cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Peace on Land, Peace at Sea (1952–1977)

Peace on land meant peace at sea and nowhere was this better in evidence than in the Soviet-Iranian fisheries and naval relations in the Caspian Sea.
Role of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) in renal function and ischaemia–reperfusion induced kidney injury

Despite the presence of many studies on the role of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) in cardiorenal tissues, the definitive role of mTOR in the pathogenesis of renal injury subsequent to ischemia-reperfusion (IR) remains unclear. The aims of the current study were to characterize the role of mTOR in normal kidney function and to investigate the role of mTOR activation in IR-induced kidney injury. In euvolemic anesthetized rats, treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin increased blood pressure (121±2 to 144±3 mmHg; P<0.05), decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR; 1.6±0.3 to 0.5±0.2 ml/min; P<0.05) and increased urinary sodium excretion (UNaV; 14±1 to 109±25 mM/h; P<0.05). In rats subjected to IR, autophagy induction, p-mTOR expression and serum creatinine increased (1.9±0.2 to 3±0.3 mg/dl; P<0.05); treatment with rapamycin blunted p-mTOR expression but further increased autophagy induction and serum creatinine (3±0.3 to 5±0.6 mg/dl; P<0.05). In contrast, clenbuterol, an mTOR activator, blunted the effect of rapamycin on serum creatinine (4±0.6 vs. 2.3±0.3 mg/dl; P<0.05), autophagy induction and p-mTOR expression. IR also increased 24 h protein excretion (9±3 to 17±2 mg/day; P<0.05) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) expression, and rapamycin treatment further increased KIM-1 expression. Clenbuterol exacerbated protein excretion (13±2 to 26±4 mg/day; P<0.05) and antagonized the effect of rapamycin on KIM-1 expression. Histopathological data demonstrated kidney injury in IR rats that was worsened by rapamycin treatment but attenuated by clenbuterol treatment. Thus, mTOR signaling is crucial for normal kidney function and protecting the kidney against IR injury through autophagy suppression. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Which female cancer patients fail to receive fertility counseling before treatment in the state of Georgia

Objective To assess which characteristics are associated with failure to receive fertility counseling among a cohort of young women diagnosed with cancer. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting Not applicable. Patient(s) A total of 1,282 cancer survivors, of whom 1,116 met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) The main outcome in this study was whether or not women reported receiving any information at the time of their cancer diagnosis on how cancer treatment might affect their ability to become pregnant. Result(s) Forty percent of cancer survivors reported that they did not receive fertility counseling at the time of cancer diagnosis. Women were more likely to fail to receive counseling if they had only a high school education or less or if they had given birth. Cancer-related variables that were associated with a lack of counseling included not receiving chemotherapy as part of treatment and diagnosis with certain cancer types. Conclusion(s) Counseling about the risk of infertility and available fertility preservation options is important to cancer patients. Additionally, counseling can make women aware of other adverse reproductive outcomes, such as early menopause and its associated symptoms. Less-educated women and parous women are at particular risk of not getting fertility-related information. Programs that focus on training not just the oncologist, but also other health care providers involved with cancer care, to provide fertility counseling may help to expand access.
Toxigenic and Nontoxigenic Strains of Aspergilli and Penicillia Grown in the Presence of Sodium Chloride Cause Enzyme-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Protein, Fat and Hydrogen Peroxide.

Eight strains of Aspergillus flavus , three of Aspergillus parasiticus , one of Aspergillus ochraceus and ten of Penicillum spp. were evaluated for their ability to hydrolyze protein, fat and hydrogen peroxide when the molds were grown in the presence of different amounts (0-10%) of sodium chloride. Proteolytic and lipolytic activities of strains of A. flavus generally increased with an increase in the amount of sodium chloride in the medium. This was true for proteolytic and less so for lipolytic activity of A. parasiticus and A. ochraceus . Of the penicillia tested, five exhibited a marked increase and five a smaller increase in proteolytic and lipolytic activity at 2, 4 and 6% sodium chloride, but such activity either remained constant or decreased at 8 and 10% sodium chloride. Peroxidase activity in mycelia of all strains of aspergilli increased with an increase of sodium chloride in the medium. Most strains of Penicillium spp. exhibited maximum peroxidase activity at 2% sodium chloride, and some reduction in activity when the amount of sodium chloride in the medium exceeded 2%.
Prospective characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in head and neck cancer patients receiving definitive radiotherapy.

e22040 Background: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an important biomarker in several cancers, but little data exist in head and neck malignancies. More importantly, no data exist on how CTCs cha...
Valence of Ti, V, and Cr in Apollo 14 aluminous basalts 14053 and 14072

The valences of Ti, V, and Cr in olivine and pyroxene, important indicators of the fO2 of the source region of their host rocks, can be readily measured nondestructively by XANES (X-ray absorption near edge structure) spectroscopy, but little such work has been done on lunar rocks, and there is some uncertainty regarding the presence of Ti3+ in lunar silicates and the redox state of the lunar mantle. This is the first study involving direct XANES measurement of valences of multivalent cations in lunar rocks. Because high alumina activity facilitates substitution of Ti cations into octahedral rather than tetrahedral sites in pyroxene and Ti3+ only enters octahedral sites, two aluminous basalts from Apollo 14, 14053 and 14072, were studied. Most pyroxene contains little or no detectable Ti3+, but in both samples relatively early, magnesian pyroxene was found that has Ti valences that are not within error of 4; in 14053, this component has an average Ti valence of 3.81 ± 0.06 (i.e., Ti3+/[Ti3+ + Ti4+ = 0.19]). This pyroxene has relatively low atomic Ti/Al ratios ( 0.5 contains Ti3+ and pyroxene with lower ratios does not. Later pyroxene, with lower Mg/Fe and higher Ti/Al ratios, has higher proportions of Ti (all Ti4+) in tetrahedral sites. All pyroxene analyzed contains divalent Cr, ranging from 15 to 30% of the Cr present, and all but one analysis spot contains divalent V, accounting for 0 to 40% (typically 20–30%) of the V present. Three analyses of olivine in 14053 do not show any Ti3+, but Ti valences in 14072 olivine range from 4 down to 3.70 ± 0.10. In 14053 olivine, ~50% of the Cr and 60% of the V are divalent. In 14072 olivine, the divalent percentages are ~20% for Cr and 20–60% for V. These results indicate significant proportions of divalent Cr and V and limited amounts of trivalent Ti in the parental melts, especially when crystal/liquid partitioning preferences are taken into account. These features are consistent with an fO2 closer to IW − 2 than to IW − 1. Apollo 15 basalt 15555, analyzed for comparison with A-14 materials, has olivine with strongly reduced Cr (Cr2+/(Cr2+ + Cr3+) ~0.9). Basalts from different sites may record redox differences between source regions.
Pilot study of the financial and practice protocol impacts of canine influenza virus (H3N2) outbreaks in example veterinary practices.

Abstract Since March 2015, canine influenza virus (CIV) H3N2 has caused widespread outbreaks in dogs across the USA. The effects of local H3N2 outbreaks on veterinary practices were investigated using an online interface and followed with phone calls to respondents when necessary. An outbreak was defined as confirmed diagnosis of H3N2 by either PCR or serology in at least four dogs. Of 30 practices invited to participate, five met the entry criteria: at least one documented H3N2 outbreak in the previous 12 months, a predominantly (≥70%) small animal caseload, and adequate financial records to complete the survey. Respondents reported 1–3 H3N2 outbreaks/practice over the last 12 months, with 4–8 dogs diagnosed/outbreak. For each participating practice, self-reported direct financial impact data was collected from the single H3N2 outbreak that involved the most dogs. The two most substantial categories of self-reported financial loss occurred due to boarding facility closure (estimated cost per practice: median $5000), and treatment costs borne by the practice (estimated cost per practice: median $2850). Median extra biosecurity costs were $300/practice. Median total direct costs of an H3N2 outbreak were $8945/practice. Lost foot traffic included cancelled appointments, appointments redirected to other veterinary hospitals for the duration of the outbreak, and loss of revenue from ancillary services provided during usual business (calculated cost per practice: median $450). Cost/practice normalized by the number of fulltime veterinarians in each practice was calculated and additional effects, such as interruptions to daily practice routine, reduced productivity, reputation loss and poor staff morale, were also reported. Vaccination against H3N2 was introduced as part of routine practice vaccination protocols or was made mandatory before boarding in three of five practices. In the remaining two practices, a focus on client education about canine infectious disease, especially H3N2, emerged in response to outbreaks. H3N2 outbreaks had substantial impacts on veterinary practice finances, daily routines and staff morale, and was associated with enhancements in vaccination, biosecurity and client education protocols.
Merged Requests for Better Performance and Productivity in Multithreaded OpenSHMEM

A merged request is a handle representing a group of Remote Memory Access (RMA), Atomic or Collective operations. The merged request can be created either by combining multiple outstanding merged request handles or using the same merged request handle for additional operations. We show that introducing such simple yet powerful semantics in OpenSHMEM provides many productivity and performance advantages. In this paper, we first introduce the interfaces and semantics for creating and using merged request handles. Then, we demonstrate with a merge request that we can achieve better performance characteristics in multithreaded OpenSHMEM application. Particularly, we show one can achieve higher message rate, a higher bandwidth for smaller message, and better computation-communication overlap. Further, we use merged request to realize multithreaded collectives, where multiple threads co-operate to complete the collective operation. Our experimental results show that in a multithreaded OpenSHMEM program, the merged request based RMA operations achieve over 100 Million Messages Per Second (MMPS). It achieves over 10 MMPS compared to 4.5 MMPS with default RMA operations in a single threaded environment. Also, we achieve higher bandwidth for smaller message sizes, close to 100% overlap, and reduce the latency by 60%.
Postoperative Antibiotics Following Cochlear Implantation: Are They Necessary?

Objective Evaluate whether prophylactic antibiotics administered following cochlear implant (CI) surgery impact short-term infection rates. Design Retrospective, concurrent, case-control. Setting Tertiary referral center. Patients All patients (range, 9 months-91 years) undergoing cochlear implantation between 2013 and 2017 (n = 188). Intervention(s) Starting in 2015, one surgeon stopped prescribing postoperative antibiotics after CI surgery. We compared infection rates in a control group that received antibiotics in the 18 months prior to this change (n = 95) to the cohort of patients that did not receive postoperative antibiotics (n = 49). In a second analysis, 44 patients that underwent CI surgery concurrently from a second surgeon and were prescribed postoperative antibiotics were compared to the 49 patients who did not receive postoperative antibiotics. Main outcome measure(s) Postoperative infection rates in the perioperative period (0-30 days) following cochlear implantation. Results None of the 49 cases and none of the 95 historic controls or 44 concurrent controls experienced postoperative infection. Conclusions In this sample, postoperative antibiotics following cochlear implantation did not impact perioperative infection rates. Unnecessary antibiotics can lead to increased resistance, allergic sequelae, and unnecessary costs while having little effect on reducing infection rates. This pilot study should encourage surgeons to reevaluate standard practice around antibiotic use after CI surgery.
The Right Frontier for Civil Rights Reform

Since December 2004, when conservatives regained majority control over the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Commission has dramatically changed its course on matters of civil rights policy. While the Commission's recent work has addressed numerous issues, it has returned repeatedly to the issue of affirmative action. This Article demonstrates that the Commission's new work forms a consistent, coherent body of inquiry regarding the moral legitimacy, legal validity, and policy appropriateness of the use of racial preferences in a wide range of applications, with particular emphasis upon American law school admissions.
Flame-Resistant Wool and Wool Blends

Throughout the world, many people die or are injured from burns associated with flammable fabrics. Human suffering and material losses as a result of fires are frightening and staggering. Flammable fabrics were involved annually in about one fourth of the 5.5 million fires which resulted in about 12,000 fatalities and about 250,000 injuries in the United States, which has a population of about 215 million.(5,6,8,9,16,58,59,142,204,205,211,220,230,231,242,257) Burn injuries require long hospitalization and are often fatal. Awareness of this problem is increasing, and the public probably would be willing to pay the added cost of the protection offered by flame-resistant clothing and flame-resistant upholstery, draperies, and related furnishings.
Estimation and Testing for Geostatistical Functional Data

We present procedures for the estimation of the mean function and the functional principal components of dependent spatiallydistributed functional data. We show how the new approaches improve on standard procedures, and discuss their application to significance tests.
Intraoperative Assessment of Mitral Commissurotomy and Mitral Valve Replacement by Echocardiography

One of the newest applications of echocardiography is its use in the operating room as an aid to the surgeon in the immediate assessment of several types of cardiac surgery. Intraoperative echocardiographic analysis of mitral valve motion before and after surgery has become a routine method for evaluating mitral commissurotomy and mitral valve replacement. Placement of the sterile transducer directly on the heart clearly demonstrates both natural valve function and the degree of prosthetic ball or disc movement. Thus, by intraoperative echocardiographic assessment, valve dysfunction following mitral commissurotomy or prosthetic valve replacement can be detected, and the valve can be replaced immediately. Two cases illustrate the applications of intraoperative echocardiography in the evaluation of mitral valve repair and replacement.
Second-Order Consensus For Multi-Agent Systems By State-Dependent Topology Switching

This paper considers actively topology switching to achieve consensus for the second-order multi-agent systems. The control protocol introduced to the multi-agent systems is governed only by the relative positions of agents. Through the stability analysis of the second-order multi-agent systems under switching topology, we discover that the consensus can be achieved under certain topology-switching signals. Based on stability analysis, through employing a finite-time consensus network, a decentralized topology-switching algorithm is derived. Compared with the existing second-order consensus algorithms, the primary advantages of the topology-switching algorithm in achieving consensus are: 1) it has no constraint on the magnitude of coupling strength; 2) the control protocol relies only on relative position measurements, no velocity measurements are needed.
Hierarchical and Autonomous Fog Architecture

Cloud computing paradigm stops short in its offerings towards deployment of latency-critical and bandwidth-intensive applications. Fog computing paradigm emerged as a promising solution to realize deployment of large scale IoT environments and low latency real-time services, leveraging large number of resource-constrained, heterogeneous fog nodes distributed across vast geographical areas and located closer to users and data sources, as compared to core cloud which is usually located at large data centers, far from users and IoT devices. To facilitate efficient deployment of services on the fog infrastructure, we propose Hierarchical and Autonomous Fog Architecture (HAFA) to organize heterogeneous fog nodes into a multi-layered connected hierarchy based on several parameters such as physical location, distance from IoT devices and/or users, node resource configuration, privacy and security. Fog nodes are grouped to facilitate resource pooling and local control, and groups of fog nodes are linked to facilitate disaster readiness and autonomy. HAFA helps reducing effort in finding an optimal node with required resource characteristics towards service deployment.
Thermal Spray Coatings on Orthopedic Devices: When and How the FDA Reviews Your Coatings

Thermal spray coatings have been commonly applied on medical devices for various reasons, e.g., surface roughening, biological fixation, and similarity of chemical composition to bone minerals. Generally, to introduce a thermal spray-coated device to the US market, a premarket review of the coated device is necessary by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This article aims to improve understanding regarding FDA review of thermal spray coatings in orthopedic medical device marketing applications and expectations for information to be submitted as part of this process. While different thermal spray technologies and materials have been used for coatings on medical devices, thermal spray coatings often seen by the FDA on orthopedic devices include plasma-sprayed titanium (Ti) coatings and hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings as well as Ti/HA dual coatings. The coated devices are mostly metals (e.g., Ti alloy, cobalt-chromium alloy, stainless steel alloys) and some polymers (e.g., polyetheretherketone). The FDA does not clear or approve individual coatings or materials; rather, coatings and materials are evaluated as part of the final, finished medical device in the context of the specific device technological characteristics and intended use. The FDA has two current guidance documents for orthopedic implants with modified metallic surfaces and hydroxyapatite coatings, which outline the FDA’s recommendations for full characterization and testing of these two types of coatings, respectively. Additionally, the standards organizations (e.g., ISO and ASTM) have developed many materials and testing standards for these coatings, some of which are recognized by the FDA. It is helpful that the coating companies reference these standards for appropriate material/coating specifications, testing methods, and acceptance criteria. Depending on the intended use of the coated device, it is important that coating properties also address some items specific to that device type. Additionally, the impact of cleaning, sterilization, and packaging/shelf-life processes on the coating properties is also considered to ensure that the coated device is safe for its intended use.
Oral chemotherapy education sessions at an academic and community cancer center.

254Background: Oral chemotherapy is becoming more widely utilized within oncology. Concerns regarding poor adherence and toxicity may be addressed by providing patient education. Methods: We develo...
Evaluation of Poly (Carbonate-Urethane) Urea (PCUU) Scaffolds for Urinary Bladder Tissue Engineering

Although the previous success of bladder tissue engineering demonstrated the feasibility of this technology, most polyester based scaffolds used in previous studies possess inadequate mechanical properties for organs that exhibit large deformation. The present study explored the use of various biodegradable elastomers as scaffolds for bladder tissue engineering and poly (carbonate-urethane) urea (PCUU) scaffolds mimicked urinary bladder mechanics more closely than polyglycerol sebacate–polycaprolactone (PGS-PCL) and poly (ether-urethane) urea (PEUU). The PCUU scaffolds also showed cyto-compatibility as well as increased porosity with increasing stretch indicating its ability to aid in infiltration of smooth muscle cells. Moreover, a bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) rat model was used to test the safety and efficacy of the PCUU scaffolds in treating a voiding dysfunction. Bladder augmentation with PCUU scaffolds led to enhanced survival of the rats and an increase in the bladder capacity and voiding volume over a 3 week period, indicating that the high-pressure bladder symptom common to BOO was alleviated. The histological analysis of the explanted scaffold demonstrated smooth muscle cell and connective tissue infiltration. The knowledge gained in the present study should contribute towards future improvement of bladder tissue engineering technology to ultimately aide in the treatment of bladder disorders.
Changing Patterns of Anticoagulation After Total Hip Arthroplasty in the United States: Frequency of Deep Vein Thrombosis, Pulmonary Embolism, and Complications With Rivaroxaban and Warfarin.

Abstract Background This study evaluated the trends in anticoagulation use after total hip arthroplasty (THA), and the effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban compared to warfarin. Methods This retrospective database analysis used healthcare claims from the Truven Health MarketScan database (2010-2015). Patients undergoing elective THA were followed for use of anticoagulants after surgery. Logistic regression models were used to compare differences in deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), and adverse events, within 90 days after THA, among warfarin and rivaroxaban users. Inverse probability treatment weighting was used to account for selection bias. Results There were 12,876 users of warfarin and 10,892 users of rivaroxaban in commercially insured (CI) patients, and 7416 warfarin users and 4739 rivaroxaban users in Medicare supplement (MS) patients. Warfarin use decreased over time in both insurance cohorts, whereas rivaroxaban use increased from 2011 to 2015. Warfarin users were significantly more likely to experience both DVT (CI: odds ratio [OR] 2.63, 95% confidence interval 1.97-3.50; MS: OR 1.78, 95% confidence interval 1.38-2.29) and PE (CI: OR 2.60, 95% confidence interval 2.04-3.31; MS: OR 2.09, 95% confidence interval 1.66-2.65). There was no significant difference in rates of bleeding between the 2 agents, but warfarin users had higher odds of periprosthetic joint infection in both cohorts (CI: OR 1.57, 95% confidence interval 1.16-2.13; MS: OR 1.79, 95% confidence interval 1.14-2.81). Conclusion There has been an increase in prophylaxis with rivaroxaban, and a decrease in warfarin use after elective THA over 4 years. Warfarin users were more likely to experience DVT and PE than rivaroxaban, and bleeding risks were similar.
THE AMBIVALENT GIFT: The Diverse Giving Strategies of Black Philanthropists1

The question of who holds responsibility for racial uplift within African American communities is an enduring one. This paper investigates the understanding of racial obligation on the part of Black elite philanthropic donors. Through in-depth interviews with twenty elite donors, I investigate whether African American elite donors use philanthropic activity to realize their racial obligations by supporting Black nonprofit organizations and charitable causes that directly benefit Black people. I find that Black donors are deeply ambivalent about their position as members of a racial group that is marginalized while they are individually privileged because of their class position. They attempt to reconcile this ambivalence through their philanthropic giving. Donors at times embrace the importance of their racial identity as a principle that organizes their giving practices, but in other instances the very same donors reject race as a factor orienting how they think about their charity. Donors express this inconsistency through three different giving strategies. First, Black donors advocate for what they consider to be Black causes within mainstream organizations—initiatives they believe will directly and positively benefit Black people. Second, while they may support Black nonprofit organizations, they qualify the types of Black organizations worthy of their support. Third, donors reject race as an orienting principle altogether. Indeed, while there are few distinctive patterns among Black elite donors, no matter how they give they do so with an eye towards maintaining a mainstream sensibility that emphasizes integration, efficiency, and success. It is perhaps the diversity of contradictory strategies that poses the most fundamental challenge to the notion of community that permeates discussions of race and responsibility. I conclude by arguing that the ability to define when and how race matters to them is a particular privilege of the Black elite.
Tick Attached to the Tympanic Membrane.

Tick Attached to the Tympanic Membrane A 9-year-old boy reported hearing buzzing noises and having a sensation of a foreign body in the right ear. A tick was found embedded in his right tympanic me...
"Stepping Out of My Sexual Comfort Zone": Comparing the Sexual Possible Selves and Strategies of College-Attending and Non-College Emerging Adults.

Limited attention has been devoted to examining internalized sexual expectations and fears (i.e., sexual possible selves [SPS]) during emerging adulthood, and in particular how these differ based on college attendance. The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend research on SPS and strategies using a large, diverse sample of college-attending (n = 400) and non-college (n = 400) emerging adults (ages 18–25 years). Open-ended responses on internalized sexual expectations and fears were collected through an online survey (Amazon’s MTurk). Qualitative content analysis of each groups’ responses revealed 11 emergent expected SPS themes, with the majority focused on abstinence, interpersonal relationships, quantity, quality, explore/experiment, and sexual health/well-being. Emergent themes of feared SPS overlapped with expected SPS on six categories (e.g., sexual health/well-being); however, we also found fears related to sexual assault/coercion, self-focus, partner focus, and increased sexual risk. Pearson chi-square analyses of themes based on college attendance showed differences in expectations for interpersonal relationships, along with subgroup differences based on gender (male versus female) and gender by college attendance status (e.g., college-attending women versus non-college women). Implications for sexual education and future SPS research are discussed.
Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Endocytosis and Synaptic Vesicle Trafficking

Abstract During the exocytosis of small clear vesicles, vesicle membranes fuse with the plasma membrane of the axon terminal. Many lines of experimental evidence show that following exocytosis, neurons selectively retrieve vesicular membrane from the plasma membrane and reuse it to create new synaptic vesicles that are subsequently used to release more neurotransmitter. This process of bringing vesicular membrane back into the presynaptic terminal is called endocytosis. We discuss three forms of endocytosis used by neurons.
Community and Difference: Reflections in the Wake of Rodney King

Sharing Marx Wartofsky’s concern for matters of social justice, I offer these exploratory reflections on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
Transmission of Amblyomma maculatum-Associated Rickettsia spp. During Cofeeding on Cattle.

Abstract Amblyomma maculatum is the primary vector for the spotted fever group rickettsiae, Rickettsia parkeri, a known pathogen, and “Candidatus Rickettsia andeanae,” currently considered nonpatho...
Learning Equilibria in Stochastic Information Flow Tracking Games with Partial Knowledge

Dynamic Information Flow Tracking (DIFT) has been proposed to detect stealthy and persistent cyber attacks in a computer system that evade existing defense mechanisms such as firewalls and signature-based antivirus systems. A DIFTbased defense tracks the propagation of suspicious information flows across the system and dynamically generates security analysis to identify possible attacks, at the cost of additional performance and memory overhead for analyzing non-adversarial information flows. In this paper, we model the interaction between adversarial information flows and DIFT on a partially known system as a nonzero-sum stochastic game. Our game model captures the probability that the adversary evades detection even when it is analyzed using the security policies (false-negatives) and the performance overhead incurred by the defender for analyzing the non-adversarial flows in the system. We prove the existence of a Nash equilibrium (NE) and propose a supervised learning-based approach to find an approximate NE. Our approach is based on a partially input convex neural network that learns a mapping between the strategies and payoffs of the players with the available system knowledge, and an alternating optimization technique that updates the players’ strategies to obtain an approximate equilibrium. We evaluate the performance of the proposed approach and empirically show the convergence to an approximate NE for synthetic random generated graphs and real-world dataset collected using Refinable Attack INvestigation (RAIN) framework.
Vestigial Tails? Floor Brokers at the Close in Modern Electronic Markets

We study closing auction market quality on NYSE versus Nasdaq. Closing auctions now account for 10% of average volume, and trading is near-exclusive to the listing exchange. NYSE auction participants have more flexibility to submit and cancel orders through NYSE floor brokers. As a result, closing auction information is incomplete and closing price efficiency is worse on NYSE. Closing auction quality improved when NYSE halted floor trading during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reduced auction quality may not be justified by the flexibility to submit late orders. The higher broker fees and lack of closing volume competition raise additional welfare concerns.
Chromosomal Junction Detection from Whole Genome Sequencing on Formalin-fixed, Paraffin-embedded Tumors

DNA junctions (DNAJs) frequently impact clinically relevant genes in tumors and are important for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Although routinely screened through fluorescence in situ hybridization assays, such testing only allows the interrogation of single-gene regions or known fusion partners. Comprehensive assessment of DNAJs present across the entire genome can only be determined from whole-genome sequencing. Structural variance analysis from whole-genome paired-end sequencing data is, however, frequently restricted to copy number changes without DNAJ detection. Through optimized whole-genome sequencing and specialized bioinformatics algorithms, complete structural variance analysis is reported, including DNAJs, from formalin-fixed DNA. Selective library assembly from larger fragments (>500 bp) and economical sequencing depths (300 to 400 million reads) provide representative genomic coverage profiles and increased allelic coverage to levels compatible with DNAJ calling (40× to 60×). Although consistently fragmented, more recently formalin-fixed, specimens ( 90% of DNAJs in two prostate tumors (approximately 60% tumor) previously analyzed by mate-pair sequencing on fresh frozen tissue, with evidence of at least one spanning-read in 99% of DNAJs. Rigorous masking with data from unrelated formalin-fixed tissue progressively eliminated many false-positive DNAJs, without loss of true positives, resulting in low numbers of false-positive passing current filters. This methodology enables more comprehensive clinical genomics testing on formalin-fixed clinical specimens.
Complications Associated with Balloon Use

A 65-year-old male with history of prior sinus surgery presented with persistent symptoms of sinus pressure and drainage. Following appropriate medical therapy, a preoperative CT scan showed an intact skull base. A planned left anterior ethmoidectomy, maxillary sinusotomy, and balloon frontal sinusotomy was performed. Confirmation of the wire entry into the frontal sinus was performed through forehead transillumination. The balloon was inflated to 12 cm H2O and immediately following deflation, clear fluid was seen in the anterior ethmoid. The lateral lamellar defect was then repaired using an overlay graft and the patient was admitted for conservative management of CSF leak. Postoperative CT scan demonstrated the location of the defect in the left cribriform (Fig. 21.1) [1].
Sensory Afferent Renal Nerve Activated Gαi2 Subunit Proteins Mediate the Natriuretic, Sympathoinhibitory and Normotensive Responses to Peripheral Sodium Challenges

We have previously reported that brain Gαi2 subunit proteins are required to maintain sodium homeostasis and are endogenously upregulated in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) in response to increased dietary salt intake to maintain a salt resistant phenotype in rats. However, the origin of the signal that drives the endogenous activation and up-regulation of PVN Gαi2 subunit protein signal transduction pathways is unknown. By the central oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) administration we show that the pressor responses to central acute administration and central infusion of sodium chloride occur independently of brain Gαi2 protein pathways. In response to an acute volume expansion, we demonstrate, via the use of selective afferent renal denervation (ADNX) and anteroventral third ventricle (AV3V) lesions, that the sensory afferent renal nerves, but not the sodium sensitive AV3V region, are mechanistically involved in Gαi2 protein mediated natriuresis to an acute volume expansion (peak natriuresis (µeq/min) sham AV3V: 43±4 vs. AV3V 454 vs. AV3V + Gαi2 ODN 25±4, p<0.05; sham ADNX: 43±4 vs. ADNX 236, AV3V + Gαi2 ODN 25±3 p<0.05). Furthermore, in response to chronically elevated dietary sodium intake, endogenous up-regulation of PVN specific Gαi2 proteins does not involve the AV3V region and is mediated by the sensory afferent renal nerves to counter the development of the salt sensitivity of blood pressure (MAP [mmHg] 4% NaCl; Sham ADNX 1244 vs. ADNX 1454, p<0.05; Sham AV3V 1254 vs AV3V 1215). Additionally, the development of the salt sensitivity of blood pressure following central ODN-mediated Gαi2 protein down-regulation occurs independently of the actions of the brain angiotensin II type 1 receptor. Collectively, our data suggest that in response to alterations in whole body sodium the peripheral sensory afferent renal nerves, but not the central AV3V sodium sensitive region, evoke the up-regulation and activation of PVN Gαi2 protein gated pathways to maintain a salt resistant phenotype. As such, both the sensory afferent renal nerves and PVN Gαi2 protein gated pathways, represent potential targets for the treatment of the salt sensitivity of blood pressure.
Introduction to Nonlinear Control

This chapter explores some simple aspects of nonlinear control. I discuss feedback linearization, where the control has both feedback and feed forward, the latter allowing the designer to “cancel” the nonlinear parts of the problem so that linear control can be used to control the nonlinear system without approximation. I also show that systems with only revolute joints can be controlled without linearization. I apply this to kinematic chains and a simple three-element robot.
An Examination of the Ethical Dispensation of Health Care in the United States

This paper examines public policy and private sector initiatives in the management of health care. The cost of providing basic medical treatment for all Americans is a dominant aspect of this topic. In addition, there is the consideration of the accessibility of health care to minority subcultures. A specific area of medical care that is addressed in this article is organ and tissue transplants and how minorities can better avail themselves of these donor and treatment options.
Switching local search particle filtering for heat exchanger degradation prognosis

Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) or particle filtering (PF) has demonstrated effectiveness in non-linear and non-Gaussian system estimation, due to its unique approach for posterior probability density function estimation. However, classical PF techniques suffer from particle degeneracy and sample impoverishment. This paper proposes a new scheme for joint state and parameter estimation, based on the sequential importance resampling (SIR) particle filter. First, a local search strategy is proposed as a resampling strategy to overcome particle impoverishment. Second, a switching multiple modes filter is adopted to handle sudden changes of parameters in the state evolution model due to faults, which cannot be processed by conventional PF that assumes gradual parameter variations over a long period. The proposed estimation method is applied to degradation and remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of dynamic systems, such as heat exchanger in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Both natural and transient degradations are evaluated, while parameters dominating the degradation models are assumed to change before and after transient decay. The developed method is evaluated using simulation data, and results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method in state estimation and degradation prediction in heat exchanger.
Intrinsic quantum behavior of the fully ionized gas

The higher-order contributions beyond the so-called ring diagrams are studied in considerable detail in order to determine the intrinsic quantum-mechanical behavior of a nonrelativistic fully ionized gas at high temperature and low density. Previous calculations of the equation of state of this system are analysed at length and the causes for the differences in the various results are isolated. It is demonstrated that the fully ionized gas is indeed without a classical limit, and that the quantum singularities are entirely logarithmic in character. An important aspect of the present work is the summation of quantum-mechanical double bond, or ladder diagrams corresponding to exchange interactions; the latter are always significant in analysing the quantum properties of electromagnetic many-body systems.
Role of zinc ion in translational accuracy becomes crystal clear.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases play a central role in assuring a high degree of accuracy in protein synthesis. New high resolution structures of threonyl-tRNA synthetase bound to threonine or a threonyl-adenylate analog reveal how an active site zinc atom contributes to translational fidelity.
Pigment Dispersion Syndrome and Pigmentary Glaucoma

Pigment dispersion syndrome (PDS) and pigmentary glaucoma (PG) are two successive stages of the same disease process characterized by disruption of the posterior iris pigment epithelium and deposition of the dispersed pigment granules throughout the anterior segment. The classic diagnostic triad that characterizes the PDS consists of corneal endothelial pigmentation; slit-like, radial, mid-peripheral iris transillumination defects; and dense homogeneous pigmentation of the trabecular meshwork. In PDS, the anterior chamber is often deeper than normal both centrally and peripherally. The iridocorneal angle is typically wide open, the iris is inserted posteriorly into the ciliary body, and the configuration of the peripheral iris is concave1. PG is defined as glaucomatous optic neuropathy attributable to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) from PDS.
A Review of Changes in Russia's Regulatory Framework in August 2014

The following key amendments to the Russian regulatory framework were made in August 2014. Owners of living quarters will be legally bound to notify the Federal Migration Service of Russia of other individuals residing in the living quarters in legally established cases; under the Federal Law Concerning Special Evaluation of Working Conditions, the Government of Russia will streamline its regulatory framework; educational institutions will submit their students to social-physiological testing for drug abuse.
Healthiness of Business Ecosystems of OECD Countries

The HeBEx model proposes the creativity, in the form of research and development (R&D) as well as number of patents, drives opportunity which is characterized by exports and new businesses.This in turn pushes productivity, evidenced by the country's GDP. The profits derived from which fuel future innovation and investments in R&D, evidenced buy entrepreneurship indices and subsequent reinvestment.
Mutual Fund Age and Morningstar Ratings

This study investigates the relationship between the age of mutual funds and their Morningstar ratings. Using 37 different Morningstar data disks, we find and document an age bias in the Morningstar ratings. Specifically, we find that funds that are ten years or older systematically receive higher average star ratings than younger funds as a result of a weighting system that makes it more difficult for the star ratings of seasoned funds to decline. Also, similar to Blume (1998), we document that younger funds ratings are more variable than those of older funds. If we are to believe that star ratings affect fund flows, then this relationship of age and ratings is of significance to the mutual fund industry and to investors.
Zoster in the elderly: clinical, immunologic and therapeutic considerations.

Herpes zoster is common in the elderly. Persons over the age of 50 years have an attack rate double that of patients less than 50 years old. In the very aged, this rate nearly doubles again. The loss of cell-mediated immunity for the VZ virus appears to be the primary factor in the disruption of the dynamic containment process responsible for VZ virus latency within the sensory ganglion. Humoral immunity may play a role in the maintenance of latency, but the degree is unproven, except in the case of dissemination where loss of detectable antibodies seems to correlate with extradermatomal dissemination. Severe forms of the disease and its complications, e.g., postherpetic neuralgia, are likely among the elderly. Direct im-munofluorescent staining or cytologic examination is useful for early diagnosis, and serologic changes can document the confusing clinical entity of zoster sine herpete.
Advances in imaging of spinal cord injury: implications for treatment and patient evaluation.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the advances in imaging of spinal cord injury. Detailed comparison of magnetic resonance (MR) images and histopathology of injured spinal cords has allowed a deeper understanding of the nature of such injuries in both the acute and chronic stages. In addition, abnormalities seen on MR explain many of the static and progressive neurologic symptoms experienced by spine injured patients. Progressive posttraumatic myelomalacia (PPTM) superficially shares MR findings often associated with cystic changes within the cord, however in PPTM, the spin density image shows that the abnormality does not match the intensity of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Close inspection of MR images in all stages of spinal cord injuries (SCI) can reveal alterations that are important for the understanding of the changes that occur in SCI and may be crucial for planning surgical intervention. Importantly also, these observations may assist in the evaluation of novel therapies in SCI, such as cellular transplantation. MR strategies that are currently in routine use in the brain, such as diffusion weighted imaging, perfusion studies, spectroscopy, and magnetization transfer can be adopted for use in the spine. Because of the small size of the cord, the magnetic suspectability problems caused by surrounding air and bone, and nearby vascular and CSF flow/pulsations, these techniques are currently very difficult to employ in the cord.
Cardiovascular Complications of Energy Drinks

Energy drinks (EDs) are gaining popularity every year with a broad consumer base including athletes, amateur competitors, and even those experiencing work-related fatigue. Evidence indicates that a significant number of individuals who consume EDs experience resultant morbidity and/or mortality, with a preponderance of cases involving teenagers and young adults. Adverse effects of ED consumption may occur in healthy persons, however certain individuals may be particularly susceptible to complications. At-risk populations include those of young age, the caffeine-naive, or caffeine-sensitive, pregnant women, competitive athletes, and those with underlying cardiovascular disease. This paper summarizes the cardiovascular complications associated with ED use and provides suggestions on consumption of these drinks in various populations.
Membrane protein diffusion sets the speed of rod phototransduction

Retinal rods signal the activation of a single receptor molecule by a photon1. To ensure efficient photon capture, rods maintain about 109 copies of rhodopsin densely packed into membranous disks2. But a high packing density of rhodopsin may impede other steps in phototransduction that take place on the disk membrane3, by restricting the lateral movement of, and hence the rate of encounters between, the molecules involved4,5,6. Although it has been suggested that lateral diffusion of proteins on the membrane sets the rate of onset of the photoresponse7, it was later argued that the subsequent processing of the complexes was the main determinant of this rate8,9. The effects of protein density on response shut-off have not been reported. Here we show that a roughly 50% reduction in protein crowding achieved by the hemizygous knockout of rhodopsin in transgenic mice accelerates the rising phases and recoveries of flash responses by about 1.7-fold in vivo. Thus, in rods the rates of both response onset and recovery are set by the diffusional encounter frequency between proteins on the disk membrane.
Host STAT2/type I interferon axis controls tumor growth

The role of STAT2 in mediating the antigrowth effects of type I interferon (IFN) is well-documented in vitro. Yet evidence of IFN-activated STAT2 as having tumor suppressor function in vivo and participation in antitumor immunity is lacking. Here we show in a syngeneic tumor transplantation model that STAT2 reduces tumor growth. Stat2−/− mice formed larger tumors compared to wild type (WT) mice. IFN-β treatment of Stat2−/− mice did not cause tumor regression. Gene expression analysis revealed a small subset of immunomodulatory genes to be downregulated in tumors established in Stat2−/− mice. Additionally, we found tumor antigen cross-presentation by Stat2−/− dendritic cells to T cells to be impaired. Adoptive transfer of tumor antigen specific CD8+ T cells primed by Stat2−/− dendritic cells into tumor-bearing Stat2−/− mice did not induce tumor regression with IFN-β intervention. We observed that an increase in the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the draining lymph nodes of IFN-β-treated tumor-bearing WT mice was absent in IFN-β treated Stat2−/− mice. Thus our study provides evidence for further evaluation of STAT2 function in cancer patients receiving type I IFN based immunotherapy.