cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Heterogeneous Reference Populations in Animal Model Research in Aging.

For many biological disciplines, such as ecology, wild populations are the primary object of study. In other research endeavors, comparative studies examine animals of different species, either wild-trapped or laboratory-reared, and either in their natural habitat or in laboratory settings. Such comparative observations have played a very substantial role in gerontological science. The monumental study of Finch (1990) has provided a summary of this work. Advantages of the comparative approach have been succinctly argued by Austad (1993), who observes, with regret, that contemporary gerontology has "lost its comparative focus." Central among the themes he pursues is the limited perspective provided by rodent models that have provided so much of laboratory-derived data in gerontology. An underlying concern is whether the model provided by any given species will provide results that will generalize to humankind. This paper is concerned not with these broad and major issues, but with the more narrow one of generality to the species as a whole of conclusions obtained from typical laboratory observations on genotypically restricted members of that species.
A "Middle Way": Introducing a Flexible Year-Long Program to Prepare for Certification in Addiction Medicine.

Substance use is endemic in the USA. In 2012, an estimated 22 million Americans, or 8.5 % of the population, met criteria for a substance use disorder in the past year [1]. In 2011, there were 2.5 million emergency department visits that involved drug misuse or abuse, a 52 % increase since 2004. Half of these visits involved the nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals, which is an increase of 132 % since 2004 [2]. Yet despite the tremendous need for treatment, only 11 % of addicted individuals received specialized substance abuse treatment in 2012 [1]. So, how can this enormous treatment deficit be addressed? Given the high prevalence of substance use disorders in a variety of clinical settings (ranging from 8 to 29% in inpatient settings and up to 20 % in primary care) [3, 4], it would make sense to identify individuals with substance use disorders in these settings and then connect them to treatment. Screening and brief intervention have been shown to be effective in primary care and an increasing number of settings, and models of integration into routine practice have been described [5]. Successful referral to substance abuse treatment from a primary care setting has even been shown to improve depression [6]. However, many surveys have found that physicians do not feel prepared to diagnose or treat addiction, and residents do not feel that they have received sufficient training in addictive disorders during residency [7]. In addition to proposals for curriculum design in residencies and medical schools, online-based programs have been implemented to teach skills to physicians, residents, and medical students, with varied success [8]. Psychiatry residents can subspecialize in addiction psychiatry by training in an Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-certified addiction psychiatry fellowship program. In addition, physicians from psychiatry and other specialties can become certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM). There are two pathways: (1) a 1-year fellowship training similar to addiction psychiatry programs but administered by the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation or (2) to qualify to take the ABAM exam after completing 50 h of addiction-related continuing medical education (CME) courses and practicing in the field of addiction medicine for 1 year. The first pathway requires an additional year of training, which can be difficult for many physicians with large amounts of medical education debt. The second pathway does not provide much structure, making it difficult to physicians to stay motivated. To encourage physicians to complete the second pathway, we developed the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Executive Fellowship in Addiction Medicine (Exec-FAM). In addition to providing structure for ABAM exam requirements, we hope this fellowship will increase a practitioner’s confidence and accuracy in assessing and diagnosing addictive disorders, and raise her or his comfort level in providing evidence-based treatment for addicted patients.
Duodenal acid-induced inhibition of gastric motility and emptying in rats

The mechanism by which acid in the duodenum inhibits proximal gastric motor function and delays emptying was investigated in urethan-anesthetized and awake rats. Gastric motility inhibited by duodenal acid (0.2 N HCl) in urethan-anesthetized rats was attenuated by 68 and 54%, respectively, by functional ablation of the vagal or spinal sensory innervation with capsaicin. 5-Hydroxytryptamine3 receptor blockade with zacopride (0.2 mg/kg ip) or cholecystokinin (CCK)-A-type receptor blockade with MK-329 (1 mg/kg ip) had no effect on the motility response to acid. In awake rats with chronically implanted gastric and duodenal cannulas, perfusion of the duodenum with acid (0.1 and 0.2 N HCl) inhibited gastric emptying of a nonnutrient liquid (38 and 59%, respectively). Blockade of CCK-A-type receptors reduced by 30% inhibition of gastric emptying induced by 0.1 N HCl. However, functional ablation of the vagal or spinal sensory innervation, 5-hydroxytryptamine3 receptor blockade, or immunoneutralization of secretin by systemic administration of a polyclonal antibody (no. 7842, 1 ml ip) had no effect on acid-induced (0.1 N HCl) inhibition of gastric emptying. Perfusion of the duodenum with 0.2 N HCl but not 0.1 N HCl inhibited proximal gastric motility in awake rats. These results suggest that 1) a duodenal acid load inhibits gastric emptying in part by a mechanism involving CCK and 2) decreased proximal gastric motility plays a minor role in inhibition of gastric emptying in response to acid.
Severe hyperkalemia presenting with wide‐complex tachycardia in a puppy with acute kidney injury secondary to leptospirosis

Objective To describe a case of hyperkalemia coinciding with wide-complex tachycardia (WCT) in a dog with acute kidney injury secondary to leptospirosis infection. Case summary An 11-week-old Golden Retriever–Standard Poodle cross puppy was referred for acute kidney injury and hepatopathy. WCT coinciding with marked hyperkalemia was identified on presentation. Tachycardia persisted until resolution of hyperkalemia. New or unique information provided To our knowledge, this is the first report of severe hyperkalemia presenting with WCT in a dog. Hyperkalemia should be considered a differential for WCT in dogs.
Distribution Changes with Aging of Macular Cones Imaged with an Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope

Changes with age in the distribution of cone photoreceptors were measured with Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy. Cones densities for younger subjects were uncorrelated at central vs. more peripheral locations, but correlated for older subjects.
Some suggestions for a possible approach to a mathematical biophysics of mitosis.

A tentative suggestion is made to interpret the phenomenon of mitosis as being due to coiling and uncoiling of long chain molecules, which are assumed to constitute the spindle. A possible quantitative approach is briefly outlined.
Effects of the Association between the α-Subunit Thigh and the β-Subunit EGF2 Domains on Integrin Activation and Signaling

Integrin bidirectional signaling is mediated by conformational change. It has been shown that the separation of the α- and β-subunit transmembrane/cytoplasmic tails and the lower legs is required for transmitting integrin bidirectional signals across the plasma membrane. In this study, we address whether the separation of the αβ knee is critical for integrin activation and outside-in signaling. By introducing three disulfide bonds to restrict dissociation of the α-subunit thigh domain and β-subunit I-EGF2 domain, we found that two of them could completely abolish integrin inside-out activation, whereas the other could not. This disulfide-bonded mutant, in the context of the activation mutation of the cytoplasmic domain, had intermediate affinity for ligands and was able to mediate cell adhesion. Our data suggest that there exists rearrangement at the interface between the thigh domain and the I-EGF2 domain during integrin inside-out activation. None of the disulfide-bonded mutants could mediate cell sprea...
Intestinal Dilation and Platelet: Albumin Ratio Are Predictors of Surgery in Stricturing Small Bowel Crohn's Disease

Background & Aims It is a challenge to predict how patients with small bowel Crohn's disease (CD) will respond to intensified medical therapy. We aimed to identify factors that predicted surgery within 2 years of hospitalization for CD, to guide medical versus surgical management decisions. Methods We performed a retrospective review of adults hospitalized for small bowel CD from 2004 through 2012 at a single academic referral center. Subjects underwent abdominal computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging within 3 weeks of hospitalization. Imaging characteristics of small bowel dilation, bowel wall thickness, and disease activity were assessed by a single, blinded radiologist. Multivariate analysis by Cox proportional hazards regression techniques was used to generate a prediction model of intestinal resection within 2 years. Results A total of 221 subjects met selection criteria, with 32.6% undergoing surgery within 2 years of index admission. Bivariate analysis showed high-dose steroid use (>40 mg), ongoing treatment with anti–tumor necrosis factor agents at admission, platelet count, platelet:albumin ratio, small bowel dilation (≥35 mm), and bowel wall thickness to predict surgery ( P ≤ .01). Multivariate modeling demonstrated small bowel dilation >35 mm (hazard ratio, 2.92; 95% confidence interval, 1.73–4.94) and a platelet:albumin ratio ≥125 (hazard ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.15–3.95) to predict surgery. Treatment with anti–tumor necrosis factor agents at admission conferred a nonsignificant increased trend for risk of surgery (hazard ratio, 1.61; 95% confidence interval, 0.994–2.65). Conclusions Small bowel dilation >35 mm and high platelet:albumin ratios are independent and synergistic risk factors for future surgery in patients with structuring small bowel CD. Platelet:albumin ratios may capture the relationship between acute inflammation and cumulative damage and serve as markers of intestinal disease that cannot be salvaged with medical therapy.
The influence of gain control rotation on nonlinear distortion in hearing aids.

To investigate the relationship of nonlinear distortion to gain control position, 35 hearing aids of differing makes and models were examined. Distortion levels were observed at eight gain settings...
Getting help from abroad: The macroeconomics of foreign direct investment in infrastructure in low-income countries

Infrastructure financing needs in most low-income countries are substantial, but funding for such needs is only partly covered by national governments and aid donors. This paper introduces foreign direct investment (FDI) through public–private partnerships as a source of infrastructure financing in low-income countries. A two-sector open economy model is developed to assess the macroeconomic performance of FDI in infrastructure. With efficient foreign investment, an increase in revenue-generating infrastructure investment boosts productivity and spurs private investment while stabilizing domestic prices. A direct comparison between infrastructure financed by domestic versus foreign investment shows that foreign investment creates higher output growth and welfare gains and is preferable to domestically sourced investment, irrespective of the underlying financing instrument the domestic economy is employing. FDI in non-revenue-generating infrastructure is also analyzed and discussed.
Radiation from loops next to a sphere in a radome

Radiation from multiple circular loop antennas of different radii and of different current values is considered. Parallel circular loops lie on an imaginary spherical surface of radius a. A conducting or dielectric sphere of radius b a and of outer radius d could be placed around the loops. The circular loops are parallel to the xy-plane and their centers are on the z-axis. The centers of the sphere and the dielectric shell are both at the origin. Eigenfunction series solutions are assumed in different regions of the problem. The unknown coefficients are computed by enforcing boundary conditions at the interfaces of these different regions.
Using Multiple Diffusion MRI Measures to Predict Alzheimer’s Disease with a TV-L1 Prior

Microstructural measures from diffusion MRI have been used for classification purposes in neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions. Novel diffusion reconstruction models can lead to better and more accurate measures of tissue properties: each measure provides different information on white matter microstructure in the brain, revealing different signs of disease. The diversity of computable measures makes it necessary to develop novel classification procedures to capture all of the available information from each measure. Here we introduce a multichannel regularized logistic regression algorithm that classifies individuals’ diagnostic status based on several microstructural measures, derived from their diffusion MRI scans. With the aid of a TV-L1 prior, which ensures sparsity in the classification model, the resulting linear models point to the most classifying brain regions for each of the diffusion MRI measures, giving the method additional descriptive power. We apply our regularized regression approach to classify Alzheimer’s disease patients and healthy controls in the ADNI dataset, based on their diffusion MRI data.
Center for High Integrity Software System Assurance

Abstract In order to enable the U.S. software industry to build high integrity software and to provide U.S. industries and government confidence in the software systems on which they are dependent, NIST created the Center for High Integrity Software System Assurance (CHISSA), which establishes criteria for software assurance for use by those who build or evaluate these systems. This paper describes the goals and organization of CHISSA.
Towards still image experience predictions in augmented vision settings

With the emergence of Augmented Reality (AR) services in a broad range of application scenarios, the interplay of (compressed) content as delivered and quality as experienced by the user becomes increasingly important. While significant research efforts have uncovered interplays for traditional (opaque) media consumption scenarios, applications in augmented vision scenarios pose significant challenges. This paper focuses on the Quality of Experience (QoE) for a grounded truth reference still image set. We corroborate previous findings which indicate that there is only limited QoE benefit obtainable from very high image quality levels. The main contribution is the first evaluation of several popular objective image quality metrics and their relationships to the QoE in opaque and vision augmenting presentation formats. For the first time, we provide an assessment of the possibility to predict the QoE based on these metrics. We find that linear regression of a small degree is able to accurately capture the coefficients and fairly accurate prediction can be performed even with a non-referential image quality metric as parameter. We note, however, that prediction accuracy still fluctuates with the image content and subjects removed from the data set. Our overall findings can be employed by AR service providers to perform an optimized delivery of still image content.
Leucovorin reduced the side effects of methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis without affecting efficacy

Source Citation Shiroky JB, Neville C, Esdaile JM, et al. Low-dose methotrexate with leucovorin (folinic acid) in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. Results of a multicenter randomized, double...
Tissue plasminogen activator-based nanothrombolysis for ischemic stroke

Introduction: Thrombolysis with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the only FDA approved treatment for patients with acute ischemic stroke, but its use is limited by narrow therapeut...
A Special Focus on Formation Damage in Offshore and Deepwater Reservoirs

Abstract High investment and costly operation require that deepwater wells produce at as high a rate as possible. Therefore, a variety of technologies have been used to remove the production barriers and push the production limits. On the other hand, any previous discussed formation damage mechanisms could happen in the deepwater environment. In this chapter, we present the difference that water depth makes, intelligent well surveillance and completion, frac-pack well completion, formation damage because of compaction, and other problems featuring in deepwater development. The objective of this chapter is to present the uniqueness of offshore development and production in the terms of formation damage and remediation.
Physiology of the acute wound

The human response to injury involves the coordinated interplay of a variety of physiologic processes that result in a healed wound. In a highly reproducible manner, hemostasis is achieved, inflammation is induced, mesenchymal cells migrate into the wounded area and proliferate, revascularization occurs, epithelial continuity is re-established, collagen and other matrix components are synthesized, wound contraction occurs, and the wound remodels itself. These various functions involved in the healing process are all orchestrated by cytokines and other mediators of cellular function.
Improvement in the Forecasting Ability of Analysts

Forecast dispersion, error, and optimism are computed using 36,448 annual observations and 120,022 quarterly observations from 1990 to 2001. Forecast dispersion, error, and optimism all decrease steadily over the sample period, with loss firms showing an especially striking decrease. By the end of the sample period, dispersion and error differences between profit and loss firms are relatively minor, optimism for loss firms is around an unbiased 50%, and pessimism dominates profit firms. The improvement does not appear fully attributable to earnings management, earnings guidance, or Street versus GAAP earnings differences. Furthermore, it appears that loss firm earnings are considerably more difficult to forecast. Given this greater difficulty, analysts actually provide more value when forecasting loss firm earnings.
INTRACELLULAR POTENTIALS IN FROG SKIN AND TOAD BLADDER

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the electrical potential manifested by the sodium transport system through a study of frog skin and toad bladder. It also explores the relation of this electrical potential to possible mechanisms involved in sodium transport. On the basis of the functional dependency of the transmembrane potential on Na and K together with other characteristics of the active sodium transport system, Koefoed–Johnsen and Ussing conceived of a hypothesis for the system. In its essence, this model postulates that the outward facing cell membrane of a single active layer of cells is selectively permeable to Na+ and Cl–, whereas the inward facing membrane of these cells is selectively permeable to K+ and Cl–. The active transport process is assumed to exist at the inner boundary.
Abstract 4847: Evaluation of the combination of olaparib and cediranib in small-cell lung cancer cells

Metastatic Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is exceptionally lethal, having a median survival of 9-10 months from the time of diagnosis and a 5 year survival rate of less than 2 percent. More effective treatment approaches to SCLC are desperately needed. Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor such as olaparib exploit the concept of synthetic lethality by selectively targeting cancer cells with defective DNA repair pathways. Preclinical data indicates that SCLC cell lines overexpress PARP and are sensitive to PARP inhibition, and PARP inhibitors show promise in the clinical setting of SCLC. The identification of combination regimens that potentiate the efficacy of PARP inhibition would be of great clinical value. Recent findings indicate that olaparib and the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) inhibitor, cediranib, is an effective therapeutic combination in patients with BRCA wild-type ovarian cancer. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of the olaparib and cediranib combinations in SCLC models. Human SCLC cell lines, NCI-H841, H526, COR-L24 and murine SCLC cell line TKOmTmG were sensitive to olaparib or cediranib therapy in vitro as determined by Cell Titer Glo® assay. Moreover, a significantly greater effect on cell viability was observed when olaparib and cediranib were used in combination. Likewise, in H841 xenograft models, single agent treatment of olaparib or cediranib inhibited tumor growth, and combination treatment of olaparib plus cediranib induced tumor regression. Western blot analysis indicated that treatment with cediranib or the combination of olaparib and cediranib induced PD-L1 protein expression both in vivo and in vitro. In TKOmTmG xenograft model in syngeneic mice, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor plus olaparib or olaparib/cediranib combination resulted in superior combined efficacy compared to the respective single agent therapies in terms of tumor growth inhibition. These data indicate that olaparib plus cediranib may be an effective therapeutic strategy for the treatment of SCLC. Further study is warranted to understand the mechanism of action and clinical activity. Citation Format: Naoto Morikawa, Monique B. Nilsson, Irene Guijarro, You-Hong Fan, Alissa Poteete, John V. Heymach. Evaluation of the combination of olaparib and cediranib in small-cell lung cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4847.
The use of Electronic Health Records to Support Population Health: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Electronic health records (EHRs) have emerged among health information technology as “meaningful use” to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare, and health disparities in population health. In other instances, they have also shown lack of interoperability, functionality and many medical errors. With proper implementation and training, are electronic health records a viable source in managing population health? The primary objective of this systematic review is to assess the relationship of electronic health records’ use on population health through the identification and analysis of facilitators and barriers to its adoption for this purpose. Authors searched Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and MEDLINE (PubMed), 10/02/2012–10/02/2017, core clinical/academic journals, MEDLINE full text, English only, human species and evaluated the articles that were germane to our research objective. Each article was analyzed by multiple reviewers. Group members recognized common facilitators and barriers associated with EHRs effect on population health. A final list of articles was selected by the group after three consensus meetings (n = 55). Among a total of 26 factors identified, 63% (147/232) of those were facilitators and 37% (85/232) barriers. About 70% of the facilitators consisted of productivity/efficiency in EHRs occurring 33 times, increased quality and data management each occurring 19 times, surveillance occurring 17 times, and preventative care occurring 15 times. About 70% of the barriers consisted of missing data occurring 24 times, no standards (interoperability) occurring 13 times, productivity loss occurring 12 times, and technology too complex occurring 10 times. The analysis identified more facilitators than barriers to the use of the EHR to support public health. Wider adoption of the EHR and more comprehensive standards for interoperability will only enhance the ability for the EHR to support this important area of surveillance and disease prevention. This review identifies more facilitators than barriers to using the EHR to support public health, which implies a certain level of usability and acceptance to use the EHR in this manner. The public-health industry should combine their efforts with the interoperability projects to make the EHR both fully adopted and fully interoperable. This will greatly increase the availability, accuracy, and comprehensiveness of data across the country, which will enhance benchmarking and disease surveillance/prevention capabilities.
Predictive Associations Among the Repeated Measurements of Anxiety, Depression, and Craving in a Dual Diagnosis Program.

Objective: Anxiety and depression commonly co-occur with substance use disorders. Conceptual models would presume that changes in anxiety and depression should lead to changes in drug and alcohol c...
Medicare Payment Quality Measures

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) replaced the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. SGR was a source of considerable physician anxiety and hand-wringing on an annual basis when dissension in Congress threatened to result in a failure to reauthorize SGR potentially resulting in a 20% reimbursement reduction, a potentially catastrophic blow to physician practices. MACRA initiated a new structure for physician payment based on pay for performance focused on quality outcomes rather than volume-based payments. Reimbursement under MACRA is divided into two groups, merit-based incentive payment systems (MIPS) and advanced alternative payments models (APMs).
Parental Accountability, School Choice, and the Invisible Hand of the Market:

I introduce the concept of parental accountability by examining how parents understand and cope with what I characterize are pressures fostered by the long-standing public-school choice market in A...
The Roles of Self-identity Cues and Public Self-consciousness in Volunteering for Socially Stigmatized Causes on Social Media

Two experiments are conducted to study marketing strategies (self-identity cues and public self-consciousness) that can be used to fuel volunteering intentions for socially stigmatized cause campai...
Functional evaluation of the C-terminal region of bacteriophage T4 Rad50.

Abstract Bacteriophage T4 encodes orthologs of the proteins Rad50 (gp46) and Mre11 (gp47), which form a heterotetrameric complex (MR) that participates in the processing of DNA ends for recombination-dependent DNA repair. Crystal and high-resolution cryo-EM structures of Rad50 have revealed DNA binding sites near the dimer interface of Rad50 opposite of Mre11, and near the base of the coiled-coils that extend out from the globular head domain. An analysis of T4-Rad50 using sequenced-based algorithms to identify DNA binding residues predicts that a conserved region of positively charged residues near the C-terminus, distal to the observed binding sites, interacts with DNA. Mutant proteins were generated to test this prediction and their enzymatic and DNA binding activities were evaluated. Consistent with the predictions, the Rad50 C-terminal mutants had reduced affinity for DNA as measured by Rad50 equilibrium DNA binding assays and an increased Km-DNA as determined in MR complex nuclease assays. Moreover, the allosteric activation of ATP hydrolysis activity due to DNA binding was substantially reduced, suggesting that these residues may be involved in the communication between the DNA and ATP binding sites.
Tracking and analyzing dynamics of news-cycles during global pandemics: a historical perspective

How does the tone of reporting during a disease outbreak change in relation to the number of cases, categories of victims, and accumulating deaths? How do newspapers and medical journals contribute to the narrative of a historical pandemic? Can data mining experts help history scholars to scale up the process of examining articles, extracting new insights and understanding the public opinion of a pandemic? We explore these problems in this paper, using the 19thcentury Russian Flu epidemic as an example. We study two different types of historical data sources: the US medical discussion and popular reporting during the epidemic, from its outbreak in late 1889 through the successive waves that lasted through 1893. We analyze and compare these articles and reports to answer three major questions. First, we analyze how newspapers and medical journals report the Russian flu and describe the situation. Next, we help historians in understanding the tone of related reports and how they vary across data sources. We also examine the temporal changes in the discussion to get an in-depth understanding of how public opinion changed about the pandemic. Finally, we aggregate all of the algorithms in an easy to use framework GrippeStory to help history scholars investigate historical pandemic data in general, across chronological periods and locations. Our extensive experiments and analysis on a large number of historical articles show that GrippeStory gives meaningful and useful results for historians and it outperforms the baselines.
Early failure detection of paper manufacturing machinery using nearest neighbor-based feature extraction

In a paper manufacturing system, it can be substantially important to detect machine failure before it occurs and take necessary maintenance actions to prevent a detrimental breakdown of the system. Multiple sensor data collected from a machine provides useful information on the system's health condition. However, it is hard to predict the system condition ahead of time due to the lack of clear ominous signs for future failures, a rare occurrence of failure events, and a wide range of sensor signals which might be correlated with each other. In this paper, we present two versions of feature extraction techniques based on the nearest neighbor combined with machine learning algorithms to detect a failure of the paper manufacturing machinery earlier than its occurrence from the multi-stream system monitoring data. First, for each sensor stream, the time series data is transformed into the binary form by extracting the class label of the nearest neighbor. We feed these transformed features into the decision tree classifier for the failure classification. Second, expanding the idea, the relative distance to the local nearest neighbor has been measured, results in the real-valued feature, and the support vector machine is used as a classifier. Our proposed algorithms are applied to the dataset provided by IISE 2019 data competition, and the results show the better performance than the given baseline.
Investigation of the morphology and interpretation of Hekla Cavus, Pluto

Abstract We describe and interpret the geometry and surficial characteristics of an oblong 98 km depression named Hekla Cavus in the (informally named) Cthulhu Macula, Pluto. The feature is located near the equator west of Sputnik Planitia at the New Horizons Close Encounter Hemisphere. Images from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager along with digital elevation maps reveal that the feature is located within a larger ridge-trough system, bounded by a raised rim with surficial fissures radiating from the rim. At the wall-floor contact, a mass wasting feature is also observed. The floor of the feature is asymmetric of near-elliptical shape with its long-axis oriented southwestward. This study also comparatively measures the dimensions of impact craters and sublimation pits of Pluto to define Hekla Cavus to be a rare feature. This feature is estimated to have a volume of 5617 km3 of removed ice with possible mechanisms of formation like that of a collapse from subsurface deflation, possibly from cryovolcanic processes. Plain language summary Hekla Cavus is a large, irregularly shaped depression that is part of a larger ridge-trough system through eastern Cthulhu Macula, Pluto. Recently acquired high-resolution images and topography derived from the New Horizons mission were used to describe the geometry and geologic setting of this possible subsurface collapse pit. Estimations of the removed ice volume at Hekla Cavus also provided insight to its possible collapse history. This study also comparatively measures the dimensions of impact craters and sublimation pits of Pluto to define Hekla Cavus to be a rare feature. Thus, the origins of Hekla Cavus may have been a subsurface cryovolcanic collapsing process.
Influences on HPV vaccination across levels of the social ecological model: perspectives from state level stakeholders

Nationally, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates fall short of the Healthy People 2020 goal of 80% completion. Although strategies to increase these rates exist, low rates persist. We used ...
Improved accuracy in measurement of iodine in animal feeds by ICP/MS with alkaline dissolution

Abstract Despite its significance for animal health and disease prevention, iodine is generally not measured by feed laboratories in part due to the inadequacies of acidic digestion procedures used for other trace and macro minerals. Our lab has investigated whether simple alkaline dissolution of feeds significantly enhances iodine recovery and quantitation, as determined by monitoring of 127I on Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, ICP/MS. We describe herein a simple alkaline dissolution procedure and its applicability to animal feeds for the accurate measurement of iodine along with a comparative analysis to acidic digestion techniques routinely applied to measurement of trace nutrient minerals such as cobalt, copper, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc using multi-laboratory proficiency tested feeds and standard reference materials. The improved alkaline dissolution method was found to yield iodine recoveries ranging from 98.2 to 101.3%, a significant improvement over acid digestion which yielded recoveries of only 40.9–63.9%. This contrasted with trace nutrient elements Co, Cu, Mo, Se and Zn which had excellent recoveries in acid digests, but only 36–88% recoveries in alkali.
Promoting the Youth Vote: The Role of Informational Cues and Social Pressure

Young voters, including college students, turnout less than older citizens—particularly in non-presidential elections. We examine two promising intervention strategies in the 2018 midterm elections: information cues and social pressure. Additionally, we consider whether voting information and social pressure to vote spread to others through social ties. Using a large-scale field experiment involving sections of a university-wide first-year writing seminar, we examine whether informational and social pressure presentations are effective strategies for increasing college student voter turnout. Furthermore, by linking each student in our study to their roommates, we assess whether there were spillover effects from the interventions. Though the treatments did not alone affect turnout, we find positive effects from classroom treatments among first-year students who were registered to vote prior to the presentations. Additionally, we find positive peer spillover effects for turnout from the social pressure treatment when the roommate of the treated student was previously registered to vote.
Co-existing Anammox, Ammonium-Oxidizing, and Nitrite-Oxidizing Bacteria in Biocathode-Biofilms Enable Energy-Efficient Nitrogen Removal in a Bioelectrochemical Desalination Process

In this study, a nitritation-anammox biocathode microbial desalination cell (NiAmoxMDC) was studied for its potential in nitrogen and salinity removal. A maximum power density of 1.007 W/m3 and an ...
Impact of Screening for Distress, Anxiety, Depression and Supportive Care Needs in Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy.

Purpose/Objective(s) Cancer related distress is multifactorial, defined by NCCN as encompassing psychological, social or physical aspects that impact a patient's ability to cope with and manage cancer. Guidelines endorse routine screening for distress to identify severity, nature, and impact of distress, thereby facilitating appropriate supportive care and resource allocation. Managing distress is an integral component of oncology care. Materials/Methods To evaluate and address patient-reported distress, a survey was developed as a screening tool to assess distress, pain, nutritional status and psychosocial needs. A complementary rubric was designed to create thresholds for prompting appropriate referrals and interventions. Patients reported distress on an ordinal 1 to 10 scale as well as factors contributing to distress including navigating healthcare, child/elder care, spiritual concerns, transportation, pain, difficulty with sleep or fatigue, diet and nutrition, or financial/housing concerns. Anxiety and Depression were evaluated using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement (PROMIS) anxiety and depression assessment. Distress scores ≥ 5 prompted appropriate referrals to symptom management, social work, spiritual care, and/or Psycho-Oncology. Weight loss and patient reported loss of appetite prompted referral to nutrition support. Anxiety and depression PROMIS scores ≥ 11 and 9, respectively, prompted referral to Psycho-Oncology. Results 159 consecutive patients seen in Radiation Oncology completed the survey at time of consultation for radiation therapy. Mean distress score was 4 (SD 2.5) with 61 (38%) patients reporting distress scores ≥ 5. Rubric parameters prompted referrals to social work in 25 patients (16%) of which 20 (13%) were related to challenges with transportation to treatment. 28 (18%) and 23 (14%) of patients indicated pain or weight loss/loss of appetite prompting referrals to symptom management and nutrition support, respectively. Mean anxiety and depression scores were 8.2 and 6.8 respectively. A total of 66 (42%) of patient responses indicated anxiety and/or depression scores that prompted referral to Psycho-Oncology, with 40 (25 %) of patients reporting a score ≥ 9 for depression and 48 (30 %) of patients reporting a score ≥ 11 for anxiety. Following implementation of the screening tool and rubric, 100% of patients indicating a need for support were referred for appropriate resources compared to 14% prior to implementation. Conclusion A comprehensive distress survey tool, including assessment of pain, anxiety, depression, psychosocial needs and nutrition status, provided detailed and actionable information to support patients with cancer undergoing radiation therapy. A complementary rubric designed by a multidisciplinary team provided a system for efficiently connecting patients to appropriate resources. Further study as to the benefit of referrals/supportive resources with regard to patient reported distress is indicated.
Cooperative Control Design Strategies with Local Interactions

In this paper, we study cooperative control design strategies that only require local information exchange between vehicles. In particular, we focus on how consensus algorithms or their extensions can be applied in cooperative control of multi-vehicle systems. Three types of coupling between vehicles are distinguished and corresponding design strategies are proposed. These design strategies are then applied to several cooperative control applications including cooperative timing, formation maintenance, rendezvous, altitude alignment and synchronized rotations as a proof of concept.
Getting a Better Picture of the Ocean's Nitrogen Budget

The most common nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium in the oceans is more abundant than previously estimated and can therefore account for at least a portion of the apparent oceanic nitrogen deficit.
Dehydrocyclization of C 6 Hydrocarbon With and Without Oxygen Containing Substituent Over Pt/(Na)-Al 2 O 3 Catalyst

The presence of hydroxyl or keto functional group affects both activity and selectivity for dehydrocyclization of C6 hydrocarbon over Pt/(Na)–Al2O3 catalyst. Under similar reaction conditions, n-hexane produces benzene as the primary product (>40 %), whereas dehydration is a major reaction pathway for 2-hexanol and yields mainly hexenes (>70 %). However, 2-hexanone was found to be involved in a variety of reactions over Pt/(Na)–Al2O3 catalyst and produces lower hydrocarbons (C2–C5), 5-dodecanone, 2- and 5-nonanones, and 2-acetyl-3-propyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one. The presence of hydroxyl (–OH) or keto group (=C=O) at the C-2 position alters the interaction of C6 hydrocarbon with the catalyst surface which eventually controls the overall product selectivity.
Axotomy-like changes in cat motoneuron electrical properties elicited by botulinum toxin depend on the complete elimination of neuromuscular transmission

The electrical properties of cat medial gastrocnemius (MG) spinal motoneurons were studied 14–21 d following injection of type A botulinum toxin (BTX) into the MG muscle. Treated MG muscles were atrophic, displayed pronounced fibrillation activity, and were markedly but not completely paralyzed. MG motoneuron electrical properties from animals with the highest MG muscle-twitch forces (greater than 20 gm) appeared normal, while motoneuron properties from animals with the lowest MG muscle-twitch forces (less than 10 gm) exhibited axotomy-like changes, though these changes were less pronounced than after axotomy itself. No changes in the axonal conduction velocity were observed, however. Motoneuron connectivity with MG muscle fibers was determined following intracellular stimulation of MG motoneurons by averaging EMG signals from 3 or 4 pairs of recording electrodes inserted into the BTX- treated MG muscles. Normal electrical properties were observed among motoneurons in which detectable EMG activity linked to the intracellular stimulation pulse was observed. The level of this connectivity, however, indicated that a relatively small number of muscle fibers were activated by individual motoneuron action potentials. Axotomy-like changes of electrical properties were observed in MG motoneurons that could not be associated with detectable EMG activity in the BTX-treated MG muscle following repeated trials of intracellular stimulation. These results indicate that the existence of effective neuromuscular transmission at a small number of motor terminals is sufficient to prevent the appearance of axotomy-like changes in motoneuron electrical properties, and that the absence of such transmission at all motor terminals is associated with the appearance of axotomy-like changes. The results suggest that the effects of axotomy itself on motoneuron properties may be based upon the loss or elimination of a potent interaction between muscle and motoneurons normally mediated by neuromuscular transmission.
Unifying Phonotactics and Derived Environment Blocking through Prosodic Constraint Indexation

This paper presents a theory of prosodic constraint indexation that derives the blocking of markedness-reducing processes at prosodic and morphological junctures. The principle claim is that markedness constraints are indexed to prosodic categories, and are violated only when a marked structure is fully contained within the span of the indexed constituent. The interaction of prosodically-indexed constraints with faithfulness constraints accounts for both static phonotactic restrictions and derived environment blocking effects. Furthermore, they account for domain restrictions that can not be derived by CrispEdge constraints, which reference only prosodic edges. Where Strict Layering is violated, prosodic constraint indexation correctly predicts that more marked segment sequences can be admitted in extraprosodic affixes than in root morphemes.
MACH - a computer code for solution of the poloidal asymmetry eigenvalue problem in tokamaks

Abstract Evaluation of the poloidal dependence of the plasma density involves solving the equation for momentum balance along the magnetic field. This is transformed into an eigenvalue equation of the Mathieu type with an extra damping term. The method presented here for determination of the appropriate eigenvalue is much faster than traditional matrix determinant methods.
The effects of icing on the longitudinal dynamics of an icing research aircraft

Icing affects the aerodynamic performance of aircraft leading sometimes resulting in catastrophic crashes. The effects of icing have been studied in the past but from more of an aerodynamicist’s viewpoint than a flight controls viewpoint. This paper develops models for aircraft dynamics in the presence of icing that can ultimately lead to a model based method of detecting icing. Flight test data from the NASA Lewis Twin Otter Icing Research Aircraft is analyzed in both case of a nominal un-iced configuration and a horizontal stabilizer experiencing icing due to a failed de-icing boot. Robust global nonlinear models were developed for each flap setting. The global nonlinear and localized linear models were analyzed for the differences between nominal and iced conditions with excellent agreement between model predictions and flight test data.
Induction of the neurotensin (NT) gene in PC12 cells gives rise to NT precursor (∼88%), NT(3–13)-like peptide (∼10%), and NT (∼2%)

Abstract Neurotensin (NT) is coexpressed with catecholamines in sympathetic neurons and adrenal chromaffin cells. A pheochromocytoma PC12 cell line can also be induced to express the NT gene and produce immunoreactive NT. In the present study, NT mRNA was quantified under various hormonal conditions and NT precursor synthesis rates were determined by pulse labeling and immunoprecipitation. In addition, NT precursor and NT-related products were measured using RIA and were characterized using HPLC and Sephadex chromatography. Neurotensin mRNA, NT precursor synthesis, and NT precursor/product levels were correlated. Surprisingly, NT appeared to be a minor product, both in cells and media: NT precursor (∼88%), NT(3–13)-like peptide (∼10%), and NT(∼2%). Neurotensin added to cultures was not converted to NT(3–13). Treatment of cells with 60 m M KCl or various secretagogues induced Ca 2+ -dependent release of NT precursor, NT(3–13), and NT in proportion to their cellular contents. These results suggest a) that NT precursor processing in induced PC12 cells was much slower than NT precursor synthesis, b) that NT(3–13) was a major product and NT a minor one, and c) that NT precursor and its products were stored within secretory vesicles.
Pre- and Postsurgical Evaluation of Hand Function in Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: Exemplar Cases

Evaluation of hand function for treatment planning and outcome documentation in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) proves challenging. Because of the complexity of multisystem involvement and time constraints during physician clinic visits, we developed a comprehensive evaluation protocol to assist with team surgical decision making in CP. We report findings from three adolescents with hemiplegic CP who were evaluated pre-/post-intervention using measures of impairment (clinical examination procedures), activity (Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory and Jebsen-Taylor Test of Hand Function), and participation (goal attainment scaling). An intervention to improve hand function consisted of single-event multilevel orthopedic surgery and postsurgical therapy. Wrist/finger biomechanics and active range of motion improved after the intervention. The targeted surgical intervention and undefined therapy intervention, however, seemed to have little influence on activity and participation. The descriptive results of these exemplar cases suggest that, instead of assisting only with surgical decision making, the evaluation protocol should focus on specific postsurgical therapy plans in addition to surgical/therapy decision making.