cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Coagulation abnormalities and liver function after hemi-Fontan and Fontan procedures - the importance of hemodynamics in the early postoperative period.

Introduction: The causes of coagulation abnormalities and thromboembolic complications during staged Fontan approach in patients with single ventricle remain unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the coagulation profile in the early postoperative period after hemi-Fontan and Fontan procedures with relationship to liver function and hemodynamic variables. Materials and methods: The prospective study on 43 patients after hemi-Fontan (group 1) and 37 patients after Fontan procedure (group 2) was carried out. Coagulation profile (factor VII, factor VIII, ATIII, fibrinogen, prothrombin), liver function (total serum protein, albumin, AST, ALT, bilirubin), and hemodynamic variables were assessed on postoperative day 1 and 5 and compared to preoperative measures. Results: Factor VIII concentration was significantly higher on first postoperative day in both groups. On postoperative day 5 the concentration of factor VIII was significantly decreased in group 1 whereas constant in group 2. The concentration of factor VII, ATIII, fibrinogen, and prothrombin was significantly decreased on first and increased on fifth postoperative day after both hemi-Fontan and Fontan procedures. The increase in bilirubin concentration was more distinctive after Fontan operation (p = 0.003) with lower AST in this group (p < 0.0001). The single ventricle function, pO2 and central venous pressure had significant influence on factor VIII (p = 0.034), factor VII (p = 0.012), ATIII (p = 0.006), and prothrombin (p = 0.024) concentrations in group 2 with no significant influence in group 1. Conclusions: The distinctive causes of coagulation abnormalities during staged Fontan approach are hemodynamic changes and temporary liver dysfunction. Elevated concentration of factor VIII and significant influence of hemodynamics on coagulation profile could contribute to postoperative thromboembolic complications. # 2007 European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Estimation of risk ratios in case‐base studies with competing risks

The case-base study is a recently developed modification of the case-control design that leads to risk ratio estimates. Currently available methods for the analysis of case-base studies lead to estimates of the unconditional risk ratio which may be misleading if censoring occurs. In this manuscript, we describe an approach for the analysis of case-base studies that yields conditional risk ratio estimates which remain valid in the presence of censoring. The approach we propose for estimating risk ratios and their standard errors involves a non-iterative procedure.
Correlates of high serum C-reactive protein levels in a socioeconomically disadvantaged population

Individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds are disproportionately affected by the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet data regarding risk factors in this population are lacking, particularly regarding emerging biomarkers of CVD such as C-reactive protein (CRP). We measured high-sensitivity CRP and examined its association with demographic and lifestyle factors in a sample of 792 participants aged 40–79 years from the Southern Community Cohort Study, which has an over-representation of socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals (over 60% with a total annual household income 3 mg/L) varied significantly by sex, race, smoking status, and body mass index (BMI). The multivariable-adjusted prevalence odds ratios (ORs) (95% CIs) for having elevated CRP were 1.6 (1.1–2.3) for women vs. men, 1.4 (0.9–2.0) for African Americans vs. whites, 2.3 (1.4–3.8) for African American women vs. white men, 1.8 (1.2–2.7) for current smokers vs. non-smokers, and 4.2 (2.7–6.6) for obese (BMI 30.0–44.9 kg/m2) vs. healthy-weight (BMI 18.3–24.9 kg/m2) participants. Further stratified analyses revealed that the association between BMI and elevated CRP was stronger among African Americans than whites and women than men, with prevalence ORs (95% CI) comparing obese vs. healthy-weight categories reaching 22.8 (7.1–73.8) for African American women. In conclusion, in this socioeconomically disadvantaged population, sex, race, smoking, and BMI were associated with elevated CRP. Moreover, inflammatory response to obesity differed by race and sex, which may contribute to CVD disparities.
Latin America, football and the Japanese diaspora

It is much less of a novelty today that Asian footballers play amongst the best in Europe’s top flight. Some footballers, however, have had career paths through equally important clubs in Latin America like Santos, Guarani and Pachuca. Due to different social and political dynamics of Latin American culture and their relationship to waves of Asian immigration, the presence of Asian players in Latin American football speaks to the unique history of Asian peoples and the growing commercial necessity of football clubs to appeal to diasporic communities as integral parts of multicultural societies. This essay aims to open up a discussion on how the Japanese diaspora connects to sports culture in Latin America. By exploring the careers of players Kenji Fukuda and the Japanese-Brazilian Rodrigo Tabata among others, this piece contributes to studies on diaspora and sport, on how capital, commercialization, and nationalism function in relation to Latin America’s Nikkei.
Stochastic Multi-Armed-Bandit Problem with Non-stationary Rewards

In a multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem a gambler needs to choose at each round of play one of K arms, each characterized by an unknown reward distribution. Reward realizations are only observed when an arm is selected, and the gambler's objective is to maximize his cumulative expected earnings over some given horizon of play T. To do this, the gambler needs to acquire information about arms (exploration) while simultaneously optimizing immediate rewards (exploitation); the price paid due to this trade off is often referred to as the regret, and the main question is how small can this price be as a function of the horizon length T. This problem has been studied extensively when the reward distributions do not change over time; an assumption that supports a sharp characterization of the regret, yet is often violated in practical settings. In this paper, we focus on a MAB formulation which allows for a broad range of temporal uncertainties in the rewards, while still maintaining mathematical tractability. We fully characterize the (regret) complexity of this class of MAB problems by establishing a direct link between the extent of allowable reward "variation" and the minimal achievable regret, and by establishing a connection between the adversarial and the stochastic MAB frameworks.
Locomotive function in individuals with multiple sclerosis

The purpose of this study was to utilize the technique of quantitative gait analysis on individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) to provide a more accurate representation of gait patterns than subjective clinician observation alone and then compare those patterns to reported results from normal subjects without neurological disorders. Ten subjects with MS were evaluated by clinical quantitative gait analysis. The results indicated that individuals with MS responded with a 9% decrease in cadence, 7.5% decrease in velocity, 8% decrease in stride length, 17% increase in single stance time, and 56% increase in double stance time compared to normal values. There were also diminished angular displacement values for the hip, knee, and ankle, with an increase measured in pelvic tilt. Ground reaction forces were found to be significantly different for vertical forces and anterior-posterior forces. These data appear to suggest that the technique of quantitative gait analysis can provide accurate scientific assessment of gait disturbances through evaluation of kinetic, kinematic, and temporal variables and subjects diagnosed with MS may have impaired gait patterns that may not be evident during subjective analysis alone.
Detection of eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus RNA in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues using DNA in situ hybridization.

Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) virus was detected in infected formalin-fixed horse and emu tissues and in infected chicken embryo fibroblasts. Results of in situ hybridization using a digoxigenin- labeled 40-base DNA probe complementary to a conserved region of the EEE virus RNA compared favorably with results of both virus isolation and serum neutralization tests. This technique may be useful for diagnosis of EEE virus infection in various animal species, especially when fresh tissues are not available for analysis, and also will provide a means for studying the involvement of alphaviruses in pathogenesis studies.
Evolution of adhesive mechanisms in cribellar spider prey capture thread: evidence for van der Waals and hygroscopic forces

Sticky prey capture threads are produced by many members of the spider infraorder Araneomorphae. Cribellar threads are plesiomorphic for this clade, and viscous threads are apomorphic. The outer surface of cribellar thread is formed of thousands of fine, looped fibrils. Basal araneomorphs produce non-noded cribellar fibrils, whereas more derived members produce noded fibrils. Cribellar fibrils snag and hold rough surfaces, but other forces are required to explain their adherence to smooth surfaces. Threads of Hypochilus pococki (Hypochilidae) formed of non-noded fibrils held to a smooth plastic surface with the same force under low and high humidities. In contrast, threads of Hyptiotes cavatus and Uloborus glomosus (Uloboridae) formed of noded fibrils held with greater force to the same surface at intermediate and high humidities. This supports the hypothesis that van der Waals forces allow non-noded cribellar fibrils to adhere to smooth surfaces, whereas noded fibrils, owing to the hydrophilic properties of their nodes, add hygroscopic forces at intermediate and high humidities. Thus, there appear to have been two major events in the evolution of adhesive mechanisms in spider prey capture thread: the addition of hydrophilic nodes to the fibrils of cribellar threads and the replacement of cribellar fibrils by viscous material and glycoprotein glue. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 77, 1–8.
Young children with autism show atypical brain responses to fearful versus neutral facial expressions of emotion

Evidence suggests that autism is associated with impaired emotion perception, but it is unknown how early such impairments are evident. Furthermore, most studies that have assessed emotion perception in children with autism have required verbal responses, making results difficult to interpret. This study utilized high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether 3-4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show differential brain activity to fear versus neutral facial expressions. It has been shown that normal infants as young as 7 months of age show differential brain responses to faces expressing different emotions. ERPs were recorded while children passively viewed photos of an unfamiliar woman posing a neutral and a prototypic fear expression. The sample consisted of 29 3-4-year-old children with ASD and 22 chronological age-matched children with typical development. Typically developing children exhibited a larger early negative component (N300) to the fear than to the neutral face. In contrast, children with ASD did not show the difference in amplitude of this early ERP component to the fear versus neutral face. For a later component, typically developing children exhibited a larger negative slow wave (NSW) to the fear than to the neutral face, whereas children with autism did not show a differential NSW to the two stimuli. In children with ASD, faster speed of early processing (i. e. N300 latency) of the fear face was associated with better performance on tasks assessing social attention (social orienting, joint attention and attention to distress). These data suggest that children with ASD, as young as 3 years of age, show a disordered pattern of neural responses to emotional stimuli.
AQoSM: Scalable QoS multicast provisioning in Diff-Serv networks

The deployment of IP multicast support is impeded by several factors among which are the state scalability problem, the cumbersome management and routing, and the difficulty of supporting QoS. In this paper, we propose an architecture, called Aggregated QoS Multicast (AQoSM), to provide scalable and efficient QoS multicast in Diff-Serv networks. The key idea of AQoSM is to separate the concept of groups from the concept of distribution tree by ''mapping'' many groups to one distribution tree. In this way, multicast groups can now be routed and rerouted very quickly by assigning different labels (e.g., tree IDs) to the packets. Therefore, we can have load-balancing and dynamic rerouting to meet QoS requirements. In addition, the aggregation of groups on fewer trees leads to routing state reduction and less tree management overhead. Thus, AQoSM enables multicast to be seamlessly integrated into Diff-Serv without violating the design principle of Diff-Serv of keeping network core ''QoS stateless'' and without sacrificing the efficiency of multicast. Finally, efficient resource utilization and strong QoS support can be achieved through statistical multiplexing at the level of aggregated trees. We design a detailed MPLS-based AQoSM protocol with efficient admission control and MPLS multicast tree management. By simulation studies, we show that our protocol achieves significant multicast state reduction (up to 82%) and tree maintenance overhead reduction (up to 86%) with modest (12%) bandwidth overhead. It also reduces the blocking ratio of user requests with strong QoS requirements due to its load balancing and statistical multiplexing capabilities.
Arubaito, or Short-Term Working Abroad in Japan: A Case Study of Brazilian University Students of Japanese Descent

International migration between Japan and Brazil dates back to 1908, when the first group of Japanese migrated to Brazil. However, in the 1980s, a reverse flow occurred, as thousands of Brazilians of Japanese descent traveled to Japan to work in manufacturing and construction factories (dekasegi workers). Japanese Brazilians up until the third generation were permitted to enter. Many recruiting companies turned to university students who could work the factory jobs during their three- month summer vacation (arubaito workers). This article draws upon a larger ethnographic case study that the author conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Aichi, Japan in 2009 and 2010. The results of the study indicate that not only economic, but cultural underpinnings contribute to the motivations by Japanese-Brazilian university students to work in Japan. Different forms of non-traditional student mobility are explored that can shape a student's experience abroad.
The Politics of SimCity

Years ago, when Robert Caro's magisterial biography of Robert Moses was first published, I remember reading it with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it reinforced every lesson I tried to convey in my course on urban politics. On the other hand, it taught those lessons in a way that was so vivid, and so engaging, that it made my conventional textbooks and lectures seem hopelessly abstract and lifeless. There was only one thing to do: throw out the old texts and make The Power Broker (Caro 1975) the centerpiece of the course. I redesigned everything from scratch.Recently, one of the students in my course on the history of city planning (offered in the University Honors Program at the University of Maryland at College Park) ambled up after class. “Have you ever played sin city?” I thought I heard him ask. He set me straight—“SimCity” he said, enunciating carefully—and then offered a demonstration, during which I was reminded of Caro's book. Here we go again, I though to myself as I purchased the Windows version of the simulation.
Homage to Steve Gould

Steve's death leaves a gaping hole in American scientific and intellectual life. My focus in these next few minutes will be on his scientific legacy. Steve and I go back a long way. I was still an undergraduate when Steve—and an impressive cohort of other students—entered the graduate program in paleontology and stratigraphy at Columbia in the Fall of 1963. Steve and the others made me feel welcome in their inner circle, and Steve and I have been together ever since—inextricably bound by the work we did together in the early 1970s, but bonded as well in a lasting friendship and a mutual desire to strengthen paleontology's position at the “High Table” of evolutionary theory. For that's really what Steve's work was all about: He wanted to establish as firmly as possible that paleontology is not just a mere litany of what lived before what in the history of life—but rather that the fossil record is fraught with meaning to all who would understand how life evolved. In his characteristic and usually highly useful penchant for naming things, Steve called the description of the often dry details of fossils the “idiographic” approach—while he reserved the term “nomothetic” for the search for meaning—generalizations, perhaps even “laws”—that the fossil record might yield on the evolutionary process itself. If these two Greek-derived terms perhaps mercifully have not survived, the distinction he drew certainly has. George Gaylord Simpson, our mutual predecessor at the American Museum of Natural History (where we both served our research apprenticeships as Ph.D. students in the Columbia Program) had advocated a similar approach—saying that the “determinants” of evolution were indeed the stuff of genetics—things like mutation rate, population size, natural selection, and so forth; BUT THAT THE FOSSIL RECORD REVEALS REPEATED PATTERNS THAT MUST BE TAKEN AS REAL PHENOMENA THAT …
Optimum Transonic Wing Design Using Control Theory

While aerodynamic prediction methods based CFD are now well established, and quite accurate and robust, the ultimate need in the design process is to find the optimum shape which maximizes the aerodynamic performance. One way to approach this objective is to view it as a control problem, in which the wing is treated as a device which controls the flow to produce lift with minimum drag, while meeting other requirements such as low structure weight, sufficient fuel volume, and stability and control constrains. Here we apply the theory of optimal control of systems governed by partial differential equations with boundary control, in this case through changing the shape of the boundary. Using this theory, we can find the Frechet derivative (infinitely dimensional gradient) of the cost function with respect to the shape by solving an adjoint problem, and then we can make an improvement by making a modification in a descent direction. For example, the cost function might be the drag coefficient at a fixed lift, or the lift to drag ratio. During the last decade, this method has been intensively developed, and has proved to be very effective for improving wing section shapes for fixed wing planform [3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14].
Intent Recognition in a Simulated Maritime Multi-agent Domain

Intent recognition is the process of determining the action an agent is about to take, given a sequence of past actions. In this paper, we propose a method for recognizing intentions in highly populated multi-agent environments. Low-level intentions, representing basic activities, are detected through a novel formulation of Hidden Markov Models with perspective-taking capabilities. Higher level intentions, involving multiple agents, are detected with a distributed architecture that uses activation spreading between nodes to detect the most likely intention of the agents. The solution we propose brings the following main contributions: i it enables early recognition of intentions before they are being realized, ii it has real-time performance capabilities, and iii it can detect both single agent as well as joint intentions of a group of agents. We validate our framework in an open source naval ship simulator, the context of recognizing threatening intentions against naval ships. Our results show that our system is able to detect intentions early and with high accuracy.
Abstract 4295: PHLPP suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer cell invasion by negatively regulating RAF1 activity.

PHLPP belongs to a family of protein phosphatases that have previously been shown to inhibit Akt-mediated cell proliferation and survival signaling in cancers. Here, we demonstrate that PHLPP exerts its tumor suppressor function by negatively regulating the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway to inhibit cell migration and invasion. Specifically, we identify the oncogenic protein kinase RAF1 as an interacting protein and a novel substrate of PHLPP. PHLPP dephosphorylates the S338 site of RAF1 and inactivates the kinase both in vitro and in cells. Loss of PHLPP expression largely increases the amplitude and duration of RAF/MEK/ERK signaling in cells, whereas overexpression of PHLPP inhibits the pathway. Functionally, knockdown of PHLPP induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like phenotype, which coincides with a significant increase in migration and invasion in colon cancer cells. Furthermore, we show that upregulation of transcription factors ZEB1 and ZEB2 is responsible for increased invasiveness observed in PHLPP knockdown cells. Taken together, we have identified a novel role of PHLPP in suppressing EMT and cell motility in colon cancer cells by directly antagonizing RAF1 function. Citation Format: Xin Li, Payton D. Stevens, Tianyan Gao. PHLPP suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer cell invasion by negatively regulating RAF1 activity. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4295. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4295
Prevention and Treatment of Bone Disease in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune chronic inflammatory disease, can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality of which bone disease such as osteoporosis is a contributor. Patients with SLE are at risk for low bone mineral density (BMD) due to a variety of reasons including inflammation, glucocorticoid use, vitamin D deficiency, premature ovarian failure, increased damage, and traditional risk factors such as age and gender. With better treatments for SLE, survival has improved; therefore, complications from morbidity including osteoporosis need better prevention and treatment strategies. In SLE patients with osteoporosis or those on glucocorticoids who meet guidelines for therapeutic intervention, we prefer bisphosphonates as first-line therapy for most patients. They have proven efficacy in increasing BMD and decreasing fracture risk, known safety profiles, and have a favorable cost-effectiveness profile. The newer agents, teriparatide and denosumab, have not only demonstrated improvement in BMD but also decreased risk of fracture. We typically recommend these medications for some high-risk populations, those who have failed bisphosphonate therapy or those who are intolerant of oral bisphosphonates. Estrogen-containing drugs are not recommended for first-line prevention and treatment of osteoporosis given the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease. Calcitonin has also been used in osteoporosis; however, the bisphosphonates and newer drugs have proven to be more efficacious. Supplementation with calcium and vitamin D is recommended in particular with those patients who are vitamin D deficient and those on glucocorticoids, although data documenting fracture prevention with this strategy is limited. Therapeutic strategies for premenopausal women of child-bearing potential remain controversial because of limited data about safety in subsequent pregnancies. Decisions for these patients need to be made on a case by case basis weighing the risks and benefits to the individual patient. Future therapies targeting different mechanisms within bone resorption and formation are currently under investigation and will significantly add to our limited armamentarium.
In the Valley of Decision: What To Do about the Multitude of Files of Quasi Cases

In 1887 the Congress delegated, for the first time, legislative and judicial powers to an executive agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission. Today, under such delegations and in accordance with the constitutional right to due process, federal agencies conduct quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative proceedings that create hundreds of thousands of case files a year. Certain agencies each year select for transfer to the National Archives case files of important cases in accordance with selection schemes that were devised as far back as forty years ago. This large and inexorably increasing body of records is seldom used and almost never for the reasons for which it was selected—importance and precedent. The agencies publish in considerable detail their important and precedential decisions and the reasoning leading to these decisions; and these published reports, rather than the case files, are widely used. The relatively few users of the case files are almost always seeking in these files incidental informat...
Structure and Properties of Shape Memory Polyurethane

Shape memory polyurethans were synthesized by 2,4toluene diisocyanate(2,4TDI),poly(butylene adipate) glycol (PBAG) with different molecular weight and 1,4butanediol(BDO).The properties of polyurethane were studied using DSC,bending and mechanical tests.It was found that the high crystallinity of the soft segment regions and the formation of hard segment domains are the necessary conditions for polyurethanes with good shape memory behavior.
Influence of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids on Human Meibomian Gland Epithelial Cells.

Purpose:Oral supplementation with omega 3 (ω-3) and/or 6 (ω-6) fatty acids (FAs) has been reported to alleviate the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease and to improve the expressibility and quality of meibum, in patients with meibomian gland dysfunction. We tested our hypothesis that these FA effe
Employing quantitative and qualitative methods in one study

There is an apparent lack of epistemological rigour when quantitative and qualitative methods are combined in the same study, because they reflect opposing positivist and interpretive perspectives. When and how to use methodological pluralism is discussed in this article.
Dermal Absorption/Toxicity of Organophosphates and Carbamates

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses studies of pesticide absorption in the context of the experimental and theoretical approaches used to assess absorption. There are numerous experimental variables that have a major impact on the assessment of dermal absorption of pesticides. This is clearly seen with studies involving different methods (in vitro vs in vivo), different species, different doses, or application conditions such as occlusion. A similar conclusion was derived from analysis of how data are used in making pesticide risk assessments, where the authors concluded that the inability to match a specific exposure scenario to available data (e.g., species and duration of dosing) led to overestimation of absorption, and thus, risk. The experimental conditions under which pesticide absorption studies can easily be appreciated in the classic studies are comparing absorption of pesticides in mice versus humans. Any comparison can only be conducted if all possible variables are controlled. These variables include dose, area of skin dosed, application site, vehicle, impurities, and other formulation additives, length of study, occlusion, species, age of animal, in vitro vs ex vivo vs in vivo system, and assay method. The major challenge facing a critical assessment of pesticide absorption is that very few data sets, either across pesticides or for dosing factors within a specific pesticide, are available for analysis. This is the major limitation to compiling large databases of comparative pesticide absorption because the previous factors confound any analysis. Building such a comprehensive dermal absorption database of pesticides would also facilitate development of more robust QSPeR models that would ultimately facilitate the risk assessment process.
Abstract PR04: Linking development and cancer modeling in zebrafish identifies putative therapeutic targets in medullary thyroid cancer

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a neuroendocrine cancer that arises from malignant transformation of calcitonin-producing C-cells. A majority of MTC is associated with somatically acquired mutations in the proto-oncogene Rearranged during transfection (RET), resulting in constitutive activation of downstream effectors of the ERK and AKT signaling pathways. While surgical treatment may be curative in patients with localized MTC, a significant fraction of patients harbor residual disease and ultimately relapse. Much of the research on MTC has converged on inhibition of RET, however, studies suggest that other signaling pathways may contribute to disease. As a result, there is a growing need to identify novel targets for MTC. The zebrafish is well regarded as a model to study of development due its genetic tractability, conservation of pathways and rapid organ development; characteristics that also make it a fitting model to study human cancers. In this study we take advantage of these traits to 1) perform an in vivo chemical screen to identify modulators of C-cell development in zebrafish and 2) develop an in vivo oncogenic RET model in zebrafish to test the putative ‘hits’ from our screen. We hypothesize that the nexus of development and cancer modeling in the zebrafish will lead to therapies of potential use in treating MTC. We screened compounds modulating pathways involved in development, kinase signaling and chromatin modification for their ability to influence C-cell development and found that separate inhibition of the FGF and GSKβ; signaling pathways results in marked down-regulation of markers associated with C-cell differentiation. In parallel, we have introduced human oncogenic RET into an analogous cell type of neural crest origin in zebrafish which results in their early transformation, and are testing the ability of the identified ‘hits’ to suppress transformation of these cells. Our results implicate the FGF and GSKβ; pathways in C-cell development and encourage further investigation of their potential as therapeutic targets for MTC. Moreover, our studies highlight the use of zebrafish as model to identify novel targeted therapies in cancer. This abstract is also presented as Poster B44. Citation Format: Jacques A. Villefranc, Aida Alazar, Yariv Houvras. Linking development and cancer modeling in zebrafish identifies putative therapeutic targets in medullary thyroid cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: The Translational Impact of Model Organisms in Cancer; Nov 5-8, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2014;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR04.
A Voluntary Stress-Management Workshop for Neurology Residents: Design, Implementation, and Impact. (P4.207)

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate feasibility of and receptivity for stress-management training during neurology residency BACKGROUND: Exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and stress are widespread among residents. Studies have shown that physicians who undertake mindfulness training report decreased anger, fatigue, and depression, and an increased sense of personal accomplishment. Standardized mindfulness training may not be feasible within a busy residency schedule. DESIGN/METHODS: A three-hour module was designed, according to Tyler’s curriculum model, to introduce meditative techniques as strategies for stress management. Teaching strategies included practical exercises in mindfulness meditation and conscious breathing (pranayama), an instructor-led yoga class, group discussion, and written resources. The course was offered to Yale Neurology Residents (n=24), and two sessions were held to accommodate resident availability. The Positive Negative Affect Scale was completed before and after the breathing and meditation exercises. Evaluations consisting of Likert-scale ratings and open-ended questions were completed immediately after the event and two weeks later. RESULTS: Ten residents completed the module. Immediately after the event, all participants reported that the exercises were successful in eliciting relaxation. 9/10 respondents had either increase in Positive Affect or decrease in Negative Affect scores or both. On a two-week follow-up survey, 10/10 residents (100[percnt]) reported continued use of breathing exercises, meditation or stretching at home. Open-ended responses endorsed high value to stress management education during residency and requested ongoing self-care workshops. CONCLUSIONS: The self-care and stress-management program consisting of mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises and yoga postures was well-received by Neurology Residents. The three-hour session provided enough time to experience relaxation and learn skills for continued home practice. Further evaluation with quantitative and qualitative data can determine long-term impact and suitability of stress management training as a component of residency education. Study supported by Yale Neurology Department Spinelli Fund Disclosure: Dr. Mulukutla has nothing to disclose. Dr. Detyniecki has nothing to disclose.
The theatre of the Russian avant-garde

AbstractThis essay focuses on the relationship between the Russian performing arts of the Modernist period and designers such as Alexandra Exter, Pavel Filonov, Natal’ia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, El Lissitzky, Kazimir Malevich, Liubov’ Popova, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, Vladimir Tatlin, and Alexander Vesnin. It investigates the complex personalities and ideas which transformed the course of Russian visual culture in the 1910s and 1920s and which stood for many different, often conflicting, ideas – Goncharova and Larionov with their Cubo-Futurism, Lissitzky and Malevich with their Suprematism, Exter, Popova, Rodchenko, and Vesnin with their Constructivism. These artists all believed passionately in the new art and felt that Russia was destined to play a primary role in the development of contemporary culture. This essay addresses how, in the quest for this new culture, the theatre became a laboratory where the avant-garde conducted radical and prescient experiments – which followed from th...
Homogenization of epsilon near zero composite metamaterials(Conference Presentation)

Epsilon Near Zero (ENZ) metamaterials are interest for a broad range of applications in optoelectronics, communication and photovoltaic. Composite metal-dielectric metamaterials can be designed to exhibit ENZ in a specific frequency range. However, the frequency range if the ENZ is oftentimes limited. Recently, we developed a few different routs to designs metal-dielectric metamaterials with a broadband ENZ in the visible and infrared frequency domain. In this talk, I will present a homogenization theory for 1D and 2D metamaterials based on a few different geometries of metal-dielectric composites. Our approach is conceptually simple, elegant, and technically feasible, while its underlying physics is clear. We use a homogenization technique to estimate the real part of the effective permittivity nulling for a few different geometries of metal-dielectric composites. The design of broadband epsilon-near-zero metamaterials have been demonstrated through the solution of an inverse problem. Furthermore, we consider a few different geometries for realization of a broadband ENZ, such as core-shell spherical nanoparticle and nano-cylinders.
Revisiting Femoral vs. Radial access-do vascular closure devices level the playing field?

Key Points Previous large randomized multicenter trials have shown superiority of radial to femoral access in reducing major bleeding, vascular complications, and in some cohorts, mortality Vascular closure devices improve time to hemostasis and ambulation, as well as patient comfort, but have not been shown to reduce major complications or mortality consistently in the high level evidence base. The combination of optimal femoral access and closure with a vascular closure device has the potential to narrow the gap between the radial and femoral approaches in high risk patients, but unfortunately this study was too limited to confirm either non-inferiority or equivalence
Traveling to Angola to Validate a Paper-Based Sickle Cell Disease Test

When I started graduate school, I had no idea that it would take me halfway around the world to a small clinic in Cabinda, Angola, but I'm glad that it did. Since 2011, I have been a part of the team of engineers and clinicians, led by Dr. Sergey Shevkoplyas, working to develop a simple, low-cost, paper-based test for sickle cell disease-a common inherited blood disorder that is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa (Figure S1).
L-Band Model Function of the Dielectric Constant of Seawater

This paper describes a new model of the seawater dielectric constant as a function of salinity and temperature at L-band. The model function is developed by fitting the accurate measurement data made at 1.413 GHz to a third-order polynomial. The purpose of this study is to provide an accurate model for earth-observing satellites to retrieve seawater salinities from remote sensing data. In this paper, the development of the model function is introduced along with an analysis of the goodness of fit. The model function is then compared with the model functions of Klein–Swift and Meissner–Wentz. Finally, the comparison is made between the retrieved salinity from the satellite data with the in situ data measured by Argo floats.
The Case for Considering Education and Health

Awareness of the impact of education on health remains relatively low among the public, professionals, and policy makers. Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health sought to raise awareness among key decision makers about the impact of education on health outcomes through its Education and Health Initiative (EHI). EHI utilized four key strategies to raise awareness: user-oriented research, strategic communication, local and national stakeholder engagement, and policy outreach to decision makers. We review the research highlighted in four stages of EHI product releases, as well as the development, process, products, and key outcomes associated with this initiative.
Dao of the Go : Contextualizing “Spirituality,” “Intelligence,” and the Human Self

The remarkable defeat of Lee Sedol, an international Go champion by AlphaGo, a computer program, raised again the question of the future of humanity vis-a-vis increasingly competent machine intelligence. Exploring the origin of Go in East Asia, we find that the rational capacity emphasised in the Go game was traditionally associated with spiritual meanings while the etymology of spirituality in English reveals a connection with rational humanity. The cultural paradigms of intelligence invite us to rethink the dichotomy between ‘spirituality’ and ’intelligence’, so as to abate the alienation we feel towards AI-based technologies that are simulated upon our own intelligence. The contextualization of intelligence and spirituality further provides a model of resistance against the homogenizing forces and assumptions of globalization without succumbing to cultural stereotypes, which also renders a framework for the development of AI philosophy and technologies beyond universalism while addressing the future concerning the human collective.
Mexico's macroeconomic performance: an analysis using co-integration techniques

In the context of the monetary approach to the balance of payments, co-integration and vector autoregressions techniques are applied to Mexican data. The statistical evidence suggests that, despite the presence of nonstationarity in Mexico's data, a long-run relationship seems to exist between changes in international reserves and the exchange rate and changes in domestic credit, i.e., these variables seem to be co-integrated. In addition, multivariate Granger causality tests together with innovation accounting support a negative bidirectional causality between these variables. This finding does not support the unidirectional causality of the monetary approach, or its assumption that domestic credit is exogenous. The bidirectional causality does indicate that Mexico's monetary authorities adjust domestic assets to sterilize exogenous balance-of-payments deficits on the monetary base in an attempt to control its monetary policy;Moreover, co-integration and vector autoregressions techniques are again applied to Mexico's data to test whether purchasing power parity held during the period 1960-1988. The null hypothesis of non co-integration (e.g. purchasing power parity did not hold) was rejected in favor of accepting purchasing power parity. An estimated error-correction model suggests that Mexican prices and/or the peso price of a U.S. dollar adjusted as to maintain purchasing power parity during that period. This is also supported by innovation accounting and Granger causality tests derived from the estimated VAR;Next, co-integration techniques are applied to Mexico's data to determine whether there exists statistical evidence of a long-run or equilibrium money demand specification during the period 1969 to 1991. Although three definitions of money supply were tested, only the monetary aggregate M3 seems to observe a long-run relationship with income and the rate of inflation. Further Chow tests detected a structural change in the money demand for M3 only after 1988.
Das System der staatlichen Sozialpolitik im Überblick: Ziele, Prinzipien, Träger und Ergebnisse

Nach der Darstellung der einzelnen Bereiche der Sozialpolitik erscheint es angebracht, abschliesend die wesentlichen Ziele, Prinzipien, Trager und Ergebnisse der staatlichen Sozialpolitik in einem konzentrierten Uberblick zusammenzufassen.
JAK inhibitors in psoriasis: a promising new treatment modality.

Background Inflammatory cytokines play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of psoriasis. New therapies are targeting Janus kinases (JAKs), enzymes involved with transduction of cytokine receptor signaling. Objective Review the utility of JAK inhibitors in the treatment of psoriasis. Methods A review was performed using PubMed and Google to identify research relevant to the treatment of psoriasis using JAK inhibitors. Results In a CD18 mutant PL/J mouse model with T-cell dependent psoriasiform skin disease, the JAK inhibitor R348 reduced skin inflammation, with reductions in CD4+, CD8+, and CD25+ T-cell infiltration and systemic decreases of IL-17, IL-19, IL-22, IL-23 and TNF-α. Two JAK inhibitors, CP-690,550 (tasocitinib) and INCB018424 (ruxolitinib), were effective in psoriasis clinical trials. In a phase 1, randomized, double-blind, dose escalation trial for plaque psoriasis, CP-690,050 led to improvements in Psoriatic Lesion Severity Sum score at doses greater than 5 mg. A phase 2 trial showed CP-690,050 administered at 2, 5, and 15 mg twice daily resulted in a 75% reduction in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) in 25%, 40.8%, and 66.7% of patients, respectively, for moderate to severe psoriasis. A phase 3 study of CP-690,550 for plaque psoriasis was begun in September 2010 (NCT01163253). INCB018424, another JAK inhibitor, was used topically at 3 doses (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%) in a phase 2B, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, resulting in improved total lesion score, global assessment, and PASI for all doses. Conclusion Janus Kinase inhibitors are promising potential therapeutic options for psoriasis.
Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor in the Pelvic Limb of a Domestic Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Abstract A 3-year-old, 4.0 kg, female, spayed Silver Marten cross rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was presented for evaluation of a suspected recurring spindle cell sarcoma following primary excision by the referring veterinarian. Physical examination revealed a large subcutaneous mass on the left metatarsus and a fine needle aspirate revealed suspected neoplastic spindle cells. Hematologic evaluation was unremarkable and a computed tomography scan revealed invasion of the mass into skeletal muscles but showed no evidence of metastatic disease. An amputation was performed, after which the patient recovered uneventfully. However, the rabbit was found suddenly dead at time of discharge from unknown cause. Gross, histologic, and immunohistochemical evaluation was performed, which diagnosed a peripheral nerve sheath tumor. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first detailed case report of a lagomorph peripheral nerve sheath tumor specifically confirmed with immunohistochemistry. Wide surgical excision is considered the treatment of choice and may be combined with radiation therapy. Further research is required to determine risk factors, the role of adjunctive therapy, as well as long-term prognoses for peripheral nerve sheath tumors in rabbits.
Phase I trial study of bendamustine, ofatumumab, and pentostatin (BOP) as salvage regimen for patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

e19005Background: No standard salvage regimen exists for patients (pts) with relapsed or refractory (RR) NHL or CLL. Bendamustine, pentostatin and ofatumumab have activity in pts with CLL and NHL, ...
Changing prognosis of oral cancer: An analysis of survival and treatment between 1973 and 2014.

Objectives/hypothesis Oral cavity cancer is the most commonly occurring malignancy of the head and neck. There are limited data suggesting a change in prognosis of oral cavity cancers. We aimed to evaluate temporal trends in demographics, treatment, and prognosis of oral cavity cancer diagnosed between 1973 and 2014 inclusive. Study design Retrospective database analysis. Methods A retrospective study of 16,030 adult patients diagnosed with oral cavity cancer between 1973 and 2014 inclusive and treated surgically in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 9 registry was conducted. A supplemental analysis was conducted using data from the National Cancer Database. Multivariate Cox survival regressions and univariate Kaplan-Meier analyses were conducted. Results The prognosis of both early- and late-stage disease has significantly improved between 1973 and 2014. Among patients with early-stage disease, 3-year survival increased from 78.0% (standard error [SE] = 1.3) for those diagnosed from 1973 to 1980 to 92.2% (SE = 1.1) for those diagnosed from 2011 to 2014. Among patients with late-stage disease, 3-year survival ranged from 51.9% (SE = 1.5) for those diagnosed from 1973 to 1980 to 70.3% (SE = 1.9) for those diagnosed from 2011 to 2014. For patients with late-stage disease, this improved prognosis occurred in tandem with increasing usage of chemoradiotherapy as adjuvant therapy. There has also been increasing utilization of neck dissection for early- and late-stage disease, along with higher nodal yields from performed dissections. Conclusions The prognosis of oral cavity cancer has improved significantly from the early 1970s to recent years. In late-stage oral cancer, this change has been associated with an increased use of adjuvant therapy and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in particular. Level of evidence 4 Laryngoscope, 128:2762-2769, 2018.