cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinical Presentations of Soft-Tissue Infections and Surgical Site Infections

Skin and soft-tissue infections that usually follow minor traumatic events or surgical procedures are caused by a wide spectrum of bacteria. Less frequently, the infections occur spontaneously, which often is clinically confusing and leads to delays in diagnosis. Most of the infections are self-limited and easily treated with local measures and/or antibiotics. Others are life-threatening, requiring prompt diagnosis and aggressive surgical debridement in addition to the wise choice of antibiotic agents to limit tissue loss and preserve life. Many survivors experience critical tissue losses that may require changes in lifestyle as well as major reconstructive cosmetic surgery. Involvement of antibiotic-resistant gram-positive microorganisms in these infections only increases the difficulty of their treatment and may have a significant influence on the ultimate outcome.
The velvet case.

An unusual function of skin that is just being understood at the biological level and should soon be studied at the molecular level is its role in antler development. The relationship of antlers to skin has a complex biology that offers tantalizing clues relevant to wound healing and to one of the frontiers in skin biology, the formation of new skin appendages. Although cell culture has made spectacular advances in the production of significant amounts of epidermis to cover epidermal defects, including burns, there has been no success in the formation of new skin appendages in those sites. It is fitting to consider the goddess of the hunt before considering antler formation. Artemis, or Diana, virgin goddess of the hunt, "loves the chase especially of stags," and was to be approached cautiously. Early in life, when Brontes took her on his knee, she disliked his approaches and "tore a handful
Citrate-mediated release of aurintricarboxylic acid from a calcium alginate complex: Implications for intravaginal HIV chemoprophylaxis and related applications

Factors associated with the intravaginal release of an anti-HIV agent from an alginate complex were considered. Among these is citrate associated with prostatic fluid. This study demonstrates that citrate, at a physiologically appropriate concentration, facilitates the release of an anti-HIV polymer from a calcium alginate complex. The release of the agent can be modified by the concentration of the calcium and alginate in the complex. These results suggest that seminal and prostatic fluid can be considered in the design of an intravaginal system for HIV chemoprophylaxis.
Modification of Planck blackbody radiation by photonic band-gap structures

Summary form only given. One of the most interesting subfields of quantum optics is cavity QED - where microcavities impose nontrivial boundary conditions on the quantized electromagnetic field and alter the matter-light interactions of quantum electrodynamics. One of the first predictions of this theory was the modification of atomic spontaneous emission rates, through the use of microcavities to alter the optical density of modes from its free-space value. This phenomenon is often known as the Purcell effect. Since this prediction, many theoretical analyses as well as experimental confirmations of this effect have been performed. Since the imposition of nontrivial boundary conditions modifies the electromagnetic Green's function, the Feynman diagrams for any QED process must be altered in a cavity, giving physical results that differ from those in free space. The author reviews some of the theory related to the calculation of thermal power spectrum. Then he discusses how a finite 2D or 3D PBG structure can be qualitatively studied using a 1D formalism, following a model originally developed by John and Wang (1991). In the context of this model, he computes the thermal power spectrum of a PBG filter in front of an emitting hot surface, as well as that of a heated PBG structure. The author produces a quantitative theory for studying the off-axis spectrum of 1D PBG structures of the DBR type.
Nuclear phylogenomics of the palm subfamily Arecoideae (Arecaceae)

Palms (Arecaceae) include economically important species such as coconut, date palm, and oil palm. Resolution of the palm phylogeny has been problematic due to rapid diversification and slow rates of molecular evolution. The focus of this study is on relationships of the 14 tribes of subfamily Arecoideae and their inferred ancestral areas. A targeted sequencing approach was used to generate a data set of 168 single/low copy nuclear genes for 34 species representing the Arecoideae tribes and the other palm subfamilies. Species trees from the concatenated and coalescent based analyses recovered largely congruent topologies. Three major tribal clades were recovered: the POS clade (Podococceae, Oranieae, Sclerospermeae), the RRC clade (Roystoneeae, Reinhardtieae, Cocoseae), and the core arecoid clade (Areceae, Euterpeae, Geonomateae, Leopoldinieae, Manicarieae, Pelagodoxeae). Leopoldinieae was sister to the rest of the core arecoids (Geonomateae, Manicarieae+Pelagodoxeae, and Areceae+Euterpeae). The nuclear phylogeny supported a North American origin for subfamily Arecoideae, with most tribal progenitors diversifying within the Americas. The POS clade may have dispersed from the Americas into Africa, with tribe Oranieae subsequently spreading into the Indo-Pacific. Two independent dispersals into the Indo-Pacific were inferred for two tribes within the core arecoids (tribes Areceae and Pelagodoxeae).
An Overview of Selected Phenomena in Multicomponent Diffusion

There exist several interesting phenomena and observations reported in literature for isothermal diffusion in multicomponent systems. Such phenomena include uphill diffusion, development of zero-flux planes and flux reversals for individual components, flux reversals at interfaces, and instability at interfaces and multiphase layer development. In addition, uncommon diffusion structures exhibiting unusual diffusion paths can develop in both single phase and multiphase diffusion assemblies. An overview of such phenomena is presented to highlight the role of interactions among diffusing components with the aid of selected diffusion studies carried out in multicomponent alloy systems, aluminides, silicides, and nuclear fuels.
Small intestinal growth caused by feeding red kidney bean phytohemagglutinin lectin to rats.

Abstract Background: Plant lectins are present in significant quantity in a variety of food sources. The aim of this study was to determine if they stimulated growth of the intestine. Methods: Germ-free and conventional rats were pair fed purified phytohemagglutinin lectin (PHA) or equivalent casein in a fully nutritious diet. PHA was instilled into in situ jejunal and ileal loops. Organ weight, length, DNA, protein content, morphometry, and [ 3 H]thymidine uptake into jejunal crypt cells were measured. Results: A trophic response occurred in the small intestine (jejunum greater than ileum) because of PHA ( P P P P P P 3 H]thymidine uptake ( P Conclusions: PHA stimulated growth of rat small intestine when present in the diet or instilled in the bowel lumen.
Magnetic Field Effects on Singlet Fission and Fluorescence Decay Dynamics in Amorphous Rubrene

Picosecond time-resolved fluorescence experiments are used to study the dynamics of singlet fission in highly disordered films of rubrene. The fluorescence spectral lineshapes are not temperature-dependent, indicating that intermolecular excitonic effects are absent in these films. The temperature-dependent fluorescence decays in the amorphous films are nonexponential, containing both prompt and delayed components. The kinetics are qualitatively consistent with the presence of singlet fission, but to confirm its presence, we examine the effects of magnetic fields on the fluorescence decay. A quantum-kinetic model is developed to describe how magnetic fields perturb the number of triplet pair product states with singlet character and how this in turn affects the singlet state kinetics. Simulations show that the magnetic field effect is very sensitive to mutual chromophore alignment, and the direction of the effect is consistent with a local ordering for rubrene molecules that participate in fission. From o...
A Comparative Study of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Films Prepared by RF Sputtering in He/H2, Ar/H2 and Xe/H2 Mixtures

Preliminary results of a comparative study of some optical and ESR properties of aSi:H films prepared by rf sputtering on a cold substrate in 10 mtorr of either He, Ar, or Xe and 0.5 mtorr H2 are presented. In all cases the concentration of Si-H and Si-H2 bonds, the optical gap and the dangling bond spin density all generally increase as the rf power is decreased from 3.3 to 0.27 W/cm2. However, whereas the optical energy gap of He/H2 sputtered films ranges from 1.26 eV to 2.13 eV, the gap of Ar/H2 and Xe/H2 films sputtered under these conditions only changes from 1.54 to 1.94 and 1.41 to 1.71 eV, respectively. The dangling bond spin densities are lowest (∼1017 cm−3) in the Ar/H2 sputtered films at high rf power and highest (∼5×1018 cm−3) in Xe/H2 sputtered films at low power.
The Protein Requirements of Growing Chicks

Abstract The object of this experiment was to determine the optimum amount of a standard animal protein concentrate which should be added to a specific chick ration for most rapid growth during the first nine weeks of the growth period. Incidentally also it was planned to compare the nutritive completeness for chicks of a rather simple ration advocated by the Wisconsin Agri. Experiment Station1 with several combinations somewhat more complex. PROCEDURE Thirty-five—one week old—Single Comb White Leghorn chicks were placed in each of seven lots which we have numbered 723 to 729 inclusive. These chicks were of identical breeding and hatched in the same incubator. We have preferred week old chicks because it is possible to eliminate all constitutional weaklings more easily than when day old chicks are used and furthermore the digestion of the unabsorbed yolk still available at hatching time makes good any deficiencies during the first . . .
Convergence of Photonics and Electronics Manufacturing

Silicon photonics has advanced rapidly by exploiting VLSI front-end chip manufacturing to create sophisticated circuits with novel nanophotonic devices. This talk will explore the potential for a second revolution that similarly leverages back-end VLSI assembly technologies. Article not available.
Improving smartphone user experience by balancing performance and energy with probabilistic QoS guarantee

User satisfaction is pivotal to the success of a mobile application. A recent study has shown that 49% of users would abandon a web-based application if it failed to load within 10 seconds. At the same time, it is imperative to maximize energy efficiency to ensure maximum usage of the limited energy source available to smartphones while maintaining the necessary levels of user satisfaction. An important factor to consider, that has been previously neglected, is variability of execution times of an application, requiring them to be modeled as stochastic quantities. This changes the nature of the objective function and the constraints of the underlying optimization problem. In this paper, we present a new approach to optimal energy control of mobile applications running on modern smartphone devices, focusing on the need to ensure a specified level of user satisfaction. The proposed statistical models address both single and multi-stage applications and are used in the formulation of an optimization problem, the solution to which is a static, lightweight controller that optimizes energy efficiency of mobile applications, subject to constraints on the likelihood that the application execution time meets a given deadline. We demonstrate the proposed models and the corresponding optimization method on three common mobile applications running on a real Qualcomm Snapdragon 8074 mobile chipset. The results show that the proposed statistical estimates of application execution times are within 99.34% of the measured values. Additionally, on the actual Qualcomm Snapdragon 8074 mobile chipset, the proposed control scheme achieves a 29% power savings over commonly-used Linux governors while maintaining an average web page load time of 2 seconds with a likelihood of 90%.
Stability of the Ground and Low-Lying Vibrational States of the Ammonium Radical

The tetrahedral ammonium radicals NH4 and ND4 are exotic neutral molecules that can be produced by charge exchange (CE) neutralization of the ammonium cation. In the present study, the stability of these radicals was measured by translational spectroscopy on the NH3/ND3 + H/D fragments resulting from CE between NH4+/ND4+ and cesium. The vibrationally resolved spectrum reveals the energy of the 3s(2A1) ground state of the ammonium radical relative to ground-state NH3 + H dissociation products as well as the energies for the singly excited ν1 and ν2 modes of the NH4 isotopologues. Using these values, a lower limit for the heat of formation of NH4, ΔHf,0K° = (189.7 ± 0.4) kJ/mol has been determined, as well as an adiabatic ionization energy of (4.62 ± 0.01) eV for NH4, in good agreement with recent predictions.
Craig-Bampton Substructuring for Geometrically Nonlinear Subcomponents

The efficiency of a modal substructuring method depends on the component modes used to reduce the subcomponent models. Methods such as Craig-Bampton (CB) and Craig-Chang have been used extensively to reduce linear finite element models with thousands or even millions of degrees-of-freedom down to a few tens or hundreds. The greatest advantage to these approaches is that they can obtain acceptable accuracy with a small number of component modes. Currently, these modal substructuring methods only apply to linear substructures. A new reduction method is proposed for geometrically nonlinear finite element models using the fixed-interface and constraint modes (collectively termed CB modes) of the linearized system. The reduced model for this system is written in terms of cubic and quadratic polynomials of the modal coordinates, and the coefficients of the polynomials are determined using a series of static loads/responses. This reduction is a nonlinear extension to the Craig-Bampton model for linear systems, and is readily applied to systems built directly in a commercial FEA package. The nonlinear, reduced modal equations for each subcomponent are then coupled by satisfying compatibility and force equilibrium. The efficiency of this new substructuring approach is demonstrated on an example problem that couples two geometrically nonlinear beams at a shared rotational degree-of-freedom. The nonlinear normal modes of the assembled models are compared with those of a truth model to validate the accuracy of the approach.
An analysis of weight loss articles and advertisements in mainstream women's health and fitness magazines

Background: Magazines are a commonly used source for health and fitness information. Little is known about the nature and extent of weight loss strategies and products presented in mainstream women’s health and fitness magazines. Methods: This preliminary cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of articles and advertisements featuring weight loss content and products in mainstream US-based health and fitness magazines, as well as assessed weight loss themes presented. Thirty-one US health and fitness-focused magazine issues were coded. Prevalence of, product type, and themes related to weight loss in articles and advertisements were assessed. Results: Among the 31 issues of the five US-based women’s magazines examined, we identified 39 articles (4.8% [95% CI = 3.3% to 5.5%] of 819 articles) related to weight loss with 14 identified weight loss topics. The most prevalent article topics covered were exercising/workouts(32.0% [95% CI = 28.8% to 33.6%]) followed by dieting (18.6% [95% CI = 15.9% to 19.9%]).The most common product advertised was weight loss pills (46.0% [95% CI = 42.6% to 47.7%]).Fat burners were also frequently advertised (14.9% [95% CI = 12.5% to 16.1%]) followed by hunger reduction strategies (10.3% [95% CI = 8.2% to 11.3%]) and fat blockers (6.9% [95% CI= 5.2% to 7.8%]). Conclusion: Articles presented information about exercise and dieting whereas advertisements supported potentially harmful health beliefs and behaviors. As a well-utilized American media format, health and fitness-focused magazines have an opportunity to communicate frequent,accurate messaging about healthy weight reduction and limit advertisements that may include misleading claims.
Directional dependence figure of merit analysis of piezoelectric materials

ABSTRACTEfficiency of a piezo-electric transducer is defined by the relative electrical output induced in response to the mechanical stress it encounters. Thus an efficient device design demands an insightful figure of merit analysis of the piezoelectric material used for the sensor fabrication. In this article we have performed a directional dependence figure of merit analysis of some popular piezoelectric materials to determine the cut orientations along which optimal proficiency can be achieved. The materials chosen for the study are PZT-5H, PMN-PT, PZN-PT, PMN-PZT, SbSI, SBN, BT and BCZT such that a comparative perspective can be deduced.
Variations in salamander trackways resulting from substrate differences

As part of a study of vertebrate trackways in the cross-stratified Coconino Sandstone (Permian) of northern Arizona, trackways made by living salamanders under different substrate conditions were compared. The sample of 230 trackways of the western newt, Taricha torosa, included ten combinations of the following substrate characteristics: 1) sediment: muddy or of fine sand; 2) attitude: level or sloped (25 degrees); 3) moisture content: dry, damp, wet, or submerged.Trackways in wet mud produced the most accurate representation of the number of toes per foot and the arrangement of toes. All other conditions studied yielded a reduced average number of toes per foot, and a large sample was needed before the data had the potential to indicate the true structure of the trackmaker's feet. Trackways made on sloped, submerged mud or sand, sloped, dry sand, and sloped, damp sand rarely included the full complement of toes. The positions and orientations of the toe marks were distorted if the animals were walking underwater or on sloped, damp sand. Trackways on the slopes of cross-stratified deposits make reliable identification of the trackmaking animals exceptionally difficult.
Passionate Possessions: Henry James’s Queer Properties

The Introduction observed that the success of Henry James’s interior- izing ‘psychological turn’ in fiction and criticism at the turn of the last century has posed something of an obstacle to an appreciation of earlier links between the realist novel and the development of what came to be known as ‘psychology.’ As we have seen, mid-century Victorian mental science was still a rather chaotic intellectual scene, a not-yet-routinized amalgam of older schools of theology, philosophy, physiology, medicine, and biology. Indeed, James’s theory of the novel as interior formbar excellence does not even account fully for his own fictional practices. This disjunction is especially noticeable in a fascinating but relatively neglected novel, The Spoils of Poynton (1897), a work generally regarded as marking a transition to James’s final, most formally and technically innovative period and style. Whereas Meredith’s The Egoist offers a theory of consciousness by joining the innermost, secret part of the psyche to a comedy of bodily gestures, this key work by James looks even farther ‘outside,’ beyond the surface of the skin or even the animate world, to examine the forms of (inter)subjectivity mediated by habitual space and objects, especially fugitive forms of queer s elf-fashioning and desire.
An abbreviated scoring algorithm for the baby and infant screen for children with autism traits.

ABSTRACTPurpose: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) screening is recommended for all children aged 18–24 months. However, healthcare providers may be burdened with the responsibility of conducting these screens in addition to necessary services. Therefore, developing a time-efficient screener with sound psychometric properties is essential. Methods: This study sought to update the abbreviated scoring algorithm of the Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtIsm Traits (BISCUIT) and increase its clinical utility. Six thousand and three children with ASD or atypical development enrolled in an early intervention program participated. Results: A 6-item algorithm with a cutoff score of 3 was found to be optimal and yielded a sensitivity of 0.960 and a specificity of 0.864. Conclusion: Sensitivity and specificity estimates were similar to that of the complete BISCUIT-Part 1; thus, the 6-item algorithm can reliably differentiate children at-risk for ASD requiring further assessment. The algorithm appears to be a ...
The Paradox of Authority — Transformation of the USPSTF under the Affordable Care Act

Hanging over the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are questions about whether, in the face of lobbying pressures and enhanced policy responsibilities, it can maintain its historical commitment to basing analysis on evidence alone.
Strategies for Researching Social Networks in Disaster Response, Recovery, and Mitigation

Abstract When a disaster affects a community, dissipated (and ad hoc) social relationships often result, leading to new questions about how to identify and study social networks. Disasters have the ability to disorganize an entire social infrastructure, turning what is known about the way people relate, the way organizations behave, and the system of social and resource support into new questions that, if understood, could greatly impact people’s abilities to deal with the consequences of disasters. These networks arise on different scales, from the individual to the community level, so researchers exploring network dynamics need to draw on a range of methodologies. To explore the impact of a disaster on social networks at all levels, innovative research designs and methodological tools that account for the unique social structures and their accompanying dynamics are required. What follows is a representation of a methodological framework for designing disaster network studies. That framework is followed by attention to units of analysis, levels of analysis, types of network links, approaches to analysis, network dynamics, and the main challenges faced in research on disaster networks. Specific types of questions that can be answered using a network analysis approach are identified throughout this chapter.
Introduction to composites and manufacturing processes

Abstract: This chapter introduces the range of manufacturing processes for polymer matrix composites discussed in detail in the book Manufacturing techniques for polymer matrix composites (PMCs). It discusses short-fiber composite molding processes, such as injection and compression molding, as well as the processing of polymer nanocomposites. The chapter also highlights high-viscosity thermoplastics-based processes such as sheet forming, thermostamping and filament winding. Finally, the chapter considers processes for thermoset matrices such as resin transfer molding, pultrusion, autoclave and out-of-autoclave processing.
The Benefit of Donor-Recipient Matching for Patients Undergoing Heart Transplantation

Abstract Background Heart transplant volumes are not matching growing demand, and donor heart use may be decreasing. Objectives This study sought to investigate the benefit of heart transplantation compared with waiting while accounting for the estimated risk of a given donor-recipient match. Methods This study identified 28,548 heart transplant candidates in the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network between July 2006 and December 2015. Donor-recipient match quality was estimated from the donor risk index. A time-dependent covariate Cox model was used to determine the effect of donor-recipient match quality on the likelihood of a composite outcome while waiting for a transplant or after transplantation. The composite outcome was death or delisting as too ill. Results Donor and recipient risk estimates were inversely related to the candidate urgency. Net benefit from heart transplantation was evident across all estimates of donor-recipient status 1A and 1B candidates: status 1A (lowest-risk quartile hazard ratio [HR]: 0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.31 to 0.43; highest-risk quartile HR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.44 to 0.61) and status 1B candidates (lowest-risk quartile HR: 0.41; 95% CI: 0.36 to 0.47; highest-risk quartile HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.58 to 0.74). Status 2 candidates showed a benefit from heart transplantation; however, survival benefit was delayed. For the highest-risk donor-recipient matches, a net benefit of transplantation occurred immediately for status 1A candidates, after 12 months for status 1B candidates, and after 3 years for status 2 candidates. Conclusions This study demonstrated a survival benefit of heart transplantation across all ranges of estimated donor-recipient match risk for status 1A and status 1B candidates. Donor heart acceptance should be the favored strategy for these candidates. The benefit of transplantation for status 2 candidates was less apparent and dependent on estimated donor-recipient match risk, suggesting that a measure of donor-recipient match quality may be useful when considering the immediate benefit of heart transplantation for status 2 candidates in stable condition.
Getting in the first word: Prosody and predicate initial sentences in Serbian

Second position clitics in Serbian are informally characterized in terms of their hosts which correspond to either the first word or the first phrase within some clitic positioning domain. Serbian is a free constituent order language, with a default SVO order, but with predicate initial orders in the presence of pro-drop or postposed subjects. Earlier proposals range from those in which first phrase positioning is taken to be syntactic and first word to be prosodic, with the initial prosodic word hosting the clitics (Zec and Inkelas 1990; Halpern 1995), to those which analyze both FirstPhrase and FirstWord as a unified syntactic phenomenon (Franks and Progovac 1994; Boskovic 2001). While we argue for the relevance of prosody in first word placement, we shed new light on the scope of its role. This article is part of the Special Collection: Prosody and Constituent Structure
The Plaintiff’s Case in Psychiatric Malpractice

Prior to discussing the plaintiff’s case in psychiatric malpractice, it would be helpful to present general concepts of malpractice and specifically malpractice issues that arise for psychiatrists. Malpractice is a concept that develops from a claim of negligence on the part of a professional who has a specific duty to another person who is damaged in some way by the professional’s negligence. In medicine, the physician has a particular duty to his patient. If the physician is negligent, or derelict in his duty, and the patient is damaged as a direct result of that negligence, the necessary four elements are present for a malpractice suit. I have elsewhere referred to these four elements as the four D’s.1 In psychiatric malpractice cases, the psychiatrist also has a specific duty to his patient that must not be breached or a malpractice suit may arise if damage occurs.
The auditory and visual appraisal of emotion-related words in Spanish–English bilinguals

Bilinguals experience emotions differently depending on which language they are speaking. Emotionally loaded words were expected to be appraised differently in the first versus the second language in Spanish–English bilinguals. Three categories of words (positive, negative, and taboo) were appraised in both languages in the visual and auditory sensory modalities. Positive word ratings were more positive in English than in Spanish. Negative words were judged as more negative in English than in Spanish. Taboo words were rated as more negative in Spanish than in English. Significant regression models were obtained for the visual and auditory positive words and auditory negative words with English and Spanish proficiency as the most significant predictors. Results support the view that there are differences in the appraisal of emotions in the two languages spoken by bilinguals; the direction of the difference depends on the emotion category of words, and it is influenced by language proficiency.
A sky full of signal: aviation media in the age of the drone:

Problems of control and communication endemic to powered flight have given rise to a range of media forms, which this article proposes to designate aviation media. Today, the maturation and proliferation of unmanned aircraft or drones is reconfiguring the media technologies, infrastructures, and practices on which pilots have previously relied. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with drone pilots and other airspace users in North Dakota, a US state that has courted the unmanned aircraft industry in a bid for economic diversification, this article describes the mundane forms of media labor that underpin the operation of unmanned systems. It also shows how contemporary efforts to achieve an integrated airspace in which both manned and unmanned aircraft can fly depend on the widespread adoption of transmissive media technologies. This demand defines the current media practices of rural airspace users as impediments to progress. By highlighting the politics of aviation media at a moment when drones are becomin...
Tumor necrosis factor family member LIGHT acts with IL-1β and TGF-β to promote airway remodeling during rhinovirus infection.

Background Rhinovirus (RV) can exacerbate allergen-driven asthma. However, it has been suggested that serial infections with RV may also lead to asthma-like features in childhood without prior allergen exposure. Aim We sought to test the effects of RV infection in the absence of allergen challenge on lung tissue remodeling and to understand whether RV induced factors in common with allergen that promote remodeling. Methods We infected C57BL/6 mice multiple times with RV in the absence or presence of allergen to assess airway remodeling. We used knockout mice and blocking reagents to determine the participation of LIGHT (TNFSF14), as well as IL-1β and TGF-β, each previously shown to contribute to lung remodeling driven by allergen. Results Recurrent RV infection without allergen challenge induced an increase in peribronchial smooth muscle mass and subepithelial fibrosis. Rhinovirus (RV) induced LIGHT expression in mouse lungs after infection, and alveolar epithelial cells and neutrophils were found to be potential sources of LIGHT. Accordingly, LIGHT-deficient mice, or mice where LIGHT was neutralized, displayed reduced smooth muscle mass and lung fibrosis. Recurrent RV infection also exacerbated the airway remodeling response to house dust mite allergen, and this was significantly reduced in LIGHT-deficient mice. Furthermore, neutralizing IL-1β or TGF-β also limited subepithelial fibrosis and/or smooth muscle thickness induced by RV. Conclusion Rhinovirus can promote airway remodeling in the absence of allergen through upregulating common factors that also contribute to allergen-associated airway remodeling.
A Study of Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate/Polymer Nanocomposites Fabricated Using the Layer-By-Layer Method

Calcium-silicate-hydrate (CSH)/polymer nanocomposites were synthesized with the layer-by-layer (LBL) method, and their morphology and mechanical properties were investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging and AFM nanoindentation. Different sets of polymers were used to produce CSH/polymer nanocomposites. The effect of different factors including dipping time, calcium to silicate ratios (C/S ratios) and pH on morphology was investigated. CSH/polymer nanocomposites made with different sets of polymers showed variation in morphologies. However, the Young’s modulus did not seem to reveal significant differences between the nanocomposites studied here. In nanocomposites containing graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet, an increase in the density of CSH particles was observed on the GO nanosheet compared to areas away from the GO nanosheet, providing evidence for improved nucleation of CSH in the presence of GO nanosheets. An increase in roughness and a reduction in the packing density in nanocomposites containing GO nanosheets was observed.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of the up-front use of balloon catheter dilation in the treatment of pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis.

Abstract Background The treatment of pediatric sinusitis continues to be a controversial topic. It has been recommended to treat pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with adenoidectomy before proceeding to more invasive techniques. There are concerns regarding side effects of endoscopic sinus surgery in pediatric patients. With the advent of balloon catheter dilation (BCD) as a minimally invasive technique, some authors are recommending up front adenoidectomy with BCD in order to maximize disease resolution while minimizing risk. Purpose Our study examines the cost effectiveness of adenoidectomy alone versus adenoidectomy and upfront BCD for the management of pediatric CRS. Methods A decision tree analysis was created to determine the cost effectiveness of treating a pediatric patient who has failed medical management, using adenoidectomy versus adenoidectomy with up-front BCD. Three separate decision trees were made. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated for each scenario and a sensitivity analysis was done to determine how different values impacted our results. Results Adenoidectomy as the sole first procedure was found to be more cost effective in all three decision trees. For tree 1, the adenoidectomy plus BCD arm was 0.03% more effective in the end, but with an $81, 431 incremental cost. Conclusions Costs in addition to outcomes must be considered when comparing treatment modalities in our current health care environment. This study found that adenoidectomy as a first intervention before proceeding to more advanced techniques is nearly as effective and is a much more cost-effective algorithm for the treatment of pediatric CRS. However, the physician must advocate the best treatment for his or her own patients.
Active Contour and Segmentation Models using Geometric PDE’s for Medical Imaging

This paper is devoted to the analysis and the extraction of information from bio-medical images. The proposed technique is based on object and contour detection, curve evolution and segmentation. We present a particular active contour model for 2D and 3D images, formulated using the level set method, and based on a 2-phase piecewise-constant segmentation. We then show how this model can be generalized to segmentation of images with more than two segments. The techniques used are based on the Mumford-Shah [21] model. By the proposed models, we can extract in addition measurements of the detected objects, such as average intensity, perimeter, area, or volume. Such informations are useful when in particular a time evolution of the subject is known, or when we need to make comparisons between different subjects, for instance between a normal subject and an abnormal one. Finally, all these will give more informations about the dynamic of a disease, or about how the human body growths. We illustrate the efficiency of the proposed models by calculations on two-dimensional and three-dimensional bio-medical images.
TreeN93: a non-parametric distance-based method for inferring viral transmission clusters

Summary: Highly-used methods for identifying transmission clusters of rapidly-evolving pathogens from molecular data require a user-determined distance threshold. The choice of threshold is often motivated by epidemiological information known a priori, which may be unfeasible for epidemics without rich epidemiological information. TreeN93 is a fully non-parametric distance-based method for transmission cluster identification that scales polynomially. Availability and implementation: TreeN93 is implemented in Python 3 and is freely available at https://github.com/niemasd/TreeN93. Contact: niemamoshiri@gmail.com
Synergy between intrinsically disordered domains and structured proteins amplifies membrane curvature sensing

The ability of proteins to sense membrane curvature is essential to cellular function. All known sensing mechanisms rely on protein domains with specific structural features such as wedge-like amphipathic helices and crescent-shaped BAR domains. Yet many proteins that contain these domains also contain large intrinsically disordered regions. Here we report that disordered domains are themselves potent sensors of membrane curvature. Comparison of Monte Carlo simulations with in vitro and live-cell measurements demonstrates that the polymer-like behavior of disordered domains found in endocytic proteins drives them to partition preferentially to convex membrane surfaces, which place fewer geometric constraints on their conformational entropy. Further, proteins containing both structured curvature sensors and disordered regions are more than twice as curvature sensitive as their respective structured domains alone. These findings demonstrate an entropic mechanism of curvature sensing that is independent of protein structure and illustrate how structured and disordered domains can synergistically enhance curvature sensitivity.
Predicting Patterns of Treatment Response and Outcome for Adolescents Who Are Suicidal and Depressed

Objective Although several treatments have been shown to be effective in treatment of youth suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), there is a pressing need to account for the substantial variation in adolescents’ response to and outcomes from these treatments. Method Secondary analyses of data from a 16-week randomized trial of Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) and Family-Enhanced NonDirective Supportive Therapy (FE-NST) identified distinct classes of adolescents’ treatment response. Established risk factors for STBs, along with treatment condition and sociodemographic variables, were then tested as predictors of class membership. Results Three patterns of adolescents’ treatment response and outcome were identified: a) nonresponders (15.8%), b) good responders (57.5%), and c) partial responders (26.7%). After controlling for initial symptom severity, nonresponders were more likely to have higher levels of nonsuicidal self-injury and pessimism and were more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) than good or partial responders. Partial responders were more likely than good responders to meet criteria for MDD and to have higher perceived burdensomeness. Conclusion Although most adolescents showed significant symptom reductions with both treatments, adolescents with higher pretreatment levels of pessimism, MDD, nonsuicidal self-injury, and perceived burdensomeness were less likely to show an optimal pattern of treatment benefit. The findings point to heterogeneity in treatment response that may require adapting treatments for adolescents with these pretreatment profiles. Clinical trial registration information Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Suicidal Adolescents; http://clinicaltrials.gov ; NCT01537419 .
Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve—When the ductus is present: A case of isolated branch pulmonary artery and review of literature

Tetralogy of Fallot/Absent Pulmonary Valve (TOF/APV) has been classically associated with the absence of a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). We present a rare case of APV in TOF with a discontinuous left pulmonary artery (LPA) that was suspected during fetal echocardiogram. Postnatal echocardiogram confirmed the origin of a hypoplastic LPA from the PDA. Despite an aneurysmal (right pulmonary artery) (RPA), axial imaging demonstrated widely patent tracheobronchial system with no evidence of bronchial compression. Clinically, the child required only minimal respiratory support. Genetic testing was positive for 22 q11deletion, commonly associated with this lesion. Surgery consisted of unifocalization of the discontinuous LPA with placement of a valved pulmonary homograft during complete repair of this lesion. Our case highlights the importance of prenatal detection, to aid in the prompt initiation of prostaglandins so as to ensure early rehabilitation of the left lung. Inability to visualize one of the branch pulmonary arteries (PA's) and a PDA on fetal echocardiogram in TOF/APV must raise suspicion for an eccentric branch PA with ductal origin.
Elite Cultural Work and Discursive Obstruction of Human Rights Activism

When challenged, states frequently respond with discursive campaigns meant to undercut the legitimacy of social movements. However, we know little about how the social and cultural status of challe...
Heed Neglect, Disrupt Child Maltreatment: a Call to Action for Researchers

Child neglect is the most common type of child maltreatment and neglect is present in 80% of the child fatalities attributed to maltreatment. The disruption of child maltreatment must then prioritize neglect prevention. To date, maltreatment prevention efforts have been most effective for physical and sexual abuse. However, traditional prevention strategies and the supporting research have proven to be less effective at preventing neglect. We posit that a new approach of focusing on macro-level factors, such as economies, labor markets, and governmental affairs, should be investigated. These macro-level factors play a key, yet underexplored role in family circumstances, and they strongly influence parents’ ability to consistently provide safe and sufficient environments for their children. Existing research, policies, and programs have successfully improved the health and safety of children in many areas including reducing physical and sexual abuse and reducing child deaths from disease and car accidents. Yet, these strategies have not been implemented in the area of child neglect, partially because the research community does not fully understand the causes of neglect. To inform new directions for child protection, we propose shifting the focus of research on neglect away from individual and family-level factors of indicated populations. And, we suggest focusing on macro-level factors that, while receiving far less attention from researchers, show initial promise for understanding the causal pathways of neglect and identifying policies for universal prevention. We conclude with recommendations for advancing the precision and quality of research in this area.
The Development of a Larvicidal Tablet Using Saba Banana (Musa acuminata x balbisiana) Peel Extract

Mosquitoes are a major problem around the world, with the diseases they spread being responsible for millions of deaths every year (Kamaraj et al., 2011). Mosquito population may be controlled by reducing the larvae population which may be found in mosquito breeding areas such as stagnant water. Larvicidal properties have been found within certain plant extracts. Fernandes et al. (2014) found that Manilkara subsericea extract has insecticidal properties. A study by Kamaraj et al. (2011) also found that Annona squamosa L., also known as the custard apple, exhibits larvicidal activity against mosquito larvae. In this study, Musa acuminata x balbisiana peel extract was hypothesized to have such properties, possibly due to secondary metabolites within extracts which may affect the digestive system of larvae. The extract was obtained by mixing the peels with 70% isopropyl alcohol. The tablets were formulated by mixing the saba banana peel extract with sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and corn starch. The tablets were made with two different concentrations of the extract, one in 5% concentration and another in 10% concentration. The experiment setup was done by placing the tablets or the commercial larvicide in 100 mL of water with 20 mosquito larvae. The mean of the dead mosquitoes in each group was observed and compared. To compare the data, the t-test for two sample means (two-tailed) was used. It was found that 2 days after application, the experimental tablets were likely less effective than commercial larvicide, however after 3 days, it was found that the 10% extract group was as effective as the commercial larvicide group. The t-tests between the 5% and 10% extract groups showed that the 5% extract group was not able to kill as much larvae. This led to the conclusion that the proposed treatments were possibly effective, especially the tablets of the 10% extract group, although slower than commercial larvicide. Future works may experiment with higher extract concentrations such as 20% and 30% and other extraction methods and may also include an analysis of the chemical composition of the extract and the growth factor rather than the mortality factor of the treatment.
Towards Somaesthetic Smarthome Designs: Exploring Potentials and Limitations of an Affective Mirror

Have you ever experienced a mirror that not only "sees" how you see yourself, but tells you how others perceive you? May such a smartmirror help not only adapt/improve oneself externally (look) but also internally (mood, emotions)? What are the expectations, fears (privacy)? The acceptance of such a smart thing requires approaches that go beyond technology-driven designs. In this paper, we report on the construction of an affective emotion-sensitive smartmirror as a smart piece of furniture for smarthomes and explorative studies with that system which address somaesthetics and aims to help inhabitants in self-reflection. The paper presents and discusses the prototype implementation and the results of a study in which the ideas, concerns, and experiences for/with the self-reflection capabilities of the affective smartmirror were explored by participants using the prototype as a technology probe.
Eacles Imperialis 1909 Evening Gown

A best-selling author of the early 20th Century, Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) was known for entwining nature studies into popular fiction. In creating this design, I analyzed Stratton-Porter’s novels using ecocriticism as a theoretical framework. Stratton-Porter engaged public interest in nature through her writing, describing in her books numerous designs inspired by local plants and insects. This project interprets the Eacles Imperalis dress as described in Stratton-Porter’s 1909 novel, A Girl of the Limberlost. Fabrics, trims, and construction techniques were chosen based on materials and techniques used for evening dresses in the 1900s (except for digital printing) and on the moth’s coloration. I embroidered a hand-beaded moth for the front of the gown using glass beads. To link the design clearly to the inspiration, a photograph of an Imperalis moth was printed onto silk chiffon to form the wings of the dress, and the image was also used to design an engineered print for skirt’s train.
Management and Complications of Non-Thumb Metacarpal Fractures in the Incarcerated Population.

We reviewed the patient demographics, injury mechanisms, fracture characteristics, treatment modalities, and outcomes of incarcerated patients who were referred for metacarpal fracture evaluation a...