cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sites of action of phencyclidine. II. Interaction with the ionic channel of the nicotinic receptor.

The effects of phencyclidine (PCP) were studied on the endplate current (EPC), miniature endplate current (MEPC), and synaptic noise of the frog sartorius muscle and on the binding of [3H]perhydrohistrionicotoxin ([3H]H12-HTX) to the ionic channel of the acetylcholine (ACh) receptor in electric organ membranes of Torpedo ocellata. PCP decreased the peak amplitude of the EPC in a voltage- and time-dependent manner, caused nonlinearity in the current-voltage relationship, accelerated the decay time constants of the EPC and MEPC, and shortened the mean lifetime of the single ionic channel. PCP also inhibited binding of [3H]H12-HTX to the ionic channel of the ACh receptor with a Ki, of 6.9 µM. When carbamyicholine was present to activate the ACh receptors, the Kd value for PCP binding to ionic channel sites was reduced from 10.3 ± 4.2 to 2.0 ± 1.3 µM, thus showing higher affinity for the activated ionic channel sites. In addition, PCP also reacted with the closed ionic channel since a time-dependent effect on EPC amplitude in hyperpolarized membranes was observed even before the ACh receptor was activated. Further, PCP depressed peak EPC amplitude more markedly than it shortened the EPC decay time constant, thus disclosing that the depression of the former cannot be accounted for totally by the action of the agent on the open conformation of the ionic channel. A hybrid model was proposed to account for the interactions of PCP with the open and closed states of the ionic channel of the ACh receptor. The actions of PCP on both states of the ionic channel are qualitatively similar to those seen with histrionicotoxin.
Vibrational Stark Effects for Diverse Carbonyl Probes Applied to the Re-Interpretation of IR and Raman Data in Terms of Electric Fields at Enzyme Active Sites

Carbonyl groups are ubiquitious in biology and found in many different forms including ketones, oxoesters (e.g. lipids, acyl-intermediates), thioesters (e.g. acetyl-CoA, fatty acid biosynthesis), and amides (e.g. DNA, RNA, proteins). Previous work in our lab has utilized the vibrational Stark effect (VSE) of ketones on non-natural amino acids [1] and substrate analogs [2] to quantify the electric field within several proteins, based on the vibration's linear Stark tuning rate. In order to further probe diverse biophysical systems and environments, we have measured the sensitivity of a functionally-relevant collection of carbonyl-containing compounds by vibrational Stark spectroscopy (VSS) to obtain the Stark tuning rate, and further calibrated them to an absolute electric field utilizing vibrational solvatochromism and MD simulations. The VSE provides a quantitative framework for interpreting observed frequency shifts in biophysical systems, providing physical insights into binding and catalysis. As such, this calibration to an electric field provides a unifying model with which to re-examine a substantial body of literature on highly unusual IR and Raman data of inhibitors at the enzyme active site, which have been previously attributed to substrate polarization and bond distortion [e.g. 3]. The generalizability of this interpretation to many enzymatic systems further suggests the importance of enzyme electrostatics in modulating function and may have significant applications in protein design and engineering.References1. Fried, S.D.; Bagchi, S.; Boxer, S.G., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 11181-11192.2. Fried, S.D.; Bagchi, S.; Boxer, S.G., Science, 2014, 236, 1510-1514.3. Carey, P.R., Chem. Rev., 2006, 106, 3043-3054.
Learning label structure for compressed sensing based multilabel classification

We present a compressed sensing based approach to multilabel classification that exploits the label structure present in many multilabel applications. The compressed sensing method exploits the sparsity in the label vector. The label vector is projected to a lower dimensional space by a random projection matrix. From the training data we learn how to predict the projected vector directly from the features of the samples. For a new test sample, we first predict the projected vector and then use compressed sensing recovery algorithm to estimate the sparse label vector. For many practical scenarios the label vector is not only sparse but the active labels represent a context or theme; hence have a structure. In this paper we propose to learn the label structure instead of considering the individual labels to be independent and identically distributed. We assume a Bayesian model for the labels and model the label structure as latent tree. We learn the label structure from the training data and use the learned structure during estimation of the label vector from predicted projections. Furthermore, we propose a new structure learning approach where we hash the labels into smaller number of buckets and learn the structure from these buckets. This significantly reduces the computational complexity without sacrificing accuracy. We present numerical results to demonstrate this approach and its benefit.
Evaluation of Palliative Care Training and Skills Retention by Medical Students

Abstract Background Training in palliative and end-of-life care has been introduced in medical education; however, the impact of such training and the retention of skills and knowledge have not been studied in detail. This survey study examines long-term follow-up on end-of-life communication skills training, evaluation, and skills retention in medical students. Materials and methods During the surgical clerkship, all third-year medical students received communication skills training in palliative care using simulated patients. The training involved three scenarios involving diverse surgical patients with conditions commonly encountered during the surgical clerkship. The students used web-based best practice guidelines to prepare for the patient encounters. The following communication abilities were evaluated: (1) giving bad news clearly and with empathy, (2) initiating death and dying conversations with patients and/or their family members, (3) discussing do not resuscitate status and exploring preferences for end-of-life care, and (4) initiating conversations regarding religious or spiritual values and practices. All students were surveyed after 1 year (12-24 mo) to ascertain: (1) the retention of skills and/or knowledge gained during this training, (2) application of these skills during subsequent clinical rotations, and (3) overall perception of the value added by the training to their undergraduate medical education. These results were correlated with residency specialty choice. Results The survey was sent to all graduating fourth-year medical students (n = 105) in our program, of which 69 students responded to the survey (66% response rate). All respondents agreed that palliative care training is essential in medical school training. Seventy percent of the respondents agreed that the simulated encounters allowed development of crucial conversation skills needed for palliative/end-of-life care communications. The most useful part of the training was the deliberate practice of “giving bad news” (85%). Most of the respondents (80%) indicated retention of overall communication skills with regard to approach and useful phrases. Forty-five percent claimed retention of communication skills surrounding death and dying, and 44% claimed retention of end-of-life preferences/advance directives/do not resuscitate. Relatively few respondents (16%) retained skills regarding religious or spiritual values. There was no correlation between training evaluation/skill retention and the area of residency specialty the students pursued on graduation. Conclusions Early training in palliative and end-of-life care communication is feasible and effective during the surgical clerkship. Students highly valued the simulated patient and/or family discussions and retained most of the skills and knowledge from the experiential simulated encounters. However, students felt the skills developed could be reinforced with opportunities to observe their attending physicians or residents leading such discussions and involving students in such discussions as and when appropriate.
Potential influence of wildfire in modulating climate-induced forest redistribution in a central Rocky Mountain landscape

Climate change is expected to impose significant tension on the geographic distribution of tree species. Yet, tree species range shifts may be delayed by their long life spans, capacity to withstand long periods of physiological stress, and dispersal limitations. Wildfire could theoretically break this biological inertia by killing forest canopies and facilitating species redistribution under changing climate. We investigated the capacity of wildfire to modulate climate-induced tree redistribution across a montane landscape in the central Rocky Mountains under three climate scenarios (contemporary and two warmer future climates) and three wildfire scenarios (representing historical, suppressed, and future fire regimes). Distributions of four common tree species were projected over 90 years by pairing a climate niche model with a forest landscape simulation model that simulates species dispersal, establishment, and mortality under alternative disturbance regimes and climate scenarios. Three species (Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir) declined in abundance over time, due to climate-driven contraction in area suitable for establishment, while one species (ponderosa pine) was unable to exploit climate-driven expansion of area suitable for establishment. Increased fire frequency accelerated declines in area occupied by Douglas-fir, lodgepole pine, and subalpine fir, and it maintained local abundance but not range expansion of ponderosa pine. Wildfire may play a larger role in eliminating these conifer species along trailing edges of their distributions than facilitating establishment along leading edges, in part due to dispersal limitations and interspecific competition, and future populations may increasingly depend on persistence in locations unfavorable for their establishment.
Calcium Calmodulin Dependent Kinase Kinase 2 Regulates Hematopoietic Stem Cell Regeneration and Quiescence

Abstract Extracellular free calcium (Ca2+) is the most abundant signaling molecule in the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche, and intracellular calcium is an important second messenger controlling critical functions in HSCs. Accordingly, Ca2+ is a master regulator of HSC biology, and nodes of the Ca2+ signaling network are emerging as critical components of the molecular machinery governing HSC regeneration and quiescence. Ca2+ controls many cell functions by forming a complex with Calmodulin (CaM), which binds and activates a family of Calcium/Calmodulin dependent kinase (CaMK) that includes CaMKI, CaMKII, CaMKIV, CaMKK1 and CaMKK2. We have previously investigated the function of CaMKK2 in blood cells and established this protein as a critical component of the calcium signaling pathway that regulates granulopoiesis and macrophage activation. Here, we investigated the function of CaMKK2 in the regenerative response of HSCs. To determine the expression of CaMKK2 under homeostatic conditions, we examined transgenic reporter mice and identified robust reporter activity in primitive long-term hematopoietic stem cells, but reduced signal in the majority of lineage positive blood and bone marrow cells. To establish whether CaMKK2 has a functional role in controlling hematopoiesis and HSC self-renewal, we examined hematopoietic regeneration in mice deficient for CaMKK2. We demonstrate that Camkk2 -/- mice have accelerated bone marrow and peripheral blood regeneration following hematopoietic injury. Camkk2 -/- HSCs showed increased proliferative capacity in vivo and mobilized into the peripheral blood to establish extra-medullary hematopoiesis during regeneration. To identify the proximal target of CaMKK2, we assessed the phosphorylation status of CaMKI, CaMKIV and adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK), which are known targets of CaMKK2. Our results indicate Camkk2 -/- stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) fail to accumulate phospho-AMPK in response to ionizing radiation. Since AMPK is a negative regulator of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, we also analyzed the levels of phospho-ribosomal 6 protein (rpS6), which is a distal target of the mTOR cascade that positively regulates cell size and proliferation. We found that irradiated Camkk2 -/- HSPCs accumulate higher levels of phospho-rpS6 compared to wild type cells. This finding implicates CaMKK2 as a critical component of a negative regulatory circuit that links calcium signaling to AMPK activation and cell proliferation in HSPC. Cumulatively, our data demonstrate that CaMKK2 regulates HSC function and suggests CaMKK2 inhibition is a novel approach to stem cell expansion for clinical therapy. Download : Download high-res image (163KB) Download : Download full-size image Download : Download high-res image (197KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Patients who required surgery for blunt abdominal aortic injury have higher risk of perioperative mortality, pneumonia and longer hospital length of stay

Introduction: Blunt abdominal aorta injury (AAI) is uncommon and not well studied. This study is intended to determine the outcomes of patients with blunt AAI that were managed conservatively and with surgery. Methods: Adults patients (>18 years) with blunt AAI were identified in National Trauma Databank (NTDB) (2002-2012) using ICD-9 th and CPT codes. Patients with AAI secondary to penetrating injury were excluded. Patients were divided into two groups based on treatment modality (surgery versus observation). Outcomes including perioperative mortality, morbidity and length of stay (LOS) were compared across the groups. Multivariable analysis was performed to adjust for possible confounding factors. Results: There were 975 patients with blunt AAI that were identified and included in the study cohort. Majority of the patients were male (71.9%), mean age was 47 years, and overall mortality was 31%. 202 patients (21%) required surgery while 773 (79%) were managed conservatively. Among the patients who underwent surgery, 81% (n=163) had open surgery and remaining endovascular surgery (n=39). Patients who require surgery had higher injury severity score (ISS) (36.6 vs. 33.5, p=.004), and different mechanism of injury (fall 6% vs. 12.4%, motor vehicle accident 79% vs. 77.6%, p=.009). Perioperative mortality (39.6% vs. 28.2%. p=.002), pneumonia (14.4% vs. 8.4%, p=.011), and amputation (5% vs. 1%, p<.001) were significantly higher in patients who required surgery. Mean hospital LOS (17 vs. 12.4 days, p<.001) and mean ICU LOS (9.9 vs. 6.1 days, p<.001) were also significantly longer in patients that underwent surgery. Patients who were treated with endovascular repair had similar ISS to open repair but had significantly lower risk of mortality (30.8% vs. 41.7%, p=.003). However, those who underwent endovascular repair had higher risk of pneumonia (23.1% vs. 12.3%, p=.005) and amputation (7.7% vs. 4.3%, p=<.001). In multivariable analysis, surgery was independently associated with risk of perioperative mortality (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.7, p=.009) and pneumonia (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-3.0, p=.02). Other factors associated with mortality were age (OR 1.1, p<.001) and ISS (OR 1.1, p<.001). Conclusion: Patients with blunt abdominal aortic injury have significant mortality and morbidity. Up to 20% of patients with more severe injuries required surgical repair, and have significantly higher mortality, pneumonia and required longer length of stay compared to those were managed conservatively. Endovascular repair can be associated with better survival than open repair.
Development and Evaluation of the Fathers’ Expectations About Sons’ Masculinity Scale (short Form)

The Fathers’ Expectations about Sons’ Masculinity Scale (FEASMS) assesses men’s recollections of fathers’ expectations for their masculinity, including expectations that sons conform to traditional masculine norms and the overall rigidity of these expectations. Participants were 651 community-dwelling and college men, from which a random sample of 300 was selected for an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the FEASMS. The EFA resulted in a 49-item 5-factor scale with simple structure, and moderate-to-strong factor loadings and factor intercorrelations. A shorter form was created by taking 4 of the highest loading items from each factor while ensuring coverage of the construct. Data from the remaining 351 participants were used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which found that the underlying structure for the Fathers’ Expectations about Sons’ Masculinity Scale (Short Form; FEASMS-SF) items retained the 5-factor dimensionality of the original scale. Common factors, hierarchical, and bifactor models were compared, with the results indicating that the bifactor model best fit the data. Model-based reliability estimates tentatively support the use of the raw FEASMS-SF total score to represent the general construct of fathers’ expectations about sons’ masculinity, and the raw score of the Importance of Sex subscale to represent that specific norm. However, the other 4 of the 5 group factors accounted for less reliable variance and are best assessed using latent variables. The convergent construct validity of the FEASMS-SF general factor was supported by its associations with other latent variables in its nomological network. Results are discussed in terms of future research directions and implications for practice and prevention.
Speciation, Theories of

An overview of speciation is presented with an emphasis on genetic patterns underlying species divergence. Beginning with a summary of competing species concepts and the prominent evolutionary processes at play, each of the major geographical modes of speciation is then presented with attention paid to the relative importance of different evolutionary processes under each scenario. Genetic patterns of change underlying species differentiation are then presented within the context of how these genetic signatures provide insights into the speciation process itself. Avenues for synthesizing approaches borrowed from different disciplines that could deepen our understanding of speciation further are also discussed.
On the consideration of operational deformation shapes in bi-stable energy harvesters

There has been considerable research on the design of vibration based energy harvesters in the last decade exploring the potential of autonomous power supply for miniaturized electronic systems. Nonlinear energy harvesting mechanisms are in general perceived as more robust than linear harvester designs owing to the broadband resonance dynamics which allow for efficient energy transduction over a diverse range of input vibrations. In particular, geometrically bi-stable composites with embedded piezoelectric elements have been investigated as a scalable and bio-compatible design with a strong potential for harvesting energy from the high-amplitude interwell oscillations encompassing both the statically stable states of the harvester. Significant research effort has been devoted to devise efficient strategies for shifting between the co-existing stable solution configurations of bi-stable harvesters, thus allowing to consistently maintain the high-amplitude inter-well oscillations favorable for energy harvesting. However, analysis of the compatibility of conventional linear mode shape based harvester designs to harness the complete potential for energy harvesting from nonlinear solution configurations of bistable harvesters has received lesser attention. This study presents an experimental analysis of the operational deformation shapes associated with the intra-well and inter-well response regimes of bi-stable energy harvesters. A qualitative comparison of the operational deformation shapes characterizing the nonlinear response of the harvester with the linear design mode shapes is presented. The results indicate that operational deformation shapes differing significantly from the linear mode shapes are active in the nonlinear response regime of the harvester. The aforementioned deformation shapes, while influencing the mechanical response of the harvester, may not result in any significant contribution to the harvested power as they are essentially excluded in the linear mode shape based harvester design envelop. The presented experimental results essentially highlight the need for considering the operational deformation shapes associated with the nonlinear response regime while designing for the dimensions and the position of the piezoelectric elements on bi-stable composites to ensure that the complete potential for energy conversion across all of the dynamical regimes is harnessed adequately.
Focal-Conflict Theory: A Model for Teaching Dynamic Practice:

The focal-conflict model is an instrument used to analyze a client's verbal process. It is a valuable classroom and supervisory tool for illustrating various aspects of psychodynamic practice theor...
Arthroscopic Knee Synovectomy

Open knee synoveetomy requires lengthy hospitalization and staged anterior and posterior arthrotomies with significant postoperative morbidity. This paper describes the indications, techniques, and results of arthroseopic synoveetomy of the knee.
Wardrobe Model for Long Term Re-identification and Appearance Prediction

Long-term surveillance applications often involve having to re-identify individuals over several days or weeks. The task is made even more challenging with the lack of sufficient visibility of the subjects faces. We address this problem by modeling the wardrobe of individuals using discriminative features and labels extracted from their clothing information from video sequences. In contrast to previous person re-id works, we exploit that people typically own a limited amount of clothing and that knowing a person’s wardrobe can be used as a soft-biometric to distinguish identities. We a) present a new dataset consisting of more than 70,000 images recorded over 30 days of 25 identities; b) model clothing features using CNNs that minimize intra-garments variations while maximizing inter-garments differences; and c) build a reference wardrobe model that captures each persons set of clothes that can be used for re-id. We show that these models open new perspectives to long-term person re-id problem using clothing information.
Improving biochemical markers for disorders of N-glycosylation

Identification of new biomarkers for diseases or improved sensitivity of established ones can help identify patients, track their natural history, and monitor the efficacy of potential therapies. All clearly benefit patients. In a recent paper by Chen et al . (1), the authors apply a highly sensitive, commercialized method to the analysis of a few patients with several different congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG). The method significantly expands quantitative glycomic information available for patients. These results are encouraging, however, analysis of many more samples will be required to have sufficient confidence in its general usefulness for CDG patients.
Alkali promoted tungsten carbide as a selective catalyst for the reverse water gas shift reaction

Abstract The conversion of CO2 to CO via the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction is often envisioned as the first step in the large scale transformation of CO2 into value added hydrocarbons. Accordingly, low-cost and highly selective RWGS catalysts are desirable materials for sustainable CO2 utilization. Here, we describe synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation of alkali metal promoted tungsten carbide (WC) RWGS catalysts, supported on porous γ-Al2O3. Scanning electron microscopy reveals significant differences in the morphology of the catalysts, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates a greater extent of carburization of the alkali-promoted catalysts, suggesting that alkali metals act as structural and electronic promoters, respectively. Performance data for the RWGS reaction at 300 and 350 °C shows all catalysts are active, with the alkali promoted catalysts demonstrating improved CO selectivity. Of the catalysts tested, the highest CO yield is achieved using K-promoted WC, demonstrating K-WC/γ-Al2O3 is a low-cost, active and selective RWGS catalyst.
Defects in the Compound Bi2Te3 caused by Irradiation with Protons

Single‐crystal foils of the compound Bi2Te3 were irradiated with 7.5‐MeV protons at two levels of flux to the same integrated dose of 5.5×1018 protons/cm2. The specimens were examined by transmission electron microscopy. After irradiation with a flux of 1.8×1013 protons/cm2·sec, clusters of point defects ranging in size from approximately 50 to 250 A were observed. These clusters annealed out during examination in the electron microscope. After irradiation with a flux of 3.0×1013 protons/cm2·sec, clusters of interstitial atoms and clusters of vacancies could be distinguished. Hexagonal areas were observed after irradiation with the higher flux. Irradiation also promoted the rearrangement of dislocations. Segments of dislocations intersected the surface of the specimens, and some dislocations acquired a jagged appearance.
Patterns of Engagement in an Educational Massively Multiplayer Online Game: A Multidimensional View

Learning games have great potential to become an integral part of new classrooms of the future. One of the key reported benefits is the capacity to keep students deeply engaged during their learning process. Therefore, it is necessary to develop models that can measure quantitatively how learners are engaging with learning games to inform game designers and educators, and to find ways to maximize learner engagement. In this article, we present our proposal to multidimensionally measure engagement in a learning game over four dimensions: general activity, social, exploration, and quests. We apply metrics from these dimensions to data from The Radix Endeavor , an inquiry-based online game for STEM learning that has been tested in K-12 classrooms as part of a pilot study across numerous schools. Based on these dimensions, we apply clustering and report four different engagement profiles that we define as “integrally engaged,” “lone achiever,” “social explorer,” and “nonengaged.” We also use three variables (account type, class grade, and gender) to perform a cross-sectional analysis finding interesting, statistically significant differences in engagement. For example, in-school students and accounts registered to males engaged socially much more than out-of-school learners or accounts registered to females, and that older students have better performance metrics than younger ones.
Intrusion Detection: Issues, Problems and Solutions

Computers have become ubiquitous. They now control some of our most complicated industrial systems and they are also used in virtually every field of human endeavor today, to store, process and transfer sensitive data. However, this increased popularity of computers and internet, has also increased the severity and consequences of possible intrusion by malicious actors. Furthermore, the level of sophistication of intrusive attacks seen, continues to increase at a very high rate, making it more difficult for organizations to stay ahead of attackers. These factors make the study of intrusion detection very important. Therefore, in this paper, we carry out a detail study of intrusion detection, discussing popular attacks, examining problems associated with their detection and exploring possible solutions.
Effect of bacterial contamination in bile on pancreatic cancer cell survival.

Abstract Background Introduction of gut ﬂora into the biliary system is common owing to biliary stenting in patients with obstructing pancreatic head cancer. We hypothesize that alteration of biliary microbiome modiﬁes bile content that modulates pancreatic cancer cell survival. Methods Human bile samples were collected during pancreaticoduodenectomy. Bacterial strains were isolated from contaminated (stented) bile and identiﬁed using 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Human pancreatic cancer cells (AsPC1, CFPAC, Panc1) were treated for 24 hours with sterile (nonstented) bile, contaminated (stented) bile, and sterile bile preincubated with 106 colony forming unit of live bacteria isolated from contaminated bile or a panel of bile acids for 24 hours at 37°C, and evaluated using CellTiter-Blue Cell Viability Assay (Promega Corp. Madison, WI). Human bile (30–50 μl/mouse) was coinjected intraperitoneally with 105 Panc02 mouse pancreatic cancer cells in C57BL6/N mice to evaluate the impact of bile on peritoneal metastasis 3 to 4 weeks after tumor challenge. Results While all bile samples signiﬁcantly reduced peritoneal metastasis of Panc02 cells in mice, some contaminated bile samples had diminished antitumor effect. All sterile bile (n = 4) reduced pancreatic cancer cell survival in vitro. Only 40% (2/5) of contaminated bile samples had significant effect. Preincubation of sterile bile with live Enterococcus faecalis or Streptococcus oralis modified the antitumor effect of sterile bile. These changes were not observed with culture media preincubated with live bacteria, suggesting live gut bacteria can modify the antitumor components present in bile. Conjugated bile acids were more potent than unconjugated cholic acid in reducing pancreatic cancer cell survival. Conclusion Alteration of bile microbiome from biliary stenting has a direct impact on pancreatic cancer cell survival. Further study is warranted to determine if this microbiome shift alters tumor microenvironment.
Design Parameter Values for Impact Evaluations of Science and Mathematics Interventions Involving Teacher Outcomes.

Experimental research in education and training programs typically involves administering treatment to whole groups of individuals. As such, researchers rely on the estimation of design parameter v...
The left-sided repair: An alternative approach for difficult esophageal atresia repair.

PURPOSE We describe a left-sided approach for long gap esophageal atresia (LGEA) repair in patients who have a large leftward upper pouch and no significant tracheomalacia, or as a salvage strategy after prior failed right-sided repairs. METHODS Retrospective review of patients who underwent repair via traction induced growth (Foker procedure [FP]) from 2014 to 2019 was performed. Surgical technique and post-operative outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS Of 47 LGEA patients, 18 (38%) were approached via the left side - 94% had a left aortic arch, and 22% had prior attempts at a right-sided anastomosis. More left-sided patients underwent minimally invasive repair (39% vs 7%, p = 0.007) and internal traction (50% vs 10%, p = 0.002) compared to right-sided patients. On multivariate analysis, internal traction was associated with a decreased length of paralysis (p<0.01); length of intubation and hospital stay were similar between groups. Anastomotic leak (17% vs 20%, p = 0.80) and stricture resection (6% vs 24%, p = 0.12) rates were similar. No left-sided FP patient required additional surgery for tracheomalacia, while six right-sided patients required intervention. CONCLUSION Left-sided FP can be considered for LGEA patients with a large leftward upper pouch or as a salvage pathway after a failed right chest approach, with similar outcomes to the right-sided approach.
A Modern Farthingale

The purpose of this project was to create an interesting design using striped fabric. We were encouraged to experiment with different and challenging fabric manipulation techniques with the goal of creating an interesting design. Most of the top was made with a plain, black and white striped fabric. The skirt was made with a solid, black suiting fabric. I wanted to create a bustier that followed the silhouette of a Spanish Farthingale, while also experimenting with several pleating techniques. I chose each technique based on how it would affect the appearance of the striped fabric. One of these techniques is the cartridge pleat. I learned about it through my job in a theater costume shop. This kind of pleat was used in sixteenth century to control large amounts of fullness at the waist in skirts. But rather than simply repeating a design from a sixteenth century history book, I wanted to create a more modernized look.
The modern legacy of Mobilizing Interest Groups in America

Jack Walker’s Mobilizing Interest Groups in America (1991) was groundbreaking both in terms of its theoretical and methodological contributions to political science and the unfortunate and challenging circumstances surrounding its publication. An enterprising group of co-authors and graduate students shared Walker’s comprehensive study of Washington D.C. interest groups with the public to positive critical and scholarly reception. According to Google Scholar, as of January 2021 the book has been cited more than 1400 times since its original publication in 1991. However, the question of how current scholars use the text remains open. Through an analysis of recent research, this review demonstrates how contemporary interest group scholarship incorporates Mobilizing Interest Groups in America. Although Walker’s work remains relevant across a range of subfields, most scholarly references are cursory or focus on methodological differences, leaving room for deeper engagement with Walker’s theories and conclusions. His findings regarding the role of patrons and inside/outside lobbying strategies particularly merit reexamination given changes in lobbying context (e.g., online mobilization). This review covers authors’ depth of engagement with Walker, the substantive focus of their citations, and areas for future research.
Water vapor oxidation of SiC layer in surrogate TRISO fuel particles

Abstract Under accidental conditions for high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), the SiC layer in tri-structural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles can be exposed to water vapor. In this study, oxidation behaviors of surrogate TRISO fuel particles were investigated in a He-20 vol% water vapor mixed atmosphere at temperatures up to 1600 °C. The growth of the crystalline oxide passivation layer with cracks and pores followed a parabolic law with time, where the maximum was 2.3 μm at 1600 °C. The oxide layer and the SiC surface under the oxide became flattened with increasing temperature, as a function of the silica viscosity and the diffusion path of water vapor. Volatilization of the oxide layer was analyzed using a mechanistic model that an inert gas in oxidizing atmospheres could influence the magnitude of volatilization. The fracture load and strength of the oxidized and thinned SiC layer were numerically estimated to decrease from 2.27 to 1.69 N and from 317 to 299 MPa, respectively, with the SiC thickness decrease from 35 to 32 μm. This prediction indicates that the oxidized SiC layer should retain fission products. Additionally, the mechanical integrity of each layer in the TRISO fuel particle after oxidation was evaluated. The results in this work provide important data for the safety analysis of accidental scenarios in HTGRs.
More than the message

Building on such predecessors as The Craft of Science Writing and Escape from the Ivory Tower, in Getting to the Heart of Science Communication, Faith Kearns reminds readers that how a scientist presents his or her research can drastically affect how people outside of academia think, and especially how they feel, about a given topic. The book offers a view from the front lines of science communication, profiling practitioners who explain their journeys and share stories of relationship building and community engagement.
Cognitive control mediates age-related changes in flexible anticipatory processing during listening comprehension.

Abstract Effective listening comprehension not only requires processing local linguistic input, but also necessitates incorporating contextual cues available in the global communicative environment. Local sentence processing can be facilitated by pre-activation of likely upcoming input, or predictive processing. Recent evidence suggests that young adults can flexibly adapt local predictive processes based on cues provided by the global communicative environment, such as the reliability of specific speakers. Whether older comprehenders can also flexibly adapt to global contextual cues is currently unknown. Moreover, it is unclear whether the underlying mechanisms supporting local predictive processing differ from those supporting adaptation to global contextual cues. Critically, it is unclear whether these mechanisms change as a function of typical aging. We examined the flexibility of prediction in young and older adults by presenting sentences from speakers whose utterances were typically more or less predictable (i.e., reliable speakers who produced expected words 80% of the time, versus unreliable speakers who produced expected words 20% of the time). For young listeners, global speaker reliability cues modulated neural effects of local predictability on the N400. In contrast, older adults, on average, did not show global modulation of local processing. Importantly, however, cognitive control (i.e., Stroop interference effects) mediated age-related reductions in sensitivity to the reliability of the speaker. Both young and older adults with high cognitive control showed greater N400 effects of predictability during sentences produced by a reliable speaker, suggesting that cognitive control is required to regulate the strength of top-down predictions based on global contextual information. Critically, cognitive control predicted sensitivity to global speaker-specific information but not local predictability cues, suggesting that predictive processing in local sentence contexts may be supported by separable neural mechanisms from adaptation of prediction as a function of global context. These results have important implications for interpreting age-related change in predictive processing, and for drawing more generalized conclusions regarding domain-general versus language-specific accounts of prediction.
Socioeconomic and Demographic Disparities in the Use of Telemedicine for Ophthalmic Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose To identify disparities in the use of telemedicine during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Design A cross-sectional study of completed clinical encounters in an academic ophthalmology center from March 2020, through August 2020. Participants A total of 5023 patients comprising 8116 ophthalmic clinical encounters. Methods Medical charts were abstracted for demographic information. We identified zip code-level socioeconomic characteristics, which were drawn from the 2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Main Outcome Measures The completion of a synchronous video encounter, the completion of a telephone (audio-only) encounter in the absence of any video encounters, or the completion of in-person encounters only. Results During the study period, 8116 total clinical encounters were completed for 5023 unique patients. Of these patients, 446 (8.9%) participated in a video encounter, 642 (12.8%) completed a telephone encounter, and 3935 (78.3%) attended clinical appointments in person only. In adjusted analysis, patients who were Black (odds ratio [OR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52–0.80; P Conclusions Ethnic/racial minorities, older patients, and non–English-speaking individuals were significantly less likely to complete a video telehealth encounter. With the expansion of telemedicine and the need to reduce the disparate impact of COVID-19 on minorities, it will be increasingly important to identify barriers to telehealth use and opportunities to improve access.
Naked Humanity Beyond the Inevitable Ceremonial

This chapter aims to awaken awareness of and appreciation for the root of intelligibility in moral responsibility. It understands moral responsibility as beginning in the singularizing response of me, I, myself, to the vulnerability and suffering of you, the other person, the singular other, as a being for-the-other before being for-oneself, as a disinterestedness before self-interest—this “before” serving also as the root significance of all priority, all value, the very importance of importance. It thereby defends a “cosmopolitanism,” the solidarity of all humanity, oriented by such a priority, by moral responsibility, in contrast to the rapacious nihilist greed and self-interest promulgated by globalized capitalism and its governmental allies. To effect such awakening, the chapter illustrates the character and priority of moral responsibility by invoking and commenting upon selected passages from Vasily Grossman, Aristotle, Antonio Gramsci, Heinrich Heine, Herman Melville, Emmanuel Levinas and Socrates.
The Obstacle Problem and Best Superharmonic Approximation

Let Ω be a subset of ℝn, and let S be the set of bounded superharmonic functions on Ω. If f is denned and bounded in Ω outside a polar set, then there is a best approximation g0 to f from S that differs from the least superharmonic majorant of f by a constant. Least superharmonic majorants are fundamental in Potential Theory, where they are called reduites, and they occur in the the theory of elliptic PDEs as solutions of variational inequalities related to the obstacle problem. By applying results from these two areas one may give sufficient conditions on f and Ω which guarantee that g0 has certain continuity or smoothness properties.
Women's Authority and Society in Early East-Central Africa

This study of more than two thousand years of African social history weaves together evidence from historical linguistics, archaeology, comparative ethnography, oral tradition, and art history to challenge the assumptions that all African societies were patriarchal and that the status of women in precolonial Africa is beyond the scope of historical research. In East-Central Africa, women played key roles in technological and economic developments during the long precolonial period. Female political leaders were as common as male rulers, and women, especially mothers, were central to religious ceremonies and beliefs. These conclusions contribute a new and critical element to our understanding of Africa's precolonial history. Christine Saidi is assistant professor of history at Kutztown University.
Henry I of Germany's 929 military campaign in archaeological perspective

In 929, King Henry I of Germany (919–36) launched an exceptionally successful offensive against the Slav polities along the length of his eastern frontier. This campaign, which is recorded in contemporary written accounts, has long been known to historians, and its importance in the political history of the German kingdom is undisputed. However, to date, there is no book-length or article-length study devoted to Henry's military successes in 929. This article fills that striking lacuna by drawing on the vast body of information provided through excavations, which sheds considerable new light on the scale and sophistication of Henry I's undertaking.
CACHE PERFORMANCE OF GARBAGE-COLLECTED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

As processor speeds continue to improve relative to main-memory access times, cache performance is becoming an increasingly important component of program performance. Prior work on the cache performance of garbage-collected programming languages has either assumed or argued that conventional garbage-collection methods will yield poor performance, and has therefore concentrated on new collection algorithms designed specifically to improve cache-level reference locality. This dissertation argues to the contrary: Many programs written in garbage-collected languages are naturally well-suited to the direct-mapped caches typically found in modern computer systems. Using a trace-driven cache simulator and other analysis tools, five nontrivial, long-running Scheme programs are studied. A control experiment shows that the programs have excellent cache performance without any garbage collection at all. A second experiment indicates that the programs will perform well with a simple and infrequently-run generational compacting collector. An analysis of the test programs' memory usage patterns reveals that the mostly-functional programming style typically used in Scheme programs, in combination with simple linear storage allocation, causes most data objects to be dispersed in time and space so that references to them cause little cache interference. From this it follows that other Scheme programs, and programs written in similar styles in different languages, should perform well with a simple generational compacting collector; sophisticated collectors intended to improve cache performance are unlikely to be effective. The analysis also suggests that, as locality becomes ever more important to program performance, programs written in garbage-collected languages may turn out to have a significant performance advantage over programs written in more conventional languages. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Key issues in information systems management: 1994–95 SIM Delphi results

Over the past 15 years, the Society for Information Management (SIM) has periodically 1 Sirkka Jarvenpaa was the accepting senior editor for this paper. 2 Dr. Wetherbe is also FedEx Professor of Excellence at the University of Memphis. surveyed its members to determine the most critical issues in IS management. Again in 1994-95, SIM institutional and board members were asked to consider what they felt were the most critical issues facing IS executives over the next three to five years. Signaling an evolutionary shift in IS management, this study shows that business relationship issues have declined in importance compared to technology infrastructure issues. For IS executives and general managers, the key issue framework suggests some general directions for emphasis and provides a coarse measure for benchmarking their own concerns against those of their peers. The results of this study also impact educational missions in teaching and research to the extent that they need to be sensitive to the views of practicing fS executives.
Windows of Sensitivity to Toxic Chemicals in the Development of Cleft Palates

Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common birth defects worldwide. There is a genetic component to the development of these malformations, as well as evidence that environmental exposures and prescription drug use may exacerbate or even produce these manifestations. Thus, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms and when these exposures affect development of the growing fetus. The purpose of this investigation was to critically review the available literature related to orofacial cleft formation following chemical exposure and identify specific time frames for windows of sensitivity. Further, an aim was to evaluate the potential for predicting effects in humans based on animal studies. Evidence indicates that chemical causes of cleft palate development are due to dose and timing of exposure, susceptibility of the species (i.e., the genetic makeup), and mechanism of action. Several studies demonstrated that dose is a crucial factor; however, some investigators argued that even more important than dose was timing of exposure. Data show that the window of sensitivity to environmental teratogens in the development of cleft palates is quite narrow and follows closely the window of palatogenesis in the fetus of any given species.