cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reduction of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy After Exercise and Weight Loss in Overweight Patients With Mild Hypertension

Background Hypertrophy and concentric remodeling of the left ventricle are important manifestations of hypertension that are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Although lifestyle interventions are efficacious in lowering blood pressure, evidence that they have a beneficial effect on target organs has been lacking. Objective To assess the effects of regular aerobic exercise or exercise plus weight management counseling on left ventricular mass and geometry in overweight, sedentary men and women with high-normal or mildly elevated blood pressure. Methods Eighty-two participants in a randomized, controlled trial were assigned to supervised aerobic exercise only, a behavioral weight management program that included exercise, or a waiting-list control group for 6 months. Blood pressure and echocardiographic measures of left ventricular structure were measured at baseline and at the conclusion of the treatment phase. Results The 45 women and 37 men had a mean ± SD age of 47 ± 9 years and had a mean ± SD blood pressure of 140 ± 10/93 ± 5 mm Hg. Blood pressure fell by 7/6 mm Hg in the weight management group and by 3/4 mm Hg in the aerobic exercise group. In association with these decreases in blood pressure, participants in the intervention groups exhibited significant decreases in left ventricular relative wall thickness ( P = .003), posterior wall thickness ( P = .05), and septal thickness ( P = .004) and a trend toward a decrease in indexed left ventricular mass ( P = .08) relative to the control group. Conclusions In a cohort of overweight, sedentary men and women, exercise and weight loss reduced blood pressure and induced favorable changes in left ventricular structure.
Induction of neural networks for parallel binary operations

The author achieves reproducibility of synaptic weights by using a neural network architecture called the Classitron. It is possible to induce parallel algorithms for the general case by training smaller networks. This is shown by producing a parallel carry-less addition scheme of n binary numbers, each m bits long. A particular advantage of the Classitron is the specification of internal representation via nonlinear functionalities which can be translated easily to the number of hidden nodes of a multilayer perceptron network. >
Neonatal Bisphenol-A Exposure Alters Rat Reproductive Development and Ovarian Morphology Without Impairing Activation of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Neurons

Developmental exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds is hypothesized to adversely affect female reproductive physiology by interfering with the organization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Here, we compared the effects of neonatal exposure to two environmentally relevant doses of the plastics component bisphenol-A (BPA; 50 microg/kg and 50 mg/kg) with the ESR1 (formerly known as ERalpha)-selective agonist 4,4',4''-(4-propyl-[(1)H]pyrazole-1,3,5-triyl)trisphenol (PPT; 1 mg/kg) on the development of the female rat hypothalamus and ovary. An oil vehicle and estradiol benzoate (EB; 25 microg) were used as negative and positive controls. Exposure to EB, PPT, or the low dose of BPA advanced pubertal onset. A total of 67% of females exposed to the high BPA dose were acyclic by 15 wk after vaginal opening compared with 14% of those exposed to the low BPA dose, all of the EB- and PPT-treated females, and none of the control animals. Ovaries from the EB-treated females were undersized and showed no evidence of folliculogenesis, whereas ovaries from the PPT-treated females were characterized by large antral-like follicles, which did not appear to support ovulation. Severity of deficits within the BPA-treated groups increased with dose and included large antral-like follicles and lower numbers of corpora lutea. Sexual receptivity, examined after ovariectomy and hormone replacement, was normal in all groups except those neonatally exposed to EB. FOS induction in hypothalamic gonadotropic (GnRH) neurons after hormone priming was impaired in the EB- and PPT-treated groups but neither of the BPA-treated groups. Our data suggest that BPA disrupts ovarian development but not the ability of GnRH neurons to respond to steroid-positive feedback.
Lack of association of the 3'-UTR polymorphism (rs1017) in the ISL1 gene and risk of congenital heart disease in the white population.

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most prevalent of all birth defects and the leading cause of death in the first year of life. The molecular causes of most CHDs remain largely unknown. The LIM homeodomain transcriptor factor ISL1 is a marker for undifferentiated cardiac progenitor cells that give rise to both the right ventricle and the inflow and outflow tracts, which are affected by several cardiovascular malformations. Contradictory findings about the role of the ISL1 rs1017 single-nucleotide polymorphism in increasing the risk of CHD have been reported. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the ISL1 rs1017 genetic polymorphism conferred susceptibility to CHD in the white population. In a case–control study design, 309 patients with CHD (197 men [age 21.3 ± 25.2]) and 500 healthy controls (272 men [age 15.7 ± 21.3]) were genotyped for the ISL1 rs1017 polymorphism. No significant difference in the genotype and variant allele distributions was found between patients and controls. In addition, the ISL1 rs1017 polymorphism was not associated with the risk of CHD neither overall (p = 0.7) nor stratifying the population by sex and CHD classification. In conclusion, ISL1 common variant rs1017 is not associated with increased genetic risk of CHD in the white population.
Response to Letter Regarding Article, “Correlates and Long-Term Outcomes of Angiographically Proven Stent Thrombosis with Sirolimus- and Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents”

We appreciate the letter and comments of Dr Tsai et al regarding correlates of drug-eluting stent (DES) thrombosis. We agree, as stated in our article, that cessation of clopidogrel is not the sole correlate for stent thrombosis.1 We identified chronic renal failure, insulin-treated diabetes, bifurcation lesions, and others as correlates. It is possible that there are other mechanical and biological correlates such as stent malapposition, lack of stent …
Nitrogen reallocation and photosynthetic acclimation in response to partial shading in soybean plants

The first trifoliate of soybean was shaded when fully expanded, while the plant remained in high light; a situation representative for plants growing in a closed crop. Leaf mass and respiration rate per unit area declined sharply in the first few days upon shading and remained rather constant during the further 12 days of the shading treatment. Leaf nitrogen per unit area decreased gradually until the leaves were shed. Leaf senescence was enhanced by the shading treatment in contrast to control plants growing in low light. Shaded leaves on plants grown at low nutrient availability senesced earlier than shaded leaves on plants grown at high nutrient availability. The light saturated rate of photosynthesis decreased also gradually during the shading treatment, but somewhat faster than leaf N, whereas chlorophyll contents declined somewhat slower than leaf N. Partitioning of N in the leaf over main photosynthetic functions was estimated from parameters derived from the response of photosynthesis to CO2. It appeared that the N exported from the leaf was more at the expense of compounds that make up photosynthetic capacity than of those involved in photon absorption, resulting in a change in partitioning of N within the photosynthetic apparatus. Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency increased during the shading treatment, which was for the largest part due to the decrease in leaf N content, to some extent to the decrease in respiration rate and only for a small part to change in partitioning of N within the photosynthetic apparatus.
Recorded earthquake responses from the integrated seismic monitoring network of the Atwood Building, Anchorage, Alaska

An integrated seismic monitoring system with a total of 53 channels of accelerometers is now operating in and at the nearby free-field site of the 20-story steel-framed Atwood Building in highly seismic Anchorage, Alaska. The building has a single-story basement and a reinforced concrete foundation without piles. The monitoring system comprises a 32-channel structural array and a 21-channel site array. Accelerometers are deployed on 10 levels of the building to assess translational, torsional, and rocking motions, interstory drift displacement between selected pairs of adjacent floors, and average drift between floors. The site array, located approximately a city block from the building, comprises seven triaxial accelerometers, one at the surface and six in boreholes ranging in depths from 15 to 200 feet 5‐60 meters. The arrays have already recorded low-amplitude shaking responses of the building and the site caused by numerous earthquakes at distances ranging from tens to a couple of hundred kilometers. Data from an earthquake that occurred 186 km away traces the propagation of waves from the deepest borehole to the roof of the building in approximately 0.5 seconds. Fundamental structural frequencies 0.58 Hz NS and 0.47 Hz EW, low damping percentages 2‐4%, mode coupling, and beating effects are identified. The fundamental site frequency at approximately 1.5 Hz is close to the second modal frequencies 1.83 Hz NS and 1.43 EW of the building, which may cause resonance of the building. Additional earthquakes prove repeatability of these characteristics; however, stronger shaking may alter these conclusions. DOI: 10.1193/1.2359702
Antiviral therapy for treatment-naı̈ve hepatitis B virus patients

Hepatitis B virus infection is a major public health problem worldwide, responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality from chronic liver disease. It is estimated that there are 350 million hepatitis B virus carriers globally. The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection varies greatly in different regions of the world. In the United States, approximately 1.5 million people are infected and 50,000 to 100,000 new cases are reported annually despite the availability of effective vaccines. This article reviews various antiviral therapies for treatment-naive hepatitis B virus patients.
The dependence of target discriminability on systematic and random variations in recorded radiance

Abstract Radiance reflected or emitted from a ground target exhibits an angular anisotropy which is wavelength dependent. While some empirical or modelling corrections may be made to reduce the impact of systematic effects upon target discrimination, no correction may be made for random variations in ground reflectance or emittance, nor for random variations in irradiance on the ground (optical reflective case) and in atmospheric transmission and backscallcr. A simple case in the optical-reflective region is considered, in order to demonstrate the dependence on scan angle (for a given Sun angle) of the effect of random variations on the discriminability of two ground targets partly obscured by a varying amount of unresolved cloud.
Comparison of Individual and Team-Based Dynamic Decision-Making Task (Anti-Air Warfare Coordinator): Consideration of Subjective Mental Workload Metacognition:

In most industrial systems, people not only work as individuals, but also a member of one or more teams. This research investigates the effect of human mental workload and metacognition between an ...
COMORBIDITY OF ANXIETY AND UNIPOLAR MOOD DISORDERS

Research on relationships between anxiety and depression has proceeded at a rapid pace since the 1980s. The similarities and differences between these two conditions, as well as many of the important features of the comorbidity of these disorders, are well understood. The genotypic structure of anxiety and depression is also fairly well documented. Generalized anxiety and major depression share a common genetic diathesis, but the anxiety disorders themselves are genetically hetergeneous. Sophisticated phenotypic models have also emerged, with data converging on an integrative hierarchical model of mood and anxiety disorders in which each individual syndrome contains both a common and a unique component. Finally, considerable progress has been made in understanding cognitive aspects of these disorders. This work has focused on both the cognitive content of anxiety and depression and on the effects that anxiety and depression have on information processing for mood-congruent material.
discourses of rule and the acknowledgment of the peasantry in Dominica, W.I., 1838–1928

Designations used by colonizers to describe colonized populations emerge through a multi-layered process that is affected by local social relations, by the colonizers' sociocultural outlook, by imperial tensions and by the metropolitan context. This paper describes the emergence of such a designation, the centurylong process by which cultivators in Dominica came to be called “peasants” by British colonists. Proponents and opponents alike saw in the word a metaphor for the acknowledgment of new relations of production that gave cultivators firmer control of the labor process.[Naming, colonialist discourse, British colonialism, peasantry, Dominica, Caribbean]
Free-boundary regularity on the focusing problem for the Gauss Curvature Flow with flat sides

We consider the motion of a compact weakly convex two-dimensional surface of revolution $\Sigma$ under the Gauss Curvature Flow. We assume that the initial surface has a flat side and as a consequence the parabolic equation describing the motion of the hypersurface becomes degenerate at points where the curvature is zero. Expressing the strictly convex part of the surface near the interface as the graph of a function $z=f(r,t)$ , we show that if at ti me $t=0, g=\sqrt f$ vanishes linearly at the flat side, then $g(r,t)$ will become smooth up to the interface for $t >0$ and it will remain smooth up to the focusing time T of the flat side. We also show that at the focusing time of the flat side, the function g is of class $C^{1,\beta}$ for all $\beta < $ and no better than $C^{1,{ 2 \over 5}}$ . This implies that at the focusing time the surface $\Sigma$ is of class $C^{2,\beta}$ for all $\beta < $ and no better than $C^{2,{2 \over 5}}$ . In the case of the evolution Monge-Ampere equation, we find the exact self-similar profile of the function g at its focusing time.
A Staff Dialogue on Do Not Resuscitate Orders: Psychosocial Issues Faced by Patients, Their Families, and Caregivers

The Oncologist 2002;7(suppl 2):36-42 www.TheOncologist.com Correspondence: Bruce A. Chabner, M.D., Hematology-Oncology Department, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Cox Building, Room 640, 100 Blossom Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2617, USA. Telephone: 617-724-3200; Fax: 617724-3166; e-mail: bchabner@partners.org Accepted for publication May 27, 1999. ©AlphaMed Press 1083-7159/2002/$5.00/0 The Oncologist
Rescue of sporocysts of Schistosoma mansoni in nonsusceptible Biomphalaria by head-foot transplantation into susceptible snails.

To measure the longevity of sporocysts of Schistosoma mansoni in nonsusceptible snails (13-16-R1 and Salvador strains of Biomphalaria glabrata, and Biomphalaria obstructa), the head-foot (HF) of miracidia-exposed snails was transplanted into the hemocoel of a susceptible NIH albino recipient at 1–36 days postexposure (DPE). Recipient snails which were not exposed to miracidia then were monitored for infection transferred by the implant, and infection prevalences in recipients of HF transplants from nonsusceptible donors were compared to those in snails implanted with an HF from NIH albino donors. Transplants from NIH albino snails between 1 to 15 DPE infected 98% of recipients. Similarly, at 1 DPE, 69–85% of transplants from nonsusceptible snails contained viable sporocysts, as shown by resulting patent infections in the recipients. Recipient infection prevalence, and presumably numbers of transplants containing viable sporocysts, declined as a function of DPE, and by 5–9 DPE this decrease was significant...
Land and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Ptolemaic state, the land tenure regime, and economic power

You must regard it as one of your most indispensable duties to see that the nome be sown with the kind of crops prescribed by the sowing schedule. Instructions of the Dioiketes to an Oikonomos , preserved in P. Tebt 703, 57–60. Trans. Bagnall and Derow 1981: 135 We offer (the properties) for sale on the following terms. The successful bidders shall pay annually to the Crown in the case of the vineyards the proper money taxes and the apomoira ….. and for arable land the rents in kind which have been imposed upon it…. P. Eleph. 14 (Edfu, ca . 223 bce ) Trans. Select Papyri , vol. II, text 233. In this Chapter I will be concerned with the “reach of the state,” and its ability to control land tenure and the surplus agricultural production. The traditional power of the ruler in Egypt with respect to these issues was asserted in assigning rights to land and in taxing production (and on some land collecting rent). The Ptolemies retained these traditional powers over the land. I begin with a discussion of the structure of the state itself, and the organization of social power within the state. From there, I move on to discuss more specifically one aspect of social power, economic power, and the relationship between state economic power and land tenure.
Detecting sleepiness by fusing classifiers trained with novel acoustic features

Automatic sleepiness detection is a challenging task that can lead to advances in various domains including traffic safety, medicine and human-machine interaction. This paper analyzes the discriminative power of different acoustic features to detect sleepiness. The study uses the sleepy language corpus (SLC). Along with standard acoustic features, novel features are proposed including functionals across voiced segment statistics in the F0 contour, likelihoods of reference models used to contrast non-neutral speech, and a set of robust to noise spectral features. These feature sets, which have performed well in other paralinguistic tasks such as emotion recognition, are used to train classifiers that are combined at the feature and decision levels. The best unweighted accuracy (UA) is obtained by combining the classifiers at the decision level under a maximum likelihood framework (UA = 70.97%). This performance is higher than the best results reported in the corpus. Index Terms: Speaker State Recognition, Paralinguistics, Affective Computing, Sleepiness
Solid-State 13C NMR Delineates the Architectural Design of Biopolymers in Native and Genetically Altered Tomato Fruit Cuticles

Plant cuticles on outer fruit and leaf surfaces are natural macromolecular composites of waxes and polyesters that ensure mechanical integrity and mitigate environmental challenges. They also provide renewable raw materials for cosmetics, packaging, and coatings. To delineate the structural framework and flexibility underlying the versatile functions of cutin biopolymers associated with polysaccharide-rich cell-wall matrices, solid-state NMR spectra and spin relaxation times were measured in a tomato fruit model system, including different developmental stages and surface phenotypes. The hydrophilic–hydrophobic balance of the cutin ensures compatibility with the underlying polysaccharide cell walls; the hydroxy fatty acid structures of outer epidermal cutin also support deposition of hydrophobic waxes and aromatic moieties while promoting the formation of cell-wall cross-links that rigidify and strengthen the cuticle composite during fruit development. Fruit cutin-deficient tomato mutants with compromised...
Interest Groups Vie for Public Support: The Battle Over Anti-Affirmative Action Initiatives in California and Michigan.

Although affirmative action in college admissions has not been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the consideration of race in admissions has been banned in nine states—in six of them ...
Thermal specifications for pluggable optics modules

Thermal aspects of pluggable optics modules operation are currently covered by manufacturer MSA agreements and by an OIF implementation agreement. This paper discusses the background that led to the creation of the OIF agreement and examines parameters as defined therein. These parameters include surface finish, flatness, case conductivity, and relative location of heat source and riding heatsink thermal interface that affect temperature losses across the interface between the module and the heatsink. A limited examination of the effects of host PCB heat loads on module temperatures and the implications for calibration of internal sensors is included.
Translating research into practice. Considerations for critical care investigators

Experimental multisite studies are needed to test adoption interventions that promote use of evidence-based guidelines in critical care practice. A research model (see Fig. 2) based on Rogers' diffusion of innovation model provides a conceptual guide for selecting interventions to test in translational research studies. Studies should address the four major areas of innovation adoption: (1) characteristics of the guideline, (2) users of the guideline, (3) methods of communicating the guideline, and (4) the social system in which it is being adopted. It is imperative that researchers study which interventions are most effective in promoting use of critical care evidence-based practices by nurses and physicians and how the social system of critical care environments affects adoption of such practices. Without this empiric knowledge, health care systems have little guidance in how to most effectively promote adoption of scientific evidence to improve care of critically ill patients.
A Behavioral Understanding of Investment Horizon and Firm Performance

Observers have argued that firms overly emphasize short-term results at the expense of long-run value. Using a behavioral perspective, we analyze three hypotheses related to this general argument. First, we examine the association of investment time horizons with firm performance, contributing new theory that argues for a quadratic rather than linear association. Second, because the tendency toward immediate results could reflect stock market pressures, we consider how the interaction of investor patience and firm horizon relates to firm performance. Third, we examine the argument's implication that most firms have investment horizons at a level where marginal increases in horizon associate positively with firm performance. Measuring horizon as the expected useful lives of capital expenditures, we find empirical support for the hypothesized quadratic relation in a large-scale, multiyear sample of U.S. publicly held manufacturing firms and confirm that a majority of firms have horizons in the region where our models predict increases in horizon positively influence performance. We also find that the most positive returns occur when long horizon investments are aligned with investor patience.
Vagal Nerve Stimulation for Refractory Epilepsy

The tolerance and efficacy of periodic left vagal nerve (VN) stimulation in 12 children with medically intractable epilepsies are reported from the Sections of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO.
Design of near-field beam-splitting frequency selective surfaces for Fabry-Perot cavity antenna systems

The effect of frequency selective surface (FSS) augmentation on the radiation of a slot or patch antenna is investigated. A variety of FSS designs comprised of horizontal and vertical slots are analyzed and compared for two sources — slot or patch. Simulations and measurements are shown for select combinations that offer near-field beam-splitting capability.
Ultrafast Fluctuations of High Amplitude Electric Fields in Lipid Membranes

Understanding the electrostatics of lipid membranes at a molecular level has the potential to offer great insight into the mechanism of voltage-gated processes but has been challenging to study experimentally. In this study, we characterize the equilibrium electric field fluctuations at the interfacial region of lipid bilayers by using a combination of ultrafast time-resolved infrared spectroscopy, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and spectral modeling. By monitoring the dynamics of the ester carbonyl stretching vibration in hydrated phosphocholine lipid bilayers, we are able to measure a correlation function for the femtosecond and picosecond fluctuations in the local electric field of the membrane, estimating the standard deviation in these fluctuations as ∼10MV/cm. The addition of gramicidin D at a 1:20 mol ratio with DMPC results in the formation of protein–lipid hydrogen bonds, which alter the dynamics of the ester groups. Using MD simulations, we conclude that ultrafast local field fluctuations ...
Statistical aspects of radiogenomics: can radiogenomics models be used to aid prediction of outcomes in cancer patients?

Radiogenomics is a new direction in cancer research that aims at identifying the relationship between tumor genomics and its appearance in imaging (i.e. its radiophenotype). Recent years brought multiple radiogenomic discoveries in brain, breast, lung, and other cancers. With development of this new field we believe that it important to investigate in which setting radiogenomics could be useful to better direct research effort. One of the general applications of radiogenomics is to generate imaging-based models for prediction of outcomes and doing so through modeling the relationship between imaging and genomics and the relationship between genomics and outcomes. We believe that this is an important potential application of radiogenomic as it could advance imaging-based precision medicine. We show a preliminary simulation study evaluation whether such approach results in improved models. We investigate different setting in terms of the strengths of the radiogenomic relationship, prognostic power of the imaging and genomic descriptors, and availability and quality of data. Our experiments indicated that the following parameters have impact on usefulness of the radiogenomic approach: predictive power of genomic features and imaging features, strength of the radiogenomic relationship as well as number and follow up time for the genomic data. Overall, we found that there are some situations in which radiogenomics approach is beneficial but only when the radiogenomic relationship is strong and low number of imaging cases with outcomes data are available.
High-Order Accurate Methods for Time-domain Electromagnetics

We discuss the formulation, validation, and parallel performance of a high-order accurate method for the time-domain solution of the three-dimensional Maxwell's equations on general unstructured grids. Attention is paid to the development of a general discontinuous element/penalty approximation to Maxwell's equations and a locally divergence free form of this. We further discuss the motivation for using a nodal Lagrangian basis for the accurate and efficient representation of solutions and operators. The performance of the scheme is illustrated by solving benchmark problems as well as large scale scattering applications.
Empirical Mode Decomposition for Modeling of Parallel Applications on Intel Xeon Phi Processors

For modern parallel applications, modeling their general execution characteristics, such as power and time, is difficult due to a great many factors affecting software-hardware interactions, which is also exacerbated by the dearth of measuring and monitoring tools for novel architectures, such as Intel Xeon Phi processors. To address this modeling challenge, the present work proposes to employ the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method to describe an execution as a series of modes culminating in a single residual trend, for which, in its turn, a model equation is obtained as a non-linear fit. As outcome, an overall energy consumption may be predicted using this model. A real-world quantum-chemistry application GAMESS and a molecular-dynamics proxy application CoMD were considered in the experiments. The results demonstrate that the energy modeled ranges within 10-30% of the measured energy, depending on the length of execution.
Is Variability a Unifying Behavioral Concept

Most modern textbooks of animal behavior are oriented such that both ethology and comparative psychology are presented and, to an extent, synthesized. The present paper also is an attempt at synthesis of these two approaches, but by use of a different organization—behavioral variability. There appear to be at least four basic categories of behavioral variability: (a) taxon, (b) individual, (c) task, and (d) response. An hypothesis is proposed that behavioral variability is directly proportional to the tolerance of the environment and the functional complexity of the nervous system.
External Debt Management in Pakistan: A Market-Based Assessment

Economists typically use multiple indicators to assess the burden of external debt, such as the ratios of the stock of debt to exports and to gross national product, and the ratios of debt service to exports and to government revenue. As opposed to those methodologies, this article examines the Pakistan’s external debt position using a market based approach which analyzes the marginal costs of external debt as indicated by the yields on the country’s Eurobonds and the spreads on the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) traded in the international markets. The results show a sharp decline in the yields on the Pakistani Eurobonds from their peak reached during the global financial crisis (GFC) period and this decline was largely driven by quantitative easing and the resultant low interest rates in the international debt markets. Also, the continued decline in the yields in the more recent period, 2013-2017, was due to strengthening of the county’s borrowing capacity over the period. The analysis also shows that Pakistani yields seem to be converging to yields for other Asian countries, even though that the yield-spreads between Pakistan and others countries are still substantial. In conclusion the decrease in bond yields and CDS spreads may signal that the country’s external debt is currently at sustainable levels.
Business Cycle Variation in Short Selling Strategies: Picking During Expansions and Timing During Recessions

We present evidence that short sellers alternate between stock picking during expansions and market timing during recessions. First, firm-level short interest is a much stronger negative predictor of the cross-section of stock returns during expansions than it is during recessions. High short interest also only predicts negative future earnings announcement returns during expansions. We attribute these findings to short sellers’ emphasis on collecting firm-specific signals. Second, short sellers appear to make factor bets more so during recessions than in expansions. These bets tend to pay off as we observe a strong negative relation between the betas of highly shorted stocks and future stock market returns, a result which disappears during expansions. Together, these findings are consistent with theories of information acquisition under attention constraints, endogenous information production, as well as theories of time variation in aggregate overconfidence amongst traders.
Flexible Narrowband Ultraviolet Photodetectors with Photomultiplication Based on Wide Band Gap Conjugated Polymer and Inorganic Nanoparticles.

Lightweight and flexible ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) have wide applications and have attracted more attention. PDs using organic and inorganic nanocomposites as active layers with a photodiode configuration could achieve photomultiplication and narrowband photoresponse via the control of microstructure and thickness of active layers. Here, we fabricated flexible UV PDs on indium tin oxide-coated poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrates with a nanocomposite active layer composed of ZnO nanoparticles blended with a wide band gap conjugated polymer, poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-co-(bithiophene)] (F8T2). As a result of the wavelength-dependent penetration depth of light in the active layer, the fabricated flexible UV PDs showed two narrow response peaks at 360 and 510 nm under reverse biases in the external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectra with full width at half maximum (FWHM) less than 20 nm. Both responses exhibited greater than 100% EQE, indicating a photomultiplication effect, wherea...
Cardiac Remodeling in the Hypertrophic Heart: Signal-Dependent Regulation of the Fibrotic Gene Program by CLP-1

The response of the heart to hypertrophic stress stimuli is designed to normalize heart function under conditions of increased demand. To achieve this, the heart must mount a genomic stress response that is itself responsive to the signal transduction pathways used by heart cells to transmit stress signals. The ability to adaptively link stress signal to genomic stress response is critical to how the heart responds to stress. Our laboratory has been studying the molecular events involved in this adaptive linkage. Our studies have shown that CLP-1 (Cardiac Lineage Protein-1), the mouse homolog of the human HEXIM1, acts as the molecular “go-between” linking stress signal with genomic stress response. Critical to this linkage is HEXIM1/CLP-1’s control of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (cdk9), the kinase responsible for activating RNA polymerase (pol) II to complete synthesis of nascent stress gene transcripts. Through its control of cdk9, HEXIM1/CLP-1 controls the transcriptional output of stress response genes by regulating the ability of RNA polymerase (pol) II, and as more recent data has shown, the activity of specific transcription factors such as those of the small mother against decapentaplegic(smad) family, to transcribe stress response genes. Together, these observations provide strong support for the idea that HEXIM1/CLP-1 plays a critical role in controlling the response of cardiac cells to hypertrophic stress stimuli.
Monoclonal Antibody to Fibrin D-Dimer (DD-3B6) Recognizes an Epitope on the γ-Chain of Fragment D

Laboratory determination of fibrinolysis has been facilitated by diagnostic tests that use monoclonal antibody DD-3B6 to measure fibrin D-dimer levels in plasma. When DD-3B6 is reacted with soluble fibrin fragments, it is specific for fragment D-dimer. The authors have used immunoblot analysis of DD-3B6 binding to purified fragment D and fragment D-dimer to localize the binding site of the antibody. Although DD-3B6 recognizes only fragment D-dimer in solution, it binds to both immobilized fragment D-dimer and fragment D in immunoblots. When immunoblots were performed using protein which was electrophoresed under reducing conditions, DD-3B6 bound to the gamma-chain of fragments D1, D2, and D3. Therefore, the epitope recognized by DD-3B6 resides between amino acids 86 and 302 in the gamma-chain of fragment D. This epitope is masked in soluble non-cross-linked or nondegraded fibrin, but becomes expressed after cross-linked fibrin has been cleaved by plasmin.
CD5- small B-cell leukemias are rarely classifiable as chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Expression of the CD5 antigen by neoplastic cells often is considered a diagnostic criterion for B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). However, published series frequently include a number of CD5 - cases. We studied the spectrum of CD5 - B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders presenting with leukemic involvement and reassessed the prevalence of CD5 - B-CLL. We immunophenotyped 192 cases of clonal, small lymphocytic B-cell disorders involving peripheral blood or bone marrow. Of these, 41 CD5 - cases were further analyzed, correlating the immunophenotypic findings with pathologic material and clinical data. Only 3 CD5 - cases were classified as CD5 - B-CLL. These 3 cases had features unusual for B-CLL, including bright surface immunoglobulin expression, bright CD20 expression, and absence of CD23 expression (2 cases) or Richter syndrome (I case). The remainder of the CD5 - cases consisted of hairy cell leukemia, hairy cell variant, prolymphocytic leukemia, follicular center cell lymphoma, lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL), small lymphocytic lymphoma with marrow fibrosis, and lymphoma, not further classified. Eight cases remained unclassified, but some displayed features of SMZL. CD5 - lymphoproliferative disorders of peripheral blood or bone marrow are unlikely to be CLL and often are classified more appropriately as non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the leukemic phase.
A cohort study for the derivation and validation of a clinical prediction scale for hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a clinical prediction scale for hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).
Mathematical modeling of energy consumption in the acute inflammatory response

When a pathogen invades the body, an acute inflammatory response is activated to eliminate the intruder. In some patients, runaway activation of the immune system may lead to collateral tissue damage and, in the extreme, organ failure and death. Experimental studies have found an association between severe infections and depletion in levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), increase in nitric oxide production, and accumulation of lactate, suggesting that tissue energetics is compromised. In this work we present a differential equations model that incorporates the dynamics of ATP, nitric oxide, and lactate accompanying an acute inflammatory response and employ this model to explore their roles in shaping this response. The bifurcation diagram of the model system with respect to the pathogen growth rate reveals three equilibrium states characterizing the health, aseptic and septic conditions. We explore the domains of attraction of these states to inform the instantiation of heterogeneous virtual patient populations utilized in a survival analysis. We then apply the model to study alterations in the inflammatory response and survival outcomes in metabolically altered conditions such as hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and hypoxia.
Abstract A122: Self-recognition of Alu duplex RNAs is the basis for MDA5-mediated interferonopathies

Melanoma Differentiation Associated Gene-5 (MDA5) is an innate immune receptor that binds to viral double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) and initiates type I and III interferon signaling cascade thereby playing a key role in antiviral immune response. Recently, a number of mutations that lead to aberrant activation of MDA5 have been implicated in various autoinflammatory disorders including Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome. The mechanistic basis of this constitutive MDA5 activation, however, has remained elusive. An understanding of the subtle balance of self vs. non-self discrimination by MDA5 is important, especially in the context of recent reports demonstrating the targeted activation of MDA5 as a potential therapeutic strategy against diverse carcinoma. Our work revealed a hitherto unknown role played by the RNA-rich cellular environment in preventing aberrant MDA5 activation by imposing cooperative filament assembly on dsRNAs as a functional requirement for signal activation. We further employed a novel RNase protection-RNAseq approach to show that the disease-causing gain-of-function (GOF) mutants of MDA5 can form signaling-competent filaments on endogenous RNA populations comprising mainly Alu RNA duplexes. Strikingly, under physiologic conditions, the wild type MDA5 is not activated by Alu RNAs because of its sensitivity to structural irregularities such as bulges and mismatches commonly occurring in Alu:Alu hybrids. The GOF mutants, on the other hand, show reduced sensitivity to disruptions in duplex RNA structures as revealed by our in-depth biochemical probing. Overall, the work reveals the underlying mechanism behind MDA5-mediated inflammatory disorders. Moreover, it highlights the unique role played by Alu RNAs as an evolutionary tether on MDA5, keeping its affinity towards “self” ligands under check during the course of evolution. Citation Format: Sadeem Ahmad, Xin Mu, Sun Hur. Self-recognition of Alu duplex RNAs is the basis for MDA5-mediated interferonopathies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fourth CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; Sept 30-Oct 3, 2018; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2019;7(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A122.
Ultra‐small superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) magnetic resonance imaging in benign mixed tumor of the parotid gland

Historically USPIO has been used to help with nodal staging but not in primary tumors. The ability to concentrate USPIO may help to differentiate BMT from other types of parotid tumors.
From Categories to Connections in the Archaeology of Eastern North America

A renewed adoption of relational perspectives by archaeologists working in eastern North America has created an opportunity to move beyond categorical approaches, those reliant on the top-down implementation of essentialist models or “types.” Instead, emerging approaches, concerned with highlighting the agential power of relationships between individuals, communities, and institutions, and, more generally, with simply moving beyond categories, are allowing archaeologists to move from the bottom-up, focusing instead on the relationships that underlie, and indeed constitute, social, political, and economic phenomena. In this paper, I synthesize recent archaeological work from across eastern North America in which archaeologists have productively moved beyond a reliance on categorical perspectives. I explicitly focus on the potential for relational perspectives to recalibrate our social and temporal referents in crafting archaeological narratives.
A review of twin screw wet granulation mechanisms in relation to granule attributes

Due to the trend of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing, twin screw wet granulation (TSWG), a continuous process, has gained increased research interest as a potential substitution of traditional batch granulation processes. Despite the complex nature of TSWG, its mechanisms have been gradually unveiled with the aid of innovative research strategies. This review synthesizes these recent findings to provide a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of TSWG. We explain the impact of screw profiles (i.e. conveying, kneading, turbine mixing, and screw mixing elements) and process conditions (i.e. screw speed, feed rate, and liquid-to-solid ratio) on TSWG mixing performance and granule growth along the barrel, both of which ultimately affect critical granule attributes such as content uniformity, size distribution, strength, and compaction properties.
Incorporating 15 N into the outputs of SMOKE version 4.6 as the emission input dataset for CMAQ version 5.2.1 for assessing the role emission sources plays in controlling the isotopic composition of NO x , NO y , and atmospheric nitrate

Abstract. Nitrogen oxides (NOx = nitric oxide (NO) + nitrogen dioxides (NO2)) are important trace gases that affect atmospheric chemistry, air quality and climate. Contemporary development of NOx emissions inventories is limited by understanding of the roles of vegetation (net NOx source or net sink), gasoline and diesel in vehicle emissions, and application of NOx emission control technologies. In this study, we used the nitrogen stable isotope composition of NOx (δ15N(NOx) to resolve the uncertainties in NOx emission sources, by incorporating 15N into the US EPA trace gas emission model SMOKE (Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions) and compared simulated spatiotemporal patterns in NOx isotopic composition with corresponding atmospheric measurements in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. The results indicate potential underestimation of emissions from soil, livestock waste, off-road vehicles, and natural gas power plants and the potential overestimation of emissions from on-road vehicles and coal-fired power plants.
The Significance of Squamous Histology on Clinical Outcomes and PD-L1 Expression in Bladder Cancer.

Objectives. To compare the clinicopathologic characteristics of urothelial carcinoma (UC), urothelial carcinoma with squamous differentiation (UCSD), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the bladde...
The information signature of diverging lineages

The process of forming new species is the driving force behind the diversity of life on Earth. Yet, we have not answered the basic question: why are species unevenly distributed across taxonomic groups and geographic settings? This is because we lack the means to directly compare aspects of population (lineage) divergence across unrelated species because taxon-specific effects make comparisons difficult or impossible. Here, we present a new solution to this challenge by identifying the information signature of diverging lineages, calculated using partial information decomposition (PID), under different evolutionary scenarios. We show in silico how the informational decomposition of genetic metrics varies over time since divergence. Calculating PID over 97,200 lattices reveals that the decomposed nodes of Tajimas D, {theta}W, and {pi} have strong information signatures, while FST was least useful for discriminating among divergence scenarios. The presence or absence of gene flow during divergence was the most detectable signature; mutation rate and effective population size (Ne) were also detectable whereas differences in recombination rate were not. This work demonstrates that PID can reveal evolutionary patterns that are minimally detectable using the raw metrics themselves; it does so by leveraging the architecture of the genome and the partial redundancy of information contained in genetic metrics. Our results demonstrate for the first time how to directly compare characteristics of diverging populations even among distantly related species, providing a foundational tool for understanding the diversity of life across Earth.
Alopecia in three macaque species housed in a laboratory environment

Alopecia is a persistent problem in captive macaque populations and despite recent interest, no factors have been identified that can unequivocally explain the presence of alopecia in a majority of cases. Seasonal, demographic, and environmental factors have been identified as affecting alopecia presentation in rhesus macaques, the most widely studied macaque species. However, few studies have investigated alopecia rates in other macaque species. We report alopecia scores over a period of 12 months for three macaque species (Macaca nemestrina, M. mulatta, and M. fascicularis) housed at three indoor facilities within the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) in Seattle. Clear species differences emerged with cynomolgus (M. fascicularis) showing the lowest alopecia rates and pigtails (M. nemestrina) the highest rates. Further analysis of pigtail and rhesus (M. mulatta) macaques revealed that sex effects were apparent for rhesus but not pigtails. Age and seasonal effects were evident for both species. In contrast to previous reports, we found that older animals (over 10 years of age) had improved alopecia scores in comparison to younger adults. This is the first report on alopecia rates in pigtail macaques and the first comparison of alopecia scores in pigtail, cynomolgus, and rhesus macaques housed under similar conditions.