cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prebiotically plausible mechanisms increase compositional diversity of nucleic acid sequences

During the origin of life, the biological information of nucleic acid polymers must have increased to encode functional molecules (the RNA world). Ribozymes tend to be compositionally unbiased, as is the vast majority of possible sequence space. However, ribonucleotides vary greatly in synthetic yield, reactivity and degradation rate, and their non-enzymatic polymerization results in compositionally biased sequences. While natural selection could lead to complex sequences, molecules with some activity are required to begin this process. Was the emergence of compositionally diverse sequences a matter of chance, or could prebiotically plausible reactions counter chemical biases to increase the probability of finding a ribozyme? Our in silico simulations using a two-letter alphabet show that template-directed ligation and high concatenation rates counter compositional bias and shift the pool toward longer sequences, permitting greater exploration of sequence space and stable folding. We verified experimentally that unbiased DNA sequences are more efficient templates for ligation, thus increasing the compositional diversity of the pool. Our work suggests that prebiotically plausible chemical mechanisms of nucleic acid polymerization and ligation could predispose toward a diverse pool of longer, potentially structured molecules. Such mechanisms could have set the stage for the appearance of functional activity very early in the emergence of life.
Reproductive Costs to Heterospecific Mating Between Two Hybridizing Katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

Animal taxa meeting in hybrid zones often exhibit partial reproductive isolation. This isolation may result from a variety of causes both before mating (e.g., incompatibilities in courtship behaviors) and subsequent to mating. Understanding the factors effecting reproductive isolation in hybrid zones can offer important insights into the process of speciation and the maintenance of species boundaries. The katydids Orchelimum nigripes Scudder and O. pulchellum Davis (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) form 2 hybrid zones in the eastern United States. I carried out breeding studies in the laboratory using animals from pure O. nigripes and O. pulchellum populations in the vicinity of one of these hybrid zones to examine possible modes of postmating reproductive isolation. The number of eggs produced by females mated to heterospecific males was dramatically lower than that of females mated conspecifically, but there was no evidence of any differences in hatch rate or offspring viability between egg clutches from heterospecific and conspecific crosses. Hatch rate, offspring viability, development time, and adult weight of hybrid progenies were all intermediate relative to corresponding values for progenies resulting from the 2 types of conspecific matings, although most of the differences between hybrids and each of the 2 classes of nonhybrid progenies were not statistically significant. The reduced oviposition of heterospecifically mated females suggests that females mated to heterospecific males do not receive the necessary stimulation to trigger oocyte maturation or oviposition behavior. The results reported here show that although some females will mate with heterospecific males, these matings tend to result in substantially reduced reproductive success relative to conspecific matings.
Financial Markets as Information Monopolies

Instead of allowing financial markets to own the price and quotation data they produce, the SEC forces the markets to contribute the data to a central pool, in return for sharing in the revenues from the sale of the data. Even within this system of attenuated property rights, the SEC could foster competition by identifying and removing barriers that prevent data networks from competing with each other. It would be even better to restore proprietary ownership of price and quotation data to the markets that produce it. That would allow exchanges and other trading systems to protect the investments they made to develop and improve their trading and information systems. Proprietary ownership would foster multiple and diverse streams of data instead of the single source now in place, which gives rise to the market power the SEC seeks to control.
Effects of Indium Preamorphization on Boron Implanted Silicon Annealed by RTA

Preamorphization by indium of boron implanted silicon layers has been studied as a means of reducing defects in the annealed and activated shallow junctions. The In preamorphized samples after RTP annealing at 950 to 1150°C show an absence of spanning dislocations. A 5 sec. anneal at 1100 °C results in the complete annihilation of residual dislocation loops at the original crystalline/amorphous (c/a) interface. The minimum dose to preamorphize Si with 200keV In was 5×1013/cm2. During annealing the In was found to localize at two peaks, one at the original c/a interface and the other closer to the surface, where In precipitation was observed.
Photothermal detection of the onset of photochemical nucleation (laser snow) in vapors

The phenomenon of photochemical nucleation of particles (also called laser snow) has been observed by many workers, for example, in metal vapor system1 and organic vapors.2,3 Although this laser-snow effect seems to occur generally under the right excitation, temperature, and pressure conditions, the phenomenon remains poorly understood. One problem is lack of method for detecting the onset of photonucleation of particles, which has up to now been detected, e.g., by light scattering1,2 or electrostatic deflection.3
“Conspicuous” Religious Symbols and Laïcité

In March of 2004, the French government approved a regulation which forbids “the wearing of signs or clothes conspicuously denoting a religious affiliation” in public schools. A number of commentators have taken the French government to task for failing to respect the religious rights and identity claims of citizens – particularly French Muslims – in pursuit of a policy of nationalism and assimilation. It is this assessment of the French approach, broadly captured in the notion of laicite and of a republic ‘one and indivisible,’ that I wish to address. I argue that the French principle of laicite and the recent school clothing legislation can be defended plausibly in relation to deep-seated French attitudes towards individual freedom, education, and national identity. I explicate specifically French conceptions of church-state relations, citizenship, autonomy, and equality, their relationship to the profound fear of factionalism rooted in French history, and the role of education from the French republican perspective. Finally, I offer a brief comparison of U.S. law on religious freedom and state neutrality with the French approach and raise some questions as to the presumed superiority of the former.
Inequality: How Much Is There and Is It All Bad?

This article is an attempt at providing a better perspective on the debate over inequality. First, it claims that inequality is increasing, but not as much as many claim. In fact, the increase is modest and badly measured. Moreover, inequality is well below the levels observed prior to the 20th century. Secondly, it claims that inequalities must be decomposed between "good", "neutral" and "bad" inequalities. "Good inequalities" result from individual preferences and have no perverse impact on economic growth. "Neutral" inequalities relate to changes in family size, demography and marriage patterns and they have no moral implication whatsoever, as they merely exhibit changes in economic structures. "Good" and "Neutral" inequalities create no "social malaise". The "bad" inequalities are those that are socially noxious because they result from impairments in the capacity of individuals to make choices. Thirdly, this paper argues that a large share of the "bad" inequalities stem from government policies that push down the left-tail of the income distribution while pulling up the right tail. Although there are inequalities from birth, these are much costlier to combat than inequalities resulting from government intervention.
Ultrasound-Guided Cryoablation of a Traumatic Hip Disarticulation Neuroma.

OBJECTIVE Traumatic amputation at the pelvic level is a rare procedure with few studies addressing long-term complications. Painful neuroma formation may form at the site of nerve transection and cause significant impairments in daily living. Ultrasound-guided cryoablation therapy has grown in popularity and should be considered in patients with painful neuromas. This is a case report of complete pain relief in a patient with rare traumatic hip disarticulation with neuroma formation, treated with ultrasound-guided cryoablation. The patient gave consent for publication. DESIGN Single case report. SETTING Mount Sinai Medical Center. PATIENT A 57-year-old man with traumatic hip disarticulation over 30 years ago with a 10-year history of severe residual limb pain from neuroma formation. INTERVENTIONS Ultrasound-guided cryoablative injection therapy. OUTCOME MEASURES Pain reduction. RESULTS Ultrasound-guided cryoablation of a traumatic hip disarticulation neuroma resulting in complete pain relief and improved functionality and independence. CONCLUSIONS This case illustrates a rare incidence of painful neuroma formation in a patient with traumatic hip disarticulation. Cryoablation with ultrasound guidance resulted in resolution of all pain. We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first occasion of an ultrasound-guided cryoablation resulting in complete pain relief in a traumatic hip disarticulation neuroma.
Neuroscience and Gestures

When we discuss the human aspects of gestures, we return to the most unique object in nature: the human brain. As with all parts of our experience, the brain is involved with producing gestures. They represent a combination of higher-order thinking and motor function (i.e. movement). While the entire brain can be studied with reference to gestures, there is a particular type of neurons that we will address here. Mirror neurons are neurons that are active both when we perform a behavior and when we see the behavior performed by others. The existence of mirror neurons suggests that gestures represent a fundamental way of learning. We end the chapter with an experiment quantifying the gestures of dancers using motion-sensitive devices to generate music.
In the era of IGRT and small- and focal-field external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy is a dying modality

The use of brachytherapy has steadily declined over the past decade, at least in the United States. Much of this is possibly due to significant technological advances in external-beam radiotherapy, whereby higher doses can be delivered with smaller margins, significantly mimicking highly conformal brachytherapy. Some are even claiming that in this era of Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and small and focal field external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy is a dying modality. This is the premise debated in this month's Point/Counterpoint. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
ERG-28 controls BK channel trafficking in the ER to regulate synaptic function and alcohol response in C. elegans

Voltage- and calcium-dependent BK channels regulate calcium-dependent cellular events such as neurotransmitter release by limiting calcium influx. Their plasma membrane abundance is an important factor in determining BK current and thus regulation of calcium-dependent events. In C. elegans, we show that ERG-28, an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane protein, promotes the trafficking of SLO-1 BK channels from the ER to the plasma membrane by shielding them from premature degradation. In the absence of ERG-28, SLO-1 channels undergo aspartic protease DDI-1-dependent degradation, resulting in markedly reduced expression at presynaptic terminals. Loss of erg-28 suppressed phenotypic defects of slo-1 gain-of-function mutants in locomotion, neurotransmitter release, and calcium-mediated asymmetric differentiation of the AWC olfactory neuron pair, and conferred significant ethanol-resistant locomotory behavior, resembling slo-1 loss-of-function mutants, albeit to a lesser extent. Our study thus indicates that the control of BK channel trafficking is a critical regulatory mechanism for synaptic transmission and neural function.
Vulvar cancer: Presentation and treatment variation among races.

5611 Background: Vulvar cancer is the fourth most common gynecologic malignancy. We analyzed variation among races in treatment, histology and stage at presentation using the National Cancer Databa...
In-crystal reaction cycle of a toluene-bound diiron hydroxylase.

Electrophilic aromatic substitution is one of the most important and recognizable classes of organic chemical transformation. Enzymes create the strong electrophiles that are needed for these highly energetic reactions by using O2, electrons, and metals or other cofactors. Although the nature of the oxidants that carry out electrophilic aromatic substitution has been deduced from many approaches, it has been difficult to determine their structures. Here we show the structure of a diiron hydroxylase intermediate formed during a reaction with toluene. Density functional theory geometry optimizations of an active site model reveal that the intermediate is an arylperoxo Fe2+/Fe3+ species with delocalized aryl radical character. The structure suggests that a carboxylate ligand of the diiron centre may trigger homolytic cleavage of the O–O bond by transferring a proton from a metal-bound water. Our work provides the spatial and electronic constraints needed to propose a comprehensive mechanism for diiron enzyme arene hydroxylation that accounts for many prior experimental results. Crystal structures and DFT calculations suggest a possible mechanism for diiron enzyme arene hydroxylation. Diiron hydroxylases are one of a group of enzymes that catalyse the oxidation of aromatic compounds by electrophilic aromatic substitution. The structure of these diiron enzymes has been reported, but their mode of action is not yet well understood. In this work, a number of key intermediates in toluene hydroxylation by toluene 4-monooxygenase are crystallized, including a μ-1,1(hydro)peroxo complex that has not been previously characterized in any diiron system. This work illustrates the diversity of diiron-containing oxygenases and is informative for other enzymes that form such species as part of their oxygen activation pathway. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of crystallizing enzymes in order to trap and visualize their intermediates.
Doxastic Justification Is Fundamental

It is widely assumed that the notion of doxastic justification should be explained in terms of the more fundamental notion of propositional justification, a notion which itself explains evidential support relations as a priori knowable. It is argued here, following Goldman, that this is a mistake. Doxastic justification is the more fundamental notion, and once one sees this, one must recognize that evidential support relations have an ineliminable psychological dimension which undermines the claim that they are knowable a priori.
How Should You Tweet?: The Effect of Crisis Response Voices, Strategy, and Prior Brand Attitude in Social Media Crisis Communication

This study examines the role of human voice over corporate voice in crisis responses and the moderating role of prior brand attitude on the public evaluation of corporate crisis communication on Twitter. The impact of crisis response strategies and its interaction with prior brand attitude is also explored in this study. Using a mixed-design experiment, the findings showed that human voice had no impact overall on crisis communication evaluation but that prior brand attitude had a significant moderating effect on participants’ crisis communication evaluation. Theoretical implications as well as implications for managers who utilize social media in crisis communication are discussed.
Response to Video and Computer-animated Images by the Tiger Barb, Puntius tetrazona

Video playback has become an important tool for testing certain questions about animal visual perception. While a few studies have compared the response of test subjects to live and video stimuli, it is generally assumed a priori that the animals will respond to the video image as if it were ‘real’. Since video devices are tuned to the spectral sensitivities and flicker fusion frequencies of the human eye and brain, it is important to conduct preliminary tests to compare the response of test subjects between live and video images. Here we compare schooling behavior of tiger barbs, Puntius tetrazona, when presented with a school of live fish, an analog video school of fish and a video of a computer-animated school of fish. Test subjects did not show a significantly different schooling behavior response to any of these stimuli. Additionally, when given the choice of schooling with a conspecific versus a heterospecific, tiger barbs schooled significantly more often with the conspecifics for all three stimulus formats. This study provides evidence that tiger barbs do not choose to discriminate between live and video models of fish and that this technique can be used to test future questions concerning visual perception for this species.
Genomic approaches to understanding heterosis and improving yield of Pacific oysters

According to FAO statistics, the Pacific oyster is the most farmed aquatic organism in the world, so improving growth and yield is worthwhile. Positive correlation of allozyme heterozygosity and growth in oysters, first reported in 1978, was vigorously debated by opposing camps, espousing two classical explanations for heterosis — dominance and overdominance. Crosses between inbred lines of this oyster demonstrate classical heterosis (superior yield of F1 hybrids compared to inbred parents). However, mapping of heterosis genes was initially prevented by distortions of Mendelian segregation ratios similar to those reported for bivalves since 1975. We have now shown that segregation for microsatellite markers is normal in early larvae but becomes distorted by the juvenile stage in a manner consistent with selection against numerous highly deleterious recessive mutations linked to markers. A large genetic load provides a unifying explanation for both distortions of Mendelian segregation ratios and heterosis, according to the dominance theory.
Validity, Reliability, and Measurement Invariance of the Diabetes Stress Questionnaire-Short Form.

Objective The purpose of this study was to develop a short form of the Diabetes Stress Questionnaire (DSQ) with adequate psychometric properties (i.e., internal consistency, convergent, criterion, discriminant validity, construct validity, and measurement invariance). Methods In total, 181 youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) completed the 65-item DSQ, and archival data were obtained from 142 youth with T1D to serve as an independent cross-validation sample. Twenty-four items were chosen to retain the original eight scales of the DSQ and to maximize internal consistency and correlations to full subscales. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to evaluate the proposed factor structure of the Diabetes Stress Questionnaire-Short Form (DSQ-SF) and to assess invariance of the DSQ-SF across sex, race, grade level, glycemic control, illness duration, and annual income categories. Results The 24-item DSQ-SF was found to have good internal consistency, factor structure and fit, correlated highly to the full scale (r = .98), and was invariant across sex, race, grade level ( 9th grade), glycemic control, illness duration, and annual income. Conclusions The DSQ-SF appears to be a psychometrically robust measure of diabetes-specific stress in youth with T1D. Present findings suggest that the DSQ-SF has the potential to be a useful, quick, cost-effective, and comprehensive screening tool for identifying youth with T1D who may benefit from T1D-specific stress reduction interventions as a way to improve health behaviors, psychosocial well-being, and glycemic control.
Public policy implementation and basic sanitation issues associated with hydroelectric projects in the Brazilian Amazon: Altamira and the Belo Monte dam

Abstract Located in the State of Para, along the Xingu River, the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Complex is the largest, most recent project in the Amazon region and third largest in the world. The city of Altamira, located 52 km upstream from the Belo Monte dam, served as the main stage for its construction. Using surveys and interviews performed in 2016 as social and quantifiable tools, we determine basic sanitation practices in Altamira after the construction of Belo Monte and reveal issues that can impact the environment and public health of the population. Through analysis of national policies and the use of publicly available information, we identify discrepancies between Altamira's current reality and Brazil's existing national public policies, mainly Brazil's Water Resources Policy and the Federal Sanitation Law. Similar basic sanitation provision and waste disposal practices along the region lead us to believe that, if not addressed, the implementation gaps observed in Altamira are likely to emerge in future hydroelectric development projects currently envisioned throughout the Amazon Basin. As more dams in the Amazonian region are planned, identifying public policy implementation gaps that affect basic sanitation and water resources creates opportunities to anticipate problems that could impinge on the public health needs of residents where such large infrastructure projects will be implemented.
Population assignment reveals low migratory connectivity in a weakly structured songbird.

Understanding migratory connectivity is essential for determining the drivers behind population dynamics and for implementing effective conservation strategies for migratory species. Genetic markers provide a means to describe migratory connectivity; however, they can be uninformative for species with weak population genetic structure, which has limited their application. Here, we demonstrated a genomic approach to describing migratory connectivity in the prothonotary warbler, Protonotaria citrea, a Neotropical songbird of conservation concern. Using 26,189 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we revealed regional genetic structure between the Mississippi River Valley and the Atlantic Seaboard with overall weak genetic differentiation among populations (FST = 0.0055; 95% CI: 0.0051-0.0059). Genetic variation had a stronger association with geographic rather than environmental factors, with each explaining 14.5% and 8.2% of genetic variation, respectively. By varying the numbers of genomic markers used in population assignment models with individuals of known provenance, we identified a maximum assignment accuracy (89.7% to site, 94.3% to region) using a subset of 600 highly differentiated SNPs. We then assigned samples from nonbreeding sites to breeding region and found low migratory connectivity. Our results highlight the importance of filtering markers for informative loci in models of population assignment. Quantifying migratory connectivity for weakly structured species will be useful for expanding studies to a wider range of migratory species across taxonomic groups and may contribute to a deeper understanding of the evolution of migratory strategies.
Teaching Social Determinants of Health

The health-care system is moving toward a delivery model wherein social needs are routinely screened for and assessed in the process of delivering clinical care. This chapter describes a 3-year curriculum created for training family medicine and psychiatry residents in Cincinnati, OH. Developed after a careful review of local social circumstances experienced by patients and national training guidelines, the curriculum contains the pertinent knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to prepare medical residents for addressing social determinants of health. Although this structure was optimized for medical trainees, there are certainly elements that are relevant for other health professionals at all levels of training and experience.
Congress's Commissioners

The expression “personnel is policy” has become a truism in Washington. Yet our understanding of how the political branches use appointments to project influence into the administrative state is incomplete. This Article leverages data on almost one-thousand commissioners on eleven major independent regulatory commissions to chart, for the first time, Congress’s growing practice of placing former legislative-branch personnel onto these entities. We then theorize that this phenomenon is rooted in fundamental changes in American politics in recent decades—and, in turn, that it has deeply affected administrative law and separation-of-powers dynamics. During the past several decades, the number of commissioners with prior service as a lawmaker or congressional staffer increased almost fourfold. Paradoxically, this sea change occurred during a period in which, according to conventional wisdom, Congress’s influence over administration declined. We contend that, faced with a set of worsening pathologies in Congress, lawmakers turned to appointments to influence policymaking. At the same time, congressional atrophy and an increasingly rocky confirmation process combined to make executive posts more attractive to Hill staffers than to others. This influx of staffers-turned-commissioners has substantially altered the functioning of these commissions and their place in the separation-of-powers system. Congress’s ability to “embed” loyal former staffers on commissions can benefit both institutions. From their new positions, former staffers can both enhance congressional influence over administration and provide commissions with valuable insights into the views and priorities of the branch that writes their statutes, sets their budgets, and oversees their activities. Staffers-turned-commissioners also bring with them political savvy, familiarity with the legislative process, and other skills developed on Capitol Hill. Further, as former staffers—steeped in the norms of an increasingly dysfunctional Congress—fill more seats on commissions, these bodies may undergo a degree of acculturation, encouraging more overtly political behavior among commissioners. Our descriptive and theoretical accounts generate two prescriptions. First, in evaluating potential appointees, presidents and senators should be attuned not only to those individuals’ preferences and expertise, but also to their institutional allegiances and potential impact on organizational culture. Second, increased congressional influence over independent commissions justifies a degree of presidential oversight. If commissioners are political actors—grounded in the politics of their congressional principal and carriers of Congress’s culture—they should be subject to controls from both political branches.
Optically dark massive galaxies

A substantial population of previously unknown massive dusty galaxies during the first two billion years after the Big Bang have been identified with submillimetre observations. They may solve some outstanding puzzles related to the formation and evolution of most massive galaxies in the Universe today.
Translating the Rapidly Evolving CAR-TCR Research Portfolio to Clinical Practice, a Single Institution Experience at an Academic Medical Center

Topic Significance/Background This is an unparalleled time in cancer research, particularly with the use of cellular therapeutics to target both solid and liquid tumors. This science is challenging the boundaries of clinical care to update guidelines, streamline processes, and integrate clinical and research teams. The University of Kansas Cancer Center was launched into the cell therapy space when we enrolled the first adult patient on Novartis Juliet CAR-T trial for DLBCL. Our team learned that inpatient and outpatient infrastructure and multidisciplinary collaboration are essential to promoting quality clinical care to complement this innovative new field of cellular immunotherapy. As of September 2019, our center has 19 active cell therapy trials, 10 studies in start-up, and 27 in the research pipeline. We have had the opportunity to participate in clinical trials assessing safety and efficacy of TILs, CAR-T and TCR in the cell therapy space, along with expanded umbilical, placental, and mesenchymal stem cell products. In order to optimally contribute in this dynamic and vastly changing landscape, it was essential for our teams, both research and clinical, to come together and develop a forum in which all new cell therapies are discussed and vetted. Intervention In order to facilitate this multi-disciplinary cell therapy forum, we instituted the Immune Effector Cell (IEC) Committee. The IEC committee started as a pre-start-up review panel that focused on feasibility of trial conductivity and ensuring appropriate resources and processes were in place for each trial. The IEC committee has now evolved into a formal Disease Working Group (DWG) responsible for the review of all open trials in the cell therapy space, deviation review and reporting, enrollment and accrual management, and patient safety in addition to feasibility and care algorithm management. The IEC DWG meets monthly. Members include clinicians, dedicated cell therapy research staff, pharmacists, laboratory personnel and cancer center leadership. Discussion/Implications The new era of cellular immunotherapy is challenging current clinical trial oversight and workflow development to ensure novel therapies are transitioned seamlessly into clinical care. Developing a structured, multidisciplinary IEC DWG with supervision over all cell therapy clinical research serves as a foundation for innovative, quality care. This forum's assessment of upfront workload promotes synergy with all teams supporting cell therapy including research, apheresis, cell processing, inpatient and outpatient clinical programs. The IEC DWG infrastructure is a supportive environment for solid tumor cell therapy to integrate into the existing clinical framework. Future work at our institution includes a standard site readiness tool to facilitate communication and integration.
Newer Subsets: Chiari 1.5 and Chiari 0 Malformations

Bony and soft tissue morphological abnormalities of the craniovertebral junction may lead to posterior fossa compression syndromes such as Chiari 1 malformations. More subtle physiological contributions to these syndromes, such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics and abnormal motion at the junction, are often overlooked but equally important. Interplay of these components may lead to additional hindbrain malformation syndromes, classified as Chiari 1.5 and Chiari 0. These syndromes have clinical presentations similar to Chiari 1 malformations and are treated similarly with good outcomes.
Correction to: System inference for the spatio-temporal evolution of infectious diseases: Michigan in the time of COVID-19

The original article was published with errors in some sentences. The correct sentences are provided in this correction.
Improving automated program repair using two-layer tree-based neural networks

We present DLFix, a two-layer tree-based model learning bug-fixing code changes and their surrounding code context to improve Automated Program Repair (APR). The first layer learns the surrounding code context of a fix and uses it as weights for the second layer that is used to learn the bug-fixing code transformation. Our empirical results on Defect4J show that DLFix can fix 30 bugs and its results are comparable and complementary to the best performing pattern-based APR tools. Furthermore, DLFix can fix 2.5 times more bugs than the best performing deep learning baseline.
Epigenetically mediated electrocardiographic manifestations of sub-chronic exposures to ambient particulate matter air pollution in the Women's Health Initiative and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Abstract Background Short-duration exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) air pollution is associated with cardiac autonomic dysfunction and prolonged ventricular repolarization. However, associations with sub-chronic exposures to coarser particulates are relatively poorly characterized as are molecular mechanisms underlying their potential relationships with cardiovascular disease. Materials and methods We estimated associations between monthly mean concentrations of PM Results We found little evidence of PM-HRV association, PM-QT association, or mediation by DNAm. Conclusions The findings suggest that among racially/ethnically and environmentally diverse U.S. populations, sub-chronic exposures to coarser particulates may not exert appreciable, epigenetically mediated effects on cardiac autonomic function or ventricular repolarization. Further investigation in better-powered studies is warranted, with additional focus on shorter duration exposures to finer particulates and non-electrocardiographic outcomes among relatively susceptible populations.
High performance scalable and cost-effective thermoelectric devices fabricated using energy efficient methods and naturally occuring materials

Abstract Various printing methods have recently been employed to manufacture thermoelectric generators. While providing a scalable alternative to manufacturing thermoelectric generators, these printing techniques consume excessive energy by using long-duration and high-temperature sintering to reduce the interfacial connections and grain boundaries between thermoelectric particles. We report an inexpensive and energy-saving technique for fabricating thermoelectric generator devices that can be employed for low-waste heat applications. This technique involves a synergistic approach, using a small amount of binder (0.05 wt%), a heterogenous distribution of thermoelectric particles of varying size, low temperature (120 °C) and short duration (30 min) curing, and application of uniaxial mechanical pressure (200 MPa) to reduce the grain boundaries and interfacial connection and to enhance electrical conductivity of thermoelectric composite films and thermoelements. In this work, we present a thermoelectric prototype fabricated on gold-coated Kevlar substrate using p-type chitosan-100 mesh Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type chitosan-100 mesh Bi composite inks. The dimension of a single thermoelement was 6.5 mm × 2.3 mm × 150 µm. The 9-couple planar device was able to produce a power output of 73 µW at a voltage of 26 mV, and at a current of 2.8 mA at a temperature difference of 40 K, which is sufficient to power wireless sensor devices. Using energy-efficient methods and naturally occurring materials (Bi and chitosan), this device achieved a power density of 566 µW/cm2 for a temperature difference of 40 K matching the best reported power densities of printed thermoelectric devices fabricated using high temperature and long duration.
Foregrounding Backgrounds: How Scientists Conceive Art to Express the Invisible:

Scientist-artist collaborations have become a high-profile form of science communication as scientists seek creative ways to connect with publics. This qualitative case study examines one such coll...
A Multifaceted Editing and Reflection Project: The DEE-CR Project

This article describes a major assignment in an undergraduate editing course in the Writing and Rhetoric major at St. Edward’s University. The DEE-CR (Describe, Evaluate, Edit, Communicate, Reflect) project assignment is an individual assignment that asks students to find a particular non-fiction text that would benefit from the attention of an adept editor, to describe and contextualize it, to evaluate it, to edit it, to practice communicating edits to an author, and finally to reflect on lessons learned. I will describe the assignment’s design and purposes, reflect on some outcomes and challenges, and close by offering advice to readers of Prompt who might consider adapting the assignment for their courses.
Structure Determination by X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy — Including Applications from the Study of Molybdenum Proteins

Since Dr. Eisenberger has already discussed in some detail the properties of synchrotron radiation and its utility for x-ray absorption spectroscopy, in my lectures I will concentrate on a description of the curve-fitting method of EXAFS analysis and the applications of this method to determination of the structures of molybdenum proteins. Today, I will begin by reviewing the nature of EXAFS, and then I plan to go into some detail on how one actually obtains structural information from an EXAFS spectrum. I hope this will give you an appreciation of what EXAFS analysis can and cannot do, and that you will eventually be able to read the literature and distinguish between some of the very good and very bad work that has been done in this field.
The linear, hydrodynamic stability of an interfacially perturbed, transversely isotropic, thin, planar viscoelastic film

Abstract A dispersion equation which describes the linear, hydrodynamic stability of an interfacially perturbed, thin (O(10–100 nm)), planar, uncharged, transversely isotropic, viscoelastic film bounded by electrolytic Newtonian fluids is developed for the case in which the film interfaces are tangentially immobile. The linear viscoelastic rheology of the film is described by a Boltzmann superposition in which the stress relaxation tensor is formulated by utilizing Kelvin models. The influence of the electrical interactions of the film system on the linear dynamics is derived explicitly by integrating the normal mode electrostatic field equations. An investigation of the adjoint properties of the normal mode mechanical field relations indicates that for a certain class of films, (i) the principle of exchange of stabilities is valid, (ii) instability is nonoscillatory, and (iii) oscillatory states decay. A simplified dispersion equation for a symmetric film system is deduced, and it is shown that this equation describes squeezing and stretching eigenmodes.
Challenges and Strategies of Laboratory Diagnosis for Newly Emerging Influenza Viruses in Taiwan: A Decade after SARS

Since the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan was identified in March 2003, viral respiratory infections, in particular the influenza virus, have become a national public health concern. Taiwan would face a serious threat of public health problems if another SARS epidemic overlapped with a flu outbreak. After SARS, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control accelerated and strengthened domestic research on influenza and expanded the exchange of information with international counterparts. The capacity of influenza A to cross species barriers presents a potential threat to human health. Given the mutations of avian flu viruses such as H7N9, H6N1, and H10N8, all countries, including Taiwan, must equip themselves to face a possible epidemic or pandemic. Such preparedness requires global collaboration.
Infrared Spectroscopy in Clinical and Diagnostic Analysis

The infrared spectrum of a mixture serves as the basis to quantitate its constituents, and a number of common clinical chemistry tests have proven to be feasible using this approach. This article reviews the infrared spectroscopy-based analytical methods that have been developed for consideration as clinical assays, including serum analysis, urine analysis, amniotic fluid assays for the estimation of fetal lung maturity, and others. Because of the widespread interest in the potential for in vivo measurement of blood glucose using near-infrared spectroscopy, a separate section is devoted to the analysis of glucose in whole blood. A related technique uses the infrared spectrum of biomedical specimens directly as a diagnostic tool. For example, the spectra of serum and of synovial fluid have proven to be useful in the diagnosis of metabolic disorders and arthritis, respectively, without explicitly recovering their chemical composition from the spectra. Rather, characteristic spectral features and patterns have been identified as the basis to distinguish spectra corresponding to healthy patients from those corresponding to diseased patients. These applications are reviewed here. Issues such as ease of use, speed, reliability, sample size, and calibration stability all play important roles in governing the practical acceptability of infrared spectroscopy-based analytical methods. To provide a framework to illustrate these issues, descriptions are included for the various procedures that have been explored to wed successfully infrared spectroscopy to clinical chemistry.
Goal decomposition and scenario analysis in business process reengineering

This paper presents experiences in applying the goal decomposition and scenario analysis model in the context of Business Process Reengineering (BPR). The relationships of goals, scenarios, as well as the understanding and description of business processes are discussed. Different methods of goal refinement, and the application of scenarios to support this process of refining goals and roles are reviewed. A case study is presented which serves to exemplify and validate the process of using scenarios in refining business process descriptions. We tried deriving full scenarios for business processes, but obtaining them from the organization's prescriptive goals was difficult. Explanatory scenarios that justify descriptive goals are easier to obtain but are fragmentary. We conclude that both types of scenario and goal analysis are necessary for effective BPR. The need for technology support for this process is discussed and attention is given to future anticipated research in this area.
NUTRITIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CANCER OF THE ESOPHAGUS

This study of 178 cases of cancer of the esophagus from three counties in western New York, as compared with sex- and age-matched neighborhood controls in 1975-1986, replicated some earlier findings, particularly with regard to the increased risks associated with use of cigarettes and alcohol. The concentration of alcohol in an alcoholic beverage apparently did not affect risk: Beer carried a substantial risk, whereas less-dilute forms of alcohol carried no risk. These findings also suggest that the risk of cancer of the esophagus increases with ingestion of foods containing retinol but not carotene. Although increased risks were found to be associated with increases in total calories and fat ingested, as well as calcium, they appeared to be confounded with the risk associated with retinol, as distinct from carotene. Inasmuch as a difference in risk associated with retinol and carotene has been shown in a few previous inquiries dealing with esophageal cancer and cancer at other sites, a need for further investigations distinguishing risks associated with the two compounds is apparent.
Trebananib (AMG 386) in Combination With Sunitinib in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer: An Open-Label, Multicenter, Phase II Study

Purpose Trebananib, an investigational recombinant peptide-Fc fusion protein, neutralizes the receptor-ligand interaction between Tie2 and angiopoietin-1/2. This phase II study was conducted to evaluate trebananib plus sunitinib, a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor, in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Patients and Methods Adults with metastatic renal cell carcinoma were enrolled sequentially onto two cohorts that received sunitinib 50 mg once per day for 4 weeks on and 2 weeks off and intravenous trebananib once per week at a dose of 10 mg/kg in cohort A or 15 mg/kg in cohort B. The primary end points were incidences of adverse events (AEs) and dose interruptions of sunitinib during the first 12 weeks of treatment. Secondary end points included objective response rate and progression-free survival. Results Eighty-five patients were enrolled: 43 in cohort A, and 42 in cohort B. During the first 12 weeks of treatment, 58% and 57% of patients in cohorts A and B, r...
Serum calcium values in term and late-preterm neonates receiving gentamicin

Since noting an apparent increase in hypocalcemia in neonates receiving gentamicin every 24 h (q 24 h) for ≥ 4 days, we have prospectively monitored serum calcium (Ca) values in these patients receiving prolonged gentamicin therapy. This study is a retrospective analysis of those values measured during gentamicin treatment. The study included neonates with gestational age ≥ 35 weeks who received ≥ 4 days of gentamicin therapy and in whom at least one serum Ca value was measured ≥ 47 h after initiation of therapy. Hypocalcemia was defined as a serum Ca level < 8 mg/dl (2 mmol/l). Data were analyzed by Student t-test, chi-square test, and Pearson product moment correlation. There were 1,624 neonates that met the study criteria. Ca was < 8 mg/dl in 241 (15%). Ca < 8 mg/dl was more likely in boys than in girls (16.4% vs 11.8%, P = 0.01) and in neonates < 37 weeks gestational age (GA) than in those ≥ 37 weeks GA (23.9% vs 14.1%, P = 0.01). A second Ca value was obtained in 883 neonates (54%); 23.2% of neonates with initial Ca < 8 mg/dl remained hypocalcemic, and 30% of these were receiving oral Ca supplementation. The second Ca value was < 8 mg/dl in eight neonates in whom initial Ca was ≥ 8 mg/dl. Hypocalcemia is not uncommon in neonates receiving gentamicin therapy, and it may occur more frequently in boys and late-preterm infants. These data suggest that the monitoring of serum Ca levels should be considered when gentamicin is given ≥ 4 days.
Feminism, Neoliberalism, and Social Studies

The purpose of this article is to analyze the sparse presence of women in social studies education and to consider the possibility of a confluence of feminism and neoliberalism within the most widely distributed National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication, Social Education. Using poststructural conceptions of discourse, the author applies second-wave feminist theory and Fraser's (2009) work on neoliberalism as lenses to illuminate the limited attention to women and feminism in this text during the 1980s in order to better understand how women have been marginalized in social studies education and to consider the possibility that the feminist principles present in social studies were taken up in service of neoliberal forces.
An evaluation of space-time clustering in Hodgkin's disease

Abstract A survey in Greater Boston identified 1577 new cases of histologically-confirmed Hodgkin's disease (HD) diagnosed from 1959 to 1973. The spatial position of each case was taken as the place of residence at diagnosis, and the temporal position as the month and year of diagnosis. Sufficient data for analysis were available for 1398 cases (89%). Space-time clustering was evaluated by three different methods: (a) Knox, (b) David and Barton and (c) Ederer, Myers and Mantel. When all HD cases were considered, none of these methods revealed statistically significant clustering. When stratification by risk factors was done, each of the techniques found significant clustering for various subgroups. Young adult cases (age 16–45 yr) tended to cluster more than older cases (age 46–70) and Catholics more than Jewish or Protestant cases. Rather than suggesting clustering at the time of HD diagnosis, the sporadic and inconsistently positive findings of this study may reflect case aggregation at the time of shared etiologic exposures, particularly if HD has a long and/or variable latent period.
Effects of the nonvanishing tip size in mechanical profile measurements

The high-spatial--fregiency behavior of rrethanical-profiling instrunents is determin principal ly by the non-linear geaitrica1 interaction beten the styl us tip and the surface irreularities. 'there is cons iderable interest in the nature of this interaction and its effects in practical applications. This paper explores the these issues analytically and pesents a riety of results with enphasis on the freuency-danain description. Smooth surfaces are treat1 by perturbation theory and are found to be rot4iened by tip-s ize effects , tiile rough surfaces are snoothed. In lieu of closel fotm results for rot4i surfaces, offer a simple conjecture rerding the nature of tip-s ize distortions and the rnaxinurn useable spatial freuenoj.