography is used for in vivo quantification of emphysema and labeling into three standard subtypes at a macroscopic level. Unsupervised learning of texture patterns has great potential to discover more radiological emphysema subtypes. In this work, we improve a probabilistic Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to discover spatially-informed lung macroscopic patterns (sLMPs) from previously learned spatially-informed lung texture patterns (sLTPs). We exploit a specific reproducibility metric to empirically tune the number of sLMPs and the size of patches. Experimental results on the MESA COPD cohort show that our algorithm can discover highly reproducible sLMPs, which are able to capture relationships between sLTPs and preferred localizations within the lung. The discovered sLMPs also achieve higher prediction accuracy of three standard emphysema subtypes than in our previous implementation.
Resolving population dynamics and interactions of multiple triplet excitons one molecule at a time

Resolving the population dynamics of multiple triplet excitons on time scales comparable to their lifetimes is a key challenge for multiexciton harvesting strategies, such as singlet fission. We show that this information can be obtained from fluorescence quenching dynamics and stochastic kinetic modeling simulations of single nanoparticles comprising self-assembled aggregated chains of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). These multichromophoric structures exhibit the elusive J-aggregate type excitonic coupling leading to delocalized intrachain excitons that undergo facile triplet formation mediated by interchain charge transfer states. We propose that P3HT J-aggregates can serve as a useful testbed for elucidating the presence of multiple triplets and understanding factors governing their interactions over a broad range of time scales. Stochastic kinetic modeling is then used to simulate discrete population dynamics and estimate higher order rate constants associated with triplet-triplet and singlet-triplet annihilation. Together with the quasi-CW nature of the experiment, the model reveals the expected amounts of triplets at equilibrium per molecule. Our approach is also amenable to a variety of other systems, e.g., singlet fission active molecular arrays, and can potentially inform design and optimization strategies to improve triplet harvesting yields.
Social determinants of health and survivorship in parotid cancer: An analysis of the National Cancer Database.

Abstract Background Given the rarity of parotid cancer, there is relatively few data published regarding outcomes. Utilizing the large sample population of the National Cancer Database (NCDB), we aim to examine the relationship between two key social determinants of health, demographics and socioeconomic status (SES), and parotid malignancy survival rates. Methods Our analytic sample consists of patients with a diagnosis of primary malignancy of the parotid gland between 2004 and 2012 in the NCDB. We used univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate the relationship between overall survival rate and two key social determinants of health: demographics and SES. Results 15,815 cases met inclusion criteria. Average age was 60.1 years and 8255 were male (52.2%). Median overall survival was 121 months with 5-year overall survival of 67.4%. Male sex and older age at diagnosis were associated with poorer overall survival (p Conclusion In this national sample of patients with parotid malignancy, a rare form of cancer, we found a significant correlation between important social determinants of health and overall survival rate. Females, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and patients with higher education level have better overall survival.
Gravitropism of Plant Organs Undergoing Primary Growth

As sessile organisms anchored to their substrate, plants have to develop in such a way that their organs can fulfill essential primary functions, which include photosynthesis, gas exchange and reproduction for shoots, and anchoring as well as water and nutrients uptake for roots. To do so, these organs have to use directional information within their environments as growth guides. Gravity, a constant parameter on Earth, is one of the cues used by most organs to direct growth, a process named gravitropism. Typically, shoots will grow against the gravity vector whereas roots will follow it. Furthermore, lateral organs will grow along shallower vectors relative to gravity, whose obliqueness is dictated by endogenous/hormonal and environmental cues. In this chapter, we review the molecular mechanisms that allow angiosperm organs to use gravity as a growth guide. Gravity-sensing cells named statocytes contain dense starch-filled plastids (amyloplasts) that sediment within their cytoplasm. These cells are located in the columella region of the root cap and in the endodermis that surrounds the vasculature in shoots. Amyloplast sedimentation in these cells promotes a polarization of auxin efflux facilitators to the bottom membrane, creating a downward flow of auxin that results in a lateral gradient across the stimulated organ. Differential auxin accumulation on opposite flanks of the organ results in differential cellular elongation upon transmission to the site of response, a process that is responsible for upward curvature in shoots and downward growth in roots. Lateral organs, on the other hand, respond to similar stimuli by developing weaker lateral auxin gradients, leading to shallower growth angles from gravity. An abundance of research carried out by multiple laboratories around the world has recently led to important new insights into the mechanisms that govern these complex processes and the machinery that fine-tunes them to ultimately yield highly controlled and amazingly complex responses. This chapter attempts to discuss these mechanisms and identify some of the areas in need of further investigation in this important area of plant biology.
Impact of Built Environments on Body Weight (the Moving to Health Study): Protocol for a Retrospective Longitudinal Observational Study.

Background Studies assessing the impact of built environments on body weight are often limited by modest power to detect residential effects that are small for individuals but may nonetheless comprise large attributable risks. Objective We used data extracted from electronic health records to construct a large retrospective cohort of patients. This cohort will be used to explore both the impact of moving between environments and the long-term impact of changing neighborhood environments. Methods We identified members with at least 12 months of Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA) membership and at least one weight measurement in their records during a period between January 2005 and April 2017 in which they lived in King County, Washington. Information on member demographics, address history, diagnoses, and clinical visits data (including weight) was extracted. This paper describes the characteristics of the adult (aged 18-89 years) cohort constructed from these data. Results We identified 229,755 adults representing nearly 1.2 million person-years of follow-up. The mean age at baseline was 45 years, and 58.0% (133,326/229,755) were female. Nearly one-fourth of people (55,150/229,755) moved within King County at least once during the follow-up, representing 84,698 total moves. Members tended to move to new neighborhoods matching their origin neighborhoods on residential density and property values. Conclusions Data were available in the KPWA database to construct a very large cohort based in King County, Washington. Future analyses will directly examine associations between neighborhood conditions and longitudinal changes in body weight and diabetes as well as other health conditions. International registered report identifier (irrid) DERR1-10.2196/16787.
The Use of Mesh in Pelvic Floor Reconstruction

Since the introduction of vaginal mesh kits in 2002, there has been a significant increase in the number of pelvic reconstructive surgeries involving vaginal mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse. This trend continued until around 2008, when the first public health notice was published by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding complications and adverse events associated with the use of synthetic mesh in prolapse and stress urinary incontinence surgery. In order to fully understand the risks and benefits associated with transvaginal mesh implantation for pelvic organ prolapse, understanding not only the properties of synthetic mesh material but also the body’s response to its implantation is critical. One must also have a broad depth of knowledge regarding the clinical data that exists regarding transvaginal mesh placement.
Analysis of Main Influencing Factors of the Wastewater Evaporation in Flue Duct

Desulfurization wastewater has the characteristics of small discharge and high pollution, and must be strictly treated. To obtain the main factors affecting the evaporation characteristics of desulfurization wastewater in boiler flue, a 600MW unit of a coal-fired power plant in China was taken as an example. According to the theory of fluid mechanics and heat transfer, the numerical simulation method was used. The results show that the way the nozzle is installed on the upper wall of the flue inlet can enhance the evaporation effect of the desulfurization wastewater. It is also revealed that the influence of the flue gas flow rate on the droplet evaporation effect is relatively small. The smaller droplet diameter and the higher flue gas inlet temperature will obviously enhance the evaporation effect of the droplets in the flue. However these two factors will increase the operating cost and reduce the boiler thermal efficiency. Therefore, the values of the droplet diameter and the flue gas inlet temperature need to be further determined by technical and economic comparison.
Chapter 2 – Cultural Models of Health and Illness

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the articulation of personal narratives and larger public discourses, including scientific discourses, that relate to health and illness. It situates the study of culture, health, and illness within larger discussions of culture, self, and emotions, and develops a complex conception of culture that goes beyond simple notions of guiding principles, norms, or latent structures. It also develops an active conception of culture in which the narrative structures with which health and illness are perceived and acted upon are the result of purposive action by information-gathering actors who operate within changing, information-rich physical and social environments. Traditional public health approaches assumed that risky health behavior or noncompliance with health maintenance regimens was simply the result of ignorance and that this ignorance could be remedied through educational campaigns. Such campaigns, like the antismoking campaign of recent decades, met with less than complete success. Such efforts made it clear that people's behavior is determined by a combination of knowledge, culturally based beliefs about personal risk and the severity of potential outcomes, as well as practical factors like income and the availability of transportation. A new cultural public health would allow to focus on traditional public health objectives, but to do so, it requires a much better understanding of the complex interaction between knowledge, beliefs, and practical factors that determine behavior and individuals' overall sense of well-being.
Microbes and the womb: does it matter?

Abstract As more information is discovered about the impact of both pathogenic and beneficial microbes to human health, the question emerges of when the interaction between microbes and humans begins. Furthermore, does the timing of this interaction play a role in subsequent health? One line of thinking is that the newborn’s first exposure to microbes is after birth and that the womb from which the infant emerges is sterile. Another theory is that exposure to microbes occurs in the womb before a baby is born. These opposing theories have become a topic of intense debate between those who believe in a sterile womb and those who believe that we at birth already have a distinct microbiome that is acquired in utero. Of note is that these opposing theories portend much more than a simple academic argument. They represent paradigm shifting science with major clinical implications that range from the role of in utero microbes in preterm labor, the development of immune responses including autoimmunity, as well as epigenetically acquired traits that can be passed from one generation to the next via vertical microbial transfer between generations.