cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
“Brain Says You're a Girl, But I Think You're a Sissy Boy”: Cultural Origins of Transphobia

The author argues that transphobia—fear and hatred of transgender persons—is a variant of homophobia understood as hatred of the queer, where “queer” means any formation of sexuality and/or gender that deviates from the norm of reproductive heterosexuality. The male-to-female transgender incites transphobia through her implicit challenge to the binary division of gender upon which male cultural and political hegemony depends, and through her capacity to initiate an uncanny rememoration, in the heterosexual or homosexual male, of his own primal (pre- and postnatal) participation in the female. Medical/sexological discourse and films such as To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar have struggled to curtail the freedom of self-actualization, and to discipline the meaning, of the m-t-f transgender, especially through the institution of regimes of binarism (male/female, heterosexual/homosexual, healthy/perverse, appropriate/inappropriate). The film Paris Is Burning documents the subversion of binaries of gender and sexuality by trans persons and other queers.
Hydrocyclone modeling: large eddy simulation CFD approach

Finding a solution to the hydrocyclone problem has been a challenging task for the last 30 years. In the 1980s and 1990s, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used in an attempt to find a solution. These attempts, however, unsuccessful due to oversimplification. Three-dimensional solutions using the κ-e model and the Reynolds stress model (RSM) have been published in the past. In this paper, RSM and κ-e models are compared with velocity profiles measured in 75- and 250-mm-diameter hydrocyclones. It is shown that results are not satisfactory with RSM or κ-e and that a model called large eddy simulation is needed to describe velocity profile evolution and size classification.
Wake-up-word spotting using end-to-end deep neural network system

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have tremendously improved the performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR). On the other hand, end-to-end speech recognition system can achieve state-of-the-art performance using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) method for unsegmented sequence data. In this paper, we therefor propose a lightweight wake-up-word (WUW) spotting system based on end-to-end DNN architecture, which is intended to provide a great balance between decoding speed, accuracy and model size. The objective is to introduce CTC framework on spotting process, and to enhance the system by WUW-oriented model training and refinement steps. We test the performance of the proposed architecture on a conversational telephone dataset which illustrate that the computation time can be significantly reduced without a significant decrease in the spotting accuracy.
“Kind regards”: an examination of one buyer's attempt to purchase a trafficked child for sex

ABSTRACTA call to awareness regarding sex trafficking has increased research, bolstered social justice efforts, improved education, and influenced federal laws that protect victims and prosecute traffickers. Federal laws on sex trafficking are now being used through undercover sting operations via the Internet to arrest and prosecute buyers who attempt to engage in commercial sex with minors. A narrative analysis was completed to create an in-depth case study outlining the correspondences between a buyer and an undercover agent advertising trafficked children for sex. Readers are afforded a rare opportunity to examine actual emails related to the purchase of a child for sexual exploitation. The emails were used against the buyer as evidence within the court of law. The authors assert that the following case study will contribute to the body of literature on the victim selection processes and cognitive distortions employed by buyers of children for sex.
Unfair Terms of Global Cooperation and the Fair Equality of Liberty Between Peoples

In this chapter, I turn from undocumented populations to the global poor, as subjects of representative claim making by more affluent disobedient actors from both liberal and hierarchical societies. Indeed, I develop the idea of civil disobedience as representative claim making by such actors to compensate for the inability of the poorest and most desperate inhabitants of the planet to exercise any influence over the multiple structures and agencies of global governance. These structures and agencies range from different types of nation states to International Governmental Organizations (IGOs), International Financial Organizations (IFOs), International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and so on. Here, a global perspective represents concern for the poorest, the sickest, and the hungriest at different sites and locations of global rule making. Such a perspective combines multinational coalitions of cosmopolitan citizens challenging the rulings and decisions of this or that IGO or IFO with states challenging the structure of international law as differentially impacting rich and poor. The approach I take in this chapter offers a third way between duties of assistance to the poor and global distributive justice. It does so by highlighting instead the normative equality assigned to peoples in Law of Peoples (2001). It does so by justifying disobedience by cosmopolitan citizens and states as contesting the unfair value of liberty between peoples in international rule making. In this respect, my approach offers a significant reinterpretation of the duty of assistance. It reinterprets the duty as prescribing assistance or help in the creation of a well-ordered international community of peoples, based on the fair value of their liberty in international agreements on trade and economic justice. However, it does not rule out progress towards egalitarian global distributive justice. My primary concern is with justifying disobedience by cosmopolitan citizens and states in the circumstance of piecewise global justice in which the value of liberty for peoples is unfair. It does not take a stand on particular schemes or policies of distributive justice, regarding these important policy matters as separate from the justification for resorting to civil disobedience.
On the Evolution of the Fontan Operation: From an Electrophysiologist's Perspective

The history of pediatric electrophysiology as a subspecialty is inextricably bound up with the development of surgery for complex congenital heart disease, and in particular, the treatment of the arrhythmias that result from these palliative and corrective operations. In a pediatric
Ribosomal DNA copy number amplification and loss in human cancers is linked to tumor genetic context, nucleolus activity, and proliferation

Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) are transcribed from two multicopy DNA arrays: the 5S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) array residing in a single human autosome and the 45S rDNA array residing in five human autosomes. The arrays are among the most variable segments of the genome, exhibit concerted copy number variation (cCNV), encode essential components of the ribosome, and modulate global gene expression. Here we combined whole genome data from >700 tumors and paired normal tissues to provide a portrait of rDNA variation in human tissues and cancers of diverse mutational signatures, including stomach and lung adenocarcinomas, ovarian cancers, and others of the TCGA panel. We show that cancers undergo coupled 5S rDNA array expansion and 45S rDNA loss that is accompanied by increased estimates of proliferation rate and nucleolar activity. These somatic changes in rDNA CN occur in a background of over 10-fold naturally occurring rDNA CN variation across individuals and cCNV of 5S-45S arrays in some but not all tissues. Analysis of genetic context revealed associations between cancer rDNA CN amplification or loss and the presence of specific somatic alterations, including somatic SNPs and copy number gain/losses in protein coding genes across the cancer genome. For instance, somatic inactivation of the tumor suppressor gene TP53 emerged with a strong association with coupled 5S expansion / 45S loss in several cancers. Our results uncover frequent and contrasting changes in the 5S and 45S rDNA along rapidly proliferating cell lineages with high nucleolar activity. We suggest that 5S rDNA amplification facilitates increased proliferation, nucleolar activity, and ribosomal synthesis in cancer, whereas 45S rDNA loss emerges as a byproduct of transcription-replication conflict in rapidly replicating tumor cells. The observations raise the prospects of using the rDNA arrays as re-emerging targets for the design of novel strategies in cancer therapy.
Generic Classification Domain

The following three sections provide a description of the generic classification system used in this study. The agreement between the domain information and the observation data, both represented by fuzzy sets, is determined by an assessment of the compatibility of the two fuzzy sets. Aggregation operators are used to combine the measures obtained by the assessment of multiple pieces of information.
Telesurgery and Computerized Smell Simulators

As the length of medical training time decreases and the expected knowledge base of healthcare providers increases, simulation is often being called on as an educational supplement to real-world experiences [13, 15]. This is especially true in those cases where physical distance is a hindrance to receiving proper medical training [9, 16]. Regardless of whether or not distance is the issue, medical simulators have recently been shown to be efficacious, supplemental educational aids when it comes to teaching the complexities of surgery [7] and emergency room medicine [14].
Effectiveness of Blended Learning for Resident Education in Neurology: Experience from Movement Disorder Course (P3.001)

Objective: To evaluate feasibility and usefulness of Blended Learning for resident education in Neurology. Background: Modern teaching tools and methodologies have not been commonly adopted for residents. Their impact and challenges of using them during residency are not clear. Design/Methods: Neurology residents participated in a 5-week blended learning course including traditional face-to-face weekly lecture and online materials using Canvas learning management system. Coursework included weekly modules with required and optional reading material, task assignments (such as mind map, memory matrix), formative quizzes, discussion forums, twitter feeds and podcast. Course performance was evaluated with blinded pre-test and post-test questionnaire. Results: Of 16 residents 15 completed pre-test and 11 completed post-test for evaluation. There were 5777 online page views over 5 weeks (mean 385/resident, range 32–1319). Residents made 167 submissions with timely submission rate of 55% (CI 37–73, range 0–100%), completed 5 weekly quizzes with average score of 65.9% overall as a group (range 58.9–71.3%). There were 86 responses posted within 12 discussion topics. Eleven residents completed post-test with 100% showing an improvement on the score (average 23.8% CI 20.4–27.2, range 10–46%). Pre-test score average was 41% (n=15, range 2–72%) and post-test score average was 72.7% (n=11, range 48–86%). Combined Score for all assessments (total 410) for all 15 residents was 35.8% on average (mean 147, CI 113–180, range 1.2–80.8%) showing large spread of results due to variable participation. Improvement on post-test scores (n=11) show a correlation with timely assignment submission (coefficient 0.52, CI 0.6 to −0.11), weekly quiz scores (coefficient 0.5, CI 0.6 to −0.14) and number of page views (coefficient 0.48, CI 0.6 to −0.16). Conclusions: Blended learning is a feasible and effective for training neurology residents. Online tracking allows formative assessment and detailed performance analysis. Factors influencing resident participation and adoption require further study. Disclosure: Dr. Bhatti has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with ACCADIA, ABBVIE,. Dr. Bhatti has received research support from ABBVIE,. Dr. Bertoni has nothing to disclose. Dr. Haggar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Love has nothing to disclose. Dr. Brennan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Moore has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kedar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Torres-Russotto has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Allergan, AbbVie, IPSEN, Lundbeck and Teva. .
Enzymatic synthesis and chemical inversion provide both enantiomers of bioactive epoxydocosapentaenoic acids

Epoxy PUFAs are endogenous cytochrome P450 (P450) metabolites of dietary PUFAs. Although these metabolites exert numerous biological effects, attempts to study their complex biology have been hampered by difficulty in obtaining the epoxides as pure regioisomers and enantiomers. To remedy this, we synthesized 19,20- and 16,17-epoxydocosapentaenoic acids (EDPs) (the two most abundant EDPs in vivo) by epoxidation of DHA with WT and the mutant (F87V) P450 enzyme BM3 from Bacillus megaterium. WT epoxidation yielded a 4:1 mixture of 19,20:16,17-EDP exclusively as (S,R) enantiomers. Epoxidation with the mutant (F87V) yielded a 1.6:1 mixture of 19,20:16,17-EDP; the 19,20-EDP fraction was ∼9:1 (S,R):(R,S), but the 16,17-EDP was exclusively the (S,R) enantiomer. To access the (R,S) enantiomers of these EDPs, we used a short (four-step) chemical inversion sequence, which utilizes 2-(phenylthio)ethanol as the epoxide-opening nucleophile, followed by mesylation of the resulting alcohol, oxidation of the thioether moiety, and base-catalyzed elimination. This short synthesis cleanly converts the (S,R)-epoxide to the (R,S)-epoxide without loss of enantiopurity. This method, also applicable to eicosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic acid, provides a simple, cost-effective procedure for accessing larger amounts of these metabolites.
Physical foundation and consistent formulation of atomic-level fluxes in transport processes

Irving and Kirkwood [J. Irving and J. G. Kirkwood, The statistical mechanical theory of transport processes. IV. The equations of hydrodynamics, J. Chem. Phys. 18, 817 (1950)] derived the transport equations from the principles of classical statistical mechanics using the Dirac delta to define local densities. Thereby, formulas for fluxes were obtained in terms of molecular variables. The Irving and Kirkwood formalism has inspired numerous formulations. Many of the later developments, however, considered it more rigorous to replace the Dirac delta with a continuous volume-weighted averaging function and subsequently defined fluxes as a volume density. Although these volume-averaged flux formulas have dominated the literature for decades and are widely implemented in popular molecular dynamics (MD) software, they are a departure from the well-established physical concept of fluxes. In this paper, we review the historical developments that led to the unified physical concept of fluxes for transport phenomena. We then use MD simulations to show that these popular flux formulas conserve neither momentum nor energy, nor do they produce fluxes that are consistent with their physical definitions. We also use two different approaches to derive fluxes for general many-body potentials. The results of the formulation show that atomistic formulas for fluxes can be fully consistent with the physical definitions of fluxes and conservation laws.
The impact of revenue diversification on municipal debts: comparing short-term and long-term debt levels

The extant literature has offered two competitive implications of revenue diversification: revenue stabilisation and fiscal illusion. Stabilisation helps governments have less revenue volatility, w...
Treatment of Neck Pain with Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection

Ninety-six patients who had cervical epidural steroid injections for chronic neck pain were contacted and interviewed. Pain relief that was judged to be good or better was obtained in 41% of the patients. Thirty-eight percent had pain relief of 1 month duration or longer. There were no major complications. Cervical epidural steroid injection represents a safe, simple, and easily performed therapy for chronic neck pain. Its degree of reliability makes it a reasonable first choice of conservative therapy for this condition.
Young children consider the expected utility of others’ learning to decide what to teach

Direct instruction facilitates learning without the costs of exploration, yet teachers must be selective because not everything can nor needs to be taught. How do we decide what to teach and what to leave for learners to discover? Here we investigate the cognitive underpinnings of the human ability to prioritize what to teach. We present a computational model that decides what to teach by maximizing the learner’s expected utility of learning from instruction and from exploration, and we show that children (aged 5–7 years) make decisions that are consistent with the model’s predictions (that is, minimizing the learner’s costs and maximizing the rewards). Children flexibly considered either the learner’s utility or their own, depending on the context, and even considered costs they had not personally experienced, to decide what to teach. These results suggest that utility-based reasoning may play an important role in curating cultural knowledge by supporting selective transmission of high-utility information. Bridgers et al. combine computational modelling and developmental experiments to show that even young children reason about others’ costs and rewards to make utility-maximizing decisions about what to teach and what to let learners discover on their own.
Evaluation of a Commercially Available Euthanasia Solution as a Voluntarily Ingested Euthanasia Agent in Laboratory Mice

All currently accepted methods of euthanasia for laboratory mice involve some degree of stress, fear, anxiety, or pain. We evaluated the voluntary oral administration of a euthanasia drug in 99 male and 81 female mice of various strains. We first explored the palatability of sugar-cookie dough with various flavorings added. We placed the cookie dough in the cage with an adult mouse and recorded the amount ingested after 1 h. Mice readily ingested all flavors of sugar-cookie dough. We then added a euthanasia solution containing pentobarbital and phenytoin to all flavors of cookie dough and placed a small bolus in the cage of each mouse or mouse pair. We observed the mice for 1 h for clinical signs of pentobarbital intoxication and then weighed uneaten dough to determine the dose of pentobarbital ingested. Palatability declined sharply when euthanasia solution was present. Mice ingested higher doses of pentobarbital in cookie dough during the dark phase and after fasting. Ingestion caused ataxia in some mice but was not sufficient to cause loss of righting reflex, unconsciousness, or death in any mouse. We successfully identified sugar cookie dough as a drug vehicle that was readily and rapidly eaten by mice without the need for previous exposure. Additional research is needed to identify euthanasia compounds for mice that do not affect the palatability of cookie dough.
GAPcare: the Geriatric Acute and Post-acute Fall Prevention Intervention—a pilot investigation of an emergency department-based fall prevention program for community-dwelling older adults

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults. Older emergency department (ED) patients who present for evaluations after falls have a 30% higher risk of falling again in the subsequent 6 months than age-matched controls. Although EDs frequently evaluate older adults after their falls, the typical evaluation consists of an injury assessment alone. As such, an opportunity is lost to assess and address the potential causes of falls in this vulnerable population. In this manuscript, we present a multidisciplinary fall prevention protocol for a pilot study of older adult ED patients who recently sustained a fall (GAPcare: the Geriatric Acute and Post-acute Fall Prevention Intervention). GAPcare is a randomized single-blinded pilot study. Participants in GAPcare are 120 older adults (≥ 65 years old) who present to 1 of 2 academic US EDs after a fall. We randomly assign participants 1:1 to an intervention or a usual care (control) arm. In the intervention arm, the patient’s ED physician, a pharmacist, and a physical therapist (PT) collaborate to identify and address any risk factors that may have contributed to the fall. Intervention arm participants and their caregivers return home with a medication-related action plan to taper or stop potentially inappropriate medications and to address polypharmacy and a PT assessment and plan. Participants in the usual care arm receive standard assessments and care in the ED and a home safety brochure. Participants in both study arms complete fall calendars for 6 months to document the number of falls and healthcare visits during follow-up. The primary outcome is feasibility of the GAPcare fall prevention intervention (number and proportion of screened participants who are eligible, recruited, and retained; impact on ED length of stay), while the secondary outcome is to estimate its initial efficacy. The GAPcare-ED fall prevention intervention has the potential to promote older adult-sensitive care for millions of Americans presenting to EDs after falls and establish a protocol for a future large-scale randomized controlled trial on this topic. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03360305 . Trial registration date: December 4, 2017. Protocol version: 1
Effects of high-carbohydrate versus mixed-macronutrient meals on female soccer physiology and performance

Athletes are often told to minimize intakes of fiber, fat, and protein in pre-competition meals to avoid gut distress, but this guidance is based on scant direct evidence. This study evaluated the physiological and perceptual effects of pre-competition mixed-macronutrient (MM) and high-carbohydrate (HCHO) meals in collegiate female soccer players. Fifteen players participated in this randomized, investigator-blinded, crossover study involving two ~ 1000-kcal meals (HCHO and MM) consumed 4 h prior to 70-min scrimmages. Assessments included global positioning system (GPS) tracking, heart rate (HR), perceived exertion (RPE), ratings of fatigue (ROF), gut symptoms, and perceptions of satiety, hunger, and fullness. Differences between conditions for HR, RPE, ROF, and gut symptoms were evaluated with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. GPS data and hunger, satiety, and fullness scores were compared using within-subjects repeated measures ANOVAs. No statistically significant differences were found between the conditions at any time point for HR, RPE, ROF, or gut symptoms. Significant time effects were found for two GPS variables (total distance covered and high-speed running), indicating that participants covered less distance during the second half of the scrimmages in comparison to the first half. However, there were no significant condition or condition × time interactions for GPS data. Finally, there were no condition or condition × time interactions for hunger, fullness, and satiety, though significant time effects were observed. A MM meal consumed 4 h prior to 70 min of soccer competition does not increase gut symptoms and can be similarly ergogenic as a HCHO meal.
Seeking ABET accreditation of a computer science program at a public regional university

This paper relates the effort to seek ABET accreditation by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO). We present an overview of the process of ABET and the timeline of significant events prior to the on-site visit at UCO by an ABET evaluation team. The focus of paper is the lessons learned during the several years of preparation. We summarize the suggestions offered to the department by the ABET evaluation team and conclude by enumerating the assets and liabilities the department received.
Putative human myometrial and fibroid stem-like cells have mesenchymal stem cell and endometrial stromal cell properties.

Study question Can endometrial stromal stem/progenitor cell markers, SUSD2 and CD146/CD140b, enrich for human myometrial and fibroid stem/progenitor cells? Summary answer SUSD2 enriches for myometrial and fibroid cells that have mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) characteristics and can also be induced to decidualise. What is known already Mesenchymal stem-like cells have been separately characterised in the endometrial stroma and myometrium and may contribute to diseases in their respective tissues. Study design, size, duration Normal myometrium, fibroids and endometrium were collected from hysterectomies with informed consent. Primary cells or tissues were used from at least three patient samples for each experiment. Participants/materials, setting, methods Flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence were used to characterise tissues. In vitro colony formation in normoxic and hypoxic conditions, MSC lineage differentiation (osteogenic and adipogenic) and decidualisation were used to assess stem cell activity. Xenotransplantation into immunocompromised mice was used to determine in vivo stem-like activity. Endpoint measures included quantitative PCR, colony formation, trichrome, Oil Red O and alkaline phosphatase activity staining. Main results and the role of chance CD146+CD140b+ and/or SUSD2+ myometrial and fibroid cells were located in the perivascular region and formed more colonies in vitro compared to control cells and differentiated down adipogenic and osteogenic mesenchymal lineages in vitro. SUSD2+ myometrial cells had greater in vitro decidualisation potential, and SUSD2+ fibroid cells formed larger tumours in vivo compared to control cells. Large-scale data N/A. Limitations, reasons for caution Markers used in this study enrich for cells with stem/progenitor cell activity; however, they do not distinguish stem from progenitor cells. SUSD2+ myometrial cells express markers of decidualisation when treated in vitro, but in vivo assays are needed to fully demonstration their ability to decidualise. Wider implications of the findings These results suggest a possible common MSC for the endometrial stroma and myometrium, which could be the tumour-initiating cell for uterine fibroids. Study funding/competing interest(s) These studies were supported by NIH grants to JMT (R01OD012206) and to ALP (F32HD081856). The authors certify that we have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Multi-layered control of PD-L1 expression in Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. In approximately 10% of GC cases, cancer cells show ubiquitous and monoclonal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. A significant feature of EBV-associated GC (EBVaGC) is high lymphocytic infiltration and high expression of immune checkpoint proteins, including programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). This highlights EBVaGC as a strong candidate for immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Indeed, several recent studies have shown that EBV positivity in GC correlates with positive response to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 blockade therapy. Understanding the mechanisms that control PD-L1 expression in EBVaGC can indicate new predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy, as well as therapeutic targets for combination therapy. Various mechanisms have been implicated in PD-L1 expression regulation, including structural variations, post-transcriptional control, oncogenic activation of intrinsic signaling pathways, and increased sensitivity to extrinsic signals. This review provides the most recent updates on the multilayered control of PD-L1 expression in EBVaGC.
Research on the correlation of performance parameters of CPVC cable protection pipe

CPVC cable protection pipe has been widely used in the national power industry. It is mainly used for the protection of power cables below 35kV. However, with the large-scale application of cable protection pipe, some manufacturers in order to pursue high profits, there are Jerry built phenomenon, resulting in poor product quality, insufficient compressive strength, poor heat resistance and other problems, seriously affecting the transmission quality and safety. At present, the performance test of cable protection pipe only judges the characteristics of a certain aspect through a single test item, but does not conduct a comprehensive analysis on multiple test items to explore the internal relationship between different test items. In this paper, through the multi-dimensional comprehensive analysis of multiple inspection items, combined with the production process and material characteristics, the internal causes of product quality are analyzed. Furthermore, the correlation analysis is carried out by using statistical method to get the correlation among multiple performance parameters, and a multi-dimensional evaluation method of product quality is proposed. This method has guiding significance for the production process, application scenario and test analysis of CPVC cable protection pipe.
From Theory to Reality: Establishing a Successful Kidney Genetics Clinic in the Outpatient Setting

Background Genetic testing in nephrology is increasingly described in the literature and several groups have suggested significant clinical benefit. However, studies to date have described experience from established genetic testing centers or from externally funded research programs. Methods We established a de novo kidney genetics clinic within an academic adult general nephrology practice. Key features of this effort included a pipeline for internal referrals, flexible scheduling, close coordination between the nephrologist and a genetic counselor, and utilization of commercial panel-based testing. Over the first year, we examined the outcomes of genetic testing, the time to return of genetic testing, and out-of-pocket cost to patients. Results Thirty patients were referred and 23 were evaluated over the course of five clinic sessions. Nineteen patients underwent genetic testing with new diagnoses in nine patients (47%), inconclusive results in three patients (16%), and clearance for kidney donation in two patients (11%). On average, return of genetic results occurred 55 days (range 9–174 days) from the day of sample submission and the average out-of-pocket cost to patients was $155 (range $0–$1623). Conclusions We established a kidney genetics clinic, without a pre-existing genetics infrastructure or dedicated research funding, that identified a new diagnosis in approximately 50% of patients tested. This study provides a clinical practice model for successfully incorporating genetic testing into ambulatory nephrology care with minimal capital investment and limited financial effect on patients.
Solving the cocktail party problem for bilateral cochlear implant users

It is well-known that listeners with hearing impairment have trouble solving the cocktail party problem. Bilateral cochlear implant users have shown little or no perceptual abilities in this regard. This is due in large part to poor encoding of interaural time difference cues by these devices. Interaural level difference cues, which are well-encoded by bilateral cochlear implants, are not thought to facilitate benefit beyond improved signal-to-noise ratio benefits from head-shadow. An approach to mitigating this problem will be presented, that magnifies interaural level difference cues in real time to increase the perceptual distance between sound sources that are separated in the horizontal plane. The effects of ILD magnification on source localization and speech intelligibility in cocktail-party settings will be discussed.
Newborn Screening for Krabbe Disease-Illinois Experience: Role of Psychosine in Diagnosis of the Disease.

Population-based newborn screening for Krabbe disease was initiated by measurement of galactocerebrosidase (GALC) activity in the state of Illinois in December 2017. Due to the poor specificity of GALC for the diagnosis of Krabbe disease, second-tier testing services were provided to reduce the false positive rates for disease monitoring. Using ultra-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry assay, a total of 497,147 newborns were screened. In total, 288 infants’ specimens (0.06%) having reduced GALC activity were sent out for second-tier testing to a reference laboratory. All newborns’ reduced GALC specimens were tested for psychosine levels, the presence of a 30-kb deletion and GALC sequencing. The results showed that two infants had elevated psychosine levels (10 and 35 nM) and were referred immediately for evaluation and treatment for Infantile Krabbe disease, and six infants had intermediate PSY levels (≥2 to 5 nM) and are under observation as suspected candidates for late-onset Krabbe disease. In addition, 178 infants had pseudodeficiency alleles, all having psychosine levels < 2.0 nM. Our data show that a high percentage of reduced GALC activity (62%) was due to the presence of pseudodeficiency alleles in the GALC gene. In conclusion, incorporation of psychosine measurements can identify infants with infantile Krabbe disease and probable late-onset Krabbe infants. Furthermore, Krabbe disease screening can be achieved at public health laboratories, and infants with infantile Krabbe disease can be diagnosed in timely manner for better outcome.
Successful Microsurgical Reconstruction for Limb Salvage in a COVID-19-Positive Patient: A Case Report

Background Although the novel 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic delayed elective microsurgical reconstruction cases, traumatic injuries requiring microsurgical reconstruction for limb salvage still presented to our hospital. Recent data suggests a link between COVID-19 and increased venous and arterial thromboembolic events, theoretically increasing the risk of microvascular anastomotic thrombosis and flap failure. Methods We provide a single case report of microsurgical limb salvage in a COVID-19-positive patient with a Gustilo IIIb open tibial-fibular fracture. Results A free latissimus dorsi muscle flap was used to successfully cover a Gustilo IIIb open tibial-fibular fracture with exposed orthopedic hardware and large soft tissue defect, with 5-month follow-up demonstrating a well-healed flap allowing for preserved ambulation. Conclusion Although there is a theoretical increased incidence of venous and arterial thrombotic microvascular failure in COVID-19-positive patients, microsurgical reconstruction is occasionally the lone option for salvage. Microsurgical reconstruction in this population must be carefully considered, meticulously executed, and closely monitored.
Free Energy and Entropy from MD

It is straightforward to predict electronic energy from QM and the potential energy from FF-based MD and more recently from QM-based MD. However, extracting entropy and free energy has been problematic. Generally, the accepted methodology, going back to Jack Kirkwood and Richard Tolman, is thermodynamic integration theory or free energy perturbation theory. These methods are rigorous for obtaining free energy differences if the perturbations are sufficiently slow that the system remains in equilibrium as system A morphs into B. This generally requires repeated equilibrium calculations during the MD, which makes it very expensive for large-scale (100,000 atom) systems. A major advance here is the validation of FEP technology by Bill Jorgensen and its implementation into an automatic module by Schodinger. To make entropy and free energy calculations practical for nanosecond reactive simulations of large systems with up to millions of atoms, Lin, Blanco, and I (LBG) developed the two-phase thermodynamics (2PT) method that is generally 1000’s of time faster than thermodynamic integration (TI) but equally accurate.
Coupled Peridynamics Least Square Minimization with Finite Element Method in 3D and Implicit Solutions by Message Passing Interface

In this work, we present a new framework to couple peridynamics least squares minimization with finite element method (PDLSM-FEM) for three-dimensional (3D) problems based on the weighted residual method (WRM). In PDLSM-FEM, the problem domain is divided into a PD domain and a FEM domain, and both domains are discretized into uniform or non-uniform elements. Within this framework, the coupling between the PD domain and the FEM domain is straightforward, and the formulation can be converted conveniently between PDLSM, FEM, and PDLSM-FEM. To directly and implicitly solve for displacements, we present an algorithm to assemble the global stiffness matrix in a compressed sparse row (CSR) format by the message passing interface (MPI) technique. The system equations are solved by the parallel direct sparse solver (PDSS) of the Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL). Three static examples are performed and the results show the proposed PDLSM-FEM can substantially reduce computational cost in terms of model efficiency and memory usage. Comparison between PDLSM-FEM results and FEM results using ANSYS demonstrates the good accuracy of the proposed PDLSM-FEM.
Long-term persistence of viral RNA and inflammation in the CNS of macaques exposed to aerosolized Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus.

Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a positively-stranded RNA arbovirus of the genus Alphavirus that causes encephalitis in humans. Cynomolgus macaques are a relevant model of the human disease caused by VEEV and are useful in exploring pathogenic mechanisms and the host response to VEEV infection. Macaques were exposed to small-particle aerosols containing virus derived from an infectious clone of VEEV strain INH-9813, a subtype IC strain isolated from a human infection. VEEV-exposed macaques developed a biphasic fever after infection similar to that seen in humans. Maximum temperature deviation correlated with the inhaled dose, but fever duration did not. Neurological signs, suggestive of virus penetration into the CNS, were predominantly seen in the second febrile period. Electroencephalography data indicated a statistically significant decrease in all power bands and circadian index during the second febrile period that returned to normal after fever resolved. Intracranial pressure increased late in the second febrile period. On day 6 post-infection macaques had high levels of MCP-1 and IP-10 chemokines in the CNS, as well as a marked increase of T lymphocytes and activated microglia. More than four weeks after infection, viral genomic RNA was found in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid and cervical lymph nodes. Pro-inflammatory cytokines & chemokines, infiltrating leukocytes and pathological changes were seen in the CNS tissues of macaques euthanized at these times. These data are consistent with persistence of virus replication and/or genomic RNA and potentially, inflammatory sequelae in the central nervous system after resolution of acute VEEV disease.
Gut Feelings: The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis on Steroids.

The intricate connection between central and enteric nervous systems is well established with emerging evidence linking gut microbiota function as a significant new contributor to gut-brain axis signaling. Several microbial signals contribute to altered gut-brain communications, with steroids representing an important biological class that impacts central and enteric nervous system function. Neuroactive steroids contribute pathologically to neurological disorders, including dementia and depression, by modulating the activity of neuroreceptors. However, limited information is available on the influence of neuroactive steroids on the enteric nervous system and gastrointestinal function. In this review, we outline how steroids can modulate enteric nervous system function by focusing on their influence on different receptors that are present in the intestine in health and disease. We also highlight the potential role of the gut microbiota in modulating neuroactive steroid signaling along the gut-brain axis.
A 1 MB, 100 MHz integrated L2 cache memory with 128b interface and ECC protection

Several cache-DRAMs have been reported, but all require multiple chips to implement an L2 cache system. The advent of 20 ns, 16 Mb DRAM technology has made a high-speed single-chip 1MB cache possible, replacing multiple SRAM and logic modules, saving board space and reducing power. Multichip-module (MCM) packaging further optimizes the electrical characteristics of the processor-cache connection. An in-line level-2 1 MB cache chip that has DRAM density contains high-speed SRAM and MCM technology.
How much complexity is needed to simulate watershed streamflow and water quality? A test combining time series and hydrological models

Modelled hydrologic processes are represented in a set of numerical equations; the complexity of which can be measured by the total number of variables needed. A single dominant hydrologic process could control the hydrologic response of a watershed, and so the identification of the corresponding dominant variable(s) would aid in identifying a parsimonious model and in collecting more reliable data. By accounting for both model complexity and serial correlation in the variables, a model is used to identify the dominant variables for representing watershed scale streamflow, sediment transport and phosphorus yields. Long-term water quantity and quality data were used to show that rainfall and non-linear soil water storage were the dominant variables for weekly streamflow, suspended sediment and particulate phosphorus. Model accuracy did not consistently improve when other statistically significant variables were included. The results suggest that improved model performance may not justify the added model complexity. As such, identification of dominant variables would be the priority for developing parsimonious hydrologic models, especially at watershed scales. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reversion Instability in the Galactose operon of Escherichia coli

The gal-3 mutation, which had been shown previously to produce unstable revertants, was combined in three instances with recA, a mutation which suppresses recombination. Unstable revertants were produced in the gal-3 recA recombinants qualitatively as frequently as in the absence of the recA gene, and it is concluded that a recombination mechanism is not the basis of the instability observed.
Copine A, a calcium-dependent membrane-binding protein, transiently localizes to the plasma membrane and intracellular vacuoles in Dictyostelium.

Copines are soluble, calcium-dependent membrane binding proteins found in a variety of organisms. Copines are characterized as having two C2 domains at the N-terminal region followed by an "A domain" at the C-terminal region. The "A domain" is similar in sequence to the von Willebrand A (VWA) domain found in integrins. The presence of C2 domains suggests that copines may be involved in cell signaling and/or membrane trafficking pathways. We have identified six copines genes in the Dictyostelium discoideum genome, cpnA-cpnF, and have focused our studies on cpnA. CpnA is expressed throughout development and was shown to be capable of binding to membranes in a calcium-dependent manner in vitro. A GFP-tagged CpnA was also capable of binding to membranes in a calcium-dependent manner in vitro. In live wildtype Dictyostelium cells expressing GFP-CpnA, GFP-CpnA was typically found in the cytoplasm without any specific localization to membranes. However, in a small subset of starved cells, GFP-CpnA was observed to bind transiently (typically ~1–10 s) to the plasma membrane and intracellular vacuoles. In some cells, the transient membrane localization of GFP-CpnA was observed to occur multiple times in an oscillatory manner over several minutes. In plasma membrane disrupted cells, GFP-CpnA was observed to associate with the plasma membrane and intracellular vacuoles in a calcium-dependent manner. In fixed cells, GFP-CpnA labeled the plasma membrane and intracellular vacuoles, including contractile vacuoles, organelles of the endolysosomal pathway, and phagosomes. Our results show that Dictyostelium has multiple copine homologs and provides an excellent system in which to study copine function. The localization of a GFP-tagged CpnA to the plasma membrane, contractile vacuoles, organelles of the endolysosomal pathway, and phagosomes suggests that CpnA may have a role in the function of these organelles or the trafficking to and from them. In addition, we hypothesize that the observed transient oscillatory membrane localization of GFP-CpnA in a small subset of starved cells is caused by fast calcium waves and speculate that CpnA may have a role in development, particularly in the differentiation of stalk cells.
Measuring the anticoagulant effect of low molecular weight heparins in the critically ill

Antithrombotic prophylaxis in critically ill patients frequently fails. Venous thromboembolism is associated with adverse clinical outcomes, including a prolonged intensive care unit stay and death. A potential mechanism by which critically ill patients may be predisposed to antithrombotic failure is the inability to achieve 'prophylactic' anticoagulant drug levels as a result of impaired absorption. For example, previous studies have shown that patients on inotropes have reduced serum levels of low molecular weight heparin, presumably on the basis of reduced absorption from the subcutaneous injection site. In the previous issue of the journal, Rommers and colleagues examined whether subcutaneous edema reduces absorption of a low molecular weight heparin; although small, and thus underpowered, the authors failed to find any relationship between the level of low molecular weight heparin and the presence of edema. These findings provide reassurance that subcutaneously administered medications may be used in critically ill patients with edema.
Interaction of dietary magnesium level on the feeding value of supplemental fat in finishing diets for feedlot steers.

A feeding trial involving 160 crossbred steers (357 kg) and a metabolism trial involving eight Holstein steers (189 kg) cannulated in the rumen and proximal duodenum were conducted to evaluate the interaction of dietary Mg level (.18 vs .32%, DM basis) and supplemental fat (0% supplemental fat vs 4% tallow [T], yellow grease [YG], or griddle grease [GG]) on growth performance and NE value of the diet. Dietary Mg level did not influence (P > .10) growth performance. Daily weight gain was lower (11%, P .10) Ca digestion but decreased (41.7%, P .10) on postruminal fatty acid digestion. Fat supplementation decreased (17.3%, P < .01) the acetate:propionate molar ratio. Total ruminal protozoal counts were increased (12.7%, P < .05) by increasing dietary Mg level and decreased (12.9%, P < .05) by fat supplementation. We conclude that supplemental fats may depress Mg absorption. Increasing dietary magnesium levels beyond current recommendations may increase marbling scores in cattle fed fat-supplemented diets but may not affect growth performance or dietary NE. The NE value of fat is a predictable function of level of fat intake.