cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Polymeric Droplets on Soft Surfaces: From Neumann’s Triangle to Young’s Law

Shape deformation of polymeric droplets on gel-like surfaces is studied by using a combination of the molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical calculations. On the basis of the results of molecular dynamics simulations, we have developed a theoretical model of droplet shape deformation on elastic surfaces which takes into account surface and elastic energy contributions. Analysis of simulation results in the framework of this model shows that the equilibrium droplet shape is controlled by the dimensionless parameter γSL/GSa, where γSL is the surface tension of the substrate/liquid interface, GS is the shear modulus of the substrate, and a is the contact radius of polymeric droplet. This parameter describes crossover between Neumann’s triangle conditions for liquid droplets on liquid substrates and Young’s law for droplets on rigid substrates. In the limit when the elastocapillary length is much larger than the contact radius, γSL/GS ≫ a, we recover the Neumann’s triangle conditions for liquid drople...
Complications and Resource Utilization Associated With Mechanical Ventilation in a Medical Intensive Care Unit in 2013.

Introduction:Evolving strategies for ventilator management could reduce the frequency of complications, but there is limited information about complications in contemporary intensive care units.Methods:We retrospectively collected information about patient demographics, chest x-ray abnormalities, complications, including pneumothoraces, ventilator-associated events, self-extubation, and resource utilization in 174 patients who required mechanical ventilation in 2013.Results:The mean age was 57.8 ± 16.8 years, the number of ventilator days was 7.5 ± 7, and the overall in-hospital mortality was 32.2%. The mean fluid balance per day during the mechanical ventilation period was 1539 ± 1721 mL. Three (1.7%) patients developed pneumothoraces, and 5 patients required chest tubes. Twenty-five (14.4%) patients had ventilator-associated events. Ten patients had episodes of self-extubation, and 11 had episodes of failed extubation. Chest X-rays showed new or increasing infiltrates in 113 (64.9%) patients and new or ...
On Strengthening Ideological and Moral Construction of Teenagers

Nowadays, the ideological and moral construction in China, especially with teenagers remains weak. To strengthen it, we must first enhance our understanding of its importance and the significance of the affair. Next we must grasp the key points. And finally, Let' s integrate the strength and forge ahead the whole society to form a system to put it into practice.
193 CYTOTOXIC AND MUTAGENIC EFFECTS OF TOBACCO-BORNE FREE FATTY ACIDS

We previously reported that tobacco smoke contains substances capable of binding iron in an aqueous medium and transferring the metal into organic solvents and intact mammalian red cells. Most, if not all, of this Fe binding activity was found to be due to free fatty acids (FFAs), primarily 16:0, 18:0, and 18:1, which are abundant in tobacco smoke. These earlier observations suggested that delocalization of Fe within the lung by smoke-borne FFAs might contribute to both the chronic pulmonary inflammation and carcinogenesis associated with smoking. We have therefore investigated the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of micromolar amounts of FFAs and Fe on cultured human lung fibroblasts (immortalized by expression of telomerase). The results indicate that neither Fe nor FFA alone is cytotoxic in low concentrations. However, when combined, the same low concentrations of iron and FFA exert synergistic toxicity (following 24 hr exposure to 40 μM palmitic acid [PA] ± 20 μM ferric ammonium citrate, viability = 96 ± 3% [Fe alone], 95 ± 6% [PA alone] vs. 12 ± 18% [PA + Fe]). This toxicity coincides with a ˜ 5-fold increase in “loose” intracellular Fe. Furthermore, the combination of FFA and iron is highly mutagenic, inducing almost as many selectable mutations in the HGPRT gene as benzo[a]pyrene diolepoxide [BPDE], a class I carcinogen present in cigarette smoke (following 24 hr exposure to 50 μM PA + 25 μM Fe, 102 thioguanine resistant clones/106 cells vs. 175 clones/106 cells with 40 μM BPDE; background control = 11 clones/106 cells. The combination also promotes transformation of NIH 3T3 cells into an anchorage-independent phenotype (89 colonies/107 cells following 24 hr exposure to 50 μM PA + 25 μM Fe; for both untreated cells and cells exposed to 30 μM Fe alone, 0 colonies/107 cells. These results indicate that FFAs in tobacco smoke may be important contributors to both the pulmonary inflammation and carcinogenesis associated with smoking.
What's New in Foot and Ankle Surgery.

This article provides a summary of new research pertaining to orthopaedic foot and ankle surgery, from May 2014 to July 2015. The studies included were published in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery and Foot and Ankle International, and some were also presented at Specialty Day at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), March 24-28, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada, or at the Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS), July 15-18, 2015, in Long Beach, California. The Ponseti method is an effective treatment for clubfoot, as evidenced by the decreasing rate of surgery for clubfoot1-3. However, even among successfully treated patients, continued muscle imbalance can cause relapse. Depending on the pathomechanics involved, repeat cast application or tibialis anterior tendon transfer may be warranted. Identifying the specific aberrations in walking mechanics is important to help guide treatment. In a recent study, Mindler et al. used three-dimensional gait analysis, including the Oxford foot model, to compare the gait mechanics of children who had undergone Ponseti treatment with cast application with those of age-matched controls4. They demonstrated slight deviations from normal in the treated group. Moreover, the use of the Oxford foot model provided biomechanical information that can help clinicians to decide whether additional cast treatment is indicated prior to tendon transfer. Holt et al. corroborated the long-term efficacy of tendon transfer among patients who underwent the procedure for relapse of clubfoot deformity5. After a mean follow-up of 47 years, they found no impairment of function and no relapses requiring additional procedures. Ankle fractures are frequently encountered. The primary indication for operative fixation of ankle fractures is an unstable mortise. Instability is implied in the setting of bimalleolar fractures, or in lateral malleolar fractures …
Oils-To-Oleosins Ratio Determines the Size and Shape of Oil Bodies in Maize Kernels

The seeds of many plant species store triacylglycerols as food reserves in small subcellular spherical organelles called oil bodies. Each oil body contains a triacylglycerol matrix surrounded by a monolayer of phospholipids embedded with abundant structural proteins called oleosins (Huang 1992).
Host/Vector Systems for Actinomycetes and Applications to Strain Development

Of the over 3000 known antibiotics, more than 2000 are produced by Actinomycetes. In fact, over 85% of the species which produce antibiotics are Actinomycetes, including Nocardia, Streptosporangium, Micromonospora, Actinoplanes, and Streptomyces [23,32], Table 1 shows how these are divided [3,26].
The Auditory Naming Test Improves Diagnosis of Naming Deficits in Dementia

Many patients with presumptive Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or other dementias may show minimal impairment on the Boston Naming Test (BNT), a visual confrontation naming measure. We sought to determine...
PO66THE DAILY NEURO-ONCOLOGY CNS WARD ROUND IMPROVES COMMUNICATION ACROSS THE MDT, REDUCES THE LENGTH OF STAY AND INCREASES THE OVERALL PATIENT EXPERIENCE AND QUALITY OF CARE

INTRODUCTION: The Neuro-oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist team lead a daily ward round including all Neuro-oncology patients within the Trust. METHOD: The CNS team attend and lead the daily ward round of all Neuro-oncology inpatients. Twice weekly this is done in conjunction with the lead neurosciences pharmacist. This aids discharge planning leading to expedient discharge of patients. The pharmacist completes the drug list for the take home medications and the CNS completes the medical information and instructions to the GP. Once a week the CNS's lead the round with the Lead neuro-oncology therapists. This is day one post-operatively for most patients. RESULTS: Delays in getting Take home prescriptions completed are dramatically reduced. Patient satisfaction has increased by 75% with this element of their care. This can be directly related to the collaboration between CNS and pharmacist. The accuracy of information has also improved increasing GP's satisfaction. Collaborating with the Therapists has eliminated previous problems of blocked discharges due to unawareness of the patient's baseline function and prognosis. It has also led to greater access to rehab for high grade tumour patients. CONCLUSION: A daily ward round led by the Neuro-oncology patient's key worker has a direct positive impact on patient experience, a financial saving thus quantatively demonstrating to the Trust their investment in the CNS and improved communication across the MDT, a key aspect of the National cancer survey outcome.
Flexible job shop scheduling problem with parallel batch processing machine

A flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) with parallel batch processing machine (PBM) is studied. First, mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation is proposed. In order to address a NP-hard structure of this problem, we relax the model to selectively include jobs into the model. There are thousands of jobs in a floor, but we are mostly interested in priority jobs because special customers promise a significant amount of financial compensation in exchange of an expedited delivery. This relaxation could allow non-priority jobs remain unscheduled, but it expedites the discovery of solutions. We then turn job-dependent processing time into machine-dependent by assuming a machine has an equal processing time on different jobs. This assumption is acceptable for the sake of the reduced computational time. This further relaxed model significantly reduces a computational time compared to the original one when tested on a set of common problem instances from a paper in the literature.
Evaluation of the Crystallization Tendency of Commercially Available Amorphous Tacrolimus Formulations Exposed to Different Stress Conditions

Tacrolimus, an immunosuppressant, is a poorly water soluble compound whereby the commercially available capsule formulations contain the drug in amorphous form. The goal of this study was to evaluate the robustness of the innovator product and five generic formulations to crystallization following storage at stress conditions. Products were purchased from a pharmacy and stored at 40°C/75% relative humidity (RH), open dish conditions. Crystallinity was determined using X-ray diffraction. The quantity of the ingredients in the formulations were determined using different approaches and the various factors that might cause instability in the formulations were studied. After 4 weeks of open dish storage at 40°C/75% RH, one of the generic formulations showed evidence of tacrolimus crystallization. Further investigations revealed batch-to-batch variations in crystallization tendency with the extent of crystallinity varying between 50 and 100% for different batches. Crystallization was also observed at lower storage temperatures (30°C) when the RH was maintained at 75%. It was found that crystallization could be induced in a model formulation by wet granulating an ethanolic solution of the drug with lactose and drying at 60–70°C followed by exposure to stress conditions. It seems probable that the generic that was susceptible to crystallization contains amorphous drug physically mixed with polymeric excipients, rather than as an amorphous solid dispersion. This study highlights the importance of considering the manufacturing process on the stability of the resultant amorphous product.
Rothman Index variability predicts clinical deterioration and rapid response activation.

Background The overall utility of the Rothman Index (RI), a global measure of inpatient acuity, for surgical patients is unclear. We evaluate whether RI variability can predict rapid response team (RRT) activation in surgical patients. Methods Surgical patients who underwent RRT activation from 2013 to 2015 were matched to four control cases. RI variability was gauged by maximum minus minimum RI (MMRI) and RI standard deviation (RISD) within a 24-h period before RRT. The primary outcome measured was RRT activation, and our secondary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Results Two hundred seventeen (217) patients underwent RRT. RISD (odds ratio, OR, 1.31, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.23-1.38, P Conclusions RISD is predictive of RRT.
Modulation of salience network intranetwork resting state functional connectivity in women with chronic migraine.

ObjectiveTo investigate the intranetwork resting state fMRI connectivity within the Salience Network of chronic migraine with and without medication overuse headache.MethodsWe compared 351 pairs of...
Outcomes of Comorbidities with Biologic and Systemic Agents

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease and those with severe disease have higher rates of cardiometabolic comorbidities including major adverse cardiovascular events and death. Evidence from large observational studies suggests that treatment with both methotrexate and TNF inhibitors may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events in those with severe disease. Further research is needed to understand how newer biologics (IL 12/23 inhibitors, IL-17 inhibitors) alter cardiovascular disease outcomes and cardiometabolic risk factors. Additionally, prospective randomized control trials are necessary to better understand the effect of systemic therapies on the incidence of major cardiovascular events.
Open classical systems

Open systems are usually understood as a small Hamiltonian system (i.e. with a finite number of degrees of freedom) in contact with one or several large reservoirs. There are several ways to model reservoirs and we will take the point of view that the reservoirs are also Hamiltonian systems themselves. It is a convenient physical and mathematical idealization to separate scales and assume that the reservoirs have infinitely many degrees of freedom. We will also assume that, to start with, the reservoirs are in equilibrium, i.e., the initial states of the reservoirs are distributed according to Gibbs distribution with given temperatures. It is also mathematically convenient to assume that the Gibbs measures of the reservoir have very good ergodic properties. This is, in general, a mathematically difficult problem and we will circumvent it by assuming that our reservoirs have a linear dynamics (i.e the Gibbs measures are Gaussian measures). Our model of a reservoir will be the classical field theory given by a linear wave equation in R ∂ t φt(x) = ∆φt(x) . (1.1)
IT ADOPTION : A PERSUASIVE PERSPECTIVE

Based on Fogg’s Functional Triad, we develop a model to explain how a feature of persuasive technologies can influence usage intention by shaping an individual’s beliefs in regard to the Functional Triad. Specifically, we operationalize the Functional Triad by adopting the constructs of perceived usefulness, perceived medium function, and perceived social presence, respectively. We investigate the trade-off transparency of an online decision aid as a persuasive feature of a computing technology. Through an experimental study, the results show that 1) perceived tool function, perceived medium function, and perceived social actor function all significantly influence intention to use a computing technology; 2) trade-off transparency influences the perceptions of these three functions; and 3) the three functions fully mediate the effect of trade-off transparency on usage intention. Implications for researchers and technology designers are also discussed.
Characterization of NO binding to human cystathionine β-synthase:: Possible implications of the effects of CO and NO binding to the human enzyme

Homocysteine is a key junction metabolite that can be converted to cystathionine in a reaction catalyzed by the heme and pyridoxal phosphate-dependent cystathionine beta-synthase. The heme has unusual spectroscopic properties and the axial ligands have been assigned as histidine and cysteine, respectively. Its role in the protein is not obvious from the chemistry of the beta-replacement reaction that is catalyzed. We have characterized the binding of the gaseous signaling molecule, NO, to cystathionine beta-synthase and examined its effect on the reactions catalyzed by the truncated dimeric form of the enzyme, W409X, which is a natural variant. Binding of NO appears to result in the formation of a five-coordinate ferrous nitrosyl species in which both endogenous ligands have been lost. This is in contrast to CO binding which is reported to displace the thiolate ligand and form a six-coordinate species. NO binds to the full-length enzyme with a K(d) of 281+/-50 microM and to the truncated enzyme with a K(d) of 350+/-44 microM. Binding of NO to the full-length enzyme inhibits activity with a K(i) of 320+/-60 microM. These studies demonstrate that as with CO, perturbation of the heme environment by NO is communicated to the active site with concomitant inhibition of enzyme activity, and suggests a regulatory role for heme in cystathionine beta-synthase.
Acute Sinusitis: A Cost Effective Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment

Acute bacterial sinusitis usually occurs following an upper respiratory infection that results in obstruction of the osteomeatal complex, impaired mucociliary clearance and overproduction of secretions. The diagnosis is based on the patient's history of a biphasic illness ("double sickening"), purulent rhinorrhea, maxillary toothache, pain on leaning forward, pain with a unilateral prominence and a poor response to decongestant therapy. Radiographs and computed tomographic scans of the sinuses generally are not useful in making the initial diagnosis. Since sinusitis is self-limited in 40 to 50 percent of patients, the expensive, newer-generation antibiotics should not be used as first-line therapy. First-line antibiotics such as amoxicillin or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole are as effective in the treatment of sinusitis as the more expensive antibiotics. Little evidence supports the use of adjunctive treatments such as nasal corticosteroids and systemic decongestants. Patients with recurrent or chronic sinusitis require referral to an otolaryngologist for consideration of functional endoscopic sinus surgery.
Intentionality and Intensionality

Our purpose in this chapter is to introduce briefly some of the main topics with which we shall be concerned throughout the rest of the book. These topics fall into two major categories: (1) metaphysical and ontological problems concerning the intentionality of acts of consciousness and the status of the objects toward which intentional phenomena are directed; and (2) logical and semantic problems concerning the behavior of linguistic expressions in intensional contexts, specifically, in sentences attributing intentional phenomena to persons. Here we shall concentrate on describing in as theory-neutral a way as we can the characteristics of mental phenomena that constitute their intentionality and the characteristics of act-sentences that constitute their intensionality, and we shall suggest ways in which intentionality and intensionality are related. It will be the task of subsequent chapters to develop a theoretical framework within which these characteristics of acts and act-sentences can be systematically explained and understood.
The Association Between Perceived Social Support and Health Among Patients at a Free Urban Clinic

Objective This study examines the association between perceived social support and the prevalence of physical and mental health conditions among adult patients of an urban free medical clinic. Methods Patients (n = 289) completed a health risk assessment (HRA) questionnaire that addressed a number of medical and social issues, including perceived social support and whether patients had been told they had certain health conditions. Among these questions were 2 validated instruments: the PRIME-MD for mental health disorder assessment and CAGE for alcohol risk assessment. A deidentified database of responses was analyzed for statistical associations between perceived social support and these health conditions. Results Among those with insufficient perceived social support there were higher rates of having physician-measured overweight/obesity, a heart condition, a previous heart attack, anxiety, and depression. The association between perceived social support and cardiovascular health existed among women but not among men. Higher income, not smoking, and consumption of high-fiber foods were associated with sufficient social support. Conclusion Perceiving sufficient social support was associated with lower rates of several mental and physical health disorders. Social support may act as a barrier or buffer to poor health caused by the stressful living conditions often experienced by low-income underinsured people. Males and females may experience this social support buffering differently.
A Multiscale Evaluation of Multisensor Quantitative Precipitation Estimates in the Russian River Basin

AbstractThe Russian River in northern California is an important hydrological resource that typically depends on a few significant precipitation events per year, often associated with atmospheric r...
Summary, Opportunities, Challenges, and Recommendations

Researchers have long recognized the need to study consumers over the course of their lives and to identify the factors responsible for changes in consumer behaviors over time, but they have had inadequate theories and methods for accomplishing such objectives. This book has argued for the employment of the life course paradigm as a research framework to help study and understand consumers over their life span. The present chapter summarizes previous efforts to study consumers over the course of their lives and the main issues related to these efforts. Next, it highlights the merits of using the life course paradigm as a research framework and how its employment could help overcome shortcomings inherent in previous efforts. Furthermore, the chapter illuminates the life course paradigm’s potential contributions to the field of consumer behavior and points out challenges for researchers who employ the life course approach. Lastly, it offers recommendations to researchers who wish to study consumers over certain periods of their lives.
Conditional knockout of UBC13 produces disturbances in gait and spontaneous locomotion and exploration in mice

Here we have characterized the functional impairments resulting from conditional knockout of the ubiquitin-conjugating E2 enzyme (UBC13) in rodent cerebellar granule neurons, which greatly increases the parallel fiber presynaptic boutons and functional parallel fiber/Purkinje cell synapses. We report that conditional UBC13 knockout mice exhibit reliable deficits on several gait-related variables when their velocity of ambulation is tightly controlled by a moving treadmill and by restricting space for movement. Selected gait parameters and movement patterns related to spontaneous exploration in an open field may also be affected in conditional UBC13 knockout mice. Analysis of open-field data as a function of test session half using force-plate actometer instrumentation suggest that conditional UBC13 knockout mice have alterations in emotionality, possibly affecting gait and movement variables. These findings suggest that conditional UBC13 knockout mice represent a valuable platform for assessing the effects of disturbances in cerebellar granule cell circuitry on gait and other aspects of locomotion. Also, the possibility that psychological factors such as altered emotionality may impact gait and movement patterns in these mice suggest that these mice may provide a useful model for evaluating analogous behavioral impairments in autism spectrum disorders and other neurodevelopmental syndromes associated with deregulation of ubiquitin signaling.
When Cold Is Hot: Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Therapy for Rhabdoid Tumors

Carcinogen-induced cancers typically have high mutation burdens and an inflamed microenvironment and thus are poised to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, cancers with loss-of-function mutations in the SWI/SNF complex have few additional mutations yet also have an inflamed immunophenotype and should respond to ICI therapy.
Review and reproducibility of forming adsorbed layers from solvent washing of melt annealed films

Recent studies suggest chain adsorption in the melt may be responsible for a number of property changes in thin films by making correlations between the residual adsorbed layer thickness hads(t) measured after a given solvent washing procedure as a function of annealing time t of the film at an elevated temperature prior to this solvent rinse. This procedure, frequently called "Guiselin's experiment", refers to the thought experiment proposed in a 1992 theoretical treatment by Guiselin that assumed chain segments in contact with the surface are irreversibly adsorbed whereby unadsorbed chains could be washed away by solvent without disturbing the adsorbed substrate contact points in the melt. In the present work, we review this recent literature, identifying and experimentally testing a common protocol for forming adsorbed layers hads(t) from solvent washing melt films. We find hads(t) curves to be far less reproducible and reliable than implied in the literature, strongly dependent on solvent washing and substrate cleaning conditions, and annealing at elevated temperatures is unnecessary as densification of films sitting at room temperature makes the glassy film harder to wash off, leaving behind hads of comparable thickness. This review also summarizes literature understanding developed over several decades of study on polymer adsorption in solution, which experimentally demonstrated that polymer chains in solution are highly mobile, diffusing and exchanging on the surface even in the limit of strong adsorption, contradicting Guiselin's assumption. Preformed adsorbed layers of different thicknesses hads are shown to not affect the average glass transition temperature or physical aging of 30 nm thick films. In summary, a number of open questions and implications are discussed related to thin films and polymer nanocomposites.
Cesarean birth and maternal morbidity among Black women and White women after implementation of a blended payment policy.

OBJECTIVE To test whether Minnesota's blended payment policy had differential effects on cesarean use and maternal morbidity among black women and white women in Minnesota, as compared to six control states. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Claims data from births to Medicaid fee-for-service beneficiaries, 2006-2012, in Minnesota (policy state) and six control states (Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana). STUDY DESIGN The key study intervention was Minnesota's blended payment policy, which established one single payment rate for uncomplicated vaginal and cesarean births in 2009. The primary outcome was cesarean birth, and secondary outcomes were maternal morbidity (composite), postpartum hemorrhage, and chorioamnionitis. Policy effects were assessed using race-stratified comparative interrupted time series analysis. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Following policy implementation, cesarean use decreased among both black and white women in Minnesota compared to control states; this decline was larger among black women (-2.88 percent 3-year cumulative decline, from a prepolicy cesarean rate of 22.2 percent) than among white women (-1.32 percent, P = .0013). Postpartum hemorrhage increased, with larger increases among black women (1.20 percent 3-year cumulative increase), compared with white women (0.48 percent, P < .001) in Minnesota compared with control states. CONCLUSIONS Policy-related declines in cesarean use after Minnesota's blended payment policy were larger in black women. Increases in postpartum hemorrhage signal potential unintended consequences of policy-related cesarean reduction.
Bacterial and fungal growth in sputum cultures from 165 COVID-19 pneumonia patients requiring intubation: evidence for antimicrobial resistance development and analysis of risk factors.

Background Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19 illness which can progress to severe pneumonia. Empiric antibacterials are often employed though frequency of bacterial coinfection superinfection is debated and concerns raised about selection of bacterial antimicrobial resistance. We evaluated sputum bacterial and fungal growth from 165 intubated COVID-19 pneumonia patients. Objectives were to determine frequency of culture positivity, risk factors for and outcomes of positive cultures, and timing of antimicrobial resistance development. Methods Retrospective reviews were conducted of COVID-19 pneumonia patients requiring intubation admitted to a 1058-bed four community hospital system on the east coast United States, March 1 to May 1, 2020. Length of stay (LOS) was expressed as mean (standard deviation); 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was computed for overall mortality rate using the exact binomial method, and overall mortality was compared across each level of a potential risk factor using a Chi-Square Test of Independence. All tests were two-sided, and significance level was set to 0.05. Results Average patient age was 68.7 years and LOS 19.9 days. Eighty-three patients (50.3% of total) originated from home, 10 from group homes (6.1% of total), and 72 from nursing facilities (43.6% of total). Mortality was 62.4%, highest for nursing home residents (80.6%). Findings from 253 sputum cultures overall did not suggest acute bacterial or fungal infection in 73 (45%) of 165 individuals sampled within 24 h of intubation. Cultures ≥ 1 week following intubation did grow potential pathogens in 72 (64.9%) of 111 cases with 70.8% consistent with late pneumonia and 29.2% suggesting colonization. Twelve (10.8% of total) of these late post-intubation cultures revealed worsened antimicrobial resistance predominantly in Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, or Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusions In severe COVID-19 pneumonia, a radiographic ground glass interstitial pattern and lack of purulent sputum prior to/around the time of intubation correlated with no culture growth or recovery of normal oral flora ± yeast. Discontinuation of empiric antibacterials should be considered in these patients aided by other clinical findings, history of prior antimicrobials, laboratory testing, and overall clinical course. Continuing longterm hospitalisation and antibiotics are associated with sputum cultures reflective of hospital-acquired microbes and increasing antimicrobial resistance. Trial registration Not applicable as this was a retrospective chart review study without interventional arm.
Diet quality in adults with cerebral palsy: a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease prevention

AIM To assess diet quality and its relationship with cardiovascular health measures for adults with cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD A convenience sample of 45 adults with CP (26 females, 19 males; mean age 35y 10mo [SD 14y 9mo]). were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Demographic, medical, and Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) information were obtained through in-person visits. Participants completed two 24-hour dietary recalls using the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Assessment Tool. Specific macronutrient intake was compared to 2015 to 2020 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. Other data included body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), blood pressure, and hemoglobin A1c (HgA1c;n=43). RESULTS Adults across GMFCS levels I to V were enrolled, 20 participants were in GMFCS levels IV or V. Mean calorie intake was 1777.91/day (SD 610.54), while sodium intake was 3261.75mg/day (SD 1484.92). Five participants met USDA vegetable and seven fruit guidelines. None met whole grain targets. Sixteen were overweight/obese by BMI. Sixteen participants without hypertension diagnoses had elevated blood pressure and nine had abnormal HgA1c without prediabetes/diabetes history. Percent calories from saturated fat was inversely associated with WHR in unadjusted and adjusted models (p=0.002 and p=0.003 respectively); all other dietary recommendations assessed (total calories, sodium, and sugar) were non-significant. Post hoc analyses were unchanged using 2020 to 2025 USDA guidelines. INTERPRETATION Assessment of nutrient intake and diet quality is feasible and warrants further study in adults with CP, as USDA guidelines are largely unmet. What this paper adds Adults with cerebral palsy (CP) do not meet US Department of Agriculture dietary quality recommendations. Prediabetes and hypertension may be common, but unrecognized, in adults with CP. Screening for nutrient intake and diet quality should be performed to facilitate nutritional counseling.
Temporally precise population coding of dynamic sounds by auditory cortex

Fundamental questions remain about population coding in primary auditory cortex (A1). In particular, issues of spike timing in models of neural populations have been largely ignored. We find that s...
A Review of Interventions to Enhance HIV Medication Adherence.

Adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART) is crucial for a successful HIV treatment. Unfortunately, it is estimated that 45% of persons living with HIV (PLWH) have poor adherence to ART. To provide health care professionals and PLWH with effective tools for supporting adherence, researchers have investigated the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions to enhance adherence to ART. In this paper, interventional studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that examine ART adherence interventions for PLWH are reviewed. Despite a diverse and wide-ranging assortment of ART adherence interventions, consistent lessons have been learned. Theory-based behavioral interventions are more likely to be effective than non-theory-based interventions, and interventions should be tailored to those most at risk for poor adherence. Digital and mobile ART adherence interventions have the potential to improve dissemination and implementation of evidence-based treatments, both domestically and abroad. There is great variability among interventions in terms of quality, intervention, sample, measures, and outcome characteristics. However, even with this variability, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have demonstrated that psychosocial interventions can improve ART adherence.
The New Cuban Diaspora

Without a Castro as the head of the Cuban government for the first time in over six decadesthe international community is getting to know a different image of Cuba. In this context, the Cuban diaspora in Florida has also changed and divided into two contrasting groups: the “hardliners,” who completely oppose the Cuban government and do not want any softening in the U.S.–Cuba relationship; and a newer generation whose members do not support the government on the island but prioritize their support for the Cuban people and are in favor of building new relationships on the island. The younger community approves the traveling of Cubans to the island, the possibility of supporting their relatives at home through remittances, and the idea of, potentially, achieving the end of the long-lasting U.S. embargo imposed on Cuba since 1960. The emergence of this second group, or “new Cuban diaspora,” has changed the way in which the Cuban diaspora performs its public diplomacy roles in the United States. Diaspora activist organizations exist in both groups, but the “hardliners”—an older and more conservative generation—seem destined to fade through time.
Dual-shell silicate and alumina coating for long lasting and high capacity lithium ion batteries

Abstract Here we demonstrate a theory-driven, novel dual-shell coating system of Li2SrSiO4 and Al2O3, achieved via a facile and scalable sol-gel technique on LiCoO2 electrode particles. The optimal thickness of each coating can lead to increased specific capacity (∼185 mAh/g at 0.5 C-rate) at a cut-off potential of 4.5 V, and greater cycling stability at very high C rates (up to 10 C) in half-cells with lithium metal. The mechanism of this superior performance was investigated using a combination of X-ray and electron characterization methods. It shows that the results of this investigation can inform future studies to identify still better dual-shell coating schemes, achieved by such industrially feasible techniques, for application on similar, nickel-rich cathode materials.
Optimal Design of Experiments for Simulation-Based Inference of Mechanistic Acyclic Biological Networks.

Biological signaling pathways based upon proteins binding to one another to relay a signal for genetic expression, such as the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling pathway, can be modeled by mass action kinetics and conservation laws that result in non-closed form polynomial equations. Accurately determining parameters of biological pathways that represent physically relevant features, such as binding affinity of proteins and their associated uncertainty, presents a challenge for biological models lacking an explicit likelihood function. Additionally, parameterizing non-closed form biological models requires copious amounts of data from expensive perturbation-response experiments to fit model parameters. We present an algorithm (SBIDOEMAN) for determining optimal experiments and parameters of systems biology models with implicit likelihoods. We evaluate our algorithm using simulations of held-out true parameter values and demonstrate an improvement in the rate of accurate parameter inference over random and equidistant experimental designs when evaluated on two simple models of the BMP signaling pathway with an implicit likelihood function.
“Ecologizing” Instruction through Integrated Units

Well, a lot of hard work along with a little frustration has proven to pay off. The first team offive has completed its unit and I am beginning to feel like we are finally accomplishing something. The teachers enjoyed creating as well as implementing the unit. The students were also very enthusiastic about the unit, and they were quoted as saying "we really understand this stuff." To make things even more rewarding for all involved, there was a write up in the local newspaper today. The teachers were proud of the students and the work they have done to receive such recog nition. The principal was also very pleased. Something good is happening in his school, and now the whole city knows about it. (Abrahamson, 1996, appendix)
The Coding of Direction of Tactile Stimulus Movement: Correlative Psychophysical and Electrophysiological Data

Recently published psychophysical studies have shown that the capacity of human subjects to identify direction of tactile stimuli that move in a linear path across the thenar eminence and the upper arm is a function of velocity, of the distance traversed by the moving stimulus (“traverse length”) and of the cutaneous innervation density (Dreyer, Hollins, and Whitsel, 1976; Dreyer, Duncan, and Wong, 1978a; Dreyer, Hollins, and Whitsel, 1978b). Moreover, a subject’s capacity to identify direction of linear movement on either the hairy or glabrous skin is independent of the orientation of the stimulus path (Whitsel and Dreyer, unpublished observations).
Strategic Competition in Sequential Election Contests

This paper studies a sequential election contest, such as theAmerican presidential primary, in which several electionsoccur one at a time until a single winner emerges. Theconventional wisdom is such a system benefits a candidatefavored in the initial elections because of momentum. Thispaper uncovers a potentially opposing force if participationis costly and candidates exit when they have unfavorablefuture prospects. A candidate with friendly elections at theend of the contest will typically benefit from the resultinggame theoretic competition.Tension between this strategic effect and momentum helpsexplain several empirical regularities of presidentialprimaries.
Respiratory Cocarcinogenesis Studies with Ferric Oxide: A Test Case of Current Experimental Models

Laboratory studies conducted to date strongly suggest that ferric oxide dust can act as a cofactor in respiratory tract carcinogenesis. The available data indicate at least 2 different mechanisms by which these otherwise fairly innocuous particles might exert their effect: 1. by retarding carcinogen clearance (this applies to conditions in which the carcinogen is adsorbed to the particle surface) and 2. by causing cytopathological effects (irritation?, enhanced cell proliferation?) at the site of deposition.
The design of electronic map displays

This paper presents a cognitive analysis of a pilot's navigation task and describes an experiment comparing a new map display that employs the principle of visual momentum with the two traditional approaches, track-up and north-up. The data show that the advantage of a track-up alignment is its congruence with the egocentered forward view; however, the inconsistency of the rotating display hinders development of a cognitive map. The stability of a north-up alignment aids the acquisition of a cognitive map, but there is a cost associated with the mental rotation of the display to a track-up alignment for tasks involving the ego-centered forward view. The data also show that the visual momentum design captures the benefits and reduces the costs associated with the two traditional approaches.
Intracellular localization of GASP/ECOP/VOPP1

Vesicular Over-expressed in cancer Prosurvival Protein 1 (VOPP1), also known as Glioblastoma Amplified and Secreted Protein and EGFR-Coamplified and Over-expressed Protein has been previously shown to be over-expressed in human glioblastoma multiforme and squamous cell carcinoma. Additionally, previous experimental work suggests that it confers a prosurvival cellular phenotype. A query of a public database of gene expression profiling data (Oncomine™) shows that the VOPP1 transcript is also highly expressed in several other common human cancers, including breast carcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma, and lymphoma. Analysis of VOPP1 sequence structure shows both a signal sequence and a transmembrane domain, and examination of a public microarray dataset for endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-bound mRNA transcripts is consistent with the VOPP1 protein product being synthesized into the ER. Immunoblot analysis of cell culture and conditioned media confirms that the protein product is not secreted and is retained intracellularly. VOPP1 protein tagged with a fluorescence reporter, as well as antibody-mediated visualization of recombinant and native forms of the protein reveals an intracellular vesicular pattern of localization. Co-localization experiments reveal that VOPP1 vesicles do not co-localize with mitochondria or peroxisomes, but show partial co-localization with perinuclear lysosomes. Additionally, markers of endocytosis and autophagy show partial perinuclear co-localization, suggesting that VOPP1-containing vesicles enter final common pathways of the lysosomal system. These findings throw into doubt the hypothesis that VOPP1 interacts directly with cytoplasmic mediators of the NF kappa B pathway, and suggest that the prosurvival phenotype conferred by this gene product is mediated by other mechanisms.
The effect of environmental factors on the growth rate of Karenia brevis (Davis) G. Hansen and Moestrup

Abstract The red tide dinoflagellate Karenia brevis (Davis) G. Hansen and Moestrup is noted for causing mass mortalities of marine organisms in the Gulf of Mexico. Most research has focused on culture isolates from the eastern Gulf of Mexico. In this investigation, we examine the effects of light, temperature and salinity on the growth rate of K. brevis from the western Gulf of Mexico. Growth rates of K. brevis were determined under various combinations of irradiance (19, 31, 52, 67, and 123 μmol m−2 s−1), salinity (25, 30, 35, 40 and 45), and temperature (15, 20, 25, and 30 °C). Maximum growth rates varied from 0.17 to 0.36 div day−1 with exponential growth rates increasing with increasing irradiance. Little or no growth was supported at 19 μmol photons m−2 s−1 for any experiment. Maximum growth rates at 15 °C were much lower than at other temperatures. Maximum growth rates of the Texas clone (SP3) fell within the range of Florida clones reported in the literature (0.17–0.36 div day−1 versus 0.2–1.0 div day−1). The Texas clone SP3 had a very similar light saturation point compared to that of a Florida isolate (Wilson's clone) (67 μmol m−2 s−1 versus 65 μmol m−2 s−1), and light compensation (20–30 μmol m−2 s−11). The upper and lower salinity tolerance of the Texas clone was similar than that of some Florida clones (45 versus 46 and 25 versus 22.5, respectively). In our study, the Texas clone had the same temperature tolerance reported for Florida clones (15–30 °C). While individual clones can vary considerably in maximum growth rates, our results indicate only minor differences exist between the Texas and Florida strains of K. brevis in their temperature and salinity tolerance for growth. While the literature notes lower salinity occurrences of K. brevis in nearby Louisiana, our isolate from the southern Texas coast has the higher salinity requirements typical of K. brevis in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Survival of Escherichia coli host-vector systems in the mammalian intestine

Survival in the mouse and human intestine of Escherichia coli host-vector systems used and proposed for recombinant DNA technology was assessed. There was no detectable survival of severely disabled E. coli K12 strain X1776 in mice or in human subjects 24 hours after ingestion. The same strain bearing the plasmid pBR322, however, was recovered from human subjects for 4 days in amounts of six organisms for every million ingested. Nondisabled E. coli K12 strain X1666, with or without pBR322, survived in 10(4)-fold greater numbers and for 2 days longer, with better recovery of the plasmid-containing derivative. Although the plasmid-bearing strains were recovered for longer periods, no intestinal colonization was noted. Despite the presence of pBR322 for a maximum of 6 days in the human intestine, there was no evidence that it was transferred from either bacterial host to endogenous aerobic fecal bacteria.
Identifying optimal incomplete phylogenetic data sets from sequence databases.

We introduce a new method for identifying optimal incomplete data sets from large sequence databases based on the graph theoretic concept of α-quasi-bicliques. The quasi-biclique method searches large sequence databases to identify useful phylogenetic data sets with a specified amount of missing data while maintaining the necessary amount of overlap among genes and taxa. The utility of the quasi-biclique method is demonstrated on large simulated sequence databases and on a data set of green plant sequences from GenBank. The quasi-biclique method greatly increases the taxon and gene sampling in the data sets while adding only a limited amount of missing data. Furthermore, under the conditions of the simulation, data sets with a limited amount of missing data often produce topologies nearly as accurate as those built from complete data sets. The quasi-biclique method will be an effective tool for exploiting sequence databases for phylogenetic information and also may help identify critical sequences needed to build large phylogenetic data sets.