cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PET/CT versus bone marrow biopsy in the initial evaluation of bone marrow infiltration in various pediatric malignancies.

Accurate staging is essential in the prognosis and management of pediatric malignancies. Current protocols require screening for marrow infiltration with bone marrow biopsy (BMB) as the gold standard. Positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET–CT) is commonly used to complete the staging process and can also be used to evaluate marrow infiltration. Objective To compare PET–CT and BMB in the initial evaluation of bone marrow infiltration in pediatric cancers. Design/method We retrospectively reviewed new cases of EWS, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, and lymphoma diagnosed between January 2009 and October 2014. Each case had undergone both PET–CT and BMB within 4 weeks without treatment in the interval between screening modalities. Results We reviewed 69 cases. Bone marrow infiltration was demonstrated in 34 cases by PET–CT and in 18 cases by BMB. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of PET–CT were both 100%. Interestingly, the cases in which infiltration was not detected on BMB had an abnormal marrow signal on PET–CT focal or distant to iliac crest. Conclusion PET–CT has a high sensitivity when assessing marrow infiltration in pediatric malignancies. Advances in radiologic modalities may obviate the use of invasive, painful, and costly procedures like BMB. Furthermore, biopsy results are limited by insufficient tissue or the degree of marrow infiltration (diffuse vs. focal disease). PET–CT can improve the precision of biopsy when used as a guiding tool. This study proposes the use of PET–CT as first-line screening for bone marrow infiltration to improve the accuracy of staging in new diagnoses.
Effect of age and castration on serum anti-Müllerian hormone concentration in male alpacas.

Abstract The synthesis of anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) by the Sertoli cells in males is crucial for sexual differentiation. There are no studies on AMH in Camelids. The objectives of this research were to 1) compare AMH serum concentrations in prepubertal and adult male alpacas and 2) determine the effect of castration on these concentrations in adult males to provide a validation of a commercial AMH test in alpacas. Serum samples were obtained from 15 prepubertal animals (5 for each age groups of 6, 7 and 8 months) and from 5 adult males (age 5–9 years), pre- and 24 h post-castration. AMH was determined with a quantitative ELISA according to the manufacture's instructions. There was not significant difference (P
Non-Governmental Organizations and the African State

This chapter examines the relationship between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the state in Africa. The central argument of the chapter is that development-oriented NGOs are filling the needs gap that has been created as the result of the failure or neglect of African states to adequately provide basic services for the majority of their citizens. The failure is caused by three major sets of factors: (1) the structural adjustment programs that were imposed by the Bretton Woods institutions—International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; (2) the strangulating effects of huge external debts; and (3) pervasive corruption in the political economies of African states. Similarly, the chapter argues that, like the state in Africa, the “market” has also failed to provide for the basic needs of the majority of the citizens in these African states. In turn, this has led to the proliferation of development-oriented NGOs on the continent. Importantly, the chapter asserts that state-NGO relations in Africa are shaped by broader economic, political and social factors mediated by the compatibility of development objectives.
Invited panel: The future of blocks programming

Five blocks programming environment developers were invited to share their thoughts about the future of blocks programming and seed a discussion among all attendees about this topic for the final session of the workshop.
Youth Political Engagement in Australia and the United States: Student Councils and Volunteer Organizations as Communities of Practice

Purpose: Lave and Wenger’s Communities of Practice is presented as a conceptual framework for examining extracurricular activities as a part of democratic schools’ contribution to students’ civic engagement. Data from the IEA Civic Education Study is analyzed to investigate research questions on the association between participation in two civic communities of practice (student council and volunteer organizations) and two types of expected adult political participation as well as trust in political institutions in Australia and the United States. Method/Approach: The methodology examined data from students in nationally representative samples of schools that surveyed 14-year-olds in 1999. This was the most recent large scale study of civic education in which these two countries participated. Analysis of variance examined main effects and statistical interactions, especially by gender. Findings: Findings were that in both countries, participation in the two civic communities of practice was associated with higher levels of trust in political institutions and greater expectations to become an informed voter and an active citizen. The results also suggest that male and female students in the United States experience these communities of practice in different ways. Practical advantages to encouraging democratic communities of practice are important to the experience of democracy at school.
Maximum power specification management feature in Intel Xeon CPUs

The drivers for performance improvement across server processor generations such as higher core count, frequency and more parallel processing have a fundamental correlation with the maximum electrical power (PMax) specifications. This specification determines the size of the motherboard power supply, the rack power supply and ultimately the server farm power capacity. Consequently, mechanisms to reduce the impact of PMax on power delivery are extremely valuable. This paper describes a novel, scalable feature in the newest line of Intel Xeon Processors that curbs the rising PMax specifications without any loss in performance.
Ultrasound Imaging of Thyroid Cancer

Ultrasound is an ideal imaging modality for detection and assessment of thyroid cancer because it is widely available and is highly sensitive for both detection and characterization of thyroid nodules due to improvements in transducer technology. It does not involve ionizing radiation and can be combined with fine-needle-aspiration biopsy. Recent consensus guidelines from the American Thyroid Association highlight the importance of ultrasound and state that thyroid ultrasound should be performed in all patients with a suspected thyroid nodule, nodular goiter, or radiographic thyroid abnormality; e.g., a nodule found incidentally on CT, PET, MRI, carotid Doppler, or other radiographic examinations.
BAP1 loss is unusual in well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma and may predict development of malignant mesothelioma.

Summary Literature on BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) expression status in well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma (WDPM) is limited. In the present study, we examined the prevalence of BAP1 loss in WDPM by immunohistochemistry with clinical correlation, along with CDKN2A deletion status by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Eight patients diagnosed as having WDPM were identified from the surgical pathology file. Adenomatoid tumors (n = 8) and malignant mesothelioma (MM) (n = 39) were included for comparison. BAP1 immunohistochemistry was performed on representative block(s) from each case. CDKN2A FISH was also performed in the WDPMs and adenomatoid tumors. Clinical information was obtained from the medical records. Three of 8 WDPM patients showed synchronous or metachronous MM. All 3 cases showed BAP1 loss in both WDPM and the matched MM. Single-nucleotide polymorphism genomic microarray (n = 3) demonstrated a similar genetic profile in the WDPM and MM components, which supports their clonal relationship. The remaining 5 WDPM cases had intact BAP1 expression and had no evidence of disease on follow-up imaging studies at 1 to 71 months (median, 35 months). All 8 adenomatoid tumors had intact BAP1 expression, whereas 17 of 39 MM had BAP1 loss. CDKN2A FISH was negative for deletion in 4 WDPMs tested (including the case that developed MM) and all 8 adenomatoid tumors. In our study, WDPM did not show CDKN2A deletion in any case. BAP1 loss was also absent in all pure WDPM cases but was identified in all WDPM with synchronous or metachronous MM. Similar genetic landscape in WDPM and MM components suggested their clonal relationship.
STTR: A System for Tracking All Vehicles All the Time At the Edge of the Network

To fully exploit the capabilities of sensors in real life, especially cameras, smart camera surveillance requires the cooperation from both domain experts in computer vision and systems. Existing alert-based smart surveillance is only capable of tracking a limited number of suspicious objects, while in most real-life applications, we often do not know the perpetrator ahead of time for tracking their activities in advance. In this work, we propose a radically different approach to smart surveillance for vehicle tracking. Specifically, we explore a smart camera surveillance system aimed at tracking all vehicles in real time. The insight is not to store the raw videos, but to store the space-time trajectories of the vehicles. Since vehicle tracking is a continuous and geo-distributed task, we assume a geo-distributed Fog computing infrastructure as the execution platform for our system. To bound the storage space for storing the trajectories on each Fog node (serving the computational needs of a camera), we focus on the activities of vehicles in the vicinity of a given camera in a specific geographic region instead of the time dimension, and the fact that every vehicle has a "finite" lifetime. To bound the computational and network communication requirements for detection, re-identification, and inter-node communication, we propose novel techniques, namely, forward and backward propagation that reduces the latency for the operations and the communication overhead. STTR is a system for smart surveillance that we have built embodying these ideas. For evaluation, we develop a toolkit upon SUMO to emulate camera detections from traffic flow and adopt MaxiNet to emulate the fog computing infrastructure on Microsoft Azure.
Longleaf pine masting, northern bobwhite quail, and tick-borne diseases in the southeastern United States

Abstract Although the relationship between oak mast and Lyme disease incidence in humans is established in the Northeastern U.S., mast-disease relationships have not been explored for longleaf pine in the southeastern U.S. Here, we examine if relationships exist between longleaf pine mast and tick-borne disease incidence in humans using climate, wildfire, and northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) data as possible influential variables. We examined the relationship between longleaf pine mast data and tick-borne disease incidence for Lyme, Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (SFGR), and Ehrlichia chaffeensis (ehrlichiosis) using one-sided Pearson's product-moment correlations at ten individual masting locations and for the entire masting region in the southeastern U.S. Region-wide mast from the previous year were positively correlated with northern bobwhite quail and negatively correlated with Lyme disease. Additionally, northern bobwhite quail were negatively correlated with SFGR and ehrlichiosis, and both drought severity and fire were not correlated with the other variables. We posit the nutrient-rich pine seeds that are a major food source for northern bobwhite quail promote above-average quail populations the following year. As quail diet transitions from seeds in cool months to ground-dwelling insects the following spring and summer, we hypothesize the ability of northern bobwhite quail to consume ticks reduces tick populations and significantly reduces disease incidence in humans.
A numerical study of the compression and shear failure of laminated 2-D carbon-carbon composites

In this paper the compression and shear failure of laminated carbon-carbon composites is numerically analyzed using a cell model. The effect of microstructural inhomogeneities in the form of cracks and fiber bundle misalignments is investigated by calculating the energy release rates and the local stress strain distributions.
Achalasia: Pathophysiology and Diagnostic Evaluation

Achalasia is a chronic, progressive disease characterized by a manometric pattern showing loss of peristalsis of the distal esophagus, failure of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) to completely relax with deglutition, and elevated baseline intraluminal esophageal pressure. Even though achalasia is a relatively rare disease, it represents the most common primary esophageal motility disorder and the second functional esophageal disorder most likely to necessitate surgical intervention after gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Esophageal achalasia is an idiopathic disease resulting in damage of the Auerbach myenteric plexus. Over the last decade, the use of high resolution manometry, has allowed for a deeper understanding of this disease.
Acceleration of Gapped Alignment in BLASTP Using the Mercury System

Protein databases have grown exponentially over the last decade. This exponential growth has made extracting valuable information from these databases increasingly time consuming. This project presents a new method of accelerating a commonly used program for performing similarity searching on protein databases, BLASTP. This project describes the design and implementation of Mercury BLASTP, a customized hardware accelerated variant of BLASTP. This project focuses on the gapped alignment stage of Mercury BLASTP and provides design details and implementation results. Type of Report: Other Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 Acceleration of Gapped Alignment in BLASTP Using the Mercury System Brandon Harris bbh2@wustl.edu Abstract Protein databases have grown exponentially over the last decade. This exponential growth has made extracting valuable information from these databases increasingly time consuming. This project presents a new method of accelerating a commonly used program for performing similarity searching on protein databases, BLASTP. This project describes the design and implementation of Mercury BLASTP, a customized hardware accelerated variant of BLASTP. This project focuses on the gapped alignment stage of Mercury BLASTP and provides design details and implementation results.Protein databases have grown exponentially over the last decade. This exponential growth has made extracting valuable information from these databases increasingly time consuming. This project presents a new method of accelerating a commonly used program for performing similarity searching on protein databases, BLASTP. This project describes the design and implementation of Mercury BLASTP, a customized hardware accelerated variant of BLASTP. This project focuses on the gapped alignment stage of Mercury BLASTP and provides design details and implementation results.
Plate Fixation With Cancellous Graft for Scaphoid Nonunion With Avascular Necrosis.

Purpose Currently, there is no consensus on the optimal treatment for scaphoid nonunion with avascular necrosis (AVN). Various techniques, often involving vascularized corticocancellous bone grafting, have been proposed. The authors hypothesized that similar outcomes might be possible with volar plate fixation augmented with autogenous pure cancellous graft. Methods The authors performed a retrospective chart review of 13 cases of scaphoid nonunions with AVN in 12 patients treated with plate fixation and pure cancellous bone grafting. Surgical management included a volar incision, reduction, impaction of cancellous bone graft from the ipsilateral olecranon and/or distal radius, and application of a volar locking plate. Postoperative outcome measures included time to union based on computed tomography, patient-reported pain and disability scores, grip strength, range of motion, and return to work and sports. Results The average patient was 32 years old (range, 17–50 years) and treated an average of 18 months after initial injury (range, 6–49 months). Two of 12 patients (15.7%) were female, 3 of 12 patients (25%) were smokers, and 5 of 12 patients (41.7%) had failed union with previous screw fixation. Twelve scaphoids (92.3%) were treated for AVN associated with a proximal pole fracture, and 1 (7.7%) for AVN proximal to a scaphoid waist fracture. Mean follow-up was 19.5 months (range, 12–29 months). Union was achieved in all patients. Two scaphoids (15%) achieved union by 12 weeks, 7 scaphoids (54%) by 18 weeks, 2 scaphoids (15%) by 24 weeks, and 2 scaphoids (15%) by 30 weeks (range, 8.9–28 weeks). Mean Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score improved from 30.6 ± 6.2 before surgery to 17.2 ± 6.5 after surgery. All 11 employed patients returned to work, although 3 (27.2%) did not return to full capacity. Conclusions Scaphoid plate fixation and pure nonvascularized cancellous bone grafting for scaphoid nonunion with AVN yields excellent union rates and good patient-reported and functional outcomes. Type of study/level of evidence Therapeutic IV.
Ultra-open acoustic metamaterial silencer

Recently, with advances in acoustic metamaterial science, the possibility of sound attenuation using subwavelength structures, while maintaining permeability to air, has been demonstrated. However, the ongoing challenge addressed herein is the fact that among such air-permeable structures to date, the open areas represents only small fraction of the overall area of the material. In the presented work, in order to address this challenge, we firstly demonstrate that a transversely-placed bilayer medium with large degrees of contrast in the layers' acoustic properties exhibits an asymmetric transmission, similar to the Fano-like interference phenomenon. Next, we utilize this design methodology and propose a deep-subwavelength acoustic metasurface unit cell comprising nearly 60% open area for air passage, while serving as a high-performance selective sound silencer. Finally, the proposed unit cell performance is validated experimentally, demonstrating a reduction in the transmitted acoustic energy of up to 94%. This ultra-open metamaterial (UOM) design, leveraging a Fano-like interference, enables high-performance sound silencing in a design featuring a large degree of open area, which may find utility in applications in which highly efficient, air-permeable sound silencers are required, such as smart sound barriers, fan or engine noise reduction, among others.
Clinical course of infectious intracranial aneurysm undergoing antibiotic treatment.

Abstract Introduction Infectious intracranial aneurysm (IIA, or mycotic aneurysm) is a cerebrovascular complication of infective endocarditis. We aimed to describe the clinical course of IIAs during antibiotic treatment. Methods We reviewed medical records of persons with infective endocarditis who underwent cerebral angiography at a single tertiary referral center from 2011 to 2016. Aneurysms were followed with subsequent angiography for unfavorable outcome (growth, rupture, no change, or new IIA formation) or favorable outcome (regression or resolution) until endovascular therapy, aneurysm resolution, or end of observation. Results Of 618 patients included, 40 (6.5%) had 43 IIAs. Eighteen (42%) aneurysms underwent initial endovascular treatment. Twenty-five unruptured aneurysms were followed for a median 18 antibiotic days after IIA discovery (interquartile range [IQR] 4–32). Eleven (44%) aneurysms had unfavorable outcome (1 rupture, 2 new IIA formation, 6 enlargement, and 2 no change) at median 21 days (IQR 5–32). Favorable angiographic outcome was seen in 7 (28%) patients (6 resolution, 1 regression) at median 36 days (IQR 24–41). Seven aneurysms had no angiographic reevaluations but showed no evidence of rupture during clinical follow-up for median 4 days (IQR 3–12) until hospital discharge. Saccular morphology was associated with unfavorable aneurysmal outcome (p = 0.013). Longer duration of antibiotic exposure prior to IIA discovery was associated with favorable aneurysmal outcome (p = 0.046). Conclusion IIAs represent a dynamic disease. Only a quarter of IIAs resolve with antibiotics alone. Saccular aneurysmal morphology might predict unfavorable aneurysmal outcome. IIA found after longer antibiotic therapy has higher likelihood of resolution or regression on antibiotic treatment.
Transmission of Mycobacterium chelonae and Mycobacterium marinum in laboratory zebrafish through live feeds.

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a popular vertebrate model organism used in a wide range of research fields. Mycobacteriosis, caused by Mycobacterium species, is particularly concerning because it is a common disease associated with chronic infections in these fish. Infections are also a source of uncontrolled experimental variance that may influence research results. Live feeds for zebrafish are common and include paramecia (Paramecium caudatum), brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) and rotifers (Branchionus spp.). Although nutritionally beneficial, live feeds may pose a biosecurity risk. In this study, we investigate transmission of Mycobacterium chelonae and Mycobacterium marinum through these three live feeds. We show that all three live feeds ingest both M. marinum and M. chelonae and can transmit mycobacterial infections to zebrafish. This observation emphasizes the need for live feeds to be included in the consideration of potential biosecurity risks. This study is of importance to other beyond the zebrafish community, including those of additional aquatic models and those using live feeds for other types of aquaculture.
Predictive Extrinsic Factors in Multiple Victim Shootings

Although researchers have found support for a relationship between temperature and violence and evidence of temporal patterns in violent crime, research on homicide shows less consistent results and no research on mass murder has been conducted. We address this by examining predictive factors in multi-victim shootings (those with four or more victims, including injured), a more general crime category than mass murder, but one with likely similar predictive factors. We used data from the Gun Violence Archive to understand the relationship between multi-victim shootings and temperature as well as other extrinsic factors. To avoid the confound between season and temperature, we employed temperature anomaly (the difference between actual and expected temperature) as a predictor of daily shooting rate. Using a generalized linear model for the daily count of multi-victim shootings in the U.S., we found that these events are significantly more frequent on weekends, some major holidays, hotter seasons, and when the temperature is higher than usual. Like other crimes, rates of multi-victim shooting vary systematically.
Taking the Social Justice Fight to the Cloud: Social Media and Body Positivity

Fat. The word has a negative, vitriolic meaning, but there are body positivity activists trying to reclaim the word as a descriptor rather than derogatory term. People in larger bodies are often os...
A design workflow for integrating performance into architectural education

Sustainable design for carbon-neutral buildings requires a thorough understanding of environmental building performance. The urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions radically creates additional demands for architectural education and practice. These demands challenge conventional educational building design and architecture programs. A new pedagogical approach to the architectural studio is presented that specifically responds to this challenge. A highly structured 10-stage workflow for architectural design equips students with knowledge, tools, and processes to integrate and predict dynamic performances of light, sun, heat, and air movement in their design decisions. This pedagogical approach has been used in ARCH 601, a required sustainable design studio in the second year of the professional Master of Architecture program at Iowa State University, US. A specific emphasis is placed on the iterative feedback between daylighting, natural ventilation, and the building’s enclosure. In an effort to understand the impact of this pedagogical approach on the career of former students, a survey was sent to the graduates of the past five years. A majority reported the positive learning outcomes and importance to their current career. Practice relevance The architectural profession is moving toward the creation of carbon-neutral buildings. A new approach to architectural education is shown to equip architecture students to meet this challenge. An architectural studio approach allows students to integrate and predict the dynamic performances of light, sun, heat, and air movement, based on using an innovative, highly structured workflow method. An alumni survey provides insights into the relevance and impact of this approach on their career. Learning these skills made architectural students better equipped to address sustainable design in their career. The workflow can be easily adopted by other architectural courses and practices. This can help to accelerate the education of architectural students towards carbon neutrality.
Peer Victimization in Late Childhood Moderates the Relationship between Childhood Fear/Inhibition & Adolescent Externalizing Symptoms.

Studies of the association between early childhood low temperamental fearfulness or behavioral inhibition (BI) and later externalizing symptoms are few and results are inconsistent, despite researc...
Large Area Space Qualified Thermoelectrically (TE) Cooled HgCdTe MW Photovoltaic Detectors for the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE)

Large area, HgCdTe MW photovoltaic detectors have been developed at Honeywell Electro-Optics Division for the NASA-HALOE instrument. This instrument is scheduled for operation on the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite (UARS). The photodiodes will be TE cooled and were designed to operate in the 5.1 μm - 5.4 μm band at 185 K to measure Nitric Oxide (NO) concentrations in the atmosphere. To achieve the D* goal of 6 x 109 cm-Hz1/2/W and to meet the spatial responsivity uniformity specification of ± 5% across the 0.6 mm diameter, active area required 15 μm thick devices and a full backside common contact,. Reflections from the backside contact doubled the effective thickness of the detectors. Optical interference from reflections was eliminated with a dual layer front surface A/R coating. Bakeout reliability was optimized by having Au metallization for both n and p interconnects. Detailed performance data and a model for the optical stack are presented.
Development of structure-based pharmacophore to target the β-catenin-TCF protein–protein interaction

β-catenin concentration is methodically controlled by the Wnt signaling pathway, wherein mutations of this pathway can cause aberrant activation leading to an influx of β-catenin, which is implicated in many cancers, specifically colon cancer. Targeting the β-catenin-TCF interface has become a popular strategy because of its role in the Wnt signaling transduction pathway, but efforts to push a small-molecule inhibitor to clinical success have been futile. In our current study, we attempted to identify druggable “hot spots” at the β-catenin-TCF interface by exploring plausible binding modes of a number of reported and chemically distinct inhibitors and defined their structure-based pharmacophore. Validation of our 4-feature pharmacophore hypothesis was carried out using another series of structure-related inhibitors with reported experimental data. Our hypothesis identified 73% of true actives with high enrichment of the most potent molecules in the test dataset. We speculate that our structure-based pharmacophore query may act as an in silico tool to rapidly screen small-molecule libraries for potentially new scaffolds to disrupt the β-catenin-TCF protein–protein interaction. In addition, our pharmacophore successfully identified actives from a set of structurally similar inhibitors and, ultimately, may be applied as an adjunct tool in the hit-to-lead optimization process.
Comparison between Stationary and Crawling Multi-Arm Robotics for In-Space Assembly

In-space assembly (ISA) is the next step to building larger and more permanent structures in orbit. The use of a robotic in-space assembler saves on costly and potentially risky EVAs. Determining the best robot for ISA is difficult as it will depend on the structure being assembled. A comparison between two categories of robots is presented: a stationary robot and robot which crawls along the truss. The estimated mass, energy, and time are presented for each system as it, in simulation, builds a desired truss system. There are trade-offs to every robot design and understanding those trade-offs is essential to building a system that is not only efficient but also cost-effective.
Private monitoring and public enforcement: Evidence from complaints and regulation of oil and gas wells

Abstract The traditional theory of firm regulatory compliance examines the interplay of firms and regulator, with the general public as passive consumers of goods or providers of votes. However, members of the public can play an important role in monitoring for compliance, which we analyze with a novel dataset of Colorado regulatory activities. We find regulators frequently conduct follow-up inspections of people’s complaints, and these complaint-driven inspections are at least as likely to be followed by regulatory action as “normal” scheduled inspections. However, regulators do not increase inspection activity of other assets owned by a firm that was complained about, consistent with regulators treating these complaints as “one-offs”. An inspector conducting a complaint inspection crowds out two regular inspections at the daily level, but we find no evidence of crowd-out at time scales of one month or greater. Finally, heterogeneity across complaint types suggests people are more adept at identifying nuisance-related violations (e.g. noise, smell), but are less adept at identifying more technical violations.
Cryo-EM structures of the channelrhodopsin ChRmine in lipid nanodiscs

Microbial channelrhodopsins are light-gated ion channels widely used for optogenetic manipulation of neuronal activity. ChRmine is a bacteriorhodopsin-like cation channelrhodopsin (BCCR) more closely related to ion pump rhodopsins than other channelrhodopsins. ChRmine displays unique properties favorable for optogenetics including high light sensitivity, a red-shifted activation spectrum, cation selectivity, and large photocurrents while its slow closing kinetics impede some applications. The structural basis for ChRmine function, or that of any other BCCR, is unknown. Here, we present cryo-EM structures of ChRmine in lipid nanodiscs in apo (opsin) and retinal-bound (rhodopsin) forms. The structures reveal an unprecedented trimeric architecture with a lipid filled central pore. Large electronegative cavities on either side of the membrane facilitate high conductance and selectivity for cations over protons. The retinal binding pocket structure suggests spectral and kinetic properties could be tuned with mutations and we identify ChRmine variants with two-fold increased and ten-fold decreased closing rates. These results provide insight into structural features that generate an ultra-potent microbial opsin and provide a platform for rational engineering of channelrhodopsins with improved properties that could expand the scale, depth, and precision of optogenetic manipulations.
Mouse models of thyroid cancer: A 2015 update

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine neoplasm, and its rate is rising at an alarming pace. Thus, there is a compelling need to develop in vivo models which will not only enable the confirmation of the oncogenic potential of driver genes, but also point the way towards the development of new therapeutics. Over the past 20 years, techniques for the generation of mouse models of human diseases have progressed substantially, accompanied by parallel advances in the genetics and genomics of human tumors. This convergence has enabled the development of mouse lines carrying mutations in the genes that cause thyroid cancers of all subtypes, including differentiated papillary and follicular thyroid cancers, poorly differentiated/anaplastic cancers, and medullary thyroid cancers. In this review, we will discuss the state of the art of mouse modeling of thyroid cancer, with the eventual goal of providing insight into tumor biology and treatment.
Ad Auctions --- Current and Future Research

An exploding market has emerged during the last few years on the internet, the market of sponsored search slots. Advertisers are able to buy space on the webpages produced by popular search engines and place advertisements to promote their products alongside the regular algorithmic search results. The allocation of these advertising slots and their pricing is done via auctions. Since the introduction of this concept in 1998, sponsored search has evolved into a major source of revenue for internet giants such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN and others. Its success can be attributed partly to its effectiveness as a form of highly targeted advertising, and partly to the appealing framework that allows even small-scale advertisers to use it easily and effectively while only paying when their ad is clicked upon. Numerous interesting mathematical, algorithmic and game-theoretic questions arise when one starts to think about these auctions. How should the auctions be designed so as to maximize search engine profit? What bidding strategies should the advertisers use? What are the dynamics and convergence properties of these systems? These questions are of extreme importance to the industry as even a minor change in the framework or in the way the advertisers bid could results in millions of dollars in profit or loss for both the advertisers and the search providers. In this talk, we survey recent research on these kinds of questions and discuss open problems in the area.
Delay of corneal epithelial wound healing and induction of keratocyte apoptosis by platelet-activating factor.

PURPOSE. To examine the role of the lipid mediator platelet-activating factor (PAF) in epithelial wound healing. METHODS. A 7-mm central de-epithelializing wound was produced in rabbit corneas, and the tissue was incubated with 125 nM carbamyl PAF (cPAF), an analogue of PAF. Rabbit corneal epithelial and stromal cells were also cultured in the presence of cPAF. Cell adhesion, proliferation, and migration assays were conducted, Apoptosis was assayed by TUNEL staining on preparations of corneal tissue sections and in cells in culture. RESULTS. Twenty-four hours after injury, 50% of the wounded area was covered by new epithelium, whereas only 30% was covered in the presence of cPAF, At 48 hours, the epithelium completely closed the wound, but only 45% of the original wound was covered in corneas treated with cPAF. Similar inhibition of epithelial wound closure was found with human corneas incubated with PAF in organ culture. Moreover, addition of several growth factors involved in corneal wound healing, such as epidermal growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor, and keratinocyte growth factor, could not overcome the inhibitory action of PAF in wound closure. Three PAF antagonists, BN50727, BN50730, and BN50739, abolished the effect of PAF. A significant increase in TUNEL-positive staining occurred in corneal stromal cells (keratocytes), which was inhibited by preincubating the corneas with PAF antagonists. However, no TUNEL-positive staining was found in epithelial cells. TUNEL-staining results in cultured stromal cells (keratocytes) and epithelial cells in first-passage cell culture were similar to those in organ-cultured corneas. In addition, PAF caused 35% to 56% inhibition of adhesion of epithelial cells to proteins of the extracellular matrix: collagen I and IV, fibronectin, and laminin. There were no significant changes in proliferation or migration of epithelial cells induced by the lipid mediator. CONCLUSIONS. The results suggest PAF plays an important role in preventing corneal wound healing by affecting adhesion of epithelial cells and increasing apoptosis in stromal cells. PAF antagonists could be of therapeutic importance during prolonged ocular inflammation, helping to avoid loss of corneal transparency and visual acuity.
Rational Use of Drains

Drains permit the escape from the body of pus, blood, serum, lymph, bile, pancreatic juice, or intestinal contents. They form a walled-off passageway, from the source of pus or other undesirable collection, to the outside. This passageway or tract must persist for a period long enough to assure complete evacuation of the collection.
Daclizumab induction therapy in liver transplant recipients with renal insufficiency.

Background The role of interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor antibodies to avoid the nephrotoxic effects of calcineurin inhibitors in the early post-liver transplant (LT) period is not well defined.
Application of Holographic Interferometry to High Pressure Experiments

All high-pressure experimentation involves non-hydrostatic stresses. Even when the sample itself is in a hydrostatic environment, the sample vessel, the loading frame etc., are subject to nonhydrostatic stresses. When designing equipment or performing an experiment, it is often important to know the strain field resulting from the applied stresses.
1. Graduate Collegiate Education in Nursing in Child Psychiatry

This paper presents the historical development, philosophy, aims, and methods of graduate collegiate education in the Nursing in Child Psychiatry program at the Boston University School of Nursing. Course offerings and field instruction are considered in terms of their relationship to the evaluation and improvement of nursing care.
Addiction and the Theory of Action

Some scientific research in rational choice theory and behavioral economics - call it choice-theoretic research - seems to point to the conclusion that addicts are fully responsible for what they do. I argue in this paper, however, that the choice-theoretic approach to human behavior presupposes a theory of action that is inconsistent with the assumptions about moral responsibility that are imbedded in the notion of criminal liability. While the economic view of behavior may be perfectly adequate to certain other policy concerns of the law, a theory of action adequate to the understanding of criminal responsibility must take into account factors that are not countenanced in the economic view. I examine three different philosophical approaches that are consistent with the economic view, and show that they are inadequate to distinctions made in the criminal law. I then argue what is missing is a factor that is once more being taken seriously in the philosophy of action, the notion of will. Whether the required sense of will can be made consistent with a naturalistic view of human beings is a separate question.
Domestic Interaction on a Segway Base

To be useful in a home environment, an assistive robot needs to be capable of a broad range of interactive activities such as locating objects, following specific people, and distinguishing among different people. This paper presents a Segway-based robot that successfully performed all of these tasks en route to a second place finish in the [email protected] 2007 competition. The main contribution is a complete description and analysis of the robot system and its implemented algorithms that enabled the robot's successful human-robot interaction in this broad and challenging forum. We describe in detail a novel person recognition algorithm, a key component of our overall success, that included two co-trained classifiers, each focusing on different aspects of the person (face and shirt color).
Kinetic and chemical mechanisms of the sheep liver 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase.

Abstract A complete kinetic characterization of sheep liver 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase including product and dead-end inhibition patterns, primary deuterium isotope effects, and the pH dependence of kinetic parameters has been completed in order to determine the kinetic mechanism and obtain information on the chemical mechanism of the enzyme. A rapid equilibrium random kinetic mechanism has been proposed, with product and dead-end inhibition patterns both being symmetric. Ribulose 5-phosphate and 6-sulfogluconate are both competitive with 6-phosphogluconate (6-PG) and noncompetitive with NADP, and NADPH and ATP-ribose are both competitive with NADP and noncompetitive with 6-phosphogluconate. Equal primary deuterium isotope effects of 1.5–2 on D V , D V / K NADP , and D V / K 6-PG with 3- deuterio -6-PG confirm a rapid equilibrium random mechanism and show that hydride transfer is at least partially rate limiting in the overall reaction. The maximum velocity is pH dependent, decreasing at low and high pH with slopes of 1 and −1, respectively, and p K values of 6.4 and 8.6. The V / K NADP and V / K 6-PG also decrease at low and high pH with slopes of 1 and −1, giving p K values of 6.8 and 8.7 and of 6.9 and 7.8, respectively. The pH rate profiles are consistent with a general acid/general base mechanism where the catalytic residues are involved in binding. Reverse protonation states between the general acid and the general base are proposed where an unprotonated general base accepts a proton from the C-3 hydroxyl of 6-PG concomitant with hydride transfer followed by decarboxylation of the resulting 3-keto intermediate to give an enediol which is protonated by the general acid to form ribulose 5-phosphate. The pH dependence of the p K i profile of the inhibitory analog 5-phosphoribonate decreases at low and high pH with slopes of 1 and −1, respectively, and p K s of 6.2 and 7.4 and suggests that intrinsic p K s are observed in the V / K profiles. The p K s of both the general base and general acid in the E:6-PG complex appears to be perturbed such that the general base decreases from 7.4–7.8 to a value of 6.4–6.8, and the p K of the general acid increases from 6.2–6.9 to a value of 8.6–8.7, as a result of direct interaction with 6PG. Data are interpreted with regard to the published crystal structures of the E:6-PG, E:NADP, and E:NADPH complexes.
The Relationship Between Performance on the Infectious Diseases In-Training and Certification Examinations

Background The Infectious Diseases Society of America In-Training Examination (IDSA ITE) is a feedback tool used to help fellows track their knowledge acquisition during fellowship training. We determined whether the scores on the IDSA ITE and from other major medical knowledge assessments predict performance on the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Infectious Disease Certification Examination. Methods The sample was 1021 second-year fellows who took the IDSA ITE and ABIM Infectious Disease Certification Examination from 2008 to 2012. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine if ABIM Infectious Disease Certification Examination scores were predicted by IDSA ITE scores, prior United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores, ABIM Internal Medicine Certification Examination scores, fellowship director ratings of medical knowledge, and demographic variables. Logistic regression was used to evaluate if these same assessments predicted a passing outcome on the certification examination. Results IDSA ITE scores were the strongest predictor of ABIM Infectious Disease Certification Examination scores (β = .319), followed by prior ABIM Internal Medicine Certification Examination scores (β = .258), USMLE Step 1 scores (β = .202), USMLE Step 3 scores (β = .130), and fellowship directors' medical knowledge ratings (β = .063). IDSA ITE scores were also a significant predictor of passing the Infectious Disease Certification Examination (odds ratio, 1.017 [95% confidence interval, 1.013-1.021]). Conclusions The significant relationship between the IDSA ITE score and performance on the ABIM Infectious Disease Certification Examination supports the use of the ITE as a valid feedback tool in fellowship training.
GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors: issues and prospects for application

Issues important for the manufacturing of GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) and their prospects for application in various areas are discussed. The microwave and digital performance status of HBTs is reviewed. Extrapolated values of maximum frequency of oscillation above 200 GHz and frequency divider operation at 26.9 GHz are reported. Key prospects for further device development are highlighted. >
Using scenarios to support traceability

Software traceability is a recognized challenge in software development that can be ameliorated with requirements management tools. Traceability information can be used in a number of different software engineering activities such as software change impact analysis and testing One main challenge in the automation of software testing is mapping modeling concepts to code concepts. The level of granularity and the semantics supported by available requirements management tools do not, however, fully support such mapping, or more sophisticated requirement change impact analysis. Scenarios have been used as an alternative (and sometimes complementary) way to express requirements and system behavior throughout the phases of software development. Scenarios are used with different representation and semantics across software phases, and these can be related. This paper argues for exploring scenarios as one means for tracing requirements to code, and using this information to leverage automation of activities that benefit from traceability such as change impact analysis and software testing.
An intelligent method for computer-aided trauma decision making system

Based on the National Vital Statistics Reports 2001, nearly 115,200 lives are cut short annually because of traumatic injuries and many patients who survive traumatic events have to face the future with life-long disabilities that negatively affect them and their families [29]. Moreover, U.S. trauma center reports suggest that the annual death rate, as well as permanent disabilities, can be reduced when medical treatments are performed rapidly. To provide a certain kinds of medical treatment, a decision has to be made based on the outcomes (discharge status and intensive care unit days). Moreover, predicting the patient's outcome is useful when determining the most reliable transport method: ambulance or helicopter.In this paper, we focus on creating an appropriate decision making process on helicopter transport. Although helicopter transport provides a high level of medical care as well as rapid transport service to trauma patients, the cost of helicopter transport is highly expensive. So there is a question still remains that the use of helicopter transport for trauma patients makes any change in patients' survival and the transport cost. To answer this question, we designed a computer aided decision making system for trauma patients' helicopter transport. The decision making is accomplished by using Decision Tree (DT). Especially, Nonlinear Regression and Classification Tree (CART) is used to create reliable rules. The rules is designed by using a large number of features captured from all available patients' informative attributes. The quality of the extracted rules is also evaluated. Therefore, the computer aided system support making predictions/and recommendations on the outcomes of trauma patients.