cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Peritoneal Equilibration Test Curves and Adequacy of Dialysis in Children on Automated Peritoneal Dialysis

Peritoneal equilibration tests (PETs) and adequacy studies have been performed to guide dialysis prescriptions in adult continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients, although few studies have been reported in pediatric patients on nightly cycling peritoneal dialysis. We performed 49 PETs in 28 children on automated peritoneal dialysis (mean age, 8.9 years; age range, 0.2 to 19.8 years; mean time on dialysis, 14.1 months) using Dianeal 2.5% dialysate (Baxter Healthcare Corp, McGaw Park, IL) inflow volumes of 1,200 ML/m2 (approximately 40 mL/kg), and standard technique. Mean 4-hour dialysate/plasma creatinine was 0.73 ± 0.12 (range, 0.45 to 1.03). Mean 4-hour dialysate glucose/initial dialysate glucose was 0.28 ± 0.10 (range, 0.06 to 0.50). Eighty percent of these PETs fell into the high average/high solute transport categories proposed by Twardowski, based on adult PETs. Twenty-four-hour dialysate collections were analyzed in 28 patients for protein loss and glucose absorption, as well as for calculation of weekly Kt/V. Mean weekly Kt/V was 1.94 ± 0.94 (range, 0.63 to 5.10). Mean dialytic creatinine clearance calculated from the 4-hour dwell was 5.6 ±1.0 mL/min/1.73 m2 (56 L/wk/1.73 m2). Mean daily protein loss was 0.20 ± 0.13 g/kg/d (range, 0.2 to 9.1 g/d) and glucose absorption was 3.49 ± 2.24 g/kg/d (range, 17 to 196 g/d). Our results show higher solute diffusion rates in children compared with the published adult PET results (P = 0.0013 and P
Do inner shells of double-walled carbon nanotubes fluoresce?

The reported fluorescence from inner shells of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) is an intriguing and potentially useful property. A combination of bulk and single-molecule methods was used to study the spectroscopy, chemical quenching, mechanical rigidity, abundance, density, and TEM images of the near-IR emitters in DWCNT samples. DWCNT inner shell fluorescence is found to be weaker than SWCNT fluorescence by a factor of at least 10 000. Observable near-IR emission from DWCNT samples is attributed to SWCNT impurities.
The contribution of bovine leukaemia virus infected B-cells to the number of circulating B-cells in cattle

This study used a combination of single antigen immunoperoxidase staining for bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) p24 capsid antigen and IgM to enumerate the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) infected with BLV and the number of B-cells, respectively. A significant relationship was found between the number of BLV-infected PBMCs and the number of circulating B-cells. A model was created that predicted the number of circulating B-cells using the number of BLV-infected PBMCs. These data also show that the percentage of B-cells in PBMCs preparations is not affected by 24 h of in vitro culture when LPS is added to the culture medium. Double antigen labelling showed that the majority of circulating B-cells were infected with BLV in some BLV-seropositive cattle that were not persistently lymphocytotic.
eLearning in a Foreign Language

In this article, the author explores the challenges of learning a foreign language online and how the process differs from that of learning other subjects in one's native language. The author suggests adjusting first year credit hours to provide more language practice, increasing variety in lesson plans, and keeping up with instructional technology and the virtual classroom. Leadership themes and the magnitude of student autonomy in the virtual foreign language classroom are also discussed.
Inflation and housing demand: A new perspective

Abstract The effects of inflation on the housing market are investigated in this study of new house prices in 42 U.S. metropolitan areas from 1971 to 1978. The results show that estimates of the elasticity of real house prices with respect to the real user cost have been biased sharply downward owing to an errors-in-variables problem. When the error term in estimating expected inflation is recognized explicitly, the negative relationship between real house prices and real user cost is found to be very strong. This analysis helps to resolve the conflict in the literature between the negative cash-flow effects and the positive untaxed capital gains and declining real payment effects resulting from inflation.
Opportunistic Data-driven Execution of Parallel Programs for Efficient I/O Services

A parallel system relies on both process scheduling and I/O scheduling for efficient use of resources, and a program's performance hinges on the resource on which it is bottlenecked. Existing process schedulers and I/O schedulers are independent. However, when the bottleneck is I/O, there is an opportunity to alleviate it via cooperation between the I/O and process schedulers: the service efficiency of I/O requests can be highly dependent on their issuance order, which in turn is heavily influenced by process scheduling. We propose a data-driven program execution mode in which process scheduling and request issuance are coordinated to facilitate effective I/O scheduling for high disk efficiency. Our implementation, Dual Par, uses process suspension and resumption, as well as pre-execution and prefetching techniques, to provide a pool of pre-sorted requests to the I/O scheduler. This data-driven execution mode is enabled when I/O is detected to be the bottleneck, otherwise the program runs in the normal computation-driven mode. Dual Par is implemented in the MPICH2 MPI-IO library for MPI programs to coordinate I/O service and process execution. Our experiments on a 120-node cluster using the PVFS2 file system show that Dual Par can increase system I/O throughput by 31% on average, compared to existing MPI-IO with or without using collective I/O.
Minimal ``Sum of Products of Sums" Expressions of Boolean Functions

The problem of economical synthesis of circuits for digital computers leads to the problem of finding Boolean expressions of minimal length equivalent to a Boolean expression f. Previous authors restricted themselves to ``sum of products'' expressions; dualizing this gives ``products of sums.'' The next more efficient step is to find minimal ``sums of products of sums'' expressions. In this paper, the basic concepts are formulated in Part I, and general theorems are given in Part II. In Part III, all the distinct minimal ``sum of products of sums'' expressions are obtained in case the cell complex of f consists of two isolated points. For the case of three isolated points partial results have been obtained which will be published in a later communication.
Your time zone or mine?: a study of globally time zone-shifted collaboration

We conducted interviews with sixteen members of teams that worked across global time zone differences. Despite time zone differences of about eight hours, collaborators still found time to synchronously meet. The interviews identified the diverse strategies teams used to find time windows to interact, which often included times outside of the normal workday and connecting from home to participate. Recent trends in increased work connectivity from home and blurred boundaries between work and home enabled more scheduling flexibility. While email use was understandably prevalent, there was also general interest in video, although obstacles remain for widespread usage. We propose several design implications for supporting this growing population of workers that need to span global time zone differences.
Lessons From a Juvenile Training School: Survival and Growth

This article examines the lessons learned by youths confined to a maximum-security juvenile correctional facility. Using data from an ethnographic study of a cottage of violent offenders in one state’s end-of-the-line training school, the author describes the lessons the institution and its staff members hoped to teach the young people in their care and the informal but vital lessons the inmates indicated they had learned during their incarceration. The continued viability of training schools as a response to serious and violent juvenile offenders is analyzed and discussed.
Fabrication tolerance analysis of an OEIC passive duplexer

A simulation method has been developed to study the fabrication tolerances of a passive duplexer on InP substrate which could be a part of an optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) module. This method, based on a Taylor's series expansion, is fast enough to estimate the effect produced on the crossover power when a simultaneous variation of the duplexer parameters take place. It seems to be very useful, particularly during a repetitive control of the device characteristics. >
Accurate Born–Oppenheimer calculations of the low‐lying c3Σ g+ and a3Σ u+ excited states of helium dimer

Accurate variational Born–Oppenheimer calculations of the two lowest excited Σ triplet states of the helium dimer at their respective equilibrium geometries are reported. The wave functions of the states are expanded in terms of explicitly correlated Gaussian functions with shifted centers. The obtained energies are the best variational estimates ever calculated for these states. One-electron densities are also presented and discussed. The results are compared with the experimental values and previous calculations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008
Risk for fractures following cataract surgery.

Context: Visual impairment is a known risk factor for fractures. Little is known about the association of cataract surgery with fracture risk. Objective: To determine the association of cataract surgery with subsequent fracture risk in US Medicare beneficiaries with a diagnosis of cataract. Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective study of 1-year fracture incidence in a 5% random sample of Medicare Part B beneficiaries with cataract who received and did not receive cataract surgery from 2002 through 2009. Main Outcome Measures: One-year incidence of hip fractures. Analyses were adjusted for age; sex; race/ethnicity; US region of residence; systemic comorbidities, including Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score; ocular comorbidities; cataract severity; and presence of physically limiting conditions. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of hip fractures were calculated using logistic regression modeling. Results: There were 1 113 640 US Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older with a diagnosis of cataract between 2002 and 2009 in the 5% random sample; of these patients, 410 809 (36.9%) received cataract surgery during the study period. There were 13 976 patients (1.3%) who sustained a hip fracture during the study period. The most common fracture-related comorbidity was osteoporosis (n = 134 335; 12.1%). The most common ocular comorbidity was glaucoma (n = 212 382; 19.1%). Compared with 1-year hip fracture incidence in patients with cataract who did not have cataract surgery, adjusted OR of hip fracture within 1 year after cataract surgery was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.81-0.87) with an absolute risk difference of 0.20%. Compared with matched subgroups of patients who did not receive cataract surgery, patient subgroups that experienced lower odds of hip fracture after cataract surgery included patients with severe cataract, patients most likely to receive cataract surgery based on propensity score, patients 75 years and older, and patients with a CCI score of 3 or greater. Conclusion: In a cohort of US Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older with a diagnosis of cataract, patients who had cataract surgery had lower odds of hip fracture within 1 year after surgery compared with patients who had not undergone cataract surgery.
On the extrapolation of the magnitudes |E| of the normalized structure factors E

For each fixed reciprocal-lattice vector {\bf H}, the correlation coefficient, \rho_{\bf H}, of the pair (|E_{\bf K}|,|E_{\bf H-K}|), where the magnitudes |E_{\bf K}| and |E_{\bf H-K}| are presumed to be known, is itself positively correlated with |E_{\bf H}|. Thus, the correlation coefficients \rho_{\bf H} serve to mediate the transfer of information from one region of reciprocal space to another. In particular, the calculated values of the correlation coefficients \rho_{\bf H} lead to estimates of the unknown magnitudes |E_{\bf H}|, even when the latter lie outside the sphere of the experimentally observed |E|s (extrapolation). The applications show that the procedure described here to carry out this extrapolation is superior to existing methods.
Synergistic activation of the human MnSOD promoter by DJ-1 and PGC-1α: regulation by SUMOylation and oxidation

Oxidative stress contributes to the development of neurodegenerative diseases. DJ-1, a protein genetically linked to Parkinson's disease (PD), has been implicated in oxidative stress defense and transcriptional regulation. However, it is unclear whether these two aspects of the DJ-1 function are connected. Here, we show that the inactivation of DJ-1 causes decreased expression of the human MnSOD. DJ-1 stimulates the activity of a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis and stress response, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma co-activator 1alpha (PGC-1alpha), in the transcription of the MnSOD. Although DJ-1 does not interact with PGC-1alpha directly, it inhibits the SUMOylation of a transcriptional repressor, pyrimidine tract-binding protein-associated splicing factor (PSF). PSF binds PGC-1alpha and suppresses its transcriptional activity. In contrast, a SUMOylation-deficient PSF mutant exhibits reduced binding to PGC-1alpha and promotes its activity. SUMO-specific isopeptidase SENP-1 further enhances the synergy between DJ-1 and PGC-1alpha, whereas an SUMO E3 ligase protein inhibitor of activated STAT Y completely blocks the synergy. Conversely, oxidative modification renders DJ-1 unable to inhibit SUMOylation, resulting in attenuated transcriptional synergy between DJ-1 and PGC-1alpha. Therefore, our results validate DJ-1 as a transcriptional regulator in mitochondrial oxidative stress response and imply that the oxidation-mediated functional impairment of DJ-1 leads to gradual dysregulation of the SUMO pathway. Consequent abnormal mitochondrial gene expression may contribute to the development of sporadic PD.
Universal influenza vaccination and live attenuated influenza vaccination of children.

Influenza is an uncontrolled epidemic disease that is vaccine preventable. Each winter the peak of medically attended acute respiratory illness coincides with the peak of influenza virus activity. The anatomy of an urban influenza epidemic is presented highlighting the role of children in the spread of influenza. The efficacy and safety of the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) for children are documented and the indirect effectiveness (herd protection) of vaccinating schoolchildren is demonstrated. Children have the highest attack rates during influenza epidemics and the consequences of influenza virus infection can be severe regardless of the virus type_A(HlN1), A(H3N2), or B. Early in the epidemic, over one-half of the culture-positive illnesses will occur in school-aged children demonstrating their role in spreading the virus in the community. LAIV has been shown to be superior to inactivated vaccine for children and is safe even for children with mild intermittent asthma. One dose of LAIV is effective and gives almost immediate protection. LAIV administered by nasal spray is readily accepted by children. Several studies have demonstrated herd protection by immunizing schoolchildren. These studies have shown that immunizing schoolchildren is more efficient than vaccinating elderly and high-risk patients directly. Current recommendations for influenza vaccine give priority to more than 200 million persons in the United States, but vaccine coverage has not improved since 1997. Systematic delivery of influenza vaccine in school-based and workplace-based clinics would greatly enhance the control of epidemic influenza and help prepare for the next pandemic.
Family Behaviors among Early U.S. Baby Boomers: Exploring the Effects of Religion and Income Change, 1965–1982

This article explores the interrelationships of religion, income, and family behaviors to evaluate culture war and toolkit theories. In analyzing a 1965-82 panel study of early U.S. baby boomers, analyses revealed that (1) while religious beliefs did not affect involvement in children's education, contact with parents, or incidence of divorce, regular worship attendance clustered with greater involvement in children's education, frequent parent contact, and staying married; (2) possessing an upper income, and rising to one especially, is associated with a doubled to quadrupled likelihood of divorce; (3) religion and income demonstrate significant associations with family behavior, even in controlled multivariate analyses. Results imply the culture war model is overstated, while the cultural toolkit model offers a more plausible explanation for simultaneous ideological contestation and behavioral conformity
Ca2+-dependent Calmodulin Binding to FcRn Affects Immunoglobulin G Transport in the Transcytotic Pathway

The Fcgamma receptor FcRn transports immunoglobulin G (IgG) so as to avoid lysosomal degradation and to carry it bidirectionally across epithelial barriers to affect mucosal immunity. Here, we identify a calmodulin-binding site within the FcRn cytoplasmic tail that affects FcRn trafficking. Calmodulin binding to the FcRn tail is direct, calcium-dependent, reversible, and specific to residues comprising a putative short amphipathic alpha-helix immediately adjacent to the membrane. FcRn mutants with single residue substitutions in this motif, or FcRn mutants lacking the cytoplasmic tail completely, exhibit a shorter half-life and attenuated transcytosis. Chemical inhibitors of calmodulin phenocopy the mutant FcRn defect in transcytosis. These results suggest a novel mechanism for regulation of IgG transport by calmodulin-dependent sorting of FcRn and its cargo away from a degradative pathway and into a bidirectional transcytotic route.
Theoretical distribution of truncation lengths in incremental truncation libraries.

Incremental truncation is a method for con- structing libraries of every one base pair truncation of a segment of DNA. Incremental truncation libraries can be created using a time-dependent nuclease method or through the incorporation of -phosphothioate dNTPs by PCR or by primer extension (THIO(pcr) truncation and THIO(extension) truncation, respectively). Libraries cre- ated by the fusion of two truncation libraries, known as ITCHY libraries, can be created using the above methods or by the incremental truncation-like method SHIPREC. Knowing and being able to tailor the distribution of trun- cations in incremental truncation, ITCHY and SHIPREC libraries would be beneficial for their use in protein en- gineering and other applications. However, the experi- mental determination of the distributions would require extensive, cost-prohibitive, DNA sequencing to obtain statistically relevant data. Instead, a theoretical predic- tion of the distributions was developed. Time-dependent incremental truncation libraries had the most uniform distribution of truncation lengths, but were biased against longer truncations. Essentially uniform distribu- tion over the desired truncation range (from zero to Nmax base pairs) required that truncations be prepared up to at least 1.2-1.5 Nmax. THIO(pcr) and THIO(extension) trun- cation libraries had a very nonuniform distribution of truncation lengths with a bias against longer truncations. Such nonuniformity could be significantly diminished by decreasing the incorporation rate of S-dNTPs but at the expense of having a large fraction of the DNA truncated beyond the desired range or completely degraded. ITCHY libraries created using time-dependent truncation had the most uniform distribution of possible fusions and had the highest fraction of the library being parental- length fusions. However, the distribution of parental- length fusions was biased against fusions near the be- ginning/ends of genes unless the truncation libraries are prepared with a uniform distribution up to Nmax. In con- trast, SHIPREC libraries and THIO(pcr) ITCHY libraries, by the very nature of the nonuniform distributions of the truncated DNA, are ensured of having a uniform distri- bution of fusion points in parental-length fusions. This comes at the expense of having a smaller fraction of the library being parental-length fusions; however, this limi- tation can be overcome by performing size selection on the library. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 82: 564-577, 2003.
The Identity Christian Movement: Ideology of Domestic Terrorism

In past years, terrorism has been most often associated with countries other than the United States. Concomitantly, acts of ter- rorism on American shores were formerly linked to foreign resi- dent extremists. However, an increasing body of evidence suggests that domestic terrorism in the United States perpetuated by Ameri- cans is increasing, especially in the past 20 years. The causes of violent acts directed at the government and its officials, ethnic and other minorities, synagogues, and Black churches have con- founded law enforcement agencies. These acts of violence include from the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995; mail bombs directed at federal judges and NAACP leaders; random acts of violence targeting homosexuals, Blacks, Jews, His- panics, and Asians; the burning of Black and mixed congregation churches in the South; the July 24, 1998 shootings at the nation's capitol; and most recently, the beating death of a gay Wyoming uni- versity student and the June 1998 dragging death of a Black man in Texas. On the surface, these appear to be separate and unrelated incidents. None of these events can be linked to a grand conspiracy
Investigation of an Energy Efficient Hydraulic Propulsion System for a Railway Machine

Many railway construction and maintenance machines have large masses and perform repetitive working cycles with frequent stops that require precise positioning. For these reasons, a hydraulic propulsion system is a convenient choice. Common existing solutions make use of valve-controlled hydraulic circuits where inefficient fluid throttling takes place. Most of the time, dissipative braking is realized resulting in a remarkable quantity of available energy being wasted (up to 36 kJ of kinetic energy is available in the reference application). Additionally, the machine's automated positioning is a critical aspect. On some commercialized solutions, an overshoot of the desired final position is commonplace requiring a reverse motion in order to match the location of the desired working point. This is a negative characteristic as it introduces unnecessary fuel consumption and slows down productivity. Moreover, consideration of the limited adhesion in the wheel/rail interface is of critical importance. The propulsion system needs to be capable of differentiating the tractive or the braking torques between the driven axles. To this end, the paper proposes and analyzes a displacement-controlled (DC) propulsion system for a railway maintenance machine. The target is the removal of the fluid throttling mentioned above by defining an efficient hydraulic system. The ability to recover energy via regenerative breaking becomes a key process in improving the global machine efficiency. Simultaneously, an implementable control strategy is required for the proposed architecture to prevent overshoot of the desired position while stopping. To that end, this paper presents the mathematical model of the proposed layout used to simulate the system's behavior in order to confirm proper functioning. This work concludes with a discussion and definition of future improvements.
An Analysis Report of 2014 CALA Self-Assessment Survey

On the occasion of CALA’s 40th anniversary in 2014, the 2013 Board of Directors appointed a Self-Assessment Task Force to conduct an assessment survey with special focuses on members’ awareness of CALA’s organizational structure and policies, its services to members, the extent of participation in events sponsored by CALA, and the level of satisfaction with CALA leadership. Although only one-fifth of the active members responded to the survey, the answers and feedback have identified areas for organizational improvement and have shown how active members view the current state of CALA. Some essential findings from the survey include: 1) the growth of overseas membership as a demographic trend, 2) a need to recruit student members, 3) a high percentage of CALA members not aware of CALA’s Mission/Vision/Goal, 4) conflicting data on CALA’s leadership, 5) discovery of low ratings (10-30% of respondents) on eleven out of twelve rating questions, and 6) strong support for CALA as a representative organization of Chinese American librarians in North America. The findings of the survey will serve as a valuable reference for future strategic planning and for carrying out CALA’s long term goals.
Understanding the Impact of Stroke on Brain Motor Function: A Hierarchical Bayesian Approach

ABSTRACTStroke is a disturbance in blood supply to the brain resulting in the loss of brain functions, particularly motor function. A study was conducted by the UCI Neurorehabilitation Lab to investigate the impact of stroke on motor-related brain regions. Functional MRI (fMRI) data were collected from stroke patients and healthy controls while the subjects performed a simple motor task. In addition to affecting local neuronal activation strength, stroke might also alter communications (i.e., connectivity) between brain regions. We develop a hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach for the analysis of multi-subject fMRI data that allows us to explore brain changes due to stroke. Our approach simultaneously estimates activation and condition-specific connectivity at the group level, and provides estimates for region/subject-specific hemodynamic response functions. Moreover, our model uses spike-and-slab priors to allow for direct posterior inference on the connectivity network. Our results indicate that mot...
Toward the era of transformational neuropsychiatry.

The time has come for psychiatry to reclaim its neurological roots and to regain its neuroscientific identity. Prior to the Freudian theory that dominated psychiatry for many decades in the 20th century, psychiatry and neurology were integrated in one department with combined training in neuropsychiatry. It is ironic that Freud, who is a neurologist, by inventing and propagating a theoretical psychoanalytic model for mental functions, contributed to the rupture of the productive unity of neurology and psychiatry. By the 1950s, psychiatry had become de-medicalized and de-neurologized due to the abstract, nonevidence-based psychoanalytic constructs, along with its entirely non-medical jargon. No wonder neurologists decided to break up from psychiatry to form their own associations and to establish separate journals. This estrangement exacerbated the fallacious artificial dichotomization of brain and mind, endowing neurology with a robust medical identity and casting psychiatry as just a philosophy of behavior with no clear medical identity and no recognizable physical findings or neurological basis for its disorder. Alas, both specialties suffered from the rupture of their longstanding union: psychiatry became brainless and neurology became mindless. With rare exceptions, across all medical schools, the departments of neurology and psychiatry currently exist and function as independent silos, with rare academic interactions. The separate training of psychiatrists and neurologists institutionalized the faulty brain–mind dualism: neurological disorders were considered ‘‘organic’’ with tangible sensory/motor impairments, while psychiatric disorders were erroneously conceptualized as ‘‘functional’’, i.e. phenotypic alterations of mood, thoughts and behavior, with no ‘‘tangible’’ neurological localizing signs. Despite the tremendous advances in neuropsychiatry and behavioral
Research on 3D Chatter Stability of Orthogonal and Eccentric Turn-milling

Aimed at the characteristics of variable cutting depth and thickness due to complex motion in orthogonal turn-milling,the 3D chatter theoretical model is proposed by using mathematic method based on orthogonal turn-milling principle.The chatter stability lobes of the orthogonal and eccentric turn-milling are predicted in the frequency domain using the proposed analytical solution,which the chatter condition in orthogonal turn-milling is closed relative to both cutter speed and depth of cut,besides cutter geometry,engagement conditions,frequency response function,material property of workpiece and so on.The results of spectrum analysis of cutting force in the experiment of orthogonal turn-milling chatter stability process show that the process is chatter free and stable when the spectrum is dominated by the tooth passing frequency.Chatter is occurred when the spectrum is dominated by the modal frequencies of system structure,and cutting force and surface roughness are higher in chatter conditions than in chatter free conditions.Therefore,the chatter stability of orthogonal turn-milling can be predicted by using the theoretical model and simulation results,and a theoretical guidance is provided for machined surface quality and machining efficiency.
Publishing a Better Homiletical Textbook

Preaching, homiletics, sermon preparation, and effective church communication is an oft published topic by religious publishing houses and by academic publishing houses. This study, based on all three major branches of Christianity, found that preaching practitioners considered preaching textbooks to be woefully inadequate in teaching homiletical skills. Only by incorporating new sections on needed skills will the homiletical textbook once again become an effective tool of education.
Prognosis of Medulloblastoma

The prognostic role of clinical, pathological, and therapeutic factors in cases of medulloblastoma reported in the literature are reviewed at the University of Turin, Italy.
ATP-Induced Modulation of Norepinephrine Exocytosis in Human and Porcine Heart: Role of E-NTPDase1/CD39.

Abstract ATP co-released with norepinephrine (NE) from cardiac sympathetic nerve terminals increases NE exocytosis via a positive feedback mechanism. Since excessive NE release is an established cause of dysfunction in ischemic heart disease, we studied the role of endogenous and exogenous nucleotidases as part of the development of a novel therapeutic approach to myocardial ischemia and its consequences. Using sympathetic nerve terminals isolated from guinea pig heart (cardiac synaptosomes), we previously established that activation of ATP-gated ionotropic presynaptic P2X purinoceptors (P2XR) promotes exocytosis of NE. This effect was increased by inhibition of the endogenous ecto-nucleotidase (E-NTPDase1/CD39) and decreased by solCD39, a recombinant form of human E-NTPDasel/CD39. Furthermore, depolarization of synaptosomes with K+ also evoked NE exocytosis. This was potentiated by inhibition of E-NTPDase1 with ARL67156 (a selective E-NTPDase inhibitor), and attenuated by addition of solCD39. These findings indicated that ATP released by depolarization of sympathetic terminals enhances NE exocytosis, and that E-NTPDase1 plays an important modulatory role in adrenergic neurotransmission in the heart. In the present study, we investigated the role of E-NTPDasel in exocytosis of NE and ATP in porcine as well as human heart. Cardiac E-NTPDase1 is selectively localized in human and porcine cardiac neurons, and depolarization of cardiac tissue elicits an ω-conotoxin-inhibitable release of both NE and ATP. Inhibition of E-NTPDase1 with ARL67156 markedly potentiated release of ATP, demonstrating that E-NTPDase1 is a major control system for ATP availability at sympathetic nerve endings. Importantly, when ATP exocytosis was increased via inhibition of E-NTPDase1, NE exocytosis increased in parallel. Moreover, when ATP release was reduced by administration of solCD39, NE exocytosis was markedly diminished. Thus, ATP regulates NE exocytosis by activating presynaptic P2XR. This concept is further validated by our finding that the strong correlation between ATP and NE release was abolished by the P2XR antagonist PPADS. We conclude that released ATP governs NE exocytosis by activating presynaptic P2XR and that this is controlled by E-NTPDase1/CD39. Clinically, excessive NE release is a major cause of arrhythmic and coronary vascular dysfunction during myocardial ischemia. By curtailing NE release, solCD39 may offer a novel therapeutic approach to ischemic complications in the myocardium in addition to its role as an anti-thrombotic agent.
An approach for identifying cryptic barriers to gene flow that limit species' geographic ranges.

Species’ geographic range limits are most often not demarcated by obvious dispersal barriers. Poor quality habitat at the edge of a species’ range can prevent range expansion by preventing outward migration or through reducing adaptive potential resulting from decreased genetic diversity. We identified habitat variables that constrain gene flow across the entire geographic range of an endemic salamander (Ambystoma barbouri) in the eastern United States, and we tested whether increased resistance resulting from these variables provides cryptic dispersal barriers at the range edges. Using polymorphic microsatellite loci, we first identified three genetic clusters that are separated by the Ohio and Kentucky rivers. Through a combination of landscape genetic analyses and generalized dissimilarity modeling, we then classified variables that (1), restrict gene flow in each of the genetic clusters across the geographic distribution of A. barbouri and (2), become more common towards the peripheries of the distribution. A decrease in limestone availability and an increase in growing season precipitation were correlated with high resistance to gene flow across the range, and both became more common at the edges of the species’ distribution. However, other landscape variables were more important for explaining variation in gene flow rates in different portions of the range, such as increased mean annual temperature and frost-free period in the south versus growing season precipitation in the north. Taken together, these results suggest that there are both range-wide and regionally specific cryptic habitat barriers preventing geographic range expansion. Species’ geographic range limits are likely governed by a set of ecological and evolutionary factors, and our landscape genetic approach could be applied to gain additional insight in many systems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
RNA-sequencing Identifies Novel Pathways in Sarcoidosis Monocytes

Sarcoidosis is a complex systemic granulomatous disorder of unknown etiology. Genome-wide association studies have not been able to explain a causative role for nucleotide variation in its pathogenesis. The goal of the present study was to identify the gene expression profile and the cellular pathways altered in sarcoidosis monocytes via RNA-sequencing. Peripheral blood monocytes play a role in sarcoidosis inflammation. Therefore, we determined and compared the transcriptional signature of monocytes from peripheral blood from sarcoidosis patients and healthy controls via RNA-sequencing. We found 2,446 differentially expressed (DE) genes between sarcoidosis and healthy control monocytes. Analysis of these DE genes showed enrichment for ribosome, phagocytosis, lysosome, proteasome, oxidative phosphorylation and metabolic pathways. RNA-sequencing identified upregulation of genes involved in phagocytosis and lysosomal pathway in sarcoidosis monocytes, whereas genes involved in proteasome degradation and ribosomal pathways were downregulated. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of specific genes involved in the identified pathways and their possible interaction leading to sarcoidosis pathology.
Association of Disease Location and Treatment With Survival in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma of the Eye and Ocular Adnexal Region.

Importance Primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the ocular region is rare, and the utility of surgery and radiation therapy remains unresolved. Objective To explore the clinical characteristics and determine factors associated with overall survival in primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL) and ocular adnexal (OA)–uveal DLBCL. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective analysis included 396 patients with ophthalmic DLBCL from January 1, 1973, through December 31, 2014, using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The median follow-up was 39.0 months (interquartile range, 5.1-72.9 months). All patients diagnosed with primary DLBCL of the eye or retina (PVRL) or the eyelid, conjunctiva, choroid, ciliary body, lacrimal gland, or orbit (OA-uveal lymphoma) were included. Patients diagnosed at autopsy or with additional neoplastic disease were excluded. Main Outcomes and Measures Patient demographic characteristics, disease location, treatment modalities, and overall survival. Results Forty-seven patients with PVRL (24 women [51.1%] and 23 men [48.9%]) and 349 with OA-uveal DLBCL (192 women [55.0%] and 157 men [45.0%]) had a similar mean (SD) age at diagnosis (69.6 [12.3] vs 66.1 [17.7] years). No difference in the use of surgery or radiation therapy by location was found. For all PVRL and OA-uveal DLBCL, a Cox proportional hazards regression model affirmed that age older than 60 years was associated with increased risk for death (hazard ratio [HR], 2.7; 95% CI, 1.9-4.0;P Conclusions and Relevance The 5-year survival in PVRL vs OA-uveal DLBCL differed by 17.7%, and overall survival was greater in ophthalmic DLBCL than in DLBCL located outside the central nervous system and ophthalmic regions. Younger age (≤60 years) and gross total resection were associated with increased survival.
Experimental evidence for superionic water ice using shock compression

In stark contrast to common ice, Ih, water ice at planetary interior conditions has been predicted to become superionic with fast-diffusing (that is, liquid-like) hydrogen ions moving within a solid lattice of oxygen. Likely to constitute a large fraction of icy giant planets, this extraordinary phase has not been observed in the laboratory. Here, we report laser-driven shock-compression experiments on water ice VII. Using time-resolved optical pyrometry and laser velocimetry measurements as well as supporting density functional theory–molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) simulations, we document the shock equation of state of H2O to unprecedented extreme conditions and unravel thermodynamic signatures showing that ice melts near 5,000 K at 190 GPa. Optical reflectivity and absorption measurements also demonstrate the low electronic conductivity of ice, which, combined with previous measurements of the total electrical conductivity under reverberating shock compression, provides experimental evidence for superionic conduction in water ice at planetary interior conditions, verifying a 30-year-old prediction.
FDA Approval: Gemtuzumab Ozogamicin for the Treatment of Adults with Newly Diagnosed CD33-Positive Acute Myeloid Leukemia

On September 1, 2017, the FDA granted approval for gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg; Pfizer Inc.) in combination with daunorubicin and cytarabine and as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed CD33-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Gemtuzumab ozogamicin is a CD33-targeted antibody-drug conjugate joined to calicheamicin. Approval of gemtuzumab ozogamicin combination treatment was based on a randomized trial of 271 patients with newly diagnosed AML treated with daunorubicin and cytarabine with or without 3 mg/m2 fractionated gemtuzumab ozogamicin, which resulted in an event-free survival (EFS) of 13.6 months for gemtuzumab ozogamicin + daunorubicin and cytarabine and 8.8 months for daunorubicin and cytarabine alone [HR = 0.68 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.51-0.91)]. Hemorrhage, prolonged thrombocytopenia, and veno-occlusive disease were serious toxicities that were more common in patients treated with gemtuzumab ozogamicin + daunorubicin and cytarabine. Approval of gemtuzumab ozogamicin monotherapy was based on a randomized trial of 237 patients with newly diagnosed AML treated without curative intent. Median overall survival (OS) was 4.9 months with gemtuzumab ozogamicin versus 3.6 months on best supportive care [HR = 0.69 (95% CI, 0.53-0.90)]. Adverse events were similar on both arms. Postapproval, several studies are required including evaluation of fractionated gemtuzumab ozogamicin pharmacokinetics, safety of combination gemtuzumab ozogamicin in the pediatric population, immunogenicity, and the effects of gemtuzumab ozogamicin on platelet function. Clin Cancer Res; 24(14); 3242-6. ©2018 AACR.
Plasmonic Sensing and Control of Single-Nanoparticle Electrochemistry

Summary Plasmonic nanoparticles offer promise in photoelectrochemistry by enhancing the rate and selectivity of reactions and in sensing by responding optically to local reactions. Optical electrochemical measurements at the single-particle level are necessary for understanding and eventually controlling the role of plasmons in such complex environments. Recently, researchers have developed techniques to optically measure electrochemical reactions at the surface of single nanoparticles and individual aggregates, allowing for the high-throughput screening necessary to resolve subpopulations of active nanoparticle catalysts and identify active sites on aggregate structures. This review highlights single-nanoparticle and nanoparticle aggregate electrochemical techniques and how they can be used to isolate and elucidate the role of surface plasmons in enhancing catalyst activity and sensing electrochemical processes at the nanoscale.
Phony Facts and Eco-media: Fake Nature and the Call for Widespread Media Literacy

Mermaids: The Body Found privileges mythologized creatures in a fictional narrative disguised as a documentary film in order to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction. This franchise’s decisi...
A V-Band Power Amplifier With Integrated Wilkinson Power Dividers-Combiners and Transformers in 0.18- $\mu$ m SiGe BiCMOS

A high output power fully integrated V-band power amplifier (PA) is developed using a 0.18- $\ {\mu }\text{m}$ SiGe BiCMOS technology. The developed PA makes use of four-way parallel power dividing and combining structures to feed and combine powers from four identical unit-PA cells, respectively. Especially, the parallel power combiner and divider are developed by integrating a low-loss wideband Wilkinson structure and two transformers connected in parallel, which achieve broad bandwidth and minimum phase and amplitude mismatches between ports. The unit-PA is designed as a pseudo-differential two-stage cascode amplifier, which employ transformers for both matching and impedance transformation. The PA achieves measured broadband small-signal gain of 19 dB at 60 GHz and 3-dB bandwidth of 56.8–67.5 GHz, which encompasses the overall unlicensed V-band spectrum (57–64 GHz). In addition, it delivers 18.8 dBm of saturated output power and 15.3 dBm of output 1-dB compressed power at 60 GHz. Across 55 to 65 GHz, the PA achieves a very flat power performance with maximum output power between 17–19.1 dBm.
A Tak1/p38 Signaling Axis Regulates Runx2 Activity and Osteoblast Functions

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are evolutionarily ancient signal transduction pathways well-studied as mediators of a variety of immunological responses. Despite the involvement of MAPKs in signal transduction downstream of various growth factors relevant to osteoblasts, the exact role of MAPKs in osteoblasts remains poorly understood. We have examined in particular the role of an MAP3K, TGFβ-activated kinase 1 (TAK1/MAP3K7), finding that mice with a conditional deletion of Tak1 in ostoeblasts display severe osteopenia and stigmata of human cleidocranial dysplasia, a skeletal disorder caused by haploinsufficency for the master regulator of osteoblast differentiation, Runx2. Examination of pathways downstream of TAK1 demonstrates that p38α and p38β mediate phosphorylation and activation of Runx2 by promoting the interaction between Runx2 and cofactor CBP. Thus, the p38 pathway is a critical regulator of Runx2 activity, connecting growth factor signaling to osteoblast differentiation.
The effects of player type on performance: A gamification case study

Abstract The objective of this work was to explore the effects that an individual's Hexad player type has on their performance in gamified applications. Previous studies sought to explore the relationship between player types of individuals and their preference of game elements. However, these studies have been theoretical in nature, never exposing participants to actual gamified applications or analyzing their real-time performance. Consequently, the biases inherent in humans may impact the validity of these studies since humans are rarely mindful of their behavior and preferences before they are faced with the stimuli (e.g., game elements). Moreover, the effects of game elements on an individual's motivation and performance may differ when implemented in an application. With existing theory-based studies on player types, a designer may spend valuable resources tailoring an application according to an individual's player type and his/her perceived preferences and yet, not see any positive effects on performance. In light of these gaps, a case study with a randomized controlled experiment is presented in which individuals' player type, their perception of game elements, and their performance, are assessed. The results indicate that player type correlates with individuals' perception of game elements and performance in the gamified application. These findings support the importance of exploring the relationship between player type and individuals' performance in gamified applications. Moreover, only after controlling for player type, the results reveal that participants who interacted with the gamified application performed better than those who interacted with the non-gamified application. These results highlight the importance of considering individuals' player type and the need for tailoring applications. Given these findings, this work provides guidelines to help tailor gamified applications, based on an individual's player type.
Forwarding with Prediction over Machine Learning based Nodes in Wireless Mesh Networks

As part of the next generation Internet, Wireless Mesh Networks have emerged as a key technology to deliver Internet broadband access, wireless local area network coverage and network connectivity at low costs. The capacity of a wireless mesh network is improved by equipping mesh nodes with multi-radios tuned to non-overlapping channels. Hence the data forwarding between two nodes has multiple selections of links and the bandwidth between the pair of nodes varies dynamically. The new technology makes mesh nodes cognitive, thus a mesh node is able to adopt machine learning mechanisms to choose the possible best next hop which has maximum bandwidth when it intends to forward data. In this paper, we present a new forwarding algorithm by which a forwarding node dynamically select its next hop with highest potential bandwidth capacity to resume communication based on learning algorithm. The efficiency of this approach is that a node only maintains three past status, and then it is able to learn and predict the potential bandwidth capacities of its links. Then, the node selects the next hop with potential maximal link bandwidth. Additionally, a geometrical based algorithm is developed to let the forwarding node ﬁgure out the best forwarding region in order to avoid ﬂooding. Simulations demonstrate that our approach signiﬁcantly outperforms peer algorithms.
15th International Headache Congress: Basic Science Highlights

The 15th Congress of the International Headache Society was held in Berlin from June 23rd to 26th of 2011. Interesting new data from several areas of the basic sciences of headache were presented. This is a review of some of the most exciting platform and poster presentations of the meeting. Research addressing 3 general areas of interest is presented in this review: pathophysiology, pharmacology, and genetics.