cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhancing a Brief Writing Intervention to Combat Stereotype Threat Among Middle-School Students

Experimental research has demonstrated both the deleterious effects of negative stereotypes about ability on academic performance and the relative ease with which stereotypes can be countered in educational settings. The extent to which stereotypes contribute to the achievement gap between American students from dominant social and economic groups and students from other groups is not precisely known, but the potential of brief, inexpensive interventions targeting stereotype threat to reduce the gap is worthy of further examination. Although researchers studying brief social psychological interventions sometimes mention the importance of the context in which interventions occur, they have not included manipulations of the environment in their interventions. In the current experimental study, a test of the effects of a brief self-affirming writing assignment was conducted in a new sample of middle-school students (n = 132), and an environmental enhancement to the writing exercise was tested (n = 274). Consistent with previous findings, the self-affirming intervention reduced the average decline in Social Studies grades over the school year compared with a neutral condition (effect size, ES, .57). The combination of the affirming writing assignment with an environmental enhancement had superior effects to the writing assignment alone (ES .53).
Coping skills training and contingency management treatments for marijuana dependence: exploring mechanisms of behavior change

Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the U.S.A. [1]. Despite recent attention to the treatment of marijuana dependence (e.g., [2]), prolonged abstinence has been difficult to achieve [2, 3]. There is thus a pressing need to determine what mechanisms of treatment lead to behavior change in this population. Several treatment strategies offer promise in the treatment of marijuana dependence, namely cognitive-behavioral coping skills training (CBT), motivational enhancement (MET), contingency management, or a combination of these. In the largest controlled trial of treatment for marijuana dependence to date, the multi-site Marijuana Treatment Project (MTP) showed results indicating that nine sessions of combined MET and CBT were superior to two sessions of MET, and both were superior to a delayed treatment control group [2]. The highest abstinence rate achieved was 23% at 4-month follow-up in the MET/CBT condition, declining to 15% at 9 months. Contingency management has been tested in studies by Budney and colleagues. Budney, Higgins, Radonovich, and Novy [4] found that MET/CBT, plus vouchers awarded contingent upon negative urines, produced more weeks of continuous abstinence from marijuana during the 14-week treatment period, and greater abstinence at the end of treatment (35%), than did a 4-session MET condition or a 14-session MET/CBT condition. There was no long-term follow-up, however. Budney, Moore, Rocha and Higgins [5] compared cognitive-behavioral therapy, abstinence-based voucher incentives, or a treatment combining CBT with abstinence-based vouchers. Cannabis-dependent adults in the vouchers-only condition achieved the longest during-treatment abstinence. The best abstinence during the follow-up year was achieved by those in the CBT + Vouchers condition: 37% reported abstinence at a 12-month follow-up versus 17% in the vouchers-only condition. The authors concluded that early abstinence was a function of contingency management procedures, and that skills training was important in maintaining that effect. Similar results were obtained in a comparable study by Kadden, Litt, Kabela-Cormier and Petry [6], referred to as MTP2, which was intended to maximize treatment effectiveness by combining MET/CBT and contingency management. Participants were adult marijuana smokers assigned to one of four 9-week treatment conditions: case management control condition (CaseM), MET/CBT, contingency management (ContM), and MET/CBT+ContM. Results indicated that, initially, all treatment conditions yielded similar decreases in marijuana use. At later follow-ups (11 and 14 months), the MET/CBT+ContM combination was associated with the highest rates of abstinence.
Bodies of Interest: Meaning-Making in the Spaces between Expert and Lay Audiences

This paper offers one approach to teaching students in science and technology how to address the complexity of a text. Argenti's notion of constituencies is used to identify the particular interests of parties that contribute to the understanding and meaning of a communicated message. Drawing on a world-wide museum exhibit, Bodies: the exhibition, the author presents an analysis of how the perspectives of sample constituencies play out in the context of embedded artifacts.
Breast cancer incidence and screening practices among university faculty women

T he incidence of breast cancer in the United States continues to rise, accounting for 32% of the cancer incidence among American women, according to 1994 cancer statistics.1 Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer among women and is second only to lung cancer in causing cancer-related deaths, 18% versus 23%, respectively. In general, the earlier breast cancer is detected and treated, the greater the probability for a long disease-free survival. 2 Although increasing age, a family or self-history of breast or ovarian cancer, early age at menarche, late menopause, nulliparity, first full-term pregnancy after age 35, and Caucasian race are established risk factors for the disease, 3 there seems to be an increasing incidence among women with no known risk factors, at earlier ages, and during premenopausal and perimenopausal stages. The proportion of women age 65 years and older who are at increased risk due to their age alone will continue to rise, as the U.S. population of individuals 65 and older is expected to double from the 32 million in 1990 to 64 million in 2030. 4 Additional factors that have been found in some studies to be associated with increased risk, but are still controversial, include high fat diet, a dense tissue pattern on mammography, alcohol consumption, and estrogen and oral contraceptive use. 3 More recently, occupation has been proposed as a risk identifier by Rubin et al. 5 Rubin et al looked specifically at occupation as a risk identifier for breast cancer. 5 A database of occupationally coded death certificates was used to calculate age-adjusted, race-specific proportionate mortality ratios for breast cancer according to occupation. The findings of significant associations between occupation and frequency of breast cancer included high proportions of breast cancer death among white female professional, managerial, and clerical workers. Case-control analysis by occupation found the odds of breast cancer death to be between 2 and 2.23 times greater for teachers in higher education than for other occupational groups. The rising incidence figures may be due, in part, to women's increased awareness of early detection methods, such as breast self-examination, clinical breast examination, and screening mammography. 6 These factors in c o r n © 1995 by The Jacobs Institute of Women's Health 1049-3867/95/$9.5
Biochemical Biopsy of Skeletal System Lesions

Utilizing quantitative microchemical techniques developed by Lowry, an attempt was made to obtain biochemical biopsy specimens and to determine the enzyme content of morphologically selected areas from malignant and benign lesions of the skeletal system. Osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, proliferating bone from Paget's disease, and tissue from polyostotic fibrous dysplasia were analyzed for enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism, hexosamine, and total phosphate content. Generally the areas and lesions characterized by rapid proliferation were the most active enzymatically and in the selections from malignant neoplasms lactic dehydrogenase was predominant. Benign proliferating bone in Paget's disease was featured by more active aerobic pathways with more malic dehydrogenase. Comparison of neoplastic cartilage from the osteosarcoma with the morphologically similar cartilage from chondrosarcoma demonstrated considerable chemical differences between the two cartilage types. In general, the clinical course and manifestations of the lesions studied could be correlated with the metabolic activity as determined by the alkaline phosphatase and carbohydrate intermediate enzyme content.
What Is Supportive About Supportive Conversation? Qualities of Interaction That Predict Emotional and Physiological Outcomes

This study assessed how qualities of supportive interactions, operationalized from the perspectives of the support receiver and third-party observers, predict emotional improvement and cortisol recovery following a stressful experience. Participants (N = 103) conversed with a dating partner after completing a series of stressful tasks; partners engaged in either neutral listening or supportive communication. Participants reported their perceptions of the interaction and their emotional improvement, and provided salivary cortisol samples that indexed changes in stress. Trained third-party observers rated the interactions for supportive qualities. Individually, participants’ perceptions of support explicitness, elaboration, and involvement were positively correlated with emotional improvement, but participants’ perceptions of support explicitness and elaboration were associated with slower, rather than faster, cortisol recovery. When study variables were assessed as a set, participants’ perceptions of expli...
Nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethylarginine and CD 40 ligand levels in malignancy associated thrombosis and their modulation by anticoagulants

17049 Background: Cancer associated thrombotic complications are primarily due to endothelial dysfunction and upregulation of inflammatory processes. Nitric oxide (NO) represents one of the major e...
Relationship Between Body Image Discrepancy and Intuitive Eating

Dieting is widespread among college women despite being ineffective and harmful long term. Intuitive eating is a dieting alternative that teaches eating in response to hunger and satiety cues. It has been associated with improved physical and psychological health and studied in association with various body image dimensions. A sample of college first years completed baseline measurements during an intuitive eating intervention to test the association between intuitive eating and body image discrepancy (BID). BID represents whether a respondent believes her current body is larger or smaller than ideal. Greater BID was negatively associated with intuitive eating (p ≤ .05); participants who believed that their current bodies were larger than ideal were less likely to attend to hunger and satiety cues than participants who expressed little or no BID. These women should be targeted in future weight management interventions in order to avoid negative health outcomes of dieting.
Book Review: Atlas of Oculoplastic and Orbital Surgery

Jonathan Dutton . Atlas of Oculoplastic and Orbital Surgery. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2012. ISBN-10: 1451143125 Atlas of Oculoplastic and Orbital Surgery is composed entirely by Jonathan Dutton, MD, PhD, Professor and Co-chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the preface, Dutton states his intentions for the book to provide a “quick and reasonably comprehensive” reference on “basic oculoplastic procedures that are directed towards entry level and less experienced surgeons in oculoplastic procedures.” The book's direction excludes “the trained oculoplastics specialist,” instead addressing “general ophthalmologists, otolaryngologists, dermatologists, and some general plastic surgeons.” Classically, the specialty of oculoplastic surgery is divided into 3 areas—eyelid surgery, lacrimal surgery, and orbital surgery—and these 3 main sections are addressed in the atlas. Each section begins with a discussion of relevant anatomy in that particular area, as well as surgically correctable conditions that occur in the anatomic area, and it concludes with some recommendation of a procedure for each given condition. The section on orbital anatomy is quite excellent both in text and graphics, which is not surprising since Dutton's strength is surgery of the orbit. (He produced another publication on the subject as well.) The book's …
Performance Measures in Neurosurgical Patient Care: Differing Applications of Patient Safety Indicators.

Background:Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) are administratively coded identifiers of potentially preventable adverse events. These indicators are used for multiple purposes, including benchmarking and quality improvement efforts. Baseline PSI evaluation in high-risk surgeries is fundamental to both
Evaluation of soil applied systemic acquired resistance inducers integrated with copper bactericide sprays for control of citrus canker on bearing grapefruit trees

Abstract Soil application of systemic neonicotinoid insecticides and the commercial systemic acquired resistance (SAR) inducer, acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM), provides season-long control of foliar infection by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri, the causal agent of citrus canker. Reduction in leaf disease incidence with ASM is comparable to protection with 21-day interval foliar sprays of copper hydroxide (CH). Soil applications of ASM alone, rotated with the neonicotinoids imidacloprid (IMID), thiamethoxam (THIA), and clothianidin (CLOTH), or combined with foliar sprays of CH were compared for canker disease control on fruit of 5- to 7-year-old bearing ‘Ruby Red’ grapefruit trees in Southeast Florida. All treatments significantly reduced the incidence of canker lesions on fruit compared to the untreated check. Soil drenches of ASM and season-long rotations with IMID, THIA, and CLOTH were as effective for suppressing fruit canker as season-long foliar sprays with CH. SAR inducers combined with CH sprays provided optimum control of fruit canker when initiated before the onset of the susceptible foliar flush in the spring. Additional control of canker with soil-applied SAR inducers may enable reduction in the frequency of copper sprays and reduce disease loss from copper resistant Xcc strains where they are prevalent.
A regime-switching approach to model-based stress testing

The current financial marketplace has seen the development of increasingly complex products and proper risk management has become a challenging task. Accurate stress testing relies upon models that capture their essential features. Novel, powerful ideas have emerged regarding the dynamics of financial instruments, such as incorporating mechanisms to model regimeswitching and non-linearity. This paper outlines the logistic mixture of the linear components (LMLC) model and illustrates how it can be used to perform stress testing on an asset that follows regime-switching dynamics. Once the model is estimated, running a stress test is straightforward; expected loss estimates are produced from the fitting equation. A market stress test is run on a merger arbitrage hedge fund position. It is demonstrated that the LMLC stress test produces expected loss estimates that are more conservative than estimates produced from a linear factor model.
Hypertensive Urgencies and Emergencies

Hypertensive urgencies and emergencies occur in the general population as well as patients with chronic kidney disease. The epidemiology, pathophysiology, and approach to patients with hypertensive urgencies and emergencies are discussed. The specific approach to the chronic kidney disease population is also outlined throughout the chapter, including various case illustrations. Oral and parenteral medications used specifically for hypertensive urgency/emergency are reviewed, including preferred therapies for specific clinical scenarios. Recognizing a true hypertensive urgency and emergency, treating the patient safely, but quickly, and determining the cause of escalated blood pressure are pivotal.
Mechanical Energy Storage

There are two basic types of energy storage that result from the application of forces upon material systems. One of these involves changes in potential energy, and the other involves changes in the motion of mass, and thus kinetic energy. This chapter will focus upon the major types of potential energy and kinetic energy storage. It will be seen that it is possible to translate between these two types of energy, as well as to convert these energies to heat or work.
Landau Damping—The Ultimate Limit of Field Confinement and Enhancement in Plasmonic Structures

When either the dimensions of plasmonic structures, or the degree of field localization in them, become comparable to the mean free path of electrons, Landau damping becomes the dominant source of loss in plasmonics. Landau damping is in the heart of nonlocality in the plasmonic response and it is manifested as surface-collision (or Kreibig) damping inherent in nanoscale object. Ultimately this loss prevents further localization of the optical field and limits the attainable plasmonic enhancement, no matter what is the intrinsic quality of the materials used in plasmonic structures.
A Short Biography of Pieter Bleeker

Pieter Bleeker rose from humble beginnings to become one of the greatest ichthyologists and the most prolific in the IndoPacific. Born in 1819, in a small town just North of Amsterdam, his middle-class family could not afford a higher education for him past the age of 12. However, thanks to an early friendship with a pharmacist who lived in a part of his parental home, he managed to continue his education and became certified, first as a pharmacist and by the age of 22, as a civic surgeon and country doctor. Later in his education, he became more interested in physiology and zoology. He read widely about these subjects in the library of the Museum in Haarlem. He believed that his youthful appearance would preclude him from practising as a physician and since he was feeling more inclined towards natural history than medicine, he applied for a job at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden. After he was told there was no vacancy, he decided to continue his medical studies in Paris for as long as his funds would allow. When he returned after six months, he tried once more in vain to get a job at the Leiden Museum. He then decided to become a medical officer in the East Indian Army as he was still not inclined to settle down as a practising physician.
Native American Injustice and the Mathematics of Blood Quantum

No clearer attempt to break down human dignity exists than the use of a mathematical quantification of the degree of Indian blood. This fractional measurement objectifies Native American people, leaving them estranged from full development and matriculation in mainstream American society. As stated by T. R. Garth (1930) in “Race Psychology,” “Any disposition on our part to withhold from some race the right to a free and full development must be taken as an indication of rationalization on account of race prejudice, and such an attitude is inexcusable in an intelligent populace.” The philosophical framework of denial of free and full development of society and culture is apparent in the US government’s use of blood quantum to define Native Americans.
The associations between cigarette smoking and health-related behaviors among Chinese school-aged adolescents

Evidence on the interrelations between cigarette smoking and a cluster of lifestyle behaviors is scarce for the Chinese youth population. This study is conducted to identify the associations between cigarette smoking and multiple health-related behaviors in a Chinese sample of adolescents. We used data from 2012 Zhejiang Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is a school-based survey of 19,542 adolescents that assess risk behaviors using a self-reported questionnaire. The interrelations of cigarette smoking with lifestyle behaviors were investigated using logistic regression models. Cigarette smoking was significantly inversely associated with breakfast (AOR = 0.58), vegetables (AOR = 0.81), fruits (AOR = 0.81), milk consumption (AOR = 0.69) and attending physical education classes (AOR = 0.69), while positively associated with soft drinks (AOR = 2.05), fast food consumption (AOR = 1.21), muscle strengthening activity (AOR = 1.67), computer use (AOR = 1.93) and alcohol drinking (AOR = 5.40). The results suggested that cigarette smoking was associated with a cluster of health-related behaviors in adolescents, which should be considered in health promotion interventions to target multiple health behaviors.
Effect of inorganic fluoride on the renal concentrating mechanism. Possible nephrotoxicity in man.

Abstract It has been proposed that the renal defect in water conservation occurring after administration of methoxyflurane anesthesia may be due to a nephrotoxic effect of inorganic fluoride released during metabolic degradation of the anesthetic. To investigate this possibility, the effects of inorganic fluoride (NaF) on CH 2 O, TcH 2 O, Umax and corticomedullary sodium gradient were studied in the dog. During steady state 10 per cent mannitol diuresis, intravenous infusion of NaF at 4 to 5 mg. per minute resulted in a 20 to 40 per cent increase in V and a 25 to 74 per cent reduction in TcH 2 O, while GFR (glomerular filtration rate) and UNaV remained stable. Infusion of NaF during hydropenia reduced Umax from 1,473 ± 97.9 mOsm. per liter to levels approaching Posm. This fall in Uosm was accompanied by a significant reduction in mean papillary sodium concentration from 222 to 127 mEq of sodium per kilogram of tissue H 2 O, but not by natriuresis. TcH 2 O was markedly reduced by NaF during hypertonic (2 per cent) NaCl diuresis. Fluoride was consistently without effect on CH 2 O or the ratio, CH2OV, during hypotonic (0.45 per cent) NaCl diuresis. Blood fluoride levels of 204 to 426 μM per liter were attained in these studies. Feeding of 600 mg. of NaF per day for periods of 2 to 5 weeks produced only relatively mild hyperfluoremia (15 to 31 μM per liter) and no significant change in urine formation. The results indicate that high blood fluoride levels interfere with generation of both Umax and TcH 2 O. These defects may be due to a washout of medullary solute or to a reduction in collecting duct permeability. The studies lend support to the contention that the concentrating defect associated with methoxyflurane may be due to inorganic fluoride, but do not prove such a relationship.
Implications of no recent sexual activity, casual sex, or exclusive sex for college women's sexual well-being depend on sexual attitudes

Objective: We examine how sexual activity relates to sexual well-being within the context of sexual attitudes, sexual agency, and sexual desire. Participants/Methods: We surveyed 471 college women ...
Live demonstration: FPGA neural array emulation for real-time, event-based simultaneous dewarping and filtering for aerial vehicles

Autonomous aerial vehicles perofrming visual tasks must operate under low-power, small-size, and light-weight constraints. We demonstrate an event-based dewarping task using a neuromorphic camera and processor for efficiently performing this visual task for a mobile quadcopter in real-time.
Volume I: Hypersonics, Shock-Tube and Shock Tunnel Flow — An Introductory Survey

This article attempts to review four groups of papers, all of which fall in the general category of hypersonic flow or shock tube and shock tunnel flows. No attempt is made to discuss individual papers. Instead the aim is to give a personal view of the most important problem areas, to comment on the way they are being tackled and to describe any novel techniques that have emerged.
Radiomic MRI signature reveals three distinct subtypes of glioblastoma with different clinical and molecular characteristics, offering prognostic value beyond IDH1

The remarkable heterogeneity of glioblastoma, across patients and over time, is one of the main challenges in precision diagnostics and treatment planning. Non-invasive in vivo characterization of this heterogeneity using imaging could assist in understanding disease subtypes, as well as in risk-stratification and treatment planning of glioblastoma. The current study leveraged advanced imaging analytics and radiomic approaches applied to multi-parametric MRI of de novo glioblastoma patients (n = 208 discovery, n = 53 replication), and discovered three distinct and reproducible imaging subtypes of glioblastoma, with differential clinical outcome and underlying molecular characteristics, including isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1), O6-methylguanine–DNA methyltransferase, epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII), and transcriptomic subtype composition. The subtypes provided risk-stratification substantially beyond that provided by WHO classifications. Within IDH1-wildtype tumors, our subtypes revealed different survival (p < 0.001), thereby highlighting the synergistic consideration of molecular and imaging measures for prognostication. Moreover, the imaging characteristics suggest that subtype-specific treatment of peritumoral infiltrated brain tissue might be more effective than current uniform standard-of-care. Finally, our analysis found subtype-specific radiogenomic signatures of EGFRvIII-mutated tumors. The identified subtypes and their clinical and molecular correlates provide an in vivo portrait of phenotypic heterogeneity in glioblastoma, which points to the need for precision diagnostics and personalized treatment.
GaAs+ Clusters Reaction with NH3

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses an experiment in which the chemical reactivities of real GaAs cluster ions are studied to probe the physical and chemical nature of the GaAs surface on the microscopic scale. In studying binary clusters, such as GaxAsy , it is desirable to have high mass resolution to differentiate cluster masses corresponding to the various x and y values for a given total number of atoms; as it is expected that for a given size, clusters of varying x to y ratio would have dissimilar chemical and physical properties. In the experiment described in the chapter, a Fourier Transform–Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT–ICR) provides the desired mass resolution of about 105. The GaxAsy ratio for parent/product ions is evaluated by the deconvolution of the mass spectra using a least square technique. For any given Ga:As ratio, the rate for total ammonia chemisorption is calculated under pseudo first-order conditions from the loss of a given bare cluster intensity, It. By using the FT–ICR device, semiconductor cluster ions can be observed with extremely high mass resolution and the interfacial physics and chemistry can be studied for a wide variety of conditions and reactants. For GaAs, so far no dramatic dependence of reactivity upon cluster size has been observed as in the case of Si4.
Maternal Employment, Family Environment, and Children’s Development

Family patterns are undergoing rapid change in our society, in part a consequence of maternal employment. The proportion of employed mothers with children under 18 has shown a steady increase from 1940 to the present (Hoffman, 1984b), and projections are for this trend to continue (Hayghe, 1982). Two-earner families are now prevalent due to the increase of mothers’ employment (Hayghe, 1982). As a result of employment of both husbands and wives, family roles of men and women are changing as well (Hoffman, 1984b; Lamb & Sagi, 1983; Pleck, 1985). It is therefore reasonable to expect that home environments in dual- and single-earner families differ. The goal of this research is to determine how maternal employment relates to home environment and children’s development in a longitudinal study from infancy through the early school years.
Locational Effects of Innovations in Information and Communications Technology on Food Retailing in Germany

Over the last three decades, food retailing has undergone far reaching structural change. This process is characterised by a change in store type, a concentration of business enterprises and an enormous increase in sales area. The reasons for these changes can, on the one hand, be found in specific processes affecting the business, such as changes to cost structure and changes in the basic conditions within society, especially with regard to demand behaviour. On the other hand, a particularly significant role has been played by the introduction of innovations, which have led to wide-ranging transformations. The adoption of self-service, for example, has massively transformed retail structure and has therefore been a contributory factor in the extension of the sales area, with consequent new concepts of store type. In addition, social developments such as the rising standard of living which, among other things, has been marked by a growing level of motorization and improved refrigeration facilities, have encouraged these processes and led to a sales orientation.
Comparison with Other Algorithms

There have been several general parsing algorithms that run in polynomial time. Theoretically speaking, the fastest algorithm at present is Valiant’s algorithm. Valiant [55] reduced the context-free parsing problem to the Boolean Matrix Multiplication problem [22], and his algorithm runs in time O(n2.81). This algorithm is, however, of only theoretical interest, because the coefficient of n2.81 is so large that the algorithm runs faster than conventional n3 algorithms only when an input sentence is tremendously long. Practically speaking, on the other hand, the most well-known parsing algorithm is Earley’s algorithm [21, 20, 1, 25], which runs in time O(n3). This book compares our algorithm mainly with this algorithm.
Microwave Modeling of Moderate Power Laser-Plasma Interactions

A critical issue in laser driven fusion pellets is the degradation in fusion yield due to plasma collective effects. We are using microwave driven low density plasmas to model1 some of the collective effects that degrade pellet performance. We have measured hot electron production due to resonance absorption,2 the ion acoustic decay (IAD) instability,3 and the two plasmon decay instability.4 Careful attention is given to scaling laws and the effect of boundary conditions so that our results apply to an important range of variables that occur in a laser driven pellet.
Systematic review and meta-analysis on the association of tuberculosis in Crohn's disease patients treated with tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors (Anti-TNFα).

Systematic review and meta-analysis on the association of tuberculosis in Crohn’s disease patients treated with tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors (Anti-TNFα)
Crohn's disease monocytes are primed for accentuated release of toxic oxygen metabolites

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease occurs in regions of the intestine characterized by a bowel content high in bacteria. Intestinal bacteria synthesize cell wall products such as lipopolysaccharide; when normal monocytes or macrophages come in contact with these products, they can be primed to release a number of inflammatory mediators. Mediators such as toxic oxygen metabolites released as part of the respiratory burst may contribute to inflammatory tissue damage. The aim of this study was to determine if monocytes from patients with Crohn's disease are primed by lipopolysaccharide for a greater respiratory burst. Methods: The generation of superoxide anion was measured by superoxide dismutase inhibitable reduction of ferricytochrome c. Results: Freshly isolated monocytes from active untreated Crohn's disease patients (n = 8) showed enhanced stimulated release of superoxide anion when compared with normal monocytes (n = 15; 3.80 ± 0.12 vs. 1.02 ± 0.06 nmol/5 min; P < 0.001). We tested the hypothesis that the monocyte priming factor in Crohn's disease serum may be lipopolysaccharide by showing that Crohn's disease serum lost its ability to prime normal monocytes after lipopolysaccharide was removed (0.25 ± 0.25 nmol/5 min, P < 0.001). Conclusions: These studies indicate that bacterial cell wall products may be important proinflammatory molecules involved in the initiation and/or perpetuation of Crohn's disease.
Environmental epigenetics and effects on male fertility

Environmental exposures to factors such as toxicants or nutrition can have impacts on testis biology and male fertility. The ability of these factors to influence epigenetic mechanisms in early life exposures or from ancestral exposures will be reviewed. A growing number of examples suggest environmental epigenetics will be a critical factor to consider in male reproduction.
Holy Rus’: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia, written by John P. Burgess

Holy Rus’: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia is an excellent work of scholarship based on the author’s extensive travels within Russia, close interaction with leading figures in the Russian Orthodox Church, a sound grasp of Russian history during the Soviet period, and a deep cross-confessional theological understanding. The book is well written, frequently offering personal anecdotes of the author’s numerous engagements with Church officials and parishioners, as well as deep familiarity with pertinent scholarly literature in Russian theological sources and in Western social science
Longitudinal Amyloid-β PET in Atypical Alzheimer’s Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Background Rates of amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation have been characterized across the cognitively normal to typical Alzheimer's dementia spectrum, but little is known about Aβ accumulation in atypical Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, such as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Objective We aimed tocharacterize longitudinal Aβ accumulation anddetermine the influence of age, apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, disease duration, and sexin atypical AD and FTLD. Methods 322 patients (138 atypical AD, 184 FTLD) underwent Pittsburgh compound B PET scanning, with 73 having serialPiB-PET scans (42 atypical AD, 31 FTLD). Global Aβ standard uptake value ratios were calculated for every scan. Mixed effects models were used to assess the effect of age, APOE genotype, disease duration, and sex on baseline and change measures of Aβ. Results Atypical AD showed higher baseline Aβ than FTLD. Rate of Aβ accumulation was not associated with baseline Aβ in either group. Older age was associated with greater baseline Aβ and faster rates of accumulation in FTLD. In patients under age 70, atypical AD showed faster rates of accumulation than FTLD. APOEɛ4 genotype was associated with greater baseline Aβ in FTLD but did not influence rates of accumulation. Rates of Aβ accumulation were faster in FTLD patents with time from onset-to-PET≤4 years. Female sex was associated with faster rates of accumulation in atypical AD. Conclusion Accumulation of Aβ is observed in atypical AD and FTLD, although different demographic factors influence accumulation in these diseases providing insight into potentially different biological mechanisms of Aβ deposition.
Application of BagIt-Serialized Research Object Bundles for Packaging and Re-Execution of Computational Analyses

In this paper we describe our experience adopting the Research Object Bundle (RO-Bundle) format with BagIt serialization (BagIt-RO) for the design and implementation of "tales" in the Whole Tale platform. A tale is an executable research object intended for the dissemination of computational scientific findings that captures information needed to facilitate understanding, transparency, and re-execution for review and computational reproducibility at the time of publication. We describe the Whole Tale platform and requirements that led to our adoption of BagIt-RO, specifics of our implementation, and discuss migrating to the emerging Research Object Crate (RO-Crate) standard.
The impact of large-scale dynamic load modeling on frequency response in the U.S. Eastern Interconnection

Abstract Dynamic load modeling has been a forefront topic in power systems research for decades. Studies have shown that accurate load models are needed to capture the true behavior of the grid to certain events. However, in the Eastern Interconnection (EI) Multi-regional Modeling Working Group (MMWG) 2030 power grid model, static load models are still commonly used. This paper discusses the process to develop and implement an interconnection-level dynamic load model using the complex load (CLOD) model in PSSE. The model is applied to 25,000 loads in the EI MMWG case and the frequency response is analyzed and compared between the existing static load model and the dynamic CLOD model. Considering a case study of 4.5 GW loss of generation, the CLOD model introduces larger inter-area oscillations that impact system stability. The parameters developed for the CLOD model have been validated against real frequency measurements captured using the FNET/Grideye system and are found to have higher accuracy than the static load model.
Improved nerve conspicuity with water-weighting and denoising in two-point Dixon magnetic resonance neurography

Abstract Background T2-weighted, two-point Dixon fast-spin-echo (FSE) is an effective technique for magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) that can provide quantitative assessment of muscle denervation. Low signal-to-noise ratio and inadequate fat suppression, however, can impede accurate interpretation. Purpose To quantify effects of principal component analysis (PCA) denoising on tissue signal intensities and fat fraction (FF) and to determine qualitative image quality improvements from both denoising and water-weighting (WW) algorithms to improve nerve conspicuity and fat suppression. Study type Prospective. Subjects Twenty-one subjects undergoing MR neurography evaluation (11/10 male/female, mean age = 46.3±13.7 years) with 60 image volumes. Twelve subjects (23 image volumes) were determined to have muscle denervation based on diffusely elevated T2 signal intensity. Field strength/sequence 3 T, 2D, two-point Dixon FSE. Assessment Qualitative assessment included overall image quality, nerve conspicuity, fat suppression, pulsation and ringing artifacts by 3 radiologists separately on a three-point scale (1 = poor, 2 = average, 3 = excellent). Quantitative measurements for FF and signal intensity relative to normal muscle were made for nerve, abnormal muscle and subcutaneous fat. Statistical tests Linear and ordinal regression models were used for quantitative and qualitative comparisons, respectively; 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and p-values for pairwise comparisons were adjusted using the Holm-Bonferroni method. Inter-rater agreement was assessed using Gwet's agreement coefficient (AC2). Results Simulations showed PCA-denoising reduced FF error from 2.0% to 1.0%, and from 7.6% to 3.1% at noise levels of 10% and 30%, respectively. In human subjects, PCA-denoising did not change signal levels and FF quantitatively. WW decreased fat signal significantly (−83.6%, p Conclusions WW and PCA-denoising improved nerve conspicuity and fat suppression in MR neurography. Denoising can potentially provide improved accuracy of FF maps for assessing fat-infiltrated muscle.
Epigenetic Remodeling by Vitamin C Potentiates the Differentiation of Mouse and Human Plasma Cells

Ascorbate (vitamin C) is an essential micronutrient in humans. The chronic severe deficiency of ascorbate, termed scurvy, has long been associated with increased susceptibility to infections. How ascorbate affects the immune system at the cellular and molecular levels remained unclear. Here, from a micronutrient screen, we identified ascorbate as a potent enhancer for antibody response by facilitating the IL-21/STAT3-dependent plasma cell differentiation in mouse and human B cells. The effect of ascorbate is unique, as other antioxidants failed to promote plasma cell differentiation. Ascorbate is critical during early B cell activation by poising the cells to plasma cell lineage without affecting the proximal IL-21/STAT3 signaling and the overall transcriptome. Consistent with its role as a cofactor for epigenetic enzymes, ascorbate potentiates plasma cell differentiation by remodeling the epigenome via TET (Ten Eleven Translocation), the enzymes responsible for DNA demethylation by oxidizing 5-methylcytosines into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). Genome-wide 5hmC profiling identified ascorbate responsive elements (EAR) at the Prdm1 locus, including a distal element with a STAT3 motif overlapped with a CpG that was methylated and modified by TET in the presence of ascorbate. The results suggest that an adequate level of VC is required for antibody response and highlight how micronutrients regulate the activity of epigenetic enzymes to regulate gene expression. Our findings imply that epigenetic enzymes can function as sensors to gauge the availability of metabolites and influence cell fate decisions.
Classical Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Run at an ElevatedTemperature is Not a Good Model for the Nuclear QuantumEffects in Water at Ambient Temperature

It is a common practice in ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations of water to use an elevated temperature to overcome the over-structuring and slow diffusion predicted by most current density functional theory (DFT) models. The simulation results obtained in this distinct thermodynamic ensemble are then compared with experimental data at ambient temperature based on the rationale that a higher temperature effectively recovers nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) that are missing in the classical AIMD simulations. In this work, we systematically examine the foundation of this assumption for several DFT models as well as for the many-body MB-pol model. We find for the cases studied that a higher temperature does not correctly mimic NQEs at room temperature, which is especially manifest in significantly different three-body correlations as well as dynamics. In many of these cases, the effects of NQEs are exactly the opposite of the effects of carrying out the simulations at an elevated temperature.
Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria: A Review of Corrosion Mechanisms in Fresh Water and Marine Environments

Abstract : Models for corrosion influenced by iron-oxidizing bacteria (IOB) in fresh water are specific for material/environment combinations, i.e., 300 series stainless steel exposed to oxygenated chloridecontaining potable water and carbon steel exposed in oxygenated fresh water ([Cl~] < 20 ppb) containing dissolved copper. Reports of IOB influenced corrosion in marine environments have been limited to rusticle formation on shipwrecks. IOB involved in corrosion in fresh water include Gallionella, Leptothrix, and Siderocapsa. Historically these organisms have also been thought to be active in marine environments. New isolation and molecular identification techniques are demonstrating the presence of novel IOB in both freshwater and marine environments, and expanding our understanding of their potential role in microbiologically influenced corrosion.
The proton form factor ratio results from Jefferson Lab

The ratio of the proton form factors, GE p/GM p, has been measured extensively, from Q 2 of 0.5 GeV 2 to 8.5 GeV 2 , at the Jefferson Laboratory, using the polarization trans fer method. This ratio is extracted directly from the measured ratio of the tr ansverse and longitudinal polarization components of the recoiling proton in elastic electron-pro ton scattering. The polarization transfer results are of unprecedented high precision and accuracy, d ue in large part to the small systematic uncertainties associated with the experimental technique . There is an approved experiment at JLab, GEP(5), to continue the ratio measurements to 12 GeV 2 . A dedicated experimental setup, the Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS), will be built for this purpose. It will be equipped with a focal plane polarimeter to measure the polarization of the r ecoil protons. The scattered electrons will be detected in an electromagnetic calorimeter. In this presentation, I will review the status of the proton elastic electromagnetic form factors and discus s a number of theoretical approaches to describe nucleon form factors.
How Infants form Categories

Publisher Summary Categorization is an essential perceptual–cognitive activity that enables the reduction of the enormous diversity in the world to a manageable level. A typical categorization experiment involves two phases: (1) training subjects with a set of exemplars from a given category, which is followed by (2) a test with a mixture of new exemplars from the same category and nonexemplars. The degree to which subjects correctly sort these test items into category members versus nonmembers is taken as evidence for categorization. There are a number of similarities between infant and adult categorization processes. Infants, like adults, are able to abstract a prototypic representation containing the average of experienced dimensional values. By 10 months of age, infants are rather sophisticated in their categorization abilities, and these abilities develop considerably over the course of the first year. The developmental studies support the existence of two transitions across age in the perception of correlated attributes. First, there appears to be a developmental trend from the representation of feature-specific information to the representation of feature combinations. Second, there exists a transition from processing relations among features of a single pattern or object to processing correlations in the context of a category.
Eosinophilic Esophagitis: A Brief Review

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic hypersensitivity disease - characterized by localized inflammation of the esophagus - with a rising incidence in the United States. Here we present a summary of current medical understandings of the disease, including management approaches and future directions of research.
atSNP: transcription factor binding affinity testing for regulatory SNP detection.

Motivation: Genome-wide association studies revealed that most disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are located in regulatory regions within introns or in regions between genes. Regulatory SNPs (rSNPs) are such SNPs that affect gene regulation by changing transcription factor (TF) binding affinities to genomic sequences. Identifying potential rSNPs is crucial for understanding disease mechanisms. In silico methods that evaluate the impact of SNPs on TF binding affinities are not scalable for large-scale analysis. Results: We describe affinity testing for regulatory SNPs (atSNP), a computationally efficient R package for identifying rSNPs in silico. atSNP implements an importance sampling algorithm coupled with a first-order Markov model for the background nucleotide sequences to test the significance of affinity scores and SNP-driven changes in these scores. Application of atSNP with >20 K SNPs indicates that atSNP is the only available tool for such a large-scale task. atSNP provides user-friendly output in the form of both tables and composite logo plots for visualizing SNP-motif interactions. Evaluations of atSNP with known rSNP-TF interactions indicate that SNP is able to prioritize motifs for a given set of SNPs with high accuracy. Availability and implementation: https://github.com/keleslab/atSNP. Contact: ude.csiw.tats@selek Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A QUANTITATIVE ASSAY FOR URINARY PORPHOBILINOGEN.

A procedure has been developed for the rapid, quantitative determination of urinary porphobilinogen. Interfering substances are removed by selectively adsorbing the porphobilinogen with an ion-exchange resin using a batch method. After acid elution of the porphobilinogen, Ehrlich9s reagent is added to produce the chromophore, which is then measured spectrophotometrically. Obtaining absorption at two wavelengths permits a differentiation of porphobilinogen from interfering reactants not removed by the resin treatment. This assay is relatively simple, dependable, highly reproducible for increased amounts, and more specific than the qualitative assay.