cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Age-Dependent Cortical Thinning of Peripheral Visual Field Representations in Primary Visual Cortex.

The cerebral cortex changes throughout the lifespan, and the cortical grey matter in many brain regions becomes thinner with advancing age. Effects of aging on cortical thickness have been observed in many brain regions, including areas involved in basic perceptual functions such as processing visual inputs. An important property of early visual cortices is their topographic organization – the cortical structure of early visual areas forms a topographic map of retinal inputs. Primary visual cortex (V1) is considered to be the most basic cortical area in the visual processing hierarchy, and is topographically organized from posterior (central visual representation) to anterior (peripheral visual representation) along the calcarine sulcus. Some studies have reported strong age-dependent cortical thinning in portions of V1 that likely correspond to peripheral visual representations, while there is less evidence of substantial cortical thinning in central V1. However, the effect of aging on cortical thickness in V1 as a function of its topography has not been directly investigated. To address this gap in the literature, we estimated the cortical thickness of different eccentricity sectors in V1 using T1-weighted MRI scans acquired from groups of healthy younger and older adults, and then assessed whether between-group differences in V1 cortical thickness depended on cortical eccentricity. These analyses revealed age-dependent cortical thinning specific to peripheral visual field representations in anterior portions of V1, but did not provide evidence for age-dependent cortical thinning in other portions of V1. Additional analyses found similar effects when analyses were restricted to the gyral crown, sulcul depth, and sulcul wall, indicating that these effects are not likely due to differences in gyral/sulcul contributions to our regions of interest. Importantly, this finding indicates that age-dependent changes in cortical structure may differ among functionally distinct zones within larger canonical cortical areas. Likely relationships to known age-related declines in visual performance are discussed to provide direction for future research in this area.
Near-field radiative heat transfer between doped-Si parallel plates separated by a spacing down to 200 nm

Heat transfer between two objects separated by a nanoscale vacuum gap holds great promise especially in energy harvesting applications such as near-field thermophotovoltaic systems. However, experimental validation of nanoscale radiative heat transfer has been largely limited to tip-plate configurations due to challenges of maintaining small gap spacing over a relatively large area. Here, we report measurements of heat transfer near room temperature between two 1 cm by 1 cm doped-Si parallel plates, separated by a vacuum gap from about 200 nm to 780 nm. The measured strong near-field radiative transfer is in quantitative agreement with the theoretical prediction based on fluctuational electrodynamics. The largest measured radiative heat flux is 11 times as high as the blackbody limit for the same hot and cold surface temperatures. Our experiments have produced the highest radiative heat transfer rate observed to date across submicron distances between objects near room temperature.
Gel filtration of dilute human embryonic hemoglobins reveals basis for their increased oxygen binding

This report establishes a correlation between two known properties of the human embryonic hemoglobins-- their weak subunit assemblies as demonstrated here by gel filtration at very dilute protein concentrations and their high oxygen affinities and reduced cooperativities reported previously by others but without a mechanistic basis. We demonstrate here that their high oxygen affinities are a consequence of their weak assemblies. Weak vs strong hemoglobin tetramers represent a regulatory mechanism to modulate oxygen binding capacity by altering the equilibrium between the various steps in the assembly process that can be described as an inverse allosteric effect.
Content-based visual information retrieval

This chapter provides a survey of the state-of-the-art in the field of Visual Information Retrieval (VIR) systems, particularly Content-Based Visual Information Retrieval (CBVIR) systems. It presents the main concepts and system design issues, reviews many research prototypes and commercial solutions currently available and points out promising research directions in this area.
Simulated Polarimetric Fields of Ice Vapor Growth Using the Adaptive Habit Model. Part II: A Case Study from the FROST Experiment

AbstractA new adaptive habit model (AHM) grows ice crystals through vapor deposition while evolving ice particle properties, including shape and effective density. The AHM provides an opportunity to investigate observed microphysical processes through the computation of polarimetric variables and corroboration with microphysical model output. This study is unique because the polarimetric scattering calculations are computed using predicted microphysical parameters rather than a priori assumptions that are imposed within the scattering calculations in the forward simulator, allowing for a more effective comparison to radar observations. Through the simulation of a case in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado using the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, it is found that the AHM approximates ice mass, shape, cloud vertical structure, and temporal evolution as reflected through polarimetric quantities compared to observations. AHM reflectivity magnitudes are...
Nucleotide-time alignment for molecular recorders

Using a DNA polymerase to record intracellular calcium levels has been proposed as a novel neural recording technique, promising massive-scale, single-cell resolution monitoring of large portions of the brain. This technique relies on local storage of neural activity in strands of DNA, followed by offline analysis of that DNA. In simple implementations of this scheme, the time when each nucleotide was written cannot be determined directly by post-hoc DNA sequencing; the timing data must be estimated instead. Here, we use a Dynamic Time Warping-based algorithm to perform this estimation, exploiting correlations between neural activity and observed experimental variables to translate DNA-based signals to an estimate of neural activity over time. This algorithm improves the parallelizability of traditional Dynamic Time Warping, allowing several-fold increases in computation speed. The algorithm also provides a solution to several critical problems with the molecular recording paradigm: determining recording start times and coping with DNA polymerase pausing. The algorithm can generally locate DNA-based records to within <10% of a recording window, allowing for the estimation of unobserved incorporation times and latent neural tunings. We apply our technique to an in silico motor control neuroscience experiment, using the algorithm to estimate both timings of DNA-based data and the directional tuning of motor cortical cells during a center-out reaching task. We also use this algorithm to explore the impact of polymerase characteristics on system performance, determining the precision of a molecular recorder as a function of its kinetic and error-generating properties. We find useful ranges of properties for DNA polymerase-based recorders, providing guidance for future protein engineering attempts. This work demonstrates a useful general extension to dynamic alignment algorithms, as well as direct applications of that extension toward the development of molecular recorders, providing a necessary stepping stone for future biological work.
The Impact of Age, Gender, Education, Rank and Years of Service on Academic Performance and Student Satisfaction with Learning as Related to Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy and Cultural Adaptability within the Context of the Military

This study examines the impact of age, gender, education, rank and years of service on academic performance and student satisfaction with learning, as related to self-esteem, self-efficacy and cultural adaptability within the context of the military. The study population includes individuals stationed at a joint military command unit overseas participating in nonmilitary-related continuing education. The results illustrate relationships exist between student age and years of service, and satisfaction with learning, as well as, between student age, gender and level of education, and academic performance. Rank shows no significant relationship with either outcome; and self-esteem relates only to student satisfaction with learning. This study concludes that generational differences and diverse educational backgrounds, as well as, individual (personal) and group (military) goals, all impact success of military students participating in nonmilitary-related continuing education.
Neonatal erythropoietin mitigates impaired gait, social interaction and diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities in a rat model of prenatal brain injury

Children who are born preterm are at risk for encephalopathy of prematurity, a leading cause of cerebral palsy, cognitive delay and behavioral disorders. Current interventions are limited and none have been shown to reverse cognitive and behavioral impairments, a primary determinant of poor quality of life for these children. Moreover, the mechanisms of perinatal brain injury that result in functional deficits and imaging abnormalities in the mature brain are poorly defined, limiting the potential to target interventions to those who may benefit most. To determine whether impairments are reversible after a prenatal insult, we investigated a spectrum of functional deficits and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) abnormalities in young adult animals. We hypothesized that prenatal transient systemic hypoxia-ischemia (TSHI) would induce multiple functional deficits concomitant with reduced microstructural white and gray matter integrity, and tested whether these abnormalities could be ameliorated using postnatal erythropoietin (EPO), an emerging neurorestorative intervention. On embryonic day 18 uterine arteries were transiently occluded for 60min via laparotomy. Shams underwent anesthesia and laparotomy for 60min. Pups were born and TSHI pups were randomized to receive EPO or vehicle via intraperitoneal injection on postnatal days 1 to 5. Gait, social interaction, olfaction and open field testing was performed from postnatal day 25-35 before brains underwent ex vivo DTI to measure fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity. Prenatal TSHI injury causes hyperactivity, impaired gait and poor social interaction in young adult rats that mimic the spectrum of deficits observed in children born preterm. Collectively, these data show for the first time in a model of encephalopathy of prematurity that postnatal EPO treatment mitigates impairments in social interaction, in addition to gait deficits. EPO also normalizes TSHI-induced microstructural abnormalities in fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity in multiple regions, consistent with improved structural integrity and recovery of myelination. Taken together, these results show behavioral and memory deficits from perinatal brain injury are reversible. Furthermore, resolution of DTI abnormalities may predict responsiveness to emerging interventions, and serve as a biomarker of CNS injury and recovery.
Neuromodulation for Non-obstructive Urinary Retention

Non-obstructive urinary retention in children and adults is distinct from classical urinary retention in that no anatomic cause for incomplete bladder emptying can be found. This poses unique challenges to treating clinicians, and until recently, management was limited to physical therapy, assisted emptying with intermittent catheterization, foley catheter placement, or urinary diversion. Neuromodulation, in multiple forms, offers a minimally invasive method to restore normal urinary function in some patients suffering from non-obstructive urinary retention. The techniques and evidence for this will be discussed. Sacral neuromodulation has garnered the most attention in the literature, but other forms of neuromodulation such as posterior tibial nerve stimulation, nerve re-routing, sacral anterior nerve stimulation, and emerging technologies incorporating biologic feedback also exist and show promise. The next decade promises more improvements for the treatment of non-obstructive urinary retention emphasizing the ability to void spontaneously. Neuromodulation techniques over the next decade may make it possible to reduce or eliminate the need for catheters and urinary diversion in these patients.
Severe anemia following uvulectomy in Kenya.

ABSTRACT Uvulectomy is a common practice in eastern Africa for treatment of a variety of throat conditions. Traditional healers perform the procedure. I present a case report to illustrate a complication of uvulectomy. This is a report of a child who presented with severe anemia secondary to uvulectomy performed for treatment of chronic cough. This case report is intended to illustrate a procedure not commonly performed by western otolaryngologists and to describe the management of a severe complication. Western physicians are increasingly being tasked in medical situations in which they encounter traditional medical practices outside of their scope of training. The intent of this report is to familiarize western physicians with one such procedure and its potential complications.
Lipid Transport in Plasmodium falciparum -Infected Erythrocyte Membranes

During its intraerythrocytic development the malaria parasite induces changes in the transport of phospholipids across the host erythrocyte membrane. In the mature erythrocyte, protein mediated transport of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS) to the cytoplasmic leaflet is an energy requiring process and appears to serve as the primary mechanism for maintaining phospholipid asymmetry at the plasma membrane (Daleke and Huestis, 1985; Tilley et. al., 1986; Zachowski et. al., 1986) Band 7 has been identified as the putative amino-phospholipid translocator in human erythrocytes (Connor and Schroit 1988). Human erythrocyte membranes do not contain a phosphatidylcholine (PC) transporter and PC transbilayer movement in these membranes is extremely slow (Op den Kamp, 1979). In erythrocytes infected with the malaria parasitesPlasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium knowlesi, there is an increased uptake and exchangeability of exogenously added radiolabeled PS, PE and PC with lipids of the host cell membrane (van der Schaft et. al., 1987; Moll et. al., 1988). However little is known about the molecular basis of these changes in parasitised erythrocytes. We have investigated the movement of fluorescent analogues of phospholipids in parasitised erythrocytes to elucidate mechanisms of lipid transport from the red cell membrane to the intracellular parasite.
Homogenization of California’s Fish Fauna Through Abiotic Change

The decline of native fish populations and the invasion of non-native fishes are the most noticeable trends in California's freshwater fish assemblages over the last century (Moyle and Williams 1990, Moyle 2000). Moyle (2000) and Dill and Cordone (1997) date the first introduction of non-native fish into California back to the latter half of the 19th Century. Yoshiyama et al. (1998) place the beginning of the decline of the state's chinook salmon populations also near the turn of the century. The mid-1800's also marks the beginning of a population explosion in California, driven by the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada in 1848.
Software in the Neuroanatomy Laboratory

In the early 1980s, the cost of a computer program for a typical laboratory task approached and began to exceed the cost of the computer itself. This economic event, though its exact date is impossible to define, has changed the manner of thinking by everyone involved in using, writing, buying, and selling laboratory computer products. Since this period, the cost of computers has continued to fall, and though tempered by mass production, the cost of software has continued to rise. Furthermore, there is every indication that these trends will continue. What does this mean for you, a neuroanatomist who is just starting to use computers for laboratory tasks? It means that you should think more about the computing functions you want to perform in your laboratory and less about the hardware you want to buy.
Human Papillomavirus in Cervical Carcinogenesis

Cervical carcinoma is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, affecting more than 400,000 women annually, breast carcinoma being the first.
Cytogenetic studies in non-African Burkitt lymphoma

A particular translocation between chromosomes 8 and 14 has been found repeatedly in cytogenetic studies of Burkitt lymphoma, both of African and non-African origin. We report here our findings in cytogenetic studies of direct tumor preparations from 18 non-African Burkitt lymphoma patients, 9 of whom also had cell lines available for study. A t(8;14) was found in direct tumor material in 10 of the 18 patients. Seven of the 9 cell lines had a t(8;14). A total of 15 patients had either a t(8;14) or a 14q+ present in tumor material and/or cell lines. In addition, 8 patients had a peculiar marker chromosome 1. The t(8;14) was not found in every malignant cell and, where present, it was rarely the sole karyotypic abnormality. The relationship of the t(8;14) to the evolution of the tumor is discussed.
Radiative Corrections — An Experimentalist’s View

This paper reviews our current understanding of the effects of radiative corrections on the experimental measurements which will be made at the SLC and at LEP. It discusses how the shape of the Z0 resonance is modified by initial state radiation, and considers how the Z0 self energy corrections allow a probe of physics above the Z0 mass scale. In particular, the sensitivity to the top quark mass of the various asymmetry measurements which may be made at the Z0 pole is discussed.
Novel management strategies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Introduction: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) treatment was revolutionized by the advent of two novel antifibrotics, nintedanib and pirfenidone. However, neither is a panacea and other agents a...
Neural interactions between transspinal evoked potentials and muscle spindle afferents in humans.

Abstract The objective of this study was to establish neural interactions between transspinal evoked potentials (TEPs) and muscle spindle group Ia afferents in healthy humans. Soleus H-reflexes were assessed following transspinal stimulation at conditioning-test (C-T) intervals that ranged from negative to positive 100 ms. TEPs were recorded from the right and left ankle/knee flexor and extensor muscles, and their amplitude was assessed following stimulation of soleus muscle spindle group Ia afferents at similar C-T intervals. Transspinal conditioning stimulation produced a short-latency, long-lasting soleus H-reflex depression. Excitation of muscle spindle group Ia afferents produced depression of ipsilateral ankle TEPs and medium-latency facilitation of the ipsilateral knee TEPs. At specific C-T intervals, the soleus H-reflex and ipsilateral ankle TEPs were summated based on their relative onset and duration. No changes were observed in the contralateral TEPs. These effects were exerted at both peripheral and spinal levels. Both transspinal and muscle spindle group Ia afferent stimulation produce long-lasting depression of the soleus H-reflex and TEPs, respectively. Transspinal stimulation may promote targeted neuromodulation and can be utilized in upper motoneuron lesions to normalize spinal reflex hyper-excitability and alter excitation thresholds of peripheral nerve axons.
Rhodium-Catalyzed C–H Amination: A Case Study of Selectivity in C–H Functionalization Reactions

An advanced undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory experiment involving a rhodium-catalyzed intermolecular hydrocarbon C–H oxidation reaction is described. In the initial phase of this lab, students conduct a C–H amination reaction of ethylbenzene and isolate a benzylic amine product. In the second part of the lab, competition experiments are performed to compare the relative rates of C–H insertion with electronically disparate para-substituted ethylbenzene derivatives. Reaction progress is monitored by thin-layer chromatography and the outcome quantitatively assessed using 1H NMR spectroscopy. Data from competition experiments form the basis for a discussion of reaction mechanism including analysis of putative transition structures and relative potential energy barriers for C–H oxidation. Experiments have been designed such that instructors can tailor the level of detail and discussion from introductory to advanced.
Common Rule: US Regulatory Protections for Human Research Participants

The Common Rule, more formally known as the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, applies to human subjects research conducted or supported by 15 US federal agencies, as well as to privately funded research conducted at most institutions that receive federal research funding. Covered research must be reviewed and approved by an institutional review board, which must determine that the risks of the study have been minimized; the risks are reasonable in relation to the anticipated benefits; adequate plans exist for obtaining participants' informed consent; and other ethical issues have been appropriately addressed.
Unifying Agricultural and Environmental Ethics

Paul B. Thompson’s agrarian ethic aims to unite the core agricultural value of providing sustenance for people with the environmental value of preserving nature into the future. His recently revise...
Renovating Database Queries with Query AutoAwesome

Querying is an important database activity, typically occurring more frequently than update. Programmers invest time and effort into developing a set of queries. We propose reusing these queries with Query AutoAwesome (QAA). QAA is a system to automatically enhance queries. QAA was inspired by Google's Auto Awesome tool, which provides automatic enhancements of photos. QAA ingests a query, the database schema, and the data to enhance a query. QAA can reuse a query in several ways, such as re-placing a literal with a choice of alternatives. From among the pool of potential enhancements it is important to choose the top-k generated queries. To do so we introduce objective functions to measure the enhancement and rank potential queries.
A comparison of the accuracy of fetal MRI and prenatal ultrasonography at predicting lesion level and perinatal motor outcome in patients with myelomeningocele.

Objective Prenatal imaging has several critical roles in the diagnosis and management of myelomeningocele, including specific family counseling and the selection of fetal surgery or postnatal repair. In this study, the authors compared the accuracy of fetal MRI and prenatal ultrasonography (US) in predicting the spinal lesion level and assessed the correlation between imaging findings and motor function as independently evaluated by a physical therapist (PT) after birth. Methods A retrospective review of demographic and clinical data was performed to identify children who had been treated with postnatal myelomeningocele closure at a single institution between March 2013 and December 2018. Patients were eligible for inclusion if they had all of the following: prenatal US identifying the neural tube defect level, fetal MRI identifying the neural tube defect level, and postoperative PT evaluation identifying the motor deficit level. Statistical analysis was performed using Cohen's kappa coefficient to compare the US- and MRI-demonstrated lesion level and correlate these findings with the motor level assigned postnatally by a PT via manual muscle testing. Results Thirty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean gestational age at US was 23.0 ± 4.7 weeks, whereas the mean gestational age at MRI was 24.0 ± 4.1 weeks. The mean time from surgery to the PT evaluation was 2.9 ± 1.9 days. Prenatal US and MRI were in agreement within one spinal level in 74% of cases (25/34, k = 0.43). When comparing the US-demonstrated spinal level with the PT-assigned motor level, the two were in agreement within one level in 65% of cases (22/34, k = 0.40). When comparing MRI-demonstrated spinal level with the PT motor level, the two were in agreement within one level in 59% of cases (20/34, k = 0.37). MRI and US were within two spinal levels of the PT evaluation in 79.4% and 85.3% of cases, respectively. MRI and US agreed within two levels in 97.1% of cases. Prenatal US and MRI were equivalent when comparing the difference between the imaged level and the postnatal motor deficit level (mean level difference: 1.12 ± 1.16 vs 1.17 ± 1.11, p = 0.86). Conclusions Prenatal US and MRI equivalently predicted the postnatal motor deficit level in children with myelomeningocele. These data may be valuable in prenatal prognostication.
Supporting the behavioral and mental health needs of military children

It is estimated that there are 1,678,778 military children in the United States, with 80% of them attending U.S. civilian operated public schools. Therefore, it is critical that educators across sc...
The Future of Inclusive Growth in India

Inclusive growth is a multi-dimensional concept which includes poverty reduction, equity among different groups and regions, and also the open society concept for the technology and institutions. Using examples from agriculture, the paper shows that the instruments for the future of inclusive development are missing in India. Even if agriculture growth will take place at an accelerated rate, the leakages in the linkage of agriculture with non-tradable sector will pose a binding constraint on poverty alleviation and inclusive development.
Sostenibilidad de la deuda pública en países ricos en recursos naturales y con acceso a mercados de capitales: El caso del Perú

espanolEste documento examina la importancia del crecimiento economico, la depreciacion cambiaria, el costo de financiamiento publico, la inflacion y los precios de exportacion sobre la sostenibilidad de la deuda publica para el Peru. Las mediciones corresponden a distintas especificaciones de modelos de vectores autorregresivos aplicadas sobre datos macrofiscales comprendidos entre 1999 y 2018. Los resultados validan la relevancia de todos los factores para el corto, mediano y largo plazo. Asimismo, estos sugieren que las futuras medidas de politica macrofiscal deberan estar orientadas a preservar las acciones de mejora del perfil de deuda publica y a diversificar los ingresos fiscales, a fin de reducir la vulnerabilidad de la sostenibilidad fiscal ante cambios desfavorables de los precios de exportacion EnglishThis paper examines the relevance of economic growth, currency depreciation, cost of public financing, inflation, and export prices on the sustainability of Peru’s public debt. The measurements correspond to different specifications of autoregressive vectors (VAR) models applied to macro-fiscal data from 1999-2018. The results validate the relevance of all the factors for the short, medium, and long term. Furthermore, these results suggest that future macro-fiscal policy measures should aim to continue actions to improve the public debt profile and diversify fiscal revenues, in order to reduce the vulnerability of fiscal sustainability due to unfavorable changes in export prices.
Brane Configurations of BPS Domain Walls for the N=1^* SU(N) Gauge Theory

We study supersymmetric domain walls in N=1 SU(N) gauge theory with 3 massive adjoint representation chiral multiplets. This theory, known as N=1^*, can be obtained as a massive deformation of N=4 Yang-Mills theory. Following Polchinski and Strassler, we consider the string dual of this theory in terms of spherical 5-branes and construct BPS domain walls interpolating between the many vacua. We compare our results to field theoretic domain walls and also find that this work is related to the physics of expanded ``dielectric'' branes near zero radius.
Note on Invariants of the Weyl Tensor

Algebraically special gravitational fields are described using algebraic and differential invariants of the Weyl tensor. A type III invariant is also given and calculated for Robinson-Trautman spaces.
The K18-hACE2 Transgenic Mouse Model Recapitulates Non-Severe and Severe COVID-19 in Response to Infectious Dose of SARS-CoV-2 Virus

A comprehensive analysis and characterization of a SARS-CoV-2 infection model that mimics non-severe and severe COVID-19 in humans is warranted for understating the virus and developing preventive and therapeutic agents. Here, we characterized the K18-hACE2 mouse model expressing human (h)ACE2 in mice, controlled by the human keratin 18 (K18) promoter, in epithelia, including airway epithelial cells where SARS-CoV-2 infections typically start. We found that intranasal inoculation with higher viral doses (2x103 and 2x104 PFU) of SARS-CoV-2 caused lethality of all mice and severe damage of various organs, including lungs, liver, and kidney, while lower doses (2x101 and 2x102 PFU) led to less severe tissue damage and some mice recovered from the infection. In this humanized hACE2 mouse model, SARS-CoV-2 infection damaged multiple tissues, with a dose-dependent effect in most tissues. Similar damage was observed in biopsy samples from COVID-19 patients. Finally, the mice that recovered after infection with a low dose of virus also survived rechallenge with a high dose of virus. Compared to other existing models, the K18-hACE2 model seems to be the most sensitive COVID-19 model reported to date. Our work expands the information available about this model to include analysis of multiple infectious doses and various tissues with comparison to human biopsy samples from COVID-19 patients. In conclusion, the K18-hACE2 mouse model recapitulates both severe and non-severe COVID-19 in humans and can provide insight into disease progression and the efficacy of therapeutics for preventing or treating COVID-19. ImportanceThe pandemic of COVID-19 has reached 112,589,814 cases and caused 2,493,795 deaths worldwide as of February 23, 2021, has raised an urgent need for development of novel drugs and therapeutics to prevent the spread and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2. To achieve this goal, an animal model that recapitulates the features of human COVID-19 disease progress and pathogenesis is greatly needed. In this study, we have comprehensively characterized a mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection using K18-hACE2 transgenic mice. We infected the mice with low and high doses of SARS-CoV-2 virus to study the pathogenesis and survival in response to different infection patterns. Moreover, we compared the pathogenesis of the K18-hACE2 transgenic mice with that of the COVID-19 patients to show that this model could be a useful tool for the development of anti-viral drugs and therapeutics.
Corporate Tax Abuse in the Supreme Court

Corporate tax advisors wish to minimize a corporation’s tax liability but want to do so without creating the risk that a court will reject the strategy as “abusive.” Courts’ decisions in this area of the law, however, are notoriously difficult to predict. While scholars and practitioners have devoted substantial time and energy debating how judges should decide controversies involving corporate tax abuse, this Article is the first to conduct a large-N quantitative study of court decisions in an effort to identify the factors that influence how courts actually decide corporate tax abuse cases. Our findings are surprising — but very robust — and for this reason we believe they will improve corporate financial planning, generate more efficient litigation strategies, and perhaps, most importantly, help clear the federal docket of cases that can and should be settled out of court. Our study reviews nearly 1,000 U.S. Supreme Court cases decided between 1909 and 2011, roughly 140 of which involve allegations of corporate tax abuse. Our principal findings run counter to the conventional wisdom that judges are erratic and unpredictable when it comes to deciding corporate tax abuse cases. We uncover a number of factors that systematically increase and decrease the probability that the government will win when it challenges a corporate tax strategy in court. The flavor of our findings can be described as follows. The probability of government success when the taxpayer has engaged in accounting irregularities, when the initial controversy arises from the IRS’s denial of a corporate refund claim, when the government is the petitioning party, and when federal spending on national defense escalates. The probability of government success decreases when the transaction at issue involves a third party and multiple transaction steps — unless alleged simultaneously in the briefs filed in Court, a strategy that increases the government’s chances of winning. Perhaps most surprising, notwithstanding the nearly obsessive attention paid to the business purpose doctrine by practitioners, scholars, and policymakers, the government’s assertion that the transaction at issue lacked a non-tax business purpose has either no statistically significant effect or a negative effect on the outcome of these cases. Our study raises several important questions, both empirical and normative. These include whether tax lawyers can exploit the findings of this study when planning transactions and litigation strategies, whether the business purpose for a corporation’s transaction should affect the tax treatment of that transaction, and whether the findings of this study are generalizable to the corporate tax abuse decisions in lower federal courts.
Interactive mathematics on the Web: MathML for signals and systems demonstrations

Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) can be used both to render mathematical expressions and to encode the meaning of mathematical expressions in an HTML document. Thus, MathML can be used to incorporate dynamic math content in Web documents; for example, mathematical expressions that drive and are driven by graphical displays. We discuss two interactive demonstrations in a basic Fourier analysis that illustrate the capabilities of MathML.
Design of Extended Warranties in Supply Chains

Consider a supply chain involving an independent retailer and an independent manufacturer. The manufacturer produces a single product and sells it exclusively through the retailer. Using this supply chain framework, we develop a game theoretic model to study two commonly observed practices of selling extended warranties: the manufacturer offers the extended warranty directly to the end consumer, and the retailer selling the product offers extended warranty. We show that, of the two decentralized systems, when the retailer offers an extended warranty, it is for a longer duration and generates more system profit. We compare and contrast the two decentralized models with a centralized system where a single party manufactures the product, sells to the consumer and offers the extended warranty. We identify the different causes of inefficiencies in each of the two decentralized models and propose coordination mechanisms that eliminate the inefficiencies. We also provide contracts to achieve both coordination and a Pareto improvement over a wholesale price contract.
Histological Staining of Amyloid-ß in Mouse Brains

The increased availability of transgenic mouse models for studying human diseases is shifting the focus of many laboratories from in vitro to in vivo assays. The purpose of this chapter is to provide investigators with methods that will allow them to obtain well-preserved mouse brain sections to be stained with the standard histological dyes for amyloid, Congo red and thio-flavin-S. These sections can as well be used for immunohistological procedures that allow detection of amyloid-beta plaques as well as pre-amyloid deposits.
Jack Rakove's Rendition of Original Meaning

Resort to original meaning-the canon that a document is to be construed to accomplish the draftsman's intention-in the process of interpretation reaches back to English law of the thirteenth century.' Two of England's greatest thinkers, Hobbes and Locke, demonstrated that the meaning attached by the writer to his words is the essence of communication. Chief Justice Marshall wrote that he could cite from the common law "the most complete evidence that the intention is the most sacred rule of interpretation." 3 Without any mention whatsoever of the precedents or of Locke and Hobbes in his Original Meanings, 4
The Spanish Civil War: The Decisive Northern Campaigns of 1937–1938

The Spanish Civil War was the most broadly mobilized and militarily innovative of the European civil wars, and proportionate to population was fought on the largest scale. The Russian conflict lasted longer, was fought over a much greater geographic expanse, and at one time or another involved many more men and women, but, despite calling up more than 5 million men, at no time did the Soviet Red Army have more than a large fraction of them fully mobilized and ready for combat. Before the end of 1937, both armies in Spain had organized a greater percentage of their zone's population, and also had armed them better. Nonetheless, neither contender in Spain could be compared with the armies of the major powers in the world wars. Even though more than 2 million men were called up by both sides combined, there were severe limits to training, organization, and leadership. Front lines were extremely long and offensive operations were narrowly focused, leaving most sectors quiescent. Overall, the Spanish struggle was a low-intensity conflict punctuated by a number of high-intensity battles. Despite the introduction of late-model planes and antiaircraft guns, firepower was in general limited, which explains why casualties were not higher. Not many more than 175,000 men were killed on both sides combined (some 25,000 of them not Spanish), slightly less than 6 percent of all mobilized. This was a significant figure, yet there could be no comparison with the catastrophic loss of life in the Russian civil war. Millions of Russian civilians perished because of very poor nutrition, bad sanitation, and massive epidemics; such scourges were much more effectively controlled in a West European country like Spain. Medical care on both sides was much better than in the Russian civil war, with many fewer deaths from wounds, particularly as a result of techniques pioneered in the People's Army by the radically innovative Dr. Josep Trueta, who developed new surgical procedures for puncture wounds.
Personality and the Consistency of Risk Taking Behavior: Experimental Evidence

Researchers have found that an individual’s risk attitude is not stable across elicitation methods. Results reported by Deck et al. (2009) suggest that personality may help explain the apparent inconsistency, offering support to Borghans et al.’s (2008) argument that economists should consider a multi-domain approach to measuring risk attitudes. This paper uses laboratory methods to compare risk attitudes as measured by the Holt and Laury (2002) procedure under two different frames. We find that, as in Deck et al. (2009), one’s willingness to take financial risks (as measured by Weber et al. 2002) significantly affects behavior; however the effect is significantly greater when the task is framed as a financial decision. This paper also asks whether personality can explain the well documented behavioral difference between first price and Dutch auctions. While one’s gambling attitude (as measured by Weber et al. 2002) affects bidding behavior, it does not do so differentially between auction formats.
Seroconversion, sexual activity, and condom use among 2915 HIV seronegative men followed for up to 2 years.

A cohort of 2915 HIV-1 seronegative men from the 4 centers of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) was followed at 6-month intervals for 24 months to identify men who developed antibodies to HIV-1. 232 men (8%) were seroconverted. The highest attack rate was among men who reported practicing both receptive and insertive anal-genital intercourse. The attack rate among men who reported practicing receptive but not insertive intercourse was 3.6 times higher than among men practicing insertive intercourse although those practicing insertive only reported 38% more different partners. Only 2 men seroconverted who reported not practicing anal-genital intercourse in the 12 months prior to the 1st antibody-positive visit. Because men were followed every 6 months 1 of these men could have been infected within 6 months of the actual development of HIV-1 antibodies. The seroconversion rate was significantly lower among men who reported using condoms with all their partners. The results of this study 1) reaffirm that receptive anal-genital intercourse is the major route of infection among homosexual men of HIV-1 2) suggest that there is a low risk of HIV-1 infection to the insertive partner in anal-genital intercourse 3) suggest that infection may rarely occur through sexual activities other than anal-genital intercourse 4) provide evidence that condoms as currently used by men in the MACS provide significant but not complete protection against HIV-1 infection and 5) suggest that the number of men in the homosexual community engaging in high-risk behavior is declining. (authors)
Making Electronic Refunds Safer

We show how to break an electronic cash protocol due to van Antwerpen. (a refinement of the system proposed by Chaum, Fiat, and Naor), and give an alternative protocol that fixes the problem.
Recombinant factor VIIa is a pan-hemostatic agent?

The seminal work that recognized activated factor VII (factor VIIa) as a key potential mechanism for the action of activated prothrombin complex concentrates (APCCs) in the treatment of hemophilic patients with inhibitors has led to the manufacturing of recombinant factor VIIa. Produced from baby hamster kidney cells transfected with factor VII cDNA, recombinant factor VII is spontaneously activated during purification on mouse monoclonal antibodies and is similar to the plasma-derived molecule in carbohydrate and amino acid composition. The hypothesis put forth by Monroe et al. is that recombinant factor VIIa may work by activating coagulation on platelet surfaces. The product is licensed and has been used in hundreds of hemophilic patients with inhibitors. Even though a large randomized controlled study on efficacy is still lacking, recombinant factor VIIa, given at doses of 90 to 120 mg/kg every 2 to 3 h and repeated as clinically necessary, seems to be efficacious in stopping and preventing bleeding, even during complex surgical procedures. There are also successful reports of home infusion, allowing early intervention. Overall, recombinant factor VIIa has some advantages over APCCs concentrates, such as received higher viral safety and absence of the severe anaphylactic reactions that may occur following APCC administration in treated patients with factor IX inhibitors. Disadvantages are higher cost and need for repeated administration due to the relatively short half-life of factor VIIa but this can be avoided by continuous intravenous infusion. No laboratory method helps in monitoring treatment or in predicting its efficacy. As with many new agents that are licensed for one use, studies
One‐Step Homologation of Acetylenes to Allenes: 4‐Hydroxynona‐1,2‐diene

One-Step Homologation of Acetylenes to Allenes: 4-Hydroxynona-1,2-diene product: 4-hydroxynona-1,2-diene Keywords: addition, to CO; diisopropylamine; dioxane
Dimensionless coordinates for simulations and theory of hyperfine interactions in materials

For problems involving simulations or theory of hyperfine interactions in materials, it is convenient to work in dimensionless coordinates of reasonable magnitude. Such a system is described here that constitutes a consistent and useful “natural” dimensionless unit system that simplifies point-charge approximations, scaling between different crystal structures, scaling charges of various defects in materials, and other computations involving hyperfine interactions. We present the proposed system with examples of its use for data analysis as well as for simulations and theory.
Identification of new DNA adducts in human bladder epithelia exposed to the proximate metabolite of 4-aminobiphenyl using 32P-postlabeling method

The DNA adducts were analyzed by 32P-postlabeling method following exposure of human uroepithelial cells (HUC) to N-hydroxy-4-aminobiphenyl (N-OH-ABP), the proximate metabolite of the human bladder carcinogen 4-aminobiphenyl (ABP). TLC of the postlabeled products on the first dimension revealed several products, the majority of which stayed close to the origin and were earlier identified as the 3',5' -bisphospho derivatives of N-(deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-4-aminobiphenyl and N-(deoxyadenosin-8-yl)-4-aminobiphenyl (Carcinogenesis 13 (1993) 955; Carcinogenesis 16 (1995) 295). Here we report characterization of two additional adducts that amounted to less than 5% of the total adducts. Autoradiography of D1 chromatogram of the postlabeled products of calf thymus DNA chemically interacted with N-OH-ABP under acidic conditions revealed two adducts, #1 and #2, with R(f) values of about 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. Two adducts with D1 thin layer chromatographic properties similar to those of adducts #1 and #2 were obtained on postlabeling analyses of products generated by chemical interaction of N-acetoxy-4-aminobiphenyl (N-OAc-ABP) with deoxyguanosine-3' -monophosphate (dGp). Based on proton NMR and mass spectroscopic analyses of the synthetic products derived from N-OAc-ABP, the chemical structures of adducts #1 and #2 have been identified as 3-(deoxyguanosin-N(2)-yl)-4-aminobiphenyl, and N-(deoxyguanosin-N(2)-yl)-4-aminobiphenyl, respectively. Both of these adducts were insensitive to digestion with nuclease P1. 32P-Postlabeling analysis of the nuclease P1 enriched DNA hydrolysate of HUC cells treated with N-OH-ABP showed the presence of adduct #2 but not adduct #1. Adduct #2 was also detected in calf thymus DNA incubated with HUC cytosol and N-OH-ABP in the presence of acetyl CoA. These results suggest that in the target cells for ABP carcinogenesis in vivo, N-OH-ABP is bioactivated by acetyl CoA-dependent acyltransferases to reactive arylnitrenium ions that covalently interact at N(2)-position of deoxyguanosine in DNA.
Tracheal Compression Following Hybrid Procedure in an Infant With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

The hybrid approach has evolved into a viable alternative to Norwood stage I procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. A 4-month-old girl with DiGeorge syndrome and an unbalanced atrioventricular canal with hypoplastic left ventricle and aortic valve underwent a hybrid procedure with
ACM SIGPLAN history of programming languages conference BASIC language summary

Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code or BASIC was originally developed by T. E. Kurtz and J. G. Kemeny at Dartmouth College in 1963-1964. The original version consisted of 14 statement constructs. BASIC was one of several languages operating in a general purpose time-sharing system also developed at Dartmouth. The simple user commands, numbering about 8 or 10, have since become associated with the BASIC language.A BASIC program is created via the NEW command, listed by the LIST command, edited by a DELETE command, executed by the RUN command, and saved by the SAVE command. Previously saved programs are retrieved from their file by entering OLD and the desired program name.