cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The use of sequential analysis to improve the efficiency of co-twin control studies.

The co-twin control model using paired-comparison analysis provides an extremely powerful and cost-effective experimental design for clinical research. This paper suggests the possibility of using sequential analysis to further increase the efficiency and specificity of cotwin control studies.
Multicriteria Similarity-Based Anomaly Detection Using Pareto Depth Analysis

We consider the problem of identifying patterns in a data set that exhibits anomalous behavior, often referred to as anomaly detection. Similarity-based anomaly detection algorithms detect abnormally large amounts of similarity or dissimilarity, e.g., as measured by the nearest neighbor Euclidean distances between a test sample and the training samples. In many application domains, there may not exist a single dissimilarity measure that captures all possible anomalous patterns. In such cases, multiple dissimilarity measures can be defined, including nonmetric measures, and one can test for anomalies by scalarizing using a nonnegative linear combination of them. If the relative importance of the different dissimilarity measures are not known in advance, as in many anomaly detection applications, the anomaly detection algorithm may need to be executed multiple times with different choices of weights in the linear combination. In this paper, we propose a method for similarity-based anomaly detection using a novel multicriteria dissimilarity measure, the Pareto depth. The proposed Pareto depth analysis (PDA) anomaly detection algorithm uses the concept of Pareto optimality to detect anomalies under multiple criteria without having to run an algorithm multiple times with different choices of weights. The proposed PDA approach is provably better than using linear combinations of the criteria, and shows superior performance on experiments with synthetic and real data sets.
Betty B. Fletcher: NEPA's Angel and Chief Editor of the Hard Look

The underpinnings of modern environmental law rest comfortably on assumptions of a creative, active, thorough, and demanding judicial review. The judicial founders — and expounders — of environmental law were relentless practitioners of what became known as the “hard look” doctrine of judicial review. This was the stance of the great first judges of environmental law — they included David Bazelon, Harold Leventhal, and J. Skelly Wright — and this was the posture of those who came later — including the much admired Patricia Wald. This tradition of a meaningful hard look has been carried on — and extended — by many contemporary jurists, including Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In this review of the decisionmaking of Judge Fletcher, the environmental version of the hard look is on conspicuous display. And it stands in stark contrast to the “values” of lassitude, passivity, timidity, hesitation, and trusting acceptance that pass for “judicial review” in the new world celebrated by sorry precedents, such as Lands Council v. McNair.
Mobile lives: totems, cell phones, and symbolism in India

Much has been said and written about the role of the mobile phone in modulating social behaviours and cultural dynamics in India. Far less attention has been paid, however, to emerging cultural narratives about the phone which showcase the active, often troublesome and intrusive role the device plays in increasingly technologically inflected lives and landscapes. How are we to understand these new readings of the phone as itself a protagonist in our cultural lives? This essay uses a series of cultural reference points (movies, plays, news-media reports, popular music) to survey new metaphoric and symbolic terrains that the mobile phone guides us through. The mobile device's character, I argue, is totemic: it acquires the capacity to express desires, aspirations, and ambivalences; invoke social differences, and assert cultural norms. What Indian cultural narratives reveal is the desire for communion with the technologies which now both contain our natures and hold them up to view. The mobile phone plays a ...
Self, Subject, and the “Barefoot Historian”

In his evocative historical essay Alongshore, the landscape historian John R. Stilgoe explores the stretch of Massachusetts coastline from Gurnet Light to Minot Ledge that is his family's year-round home. "I see flood tide or ebb each morning before I see my university. I am close to my subject, too close for relaxation, for comfort." To convey that close connection between self and subject, Stilgoe creates the persona of "the barefoot historian," a scholarly beachcomber who wanders along the shoreline and in and out of the text of Alongshore offering personal observations and insights that supplement the study's more conventional historical research into Pilgrim landings and salt haying, treasure hunting and tourism. The barefoot historian, Stilgoe takes care to inform us, is not one of the "summer people," but "a local, a native in faded blue shirt and threadbare khaki pants," whose understanding of the tourists must depend in part (ironically) on "winter days in library stacks." The device of the barefoot historian artfully establishes that John Stilgoe is native to the Massachusetts coastline that is his subject (and a mere winter visitor to his university and its libraries that house scholarly research). Alongshore is, he affirms, "a personal book, based on local observation, grounded in the 'local knowledge"' required of long-distance mariners before venturing close inshore.1 The "barefoot historian" captures one important creative response to the latetwentieth-century critique of the omniscient narrator of professional historical convention. Modeled on the objective voice of realist novels in the nineteenth century, the omniscient narrator was designed to "create the appearance of a dispassionate approach, uncontaminated by partiality or interest, unconstrained by the limitations of a single vantage point." "'Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"' commanded the Wizard of Oz after Dorothy's dog, Toto, exposed him as a cheap sideshow magician; pay close attention to the omniscient narrator's sleight-of-hand, has been the warning of postmodern critics in recent decades.2 This critique echoes the crisis in ethnographic authority that has bedeviled anthropologists in a postcolonial
A Species-Specific Repetitive Sequence in Mycobacterium leprae DNA

A 2.2-kilobase Mycobacterium leprae DNA insert fragment from a recombinant genomic library (pYA1065) was found to hybridize to at least 19 fragments of chromosomal M. leprae DNA by Southern hybridizations. The probe hybridized to identical fragments of chromosomal DNA from four M. leprae isolates (two from patients with leprosy, one from a naturally infected armadillo, and one from a naturally infected Mangabey monkey) whether the chromosomal DNA was digested with BamHI, BstEII, PstI, or SacI. The pYA1065 probe is specific for M. leprae; it did not hybridize to chromosomal DNA from 14 cultivable slow- and fast-growing mycobacterial species. Dot-blot hybridizations between pYA1065 and purified M. leprae chromosomal DNA indicate that the probe can detect DNA equivalent to 4 x 10(3) M. leprae cells in a spot. The probe can also hybridize to DNA in M. leprae cells spotted on a filter from homogenized skin biopsy specimens from patients with lepromatous leprosy.
Extending resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta: Endovascular variable aortic control in a lethal model of hemorrhagic shock

BACKGROUNDThe duration of use and efficacy of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) is limited by distal ischemia. We developed a hybrid endovascular-extracorporeal circuit variable aortic control (VAC) device to extend REBOA duration in a lethal model of hemorrhagic shoc
Comparison of different anesthesia regimens performed in pediatric bronchoscopy

Objective The present study aimed to compared three different anesthesia regimens performed in pediatric fiberoptic bronchoscopy(FOB).Methods Sixty children aged 2-6years scheduled for bronchoscopy for the first time were randomly divided into three groups:control ventilation group by laryngeal mask airway(group L),intravenous combined with local anesthesia group(group V),sedation combined with local anesthesia group(group C).The incidence of adverse reactions included cough,short of breath,laryngospasm and body movement were also recorded. Results Incidence of cough and body movement in group C were significantly higher than those in group V(P0.05),while apnea and respiratory depression lower than group V(P0.05).The recovery time in L and V groups were longer than group C(P0.05).Conclusion The general anesthesia bypass laryngeal mask airway was more preferable for the pediatric FOB.
Analysis of the current working situation and influencing factors in TB hospitals of Hefei city

Objective To explore the current working situation of TB designated hospitals from the new tuberculosis prevention and control work- system,and analyze the main influencing factors of working quality. Methods According to monthly statements,quarterly supervision and actual data inspection,a field survey was conducted in 5 designated TB control hospitals of Hefei city. Data on staff in outpatient department,local financial support,outpatient registration,TB patient treatment,drug use and the implementation of the free policy were analyzed statistically. Results In the 5 designated TB hospitals,4 had fixed personnel,one had local special financial fund. The registration rate for newly diagnosed patients was 97. 2%,the rate of sputum examination was 99. 8%,the registration rate for TB patients was 99. 2% while the screening positive rate was 30. 1%. The rate of standard treatment was 77%. The rate of free chest radiography and free sputum smear were 70% and 100% respectively. Free anti TB drug using rate was 61. 1%. The screening positive rate in provincial hospital was higher than that in other hospitals. But the rate of free chest radiography and anti TB drug using in provincial hospital were lower than that in other hospitals. There wasn't significant difference between the county and township hospitals. Conclusion Medical staffs' instability,hospitals' economic indicators,local government financial supporting were the key restricted factors for TB control work.
Age-related differences in sensitivity to the antinociceptive effects of opioids in male rats. Influence of nociceptive intensity and intrinsic efficacy at the mu receptor.

Rationale: Despite the widespread popularity of opioid analgesics, significant differences in the potency and effectiveness of these drugs are often observed across age groups. Objectives: The purpose of this investigation was to examine age-related differences in sensitivity to the antinociceptive effects of mu opioids and to identify the conditions under which these differences are most apparent. Methods: In a warm-water tail-withdrawal procedure, young (3 months) and aged (24 months) male rats were habituated to restraint and the latencies to remove their tails from 50°C (low nociceptive intensity) and 55°C (high nociceptive intensity) water were measured. Opioids possessing a range of intrinsic efficacy at the mu receptor (morphine, levorphanol, buprenorphine, butorphanol, nalbuphine, nalorphine) were examined. Results: Young and aged rats were equally sensitive to the antinociceptive effects of morphine, levorphanol, and buprenorphine when tested at the low nociceptive intensity. When these drugs were tested at the high nociceptive intensity, differences between the two age groups became apparent, such that aged rats were significantly more sensitive to the antinociceptive effects of these drugs than young rats. Differences between age groups were most apparent when butorphanol, nalbuphine, and nalorphine were tested, in that each of these drugs produced maximal levels of antinociception in aged rats under conditions in which they failed to produce antinociceptive activity in young rats. Under conditions in which lower efficacy opioids failed to produce antinociceptive activity in young rats, they antagonized the effects of morphine in drug combination tests. Conclusions: These data may be taken as evidence that aged male rats are more sensitive to the antinociceptive effects of mu opioids than young male rats, and that age-related differences in opioid sensitivity are most apparent when lower efficacy opioids and higher nociceptive intensities are employed during behavioral testing.
Hantaan-Like Viruses from Domestic Rats Captured in the United States*

Abstract Recent observations that Rattus rodents in Asia harbor Hantaan (HTN)-like viruses associated with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome led us to investigate the possibility that similar viruses might be present in the United States. Wharf rats were captured at major port cities, their sera were examined for HTN antibody by immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) assay and tissues from selected antibody-positive rats were examined for HTN antigen. Rats positive for both antibody and antigen to HTN virus were found in Philadelphia, PA and Houston, TX. Infected rats were found clustered in discrete foci where a significant proportion was antibody and antigen positive. Viruses isolated from lung tissues of Rattus norvegicus captured at Philadelphia and Houston were grown in cell culture and shown to be closely related to each other and to the 76–118 strain of HTN virus by IFA, but clearly distinct from HTN by plaque reduction neutralization tests. The isolates appear to be variants of the same new virus, for which the name Girard Point virus is proposed.
Studies of the effects of ventricular fibrillation on the adequacy of regional myocardial flow. II. Effects of ventricular distention.

This study assesses the effects of ventricular distention during spontaneously and electrically maintained ventricular fibrillation on coronary blood flow distribution, myocardial metabolism, and ventricular performance. Distention of the spontaneously fibrillating, adequately perfused, heart causes a redistribution of left ventricular coronary flow away from the subendocardial region and results in biochemical evidence of ischemia and moderately impaired ventricular function. While electrical fibrillation alone causes these deleterious effects on coronary flow distribution, myocardial metabolism, and performance, distention of the electrically fibrillating heart accentuates the degree of subendocardial underperfusion and metabolic and functional impairment. We conclude that overstretching of muscle fibers by ventricular distention is not the only cause of impaired ventricular function following cardiopulmonary bypass.
Mobile Broadband Growth, Spectrum Scarcity, and Sustainable Competition

The explosive growth in mobile broadband traffic, driven by smart phones and tablets that significantly increase traffic per subscriber, has accentuated the spectrum shortage for Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS). The spectrum shortage is driving up the costs of deploying competitive 4G mobile broadband networks and is fueling pressure for industry consolidation, and thus poses a threat to competition. The simple solution of allocating sufficient spectrum to maintain the current level of competition appears infeasible due to the high amount of spectrum required and competing political/economic claims on that spectrum. This paper considers how to sustain competition in mobile broadband services under conditions of spectrum scarcity. We observe that the key leverage available at the system architecture level is to reduce cell size. Smaller cells increase capacity in a given amount of available spectrum, enable use of higher frequencies where new allocations are easier to provide, and for technical reasons explained in the paper, enable increased spectrum sharing which is critical for higher efficiency. The primary barriers to reducing cell size are economic. We examine how to foster inter-provider infrastructure sharing for cost sharing while mitigating the risk of cartelization. A novel feature of our analysis is that we consider spectrum congestion and economic barriers to cell-size reduction as two aspects of a single challenge. We identify several complementary approaches that simultaneously address the technical, economic and policy issues associated with this challenge.
Flank pseudohernia following posterior rib fracture: a case report.

Background A pseudohernia is an abdominal wall bulge that may be mistaken for a hernia but that lacks the disruption of the abdominal wall that characterizes a hernia. Thus, the natural history and treatment of this condition differ from those of a hernia. This is the first report of a pseudohernia due to cough-associated rib fracture.
Dual-band filter using composite transmission lines for RFID and energy harvesting applications

The design, simulation and implementation of a dual-band microstrip filter using composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission lines for RFID and energy harvesting applications is presented. The design has been implemented on 1mil DuPont Pyralux flexible material and 60mil FR4 material in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) range. Step-by step design procedure in UHF has been given and a generic design tool using Matlab has been developed for an arbitrary dual band filter design with CRLH transmission lines. The simulation and measurement results are compared at the operational frequencies, 900MHz and 2.4GHz, and found to be in agreement.
Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Hematological Malignancies

The current prognosis is excellent for children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (HL). However, patients who relapse or progress can have a dismal prognosis. Further, children with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) have a good, but not excellent, prognosis with upfront therapy. Furthermore, despite these advances in outcome, children still suffer acute and long-term morbidity and mortality from upfront and re-induction chemotherapy. Surface targets have been identified in ALL, AML, NHL and HL and concomitant monoclonal antibodies have been developed to these surface targets and many have been recently approved by regulatory authorities. In this review, we summarize the safety and clinical application of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of paediatric haematological malignancies and discuss the future direction of this new targeted therapy approach.
Politics and Political Science

Throughout my life, politics and political science have been intertwined. I handed out leaflets for Adlai Stevenson at age 12, participated in protests at Oberlin and Berkeley, and, as I developed professional expertise, worked with national security agencies. Conflict has been a continuing interest, particularly whether situations are best analyzed as a security dilemma or aggression. In exploring this question, I was drawn into both political psychology and signaling, although the two are very different. I have continued to work on each and occasionally try to bring them together. My thinking about strategic interaction led to a book-length exploration of system effects, a way of thinking that I believe is still insufficiently appreciated in the discipline and among policy makers. My research continues to be stimulated by both developments in the discipline and unfolding international politics. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science Volume 21 is May 11, 2018. P...
Risk Factors, Geographic Distribution, and Healthcare Burden of Symptomatic Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection in the United States: Analysis of a Nationally Representative Database, 2000-2012

Objective To assess risk factors, geographic distribution, length of stay, and total charges per case of symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV). Study design We performed retrospective analyses of serial cross-sectional data using the Kids' Inpatient Database, a nationally representative sample of US pediatric hospital discharges, from 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2012. Symptomatic cCMV was identified via use of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 771.1 among records with in-hospital birth that were accompanied by 1 or more characteristic symptoms. Demographic characteristics were compared with multivariable logistic regression. Temporal trend was assessed using linear regression. Charges were adjusted for inflation to 2012 US dollars. Results We identified 1349 cases of symptomatic cCMV (SE 56). Symptomatic cCMV was associated with non-Hispanic black race (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.37-2.10), government-sponsored insurance (OR 1.95; 95% CI 1.34-2.83), and birth in the American South and West (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.35-2.09 and OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.23-2.09, respectively). In-hospital mortality and preterm birth rate ranged from 3.2%-6.8% and 50.4%-59.2%, respectively, without temporal changes. The geometric mean of total charges per case doubled from $45 771 (SE $8509) in 2000 to $89 846 (SE $10 358) in 2006 (P = .002) but did not change from 2006 to 2012. Length of stay in days was 15 (IQR 8-22) in 2000, 27 (IQR, 9-51) in 2009, and 18 (IQR, 8-47) in 2012. Conclusions Symptomatic cCMV was associated with non-Hispanic black race, low socioeconomic status, and birth in the American South and West and resulted in substantial healthcare burden.
An enrichment method based on synergistic and reversible covalent interactions for large-scale analysis of glycoproteins

Protein glycosylation is ubiquitous in biological systems and essential for cell survival. However, the heterogeneity of glycans and the low abundance of many glycoproteins complicate their global analysis. Chemical methods based on reversible covalent interactions between boronic acid and glycans have great potential to enrich glycopeptides, but the binding affinity is typically not strong enough to capture low-abundance species. Here, we develop a strategy using dendrimer-conjugated benzoboroxole to enhance the glycopeptide enrichment. We test the performance of several boronic acid derivatives, showing that benzoboroxole markedly increases glycopeptide coverage from human cell lysates. The enrichment is further improved by conjugating benzoboroxole to a dendrimer, which enables synergistic benzoboroxole–glycan interactions. This robust and simple method is highly effective for sensitive glycoproteomics analysis, especially capturing low-abundance glycopeptides. Importantly, the enriched glycopeptides remain intact, making the current method compatible with mass-spectrometry-based approaches to identify glycosylation sites and glycan structures. Understanding the functions of protein glycosylation critically depends on methods to efficiently enrich glycoproteins from complex samples. Here, the authors develop a strategy using dendrimer-conjugated benzoboroxole to enhance glycopeptide enrichment, providing the basis for more comprehensive glycoprotein analyses.
Physiologic Aspects of Sexual Function and Dysfunction

The neurovascular, psychophysiological, and gonadal aspects of human sexual function are reviewed, the physiological correlates of sexual dysfunctions of psychological origin are considered, and some medical illnesses that give rise to disordered sexual responses by interfering with the organic substrate are briefly discussed. Emphasis is on conceptual and methodological issues, and avenues of inquiry that are of potential significance for our understanding of normal and disordered sexual function.
Advances in Understanding Stimulus-Responsive Phase Behavior of Intrinsically Disordered Protein Polymers

Proteins and synthetic polymers can undergo phase transitions in response to changes to intensive solution parameters such as temperature, proton chemical potentials (pH), and hydrostatic pressure. For proteins and protein-based polymers, the information required for stimulus-responsive phase transitions is encoded in their amino acid sequence. Here, we review some of the key physical principles that govern the phase transitions of archetypal intrinsically disordered protein polymers (IDPPs). These are disordered proteins with repetitive amino acid sequences. Advances in recombinant technologies have enabled the design and synthesis of protein sequences of a variety of sequence complexities and lengths. We summarize insights that have been gleaned from the design and characterization of IDPPs that undergo thermo-responsive phase transitions and build on these insights to present a general framework for IDPPs with pH and pressure responsive phase behavior. In doing so, we connect the stimulus-responsive phase behavior of IDPPs with repetitive sequences to the coil-to-globule transitions that these sequences undergo at the single-chain level in response to changes in stimuli. The proposed framework and ongoing studies of stimulus-responsive phase behavior of designed IDPPs have direct implications in bioengineering, where designing sequences with bespoke material properties broadens the spectrum of applications, and in biology and medicine for understanding the sequence-specific driving forces for the formation of protein-based membraneless organelles as well as biological matrices that act as scaffolds for cells and mediators of cell-to-cell communication.
Esophageal Foreign Bodies: Food Impaction and Foreign Bodies

Esophageal foreign bodies and food bolus impactions occur frequently and are a common endoscopic emergency. Though the vast majority of gastrointestinal bodies do not result in serious clinical sequelae or mortality, it has been estimated that 1,500–2,750 patients die annually in the United States because of the ingestion of foreign bodies. More recent studies have suggested the mortality from GI foreign bodies to be significantly lower, with no deaths reported in over 850 adults and one death in approximately 2,200 children with a GI foreign body. As a result of the frequency of this problem and the rare but possible negative consequences, it is important to understand the patients at risk for food impactions and ingestion of foreign bodies, the best method for a prompt diagnosis, and the correct management with avoidance of unwanted complications.
The Structural Function of Cross Beams During Vault Construction in the Maya Palace of the Governor at Uxmal, Yucatan

The Puuc style Maya Palace of the Governor at Uxmal, Yucatan (900-915 CE) is a single-story structure with a long, narrow profile, built on a rectangular plan composed by 20 vaulted rooms. The vaults are monolithic structures formed by two inclined planar surfaces, with the intrados defined by finely fit facing stones tenoned into a concrete core of limestone fragments immersed in lime mortar. At the intrados, a regular pattern of wooden cross beams connects the two planar faces of the vault. We test the role of the cross beams in maintaining static equilibrium during construction using linear FE models based on published material properties of Maya concrete and rigid-body mechanics. Results indicate that cross beams are necessary to prevent overturning conditions both at the vault springing and at base of the supporting wall during construction.
FeedReflect: A Tool for Nudging Users to Assess News Credibility on Twitter

In recent years, the emergence of fake news outlets has drawn out the importance of news literacy. This is particularly critical in social media where the flood of information makes it difficult for people to assess the veracity of the false stories from such deceitful sources. Therefore, people oftentimes fail to look skeptically at these stories. We explore a way to circumvent this problem by nudging users into making conscious assessments of what online contents are credible. For this purpose, we developed FeedReflect, a browser extension. The extension nudges users to pay more attention and uses reflective questions to engage in news credibility assessment on Twitter. We recruited a small number of university students to use this tool on Twitter. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the study suggests the extension helped people accurately assess the credibility of news. This implies FeedReflect can be used for the broader audience to improve online news literacy.
TCR microclusters form spatially segregated domains and sequentially assemble in calcium-dependent kinetic steps

Engagement of the T cell receptor (TCR) by stimulatory ligand results in the rapid formation of microclusters at sites of T cell activation. Whereas microclusters have been studied extensively using confocal microscopy, the spatial and kinetic relationships of their signaling components have not been well characterized due to limits in image resolution and acquisition speed. Here we show, using TIRF-SIM to examine the organization of microclusters at sub-diffraction resolution, the presence of two spatially distinct domains composed of ZAP70-bound TCR and LAT-associated signaling complex. Kinetic analysis of microcluster assembly reveal surprising delays between the stepwise recruitment of ZAP70 and signaling proteins to the TCR, as well as distinct patterns in their disassociation. These delays are regulated by intracellular calcium flux downstream of T cell activation. Our results reveal novel insights into the spatial and kinetic regulation of TCR microcluster formation and T cell activation. Engagement of T cell receptors (TCRs) induces the formation of microclusters that mediate the downstream signalling events. Here the authors show, using high resolution TIRF-SIM and live cell imaging, that ZAP70 and LAT are recruited to TCR with distinct kinetics, with the delayed ZAP70-TCR association modulated by TCR-induced calcium flux.
Chapter 10 – miRNA

Comprehensive transcriptome deep-sequencing has revealed that most of the typical eukaryotic genome is transcriptionally active, producing an astonishing array of both large and small noncoding RNAs. One type of small noncoding transcript, microRNA (miRNA), has been documented to have important regulatory roles in the modulation of gene expression by profoundly influencing the stability and translatability of mRNA. miRNAs are endogenous, noncoding regulatory molecules with a typical length of 20–22 nts. They are known to govern cellular and organism physiology at the levels of cell proliferation, differentiation, signal transduction, cellular senescence, apoptosis, and the initiation and progression of the disease state, to name a few examples. Thousands of miRNAs have already been identified in many organisms and have been added to the rapidly expanding miRNA database known as miRBase. The increased availability of next generation sequencing, and improvements in deep-sequencing, has been the impetus behind the exponential increase of newly discovered miRNA sequences. Presently, there are over 35,000 miRNAs, from over 200 different species, that may be accessed from miRBase. There are several online tools and smaller subset databases that are indispensable for investigators working with miRNA. Originally believed only to suppress protein synthesis, miRNAs are now known to have the ability to promote protein synthesis as well. While the functions of some miRNAs have yet to be determined, the fact that many of these transcripts are strongly conserved suggests a central regulatory role across evolutionary time.
Characterization of mutational processes in ER+ metastatic breast cancer.

1019Background: Diverse mutational processes are active at different stages of cancer development and cause the mutational burden in cancer cells. These processes leave distinctive signatures, char...
Dietary n-6/n-3 FA Ratio, but Not Total Content of n-3 PUFA, Regulates Diet-induced Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and Metabolic Dysfunction (OR19-01-19)

Consumption of n-3 fatty acids (FA) decreases the risk for chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes, and promotes thermogenic energy expenditure. There is a growing concern that dietary n-6 FA undermines the availability of n-3 FA suggesting that dietary n-6/n-3 FA ratio is a better determinant to predict metabolic outcomes than the total content of n-3 FA. This study aimed to test whether lowering the n-6/n-3 ratio in the solid fat would be effective in ameliorating the saturated fat-induced obesity and metabolic syndrome. The obesity-prone C57BL/6 mice (n = 8/group) were randomly assigned to any of three isocaloric diets that contain 45% of solid fat from either conventional butter (n-6/n-3 ratio = 6), n-3 FA-enriched butter (n3Butter, n-6/n-3 ratio = 1) or margarine (n-6/n-3 ratio = 6), and fed for 10 weeks in comparison with chow-fed control mice. The changes in FA profile in erythrocytes were quantified by GC-MS, and lipoprotein composition in plasma were determined biweekly. The changes in body composition were determined by NMR minispec. Insulin sensitivity was evaluated by glucose and insulin tolerance test and HOMA-IR score. To determine the thermogenic potential, core-body temperature and heat release by IR camera were measured upon acute cold exposure (4°C). The brown-specific signature gene and protein profiles were determined upon cold for two days. Despite the similar n-3 FA content, n3Butter significantly increased the de novosynthesis of EPA (> 5-fold) and decreased arachidonic acid than margarine. Importantly, intracellular n-6/n-3 ratio in the liver, muscle, and white/brown adipose tissue were mirrored by dietary n-6/n-3 FA ratio. As a metabolic consequences, n3Butter intake substantially decreased 1) total and LDL-cholesterol levels, 2) visceral adiposity and adipose inflammation, and 3) glucose and insulin resistance compared to conventional butter or margarine. Notably, n3Butter intake showed higher thermogenic energy expenditure and brown/beige fat activation than isocaloric conventional butter or margarine. Fortification and/or enrichment of n-3 FA in dairy products may be an alternative strategy to attenuate the obesity and metabolic complications mediated by chronic use of saturated fat. USDA HATCH. NIH NIGMS P20 COBRE Sunseo Omega Inc.
In Vivo Photoacoustic Tracking of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Viability

Adult stem cell therapy has demonstrated improved outcomes for treating cardiovascular diseases in preclinical trials. The development of imaging tools may increase our understanding of the mechanisms of stem cell therapy, and a variety of imaging tools have been developed to image transplanted stem cells in vivo; however, they lack the ability to interrogate stem cell function longitudinally. Here, we report the use of a nanoparticle-based contrast agent that can track stem cell viability using photoacoustic imaging. The contrast agent consists of inert gold nanorods coated with IR775c, a reactive oxygen species (ROS) sensitive near-infrared dye. Upon cell death, stem cells produce ROS to degrade the cell. Using this feature of stem cells, the viability can be measured by comparing the IR775c signal to the ROS insensitive gold nanorod signal, which can also be used to track stem cell location. The nanoprobe was successfully loaded into mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and then, MSCs were transplanted into the lower limb of a mouse and imaged using combined ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging. MSC viability was assessed using the nanoprobe and displayed significant cell death within 24 h and an estimated 5% viability after 10 days. This nanoparticle system allows for longitudinal tracking of MSC viability in vivo with high spatial and temporal resolution which other imaging modalities currently cannot achieve.
Radical Lessons in the Wake of Black Lives Matter

This graphic essay focuses on the use of graphic composition strategies and includes work by contributing authors from my community college composition classroom. The main point of this piece is that *everyone deserves access to important ideas and information and that using comics to teach and to learn disciplines us to pare away the nonessential and prioritize foundational content. Pictures and emphatic word-art help clarify complex concepts for many who might otherwise struggle to master challenging written text. For these people, comics can provide a point of entry to discourse to which they might otherwise have had only marginal access. The exercise discussed in this graphic essay disentangles students from the pressures of performing conventional standards of (white) literacy while providing an avenue into antiracist reasoning and the discourse of public intellectuals of color.
Collaboration between special schools and local education agencies: A progress report

This study explored the types of services that schools for students who are blind or have low vision (special schools) provide to students in local education agencies, the extent and quality of col...
Discrete Elasto-Plastic Rods

Abstract We report a discrete differential geometry-based numerical framework to simulate the rate-independent, elasto-plastic behavior of one dimensional rod-like structures. Our numerical tool first discretizes the rod centerline into a number of nodes and edges in a manner similar to the well-established Discrete Elastic Rods (DER) method – a fast geometrically exact simulation for elastic filaments. The cross section of each vertex is next meshed into multiple fiber-like elements, such that the nonlinear constitutive relation of each element can be individually described by an increment-based associated flow rule and updated through return mapping algorithm. Equations of motion numerically obtained from energy variation at each degree of freedom are integrated through an implicit Euler time marching scheme, for its unconditional convergence and numerical stability. For quantitative comparison, we derive the analytical solutions for several simple cases, and a good match between the analytical solution and the numerical results in the geometrically linear regime indicates the accuracy of our discrete model. Our simulation can seamlessly handle the nonlinearity from both geometric and material sides, which is often not amenable to an analytical approach.
Improving Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Rates in an Urban Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Clinic

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is widespread and is a known cancer risk factors for both men and women. Despite over a decade of demonstrated safety and efficacy, vaccination rates remain relatively low. A recent review suggests that providers may pose a significant barrier to initiation of the HPV vaccine. The aim of this quality improvement project was to improve HPV vaccine initiation and completion through annual, provider-based, educational intervention in an academic, urban Internal Medicine-Pediatrics clinic. Our intervention sought to narrow variability amongst providers in discussing the HPV vaccine with patients. This strategy included information on how to normalize the vaccine by introducing it similarly to other immunizations and to …
Period Poverty in a Pandemic: Harnessing Law to Achieve Menstrual Equity

Period poverty is not new, but it has become more visible during the COVID-19 crisis. Worldwide, menstruation has long caused marginalization and vulnerability for some. The pandemic has amplified these conditions. This Article makes three claims. The first is descriptive, identifying four interrelated aspects of global period poverty that have gained new salience during the coronavirus pandemic: lack of access to affordable menstrual products; lack of access to other needed supplies and services for health and sanitation; lack of menstruation-related information and support from schools and health professionals; and menstrual stigma and shame. By using examples from multiple countries, the Article highlights the importance of having the ability to manage one’s menstruation in a safe and affordable way. The Article’s second claim is that law has a role to play in eliminating period poverty—both during a pandemic, and beyond. By making sure that menstruation-related concerns are taken into account in defining “essential businesses,” for example, governments can both address the material needs of approximately half the population and signal that those needs are important. Finally, the Article explores the heightened visibility of menstruation-related concerns during the COVID-19 crisis as suggestive of an emerging popular awareness of period poverty. This Article’s account has important implications for a larger world-wide menstrual equity movement that takes aim at all menstruation-related obstacles standing in the way full participation for all people in private and public life.
Ideals and Oughts and the Reliance on Affect versus Substance in Persuasion

Motivation research distinguishes two types of goals: (a) ideals, which relate to people’s hopes, wishes, and aspirations, and (b) oughts, which relate to people’s duties, obligations, and responsibilities. We propose that, in persuasion, the accessibility of ideals increases consumers’ reliance on their subjective affective responses to the ad relative to the substance of the message, whereas the accessibility of oughts increases consumers’ reliance on the substance of the message relative to their subjective affective responses. This phenomenon is accompanied by a relative change in the perceived diagnosticity of the two types of information under accessible ideals versus oughts—a change that can be related to the distinct modes of self-regulation that ideals and oughts trigger. The phenomenon appears to be unrelated to the kind of change in depth-of-processing posited by the Elaboration Likelihood Model and the Heuristic-Systematic Model.
Hiccup Mode Overcurrent Protection Scheme for Decentralized Multiphase Current Mode DC-DC Converters

This paper proposes a robust hiccup mode over current protection scheme for decentralized current mode multiphase DC-DC converters. The current comparator for pulse width modulation is reused for peak current limiting. The latch-up issue in multiphase configuration, which is caused by the inevitable current limit thresholds mismatching between the paralleled controllers is analyzed. Without adding extra communication bus to the system, the proposed scheme synchronizes the hiccup protection using the existing shared signals between controllers. The proposed scheme features precise cycle-by-cycle instantaneous current limit, low power dissipation under fault condition, simple implementation and scalability in phase number. The proposed scheme is implemented in an integrated circuit controller for dual phase Boost converter. The experimental results prove the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
VarFix: balancing edit expressiveness and search effectiveness in automated program repair

Automatically repairing a buggy program is essentially a search problem, searching for code transformations that pass a set of tests. Various search strategies have been explored, but they either navigate the search space in an ad hoc way using heuristics, or systemically but at the cost of limited edit expressiveness in the kinds of supported program edits. In this work, we explore the possibility of systematically navigating the search space without sacrificing edit expressiveness. The key enabler of this exploration is variational execution, a dynamic analysis technique that has been shown to be effective at exploring many similar executions in large search spaces. We evaluate our approach on IntroClassJava and Defects4J, showing that a systematic search is effective at leveraging and combining fixing ingredients to find patches, including many high-quality patches and multi-edit patches.
Amaryllidaceae isocarbostyril alkaloids

Abstract The highly potent anticancer natural products, the Amaryllidaceae isocarbostyril alkaloids, have been a desirable target for total synthesis over the past few decades. However, while many elegant approaches have been reported previously, scalable access to these important medicinal compounds has remained unrealized. Here, we describe our efforts toward these antineoplastic agents in detail, including failed routes and how we overcame them. The brevity and scalability of our synthesis was due to the development of the nickel-catalyzed asymmetric dearomative carboamination reaction, allowing for olefin difunctionalization reactions to install the contiguous stereocenters of the cyclitol core. Upon completion of our synthesis, we synthesized a series of analogs, some of which displayed equipotent activity and increased aqueous solubility, a major inhibitor of these alkaloids' preclinical evaluation. We then synthesized isotopologs of the natural products to identify the potential sites of metabolism, leading to increased stability over the parent compounds. With this synthetic blueprint, we hope to enable the preclinical evaluation of these important cytotoxic natural products.
The HIV Risk Profiles of Latino Sexual Minorities and Transgender Persons Who Use Websites or Apps Designed for Social and Sexual Networking

The use of websites and GPS-based mobile applications ("apps") designed for social and sexual networking has been associated with increased HIV risk; however, little is known about Latino sexual minorities' and transgender persons' use of these websites and apps and the risk profiles of those who use them compared with those who do not. Data from 167 participants who completed the baseline survey of a community-level HIV prevention intervention, which harnesses the social networks of Latino sexual minorities and transgender persons, were analyzed. One quarter of participants (28.74%, n = 48) reported using websites or apps designed for social and sexual networking, and 119 (71.26%) reported not using websites or apps designed for social and sexual networking. Those who used websites or apps were younger and reported more male sex partners, a sexually transmitted disease diagnosis, and illicit drug use other than marijuana. HIV prevention interventions for those who use websites or apps should consider addressing these risks for HIV.
Theory and practice of resonant antireflection

Antireflection can be achieved using optical resonances. We show theoretically that complete resonant antireflection is possible if the resonances radiate in a balanced manner and the periodicity of the structure is subwavelength for normal incidence.
Disequilibrium rational expectations

Abstract In this paper, we present a simple dynamic general disequilibrium model which generates both unemployment and inflation as a stationary long-run equilibrium. Rational expectations (in the mean) are an essential part of this equilibrium. Policy remedies are examined. By means of an example, it is shown that rational expectations are consistent with depressed economic activity and that government policy can play an important role. It is entirely possible for inflation and unemployment to persist indefinitely.
Error Reduction using TCP with Selective Acknowledgement and HTTP with Page Response Time over Wireless Link

This paper evaluates error reduction in wireless communication networks. We have reviewed selective acknowledgement schemes to provide reliable end-to-end communication on wireless-link. TCP (Transport control protocol) has poor performance over wireless-link. Due to high error rate, page response time (sec), and retransmission count over wireless-link. We present a scheme to improve performance using TCP/IP compression, fast retransmission and fast recovery new Reno techniques which directly decreases selective-acknowledgement, page response-time, and retransmission count.