cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Critical Evaluation of the Linkage Between Tick-Based Risk Measures and the Occurrence of Lyme Disease Cases

The nymphal stage of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, is considered the primary vector to humans in the eastern United States of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. The abundance of infected host-seeking nymphs is commonly used to estimate the fundamental risk of human exposure to B. burgdorferi, for the purpose of environmental risk assessment and as an outcome measure when evaluating environmentally based tick or pathogen control methods. However, as this tick-based risk measure does not consider the likelihoods of either human encounters with infected ticks or tick bites resulting in pathogen transmission, its linkage to the occurrence of Lyme disease cases is worth evaluating. In this Forum article, we describe different tick-based risk measures, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and review the evidence for their capacity to predict the occurrence of Lyme disease cases. We conclude that: 1) the linkage between abundance of host-seeking B. burgdorferi-infected nymphs and Lyme disease occurrence is strong at community or county scales but weak at the fine spatial scale of residential properties where most human exposures to infected nymphs occur in Northeast, 2) the combined use of risk measures based on infected nymphs collected from the environment and ticks collected from humans is preferable to either one of these risk measures used singly when assessing the efficacy of environmentally based tick or pathogen control methods aiming to reduce the risk of human exposure to B. burgdorferi, 3) there is a need for improved risk assessment methodology for residential properties that accounts for both the abundance of infected nymphs and the likelihood of human-tick contact, and 4) we need to better understand how specific human activities conducted in defined residential microhabitats relate to risk for nymphal exposures and bites.
Community-based psychological first aid with rural communities

The CBPFA described in this book is a method of providing support that takes into account the community and social context of the person in need. As seen throughout this volume, individual and community-based adaptations of CBPFA are expected and desirable. Whenever a person offers psychological support to another, sensitivity to the person’s worldview, cultural background, and unique characteristics is important. This chapter is based on the assumptions that rural communities form a context worthy of a CBPFA adaptation and that, indeed, rural areas are extremely well suited to the CBPFA approach. Therefore, the present chapter seeks to provide background in some of the elements of rural life. In doing so, it can hopefully be useful to those seeking to provide CBPFA support to rural dwellers and also be helpful to someone wishing to develop a rural community-based program, leading to a local CBPFA network in a rural community.
Comparing Student’s t -Distribution with the Logistic Distribution

Bell curves come in different configurations. Like the family of multivariate Student’s t-distributions, the entire family of multivariate logistic distributions belongs to the same class of jointly elliptical distributions that includes the standard normal distribution.1 The simplest version of the logistic distribution2 provides an instructive contrast with the t-distributions we have used thus far to enhance the robustness of our parametric VaR analysis, relative to the Gaussian baseline.
A practical guide to helping: A review of Counseling Gay Men, Adolescents, and Boys: A Strengths-Based Guide for Helping Professionals and Educators

ABSTRACTCounseling Gay Men, Adolescents, and Boys: A Strengths-Based Guide for Helping Professionals and Educators is a well-written, progressive, and inclusive guide that readers can use in their personal and professional lives. The authors explore issues in depth and offer relevant practical advice grounded in identity theory, counseling literature, and previous research on gay men.
Lenslet array to further suppress starlight for direct exoplanet detection

Direct imaging plays a key role in the detection and characterization of exoplanets orbiting within its host star's habitable zone. Many innovative ideas for starlight suppression and wavefront control have been proposed and developed over the past decade. However, several technological challenges still lie ahead to achieve the required contrast, including controlling the observatory pointing performance, fabricating occulting masks with tight optical tolerances, developing wavefront control algorithms, controlling stray light, advancing single photon detecting detectors, and integrated system-level issues. This paper explores how a lenslet array and pinhole mask may be implemented to further suppress uncorrected starlight that leaks through the occulting mask. An external occulter, or star shade, is simulated to demonstrate this concept, although this approach can be implemented for internal coronagraphs as well. We describe how to use simple relay optics to control the scene near the inner working angle and the level of the suppression expected. Furthermore, if the lenslet array is the input to an integral field spectrograph, as planned for the WFIRST mission, the spectral content of the exoplanet atmospheres can be obtained to determine if the observed planet is habitable and ultimately, if it is inhabited.
Supply Voltage Adaptive Low-Power Circuit Design

In this paper, we present a circuit design that is capable of responding to changes in the power supply voltage and adjust the gate size-ratio accordingly for minimum energy operation. The dynamically adjustable gate size-ratio allows the gate to preserve a symmetric voltage transfer characteristic at both normal supply and subthreshold operation. This translates to maximized noise margins over the whole range of the supply voltage. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed circuit is superior to fixed gate sizes aimed at fixed supply operation. The proposed adaptive gate circuit design provide up to 6times reduction in the power-delay product in comparison with the fixed size gate
Utilization of Behavioral Health Services by United States Army Medics

ABSTRACTThis study assesses potentially traumatic combat and medical provider experiences and subsequent utilization of behavioral health (BH) services among 324 U.S. Army medics 3 months after military deployment. After statistically controlling for socially desirable responding, neither combat nor medical provider experiences directly predicted utilization of BH services; however, both predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms, which predicted BH utilization. Moderation analyses revealed that medics were less likely to utilize BH services after intense battle experiences if they reported a low hardy personality, low unit support, or insufficient sleep. Possible interventions are discussed to promote BH care utilization.
The Utility of Capsule Endoscopy in Crohn’s Disease

The advent of capsule endoscopy (CE) has added greatly to the diagnostic armamentarium of the gastroenterologist. In particular, the diagnosis and management of Crohn’s disease (CD), which affects the small bowel in the majority of cases, has been revolutionized by this technology. CE allows for the visualization of the entire small bowel aiding in the diagnosis, staging, and monitoring of CD. Although there is no pathognomonic finding that defines CD on CE, validated diagnostic scores have emerged to create uniformity in describing and interpreting CE findings. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of CE for the diagnosis of CD have been shown to be superior to that of other techniques commonly used to assess the small bowel. In patients with established disease, CE is emerging as a validated tool for disease monitoring, assessment for postoperative recurrence, and evaluation of patients with indeterminate colitis. Findings on CE may have significant therapeutic implications as the treatment paradigm in CD shifts toward achieving mucosal healing and deep remission. In terms of safety, the emergence of a new generation of patency capsules has decreased the risk of retention in high-risk patients. Due to its favorable performance characteristics, ability to provide clinically relevant data, and safety profile, CE will remain an integral diagnostic tool in patients with CD.
Examining heterotypic continuity of psychopathology: a prospective national study.

Background Individuals with one psychiatric disorder are at increased risk for incidence and recurrence of other disorders. We characterize whether the magnitude of such heterotypic continuity varies based on whether the first disorder remits or persists over time. Method Cohorts were selected from participants in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions wave 1 (2001–2002) and wave 2 (2004–2005) surveys with ⩾1 mood, anxiety, or substance use disorder at wave 1. Among respondents remitting (n = 6719) or not remitting (n = 3435) from ⩾1 of disorder at wave 2, the analyses compared the odds of developing new disorders. Results As compared with adults whose disorders persisted from wave 1 to wave 2, those with ⩾1 remission had lower odds of incidence or recurrence of another disorder. Remission from alcohol dependence [odds ratio (OR) 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3–0.5] and drug dependence (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.3–0.6) were associated with the lowest odds of incidence of another disorder. Social anxiety disorder was associated with the lowest adjusted odds of recurrence (adjusted OR = 0.2, 95% CI 0.1–0.6). Remission of disorders within one class (mood, anxiety, substance use) was consistently associated with lower odds of incidence or recurrence of disorders from the same class than with developing disorders from the other classes. Conclusions Remission from common psychiatric disorders tends to decrease the risk for incidence or recurrence of disorders and this effect is stronger within than across disorder classes. These results do not support the concept of heterotypic continuity as a substitution of one disorder for another.
Taking Advantage of Disorder: Small-Molecule Organic Glasses for Radiation Detection and Particle Discrimination

A series of fluorescent silyl-fluorene molecules were synthesized and studied with respect to their photophysical properties and response toward ionizing neutron and gamma-ray radiation. Optically transparent and stable organic glasses were prepared from these materials using a bulk melt-casting procedure. The prepared organic glass monoliths provided fluorescence quantum yields and radiation detection properties exceeding the highest-performing benchmark materials such as solution-grown trans-stilbene crystals. Co-melts based on blends of two different glass-forming compounds were prepared with the goal of enhancing the stability of the amorphous state. Accelerated aging experiments on co-melt mixtures ranging from 0% to 100% of each component indicated improved resistance to recrystallization in the glass blends, able to remain fully amorphous for >1 month at 60 °C. Secondary dopants comprising singlet fluorophores or iridium organometallic compounds provided further improved detection efficiency, as evaluated by light yield and neutron/gamma particle discrimination measurements. Optimized singlet and triplet doping levels were determined to be 0.05 wt % 1,4-bis(2-methylstyryl)benzene singlet fluorophore and 0.28 wt % Ir3+, respectively.
Glutamatergic Signaling Drives Ketamine-Mediated Response in Depression: Evidence from Dynamic Causal Modeling.

Background The glutamatergic modulator ketamine has rapid antidepressant effects in individuals with major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Thus, modulating glutamatergic transmission may be critical to effectively treating depression, though the mechanisms by which this occurs are not fully understood. Methods This double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study analyzed data from 18 drug-free major depressive disorder subjects and 18 heathy controls who received a single i.v. infusion of ketamine hydrochloride (0.5 mg/kg) as well as an i.v. saline placebo. Magnetoencephalographic recordings were collected prior to the first infusion and 6 to 9 hours after both ketamine and placebo infusions. During scanning, participants passively received tactile stimulation to the right index finger. Antidepressant response was assessed across timepoints using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. Dynamic causal modeling was used to measure changes in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA)- and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated connectivity estimates in major depressive disorder subjects and controls using a simple model of somatosensory evoked responses. Results Both major depressive disorder and healthy subjects showed ketamine-mediated NMDA-blockade sensitization, with major depressive disorder subjects showing enhanced NMDA connectivity estimates in backward connections and controls showing enhanced NMDA connectivity estimates in forward connections in our model. Within our major depressive disorder subject group, ketamine efficacy, as measured by improved mood ratings, correlated with reduced NMDA and AMPA connectivity estimates in discrete extrinsic connections within the somatosensory cortical network. Conclusions These findings suggest that AMPA- and NMDA-mediated glutamatergic signaling play a key role in antidepressant response to ketamine and, further, that dynamic causal modeling is a powerful tool for modeling AMPA- and NMDA-mediated connectivity in vivo. Clinicaltrials.gov NCT#00088699.
Nitrates as Adjuvant Therapy for Chronic Congestive Heart Failure

Nitrates have been used to treat angina pectoris for more than a century, and long- acting nitrates such as isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) are regarded as effective drugs for prophylactic use to reduce the number and severity of anginal attacks in patients with coronary heart disease. There is also ample evidence that nitrates produce beneficial hemodynamic effects as well as clinical effects in patients with heart failure [1-5]. There are still, however, many remaining questions concerning mechanism of action and dosage schedules and the role of nitrates relative to other vasodilators. Since virtually all studies of nitrates in heart failure have been carried out in patients already taking digitalis and diuretics to which nitrates were added, we really have essentially no information on nitrates as initial therapy for heart failure.
Introduction: Key Subroutines of Multimedia Data Management

This chapter presents technical challenges that multimedia information management faces. We enumerate five key subroutines required to work together effectively so as to enable robust and scalable solutions. We provide pointers to the rest of the book, where in-depth treatments are presented.
T1 Mapping in Peri-infarct Injury in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

The peri-infarct region (PIR) consists of a mixed composition of salvageable injured cardiomyocytes and fibrosis and is linked to increased cardiovascular event rates in ischemic cardiomyopathy patients. Therefore, identifying and quantifying PIR volumes and composition has an important clinical value in predicting the likelihood of arrhythmogenesis and in considering revascularization or medical/defibrillator management on an individualized patient basis. In addition to the established importance of assessing the volume of gadolinium enhancement and the heterogeneous gadolinium signal intensity in the PIR, T1 mapping may provide a more reproducible and accurate method to delineate the PIR extent and variability. While the value of native T1 mapping has not been clearly established in ischemic cardiomyopathy, T1 mapping combined with the unique strengths of varying contrast agents may help to delineate the roles of the PIR in the clinical management. The ECV changes in the infarct injury region measured by the administration of gadolinium-based contrast agents can predict LV functional outcome and cardiovascular events following myocardial infarction. Alternatively, the use of manganese-based contrast agents generates a more accurate quantification of myocardial viability based on manganese uptake into live cardiomyocytes via voltage-gated calcium channels, which may possibly predict future outcomes more sensitively compared to the evaluation of cardiac fibrosis and extracellular volume (ECV) fraction. Finally, our current tools to identify, quantify, and correlate PIR characteristics with arrhythmia, functional recovery, and overall prognosis are still developing despite early data suggesting valuable predictive/prognostic information residing within the PIR.
Breaking Down the Barriers for Moving an Enterprise to Cloud

The IBM Research Integrated Solution (RIS) team has developed, and continues to evolve, a full-service cloud access environment for the entire IBM Research division. This implementation, which we will refer to as IRC (IBM Research Cloud) provides self-service provisioning, access to multiple IBM cloud datacenters, access to IBM Watson services, Kubernetes Clustering [1], DevOps [2] tools, and a host of other useful and emerging cloud services. In addition, the implementation provides automation and simplification of the tasks that users often find the most tedious to complete – registration of virtual machine instances, export compliance, compliance to IBM's security standards, etc. This paper will detail the journey – from primitive cloud access to streamlined, secure, automated cloud access where users have services at the 'tip of their fingers'
Role of noninvasive molecular imaging in determining response

Abstract The intersection of immunotherapy and radiation oncology is a rapidly evolving area of preclinical and clinical investigation. The strategy of combining radiation and immunotherapy to enhance local and systemic antitumor immune responses is intriguing yet largely unproven in the clinical setting because the mechanisms of synergy and the determinants of therapeutic response remain undefined. In recent years, several noninvasive molecular imaging approaches have emerged as a platform to interrogate the tumor immune microenvironment. These tools have the potential to serve as robust biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy and may hold several advantages over conventional anatomic imaging modalities and contemporary invasive tissue acquisition techniques. Given the key and expanding role of precision imaging in radiation oncology for patient selection, target delineation, image guided treatment delivery, and response assessment, noninvasive molecular-specific imaging may be uniquely suited to evaluate radiation/immunotherapy combinations. Herein, we describe several experimental imaging-based strategies that are currently being explored to characterize in vivo immune responses, and we review a growing body of preclinical data and nascent clinical experience with immuno-positron emission tomography molecular imaging as a putative biomarker for cancer immunotherapy. Finally, we discuss practical considerations for clinical translation to implement noninvasive molecular imaging of immune checkpoint molecules, immune cells, or associated elements of the antitumor immune response with a specific emphasis on its potential application at the interface of radiation oncology and immuno-oncology.
Fundamentals of Cervical Neurological Exam

The neurological exam provides the foundation for clinical decision-making when treating patients with cervical degenerative disease. Clinicians should strive for a systematic and thorough approach, covering cervical alignment, skin, muscle bulk, range of motion, tone, motor, sensory modalities, reflexes, and gait. Special maneuvers are useful in confirming the diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy and/or myelopathy. Other maneuvers may be useful in distinguishing non-neurosurgical entities. Neurosurgeons should be adept in recognizing imitators of cervical pathology during the examination. Radiculopathy and myelopathy may present on a spectrum. Radiculopathy typically presents with pain, weakness, and/or paresthesias in a single or multiple nerve root distribution and has corresponding areas of deficit on examination. Myelopathy often presents with weakness, impaired coordination, and gait disturbance. Physical findings of severe cervical myelopathy include distal arm weakness, hyperreflexia, and gait instability. Radiculopathy and myelopathy are often encountered in neurosurgical practice; over the course of a clinician’s training, he or she should become adept in the cervical neurological exam.
Regularity properties of time-optimal trajectories of an analytic single-input control-linear systems in dimension three

We consider the problem of time-optimal control for systems of the form $$\dot x = f(x) + ug(x),x \in M,|u| \leqslant 1$$ , where the state spaceM is a three-dimensional real-analytic manifold,f andg are real-analytic vector fields onM, and admissible controls are scalar measurable functionsu(·) with values in ź1≤u≤1 a.e. We prove, for arbitraryf andg, that there exists an analytic subsetA ofM with positive codimension such that every point not inA has a neighborhoodU such that time-optimal trajectories that lie inU are, in nondegenerate cases, bang-bang with at most two switchings or concatenations of at most a bang arc, followed by a singular arc and another bang arc; in degenerate cases, wheneverq1 źU can be steered toq2źU in timeT inU, then there also exists a bang-bang trajectory with at most two switchings that steersq1 toq2 in timeT.
Soft and Ambiguous Risk Disclosure

In this paper, I study qualitative disclosures about hard-to-quantify exposure to common risk factors in a model with unknown payoff distribution, soft risk disclosure, and ambiguity averse investors. I find that under imperfect earnings disclosures, firms would perfectly disclose their exposure to downside risks only if the prior distributions of the risk factors are disperse enough, and/or earnings significantly beats the expectation. In contrast, firms would never provide perfect disclosure about upside risks. This implies that firms would provide more precise risk disclosure in recessions than in normal time, leading to higher investor perception and stock volatility in recessions even under constant risk exposure. I also find that qualitative risk disclosure is less precise under abnormal liquidity conditions. Finally, risk disclosures and earnings disclosures are complementary. Firms may sacrifice earnings disclosure precision in exchange for discretion in risk disclosure to shape investor risk perception. Several policy implications can be drawn.
Data-Driven Event Diagnosis in Transmission Systems With Incomplete and Conflicting Alarms Given Sensor Malfunctions

Accurate fault event diagnosis with incomplete and conflicting alarms given sensor malfunctions is a challenging problem for power system operators. To solve this problem, this study proposes a data-driven approach based on Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) for fast determination of fault event scenarios with uncertainties. The uncertainties include failures and malfunction of relays and circuit breakers (CBs) as well as incomplete/incorrect sensor alarms at the control center. To improve the accuracy for fault event diagnosis, redundant alarms from multiple sources, i.e., Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), and Sequence of Events Recorders (SERs) are jointly used in this study. The temporal correlation of sensor alarms is incorporated in the constraints of the MILP model. The resulting data-driven algorithm determines the most credible fault scenario that is well supported by the available sensor alarms at the control center. Simulation results of the IEEE 14-bus system, the synthetic South Carolina 500-bus system, and a real-world complex event scenario demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for accurate and efficient fault event diagnosis.
A Method for Ensuring a Load Aggregator’s Power Deviations Are Safe for Distribution Networks

Abstract This paper proposes a method for constraining the control actions of third-party aggregators to ensure safe operation of the distribution network. We design a safety constraint that limits the size of the deviations in power that an aggregator can cause across a network. The constraint’s upper limit is the size of the minimum-sized vector of deviations that is unsafe for the network, which is computed by solving a set of optimization problems. We propose two versions of the safety constraint, based on the 2-norm and 1-norm, and find neither is guaranteed to be less conservative than the other. We also derive conditions under which an optimization problem can be eliminated from the set of problems that are necessary to solve. We apply these conditions in a case study and reduce the number of problems by 89% for the test network and 67% for the test network with capacitor banks connected.
Molecular Weight Dependence of the Glass Transition Temperature (Tg)-Confinement Effect in Well-Dispersed Poly(2-vinyl pyridine)─Silica Nanocomposites: Comparison of Interfacial Layer Tg and Matrix Tg

Nanocomposites (NCs) of poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) and nanosilica were prepared by spin-coating and characterized by fluorescence to assess the alterations in matrix glass transition temperature...
Rural, urban, and suburban differences in influenza vaccination coverage among children.

Abstract Influenza vaccination is the primary way to prevent influenza, yet influenza vaccination coverage remains low in the United States. Previous studies have shown that children residing in rural areas have less access to healthcare and lower vaccination coverage for some vaccines. Influenza vaccination coverage among children 6 months–17 years by rural/urban residence during the 2011–12 through 2018–19 influenza seasons was examined using National Immunization Survey-Flu data. The Council of American Survey Research Organizations response rates for National Immunization Survey-Flu ranged from 48% to 65% (2011–12 through the 2017–18 seasons) for the landline sample and 20%–39% (2011–12 through the 2018–19 seasons) for the cellular telephone sample. Children residing in rural areas had influenza vaccination coverage that ranged from 7.9 (2012–13 season) to 12.6 (2016–17 season) percentage points lower than children residing in urban areas, and ranged from 4.5 (2012–13 season) to 7.4 (2016–17 season) percentage points lower than children residing in suburban areas. The differences in influenza vaccination coverage among rural, suburban, and urban children were consistent over the eight seasons studied. Lower influenza vaccination coverage was observed among rural children regardless of child’s age, mother’s education, household income, or number of children under 18 years of age in the household. Rural versus urban and suburban differences in influenza vaccination coverage remained statistically significant while adjusting for selected sociodemographic characteristics. A better understanding of the reasons for lower childhood influenza vaccination coverage for children in rural and suburban areas is needed.
The False Positive Rate of Transcutaneous Tissue Oximetry Alarms in Microvascular Breast Reconstruction Rises after 24 Hours.

Background Transcutaneous tissue oximetry is widely used as an adjunct for postoperative monitoring after microvascular breast reconstruction. Despite a high sensitivity at detecting vascular issues, alarms from probe malfunctions/errors can generate unnecessary nursing calls, concerns, and evaluations. The purpose of this study is to analyze the false positive rate of transcutaneous tissue oximetry monitoring over the postoperative period and assess changes in its utility over time. Patients and Methods Consecutive patients undergoing microvascular breast reconstruction at our institution with monitoring using transcutaneous tissue oximetry were assessed between 2017 and 2019. Variables of interest were transcutaneous tissue oximetry alarms, flap loss, re-exploration, and salvage rates. Results The study included 175 patients (286 flaps). The flap loss rate was 1.0% (3/286). Twelve patients (6.8%) required re-exploration, with 9 patients found to have actual flap compromise (all within 24 hours). The salvage rate was 67.0%. The 3 takebacks after 24 hours were for bleeding concerns rather than anastomotic problems. Within the initial 24-hour postoperative period, 43 tissue oximetry alarms triggered nursing calls; 7 alarms (16.2%) were confirmed to be for flap issues secondary to vascular compromise. After 24 hours, none of the 44 alarms were associated with flap compromise. The false positive rate within 24 hours was 83.7% (36/43) compared with 100% (44/44) after 24 hours (p = 0.01). Conclusion The transcutaneous tissue oximetry false positive rate significantly rises after 24 hours. The benefit may not outweigh the concerns, labor, and effort that results from alarms after postoperative day 1. We recommend considering discontinuing this monitoring after 24 hours.
Energy-Efficient Analysis of Synchrophasor Data using the NVIDIA Jetson Nano

Smart Grid Technology is an important part of increasing resilience and reliability of power grids. Applying Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) to obtain synchronized phasor measurements, or synchrophasors, provides more detailed, higher fidelity data that can enhance situational awareness by rapidly detecting anomalous conditions. However, sample rates of PMUs are up to three orders of magnitude faster than traditional telemetry, resulting in large datasets that require novel computing methods to process the data quickly and efficiently. This work aims to improve calculation speed and energy efficiency of anomaly detection by leveraging manycore computing on a NVIDIA Jetson Nano. This work translates an existing PMU anomaly detection scheme into a novel GPU-compute algorithm and compares the computational performance and energy efficiency of the GPU approach to serial and multicore CPU methods. The GPU algorithm was benchmarked on a real dataset of 11.3 million measurements derived from 8 PMUs from a 1:1000 scale emulation of a power grid, and two additional datasets derived from the original dataset. Results show that the GPU detection scheme is up to 51.91 times faster than the serial method, and over 13 times faster than the multicore method. Additionally, the GPU approach exhibits up to 92.3% run-time energy reduction compared to serial method and 78.4% reduction compared to the multicore approach.
Dysbiosis From a Microbial and Host Perspective Relative to Oral Health and Disease

The significance of microbiology and immunology with regard to caries and periodontal disease gained substantial clinical or research consideration in the mid 1960's. This enhanced emphasis related to several simple but elegant experiments illustrating the relevance of bacteria to oral infections. Since that point, the understanding of oral diseases has become increasingly sophisticated and many of the original hypotheses related to disease causality have either been abandoned or amplified. The COVID pandemic has reminded us of the importance of history relative to infectious diseases and in the words of Churchill "those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." This review is designed to present an overview of broad general directions of research over the last 60 years in oral microbiology and immunology, reviewing significant contributions, indicating emerging foci of interest, and proposing future directions based on technical advances and new understandings. Our goal is to review this rich history (standard microbiology and immunology) and point to potential directions in the future (omics) that can lead to a better understanding of disease. Over the years, research scientists have moved from a position of downplaying the role of bacteria in oral disease to one implicating bacteria as true pathogens that cause disease. More recently it has been proposed that bacteria form the ecological first line of defense against "foreign" invaders and also serve to train the immune system as an acquired host defensive stimulus. While early immunological research was focused on immunological exposure as a modulator of disease, the "hygiene hypothesis," and now the "old friends hypothesis" suggest that the immune response could be trained by bacteria for long-term health. Advanced "omics" technologies are currently being used to address changes that occur in the host and the microbiome in oral disease. The "omics" methodologies have shaped the detection of quantifiable biomarkers to define human physiology and pathologies. In summary, this review will emphasize the role that commensals and pathobionts play in their interaction with the immune status of the host, with a prediction that current "omic" technologies will allow researchers to better understand disease in the future.
Synthetic cannabinoids (SC)

Abstract Since 2008 dozens of new synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist compounds have emerged as additives in so-called ‘Spice’ or ‘K2’ products. These SC have become a significant challenge for clinicians, forensic scientists, analytical toxicologists and legislative authorities. These products are often used as a cannabis substitute, particularly where individuals want to avoid detection in routine drug screening, which often do not include these compounds. Relatively little is known about the pharmacological properties of these drugs, particularly in humans. Most of the SC act as potent and efficacious agonists at the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) and hence elicit cannabis-like effects even after doses in the low milligram range. In addition to cannabis-like toxicity, these compounds are associated with stimulant effects (e.g. tachycardia, hypertension, agitation, convulsions) and other effects including hypokalaemia. There have been some studies and early case reports which suggest the potential for dependence associated with the use of SC
Undergraduate Certificate in Poultry Production Management

Iowa State University (ISU) offers undergraduate certificates to allow students to customize their curriculum and demonstrate completion of focused study in a specialized area across a variety of disciplines. The Poultry Production Management Certificate is offered within the Animal Science Department at ISU and integrates technical topics in animal science with practical considerations in enterprise management. Certificate requirements, including a faculty-approved internship, are organized to correspond with faculty and employer-defined needs for a successful transition from student to poultry industry professional.Students that complete the certificate will have the baseline background knowledge to identify and address challenges in modern poultry production enterprises. Further, the certificate assists employers to identify students that have shown the interest, discipline, and ability to complete this specialized study program.
Ultrafast Dynamics and Laser Action of Organic Semiconductors

Preface Ultrafast Photoexcitation Dynamics in pi-Conjugated Polymers C.-X. Sheng and Z. Valy Vardeny Universality in the Photophysics of pi-Conjugated Polymers and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Sumit Mazumdar, Zhendong Wang, and Hongbo Zhao Mechanism of Carrier Photogeneration and Carrier Transport in pi-Conjugated Polymers and Molecular Crystals Daniel Moses Conformational Disorder and Optical Properties of Conjugated Polymers Tieneke E. Dykstra and Gregory D. Scholes Laser Action in pi-Conjugated Polymers Z. Valy Vardeny and R.C. Polson Ultrafast Photonics in Polymer Nanostructures Marco Carvelli, Guglielmo Lanzani, Stefano Perissinotto, Margherita Zavelani-Rossi, Giuseppe Gigli, Marco Salerno, and Luca Troisi Index
Diabetes and Motor Vehicle Crashes: A Systematic Evidence-Based Review and Meta-Analysis

The primary objective of this systematic review was to address the question, “Are drivers with diabetes mellitus at greater risk for a motor vehicle crash than comparable drivers without the disease?” and secondarily, to address the question, “Are insulin-treated diabetics at higher risk for crash?” The authors' searches identified 16 articles that addressed these questions. An assessment of study quality of the included studies found them to be in the low-to-moderate range. While attempts were made to control for differences in the characteristics of individuals that may confound the relationship between diabetes and crash risk in all included studies, most failed to control for exposure. A random-effects meta-analysis found that individuals with diabetes have a 19% increased risk for a motor vehicle crash when compared to similar individuals without diabetes. The authors found no compelling evidence to suggest that insulin-treated individuals are at higher risk for motor vehicle crash than individuals with diabetes not being treated with insulin. The authors discuss the implications of these findings.
PhilippinesPreparations for Inflation Targeting

The Philippines is planning to shift toward adoption of an inflation targeting framework in 2001. This paper reviews key policy issues in this context, describes various operational and technical preparations, and presents an empirical analysis of the factors driving inflation. Among the key policy requirements, while central bank independence appears assured, the exchange rate has been allowed to fluctuate largely freely, and the authorities are embarking on a medium-term plan for fiscal consolidation. Empirical results suggest that the effective exchange rate (rather than a bilateral rate) and wages are important long-run influences on inflation.
Kidney function in severely obese adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery.

Objective Determine objective measures of kidney function and analyze factors associated with kidney dysfunction in severely obese adolescents undergoing weight loss surgery were described. Methods Cross-sectional data from 242 adolescent participants in the Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen-LABS) study before weight loss surgery were analyzed. Kidney status was assessed by measuring urine albumin creatinine ratio to determine microalbuminuria and by calculating serum cystatin C-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) to assess kidney function. Results Mean age and median body mass index (BMI) were 17.1 years and 50.5 kg/m2, respectively; 76% were females and 65% were non-Hispanic white race. Fourteen percent of the cohort had microalbuminuria, and 3% had macroalbuminuria; 3% had eGFR 150 ml/min/1.73 m2. In adjusted analyses, female gender and increasing ferritin levels were significantly associated with the presence of microalbuminuria/macroalbuminuria. Increasing BMI and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance values were significantly associated with lower eGFR. Conclusions A significant number of severely obese adolescents undergoing weight loss surgery have evidence of early kidney dysfunction. Longitudinal studies following weight loss surgery in these individuals are needed to determine whether these kidney abnormalities are reversible following weight loss therapy.
Disney Goes Goofy: Agency, Delegation, and Corporate Governance

In the wake of the corporate debacles that have occurred in the last decade, there has been an increasing legislative and judicial focus on the reform of corporate governance standards. Such reforms, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, sing the praises of independent directors in effectuating meaningful corporate governance. The Delaware courts as well have emphasized the importance of independent directors in the corporate governance framework. The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision in Disney seems to be a reaffirmance of the business judgment rule as applied to corporate directors; however, the court’s highly-publicized decision ignores a crucial component of the case: the Delaware Supreme Court implicitly holds that Michael Eisner, as CEO of Disney, had the authority to unilaterally terminate the number-two officer in the corporation and to authorize a severance payment of over $130 million without action from the board of directors. By expanding the unilateral power of the chief executive officer to bind the corporation to such extraordinary transactions, the Disney court’s holding thus slights independent director service on corporate boards. Indeed, under the court’s reasoning in Disney, the effect of independent directors on meaningful corporate governance is diminished.
Vulture Funds and Sovereign Debts

On March 28, 2011, the U.K. Government took a bold step. It adopted legislation that made permanent, a temporary Debt Relief Act that limits vulture funds from being able to make massive profits from the 40 most impoverished countries debt in British courts, following a major campaign coordinated by the Jubilee Debt Campaign. This law became the first of its kind anywhere in the world and has already saved Liberia $40 million. This article will examine the nature of vulture funds and the implications of these investors on the secondary market for the African sovereign debt. The article will also look at the earlier U.K. decision in Donegal v. Zambia and what possibilities this new law that prohibits enforcement of vulture funds might have on such investors and on developing countries. Finally, this article will examine how other countries like the U.S. and China are currently dealing with the issue of vulture funds especially in the context of the case of FG Hemisphere Associates LLC v. Democratic Republic of Congo.
The role of postnatal neurogenesis in supporting remote memory and spatial metric processing

In this study, we determined the contribution of juvenile neurogenesis to the performance of mice on a remote memory for temporally based association task and in a novelty based spatial pattern separation task. This was accomplished by mating homozygous DNMT1-loxP mice with heterozygous GFAP-Cre mice and comparing Cre+ (no postnatal neurogenesis) to Cre- (wild type) littermate offspring. The results indicate that Cre+ mice are impaired relative to Cre- mice in the remote memory for a temporal based association task and in a novelty based spatial pattern separation task. These results support the temporal integration model of Aimone et al., [(2006) Nat Neurosci 9:723-727] and provide further support for an important role for postnatally born neurons in spatial pattern separation. In contrast, Cre+ mice are not impaired relative to Cre- mice in an object-context recognition task and a spatial location recognition task. These latter data suggest that postnatally derived neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) do not support all spatial and object recognition functions of the DG.
Pathogenicity of Listeria monocytogenes grown on crabmeat.

The pathogenicity of Listeria monocytogenes as influenced by growth on crabmeat at 5 and 10 degrees C was studied. Crabmeat was inoculated with L. monocytogenes V7 (ca. 10(4) CFU/g) and incubated for up to 14 days at 5 and 10 degrees C. At selected incubation times, L. monocytogenes was removed from crabmeat by washing with 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and populations were determined by surface plating on LiCl-phenylethanol-moxalactam agar. Buffered suspensions were then centrifuged, and the resulting pellets were suspended in phosphate buffer containing 10% glycerol and stored at -18 degrees C. Thawed, diluted suspensions of cells were tested for pathogenicity by intraperitoneal injection into immunocompromised and nonimmunocompromised mice. L. monocytogenes cells recovered from crabmeat and then recultured in tryptose phosphate broth (TPB), as well as cells which had not been passed through crabmeat but had been cultured in TPB, were likewise harvested, suspended in buffered 10% glycerol, frozen, thawed, diluted, and tested for pathogenicity by intraperitoneal injection. Growth on crabmeat at 5 and 10 degrees C did not have a significant effect on pathogenicity. The population of L. monocytogenes necessary to kill about 50% of the immunocompromised mice in each test set within 7 days was about 10(4) CFU, and this result was not significantly affected by storage temperature of the crabmeat or type of substrate, i.e., crabmeat or TPB, on which it had grown.
Evidence of Local Persistence of Human Anthrax in the Country of Georgia Associated with Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors

Background Anthrax is a soil-borne disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis and is considered a neglected zoonosis. In the country of Georgia, recent reports have indicated an increase in the incidence of human anthrax. Identifying sub-national areas of increased risk may help direct appropriate public health control measures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of human anthrax and identify environmental/anthropogenic factors associated with persistent clusters.
CORDONS OF PROTECTION: THE STAGE OF SPECTATORSHIP IN CHARLOTTE BRONTË'S VILLETTE

In the years following the publication of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's social circle expanded rapidly, extending far beyond the narrow circumference of Haworth Parsonage. The later letters attest to personal acquaintance with many prominent literary contemporaries, including Elizabeth Gaskell, Harriet Martineau, George Henry Lewes, and William Thackeray. Yet, second perhaps only to Thackeray, the writer that Bronte credits as most influential to her thinking about art and narrative is one that she never did meet: John Ruskin. Bronte's initial exposure to Ruskin's work came through the channel of their shared publisher, George Smith, who in 1848 sent her a copy of the first two volumes of Modern Painters.
The Impact of Research on Scaling and Root Planing

The research expanding our knowledge of the periodontally involved root surface and its treatment is reviewed. To improve communication in the clinic and classroom, definitions are suggested for the terms "scaling" and "root planing." The objectives and limitations of root planing procedures are discussed.
Wireless Power Transfer to Miniature Implants: Transmitter Optimization

This paper examines transmitter optimization for wirelessly powering a small implant embedded in tissue. The wireless link between the transmitter and receiver is first modeled as a two-port network and an expression for the power transfer efficiency derived. For a given small receiver in a multilayer tissue model, the transmitter is abstracted as a sheet of magnetic current density for which the optimal distribution is analytically found. The optimal transmitter is compared to the point and uniform source across a range of frequencies. At higher frequencies, the optimal current distribution is shown to induce fields that exhibit focusing. The effects of constructive and destructive interference substantially improves the power transfer efficiency and reinforces operation in the low GHz-range. The optimal transmitter establishes an upper bound on the power transfer efficiency for a given implant and provides insight on the design of the optimal transmit antenna.
Teratogenic compounds of Veratrum californicum (Durand). 13. Structure of muldamine.

Abstract Alkaloid Q, one of three principal benzene extractable alkaloids from Veratrum californicum (Durand), was subjected to structural investigation by i.r., NMR, mass spectrometry and other means. The data allow a provisional, structural assignment as 5-veratranine-3β, 11α-diol 11 acetate, and the compound is now assigned the trivial name, muldamine.