cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Determination of cyanide in drinking water by AA3 flow injection analysis

[Objective]To study a method for the determination of cyanide in drinking water by AA3 flow injection instrument.[Methods]BRAN + LUEBBE AA3 continuous flowing analyzer was adopted. Based on the principle that the chemical reaction between? distillates of cyanide in acidic conditions and chloramine T will produce cyanogen chloride,and then it combined with isonicotinic acid-pyrazolone will create a blue compound,the level of cyanide was detected at 630 nm.[Results]This method has a good relativity( r 0. 999 0),the RSD of samples were between 1. 02% ～ 2. 48%,the detection limit was 0. 001 mg / L,and the recovery rate ranged from 93. 3% to 106. 7%. Compared with the results by spectrophotometry,there was no significant. [Conclusion]The method is rapid and accurate,which has high sensitivity.
Metabolic substrates can alter postischemic recovery in preconditioned ischemic heart.

The mechanisms that contribute to myocardial cell injury are not well understood. Furthermore, the ability of reperfusion conditions to modify ischemic injury is unclear. Recent studies have indica...
Congenital Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction Associated with Unsuspected Acute Perforated Appendicitis in a Neonate

AbstractA case is reported of congenital ureteropelvic junction obstruction associated with unsuspected acute perforated appendicitis in a 7-day-old male newborn. Hydroplasty and appendectomy were done simultaneously. Convalescence was uneventful.
Determining Model Form Uncertainty of Reduced Order Models

The quantification of model form uncertainty is very important for engineers to understand when using a reduced order model. This quantification requires multiple numerical simulations which can be computationally expensive. Different sampling techniques, including Monte Carlo and Latin Hypercube, are explored while using the maximum entropy method to quantify the uncertainty. The maximum entropy method implements random matrices that maintain essential properties. This is explored on a planar frame using different types of substructure representations, such as Craig-Bampton. Along with the model form uncertainty of the substructure representation, the effect of component mode synthesis for each type of substructure representation on the model form uncertainty is studied.
Water management impacts rice methylmercury and the soil microbiome

Abstract Rice farmers are pressured to grow rice using less water. The impacts of water-saving rice cultivation methods on rice methylmercury concentrations are uncertain. Rice ( Oryza sativa L. cv. Nipponbare) was cultivated in fields using four water management treatments, including flooded (no dry-downs), alternating wetting and drying (AWD) (with one or three dry-downs), and furrow-irrigated fields (nine dry-downs) (n = 16 fields). Anoxic bulk soil was collected from rice roots during the rice maturation phase, and rice grain was harvested after fields were dried. Total mercury and methylmercury concentrations were determined in soil and polished rice samples, and the soil microbiome was analyzed using 16S (v4) rRNA gene profiling. Soil total mercury did not differ between fields. However, compared to continuously flooded fields, soil and rice methylmercury concentrations averaged 51% and 38% lower in the AWD fields, respectively, and 95% and 96% lower in the furrow-irrigated fields, respectively. Compared to flooded fields, grain yield was reduced on average by
Equine-Assisted Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Comprehensive Literature Review

Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) is a therapeutic technique that has been examined for improving physical, emotional, social, cognitive, educational, and behavioral skills in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This literature review examines the usefulness of the approach for children diagnosed with ASD. The goal of the search strategy used was to include relevant scientific articles published examining EAT for children diagnosed with ASD. Of the 12 studies examined, 11 researchers demonstrated efficacy for increased physical and social functioning, communication, sensory sensitivity, sensory motivation, self-regulation, adaptive skills, motor skills, improved volition, as well as decreased aberrant behavior and severity of symptoms. The majority of the research documented improvements in functioning; however, these conclusions were qualified by numerous factors that limit the interpretation of the results.
Development and evaluation of a chemistry-specific version of the academic motivation scale (AMS-Chemistry)

Fundamentally concerned with motivation, self-determination theory (SDT) represents a framework of several mini-theories to explore how social context interacts with people's motivational types categorized by degree of regulation internalization. This paper aims to modify an existing theory-based instrument (Academic Motivation Scale, or AMS) and provide validity evidence for the modified instrument (Academic Motivation Scale-Chemistry) as a measure of seven types of student motivation toward chemistry. The paper explores how motivation as measured by AMS-Chemistry is related to student academic achievement and attendance. In a pilot study, the unmodified AMS showed good reliability, reasonable data fit, and the ability to detect motivational differences by sex in college chemistry courses. Based on the pilot study results, expert panel discussions, and cognitive interviews with students, the Academic Motivation Scale – Chemistry (AMS-Chemistry) was developed. AMS-Chemistry was administered to university students in a first semester general chemistry course twice within a semester. An examination of validity evidence suggested that the AMS-Chemistry data could be used to investigate student motivation toward chemistry. Results showed students were extrinsically motivated toward chemistry on average, and there was an overall motivational difference favoring males with a medium effect size. Correlation studies showed motivation was not associated with academic achievement at the beginning of the term, but intrinsic motivation subscales (to know, to experience, and to accomplish) were positively associated with academic achievement at the end of the term. Results also showed that students who persisted in class attendance scored higher on intrinsic motivation subscales than those who did not persist. The 28-item AMS-Chemistry is easy to administer and can be used to better understand students’ motivation status and how it might change across the curriculum. Faculty interested in promoting student intrinsic motivation may also use the AMS-Chemistry to evaluate the impact of their efforts.
Elbow Instability: Anatomy, Biomechanics, Diagnostic Maneuvers, and Testing

The elbow comprises a complex of bony and ligamentous stabilizers that provide both primary and secondary constraints to elbow instability. Through trauma and overuse, classic instability patterns arise by loss of these important stabilizers. The diagnosis of elbow instability can made using specific examination maneuvers and testing to diagnose the clinical pattern. This article reviews the elbow's unique anatomy and biomechanical characteristics and these are applied when reviewing the maneuvers and testing used to diagnose elbow instability.
How Consistent Are the Best-Known Readability Equations in Estimating the Readability of Design Standards?

Research problem : Readability equations are widely used to compute how well readers will be able to understand written materials. Those equations were usually developed for nontechnical materials, namely, textbooks for elementary, middle, and high schools. This study examines to what extent computerized readability predictions are consistent for highly technical material—selected Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and International Standards Organization (ISO) Recommended Practices and Standards relating to driver interfaces. Literature review: A review of original sources of readability equations revealed a lack of specific criteria in counting various punctuation and text elements, leading to inconsistent readability scores. Few studies on the reliability of readability equations have identified this problem, and even fewer have systematically investigated the extent of the problem and the reasons why it occurs. Research questions: (1) Do the most commonly used equations give identical readability scores? (2) How do the scores for each readability equation vary with readability tools? (3) If there are differences between readability tools, why do they occur? (4) How does the score vary with the length of passage examined? Method : Passages of varying lengths from 12 selected SAE and ISO Recommended Practices and Standards were examined using five readability equations (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, SMOG Index, Coleman-Liau Index, and Automated Readability Index) implemented five ways (four online readability tools and Microsoft Word 2013 for Windows). In addition, short test passages of text were used to understand how different readability tools counted text elements, such as words and sentences. Results and conclusions: The mean readability scores of the passages from those 12 SAE and ISO Recommended Practices and Standards ranged from the 10th grade reading level to about 15th. The mean grade reading levels computed across the websites were: Flesch-Kincaid 12.8, Gunning Fog 15.1 SMOG 12.6, Coleman-Liau 13.7, and Automated Readability Index 12.3. Readability score estimates became more consistent as the length of the passage examined increased, with no noteworthy improvements beyond 900 words. Among the five readability tools, scores typically differed by two grade levels, but the scores should have been the same. These differences were due to how compound and hyphenated words, slashes, numbers, abbreviations and acronyms, and URLs were counted, as well other punctuation and text elements. These differences occurred because the sources for these equations often did not specify how to score various punctuation and text elements. Of the tools examined, the authors recommend Microsoft Word 2013 for Windows if the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is required.
Disclosing Mental Illness Information to a Friend: Exploring How the Disclosure Decision-Making Model Informs Strategy Selection.

ABSTRACTWithin the context of mental illness disclosure between friends, this study tested the disclosure decision-making model (DD-MM; Greene, 2009) to comprehensively investigate factors that predict disclosure enactment strategies. The DD-MM describes how individuals determine whether they will reveal or conceal non-visible health information. Processes of revealing, called disclosures, take various forms including preparation and rehearsal, directness, third-party disclosure, incremental disclosures, entrapment, and indirect mediums (Afifi & Steuber, 2009). We explore the disclosure decision-making process to understand how college students select to disclose their mental illness information with a friend. Participants were 144 students at a Midwestern university who had disclosed their mental illness information to a friend. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that college students choose strategies based on their evaluation of information assessment and closeness, and that for some strate...
1993 Mississippi Record Stages and Levee Failures

Record-setting stages, flooding duration, and multiple levee failures are distinguishing features of the Mississippi River 1993 flood. The peak stages reached at stations along the Illinois border were preceded by an extended period of high river levels exceeding flood stage. Multiple levee failures during July and August created a distinctive signature on the stage records at stations downstream from the levee breaches. Sudden and significant drops in river levels are coincident with levee failures. The stages recorded at gaging stations along the Mississippi provide a key record of the severity and duration of this historic flood.
On parallel simulation of reactive flows on an IBM RS/60000 workstation-cluster

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights some performance results with the parallelization of a code that has been developed in a joint study with the Daimler-Benz AG, Stuttgart. Coarse-grained parallelism has been achieved by employing the domain splitting technique. For message passing, the parallel virtual machine programming environment is used. The underlying mathematical model takes advantage of the nonstationary thin-layer Navier–Stokes equations extended by global exothermic reaction chemistry. The algorithm used was substantially based on the splitting idea, namely, combining domain splitting with dimensional and operator splitting within a second-order numerical scheme (both in time and space). The discussion in the chapter illustrates that this algorithm is appropriate to run on the specific architecture of a high-performance workstation cluster. This is essentially because of the fact that high-level (coarse-grained) parallelism has been adopted by introducing the domain splitting procedure as early as possible. Thus, all other parts of the algorithm run without further data exchange among the processors. The chapter concludes that the losses caused by parallelization (communications etc.) are negligible in case of realistic discretization parameters.
Sonic hedgehog antagonists reduce size and alter patterning of the frog inner ear.

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling plays a major role in vertebrate development, from regulation of proliferation to the patterning of various organs. In amniotes, Shh affects dorsoventral patterning in the inner ear but affects anteroposterior patterning in teleosts. Currently, it remains unknown the function of Shh in inner ear development in terms of how morphogenesis changes in the sarcopterygian/tetrapod lineage coincide with the evolution of limbs and novel auditory organs in the ear. In this study we used the tetrapod, Xenopus laevis, to test how increasing concentrations of the Shh signal pathway antagonist, Vismodegib, affects ear development. Vismodegib treatment dose dependently alters the development of the ear, hypaxial muscle, and indirectly the Mauthner cell through its interaction with the inner ear afferents. Together, these phenotypes have an effect on escape response. The altered Mauthner cell likely contributes to the increased time to respond to a stimulus. In addition, the increased hypaxial muscle in the trunk likely contributes to the subtle change in animal C-start flexion angle. In the ear, Vismodegib treatment results in decreasing segregation between the gravistatic sensory epithelia as the concentration of Vismodegib increases. Furthermore, at higher doses, there is a loss of the horizontal canal but no enantiomorphic transformation, as in bony fish lacking Shh. Like in amniotes, Shh signaling in frogs affects dorsoventral patterning in the ear, suggesting that auditory sensory evolution in sarcopterygians/tetrapods evolved with a shift of Shh axis specification of the ear. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Your Next Government? : From the Nation State to Stateless Nations

Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions - common-interest developments, special economic zones, and proprietary cites. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency, to the satisfaction of citizens-qua-consumers. These trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon surpass nation states in the same way that networked computers replaced mainframes. In this groundbreaking work, Tom W. Bell describes the quiet revolution transforming governments from the bottom up, inside-out, worldwide, and how it will fulfill its potential to bring more freedom, peace, and prosperity to people everywhere.
Single-cell transcriptomics of the developing lateral geniculate nucleus reveals insights into circuit assembly and refinement

Coordinated changes in gene expression underlie the early patterning and cell-type specification of the central nervous system. However, much less is known about how such changes contribute to later stages of circuit assembly and refinement. In this study, we employ single-cell RNA sequencing to develop a detailed, whole-transcriptome resource of gene expression across four time points in the developing dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a visual structure in the brain that undergoes a well-characterized program of postnatal circuit development. This approach identifies markers defining the major LGN cell types, including excitatory relay neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and endothelial cells. Most cell types exhibit significant transcriptional changes across development, dynamically expressing genes involved in distinct processes including retinotopic mapping, synaptogenesis, myelination, and synaptic refinement. Our data suggest that genes associated with synapse and circuit development are expressed in a larger proportion of nonneuronal cell types than previously appreciated. Furthermore, we used this single-cell expression atlas to identify the Prkcd-Cre mouse line as a tool for selective manipulation of relay neurons during a late stage of sensory-driven synaptic refinement. This transcriptomic resource provides a cellular map of gene expression across several cell types of the LGN, and offers insight into the molecular mechanisms of circuit development in the postnatal brain.
Generic approach to access barriers in dehydrogenation reactions

The introduction of linear energy correlations, which explicitly relate adsorption energies of reaction intermediates and activation energies in heterogeneous catalysis, has proven to be a key component in the computational search for new and promising catalysts. A simple linear approach to estimate activation energies still requires a significant computational effort. To simplify this process and at the same time incorporate the need for enhanced complexity of reaction intermediates, we generalize a recently proposed approach that evaluates transition state energies based entirely on bond-order conservation arguments. We show that similar variation of the local electronic structure along the reaction coordinate introduces a set of general functions that accurately defines the transition state energy and are transferable to other reactions with similar bonding nature. With such an approach, more complex reaction intermediates can be targeted with an insignificant increase in computational effort and without loss of accuracy. Transition state energy correlations are key to the computational search for new catalysts, but are computationally expensive. Here the authors generalize a recent approach based on bond-order conservation arguments and apply it to dehydrogenation reactions on low index metal surfaces
FASTER: A Concurrent Key-Value Store with In-Place Updates

Over the last decade, there has been a tremendous growth in data-intensive applications and services in the cloud. Data is created on a variety of edge sources, e.g., devices, browsers, and servers, and processed by cloud applications to gain insights or take decisions. Applications and services either work on collected data, or monitor and process data in real time. These applications are typically update intensive and involve a large amount of state beyond what can fit in main memory. However, they display significant temporal locality in their access pattern. This paper presents FASTER, a new key-value store for point read, blind update, and read-modify-write operations. FASTER combines a highly cache-optimized concurrent hash index with a hybrid log: a concurrent log-structured record store that spans main memory and storage, while supporting fast in-place updates of the hot set in memory. Experiments show that FASTER achieves orders-of-magnitude better throughput - up to 160M operations per second on a single machine - than alternative systems deployed widely today, and exceeds the performance of pure in-memory data structures when the workload fits in memory.
Regulatory Mutations Leading to Cleft Lip and Palate

Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common craniofacial birth defects and one of the most common of all birth defects. Its high impact on the affected individual, their families, and society provides strong motivation to understand the causes. Initial genetic studies focused on coding regions of genes that are required for normal development of the lip and palate. However, many individuals with cleft lip and palate do not have mutations in these regions, requiring a broader search for mutations. Recent studies have included conserved noncoding sequences that may harbor regulatory elements. In this chapter, we focus on the discovery and characterization of two noncoding DNA variants in the vicinity of two genes that are associated with cleft lip and palate. First, the minor allele for the SNP rs642961 exemplifies the discovery and validation of a common DNA variant that alters the expression of IRF6, a gene that is required for development of both the lip and the palate. Second, a DNA variant in a sequence that is 1.5 Mb away from the SOX9 gene exemplifies the discovery and validation of a long-range enhancer element. This chapter also contains brief discussions of other examples of DNA variants that affect regulatory elements and contribute to an increased risk for cleft lip and palate. We also discuss approaches and resources available to the craniofacial genetics community to accelerate discovery of additional regulatory elements and DNA variants that affect their activity. We end with a discussion of the tantalizing questions that remain to be answered about the regulation of IRF6 expression and how that may account for missing heritability.
Chapter and Verse

The present chapter is itself about chapters -- chapters and sections of textbooks on the psychology of language use. My more specific interest is the treatment in those chapters of the empirical questions concerned with the temporal organization of speech production. This more specific topic, the temporal organization of speech production, has become the preoccupation underlying most of the research my colleagues and I have carried out over the past two decades. Hence, it provides a convenient litmus test for such textbooks. Some textbooks completely disregard all questions of temporal organization; some go further and disregard all questions of production itself.
E. coli and Insect Cell Expression, Automated Purification and Quantitative Analysis

The production of recombinant proteins usually involves the exploration of a wide variety of expression and purification methodologies in the pursuit of a strategy tailored to a particular protein. The methods applied are reliant on exploiting individual differences between expression systems or the variations in specific protein properties. These bespoke strategies have not lent themselves to high-throughput methodologies. Ultimately the development of robust generic methods capable of simplifying and stabilizing the process, allowing automation, was necessary to increase throughput. This chapter describes a series of high-throughput methods used to express, purify, and quantify recombinant protein produced in E. coli or insect cells.
What Is Metadata

The one-phrase definition of “metadata” – “data about data” – is too broad to have practical value. However, the uses of metadata itself across all of computing, and the ways in which it is represented, are so numerous and diverse that it would be hard to find two practitioners who think about it in exactly the same terms. An inspection of Wikipedia’s article on the subject,1 especially the accompanying discussion, will make it clear that the topic has grown to the point where its editors believe that the article has become too large and unwieldy – and yet it barely touches on the themes that are of specific relevance to this book.
Association between physical activity (actigraphy) and symptom burden in advanced cancer patients.

e20560 Background: Recent studies in early cancer and cancer survivors suggest that higher physical activity (PA) scores are associated with better self-reported physical functioning, general well-...
CYSTIC PROLACTINOMA: A SURGICAL DISEASE?

ABSTRACT Objective: Since the advent of dopamine agonists, prolactinomas have been primarily treated medically. However, studies show conflicting data on whether these agents are as effective as su...
Evaluating center‐specific long‐term outcomes through differences in mean survival time: Analysis of national kidney transplant data

Center-specific survival outcomes of kidney transplant recipients are an important quality measure, with several challenges. Existing methods based on restricted mean lifetime tend to focus on short- and medium-term clinical outcomes and may fail to capture long-term effects associated with quality of follow-up care. In this report, we propose methods that combine a lognormal frailty model and piecewise exponential baseline rates to compare the mean survival time across centers. The proposed methods allow for the consistent estimation of mean survival time as opposed to restricted mean lifetime and, within this context, permits more accurate profiling of long-term center-specific outcomes. Asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are derived, and finite-sample properties are examined through simulation. The proposed methods are then applied to national kidney transplant data. The novelty of the proposed techniques arises from several angles. We utilize mean survival, in contrast to the most previous works that considered the restricted mean. Few previous studies have used the integrated survival function as a basis for center effects. Few provider profiling methods use a random effects model to estimate fixed center effects.
Reply to comment on “On the reproduction of Li₃Fe₂(HPO₃)₃Cl—a short discussion on “Li₃Fe₂(HPO₃)₃Cl: an electroactive iron phosphite as a new polyanionic cathode material for Li-ion battery”

In this response to the comments on our article “Li3Fe2(HPO3)3Cl: an electroactive iron phosphite as a new polyanionic cathode material for Li-ion battery” regarding reproduction of the electroactive compound, Li3Fe2(HPO3)3Cl, we demonstrated that the experiments are reproducible. We have also analysed the possible reasons for the failure of the reactions in the laboratory of Yu et al. and tried to answer some of the doubts and questions raised by the concerned authors.
Стандартизированный подход к классификации и морфологическому описанию гломерулонефрита

A kidney biopsy is done to determine the etiology of the glomerulonephritis (GN) and the severity of the lesion, to identify whether other lesions, related to or not related to the GN, are present on the kidney biopsy and finally to ascertain the extent of chronicity of the GN. The etiology of GN is based on the classification of GN into five groups: immune complex-mediated GN, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated GN, anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) GN, monoclonal immunoglobulin-mediated GN and C3 glomerulopathy. Immune complex GN includes multiple specific diseases such as lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy, infection-related GN and fibrillary GN. ANCA GN, anti-GBM GN and C3 glomerulopathy are specific diseases in themselves, while monoclonal Ig GN includes proliferative GN with monoclonal Ig deposits and monoclonal Ig deposition disease. Thus identification of the class of GN and within it the specific disease determines the etiology of GN. Ancillary studies may be required to confirm the etiology of GN. The severity of the GN is revealed by the pattern of injury, such as crescentic, necrotizing, diffuse proliferative, exudative, membranoproliferative, mesangial proliferative or a sclerosing GN. Secondary diagnosis either related or unrelated to the GN, such as diabetic glomerulosclerosis, acute tubular necrosis or thrombotic microangiopathy, may also be present. The secondary diagnosis may sometimes be the reason for the kidney biopsy. The chronicity of GN is determined by evaluating the extent of glomerulosclerosis, tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis and vascular sclerosis present on the biopsy. This review summarizes the approach to standardizing a kidney biopsy report that includes these components in a logical and sequential manner. Translation by D.A. Mayer, T.O. Muzhetckaya, A.O. Mukhametdinova, M.S. Khrabrova.
21st-century Asian air pollution impacts glacier in northwestern Tibet

Abstract. Over the last 4 decades, Asian countries have undergone substantial economic development, leading to rapid urbanization and industrialization. Consequently, fossil fuel consumption has risen dramatically, worsening the air quality in Asia. Fossil fuel combustion emits particulate matter containing toxic metals that can adversely affect living organisms, including humans. Thus, it is imperative to investigate the temporal and spatial extent of metal pollution in Asia. Recently, we reported a continuous and high-resolution 1650–1991 ice core record from the Guliya ice cap in northwestern Tibet, China, showing contamination of Cd, Pb, and Zn during the 20th century. Here, we present a new continuous and high-resolution ice core record of trace metals from the Guliya ice cap that comprises the years between 1971 and 2015, extending the 1650–1991 ice core record into the 21st century. Non-crustal Cd, Pb, Zn, and Ni enrichments increased have since the 1990s relative to the 1971–1990 period, reaching a maximum in 2008. The enrichments of Cd, Pb, Zn, and Ni increased by ∼75 %, 35 %, 30 %, and 10 %, respectively, during the 2000–2015 period relative to 1971–1990. The observed trace element (TE) enrichments likely originated primarily from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning, with contributions from industrial processes and agricultural activities from South Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Nepal), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), and the Xinjiang province in western China. This new record demonstrates that the current emissions in Asia impact remote high-altitude glaciers in the region.
Model-Driven approach to Integrate Requirements for Safety-Critical Systems

A sophisticated approach is required to elicit requirements for Safety-Critical Systems (SCS). Incomplete, inconsistent or ambiguous requirements can result in many safety-critical catastrophes. While specifying a SCS, it is one of the greatest challenges to extract a complete set of consistent requirements. To overcome this problem, we have proposed a meta-model in this paper for integration of requirements which were specified using several representations to ensure the completeness of requirements. The idea is to use a database, for the integration of the extracted data that will implement the meta-model for the requirements. Problems like inconsistencies and ambiguities can be identified and solved according to the defined meta-model, which will help us in the development and testing phase and will minimize the project chaos. We have validated the proposed methodology with using insulin pump system case study. For the Requirement Engineering process of Safety-Critical Systems, the proposed approach is highly beneficial as final product will result in fewer defects, reduced development cost by avoiding rework, easy maintenance, increased satisfaction of the stakeholders and possibility of faster delivery of the safety critical system.
Scientist and data architect collaborate to curate and archive an inner ear electrophysiology data collection.

In the past scientists reported summaries of their findings; they did not provide their original data collections. Many stakeholders (e.g., funding agencies) are now requesting that such data be made publicly available. This mandate is being adopted to facilitate further discovery, and to mitigate waste and deficits in the research process. At the same time, the necessary infrastructure for data curation (e.g., repositories) has been evolving. The current target is to make research products FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), resulting in data that are curated and archived to be both human and machine compatible. However, most scientists have little training in data curation. Specifically, they are ill-equipped to annotate their data collections at a level that facilitates discoverability, aggregation, and broad reuse in a context separate from their creation or sub-field. To circumvent these deficits data architects may collaborate with scientists to transform and curate data. This paper’s example of a data collection describes the electrical properties of outer hair cells isolated from the mammalian cochlea. The data is expressed with a variant of The Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI), mirrored to provide the metadata and nested data architecture used within the Hierarchical Data Format version 5 (HDF5) format. Each digital specimen is displayed in a tree configuration (like directories in a computer) and consists of six main branches based on the ontology classes. The data collections, scripts, and ontological OWL file (OBI based Inner Ear Electrophysiology (OBI_IEE)) are deposited in three repositories. We discuss the impediments to producing such data collections for public use, and the tools and processes required for effective implementation. This work illustrates the impact that small collaborations can have on the curation of our publicly-funded collections, and is particularly salient for fields where data is sparse, throughput is low, and sacrifice of animals is required for discovery.
Evaluating Telehealth Websites for Information Consistent with APA Guidelines for Telepsychology

The authors evaluated websites offering therapeutic telehealth services (N = 55) using a 38-item checklist based on the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines for the Practice of Telepsych...
Who Is the God of Medicine?—Deciphering China’s Stance on Pharmaceutical Compulsory Licensing

In light of the heated social debates over unaffordable brandname anticancer drugs and the responses of the Chinese government to public discontent, this paper aims to conduct a comprehensive examination of China’s practice of granting compulsory licenses for patented medicines and the rationale behind its policy. Based on a superficial analysis of potential gains in trade and public health, China anticipated making extensive use of this mechanism or its alternatives. This paper argues in support of Beijing’s lack of political will to effectuate this mechanism or to invoke other TRIPS flexibilities. China’s “no more, no less” stance on pharmaceutical compulsory licensing is the result of prioritization of defensive interests over offensive interests, of long-term development over short-term gains, as well as its preference for the WTO as the dominant institution for global economic lawmaking and dispute resolution. In formulating policies to improve the affordability of essential medicines, the distinctive way that China perceives, calculates, and balances various interests in multilateral trade also contributes to China’s inclination for long-term, systematic measures that do not restrict trade rather than short-term, contentious measures, such as compulsory licensing for patented medicines.
Can a dog be spontaneous

Fugazza and Miklosi (Scientific Reports, 10(1), 3082, 2020) reported "spontaneous" categorization in a dog. I explore what it means to claim that forms of animal cognition are spontaneous.
Nucleic acid vaccines and reverse vaccinology

Abstract: Two new techniques hold promise of controlling infections that we have been previously unable to vaccinate against. One is the use of DNA-plasmid vaccines. Thus a selected DNA-plasmid encoding an antigen can be inoculated into an animal in such a way that its genes are active and the antigen is expressed. This is recognized by the immune system and triggers a protective response. A second new methodology is reverse vaccinology. In this case protective epitopes are identified based on computer analysis of an organism’s complete genome. Once identified they can be screened to determine the most immunogenic and protective.
What can the ideal gas say about global pandemics? Reinterpreting the basic reproduction number

Through analysis of the ideal gas, we construct a random walk that on average matches the standard susceptible-infective-removed (SIR) model. We show that the most widely referenced parameter, the 9basic reproduction number9 (R0), is fundamentally connected to the relative odds of increasing or decreasing the infectives population. As a consequence, for R0 > 1 the probability that no outbreak occurs is 1/R0. In stark contrast to a deterministic SIR, when R0 = 1.5 the random walk has a 67% chance of avoiding outbreak. Thus, an alternative, probabilistic, interpretation of R0 arises, which provides a novel estimate of the critical population density γ/r without fitting SIR models. We demonstrate that SARS-CoV2 in the United States is consistent with our model and attempt an estimate of γ/r. In doing so, we uncover a significant source of bias in public data reporting. Data are aggregated on political boundaries, which bear no concern for dispersion of population density. We show that this introduces bias in fits and parameter estimates, a concern for understanding fundamental virus parameters and for policy making. Anonymized data at the resolution required for contact tracing would afford access to γ/r without fitting. The random walk SIR developed here highlights the intuition that any epidemic is stochastic and recovers all the key parameter values noted by Kermack and McKendrick in 1927.
Is there value in using randomized placebo controlled trials in neuromuscular disease

References to placebos and the placebo effect have come down to us from ancient Egypt. The placebo effect on outcomes is considerable and increasing, even in neuromuscular disease (NMD) studies. A ...
A reference guide to rapidly implementing an institutional dashboard for resource allocation and oversight during COVID-19 pandemic surge

Objectives: We develop a dashboard that leverages electronic health record (EHR) data to monitor intensive care unit patient status and ventilator utilization in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic Materials and methods: Data visualization software is used to display information from critical care data mart that extracts information from the EHR A multidisciplinary collaborative led the development Results: The dashboard displays institution-level ventilator utilization details, as well as patient-level details such as ventilator settings, organ-system specific parameters, laboratory values, and infusions Discussion: Components of the dashboard were selected to facilitate the determination of resources and simultaneous assessment of multiple patients Abnormal values are color coded An overall illness assessment score is tracked daily to capture illness severity over time Conclusion: This reference guide shares the architecture and sample reusable code to implement a robust, flexible, and scalable dashboard for monitoring ventilator utilization and illness severity in intensive care unit ventilated patients
In vitro model systems for exploring oral biofilms: From single-species populations to complex multi-species communities.

Numerous in vitro biofilm model systems are available to study oral biofilms. Over the past several decades, increased understanding of oral biology and advances in technology have facilitated more accurate simulation of intraoral conditions and have allowed for the increased generalizability of in vitro oral biofilm studies. The integration of contemporary systems with confocal microscopy and 16S rRNA community profiling have enhanced the capabilities of in vitro biofilm model systems to quantify biofilm architecture and analyze microbial community composition. In this review, we describe several model systems relevant to modern in vitro oral biofilm studies: the constant depth film fermenter, Sorbarod perfusion system, drip-flow reactor, modified Robbins device, flowcells, and microfluidic systems. We highlight how combining these systems with confocal microscopy and community composition analysis tools aids exploration of oral biofilm development under different conditions and in response to antimicrobial/anti-biofilm agents. The review closes with a discussion of future directions for the field of in vitro oral biofilm imaging and analysis.
Synthetic modified Fezf2 mRNA (modRNA) with concurrent small molecule SIRT1 inhibition enhances refinement of cortical subcerebral/corticospinal neuron identity from mouse embryonic stem cells

During late embryonic development of the cerebral cortex, the major class of cortical output neurons termed subcerebral projection neurons (SCPN; including the predominant population of corticospinal neurons, CSN) and the class of interhemispheric callosal projection neurons (CPN) initially express overlapping molecular controls that later undergo subtype-specific refinements. Such molecular refinements are largely absent in heterogeneous, maturation-stalled, neocortical-like neurons (termed "cortical" here) spontaneously generated by established embryonic stem cell (ES) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) differentiation. Building on recently identified central molecular controls over SCPN development, we used a combination of synthetic modified mRNA (modRNA) for Fezf2, the central transcription factor controlling SCPN specification, and small molecule screening to investigate whether distinct chromatin modifiers might complement Fezf2 functions to promote SCPN-specific differentiation by mouse ES (mES)-derived cortical-like neurons. We find that the inhibition of a specific histone deacetylase, Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), enhances refinement of SCPN subtype molecular identity by both mES-derived cortical-like neurons and primary dissociated E12.5 mouse cortical neurons. In vivo, we identify that SIRT1 is specifically expressed by CPN, but not SCPN, during late embryonic and postnatal differentiation. Together, these data indicate that SIRT1 has neuronal subtype-specific expression in the mouse cortex in vivo, and that its inhibition enhances subtype-specific differentiation of highly clinically relevant SCPN / CSN cortical neurons in vitro.
Shared decision making in health care settings: a role for social work

Shared decision making (SDM) is a process integral to social work practice, one where the provider/professional and the consumer/patient discuss treatment alternatives based on patient values and life circumstances and make a shared decision about whether and how to proceed with treatment. Evidence-based medicine suggests that for many health conditions, having the choice of several effective treatment options is not uncommon. In these cases treatment should be based on what is best for the individual, since many factors influence an individual's treatment preference, including the psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual history she/he brings to the medical encounter; a history that has long been ignored in somatic health care. This article develops the argument that medical social workers possess the professional knowledge and skill base to provide decisional coaching, and implementing SDM in primary care settings. Of particular importance are the values that guide professional social work practice, including client self-determination, which is the basis of SDM, and the ability to maintain neutrality.
Practical Parallel Algorithms for Chordal Graphs

Until recently, a large majority of theoretical work in parallel algorithms has ignored communication costs and other realities of parallel computing. This paper attempts to address this issue by developing parallel algorithms that not only are efficient using standard theoretical analysis techniques, but also require a minimal amount of communication. The specific parallel algorithms developed here include one to find the set of maximal cliques and one to find a perfect elimination ordering of a choral graph.
Automated Discovery of Empirical Equations from Data

We describe a machine discovery system for automated finding regularities in numerical data. It can detect a broad range of empirical equations useful in different sciences, and can be easily expanded by addition of new variable transformations. Our system treats experimental error and evaluation of equations in a systematic and statistically sound manner in contradistinction to systems such as BACON, ABACUS, which include error-related parameters, but disregard problems of error analysis and propagation, leading to paradoxical results. Our system propagates error to the transformed variables and assigns error to parameters in equations. Furthermore, it uses errors in weighted least squares fitting, in the evaluation of equations, including their acceptance, rejection and ranking, and uses parameter error to eliminate spurious parameters. In the last part of our paper we analyse the evaluation of equation finding systems. We introduce two convergence tests and we analyze the performance of our system on those tests.
New levodopa therapeutic strategies

During its almost half-century of use for treating Parkinson's disease, levodopa therapy has permitted most patients to reverse much of this disorder's symptomatology. However, the full range of its therapeutic properties is not completely understood, as levodopa is showing itself to be more than just a metabolic intermediate for dopamine synthesis. Improving the constancy of drug delivery is the next frontier for enhancing therapeutic options with levodopa. Because conventional immediate-release carbidopa-levodopa tablets yield such variable pharmacokinetic profiles (as do other marketed products attempting to extend levodopa effect), improved formulations are greatly needed by patients experiencing motor fluctuations. Products under development or recently released in the U.S. include intestinal infusion, sustained-release microtablets, gastric-retentive formulations, a levodopa pro-drug, and methods for delivery of the drug by inhalation or subcutaneous infusion.
Case Study Analyses of Play Behaviors of 12-Month-Old Infants Later Diagnosed with Autism

Case study research methodology was used to describe the play behaviors of three infants at 12 months of age, who were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Data included standardized test scores, and analyses of video footage of semi-structured play sessions from infants identified as high risk for autism, because of having a sibling with the disorder. Literature describing the attributes of object and social play of young children with and without autism was also reviewed, and considered in the interpretation of results. The object and social play behaviors of the three infants with autism were found to be variable among each other, and different in some ways from the play of typically developing children. Most striking was a lack of creativity, or limitation in functional play with toys, with an apparent desire for sameness or repetition in the way play objects were used. In addition, object play was preferred over social forms of play. An increased understanding of the play behaviors of in...
Acquiring Criteria of Excellence for Scholarly Journals in Music

We selected 24 journals to represent scholarly publication in the academic fields of music in the United States. We then contacted each editor, along with two members of each journals editorial committee and 48 publishing scholars whose work has appeared in these journals, asking them to identify the characteristics of an excellent scholarly journal in their own field of music. While some responses were specific to individual branches of music scholarship, a number of generic indicators of journal quality emerged that are endorsed by all branches of academic scholarship in music.