cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prognostic Significance of Unbalanced Chromosome Abnormalities Used by 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) Classification to Define “Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with Myelodysplasia-Related Changes” in Adults: a Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Study.

Abstract 2602 Poster Board II-578 One of the major revisions in the 2008 WHO classification of “AML and Related Precursor Neoplasms” is the use of certain cytogenetic abnormalities (abns) as a criterion for inclusion in the “AML with myelodysplasia-related changes” category. These abns include 9 specific reciprocal translocations, 8 unbalanced abns, and complex karyotypes (CK), ie, ≥3 unrelated abns. The clinical features and outcome of patients (pts) with these abns require further study to confirm the appropriateness of their inclusion in this WHO category. Therefore, we evaluated 2,724 consecutive untreated adults meeting criteria for possible inclusion in this WHO category (ie, non-therapy-related AML and not part of the first WHO AML category) in the CALGB cytogenetics database; 516 (19%) pts harbored ≥1 myelodysplasia-related abn and/or CK, and had outcome data available. Their median age was 62 years (y; range, 15–88 y). The 9 reciprocal translocations were very rare, with t(3;5)(q25;q34) found in 6 pts, t(3;21)(q26.2;q22.1) in 2, t(1;3)(p36.3;q21.1) and t(2;11)(p21;q23) in 1 pt each and the remaining 5 translocations not detected. Their rarity precluded further analyses. With the exception of idic(X)(q13), found in 2 pts, the remaining 7 unbalanced abns were more common (Table). Importantly, the abns were not mutually exclusive, ie, ≥2 different abns could co-exist in the same karyotype and/or be part of a CK. Among 453 pts with ≥1 specific unbalanced abn (Table), 62% had CK; the highest % of CK, 89–95%, were seen in the i(17q) or t(17p), −13 or del(13q) and −5 or del(5q) groups and the lowest, only 24%, in del(9q) pts. As a group, non-CK pts had a higher complete remission (CR) rate (P=.002) and longer overall survival (OS; P Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Use of Recombinant Peptide as Substrate in FRET Based Protease Assays.

Abstract Proteases are enzymes that catalyze the breakdown of peptide bonds. They are essential to all physiologic and pathological processes. Some protease deficiencies are closely associated with certain disease conditions, such as alpha-1-Antitrypsin deficiency in COPD, Antithrombin III deficiency in clotting disorders, and ADAMTS13 deficiency in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Measurement of protease activity is of great interest in research, drug discovery and development, and for use as diagnostic or prognostic markers in disease states. Traditional protease assay methods involve multiple steps and are very time-consuming. Recently, fluorescence energy transfer (FRET) based protease assays have become popular. These assays eliminate gel electrophoresis, radioactivity, and the need for special skills or complicated instruments. They require only one step incubation and allow high throughput screening of a large number of samples. Generation of pure, reliable, high quality substrate is essential to the development and improvement of such assays. Most FRET based assays use synthesized peptide substrates, the size of which is restricted by the limitations of chemical synthesis. These substrates are usually labeled with a pair of two different fluor-quencher molecules. However, when two identical fluorescent molecules are in close proximity, their fluorescence emission can also be quenched. This phenomenon of autoquenching has been widely used in protein structural studies and even in single-molecule structural studies, but has never been used to produce FRET substrates. We hypothesized that this mechanism can be applied to the production of recombinant FRET substrates. We used the ADAMTS13 - von Willebrand factor (VWF) system to test this hypothesis. ADAMTS13 is a metalloproteinase that cleaves VWF between Y1605 and M1606. Kokame et al. have shown that the smallest effective substrate is a 73 amino acid (AA) peptide from the VWF A2 domain. A recombinant 73 AA peptide was generated using Qiagen pQE-100 His Tag vector and M15 E. coli expression system. Two native amino acids, Q1599 and P1611, which flank the ADAMTS13 cleavage site, were mutated to cysteines. These two cysteines were subsequently labeled with fluorescein molecules. The separation of these two fluoresceins by ADAMTS13 cleavage generated measurable fluorescence increase. There was a steady increase of fluorescence over time during the incubation of this recombinant peptide with pooled normal plasma (PNP) used as the source of ADAMTS13. There was only minimal change in fluorescence during incubation with heat inactivated PNP and plasma samples from known TTP patients with absent ADAMTS13 activity. The enzyme kinetic assay yielded an excellent linear relationship between the rates of fluorescence increase and ADAMTS13 enzyme concentration. Our study has provided proof of principle that fluorogenic recombinant peptides can be generated for FRET based protease assays.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects the invasive crayfishes Orconectes rusticus and Pacifastacus leniusculus in large lakes of North America

We report results of a study that made reciprocal comparisons of environmental DNA (eDNA) assays for two major invasive crayfishes between their disparate invasive ranges in North America. Specifically, we tested for range expansions of the signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana, 1852) into the Laurentian Great Lakes region known to be invaded by the rusty crayfish Orconectes rusticus (Girard, 1852), as well as for the invasion of O. rusticus into large lakes of California and Nevada, US known to be invaded by P. leniusculus. We compared eDNA detections to historic localities for O. rusticus within the Great Lakes, and to recent sampling for presence/absence and relative abundance of P. leniusculus in California and Nevada via overnight sets of baited traps. We successfully detected O. rusticus eDNA at six sites from the Great Lakes and P. leniusculus from six of seven lakes where it was known to occur in California and Nevada, but did not detect any range expansions by either species across the North American continent. eDNA appears suitable to detect benthic arthropods from exceptionally large lakes, and will likely be useful in applications for monitoring of new biological invasions into these and other freshwater and marine habitats.
Temporal and regional variability of Arctic sea-ice coverage from satellite data

With rapid and accelerated Arctic sea-ice loss, it is beneficial to update and baseline historical change on the regional scales from a consistent, intercalibrated, long-term time series of sea-ice data for understanding regional vulnerability and monitoring ice state for climate adaptation and risk mitigation. In this paper, monthly sea-ice extents (SIEs) derived from a passive microwave sea-ice concentration climate data record for the period of 1979–2015, are used to examine Arctic-wide and regional temporal variability of sea-ice cover and their decadal trends for 15 regions of the Arctic. Three unique types of SIE annual cycles are described. Regions of vulnerability within each of three types to further warming are identified. For the Arctic as a whole, the analysis has found significant changes in both annual SIE maximum and minimum, with −2.41 ± 0.56% per decade and −13.5 ± 2.93% per decade change relative to the 1979–2015 climate average, respectively. On the regional scale, the calculated trends for the annual SIE maximum range from +2.48 to −10.8% decade−1, while the trends for the annual SIE minimum range from 0 to up to −42% decade−1.
Novel OpenVX implementation for heterogeneous multi-core systems

Heterogeneous multi-core systems (CPU, GPU, HWA, DSP) are becoming the de-facto norm for multiple computer vision applications across automotive, robotics, AR/VR, and industrial machine vision. This creates a need for a software framework which realizes high utilization of computing elements, low latency, real-time operation and ease of use. For specific applications, multiple proprietary solutions are offered to satisfy few of the above requirements. This paper proposes a solution based on the standard OpenVX specification to address heterogeneous systems. It introduces novel techniques of distributed graph execution across heterogeneous cores, data tiling to address diverse memory constraints and easy to use high-level graph description to describe the application. This novel solution is implemented on TI's TDA family of SoC for mono camera vision application with platform code generated from high-level graph description. The profiling confirms real time operation, low latency by reducing host CPU interaction and achieving 99% utilization across heterogeneous cores.
Monetary policy and overshooting of oil prices in an open economy

Abstract U.S. monetary conditions are occasionally considered a driver of commodity prices. Using a cointegrated vector autoregression and quarterly data for over the last three decades, this article examines the effect of U.S. money supply on oil prices, controlling for industrial prices and echange rates. We find that monetary shocks cause adjustments of oil prices and industrial prices to be vastly different in the long-run, thereby indicting non-neutrality of money in the long-run. It is also found that oil prices tend to adjust more quickly than industrial (sticky) prices to monetary shocks to achieve the long-run equilibrium, thereby affecting relative prices in the short run.
Reconstruction of Boolean Formulas in Conjunctive Normal Form

A long-standing open problem in graph theory is to prove or disprove the graph reconstruction conjecture proposed by Kelly and Ulam in the 1940s. This conjecture roughly states that every graph on at least three vertices is uniquely determined by its vertex-deleted subgraphs. We adapt the idea of reconstruction for Boolean formulas in conjunctive normal form (CNFs) and formulate the reconstruction conjecture for CNFs: every CNF with at least four clauses is uniquely determined by its clause-deleted subformulas. Our main results can be summarized as follows. First, we prove that our conjecture is equivalent to a well-studied variation of the graph reconstruction conjecture, namely, the edge-reconstruction conjecture for hypergraphs. Second, we prove that the number of satisfying assignments of a CNF is reconstructible, i.e., this number can be computed from the clause-deleted subformulas. Third, we show that every CNF with m clauses over n variables is reconstructible if \(2^{m-1} > 2^n \cdot n!\).
The Neuroendocrinology of Scent Marking

How animals behave socially depends on their sex, reproductive condition, and social status, as well as on their previous experience with each other and the location of their encounter. In vertebrates, many of these behavioral biases are caused or accompanied by hormonal changes, such as the secretion of sex-or stress-related steroids. If a vertebrate wanted to forecast the behavior of a conspecific it was approaching, it could scarcely do better than to get the animal’s hormonal profile.
The Impossibility of Certain Higher-Order Non-Classical Logics with Extensionality

Although this paper does not directly reference work done by Ed Gettier, I feel that it is an appropriate contribution to this volume in that it deals with two of the great intellectual loves of Ed’s life, higher-order logic and modal logic, and it deals with them in a ‘logic-chopping’ way that I rightly or wrongly think would please Ed.
A Method for Increasing Modulation Index of Three Phase Triangular Conduction Mode Converter

This paper presents a control method for increasing the modulation index of a three-phase capacitor-decoupled triangular conduction mode converter. This type of converter features high power density and efficiency, but suffers from limited modulation index. To boost the modulation index, an injection of zero-sequence third-order harmonics to the decoupling capacitor voltage is used. The injection is performed by controlling the zero-sequence third-order harmonics in inductor current, and a feedforward control loop is proposed to conduct the desired function. The proposed control method is verified by simulation. A 15% modulation index increase can be achieved.
Applying waterjet technology in surgical procedures

The main objective of the paper is to predict the optimal waterjet pressure required to cut, drill or debride the skin layers without causing any damages to the organs. A relationship between the waterjet pressure and skin thickness has been established. It also includes the modulus of elasticity of the skin, the diameter of nozzle orifice, the nozzle standoff distance and the traverse speed of the waterjet as well as the duration of applying the waterjet pressure. Thus, practical relationship between waterjet operating parameters and the physical properties of the skin has been formulated. A real Caesarean section procedure data has been applied to the formulation. Given the Ultimate Tensile Strength of the skin at the abdomen to be 20 MPa, incision parameters of 18 mm deep, 12 cm long and 0.4 mm wide, applying a traverse speed of 0.5 mm/s and stand-off distance of 5 mm, the resulted waterjet pressure is 17.89 MPa using a 0.4 mm orifice diameter.
Oxidant-induced increase in norepinephrine secretion from PC12 cells is dependent on TRPM8 channel-mediated intracellular calcium elevation.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) modulate neuronal function, including plasticity and neurotransmitter biosynthesis and release. The cellular mechanisms that underlie redox modulation of neurotransmission are not fully resolved, but potential pathways include ROS-induced alterations in Ca2+ signaling in nerve terminals. In this study, we show that cold-sensitive receptor TRPM8 is activated by pro-oxidant tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP). Polymerase chain reaction, Western immunoblotting, and immunofluorescence indicated that TRPM8 channels are expressed in rat pheochromocytoma 12 (PC12) cells, a phenotypic model of sympathetic neurosecretion when differentiated with nerve growth factor. WS-12, a selective TRPM8 channel agonist, and tBHP increased intracellular Ca2+ concentration in differentiated PC12 cells; an effect attenuated by AMTB, a selective TRPM8 channel blocker, and siRNA-mediated TRPM8 knockdown. Blockade of TRPM8 channels also reduced WS-12- and tBHP-evoked norepinephrine secretion from the cells. These data suggest that TRPM8 channels contribute to oxidant-induced neurotransmission in PC12 cells.
A 20-year study of suicide death in a statewide autism population

SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY Growing concern about suicide risk among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) necessitates population-based research to determine rates in representative samples and to inform appropriate prevention efforts. This study used existing surveillance data in Utah to determine incidence of suicide among individuals with ASD over a 20-year period, and to characterize those who died. Between 1998 and 2017, 49 individuals with ASD died by suicide. Suicide cumulative incidence rates did not significantly differ between 1998 and 2012 across the ASD and non-ASD populations. Between 2013 and 2017, the cumulative incidence of suicide in the ASD population was 0.17%, which was significantly higher than in the non-ASD population (0.11%; P < 0.05). During this period, this difference was driven by suicide among females with ASD; suicide risk in females with ASD was over three times higher than in females without ASD (relative risk (RR): 3.42; P < 0.01). Among the individuals with ASD who died by suicide, average age at death and manner of death did not differ significantly between males and females. Ages at death by suicide ranged from 14 to 70 years (M[SD] = 32.41[15.98]). Individuals with ASD were significantly less likely to use firearms as a method of suicide (adjusted odds ratio: 0.33; P < 0.001). Study results expand understanding of suicide risk in ASD and point to the need for additional population-based research into suicide attempts and ideation, as well as exploration of additional risk factors. Findings also suggest a need for further study of female suicide risk in ASD. Autism Research 2019, 12: 658-666. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY This study examined suicide risk among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Utah over a 20-year period. Risk of suicide death in individuals with ASD was found to have increased over time and to be greater than in individuals without ASD between 2013 and 2017. Females with ASD were over three times as likely to die from suicide as females without ASD. Young people with ASD were at over twice the risk of suicide than young people without ASD. Individuals with ASD were less likely than others to die from firearm-related suicides.
Erosional behavior of gravel-sand mixtures stabilized by microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP)

Abstract The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) for improving internal erosion resistance of gravel-sand mixtures. Two gravel-sand mixtures with 25% sand/75% gravel and 50% sand/50% gravel were used; the former was susceptible to suffusion whereas the latter was internally stable. The MICP treatment was conducted by either mixing a urea-calcium solution with the tested soils prior to bacteria injection (the pre-mixing method) or injecting the bacteria prior to the urea-calcium solution injection (the injection method). A series of pressure-controlled erosion tests was performed on specimens placed inside a column erosion test apparatus under different levels of axial stress. During the erosion test, the erosion rate, axial deformation, and hydraulic conductivity were measured. Without the MICP treatment, the specimens with 25% sand/75% gravel exhibited much faster backward erosion and suffusion. In contrast, the specimens with 50% sand/50% gravel showed slow backward erosion only. Within the tested conditions, MICP was very effective in mitigating internal erosion for the soil with 25% sand/75% gravel. However, for the soil with 50% sand/50% gravel, the MICP treatment was only successful when the injection method was applied and the erosion test was performed at a low axial stress.
PhD bridge programmes as engines for access, diversity and inclusion

The lack of diversity in physics and astronomy PhD programmes is well known but has not improved despite decades of efforts. PhD bridge programmes provide an asset-based model to help overcome the societal and disciplinary obstacles to improving access and inclusion for students from underrepresented groups and are beginning to show some success. We describe several well-known PhD bridge programmes in the United States and discuss lessons learned from their experiences. Many of these lessons can be extended more broadly to physics and astronomy PhD programmes to increase access, diversity and inclusion. PhD bridge programmes provide an asset-based model to improve access and inclusion for students from underrepresented groups. Several well-known PhD bridge programmes in the United States are described and lessons learned from their experiences are discussed.
Decryption Originalism: The Lessons of Burr

The Supreme Court is likely to rule soon on how the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination applies to compelled decryption of a digital device. When the Court rules, the original understanding of the Fifth Amendment may control the outcome. This Article details an extraordinary case that illuminates the original understanding of the privilege and its application to compelled decryption. During the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr, with Chief Justice John Marshall presiding, the government asked Burr’s private secretary if he knew the cipher to an encrypted letter Burr had sent to a coconspirator. Burr’s secretary invoked the privilege against self-incrimination, leading to an extensive debate on the meaning of the privilege and an opinion from the Chief Justice. The Burr dispute presents a remarkable opportunity to unearth the original understanding of the Fifth Amendment and its application to surprisingly modern facts. The lawyers in Burr were celebrated and experienced advocates. The Chief Justice allowed them to argue the Fifth Amendment question in exhaustive detail. And an attorney recorded the entire argument in shorthand, including dozens of legal citations to the specific pages of the authorities the lawyers invoked. The rich materials allow us to reconstruct for the first time precisely how the privilege was understood by leading lawyers and Chief Justice John Marshall soon after the Fifth Amendment’s ratification. The Article presents that reconstruction, and it concludes by applying Burr’s lessons to the modern problem of compelled decryption of digital devices such as cell phones and computers.
More integration theory

In this chapter we treat some additional important topics in the theory of measure and integration. The first of these concerns another way that new measures can be constructed from old ones. If (X, S) and (Y, T) are measurable spaces, then a set of the form E × F, where E ∈ S and F ∈ T, is called a measurable rectangle in X × Y. The σ-ring of subsets of X × Y generated by the collection of all measurable rectangles is denoted by S × T, and the space X × Y equipped with the product σ-ring S × T is a measurable space called the product of (X, S) and (Y, T).
Provider Counseling About and Risk Perception for Future Chronic Disease Among Women with Gestational Diabetes and Preeclampsia.

Background: Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes or preeclampsia are at a greater risk of developing future type 2 diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Increased perception of future chronic disease risk is positively associated with making health behavior changes, including in pregnant women. Although gestational diabetes is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, few women have heightened risk perception. Little research has assessed receipt of health advice from a provider among women with preeclampsia and its association with risk perception regarding future risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Among women with recent diagnoses of preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, we assessed associations between receipt of health advice from providers, psychosocial factors, and type of pregnancy complication with risk perception for future chronic illness. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis among 79 women diagnosed with preeclampsia and/or gestational diabetes using surveys and medical record abstraction after delivery and at 3 months postpartum. Results: Overall, fewer than half of the 79 women with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes reported receiving health advice from a provider, and women with preeclampsia were significantly less likely to receive counseling as compared with women with gestational diabetes (odds ratio 0.23). We did not identify a difference in the degree of risk perception by pregnancy complication or receipt of health advice. There were no significant differences in risk perception based on age, race, education, or health insurance coverage. Conclusions: We demonstrated that women with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes are not routinely receiving health advice from providers regarding future chronic disease risk, and that women with preeclampsia are less likely to be counseled on their risk, compared with women with gestational diabetes. Provider and patient-centered interventions are needed to improve postpartum care and counseling for women at high risk for chronic disease based on recent pregnancy complications.
Improving non-line-of-sight image reconstruction with weighting factors

Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging is a light-starving application that suffers from highly noisy measurement data. In order to recover the hidden scene with good contrast, it is crucial for the reconstruction algorithm to be robust against noises and artifacts. We propose here two weighting factors for the filtered backprojection (FBP) reconstruction algorithm in NLOS imaging. The apodization factor modifies the aperture (wall) function to reduce streaking artifacts, and the coherence factor evaluates the spatial coherence of measured signals for noise suppression. Both factors are simple to evaluate, and their synergistic effects lead to state-of-the-art reconstruction quality for FBP with noisy data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed weighting factors on publicly accessible experimental datasets.
Associations of the consumer food environment with eating behaviours and BMI

Objective: To examine cross-sectional associations of four aspects of the consumer food environment – price, availability, marketing and product placement – with BMI and fruit and vegetable intake. Design: This cross-sectional study measured the consumer food environment using grocery store audits and surveys. Outcomes were measured through surveys and physical exams. Multivariable linear regression models were run; models were all adjusted for age, neighbourhood, education, race/ethnicity and financial burden. Setting: Non-proportional quota sample of four socio-economically and racial/ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in Chicago, IL. Participants: Women (n 228) aged 18–44 years. Results: Participants who reported seeing healthy food marketing had a higher vegetable intake (β = 0·24, 95 % CI 0·06, 0·42). There was some suggestive evidence that participants who shopped at stores that were more expensive (β = −0·90, 95 % CI −1·94, 0·14) had lower BMI, but this association was not statistically significant. Multivariable regression models did not indicate any significant association between any measure of the consumer food environment and fruit intake. Conclusions: Our findings add to the growing interest in the role of the consumer food environment in health behaviours. Further research is needed to better understand the role of price and marketing characteristics on eating behaviours and BMI.
Modernism: the basics: by Laura Winkiel, New York, Routledge, 2017, $23.16, 204 pages, ISBN:9780415713702

As I write this in a political climate where the U.S. finally seems ready to examine the legacies of white supremacy in our institutions and traditions, it’s not hard to feel that modernism has had...
Making Communication Scholarship Less WEIRD

In September 2020, I assumed the editorship of SCJ when the Publications Committee of the Southern States Communication Association entrusted me with care over this journal. SCJ has a long history ...
Does more government deficit raise the interest rate? Application of extended loanable funds model to Slovenia

Extending the open-economy loanable funds model, this paper finds that more government deficit as a percentage of GDP does not lead to a higher government bond yield. In addition, a higher real Treasury bill rate, a higher expected inflation rate, a higher EU government bond yield, or an expected depreciation of the euro against the U.S. dollar would increase Slovenia’s long-term interest rate. The negative coefficient of the percentage change in real GDP is insignificant at the 10% level. Applying the standard closed-economy or open-economy loanable funds model without including the world interest rate and the expected exchange rate, we find similar conclusions except that the positive coefficient of the ratio of the net capital inflow to GDP has a wrong sign and is insignificant at the 10% level.
Enabling Content-Centric Device-to-Device Communication in the Millimeter-Wave Band

The growth in wireless traffic and mobility of devices have congested the core network significantly. This bottleneck, along with spectrum scarcity, made the conventional cellular networks insufficient for the dissemination of large contents. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme that enables efficient initialization of CCN-based D2D networks in the mmWave band through addressing decentralized D2D peer association and antenna beamwidth selection. The proposed scheme considers mmWave characteristics such as directional communication and blockage susceptibility. We propose a heuristic peer association algorithm to associate D2D users using context information, including link stability time and content availability. The performance of the proposed scheme in terms of data throughput and transmission efficiency is evaluated through extensive simulations. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme improves network performance significantly and outperforms other methods in the literature.
A Retrospective Study of COVID-19-Related Urgent Medical Visits and Hospitalizations After Outpatient COVID-19 Diagnosis in the US.

Identifying risk factors for progression to severe COVID-19 requiring urgent medical visits and hospitalizations (UMVs) among patients initially diagnosed in the outpatient setting may help inform patient management. The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence of and risk factors for COVID-19-related UMVs after outpatient COVID-19 diagnosis or positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Data for this retrospective cohort study were from the Optum® de-identified COVID-19 Electronic Health Record database from June 1 to December 9, 2020. Adults with first COVID-19 diagnosis or positive SARS-CoV-2 test in outpatient settings were identified. Cumulative incidence function analysis stratified by risk factors was used to estimate the 30-day incidence of COVID-19-related UMVs. Competing risk regression models were used to derive adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for factors associated with UMVs. Among 206,741 patients [58.8% female, 77.5% non-Hispanic Caucasian, mean (SD) age: 46.7 (17.8) years], the 30-day incidence was 9.4% (95% CI 9.3–9.6) for COVID-19-related emergency room (ER)/urgent care (UC)/hospitalizations and 3.8% (95% CI 3.7–3.9) for COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Likelihood of hospitalization increased with age and body mass index, with age the strongest risk factor (aHR 5.61; 95% CI 4.90–6.32 for patients ≥ 85 years). Increased likelihood of hospitalization was observed for first presentation in the ER/UC vs. non-ER/UC outpatient settings (aHR 2.35; 95% CI 2.22–2.47) and prior all-cause hospitalization (aHR 1.90; 95% CI 1.79–2.00). Clinical risk factors of hospitalizations included pregnancy, uncontrolled diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, and autoimmune disease. A study limitation is that data on COVID-19 severity and symptoms were not captured. Predictors of COVID-19-related UMVs include older age, obesity, and several comorbidities. These findings may inform patient management and resource allocation following outpatient COVID-19 diagnosis.
Disclosures of Character: Formal Aspects of Presidential Campaign Announcement Speeches

The presidential candidacy announcement or declaration speech represents a major political marketing effort. Much goes into its staging, text, and performance. Campaigns rely on this debut to stake...
Consistently Inconsistent: Does Inconsistency Really Indicate Incapacity?

While it is not explicitly included in capacity assessment tools, “consistency” has come to feature as a central concern when assessing patients’ capacity. In order to determine whether inconsistency indicates incapacity, clinicians must determine the source of the inconsistency with respect to the process or content of a patient’s decision-making. In this paper, we outline common types of inconsistency and analyze them against widely accepted elements of capacity. We explore the question of whether inconsistency necessarily entails a deficiency in a patient’s capacity. While inconsistency may count as prima facie evidence of incapacity—enough evidence to justify a closer look—when making such determinations, it is important for clinicians to slow down, inquire about the reasons underlying the inconsistency and clearly show which of the elements of capacity the patient fails to satisfy.
Topoisomerases I and II facilitate condensin DC translocation to organize and repress X chromosomes in C. elegans

Condensin complexes are evolutionarily conserved molecular motors that translocate along DNA and form loops. While condensin-mediated DNA looping is thought to direct the chain-passing activity of topoisomerase II to separate sister chromatids, it is not known if topological constraints in turn regulate loop formation in vivo. Here we applied auxin inducible degradation of topoisomerases I and II to determine how DNA topology affects the translocation of an X chromosome specific condensin that represses transcription for dosage compensation in C. elegans (condensin DC). We found that both topoisomerases colocalize with condensin DC and control its movement at different genomic scales. TOP-2 depletion hindered condensin DC translocation over long distances, resulting in accumulation around its X-specific recruitment sites and shorter Hi-C interactions. In contrast, TOP-1 depletion did not affect long-range spreading but resulted in accumulation of condensin DC within expressed gene bodies. Both TOP-1 and TOP-2 depletions resulted in X chromosome transcriptional upregulation indicating that condensin DC translocation at both scales is required for its function in gene repression. Together the distinct effects of TOP-1 and TOP-2 on condensin DC distribution revealed two distinct modes of condensin DC association with chromatin: long-range translocation that requires decatenation/unknotting of DNA and short-range translocation across genes that requires resolution of transcription-induced supercoiling.
Tomorrow’s Engineering Problems

Since human beings are seldom completely satisfied with what they have, the engineer’s job is never-ending. Some new device or structure or process is always desired or needed. The burden is further multiplied by the fact that one solution frequently creates a series of new problems which must in turn, at some time, be solved. These new problems created by old solutions are the subject of this paper. More specifically, the paper concerns the use of natural resources: energy, minerals and water.
Quasi-hitless defragmentation technique in elastic optical networks by a coherent RX LO with fast TX wavelength tracking

This paper proposes a technique to realize quasi-hitless defragmentation in elastic optical networks. The technique exploits fast tunable lasers in the transponders and a rapid TX wavelength tracking scheme at the RX based on an athermal AWG and a PD-array. The propose scheme can potentially achieve defragmentation operation with a service disruption time below 400ns.
Extensible tools for practical experiments in IDN: the advanced stories authoring and presentation system

Research on the emerging form of interactive digital narrative (IDN) concerns both theory and practice. The approach discussed here combines a theoretical framework introduced previously with a concrete implementation in the form of the Advanced Stories Authoring and Presentation System (ASAPS), a software package that aims to foster experimentation by providing tools which are easy to use. Furthermore ASAPS differentiates itself from other authoring tools by emphasizing extensibility and collaboration with other software. Therefore, the first implementation of this tool set foregrounds a flexible, modular architecture over computational sophistication.
Way Beyond Legal Research: Understanding the Research Process of Legal Scholars

How do legal scholars seek, find, and manage information in the course of producing a scholarly article or book? While the topic of legal research has been explored in the literature, few studies have been conducted exploring the research process of legal scholars, and the variety of information work that they do when they produce scholarship. This article organizes and addresses the most important research questions for understanding the research process of legal scholars. The article also addresses practical applications of this work for librarians, including the process of assessing faculty service and collection needs. Finally, it suggests a path for exploring these research questions with an empirical study, using qualitative methods.
Reanalysis of the Chechile-Cooke Experiment: Correcting for Mismatched Gambles

Chechile and Cooke (1997) experimentally tested a broad class of utility models subsumed under the Miyamoto (1988, 1992) generic utility theory. The Chechile and Cooke study required participants to match on each trial, a fully specified reference gamble to a partially specified comparison gamble by adjusting the probability of a win on the comparison gamble. The Chechile and Cooke experiment, however, contained a subset of trials which were intrinsically unmatchable. In such cases, the participants could only give an extreme probability (either 0 or 1). In this paper, those extreme trials were omitted and the results from the experiment reanalyzed. Despite the mismatch problem, the conclusions of the Chechile and Cooke experiment were again supported. For nine implementations of generic utility there is model failure due to the systematic variation of a parameter that should be a constant.
Characterization of defects in deuterium-implanted beryllium

This work investigated surface material modifications in high-purity beryllium foils resulting from 1-keV deuterium ion implantation into specimens for which the anneal temperatures and implantation temperatures were varied. Defects in unimplanted and in deuterium-implanted beryllium were characterized principally by positron-beam depth-profile analyses. Depth-profiles of the defect distributions in the specimens were made by stepping the energy of the positron beam from 0.055 keV to 40 keV, accompanied by measurements of the Doppler-broadened annihilation radiation line shape at each positron energy. These analyses identified a varying defect structure in beryllium, dependent on the previous anneal history of the material and on the temperature of the material during implantation with energetic deuterium ions. For specimens implanted at room temperature with 1-keV/D ions, the beam-induced defect structure had a profile that was peaked near the mean. range of the implanting deuterium and that extended beyond the implantation zone. Isochronal step-thermal anneal experiments revealed that deuterium was released from these defects at a temperature of about 400K, indicative of shallow traps, and that the defect structure annealed at temperatures above 623K. The beam-induced vacancy-defect complexes were estimated to be 1-nm voids for 1-keV/D implantation into Be at room temperature. For beryllium implanted at temperaturesmore » of 723K with 1-keV/D ions, these measurements revealed that the beam-induced defect structure was much broader and extended far beyond the implantation zone. Isochronal stepthermal anneal experiments for these specimens revealed a more stable defect structure, with the onset of defect annealing at 775K. There was no evidence of deuterium release at lower temperatures, indicating that for beryllium implanted at elevated temperatures, deuterium is retained in deep traps.« less
Differential effects of intra-accumbens sulpiride on cocaine-induced locomotion and conditioned place preference.

The effects of intra-accumbens sulpiride on conditioned place preference and locomotion produced by i.v. cocaine were investigated. Every other day during conditioning, rats received infusions of sulpiride (0-0.4 microgram) into the nucleus accumbens (NAc) or caudate-putamen. Fifteen min later, they were placed into a distinct compartment and injected with saline or cocaine (4.2 mg/kg, i.v.). On the alternate days, rats received sham intracranial injections and were placed into a different compartment. Locomotion and stereotypies were assessed after the first and last injection, and conditioned place preference was assessed 24 hr after the last conditioning day. After behavioral testing, receptors occupied by sulpiride were quantified by injecting rats intracranially with their respective dose of sulpiride, followed by a systemic injection of the irreversible antagonist N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline (EEDQ). Receptors protected from EEDQ induced inactivation by sulpiride were revealed on autoradiograms of sections labeled with 3H-sulpiride. Sulpiride did not alter cocaine-conditioned place preference or cocaine-induced stereotypies. However, the two lowest doses of intra-accumbens sulpiride attenuated cocaine-induced locomotion and occupied > 42% of the sulpiride binding sites in the NAc, and the highest dose completely reversed cocaine-induced locomotion and occupied > 96% of the sulpiride binding sites in the NAc. Intracaudate sulpiride also attenuated cocaine-induced locomotion without occupying a significant number of binding sites in the NAc. These findings suggest that D2-like receptors in the NAc and anterior medial caudate-putamen are involved in cocaine-induced locomotion, but not cocaine-conditioned place preference.
Role of Apoptosis in Amplifying Inflammatory Responses in Lung Diseases

Apoptosis is an important contributor to the pathophysiology of lung diseases such as acute lung injury (ALI) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, the cellular environment of these acute and chronic lung diseases favors the delayed clearance of apoptotic cells. This dysfunctional efferocytosis predisposes to the release of endogenous ligands from dying cells. These so-called damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) play an important role in the stimulation of innate immunity as well as in the induction of adaptive immunity, potentially against autoantigens. In this review, we explore the role of apoptosis in ALI and COPD, with particular attention to the contribution of DAMP release in augmenting the inflammatory response in these disease states.
Evaluation of the AHRQ Patient Safety Initiative: Framework and Approach

In January 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, which stimulated national efforts to improve the safety of the U.S. health care system (IOM 2000). In FY 2001, the U.S. Congress identified patient safety as a national priority and appropriated an initial $50 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to support a patient safety initiative. AHRQ subsequently funded a range of activities, including research and demonstration projects to develop new knowledge and tools on patient safety epidemiology and practices, as well as dissemination activities to encourage adoption of effective practices by health care providers. AHRQ also funded a Patient Safety Evaluation Center with the responsibility for evaluating the progress of the initiative and making recommendations for improvement. In September 2002, AHRQ contracted with the RAND Corporation to serve as its Patient Safety Evaluation Center. The 4-year evaluation was completed in September 2006, with a final report submitted to AHRQ. The purpose of this supplemental issue is to discuss some key findings from the patient safety evaluation and to illustrate what was involved in performing a comprehensive program evaluation for a large, complex initiative that is evolving and maturing over time. One of the most comprehensive evaluations commissioned by an agency, AHRQ pursued the evaluation to provide feedback that AHRQ could use to strengthen the patient safety initiative over time. In this introductory paper, we describe the AHRQ patient safety initiative and discuss the framework and approach used to evaluate it. We then highlight some of the evaluation findings regarding the context and strategy of the initiative, and we introduce the subsequent papers presented in this issue, each of which addresses an assessment of a specific activity undertaken within the initiative.
Extracting information from drill data

Abstract This paper is concerned with processing, analyzing and interpretating drill data. By converting the large amount of raw data into meaningful and manageable information, we aim to provide operators and mine engineers with timely advisable process-management decisions. Using multivariate statistical projection method, we have been able to extract two latent factors to illustrate the drilling process; and have developed a series of maps as easy-to-understand visual frameworks for collecting, organizing, displaying and evaluating data. Results of this research have the potential to increase productivity and to reduce production cost by improved blast design and optimized drilling processes.
Primary hyperparathyroidism and cancer.

Summary During the thirty-five year period from 1937 1973, 100 parathyroid tumors were found and pathologically proved at Memorial Hospital, New York. Ninety-one were found at surgery and nine at autopsy. There were eighty-seven functioning adenomas, one case of multiple adenomas or hyperplasia, and four parathyroid carcinomas. Hypercalcemia was documented in ninety-one patients and presented a serious diagnostic problem. One third of the patients had cancer either before, during, or after the discovery of hypercalcemia. Another third had a benign tumor coincidental with a parathyroid tumor. One third had the benign bone tumors and pathologic fractures of primary hyperparathyroidism itself. A survey of the same years at The New York Hospital revealed 180 cases of proved primary hyperparathyroidism wherein 10 per cent had cancer fortuitously. The sites of these tumors, multiplicity, histology, surgical management, and complications of treatment were analogous to the experience in the series at Memorial Hospital. The signs and symptoms of this disease have perceptibly changed over the years as diagnosis and detection have improved. The necessary laboratory studies have been progressively simplified and are more accurate. Surgical exploration is safe and necessary in early diagnosis and treatment.
A 5-HT1B receptor agonist inhibits light-induced suppression of pineal melatonin production

Serotonin (5-HT) modulates the phase adjusting effects of light on the mammalian circadian clock through the activation of presynaptic 5-HT1B receptors located on retinal terminals in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The current study was conducted to determine whether activation of 5-HT1B receptors also alters photic regulation of nocturnal pineal melatonin production. Systemic administration of the 5-HT1B receptor agonist TFMPP attenuated the inhibitory effect of light on pineal melatonin synthesis in a dose-related manner with an apparent ED50 value of 0.9 mg/kg. The effect of TFMPP on light-induced melatonin suppression was blocked by the 5-HT1 receptor antagonist, methiothepin, but not by the 5-HT1A antagonist, WAY 100,635, consistent with the involvement of 5-HT1B receptors. The results are consistent with the interpretation that activation of presynaptic 5-HT1B receptors on retinal terminals in the SCN attenuates the effect of light on pineal melatonin production, as well as on circadian phase.
Sodium polystyrene sulfate–associated gastric ulceration (with video)

radiologist then oversaw the acquisition of sequential fluoroscopic images as the patient was repositioned (Fig. 3). No significant lesions were identified in the stomach or proximal duodenum, and no procedure-related complications occurred at 1-month follow-up. The patient subsequently underwent a repeat CT scan during an episode of pain, which revealed intussusception at the jejunojejunostomy that ultimately required surgical revision.