cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Financial And Cost Accounting Implications Of The Increased Role Of Advanced Nurse Practitioners In U.S. Healthcare

On March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act became law. The need for healthcare reform was prompted by an imperative to reduce the relentless increase in spending on medical care in the United States. One approach to examining and solving the problem of escalating costs is to focus on applying proven principles of evidence-based practice and cost-effectiveness practices to find the least-expensive way to ensure clinical services of acceptable quality without sacrificing patient satisfaction. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) have positioned themselves to serve an integral role in national health care reform. A successful transformation of the nation's health system will require utilization of all clinicians, including highly qualified APRNs, to provide cost- effective, accessible, patient-centered care. There is extensive, consistent evidence that nurse practitioners (NPs) provide care of equal or better quality at lower cost than comparable services provided by other qualified health professionals. However, current policies in many states prevent NPs from practicing within their full, legally defined scopes of practice. The Office of Technology Assessment's conclusions noted in 1981 that APRNs can be substituted for physicians in a significant portion of medical services with at least similar outcomes. Since then, numerous studies have supported that the care provided is equal to those provided by physicians for services within the overlapping scopes of licensed practice. This paper combines economic analysis with review of literature on health care reform initiatives to explore how the goals of healthcare reform can be accomplished by advanced nurse practitioners to provide their wide range of services directly to patients in a variety of clinical settings.
Encroachments in floodways of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project

The Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) Project aims to protect the land within the lower Mississippi Valley from floods and to assure the navigability of the channel. One of the main flood risk mitigation features comprised in this project are floodways, or flood bypass channels, which divert excess flows in order to lower critical stages in the river. However, encroachments, i.e., buildings and other structures constructed within the floodways, can jeopardize their proper functioning and therefore compromise the functioning of the entire system. The presence of encroachments and resistance to flooding them delayed activation of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway in the flood of 2011. However, there has been no prior comprehensive study of encroachments on this and the West Atchafalaya floodways, the two largest in the MR&T system. Using historical maps and aerial imagery, we systematically measured the number, type, and spatial distribution of encroachments in the two floodways since the late 1960s. Encroachments in the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway decreased by half, while the number of encroachments in the West Atchafalaya Floodway tripled, mainly concentrated along highways, such that they create linear bands of higher hydraulic resistance. The presence of encroachments clearly discourages use of the floodways from their designed purpose, but we are not aware of any studies that have analyzed whether the presence of these structures would measurably affect flow hydraulics through the floodways.
Evaluation of mode equivalence of the MSKCC Bowel Function Instrument, LASA Quality of Life, and Subjective Significance Questionnaire items administered by Web, interactive voice response system (IVRS), and paper.

To assess the equivalence of patient-reported outcome (PRO) survey responses across Web, interactive voice response system (IVRS), and paper modes of administration. Postoperative colorectal cancer patients with home Web/e-mail and phone were randomly assigned to one of the eight study groups: Groups 1–6 completed the survey via Web, IVRS, and paper, in one of the six possible orders; Groups 7–8 completed the survey twice, either by Web or by IVRS. The 20-item survey, including the MSKCC Bowel Function Instrument (BFI), the LASA Quality of Life (QOL) scale, and the Subjective Significance Questionnaire (SSQ) adapted to bowel function, was completed from home on consecutive days. Mode equivalence was assessed by comparison of mean scores across modes and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and was compared to the test–retest reliability of Web and IVRS. Of 170 patients, 157 completed at least one survey and were included in analysis. Patients had mean age 56 (SD = 11), 53 % were male, 81 % white, 53 % colon, and 47 % rectal cancer; 78 % completed all assigned surveys. Mean scores for BFI total score, BFI subscale scores, LASA QOL, and adapted SSQ varied by mode by less than one-third of a score point. ICCs across mode were: BFI total score (Web–paper = 0.96, Web–IVRS = 0.97, paper–IVRS = 0.97); BFI subscales (range = 0.88–0.98); LASA QOL (Web–paper = 0.98, Web–IVRS = 0.78, paper–IVRS = 0.80); and SSQ (Web–paper = 0.92, Web–IVRS = 0.86, paper–IVRS = 0.79). Mode equivalence was demonstrated for the BFI total score, BFI subscales, LASA QOL, and adapted SSQ, supporting the use of multiple modes of PRO data capture in clinical trials.
Direct measurement of catalase activity in living cells and tissue biopsies.

Abstract Spatiotemporal regulation of enzyme-substrate interactions governs the decision-making steps in biological systems. Enzymes, being functional units of every living cell, contribute to the macromolecular stability of cell survival, proliferation and hence are vital windows to unraveling the biological complexity. Experimental measurements capturing this dynamics of enzyme-substrate interactions in real time add value to this understanding. Furthermore these measurements, upon validation in realistic biological specimens such as clinical biopsies – can further improve our capability in disease diagnostics and treatment monitoring. Towards this direction, we describe here a novel, high-sensitive measurement system for measuring diffusion-limited enzyme-substrate kinetics in real time. Using catalase (enzyme) and hydrogen peroxide (substrate) as the example pair, we demonstrate that this system is capable of direct measurement of catalase activity in vitro and the measured kinetics follows the classical Michaelis-Menten reaction kinetics. We further demonstrate the system performance by measuring catalase activity in living cells and in very small amounts of liver biopsies (down to 1 μg total protein). Catalase-specific enzyme activity is demonstrated by genetic and pharmacological tools. Finally we show the clinically-relevant diagnostic capability of our system by comparing the catalase activities in liver biopsies from young and old mouse (liver and serum) samples. We discuss the potential applicability of this system in clinical diagnostics as well as in intraoperative surgical settings.
Medicine and Law: Selected Recent Developments

The dynamic interaction of medicine and law continues to raise difficult, cutting-edge challenges for practitioners, scholars, and decision makers in both fields. The process of accommodating new medical problems, techniques, and solutions within the traditional doctrines and processes of the law involved many new or developing issues during the past year. This article will consider the state of the law, as reflected in recent decisions and legislation, in two particularly important medical-legal areas: AIDS and proof of causation.
Neural spine elongation in dinosaurs; sailbacks or buffalo-backs?

Several dinosaurs, notably Ouranosaurus and Spinosaurus, have vertebral columns marked by prominent arrays of elongated neural spines. Using pelycosaurian sailbacks like Dimetrodon as analogies, popular orthodoxy holds that the tall spines served as supporting struts for dorsal sails of purported thermoregulatory function, especially heat dissipation in tropical climates. It is argued here that the neural spines of Ouranosaurus, Spinosaurus, and several other long-spined dinosaurs favor bison-like humps rather than sails: 1) in functional morphology and relative elongation they are dissimilar to pelycosaur spines but homoplastically converge on the spines of high-withered ungulates; 2) the usefulness of a sail in thermoregulation has been exaggerated—in large tetrapods it would have been fairly efficient as a thermal amplifier but ineffective as a radiator; hence large sail-bearing dinosaurs in open tropical climates are improbable; 3) the insulation properties of humps favor gigantothermy, the most likely thermobiological model for large dinosaurs.Dinosaur humps are probable adaptations for: 1) energy storage, maintenance of gigantothermy, and heat-shielding in unshaded habitats; 2) long-distance migration from feeding to nesting grounds across terrains of variable productivity; and 3) lipid conservation for production of large clutches of eggs at the nesting site. Because sacral, caudal, or dorsal humps were relatively common traits among certain groups, the fashionably anorexic image of many large dinosaurs must be emended.
Seepage Force on Interfacial Bed Particles

The effective seepage force on cohesionless interfacial bed particles that comprise a plane bed was determined from the results of slope instability tests and from extrapolation of the results of erosion tests. The seepage flow was perpendicular to the bed and either into or out of the bed for the slope instability tests. Tests were conducted using two columns, one square and the other circular, in cross-section. For uniform sand particles ranging from 0.46 mm diam. to 0.72 mm diam., the seepage force on the interfacial sand grains was determined from slope instability tests to be one-half that on particles well within the bed. Subsequent to the condition of instability for seepage flow vertically upward and into a bed, erosion of the sand bed was measured. From an extrapolation of the results of the erosion tests to a condition of no erosion (which was assumed to correspond to the condition of incipient instability), it is concluded that the seepage force on the interfacial grains is approximately 35% to 40% of that on grains well within the bed.
Abstract 1334: Overexpression of claudin-1 induces Notch and Wnt signaling to regulate colon carcinogenesis

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Under physiological conditions, colonic homeostasis is a carefully balanced interplay between stem cells, their progeny, differentiation and cell fate determination. Dysregulation of this harmony signifies susceptibility to neoplastic growth. Colonic epithelium undergoes continuous proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis along the crypt (crypt bottom to top). Notch signaling is a key regulator of the absorptive/secretory lineage determination. Dysregulation of notch signaling disrupts the normal colonic differentiation and depletes the goblet cell population while immature colonocyte population increases. Importantly, emerging literature suggests that Notch- signaling helps regulate colon cancer growth and progression in association with Wnt signaling. We have previously demonstrated that claudin-1 expression is highly increased in colon cancer and is causally associated with the tumorigenic and metastatic abilities of colon cancer cells. We also reported an inverse relationship between claudin-1 expression and differentiation in colon cancer cells. Here, we show a significant decrease in the goblet cell population (as determined by PAS and Alcian Blue) and Muc-2 expression accompanied with an increase in Carbonic Anhydrase I (CAI) expression, a commonly used marker for colonocytes in Villin-claudin-1 transgenic (Cl-1TG) mice that overexpress claudin-1 in the intestinal epithelium. Further analysis to detect Ki-67 expression suggested increase in colonic proliferation in Cl-1TG mice vs. WT mice. Taken together, these data suggest a role for claudin-1 in the regulation of colonic epithelial differentiation. To further determine the role of claudin-1 overexpression in cancer progression, we crossed Cl-1TG mice with APCmin mice, most widely used mouse model of colon cancer. Notably, APCmin mice develop few colonic tumors (mean=0.8) and have a life span of ∼22.5-23 weeks. Importantly, we noted a ∼4fold increase in the colonic tumor burden in (mean=3.8 tumors) and decrease in life span in APCmin/Cl-1 mice vs. APCmin mice. Also, tumors in APCmin/Cl-1 mice were larger, exhibited high grade of dysplasia and increased nuclear β-catenin (activated Wnt signaling) compared to tumors from APCmin mice. Our further studies using SW480claudin-1 cells {SW480 cells stably overexpressing claudin-1} and SW620siRNA cells {SW620 cells with stable inhibition of claudin-1 expression} demonstrated activation of Notch and Wnt signaling in SW480 cells (APCmutant) overexpressing claudin-1 while inhibited on inhibition of claudin-1. Taken together, our data supported a novel role of claudin-1 in the regulation of Notch and Wnt-signaling and thus colon carcinogenesis. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1334. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1334
Conceptual Model of Infestation Probability Based on Bark Beetle Abundance and Host Tree Susceptibility: An Addendum

This letter is intended to correct and clarify some misconceptions which at least one reader (A. A. Berryman), and possibly others detected in a recent Forum paper (Paine et al. 1984).
Alleviation of Occupational Mercury Hazards after Technical Modification in an Energy-saving Lamps Plant

Objective The change of mecury concentration at workplace and worker's health status in an energy- saving lamps plant before and after technical modification was investigated to evaluate the effectives of technical modification.Methods The mercury concentration at workplaces was measured and health examinations of 135 workers exposed to mercury was done and their urinary mercury level was measured before and after the plant took the technical modification.The results were compared.Results The mercury concentrations at workplaces before and after technological modification were 0.0242±0.0047 and 0.0160±0.0027 mg/m~3,respectively.The compliance rate of urinary mercury level were 50.37% and 78.52%.There were significant difference between these two times.Conclusion The technical process,in which mercury amalgam is used istead of mercury,can improve the working environment and reduce the concentration of mercury at workplace and consequentially the worker's urinary mercury significantly decrease.These demonstrated that the technical modification is effective to control the occupational hazards of mercury.
Harmless treatment effects of feces and influencing factors of latrines improvement in rural areas in Guangzhou

Objective To know the harmless treatment effects of feces and influencing factors of improved latrines in rural areas in Guangzhou. Methods From June to July in 2013,155 households were selected by stratified random sampling and surveyed in seven rural areas in which the latrines had been rebuilt. The liquid manure was collected from the septic tanks. The fecal coliform, parasitic ovum sedimentation rate, schistosome eggs and hookworm eggs were determined. Meanwhile, the basic situation of households, the construction of latrines,the hygiene management and using of latrines and the construction quality of latrines were investigated by the unified questionnaires. Results The qualified rate of harmless effects of improved latrines was83.2%,the main unqualified items was fecal coliform values(85.16%). The logistic regression analysis showed that keeping the toilet clean,clearing feces regularly,taking the liquid manure from the third chamber of the three-chamber toilet,the government investment and separating from domestic sewage could improve the qualified rate of hazard-free effects(P0.05).Conclusion Daily sanitation and hygiene management of toilet and increasing government investment should be strengthened,so as to enhance the harmless effects of improved latrines in rural areas.
Unbalanced Tension Analysis of Tangent Towers for UHV Transmission Lines Located at Heavy Icing Area

Both unbalanced tension in typical strain section and end displacement of insulator string due to the unbalanced tension are calculated by finite element analysis(FEA) and equal conductor length method respectively,and calculation results of the two methods are nearly the same.By means of building a finite element model for conductor-insulator in continuous seven spans and considering impacts of various design parameters of transmission line,the tension and unbalanced tension of transmission line erected on UHV tangent towers located at heavy icing area under different operating conditions are analyzed.Analysis results show that there are little influences of ice accretion modes,eccentricity of ice coating and wind speed during icing process on unbalanced tension,thus it is suggested to simulate the load of ice coating by equivalent density method while the wind speed during icing process is taken as 10 m/s.Without regard to span differences and elevations differences,the unbalanced tension percent of conductor is gradually increased with the increasing of ice thickness,span and ice accretion rate,and the calculated unbalanced tension percentages of UHV tangent tower under different ice thicknesses are smaller than those specified in the regulations;when the span differences and elevations differences are increased,the ratio of unbalanced tension of transmission line with span differences and elevations differences to unbalanced tension of transmission line without span differences and elevations differences is gradually enlarged;the unbalanced tension will be decreased with the increasing of ice thickness.For heavy icing areas with ice thickness of 30 mm and lower,the value of unbalanced tension percentages should be taken as that specified in existing regulation for heavy icing area.For heavy icing areas with ice thickness of 40 mm and 50 mm the unbalanced tension percentages should be increased to 35% and 41% respectively.
Thrombophlebitis of the ovarian vein

A 27-year-old gravida 4, para 4 developed a febrile illness 3 hours after an uneventful delivery. Signs of peritonitis followed the onset of severe pain in the right side of the back and abdomen. At laparotomy thrombophlebitis of the right ovarian vein and a thin slightly turbid peritoneal exudate were found. Cultures from the patient of the throat, endocervix, and two clean-voided urine specimens yielded Group A β-hemolytic streptococcus, type 22; the antistreptolysin O titer rose from 100 to 640 Todd units in 2 weeks; and the same organism was recovered from the throat of two attending nurses and the infant. It is believed that the mother’s nasopharynx was the source of this infection. This patient re-emphasizes that ovarian vein thrombophlebitis is one of the manifestations of streptococcal puerperal sepsis.
Substance Use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment Among Medicaid Patients in Wisconsin: Impacts on Healthcare Utilization and Costs.

Unhealthy substance use in the USA results in significant mortality and morbidity. This study measured the effectiveness of paraprofessional-administered substance use screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) services on subsequent healthcare utilization and costs. The pre-post with comparison group study design used a population-based sample of Medicaid patients 18–64 years receiving healthcare services from 33 clinics in Wisconsin. Substance use screens were completed by 7367 Medicaid beneficiaries, who were compared to 6751 randomly selected treatment-as-usual Medicaid patients. Compared to unscreened patients, those screened changed their utilization over the 24-month follow-up period by 0.143 outpatient days per member per month (PMPM) (p < 0.001), −0.036 inpatient days PMPM (p < 0.05), −0.001 inpatient admissions PMPM (non-significant), and −0.004 emergency department days PMPM (non-significant). The best estimate of net annual savings is $391 per Medicaid adult beneficiary (2014 dollars). SBIRT was associated with significantly greater outpatient visits and significant reductions in inpatient days among working-age Medicaid beneficiaries in Wisconsin.
TU-FG-201-01: 18-Month Clinical Experience of a Linac Daily Quality Assurance (QA) Solution Using Only EPID and OBI

Purpose: To describe the clinical use of a Linear Accelerator (Linac) DailyQA system with only EPID and OBI. To assess the reliability over an 18-month period and improve the robustness of this system based on QA failure analysis. Methods: A DailyQA solution utilizing an in-house designed phantom, combined EPID and OBI image acquisitions, and a web-based data analysis and reporting system was commissioned and used in our clinic to measure geometric, dosimetry and imaging components of a Varian Truebeam Linac. During an 18-month period (335 working days), the Daily QA results, including the output constancy, beam flatness and symmetry, uniformity, TPR20/10, MV and KV imaging quality, were collected and analyzed. For output constancy measurement, an independent monthly QA system with an ionization chamber (IC) and annual/incidental TG51 measurements with ADCL IC were performed and cross-compared to Daily QA system. Thorough analyses were performed on the recorded QA failures to evaluate the machine performance, optimize the data analysis algorithm, adjust the tolerance setting and improve the training procedure to prevent future failures. Results: A clinical workflow including beam delivery, data analysis, QA report generation and physics approval was established and optimized to suit daily clinical operation. The output tests over the 335 working day period cross-correlated with the monthly QA system within 1.3% and TG51 results within 1%. QA passed with one attempt on 236 days out of 335 days. Based on the QA failures analysis, the Gamma criteria is revised from (1%, 1mm) to (2%, 1mm) considering both QA accuracy and efficiency. Data analysis algorithm is improved to handle multiple entries for a repeating test. Conclusion: We described our 18-month clinical experience on a novel DailyQA system using only EPID and OBI. The long term data presented demonstrated the system is suitable and reliable for Linac daily QA.
Headache and Call-Fleming Syndrome

Investigators at centers in New Jersey report a 16-year-old girl with a history of anxiety, ADHD, and migraine, treated with several medications and presenting with 2 weeks of worsening headaches.
Effect of Biophysical Properties of Phosphatidylserine Particle on Immune Tolerance Induction Toward Factor VIII in a Hemophilia A Mouse Model.

A major complication in the replacement therapy of Factor VIII (FVIII) for Hemophilia A is the development of unwanted immune responses. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that pretreatment of FVIII in the presence of phosphatidylserine (PS) resulted in hyporesponsiveness to subsequent administration of FVIII alone, due to the ability of PS to convert an immunogen to a tolerogen. We investigated the importance of biophysical properties of PS liposomes on its ability to convert an immunogen to a tolerogen. PS particles were prepared differing in size, protein-lipid topology, lamellarity, and % association to FVIII keeping the composition of the particle same. PS particles were prepared in 2 different sizes with differing biophysical properties: smaller particles in the nanometer range (200 nm) and larger size particles in the micron range (2 μm). Hemophilia A animals treated with both the nanometer and micron size PS particles showed a significant reduction in anti-FVIII antibody titers when compared to animals receiving free FVIII alone. Upon rechallenge with free FVIII animals that received FVIII along with the nanometer size particle continued to show reduced antibody responses. Animals receiving the micron size particle showed a slight increase in titers although they remained significantly lower than the free FVIII treated group. Upon culture with bone marrow derived dendritic cells, the nanometer size particle showed a reduction in CD40 expression and an increase in transforming growth factor-β cytokine production, which was not observed with the micron size particle. These results show that biophysical properties of PS play an important role in tolerance.
Undergraduate Research and Service-Learning Programs in a Kinesiology Program at a Teaching University

ABSTRACTHigh-impact practices foster student success, but faculty faced with heavy teaching loads and lack of resources and infrastructure are challenged to implement such practices. Kinesiology faculty at California State University, East Bay collaborated to implement two student programs: Kinesiology Research Group and Get Fit! Stay Fit! The Kinesiology Research Group, a faculty–student research group, and Get Fit! Stay Fit!, a service learning experience, partnered to consolidate human and structural resources. Student–faculty mentoring circles were used to support this innovative partnership. Here, we report student perceptions of the value of these programs to their academic and professional development.
The Relational Approach to Local Immigration Policy

Local immigration policies are embedded in broader processes that encompass, cut across and link multiple localities. The relational approach is especially designed to account for such processes, combining relational arguments of previous studies with contributions from anthropology, human geography, sociology and public policy theory. Following a transactional ontology, this approach conceives the locality as an open site for processes of regional, national and transnational scope. Through these processes, the locality and its policies are formed in relation to dynamics at work on other levels and in other places. This ontology can be operationalized through the concept of policy network, theories of policy diffusion, and the concept of city scale. Methodologically, this ontology can be operationalized through extended case studies, encompassing comparisons, and incorporated comparisons.
Acute oxygenator failure: a new presentation of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in a patient undergoing venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support.

A 58-year-old man with medical history of thrombocytopenia was admitted to an outside hospital for a 6-day history of worsening dyspnoea requiring mechanical ventilator support. He was transferred to our institution for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) given his refractory hypoxaemia. On arrival, H1N1 influenza virus was confirmed and all measures to improve oxygenation were ineffective. Thus, the decision was made to start venovenous (VV)-ECMO. Although a low baseline platelet count was recognised (60–70×109/L), a sudden further decrease occurred (30×109/L) and platelet transfusion was initiated. A substantial increase in the pressure across the ECMO oxygenator was identified, and the diagnosis of type II heparin-induced thrombocytopenia was suspected and confirmed. Heparin was discontinued, the oxygenator was exchanged and argatroban was used for anticoagulation. After 28 days on VV-ECMO support, the decision was made to withdraw organ support in conjunction with the patient and family wishes.
Expression Pattern of HIF-1α and VEGF Supports Circumferential Application of Scatter Laser for Proliferative Sickle Retinopathy.

Purpose Retinal vascular occlusions in sickle cell anemia patients cause tissue ischemia and the release of angiogenic mediators that promote the development of retinal neovascularization, initiating proliferative sickle retinopathy (PSR). Laser photocoagulation (LPC) has emerged as the most common treatment for PSR. Nonetheless, only two randomized controlled clinical trials have evaluated the use of LPC for PSR, and both failed to definitively demonstrate efficacy of this approach. This may be due to a lack of knowledge regarding the appropriate location for placement of laser coagulations in PSR eyes. To help address this question, we examined the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in PSR eyes. Methods The expression pattern of HIF-1α and VEGF in PSR (n = 5) and control (n = 3) eyes was examined by immunohistochemistry in different retinal regions defined by the presence or absence of retinal vessels. Results Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and VEGF were expressed in the inner retina of 5/5 untreated PSR eyes adjacent to retinal neovascularization; expression of HIF-1α was not detected (and VEGF only lightly detected) in normal retinal and choroidal vasculature of 3/3 control eyes. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and VEGF were strongly expressed in retinal cells within avascular (nonperfused) retina, anterior to the boundary between perfused and nonperfused retina, as well as in posterior ischemic retina in the presence or absence of neovascular sea fans. Conclusions If the goal of LPC in PSR is to quench the expression of HIF-1-driven angiogenic mediators, our results support broad application of peripheral laser for its treatment.
Taranto high-speed hot strip mill

Use of the newest developments in hot-strip-mill electrical systems on the Taranto hot strip mill makes this mill among the leading producers of quality strip. Provisions for future reheat furnaces, plus provisions for future mill stands and a process control computer, will enable this mill to increase its tonnage production of quality products in the years ahead as this becomes necessary.
Outcomes of Retinal Surgery Performed by Supervised First-Year Vitreoretinal Fellows-in-Training:

Purpose:To review the outcomes of vitreoretinal surgery (VRS) performed by supervised first-year fellows-in-training.Methods:A retrospective review was performed of consecutive VRS cases performed ...
Susceptibility and Resilience to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder–like Behaviors in Inbred Mice

Abstract Background The limited neurobiological understanding of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been partially attributed to the need for improved animal models. Stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL) in rodents recapitulates many PTSD-associated behaviors, including stress-susceptible and stress-resilient subgroups in outbred rats. Identification of subgroups requires additional behavioral phenotyping, a confound to mechanistic studies. Methods We employed a SEFL paradigm in inbred male and female C57BL/6 mice that combines acute stress with fear conditioning to precipitate traumatic-like memories. Extinction and long-term retention of extinction were examined after SEFL. Further characterization of SEFL effects on male mice was performed with additional behavioral tests, determination of regional activation by Fos immunofluorescence, and RNA sequencing of the basolateral amygdala. Results Stressed animals displayed persistently elevated freezing during extinction. While more uniform in females, SEFL produced male subgroups with differential susceptibility that were identified without posttraining phenotyping. Additional phenotyping of male mice revealed PTSD-associated behaviors, including extinction-resistant fear memory, hyperarousal, generalization, and dysregulated corticosterone in stress-susceptible male mice. Altered Fos activation was also seen in the infralimbic cortex and basolateral amygdala of stress-susceptible male mice after remote memory retrieval. Key behavioral outcomes, including susceptibility, were replicated by two independent laboratories. RNA sequencing of the basolateral amygdala revealed transcriptional divergence between the male subgroups, including genes with reported polymorphic association to patients with PTSD. Conclusions This SEFL model provides a tool for development of PTSD therapeutics that is compatible with the growing number of mouse-specific resources. Furthermore, use of an inbred strain allows for investigation into epigenetic mechanisms that are expected to critically regulate susceptibility and resilience.
Plant Biology: Rethinking Structure–Function Relationships in Guard Cells

Summary Recent findings highlight the role of polar reinforcement in guard cell function, which simultaneously improves our understanding of stomatal mechanics and questions our long-standing beliefs about structurally important factors.
Tailoring the Porosity and Microstructure of Printed Graphene Electrodes via Polymer Phase Inversion

Phase inversion is demonstrated as an effective method for engineering the microstructure of graphene films by exploiting the well-defined solubility characteristics of polymer dispersants. Drying of a tailored phase inversion ink containing a nonvolatile nonsolvent leads to gelation and subsequent pore formation, providing a promising strategy to tailor the porosity of the resulting graphene films. Graphene films with tunable porosity and electrical conductivity ranging from ∼1000 to ∼22 000 S/m are fabricated by this method. Moreover, this dry phase inversion technique is compatible with conventional coating and printing methods, allowing direct ink writing of porous graphene microsupercapacitor electrodes for energy storage applications. Overall, this method provides a straightforward and versatile strategy for engineering the microstructure of solution-processed nanomaterials.
Steady-State Solutions and Limit Sets

In this section, we define dynamical systems and present some useful facts from the theory of differential equations.
Prevention of Infectious Complications in Patients With Chronic Granulomatous Disease

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immunodeficiency that confers a markedly increased risk of bacterial and fungal infections caused by certain opportunistic pathogens. Current evidence supports the use of prophylactic antibacterial, antifungal, and immunomodulatory therapies designed to prevent serious or life-threatening infections in patients with CGD. In this review, we discuss current strategies for the prevention of infections in children and adults with CGD and the evidence that supports those strategies. In addition, we address current challenges and opportunities for future research in this important area.
Mapping Disease Transmission Risk of Nipah Virus in South and Southeast Asia

Since 1998, Nipah virus (NiV) (genus: Henipavirus; family: Paramyxoviridae), an often-fatal and highly virulent zoonotic pathogen, has caused sporadic outbreak events. Fruit bats from the genus Pteropus are the wildlife reservoirs and have a broad distribution throughout South and Southeast Asia, and East Africa. Understanding the disease biogeography of NiV is critical to comprehending the potential geographic distribution of this dangerous zoonosis. This study implemented the R packages ENMeval and BIOMOD2 as a means of modeling regional disease transmission risk and additionally measured niche similarity between the reservoir Pteropus and the ecological characteristics of outbreak localities with the Schoener’s D index and I statistic. Results indicate a relatively high degree of niche overlap between models in geographic and environmental space (D statistic, 0.64; and I statistic, 0.89), and a potential geographic distribution encompassing 19% (2,963,178 km2) of South and Southeast Asia. This study should contribute to current and future efforts to understand the critical ecological contributors and geography of NiV. Furthermore, this study can be used as a geospatial guide to identify areas of high disease transmission risk and to inform national public health surveillance programs.
Chapter 23 The musical brain

Publisher Summary The available evidence suggests that there are a complex array of neural circuits underlying human music perception and creation. While early pathological correlations of ‘musical agnosia’ were noted in association with lesions in one or both anterior temporal lobes, more detailed musical networks are being increasingly investigated with structural and functional neuroimaging, electrophysiology, psychoacoustics, and neuropsychological testing. The results offer exciting implications for the neuroscience of learning, memory, language, neurodevelopmen, and neurodegeneration. The focus of the following discussion is deficits in music perception, supplemented by a general discussion of neurological findings in musicians versus non-musicians. The human experience of music perception and performance certainly exceeds acoustical pattern extraction, analysis, and production. For many people, music is unique in its connection with both emotional perception and emotional experience. Continued theoretical modeling of musical perception and its functional neuroanatomic correlates will certainly propel the scientific study of music forward; yet, the therapeutic potential of music, reliant upon its intimate association with human emotion and cognition, also deserves further attention. Patients with Alzheimer's disease are able to demonstrate a normal familiarity preference pattern for novel tunes, suggesting a route to access implicit memory and improve quality of life, while children with dyslexia demonstrated improvement in spelling and phonics when engaged in classroom musical programs.
Hairy cell leukemia: an analysis of the chromosomes of 26 patients.

We studied the chromosomes from 26 patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL) to ascertain the frequency and types of consistent chromosomal abnormalities. Samples from 21 patients were obtained from peripheral blood cultures grown 24 and 48 h without phytohemagglutinin, or from bone marrow samples. Two male patients had similar, consistent abnormalities; one patient’s karyotype was 46, X, +12; that of the second was 46, X, +C marker. In the latter case, the distal long arm of the C marker most closely resembled chromosome No. 12 from band q14 to q terminal, but the short arm and proximal long arm were of undetermined origin. Both karyotypes lacked the Y chromosome. Nine of the 21 patients had abnormalities in single cells. One patient had, in one sample, a single abnormal cell with an extra No. 3 and an extra No. 12 (48, XY, +3, +12), and in a later sample, a second cell of poor morphology which also could have been trisomic for No. 12. Another patient had one cell with an unusually bright short arm, as well as two cells, with different abnormalities, both involving the short arm of chromosome No. 1. The two patients with consistent chromosome abnormalities had rapidly progressive disease in spite of splenectomy, and their clinical course from the time of diagnosis was relatively short (5 and 7 months, respectively).
Kinematic response of the neck to voluntary and involuntary flexion.

Methods The dynamic head-neck responses of human subjects and cadavers undergoing involuntary impact loading conditions have been studied extensively in order to define the kinematics of the neck undergoing rapid movements, but little detailed information is available regarding slower, voluntary motions. In this study, the dynamic kinematics of head/neck complex during subject-controlled, or voluntary head motion have been investigated to compare with the kinematics to involuntary response. Five male human subjects experienced two-types of posterior/anterior neck flexion: flexion initiated under their own volition, and flexion in response to -15Gx acceleration of the torso. Tri-axial photo target mounts were placed on a custom-fit plate at the mouth, on the first thoracic vertebra, and on the sled. High speed movie cameras captured the photo target motion. Linear and angular displacement and velocity of the head and T1 and sled were computed using customized data-processing software. The neck kinematics were represented by a 2-pin linkage which connected the anatomical origins of the head and T1. Results The results show that maximum neck flexion relative to the torso was not significantly different between the voluntary and involuntary head motions, but that the head motion was significantly greater during the involuntary sled maneuvers. Maximum flexion velocities of 450 and 1236 degrees x s(-1) were sustained during the voluntary and involuntary maneuvers, respectively. Conclusion These findings are important in understanding the kinematics of the human head/neck complex undergoing rapid and slow movements, and will be valuable in future studies determining a realistic physiological performance corridor for the human neck.
Laser balloon angioplasty.

Laser balloon angioplasty (LBA) is presented as an example of a potential therapy based on thermal alterations of tissue by laser. Its future acceptance as a full clinical modality depends significantly on how its efficacy, advantages, and limitations compare with the current alternative angioplasty techniques described in Section 24.2. To guide its evaluation, discussions have been included which cover the LBA concept (Section 24.3), thermal welding of tissue (Section 24.4), catheter development and usage (Section 24.5), treatment goals (Section 24.6), laser dosimetry using simulation models (Section 24.7), and both acute and long-term tissue responses (Section 24.8). The LBA story reminds us that an engineered device and its implementation may be superb, but its intended application can be limited because of unfavorable biological reactions. In the case of LBA, the deterrent is the long-term restenosis following excellent acute enlargement of the vessel lumen.
Osmotic effects of intravenous contrast agents on renal function.

AbstractBecause of renewed interest in renal insufficiency after excretory urography a set of experiments was designed to determine the effects of high dose intravenous contrast agents on renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. A reproducible decrease in renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate was noted with high dose intravenous contrast agents and an osmotically similar solution without the radiographically active compound. The results are discussed in light of clinical significance.
Roadblocks in Cation Diffusion Pathways: Implications of Phase Boundaries for Li-Ion Diffusivity in an Intercalation Cathode Material.

Increasing intercalation of Li-ions brings about distortive structural transformations in several canonical intercalation hosts. Such phase transformations require the energy dissipative creation a...
Detecting Attention in Pivotal Response Treatment Video Probes

The benefits of caregivers implementing Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) with children on the Autism spectrum is empirically supported in current Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) research. Training caregivers in PRT practices involves providing instruction and feedback from trained professional clinicians. As part of the training and evaluation process, clinicians systematically score video probes of the caregivers implementing PRT in several categories, including if an instruction was given when the child was paying adequate attention to the caregiver. This paper examines how machine learning algorithms can be used to aid in classifying video probes. The primary focus of this research explored how attention can be automatically inferred through video processing. To accomplish this, a dataset was created using video probes from PRT sessions and used to train machine learning models. The ambiguity inherent in these videos provides a substantial set of challenges for training an intelligence feedback system.
Dangerous Metaphors: The Consequences of Treating Higher Education Like a Consumer Good

• Congress granted for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) access to federal financial aid through the 1972 Education Amendments.• The arguments used to justify this change assume that higher ...
Perchance to Dream

I awoke on a Saturday morning, almost seven months after the stroke, via a distinct dream. I did not want to be late for a 10 a.m. memorial service for the son of a colleague. A few days earlier, tragically, he had fallen or jumped from a high place. I had just had lunch with this fine boy and his mother a few weeks ago, when we had spotted each other at a restaurant in our local shopping center. I’d always had a high opinion of my colleague. Indeed, she was one of the few in the department whom I considered to be “glue”. And her son, a recent college graduate, was bright and full of promise. I wondered how my colleague and her family would cope with this unthinkable event.
Effectiveness of transoral incisionless fundoplication compared to Toupet fundoplication for chronic or refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease: a systematic review protocol.

REVIEW OBJECTIVE/QUESTION The objective of this review is to determine which 270-degree fundoplication procedure has a better outcome in patients with chronic or refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This review will identify the fundoplication approach for chronic or refractory GERD that provides better reflux control with minimal post-procedure complications.The question of this review is: what is the effectiveness of transoral incisionless fundoplication compared to Toupet fundoplication in adult patients with chronic or refractory GERD?
Adsorption characteristics of Cd(II) and Ni(II) from aqueous solution using succinylated hay

An environmentally friendly organic biosorbent was fabricated using hay by succinylation. Metallic cation adsorption tests were performed using synthetic nickel(II) and cadmium(II) solutions to simulate heavy-metal recovery from aqueous solution. The adsorption efficiency was greater than 98% for both cadmium and nickel ions when the biosorbent concentration was 5.0 g/L and the initial metal concentrations were 50 mg/L. The surface of the biosorbent was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to investigate the changes in the surface functional groups. The functional groups changed according to the surface treatment, resulting in an effective biosorbent. The kinetics of the metals adsorption revealed that the reactions are pseudo-second order, and the adsorption isotherm well followed the Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacities predicted by the Langmuir model were 75.19 mg/g and 57.77 mg/g for cadmium and nickel, respectively. The fabricated biosorbent was regenerated using NaCl multiple times, with 2.1% for Cd and 4.0% for Ni in adsorption capacity after three regeneration cycles. The proposed biosorbent can be a good alternative to resin or other chemical adsorbents for heavy-metal recovery in metallurgical processing or municipal water treatment.