cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TRACING ESTUARINE SEDIMENTS BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION

Tracing the movement of dredged sediments in north San Francisco Bay was accomplished jointly by the San Francisco District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Explosive Excavation Research Laboratory (now the Explosive Effects Division of the Weapon Effects Laboratory, U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station), and the Stanford Research Institute. The study involved developing a technique which would permit the longterm tracing of fine sediments dredged from Mare Island Strait after disposal at the Carquinez Strait disposal site; application of the tracer; disposal of the tagged sediment for the February-March 1974 dredging of Mare Island Strait; sampling bottom sediments throughout the study area for a 10-month period; and, quantitative analysis of the collected samples.
Adapting Preclinical Concepts for Use in Clinical Trials of Serosal and Interstitial Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) requires an optimal combination of drug and light. To achieve the ideal conditions, a tight bond between the research laboratory and the clinic is essential. This continual 2-way street allows preclinical ideas and concepts to be tested in the clinic and refinements in technique to be made. This article clearly illustrates the close connection between the bench and the bedside, exploring intraoperative pleural PDT, challenges in matching fluence and photosensitizer, improvements in animal models that lead to adjustments in the operating room, and clinical applications for interstitial PDT in prostate cancer and beyond.
Loss of heterozygosity on murine chromosome 6 in two-stage carcinogenesis: evidence for a conserved tumor suppressor gene.

Loss of heterozygosity on murine chromosome 6 in two-stage carcinogenesis: evidence for a conserved tumor suppressor gene
Active layer hydrology in an arctic tundra ecosystem: quantifying water sources and cycling using water stable isotopes

Climate change and thawing permafrost in the Arctic will significantly alter landscape hydro-geomorphology and the distribution of soil moisture, which will have cascading effects on climate feedbacks (CO2 and CH4) and plant and microbial communities. Fundamental processes critical to predicting active layer hydrology are not well understood. This study applied water stable isotope techniques (δ2H and δ18O) to infer sources and mixing of active layer waters in a polygonal tundra landscape in Barrow, Alaska (USA), in August and September of 2012. Results suggested that winter precipitation did not contribute substantially to surface waters or subsurface active layer pore waters measured in August and September. Summer rain was the main source of water to the active layer, with seasonal ice melt contributing to deeper pore waters later in the season. Surface water evaporation was evident in August from a characteristic isotopic fractionation slope (δ2H vs δ18O). Freeze-out isotopic fractionation effects in frozen active layer samples and textural permafrost were indistinguishable from evaporation fractionation, emphasizing the importance of considering the most likely processes in water isotope studies, in systems where both evaporation and freeze-out occur in close proximity. The fractionation observed in frozen active layer ice was not observed in liquid active layer pore waters. Such a discrepancy between frozen and liquid active layer samples suggests mixing of meltwater, likely due to slow melting of seasonal ice. This research provides insight into fundamental processes relating to sources and mixing of active layer waters, which should be considered in process-based fine-scale and intermediate-scale hydrologic models. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Local steroid injection therapy in rheumatic diseases.

Local intraarticular and extraarticular administration of steroids is firmly established as a highly effective, dependable method of therapy in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and fibrositis. All practitioners who care for patients with these diseases should use the method more frequently. Strict aseptic precautions are necessary relative to the syringe, needle and material injected, and, probably even more important, accurate diagnosis is imperative. More than 75 per cent of the injections produce clinically significant benefit.
Explaining the Uneven Penetration of Industrialization in the US Dairy Sector

One of the most dramatic trends in American farm-structural change over the past several decades has been the industrialization of livestock production. Many now expect that dairying in the United States will be the next major livestock sector to succumb to the industrialization trend. This paper utilizes a multidimensional definition of industrialization to critically examine evidence for and against the dairy industrialization hypothesis. The authors find that while there is a persistent trend toward larger units of production, and a geographical shift towards states with more industrial-like farm operations, the penetration of industrial relations of production has occurred more slowly and incompletely than many have assumed. The paper concludes by noting how unique characteristics of the dairy sector help explain the uneven character of the industrialization process in the United States.
Liability issues with the Papanicolaou smear: general legal background.

. All diagnosticians are aware of malpractice and its implications. To allay justifiable fears, familiarity with legal terminology and legal procedures is invaluable. In this article, the ramifications of malpractice coverage, the tenets of risk management, and the proceedings related to a malpractice lawsuit are clarified. Factors that can decrease the possibility of a lawsuit are clear communication, precise documentation, and attention to the multiple details that are intrinsic for every laboratory.
Combination Products Are Not Solely Biological Products, Drugs, or Devices: A Regulatory Perspective

Before medical products can be marketed in the United States, it is necessary for the manufacturer to submit detailed information to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to receive marketing permission. In the past, products intended to diagnose or treat various medical conditions consisted of single-entity products – drugs, devices, and biological products. More recently, manufacturers have been pursuing combination products, diagnostic tools, or treatments that combine more than one type of medical product into a single product – drug/device, biological product/device, drug/biological product, or drug/device/biological product. Because of the unique characteristics of the individual components and differences in the legal framework governing each of these entities, the regulation of combination products presents a challenge to the regulated industry and the FDA. Interactions between staff in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health within the FDA, as well as the coordinating activities of the FDA’s Office of Combination Products, are resulting in a more streamlined review process and a clearer outline of the regulatory framework that governs these unique medical products. This article explores the regulatory environment associated with combination products compared to single-entity medical products.
Cut Points for Clinical Muscle Weakness Among Older Americans.

Introduction Muscle weakness is an important indicator of disability, chronic disease, and early mortality. Grip strength is a simple, cost-effective measure of overall muscle strength. The Foundation of the National Institutes of Health recently proposed sex-specific grip strength cut points for clinical muscle weakness. However, these criteria were established using non−nationally representative data. This study used nationally representative data on Americans aged ≥65 years to identify race- and sex-specific cut points for clinical muscle weakness and quantify prevalence among older blacks and whites by sex. Methods Classification and Regression Tree models were used to identify cut points based on individual-level grip strength associated with slow gait speed ( Results Fifty-five percent of men (maximum grip strength Conclusions Prevalence of weakness was substantially higher than previous reports, underscoring the importance of using population-level data to identify individuals at greatest risk for adverse health outcomes. This is the first study to establish cut points for muscle weakness in a nationally representative sample by race and sex.
Household Adjustments to Hurricane Katrina

This paper examines household adjustments to Hurricane Katrina by estimating the effects of Katrina-induced damages on changes in household demographics and income distributions in the Orleans Parish between 2000 and 2012. Adjustment patterns are found to be heterogeneous across ethno-racial segments, income classes, and educational attainment. Shares of middle-income and affluent households along with educated individuals decreased in severely damaged areas relative to less damaged ones. Also the share of individuals with lower educational levels and incomes below the poverty line increased in severely damaged block groups. Furthermore, the share of the white population decreased and the share of the black population increased in damaged areas for both home owners and renters. Overall adjustment patterns suggest that resource and financially constrained population adjust by moving into previously damaged areas, while economically capable households adjust by relocating to safer areas within or outside of the parish. Given estimated increases in vulnerable segments of the population in hazardous hotspots, public efforts should focus on either revitalizing poorer neighborhoods, by investing in long-term hazard mitigation measures and improving infrastructure, with segregated housing or assisting gradual population retreat to enhance community resilience and reduce vulnerability and exposure to future catastrophic events.
Clinical Reasoning: A young woman with respiratory failure, hearing loss, and paraplegia.

A 35-year-old woman with bipolar disorder presented to the emergency room (ER) obtunded with hypercapnic respiratory failure. Neurology was consulted because the patient had acute hearing loss and paraparesis. She was last seen normal the prior night by her ex-husband. Paramedics found her on the couch, obtunded, bradypneic, and hypoxic to 82% SpO2, blood pressure 116/79 mm Hg, heart rate 98 beats per minute, and normothermic. She awakened after 0.4 mg of naloxone administration. Home medications included oxycodone/acetaminophen for chronic pain and venlafaxine, alprazolam, and lamotrigine for bipolar disorder. Of note, 34 pills were missing from the oxycodone/acetaminophen bottle.
Providing Software as a Service: a design decision(s) model

We examine how Software as a Service (SaaS) providers make different design decisions using a theoretical model. We consider two non-functional attributes: modularity of the software architecture and the architectural performance of the software. We model the relationship of these two attributes with factors such as user preferences, user demand, and the price of the service. In a significant departure from traditional models of IS product development, we considered marginal cost and maintenance cost of providing SaaS service to recognize that the SaaS service has characteristics of both a product and a service. We show how to find the optimal values of design attributes that maximize SaaS provider’s profits, taking into account relevant factors such as user preferences, user demand and service price. Our research provides one of the first analytical models of optimal design decision making by SaaS providers. We use the model to further show how the SaaS providers should adjust the service design in response to changes in user preferences, associated costs and other relevant factors.
Analysis of air gap volume in structural firefighter turnout suit constructions in relation to heat loss

Air layers in multi-layer firefighter clothing ensembles resist heat transfer from the body to the environment. By reducing the volume of air between clothing layers, heat loss may be improved thro...
Vaginal Hysterectomy: Instrumentation and Apparatuses

Successful vaginal surgery is dependent on several factors including the skills and experience of the surgeon, adequate surgical assistance, lighting, proper anesthesia, and medical care of the patient pre-, intra-, and postoperatively. Even when all of these factors are optimized, surgical instrumentation can significantly facilitate completion of a challenging operation and, if properly chosen, can extend the skills and efficiency of the surgeon to the benefit of the patient. Instruments used in vaginal hysterectomy are exceptionally important because the size of the operating field is determined by the patient’s anatomy, not by the size of an incision that is made by the surgeon. The caliber, depth, and axis of the vagina are of primary importance in defining the operative field. Instrumentation used in abdominal or endoscopic hysterectomy may or may not be useful when adapted to vaginal work; however, an innovative surgeon is not hesitant to use instruments that have previously been developed for other operative approaches or for use by other specialties elsewhere in the body. In this chapter, discussion will be developed for basic instrumentation for the routine hysterectomy and more specialized instrumentation will be discussed for more difficult or unique cases (Kovac and Zimmerman Advances in reconstructive vaginal surgery 87–94, 2006).
Pathological ER Stress in β Cells

Diabetes mellitus is a global chronic disease, major cause of morbidity and mortality, and significantly decreases both quality of life and life expectancy. The reduction in functional β cell mass due to increased β cell apoptosis and decreased β cell proliferation is a crucial factor in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. Mounting clinical and experimental research findings suggest that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) play fundamental roles in the diminution of functional β cell mass during the prediabetic phase. In this chapter, the physiological purpose of ER stress in the pancreatic β cell is reviewed and the pathological features of chronic ER stress and unwarranted UPR activation in the progression to β cell dysfunction and diabetes progression are described. The molecular pathways activated during the transition from physiological to pathological UPR and proapoptotic signaling in a variety of environmental and genetic diabetic conditions are addressed. In addition, therapeutic approaches to modulate the level of β cell ER stress and mitigate UPR activation are discussed. Finally, we propose that the identification of clinical biomarkers for detection of overt ER stress and UPR activation would herald ER stress and the UPR as viable targets in the prevention of diabetes progression or treatment of established diabetes.
Unsupervised Selection of Negative Examples for Grounded Language Learning

There has been substantial work in recent years on grounded language acquisition, in which language and sensor data are used to create a model relating linguistic constructs to the perceivable world. While powerful, this approach is frequently hindered by ambiguities, redundancies, and omissions found in natural language. We describe an unsupervised system that learns language by training visual classifiers, first selecting important terms from object descriptions, then automatically choosing negative examples from a paired corpus of perceptual and linguistic data. We evaluate the effectiveness of each stage as well as the system's performance on the overall learning task.
Deferred treatment is a safe and viable option for selected patients with mantle cell lymphoma

Prospective identification of candidates for deferred therapy is not standardized and many patients receive immediate therapy regardless of risk. We conducted a retrospective, multi-center cohort a...
Experimental Validation of Thermal Performance of a Plate Heat Exchanger (PHX) with Phase Change Materials (PCM) for Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

Thermal energy storage (TES) platforms can help to improve the energy efficiency of various types of thermal management systems by actively modulating the transient response of these integrated thermal systems. A novel strategy for TES platforms involve the integration of Phase Change Materials (PCM) into various types of heat exchangers (HX). High performance, compact, and low cost HX platforms for TES involving PCM are often desired for applications such as power plants, edifice thermal management, transportation technologies (e.g., aerospace and automotive vehicles), and high heat flux electronics cooling. These applications are often constrained by requirements for minimizing pressure loss, miniaturizing the form factors, and the need for easy scalability to large systems. This imposes steep challenges for design, fabrication, and operation of these HX platforms. This also severely restricts the available options and material choices for PCM. In this experimental study, the transient performance of a Plate Heat Exchanger (PHX) integrated with PCM were analyzed for realizing a Latent Heat Storage Unit (LHSU). This study enabled a detailed experimental characterization of the efficacy of the LHSU realized in a PHX (model: SWEP B5T). The inner volume of the PHX was filled up with PCM. The PCM considered was PureTemp 29 with a phase transition temperature of 29 °C. The temperature of the Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) was varied from 32°C - 38°C for melting and 20°C - 26°C for solidification. The HTF used in this study was water. The volumetric flow-rate ranged from 5, 7.5 and 10 GPH. Experimental validation for the transient response of the LHSU (i.e. the charging and discharging time periods) were performed by parametrically varying the design and operational conditions, which include: flow rate, fluid inlet and exit temperatures, and the energy storage capacity.
Association of monocyte myeloperoxidase with incident cardiovascular disease: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a heme-containing peroxidase found in azurophilic granules of neutrophils and monocytes. Epidemiological studies have reported greater plasma MPO concentration to be associated with increased incidence of several cardiovascular diseases (CVD), but the association of intracellular monocyte MPO (mMPO) with CVD is unclear. The prospective population-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort study measured mMPO using flow cytometry in 1,465 participants. The association of mMPO with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD, comprising incident coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and cardiovascular mortality) was examined over a median 9.6 years of follow-up (n = 290 CVD events). There was no statistically significant association between mMPO and all incident CVD events in either age, sex, and race-adjusted proportional hazards models (HR (95% CI) across tertiles of mMPO: 1, 1.09 (0.76, 1.57), and 0.78 (0.52, 1.15), P-trend = 0.21) or adjusted for other major CVD risk factors (HR (95% CI): 1, 1.17 (0.81, 1.69), and 0.87 (0.58, 1.29), P-trend = 0.50). There also was no association between mMPO tertiles and incident CHD, heart failure, or all-cause mortality, examined separately. In conclusion, intracellular monocyte myeloperoxidase was not associated with incident cardiovascular disease in this prospective population-based study.
A Cybernetic Theory of Psychopathology

Cybernetics, the study of principles governing goal-directed, self-regulating systems, offers a useful approach to understanding psychopathology or psychological dysfunction, overcoming limitations...
Enhancing Wall-Plug Efficiency for Deep-UV Light-Emitting Diodes: From Crystal Growth to Devices

Deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (200–280 nm) have many potential applications in diagnostics, therapeutics, security, and tanning. But, the state-of-the-art LEDs suffer from low external quantum efficiency (< 20%). The external quantum efficiency is composed of internal quantum efficiency, injection efficiency, and the light extraction efficiency. These components are limited due to fundamental material and physics-based challenges. In this chapter, a set of novel heterostructure designs are presented to improve the individual efficiency components that compose the external quantum efficiency. Theoretical analysis followed by crystal growth and experimental data are presented showing enhancement of each efficiency components. Inclusion of such new design techniques will enhance the external quantum efficiency of deep-UV light emitters.
Longitudinal analysis of epigenome-wide DNA methylation reveals novel smoking-related loci in African Americans.

Changes in DNA methylation may be a potential mechanism that mediates the effects of smoking on physiological function and subsequent disease risk. Given the dynamic nature of the epigenome, longit...
AutoPhase: Compiler Phase-Ordering for HLS with Deep Reinforcement Learning

The performance of the code generated by a compiler depends on the order in which the optimization passes are applied. In high-level synthesis, the quality of the generated circuit relates directly to the code generated by the front-end compiler. Choosing a good order–often referred to as the phase-ordering problem–is an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we evaluate a new technique to address the phase-ordering problem: deep reinforcement learning. We implement a framework in the context of the LLVM compiler to optimize the ordering for HLS programs and compare the performance of deep reinforcement learning to state-of-the-art algorithms that address the phase-ordering problem. Overall, our framework runs one to two orders of magnitude faster than these algorithms, and achieves a 16% improvement in circuit performance over the -O3 compiler flag.
U.S. consumer m-commerce involvement: Using in-depth interviews to propose an acceptance model of shopping apps-based m-commerce

AbstractM-commerce refers to electronic commerce (e-commerce) using mobile devices such as smartphones. M-commerce takes two different forms: one using mobile web browsers, and the other, using sma...
Concluding and Continuing the Work: Lessons Learned and Future Research

This chapter explains the knowledge we gained from our Community-Based Participatory Research process while offering both recommendations and additional considerations for future research. Most importantly, we provide suggestions for how to more fully engage in the research process and outline where our work and the work of others can fall short. Finally, we explain how our process might offer readers insight into their own research methods and how they might impact co-researchers and participants and thereby the knowledge they co-create and their impact on marginalized communities.
Successful Treatment of Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris with Brodalumab

Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris (PRP) is a rare inflammatory skin disease with highly variable clinical appearance. Treatment of PRP remains a challenge and has been mostly guided by case reports and case series. We report the first case of pityrisis rubra pilaris that is successfully treated with combination therapy of brodalumab and methotrexate.
Delayed patch test reaction to budesonide in an 8-year-old

Topical corticosteroids are an emerging cause of allergic contact dermatitis in children that may often be missed. It is important to consider patch testing with corticosteroids to detect allergic contact dermatitis in patients with persistent or worsening of dermatitis despite topical corticoseroid treatment. However, delayed reactions (>7 days) to topical corticosteroids may occur, leading to false-negative reactions and misdiagnosis. Herein, we report a case of an 8-year-old girl who developed a positive reaction to budesonide on day 12 of patch testing.
Estimating the Cost of Point-of-Care Early Infant Diagnosis in a Program Setting: A Case Study Using Abbott m-PIMA and Cepheid GeneXpert IV in Zimbabwe.

Background Point-of-care early infant diagnosis (POC EID) increases access to HIV test results and shortens time to result-return and antiretroviral therapy initiation, as compared to central laboratory-based EID. However, to scale-up POC EID, governments need more information about programmatic costs. Methods We evaluated POC EID costs from a health systems perspective. Our primary analysis assessed the Abbott m-PIMA and 2 versions of the Cepheid GeneXpert IV platforms-with a solar battery or gel battery-used in Zimbabwe, with instrument purchase. We also included the following 2 scenarios with zero upfront equipment purchase: (1) m-PIMA using a reagent rental model, with an all-inclusive price when the buyer commits to an average testing volume, and (2) GeneXpert IV, reflecting contexts where GeneXpert is already in place for tuberculosis diagnosis or HIV viral load monitoring. We collected data from project expenditures, observations of health workers, and from government salary scales. We calculated cost per EID test based on number of EID tests performed on each machine per day. Results The cost per successfully completed test was $44.55 for m-PIMA with platform purchase and $25.89 for m-PIMA reagent rental. Costs for GeneXpert IV with platform purchase were $25.70 using a solar battery, $25.29 using a gel battery, and $23.85 under a scenario assuming no equipment costs. In our primary analyses, materials costs comprised 73%-74% total costs, equipment 14%-20%, labor 5%-8%, training 1%, facility upgrades 1%, and monitoring 1%. Conclusions As countries consider scaling up POC EID, these data are important for budgeting and planning.
Angiotensin Receptor Heterogeneity in the Dorsal Medulla Oblongata as Defined by Angiotensin-(1–7)

Our research efforts over the past few years addressed the anatomical origin and pharmacological characteristics of the saturable, high affinity angiotensin (Ang) II binding sites found in the dorsomedial medulla and the intra- and extracranial segments of the vagus nerves. We related these findings to the production of hemodynamic responses following direct application of the peptide at physiologically relevant doses at sites within the dorsomedial medulla oblongata. Work also began to determine whether other endogenous peptides in the angiotensin family, particularly the des-Phe8-Ang II or Ang-(1–7), may selectively act at angiotensin receptors in various tissues. Studies addressing the functional significance of Ang-(1–7) indicated that this peptide was selective for subpopulations of Ang II binding sites. In this report we review recent findings and present new evidence that the actions of Ang-(1–7) in brain may be mediated by a specific subset(s) of Ang II receptors.
Environmental Justice, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders

Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders, and the environment they are in relationship with, have been the targets of exploitation, extraction, and destruction. Environmental atrocities throughout the Pacific have demonstrated how imperialism, capitalism, and white supremacy drive destruction through efforts to dominate and exploit for material gain. The relationship between Pacific people and the environment, which defines who they are socially, spiritually, and ancestrally, continues to be damaged and even severed by these injustices. The purpose of this article is to provide examples of major environmental injustices in the Pacific and to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between settler colonialism and environmental injustices. Indigenous knowledge, with a focus on traditional ecological knowledge, is incorporated not just to demonstrate the deep impact of injustices on Pacific people's cultures but also to highlight how this way of knowing cultivates a path to revitalization and community resilience. Cultural practices rooted in traditional ecological knowledge, such as the preservation of food systems, promote reciprocity between living beings and self-determination, necessary for community flourishing. With this understanding, Pacific peoples' relationship with their land offers further evidence of the critical role culture and Indigenous knowledge can play in environmental justice policies and practices.
Abstract 15951: B-type Natriuretic Peptide and Prognosis of Covid-19 in New York City

Background: The association of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and in-hospital outcomes of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unknown. Our aim of this study was to investigate the indepen...
Twinning‐induced large tensile strains in directionally-solidified Fe100−xGax oligocrystals

Abstract Fe100−xGax alloys require highly textured samples for optimal magnetostrictive performance, which is often accomplished through directional solidification. In this study, we measure the mechanical properties of commercial Fe81.6Ga18.4 oligocrystals using sub-sized tensile specimens and digital image correlation (DIC). While many samples fractured around 360 MPa (the literature yield/tensile stress), most had discontinuous yielding as low as 186 MPa. Many of the samples also exhibited surprisingly large tensile strains, up to 5%, with substantial specimen-to-specimen variability. In all specimens, DIC showed high strain bands that develop at very defined angles, in agreement with electron back-scattered diffraction, which revealed significant deformation twinning.
'Expert advice' for developing decision support: A qualitative study of women who have experienced periviable birth.

Abstract Objective To elicit advice from women who have experienced periviable birth to optimize periviable counseling, care, and decision support. Methods We conducted a qualitative study among 21 women who experienced periviable deliveries within three years. Using semi-structured interviews, we asked participants what advice they would offer providers and women/families based on their own experiences. Interviews were independently coded by three trained coders. Results For providers: Participants said to be ‘patient’ and appreciate the novelty of each family’s experience. They suggested being ‘realistic’ and ‘factual’; favored joint OB/Neonatology counseling; and encouraged providers to attend to maternal guilt and self-blame. For women/families: They encouraged asking questions, avoiding the internet, and finding joy in whatever time they had with their child. For hospitals: They advocated for changes to facilitate more mother/baby contact. Conclusion Providers can support parents by presenting facts, showing empathy and patience, and reassuring women that they are not to blame. This study highlights patient perspectives to improve interactions with providers, optimize women/families’ experiences, and advance efforts toward developing patient-centered systems of periviable care. Practice implications Women who experience periviable birth desire counseling that is empathetic and ‘realistic’, encouragement to ask questions, and reassurance that outcomes are not their fault.
Fatal Dengue Acquired in Florida.

Fatal Dengue Acquired in Florida A woman presented with acute cholecystitis to a hospital in Miami. She subsequently died from complications of locally acquired dengue virus infection.
Super-Cloudlet: Rethinking Edge Computing in the Era of Open Optical Networks

Edge computing is an attractive architecture to efficiently provide compute resources to many applications that demand specific QoS requirements. The edge compute resources are in close geographical proximity to where the applications’ data originate from and/or are being supplied to, thus avoiding unnecessary back and forth data transmission with a data center far away. This paper describes a federated edge computing system in which compute resources at multiple edge sites are dynamically aggregated together to form distributed super-cloudlets and best respond to varying application-driven loads. In its simplest form a super-cloudlet consists of compute resources available at two edge computing sites or cloudlets that are (temporarily) interconnected by dedicated optical circuits deployed to enable low-latency and high-rate data exchanges. A super-cloudlet architecture is experimentally demonstrated over the largest public OpenROADM optical network testbed up to date consisting of commercial equipment from six suppliers. The software defined networking (SDN) PROnet Orchestrator is upgraded to both concurrently manage the resources offered by the optical network equipment, compute nodes, and associated Ethernet switches and achieve three key functionalities of the proposed super-cloudlet architecture, i.e., service placement, auto-scaling, and offloading.
Quantile-Dependent Expressivity of Serum Uric Acid Concentrations.

Objective "Quantile-dependent expressivity" occurs when the effect size of a genetic variant depends upon whether the phenotype (e.g., serum uric acid) is high or low relative to its distribution. Analyses were performed to test whether serum uric acid heritability is quantile-specific and whether this could explain some reported gene-environment interactions. Methods Serum uric acid concentrations were analyzed from 2151 sibships and 12,068 offspring-parent pairs from the Framingham Heart Study. Quantile-specific heritability from offspring-parent regression slopes (β OP, h 2 = 2β OP/(1 + r spouse)) and full-sib regression slopes (β FS, h 2 = {(1 + 8r spouse β FS)0.5 - 1}/(2r spouse)) was robustly estimated by quantile regression with nonparametric significance assigned from 1000 bootstrap samples. Results Quantile-specific h 2 (±SE) increased with increasing percentiles of the offspring's sex- and age-adjusted uric acid distribution when estimated from β OP (P trend = 0.001): 0.34 ± 0.03 at the 10th, 0.36 ± 0.03 at the 25th, 0.41 ± 0.03 at the 50th, 0.46 ± 0.04 at the 75th, and 0.49 ± 0.05 at the 90th percentile and when estimated from β FS (P trend = 0.006). This is consistent with the larger genetic effect size of (1) the SLC2A9 rs11722228 polymorphism in gout patients vs. controls, (2) the ABCG2 rs2231142 polymorphism in men vs. women, (3) the SLC2A9 rs13113918 polymorphism in obese patients prior to bariatric surgery vs. two-year postsurgery following 29 kg weight loss, (4) the ABCG2 rs6855911 polymorphism in obese vs. nonobese women, and (5) the LRP2 rs2544390 polymorphism in heavier drinkers vs. abstainers. Quantile-dependent expressivity may also explain the larger genetic effect size of an SLC2A9/PKD2/ABCG2 haplotype for high vs. low intakes of alcohol, chicken, or processed meats. Conclusions Heritability of serum uric acid concentrations is quantile-specific.
An Unusual Presentation of Inflammatory Shoulder Arthritis Associated with Nivolumab: A Case Report.

CASE A 68-year-old woman with a history of stage IIIC (T3bN1bM0) melanoma with metastases to her right axilla status after 10 cycles of nivolumab presented with right shoulder pain. Radiographs showed a progressive erosive glenohumeral joint lesion. The workup was negative for metastasis and infection. Her clinical and radiographic findings were consistent with erosive arthritis. The patient underwent shoulder hemiarthroplasty and experienced substantial improvements. CONCLUSION This is an unusual case of inflammatory arthritis associated with nivolumab, an antiprogrammed cell death protein 1, and is an important reminder of the musculoskeletal toxicities associated with immunotherapies.
An Oral Pressure Conversion Ratio as a Predictor of Vocal Efficiency

Voice production is an inefficient process in terms of energy expended versus acoustic energy produced. A traditional efficiency measure, glottal efficiency, relates acoustic power radiated from the mouth to aerodynamic power produced in the trachea. This efficiency ranges between 0.0001% and 1.0%. It involves lung pressure and hence would appear to be a useful effort measure for a given acoustic output. Difficulty in the combined measurement of lung pressure and tracheal airflow, however, has impeded clinical application of glottal efficiency. This article uses the large data base from Schutte (1980) and a few new measurements to validate a pressure conversion ratio (PCR) as a substitute for glottal efficiency. PCR has the potential for wide application because of low cost and ease of use in clinics and vocal studios.
Teaching Complex Verbal Operants with the PEAK Relational Training System

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of five packaged protocols from the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK) curriculum. The skills targeted in the study included complex verbal operants proposed by Skinner (Verbal behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1957), an area that is lacking in the current literature. The target skills included autoclitics, metonymical tacts, tacting planet names, and guessing. The results suggest that the PEAK methodology was effective in teaching each of the targeted skills to a mastery criterion, as well as maintenance of those skills at a 2-week follow-up phase.
Illuminating the dark side of web services

Publisher Summary Web Services are widely heralded as a step to the next generation of computing and a basis for resolving integration, one of the largest IT challenges. Web Services have much to learn from the development of database management systems (DBMSs) and the DBMS community has much to contribute to realizing Web Services. Web Services have much to learn from the failures of previous Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs). In the 1980s, several distributed computing proposals emerged including the open software foundation's distributed computing environment (DCE), the object management group's (OMG's) common object request broker architecture (CORBA), Microsoft's distributed component object model (DCOM), as well as several distributed DBMS prototypes and products. These distributed computing proposals where part of the widely accepted notion of an SOA based on modularization, encapsulation, and re-use in which services could be invoked remotely and transparently across a distributed computing environment.
The Legalization of Drugs: Drug Legalization: Production and Sale

S uppose I am correct that some or even all of the drugs pre- sently criminalized for recreational purposes should be decriminalized. This conclusion, although defensible on grounds of justice, only begins to describe a comprehensive drug policy. A complete account must take a position on the thorny issue of production and sale of decriminalized drugs. A given drug is legalized when its production and sale are not criminal offenses. Should newly decriminalized drugs be legalized? This is the issue I propose to address in this final chapter. My discussion will only scratch the surface of this complex topic. The first point to recall is that drug decriminalization and legalization are separate issues. Decriminalization, as I have defined it, has no direct implications for production or sale. It is entirely consistent with punishing producers and/or sellers of newly decriminalized drugs. Many official government reports – such as that of the Shafer Commission – have made this very recommendation, at least for marijuana. Anyone who believes that this combination of policies is incoherent should be reminded of our nation's history. From 1920 to 1933 – the era known simply as prohibition – the sale (or production for sale) of alcohol was a federal offense. But the use of alcohol was not a crime. Of course, few historians believe this combination of policies worked well. Some go so far as to describe it as a disaster. Still, alcohol prohibition was a reality.
Hypophosphatasia: Nature's Window on Alkaline Phosphatase Function in Humans

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the role of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in hypophosphatasia. ALPs are found in nearly all plant and animal species and in humans, four ALP isoenzymes are encoded by four separate genes. Three of the isoenzymes are expressed in a tissue-specific distribution and are called intestinal, placental, and germ cell (placental-like) ALP. The fourth ALP isoenzyme is ubiquitous, but is especially abundant in hepatic, skeletal, and renal tissue (liver/bone/kidney ALP) and is known as tissue-nonspecific ALP (TNSALP). The TNSALP gene is located near the end of the short arm of chromosome 1 and is greater than 50 kb and contains 12 exons, 11 of which are translated to form the 507 amino acid nascent enzyme. Despite the presence of relatively high levels of TNSALP in bone, liver, kidney, and adrenal tissue in healthy individuals the effect of hypophosphatasia centers on the skeleton and dentition. The most pernicious form of hypophosphatasia is expressed in utero and can cause stillbirth. Profound skeletal hypomineralization results in caput membraneceum, and limbs that are shortened and deformed during gestation and at birth. Some affected neonates survive several days or weeks, but then suffer from increasing respiratory compromise because of rachitic disease of the chest and because of lungs that are hypoplastic. Infantile hypophosphatasia presents before the age of 6 months where the postnatal development often seems normal, until the onset of poor feeding and inadequate weight gain, and the clinical manifestations of rickets are recognized. The cranial sutures appear to be wide, but actually reflect hypomineralization of the skull and often there is a “functional” craniosynostosis. Childhood hypophosphatasia is especially variable in its clinical expression where premature loss of deciduous teeth results from aplasia, hypoplasia, or dysplasia of dental cementum.
Obesity and mobility disability in the older adult

Mobility disability is becoming prevalent in the obese older population (> or = 60 years of age). We included a total of 13 cross-sectional and 15 longitudinal studies based on actual physical assessments of mobility in the obese older population in this review. We systematically examined existing evidence of which adiposity estimate best predicted mobility disability. Cross-sectional studies (82-4000 participants) showed poorer lower extremity mobility with increasing obesity severity in both men and women. All longitudinal studies (1-22 years) except for one, reported relationships between adiposity and declining mobility. While different physical tests made interpretation challenging, a consistent finding was that walking, stair climbing and chair rise ability were compromised with obesity, especially if the body mass index (BMI) exceeded 35 kg m(-2). More studies found that obese women were at an increased risk for mobility impairment than men. Existing evidence suggests that BMI and waist circumference are emerging as the more consistent predictors of the onset or worsening of mobility disability. Limited interventional evidence shows that weight loss is related with increased mobility and lower extremity function. Additional longitudinal studies are warranted that address overall body composition fat and muscle mass or change on future disability.
Expanding the Vocabulary of Multitouch Input using Magnetic Fingerprints

We present magnetic fingerprints; an input technique for mobile touchscreen devices that uses a small magnet attached to a user's fingernail in order to differentiate between a normal touch and a magnetic touch. The polarity of the magnet can be used to create different magnetic fingerprints where this technique takes advantage of the rich vocabulary offered by the use of multitouch input. User studies investigate the accuracy of magnetic fingerprint recognition in relation to magnet size, number of magnetic fingerprints used; and size of the touchscreen. Studies found our technique to be limited to using up to two fingerprints non-simultaneously, while achieving a high classification accuracy (95%) but it nearly triples the number of distinguishable multi touch events. Potential useful applications of this technique are presented.
Diel hypoxia alters fitness in growth-limited estuarine fish (Fundulus grandis)

Abstract In shallow estuaries and tidal creeks circadian cycles of water column photosynthesis and respiration can produce daily periods of hypoxia (dissolved oxygen (DO) ≤ 2 mg/L). Sustained exposure to cyclic hypoxia is associated with smaller gonadosomatic index (GSI, gonad mass/body mass without gonad) and lower sex steroid hormone concentrations in wild Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis Baird & Girard, 1853; Cheek, Landry, Steele, and Manning. 2009. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 392:211–221). The aims of this study were to (1) quantify the effect of diel hypoxia on reproductive success, (2) identify any statistically significant associations between egg production and measures of physiological status, (3) estimate fertilized egg production of wild F. grandis using equations derived from (2), and (4) identify any statistically significant associations between environmental conditions and egg production. Experiment 1 measured reproductive success, growth, and physiological status in response to simulated Gulf of Mexico tidal creek conditions: 3 h episodes of hypoxia (DO ≤ 2 mg/L) daily for 30 days. Growth was negative and similar between treatments. Daily and cumulative egg productions were significantly lower in the hypoxia-exposed fish, but fertilization rate was unchanged. Experiment 2 quantified reproductive success, growth, and physiological status under longer hypoxic episodes, 5 h daily for 30 days. Growth was positive and similar between treatments. Neither egg production nor fertilization rate was altered by exposure to diel hypoxia. GSI and steroid hormone concentrations were similar under normoxia or diel hypoxia of 3 or 5 h duration. In fish with negative growth, female GSI was a strong predictor of cumulative fertilized egg number: y = 110.28x − 12.66, where y is √(cumulative fertilized eggs per female) and x = arcsin√GSI (r2 = 0.67, F = 7.9, p = 0.05). Using this equation, egg production by wild fish captured in Weeks Bay, AL and Pensacola Bay, FL was estimated from measured GSI. At sites with diel hypoxia, egg production estimates were 50–85% lower compared to sites with little or no daily hypoxia in the same estuary. Across estuaries and years, body size and mean DO during the 48 h prior to fish collection were positively associated with female GSI. Identification of statistical associations between egg production and GSI and between GSI, body size, and 48 h mean DO can support mathematical models predicting population responses to hypoxia.