cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Decisionmaking on Multimember Courts: The Assignment Power in the Circuits

Institutional rules of courts often draw status distinctions among members, assigning certain statuses to different judges (e.g., “chief judge,” “presiding judge”) and allocating particular powers on the basis of status. We investigate the influence of intra-court and intra-panel status distinctions on judicial behavior in the U.S. federal courts of appeals. We exploit cross-case variation in judicial status and cross-circuit differences in institutional procedures that relate status to particular powers. Analyzing cases published between 1993 and 2007, we find that presiding-judge status reduces the probability that a judge dissents by 16 percent. We find evidence suggesting that this effect operates entirely through the presiding judge’s power to assign the panel opinion, and that it is not a product of strategic voting by presiding judges seeking to retain opinion-assignment authority by siding with the majority. These results illustrate the importance to voting patterns of institutional rules governing judicial status and intra-panel powers.
Design of a Noncausal FIR Model Inverse as a Compensator in Repetitive Control

A new method of designing compensators for repetitive controllers is presented. The ideal compensator is a filter that is the inverse of the plant, but this is usually unstable, and therefore cannot be used in practice. The approach used here works on a restricted class of transfer functions, and bypasses this difficulty by making a noncausal FIR model of the plant inverse. This model has poles only at the origin, and is therefore stable. Methods are presented to adjust the three parameters of the design for stability and good learning speed, i.e. the repetitive control gain, and the number of causal, and the number of noncausal gains chosen to compose the finite impulse response model. A third order system is studied, which models the closed loop behavior of one link of a commercial robot. One can produce a stable design with a number of gains ranging from 11 to 15 (this gives the number of real time computations for control update), and these numbers are not particularly sensitive to sample rate. Using 18, 20, or 30 gains can produce a quite reasonable plant inverse model that gives fast learning in repetitions at all frequencies.
Treating postpartum mood and anxiety disorders in primary care pediatrics

Postpartum psychiatric disorders represent a significant public health problem that has not been readily addressed, particularly in the primary care setting. As maternal mood and anxiety difficulties are associated with a number of adverse outcomes for the mother, her offspring and the family system, addressing these concerns during the perinatal period is of critical importance. Although researchers and clinicians have become increasingly aware of the problem, postpartum mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) remain widely unrecognized and poorly understood by both patients and providers. As pediatric primary care providers encounter mothers repeatedly throughout the postpartum period, the pediatric clinician has the unique opportunity to intervene with mothers suffering from mental illness. Given the potentially devastating impact of PMADs across multiple domains, the purpose of this article is to provide guidelines for pediatric clinicians to better manage maternal mental illness within the primary care pediatric setting. As such, we review the categories and prevalence of PMADs and provide strategies for responding to a positive PMADs screen or concerns raised during surveillance of the mother-infant-dyad. In addition, we offer a summary of the literature on evidence-based treatments for PMADs to allow pediatricians to guide the parents of their patients towards the most effective interventions. Finally, we provide an overview of alternative treatment models that can facilitate the screening and treatment of behavioral health concerns within the primary care setting.
Impact of radiotherapy modalities on outcomes in the adjuvant management of uterine carcinosarcoma: A National Cancer Database analysis.

Abstract Purpose In the postoperative management of uterine carcinosarcoma (UCS), the roles of individual radiotherapy (RT) modalities, chiefly external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and brachytherapy (BT), remain undefined. We analyzed the survival impact of EBRT and BT using the National Cancer Database. Methods and materials We abstracted women diagnosed with UCS from 2004 to 2012 who received hysterectomy and had complete RT information. Cox multivariate analysis and propensity-score matched analyses were used to compare survival among radiotherapeutic approaches. Results We identified 1229 women receiving no radiotherapy, 472 receiving EBRT alone, 331 receiving BT alone, and 271 receiving EBRT+BT. On multivariate analysis of the entire analytic cohort, survival was significantly improved among patients receiving EBRT+BT combination (hazard ratio [HR] 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.58–0.89, p Conclusions EBRT+BT combination is associated with an overall survival advantage in UCS and warrants consideration in the adjuvant management of this disease.
Clinical Impact of Genomic Information in Pediatric Leukemia.

Pediatric leukemia remains a significant contributor to childhood lethality rates. However, recent development of new technologies including next-generation sequencing has increased our understanding of the biological and genetic underpinnings of leukemia, resulting in novel diagnostic and treatment paradigms. The most prevalent pediatric leukemias include B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These leukemias are highly heterogeneous, both clinically and genetically. There are multiple genetic subgroups defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), each with distinct clinical management. Clinical laboratories have started adopting genomic testing strategies to include high throughput sequencing assays which, together with conventional cytogenetic techniques, enable optimal patient care. This review summarizes genetic and genomic techniques used in clinical laboratories to support management of pediatric leukemia, highlighting technical, biological and clinical advances. We illustrate clinical utilities of comprehensive genomic evaluation of leukemia genomes through clinical case examples, which includes the interrogations of hundreds of genes, and multiple mutation mechanisms using next generation sequencing technologies. Finally, we provide a future perspective on clinical genomics and precision medicine.
17 – Behavioral Disorders

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of behavioral disorders. Disorders of the nervous system can ruin the lives of individuals and are of such a magnitude that they create many of our greatest social problems. People become mentally ill, insane, or psychotic and a few such individuals in a society can destroy its fabric. People can become addicted to drugs. They can ruin their lives, and their habits create an underworld willing and able to exploit them. Some people become alcoholics. The chapter discusses about schizophrenia disorder. The primary characteristic of schizophrenia is the impairment of logical thought processes. Speech is often bizarre and confused, reflecting a disturbed mind. Thoughts that are usually only remotely connected emerge together in speech (loose associations), and in extreme cases speech may be completely incomprehensible. Depression is another behavioral disorder. It is diagnosed as being either primarily endogenous or exogenous. The endogenous form of depression refers to severe depression that occurs in the absence of any identifiable external source; the exogenous form of depression results from external stresses.
Facilitators and Barriers to Antibiotic Stewardship: A Qualitative Study of Pharmacists’ Perspectives:

Background: The Veterans Affairs (VA) is a leader in the implementation and advancement of antibiotic stewardship programs throughout the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also led national antibiotic stewardship efforts and has outlined core elements to improve antibiotic use in hospitals, long-term care, and outpatient settings. Many facilities still face challenges to the implementation and maintenance of successful programs, particularly in nonacute care settings. The objective of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to antibiotic stewardship within the VA medical centers through qualitative interviews with pharmacists. Methods: Eight semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with pharmacists from 6 VA medical centers within VA New England Healthcare System. Pharmacist respondents were either pharmacy champions (for medical centers with established programs) or pharmacists with responsibilities in making antibiotic recommendations (locations without established programs). All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo 8 was used for data coding and analysis. Results: Pharmacists from all 8 medical centers were contacted for interviews and pharmacists from 6 medical centers agreed to interviews (75% VA New England medical center participation). Three main themes regarding antibiotic stewardship were identified from the interviews with pharmacists. Respondents described the importance of (1) a supportive organizational culture, (2) protected time for antibiotic stewardship, and (3) a cohesive organizational structure in the success of antibiotic stewardship programs. Conclusions: Our findings support the CDC core elements for antibiotic stewardship, in particular the importance of leadership commitment in the creation of a culture that supports antibiotic stewardship and in ensuring staff are given sufficient time for antibiotic stewardship efforts. Although a strong supportive culture has been built, strategies focused on fostering increased protected time for antibiotic stewardship and a cohesive organizational structure may be helpful in advancing and sustaining successful antibiotic stewardship programs that improve patient outcomes.
Anticoagulants/Antithrombotic Therapy

Abstract The development of newer and more effective antithrombotic strategies has lead to the routine use of combination approaches to the treatment of both venous and arterial thromboembolic disease. Because of the increased potential and risk for adverse events, efforts have increased to tailor therapy for individual groups of patients and for individual patients. There is general consensus that women do benefit from antithrombotic therapy but that some differences in response do exist, both from a therapeutic and an adverse reaction perspective. Pharmacologic agents available to influence coagulation include antiplatelet inhibitors, thrombolytics, and indirect and direct inhibitors of thrombin.
Some Issues in the Identification of Structural Systems Through the Use of Neural Networks

The identification of mathematical models of physical structures on the basis of experimental measurements is a problem that has been receiving increasing attention in the recent past. The main impetus for this phenomenon is the central role that appropriate mathematical models have in active structural control applications. For example, the success of precision active control of large space structures is based on the availability of accurate mathematical models of those structures. Since the size, nature, and configuration of these large, flexible structures preclude their identification on the ground, future space missions have an essential need for efficient on-orbit system identification procedures.
Efficient Splatting Using Modern Graphics Hardware

Abstract Interactive volume rendering for data set sizes larger than one million samples requires either dedicated hardware, such as three-dimensional texture mapping, or a sparse representation and rendering algorithm. Consumer graphics cards have seen a rapid explosion of performance and capabilities over the past few years. This paper presents a splatting algorithm for direct volume rendering that utilizes the new capabilities of vertex programs and the OpenGL imaging extensions. This paper presents three techniques: immediate mode rendering, vertex shader rendering, and point convolution rendering, to implement splatting on a PC equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce4 display card. Per-splat and per-voxel render time analysis is conducted for these techniques. The results show that vertex-shader rendering offers an order of magnitude speed-up over immediate mode rendering and that interactive volume rendering is becoming feasible on these consumer-level graphics cards for complex volumes with millions of voxels.
Abstract 3254: Dissecting genomic determinants of response to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC and colorectal cancer

Background: Despite the advent of new targeted- and immuno-therapies, chemotherapy continues to be a mainstay in most tumor types. In lung and colorectal cancer, platinum-based regimens are the standard of care as part of front-line systemic, neoadjuvant, or adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Response to these agents varies widely among patients, and currently there are no mature or reliable biomarkers of clinical response to platinum therapies for these cancer types. We hypothesized that a systematic integrated genomic analysis of pre-treatment tumors from a large cohort of platinum-treated cancer patients would reveal genomic determinants of resistance and response, which may guide a precision medicine-based approach to choosing effective treatments. Methods: 238 metastatic lung and colorectal adenocarcinoma patients were enrolled in the CanSeq study from February 2013 to July 2015. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) on pre-treatment tumors, and called variants including single nucleotide variants (SNVs), small insertions and deletions, copy-number alterations, purity and ploidy of tumors, and inferred clonality and subclonality of individual mutations. Clinical records were reviewed to determine response to therapy, progression-free (PFS), and overall survival. Patients were characterized as having clinical benefit (CB), intermediate benefit (IB), and no clinical benefit (NCB) based on the best radiologic response to therapy and PFS. CB included all patients with complete response or partial response + a long PFS in the top quartile of responders, while NCB experienced progressive disease. IB included all other patients. We evaluated associations between genomic features and response using standard statistical methods. Results: 119 patients received platinum-based systemic chemotherapy and had pre-treatment tumors. Our initial analysis comparing CB vs. NCB suggests that mutations in PTPRD, a receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase previously associated with platinum resistance in cancer cell lines, may be significantly associated with chemoresistance (3/9 NCB, 0/23 CB, p Citation Format: Shirley S. Mo, David Liu, Stacy W. Gray, Steven Joffe, Nikhil Wagle, Judy Garber, Levi A. Garraway, Lynette Sholl, Pasi A. Janne, Eliezer M. Van Allen. Dissecting genomic determinants of response to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC and colorectal cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3254.
Effects of Cobalt on Physical and Mechanical Properties and In Vitro Degradation Behavior of Brushite Cement

Cobalt (Co), a vital element in biological functions, induces osteogenesis and angiogenesis at low concentrations. We present the effects of Co and its concentration on the setting time, compressive strength, and degradation behavior of brushite cement (BrC), a potential candidate to fill small bone defects. Addition of Co at up to 1 wt.% decreased the compressive strength in a dose-dependent manner to 1.09 ± 0.21 MPa. The initial setting time decreased in samples with 0.25 wt.% Co from 3.67 ± 0.23 min to 2.21 ± 0.04 min, then increased to 6.80 ± 0.08 min with addition of 1 wt.% cobalt, while a similar trend was found for the final setting time. The stable pH of the buffer during degradation along with phase analysis showing presence of only tricalcium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate dihydrate suggest that the disintegration of the cement is not accompanied by any noticeable chemical reaction. These data show that, although Co significantly affects the setting time and compressive strength, it does not play a critical role in the degradation behavior of BrC.
Percutaneous Closure of Persistent Atrial Septal Defects After Pulmonary Vein Isolation.

Abstract Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) with radiofrequency or cryoballoon ablation to treat atrial fibrillation requires trans-septal puncture. This creates a small iatrogenic atrial septal defect (iASD). In most patients, the defect spontaneously closes after 3–6 months. However, persistent iASDs can cause hemodynamic changes and adverse consequences from inter-atrial shunting. Persistent post PVI iASDs that are clinically significant can be closed percutaneously. This diagnosis should be considered in patients with worsening dyspnea or fatigue after PVI. We present a case of post PVI iASDs causing immediate or late onset hemodynamic changes and clinical symptoms, which improved after ASD closure. We provide a review of previously reported cases and literature on post PVI ASD prevalence, risk factors and outcomes after ASD closure.
Cerebral Sinus Venous Thrombosis in the Setting of Acute Mastoiditis

Cerebral sinus venous thrombosis (CSVT) is a rare complication of acute mastoiditis with a declining incidence in the post-antibiotic era. In the adult population its incidence ranges from three to four cases per million. Here we present a case of a 47-year-old female with triple negative breast cancer on chemotherapy who underwent a molar tooth extraction, which was followed two weeks later by the sudden onset of left-sided frontotemporal headache radiating down the face, left ear fullness with associated hearing loss, toothache, and left orbital pain. Imaging studies performed included magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as magnetic resonance venography (MRV), both of which showed thrombosis of the left transverse sinus, sigmoid sinus as well as the internal jugular vein, which was consistent with a diagnosis of cerebral sinus venous thrombosis. Following the diagnosis, the patient was managed with anti-coagulation and antibiotics, which resulted in improvement of her symptoms. This case highlights the need to be vigilant in patients with acute mastoiditis for the above clinical syndrome in order to promptly diagnose this rare complication and avoid life-threatening consequences.
Estimation of soil moisture at different soil levels using machine learning techniques and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) multispectral imagery

Soil moisture is a key component of water balance models. Physically, it is a nonlinear function of parameters that are not easily measured spatially, such as soil texture and soil type. Thus, several studies have been conducted on the estimation of soil moisture using remotely sensed data and data mining techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs). However, all models developed based on these techniques are limited to site-specific applications where they are trained and their parameters are tuned. Moreover, since the system of non-linear equations produced by and conducted in the machine learning process are not accessible to researchers, each application of these machine learning approaches must repeat these training steps for any new study area. The fact that the results of this machine learning, black box approach cannot be easily transferred to different locations for extraction of soil moisture estimates is frustrating, and it can lead to inaccurate comparisons between methods or model performance. To overcome the Black-box issue, this study employed a powerful technique called genetic programming (GP), which is a combination of an evolutionary algorithm and artificial intelligence, to simulate soil moisture at different levels using high-resolution, multispectral imagery acquired with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The output of this approach is either a linear or nonlinear empirical equation that can be used by others. The performance of GP was compared with ANN and SVM modeling results. Several sets of high-resolution aerial imagery captured by the Utah State University AggieAir UAV system over two experimental pasture sites located in northern and southern Utah were used for this soil moisture estimation approach. The inputs used to train these models include the reflectance for the visible, near-infrared (NIR), and thermal bands. The results show (1) the performance of GP versus ANN and SVM and (2) the master equation provided by GP, which can be used in other locations and applications.
Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine Use With Adherence to Prescribed Western Rheumatic Medications Among Chinese American Patients: A Cross-Sectional Survey

OBJECTIVE Chinese Americans are a fast-growing immigrant group with worse rheumatic disease outcomes compared to white populations and frequently use traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Whether TCM use is associated with lower adherence to Western rheumatic medications is unknown. The present study was undertaken to examine adherence to Western medications for systemic rheumatic diseases in the Chinese American immigrant population and its association with TCM use. METHODS Chinese Americans actively treated for a systemic rheumatic disease were recruited from 2 Chinatown clinics. Sociodemographic, TCM use, and clinical data were gathered. Self-reported health status was assessed using Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System short forms. Adherence was stratified using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Factors independently associated with high adherence were identified using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS Of 230 subjects, the median age was 55 years (range 20-97 years), 65% were female, 71% had a high school education or less, 70% were enrolled in Medicaid, and 22% reported fluency in English. The most common rheumatic diagnoses were rheumatoid arthritis (41%), systemic lupus erythematosus (17%), and seronegative spondyloarthropathies (15%). One-half reported TCM use in the past year, and 28% reported high adherence to Western rheumatic medications. In multivariable analysis, high adherence was associated with TCM use (odds ratio [OR] 3.96, P < 0.001), being married (OR 3.69, P = 0.004), medication regimen complexity (OR 1.13, P = 0.004), and older age (OR 1.06, P < 0.001), and was negatively associated with anxiety (OR 0.94, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION While adherence to Western rheumatic medications was low in this cohort, interestingly, it was higher among TCM users compared to nonusers. TCM use appears to represent a complementary rather than an alternate approach to disease management for these patients. Future studies should evaluate whether TCM use is associated with better disease outcomes.
Placental histopathology in late preterm infants: clinical implications.

BACKGROUND The etiopathogenesis of late preterm (LPT) birth is undetermined. Placental histopathology, which reflects an adverse intrauterine environment and is reportedly associated with preterm labor and neonatal morbidities, has not been studied in LPT infants. PURPOSE We investigated placental pathological lesion as markers of an adverse intrauterine environment during LPT labor. METHODS This retrospective case-control study compared placental histopathological and clinical variables between LPT and term neonates. Placental variables included chorioamnionitis, funisitis, hemorrhage, abruption, infarction, calcification, and syncytial knots. Maternal variables included age, substance abuse, pregnancyassociated diabetes mellitus and hypertension, duration of rupture of membrane, antibiotic use, and magnesium sulfate, whereas, those of neonates included gestational age, birth weight, race, sex, and Apgar scores. Standard statistical proedures were applied to analyze the data. RESULTS Chorioamnionitis (50% vs. 17.8%, P<0.001) and funisitis (20% vs. 4.4%, P=0.002) were more common in term infants. Placental infarction rate was insignificantly higher in LPT infants (25.6% vs. 14.3%, P=0.08). The mothers in the LPT group were older (30.4 years vs. 28.1 years, P=0.05; odds ratio [OR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.998-1.12, P=0.056) and more often suffered from hypertension (28.9 vs. 12.9 %, P=0.02), and received magnesium sulfate (48.9 vs. 20%, P< 0.001; OR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.12-7.29, P<0.05). Duration of rupture of membrane was higher in term infants (13.6 hours vs. 9.1 hours, P<0.001). Chorioamnionitis (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.13-0.79; P<0.05) was associated with a lower risk of LPT delivery. CONCLUSION Placental infection is not a risk factor for LPT births. There is a nonsignificant predominance of vascular anomalies in LPT placentas. Higher maternal age, magnesium sulfate therapy, and maternal hypertension are clinical risk factors for LPT labor.
Ketchup: A STEM Project in Gashora, Rwanda, Rooted in Philadelphia

Learning by doing is a bit of a mantra at the Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology (GGAST), an all-girls High School located in the village of Gashora in Rwanda. No doubt theory and formal education are of vital importance in learning science and technology, but building, fabricating, assembling, writing or coding, integrate the best of theoretical and experiential learning. Doing so provides students with the type of satisfaction that rewards them with something of substantial value upon completion of their scholarly effort. Through experience, we have found that this is perhaps one of the most ideal ways to relate to our students. For this exercise in the form of a collaborative effort, formally a service-learning course at University of Pennsylvania (Penn), the two co-authors have been engaged with the GGAST and Penn students during the last five years. Spending a few weeks each summer in residence in Gashora and maintaining year-round collaboration via online meetings and shared resources, we used as a guide and foundation the ideas expressed in a previous publication [1], with our audience was Penn students.
Voices of drought: the politics of music and environment in Northeastern Brazil

This work consists of a summary introduction and conclusion, as well as six main chapters organised roughly historically by period, ranging from the early twentieth century to the second decade of ...
Exploring the Relationship between Emergent Sociocognitive Roles, Collaborative Problem- Solving Skills and Outcomes: A Group Communication Analysis

Collaborative problem-solving (CPS) has become an essential component of today’s knowledge-based, innovation- centred economy and society. As such, communication and CPS are now considered critical 21st century skills and incorporated into educational practice, policy, and research. Despite general agreement that these are important skills, there is less agreement on how to capture sociocognitive processes automatically during team interactions to gain a better understanding of their relationship with CPS outcomes. The availability of naturally occurring educational discourse data within online CPS platforms presents a golden opportunity to advance understanding about online learner sociocognitive roles and ecologies. In this paper, we explore the relationship between emergent sociocognitive roles, collaborative problem-solving skills, and outcomes. Group Communication Analysis (GCA) — a computational linguistic framework for analyzing the sequential interactions of online team communication — was applied to a large CPS dataset in the domain of science (participant N = 967; team N = 480). The ETS Collaborative Science Assessment Prototype (ECSAP) was used to measure learners’ CPS skills, and CPS outcomes. Cluster analyses and linear mixed-effects modelling were used to detect learner roles, and assess the relationship between those roles on CPS skills and outcomes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed regarding sociocognitive roles and collaborative problem-solving skills.
Epidemiology of Pediatric Nonballistic Firearm Injuries to the Upper Extremity in the United States From 2000 to 2017.

Background: This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of pediatric upper extremity injury secondary to nonballistic firearms in the United States. Methods: The National Electronic Injury Survei...
Linking abdominal imaging traits to electronic health record phenotypes

Quantitative traits obtained from computed tomography (CT) scans performed in routine clinical practice have the potential to enhance translational research and genomic discovery when linked to electronic health record (EHR) and genomic data. For example, both liver fat and abdominal adipose mass are highly relevant to human disease; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is present in 30% of the US adult population, is strongly associated with obesity, and can progress to hepatic inflammation, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. We built a fully automated image curation and organ labeling technique using deep learning to identify liver, spleen, subcutaneous and visceral fat compartments in the abdomen and extract 12 quantitative imaging traits from 161,748 CT scans in 19,624 patients enrolled in the Penn Medicine Biobank (PMBB). The average liver fat, as defined by a difference in attenuation between spleen and liver, was -6.4 {+/-} 9.1 Hounsfield units (HU). In 135 patients who had undergone both liver biopsy and imaging, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81 for hepatic steatosis. The mean fat volume within the abdominal compartment for subcutaneous fat was 4.9 {+/-} 3.1 L and for visceral fat was 2.9 {+/-} 2.1 L. We performed integrative analyses of liver fat with the phenome extracted from the EHR and found highly significant associations with chronic liver disease/cirrhosis, chronic non-alcoholic liver disease, diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, renal failure, alcoholism, hepatitis C, use of therapeutic adrenal cortical steroids, respiratory failure and pancytopenia. Liver fat was significantly associated with two of the most robust genetic variants associated with NAFLD, namely rs738409 in PNPLA3 and rs58542926 in TM6SF2. Finally, we performed multivariate principle component analysis (PCA) to show the importance of each of the quantitative imaging traits to NAFLD and their interrelationships with the phenome. This work demonstrates the power of automated image quantitative trait analyses applied to routine clinical imaging studies to fuel translational scientific discovery.
Difference-in-Differences for Ordinal Outcomes: Application to the Effect of Mass Shootings on Attitudes toward Gun Control

The difference-in-differences (DID) design is widely used in observational studies to estimate the causal effect of a treatment when repeated observations over time are available. Yet, almost all existing methods assume linearity in the potential outcome (parallel trends assumption) and target the additive effect. In social science research, however, many outcomes of interest are measured on an ordinal scale. This makes the linearity assumption inappropriate because the difference between two ordinal potential outcomes is not well defined. In this paper, I propose a method to draw causal inferences for ordinal outcomes under the DID design. Unlike existing methods, the proposed method utilizes the latent variable framework to handle the non-numeric nature of the outcome, enabling identification and estimation of causal effects based on the assumption on the quantile of the latent continuous variable. The paper also proposes an equivalence-based test to assess the plausibility of the key identification assumption when additional pre-treatment periods are available. The proposed method is applied to a study estimating the causal effect of mass shootings on the public's support for gun control. I find little evidence for a uniform shift toward pro-gun control policies as found in the previous study, but find that the effect is concentrated on left-leaning respondents who experienced the shooting for the first time in more than a decade.
On the Importance of Second-Order Response Sensitivities to Nuclear Data in Reactor Physics Uncertainty Analysis

This invited keynote presentation compares the relative importance of 1st -order versus 2nd -order sensitivities of the leakage response of an OECD/NEA benchmark (polyethylene-reflected plutonium sphere) to the nuclear data characterizing this benchmark. The imprecisely known parameters underlying the neutron transport computational model for this benchmark include 180 group-averaged total microscopic cross sections, 21600 group-averaged scattering microscopic cross sections, 60 parameters describing the fission process, 30 parameters describing the fission spectrum, 10 parameters describing the system’s sources, and 6 isotopic number densities. Thus, this benchmark comprises 21886 1st-order sensitivities of the leakage response with respect to the model parameters, and 478,996,996 2nd-order sensitivities, of which 239,509,441 are distinct. The exact deterministic computation of all of these 1st- and 2nd-order sensitivities was made possible by the application of the Second-Order Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology (2nd -ASAM) developed by Cacuci. Thousands (out of the 32 400 elements) of the 2nd -order sensitivities of the leakage response with respect to the total cross sections turned out to be significantly larger than the largest corresponding 1st-order sensitivities, contrary to some previously held beliefs in the reactor physics community. Hence, it will be shown that neglecting the 2nd-order sensitivities to total cross sections would cause very large non-conservative errors by under-reporting the response’s variance and expected value. The 2nd-order sensitivities also cause the response distribution to be skewed towards positive values relative to the expected value, which, in turn, is significantly larger than the computed value of the leakage response. The result presented in this paper also underscore the need for obtaining reliable cross section covariance data, which are not available at this time.
Machine Learning and Clinical Informatics for Improving HIV Care Continuum Outcomes.

This manuscript reviews the use of electronic medical record (EMR) data for HIV care and research along the HIV care continuum with a specific focus on machine learning methods and clinical informatics interventions. EMR-based clinical decision support tools and electronic alerts have been effectively utilized to improve HIV care continuum outcomes. Accurate EMR-based machine learning models have been developed to predict HIV diagnosis, retention in care, and viral suppression. Natural language processing (NLP) of clinical notes and data sharing between healthcare systems and public health agencies can enhance models for identifying people living with HIV who are undiagnosed or in need of relinkage to care. Challenges related to using these technologies include inconsistent EMR documentation, alert fatigue, and the potential for bias. Clinical informatics and machine learning models are promising tools for improving HIV care continuum outcomes. Future research should focus on methods for combining EMR data with additional data sources (e.g., social media, geospatial data) and studying how to effectively implement predictive models for HIV care into clinical practice.
Effect of preweaning plane of nutrition on abomasal dynamics in Holstein calves

Feeding dairy calves a higher plane of nutrition (PON) through either greater quantities of milk solids or fluid volume has become increasingly common on commercial operations. Administering more nutrient-dense milk rations may compromise the functionality and environment of the abomasum, potentially resulting in clinical abomasal pathologies. The objectives of this experiment were to determine the effects of PON on the abomasal environment in healthy Holstein calves.
Air Pollution, Lipids and Atherosclerosis

Air Pollution has been associated with significant adverse health effects leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Cumulative epidemiological and experimental data have shown that exposure to air pollutants leads to increased cardiovascular ischemic events and enhanced atherosclerosis. The strongest associations are with the particulate matter (PM) components of air pollution, and it appears that the smaller particles are more pathogenic and have a greater ability to induce systemic vascular effects. Although it is unclear how the exposure to air pollutants can affect the systemic vasculature, it is likely that various mechanistic pathways participate including the induction of systemic pro-oxidant and pro-inflammatory responses which are now thought to play a central role. Air pollutants lead to oxidative alterations of plasma lipoproteins that increase the atherogenicity of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and decrease the protective effects of high-density lipoproteins (HDL). This chapter reviews the epidemiological, clinical and experimental animal evidence that support the association of air pollutants with systemic pro-oxidant effects resulting in alteration of plasma lipoproteins and enhanced atherosclerosis.
Integrated Plastic Microfluidic Devices for Bacterial Detection

This chapter describes integrated plastic microfluidic devices designed and fabricated for bacterial detection and identification. The devices, made from poly(cyclic olefin), contain components for DNA amplification, microfluidic valving, sample injection, on-column labeling and separation. DNA amplification was conducted in a reactor containing a volume ranging from 29 nL to 570 nL; screen-printed graphite ink resistors were used as heaters for thermal cycling. Microfluidic valves were created using in-situ gel polymerization to isolate the DNA amplification region from other components. Electrokinetic injection was used to migrate the amplification products (amplicons) through the gel valves, followed by on-chip electrophoretic separation. On-column labeling of the amplicons was achieved by mixing them with an intercalating dye. The various device functions were demonstrated by detection and genetic identification of two model bacteria, Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella typhimurium.
An optimized concurrency control algorithm for transaction processing

The focus of this paper is to propose a concurrency control scheme, named Two Phase Integrated Concurrency Control (2-PICC) which can meet the response time requirement under the concurrency level anticipated for future TP systems and provide better performance than any existing concurrency control scheme for virtually all data and hardware contention level. This concurrency control scheme shares the desirable properties of existing concurrency schemes such as the deadlock-free property of OCC, and the transaction-starvation-free property of locking-based concurrency schemes. >
The Benefits of a Fully Funded Social Security System

Congress has discussed several reform proposals [for the Social Security system], but has failed to agree on a solution that maintains the redistributive structure of the current system while also providing economic advantages. This paper consists of several additional sections that logically demonstrate why a fully funded system with the buildup of a large permanent trust fund is the most advantageous Social Security reform proposal. This article is available in The Park Place Economist: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol7/iss1/18
Analytic determination of conduction power losses in flying capacitor multicell power converter

Multilevel converters are mainly used in the medium-voltage high-power applications. Flying capacitor multicell (FCM) converter is one of the well-known categories of multilevel power converters. Since conduction power loss investigation can be very advantageous in the design step of multilevel converters, this paper presents an analytic approach in order to calculate and investigate the conduction power loss in FCM converters. First, the rms and average currents of the insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and anti-parallel diodes are analytically calculated by considering the associated duty cycle of each IGBT and anti-parallel diode, power converter modulation index, load current, and load power factor. Numerical results of the obtained analytical equations to calculate the rms and average currents of the IGBTs/diodes are compared against the simulation results whereas matching well and confirming accuracy of the derived formula. Afterwards, the obtained equations for the rms and average currents computation are used to calculate conduction power losses in a 12.25MVA 3.3kV 9-level (line-to-line) FCM power converter. A 2.5kV 1.5kA IGBT module from ABB is considered as power switches for FCM converter in performed case study.
Detection of Agglutinins in Chickens Infected with JM Leukosis Virus

Hemagglutinins for sheep red blood cells were detected in sera from JM virus-infected single-comb White Leghorn (susceptible S line) chickens. The agglutinins were not sedimented at 97,000 × g and were not affected by freezing and thawing, possibly indicating a soluble hemagglutinating factor. Agglutination titers were read in a relatively short period, after 4 hr of incubation at 4 C. The usefulness of this test for quick and low-cost screening of a large number of samples is indicated.
Fat Preservation and Other Tips for Upper Blepharoplasty

I prefer using the Ellman radiofrequency unit with a microdissection tip or the monopolar unit with a Colorado tip to incise the skin, as these afford simultaneous cutting and excellent hemostasis. The skin and orbicularis muscle are removed as single flaps generally, although a skin flap alone could be removed if there is preoperative concern for poor eyelid closure function. Next, the fat pads are addressed if prominent on the preoperative evaluation (Figure 27.1). In general, limited fat removal should be performed in order to avoid the appearance of a hollow superior sulcus. The trend in upper eyelid blepharoplasty has shifted to preservation, repositioning, or filling of the upper lid fat, rather than aggressive removal. If debulking is indicated, the fat should be conservatively removed over a curved hemostat in order to avoid orbital hemorrhage. Medial fat pad removal should bear in mind the location of the trochlea and superior oblique tendon, as well as the numerous fibrous attachments of these structures to the orbital fat. Generally, the orbital fat pads can be thermally sculpted with the Ellman roundball tip or the Colorado tip over an intact orbital septum, which limits the risk of hemorrhage or injury to adjacent structures, as well as requires much less operative time. Open image in new window Figure 27.1 Introperative view of upper eyelid fat pads posterior to the orbital septum. The levator aponeurosis lies posterior to the orbital fat pads. MFP, medial fat pad; CFP, central fat pad; LV, levator aponeurosis.
The Value of Vedolizumab as Rescue Therapy in Moderate-Severe Crohn's Disease Patients with Adalimumab Non-response in the USA

Background and aims: In May 2014, vedolizumab was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease. In clinical practice it is typically used in patients who are primary or secondary non-responders to adalimumab [Humira®]. We aim to estimate the incremental benefits and costs of using vedolizumab as rescue therapy for adalimumab non-responders. Methods: A Markov model was used to simulate the clinical course of Crohn’s disease in a hypothetical cohort of 10000 patients over a 12-month period. The treatment strategies evaluated were adalimumab only [with and without dose intensification] and adalimumab and vedolizumab [with and without adalimumab dose intensification]. The base case strategy was adalimumab only with 25% of non-responders undergoing dose intensification. Our primary outcomes were changes in costs and quality of life measures over the analytical horizon. Results: In a 1-year period, initiating vedolizumab as rescue therapy in adalimumab non-responders reduces the average total cost per patient by 10%, and increases the average amount of time spent in remission or mild disease by up to 2 months. Conclusions: Treating on-label adalimumab non-responders with vedolizumab can, in the short term, significantly improves the quality of life of Crohn’s disease patients that do not respond to adalimumab.
Fine structure of the trichomycete, Harpella melusinae, from black-fly guts.

The fungus, Harpella melusinae, attached to the peritrophic membrane of black-fly larvae, was fixed in glutaraldehyde-acrolein-osmium and in KMnO4. The holdfast does not penetrate the peritrophic membrane, and is comprised of many finger-like outgrowths (“digits”) surrounded by secretions of cementing substance that arise from a specialized basal part of the thallus. Undifferentiated cells contain many organelles, membranes, and lipid droplets commonly found in other phycomycetes, but in addition contain large concentrations of electron-opaque material with vesicles and tubules. The cytoplasm also has crystals in membrane-bound vesicles, myelin-like aggregations of membranes, and large nuclei with associated semi-circular plaques. Septa with small pores like bordered pits, plugged with an electron-opaque material, resemble those of other Harpellales and Linderina (Mucorales). As a spore grows outward, 4 appendages are formed within the generative cell, attached to the base of the spore body, and form a spiral between the wall and plasmalemma. “Forming vescles” transport material from the cytoplasm to the growing appendages, resulting in a periodic structure of alternating dark and light bands. Mature spores have a thick, wavy (in cross section) inner wall and a loose outer wall, and are separated from the generative cell by a septum with a pore.
The development of the trunk and tail lymphatics and posterior lymph hearts in anuran embryos

This paper represents the third part of a monograph on the development of the lymphatics and lymph hearts of Anura. In this part are considered the origin and development of the subvertebral, lateral, and dorsal lymphatics of the trunk, the caudal lymphatics, and the posterior lymph hearts. The chief lymphatic trunks arise along the veins from a series of small, spindle-shaped, and discontinuous anlagen which subsequently coalesce and thus establish continuity with one another. Lymph plexuses are formed from which emerge the main secondary lymph channels. After such trunks are laid down as indicated, smaller branches and capillaries spring from them by sprouting or extension, due to their actively proliferating endothelium. The posterior lymph hearts ‘crystallize,’ so to speak, from localized areas of the lateral lymphatic plexus. During its reorganization and differentiation, it temporarily separates from the surrounding lymph plexus. Other genetic details, such as the formation of its valves, histogenesis of its walls, number of hearts laid down, etc., are also considered. Twenty-two figures (microphotographs and reconstructions) accompany the text.
Numerical measures of two‐dimensional gel resolution and positional reproducibility

Procedures to measure two important properties of two-dimensional electrophoresis systems have been developed. These procedures evaluate the overall resolution and positional reproducibility of two-dimensional gel patterns. Using these measures we show that various state of the art gel systems can produce patterns exhibiting resolution measures of 15 000–50 000 (yielding practical upper bounds of about 2000–6000 detectable proteins in typical cellular samples) and that positional accuracy for most spots in gel-to-gel comparisons is better than a spot width (0.5–2.0 mm). Implemented as part of a computerized image analysis system for two-dimensional gel data, these two measures can be used in the selection and optimization of gel systems, and in the selection of sets of well-resolved, well-matched spots for genetic and other quantitative sudies.