cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Correlation analysis of the central nervous system leukemia and minimal residual disease in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Objective To probe into the relationship between the central nervous system leukemia (CNSL) and levels and changes of the minimal residual disease (MRD) at the time of complete remission (CR) and during CR of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).Methods A total of 46 ALL patients with entire MRD data, hospitalized from 1994 to 2000, was involved in this research The DNA of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was extracted by the modified one step boiling method The DNA of bone marrow (BM) was extracted by the routine phenol/chloroform method The nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for qualitative detection of MRD, in the mean time the limiting dilution assay PCR was used for the quantitative detection of MRD, in which the IgH, TCRr and TCR δ were taken as markers Kaplan Meier method, COX model and Rank test were used to analyze the data.Results The MRD levels in BM at the time of CR after induction therapy were positive correlated to the development of CNSL (COX model r =0 349 6, P =0 003 8) Among 46 cases, there were 18 cases with the positive MRD in CSF at the time of CR The opposite dangerous rate (OR) was 2 1 times higher in the positive MRD group than in the negative MRD group in CSF The analysis of survival curve showed that the 5 year disease free survival was much higher in the negative MRD group than in the positive MRD group in CSF ( P 0 05) In generally, when MRD in CSF changed from positive to negative gradually, the OR of CNSL would reduce gradually (3-18 months were 4 80-5 50 and 18-36 months 1 67) However, if the MRD in CSF was positive persistently or changed from negative to positive during the CR period, the OR of CNSL was obviously higher compared with the condition that MRD was persistently negative or changed from positive to negative Conclusion The quantitative levels of MRD in BM and the qualitatine MRD in CSF at the time of CR may predict the OR of CNSL in ALL The changes of MRD in CSF during CR period may also predict the OR of CNSL in ALL The detection of MRD was significant in predicting the prognosis and guiding the treatment in ALL
How psychological testing can reinstate its value in an era of cost containment.

Managed care methods, and the cost containment concerns from which they arose, have dramatically reduced the use of psychological testing dramatically. This article critiques that trend, and proposes how selected tests can be used cost-effectively in specific situations. The author has conducted research and written extensively on this subject, including a chapter in "The Computerization of Behavioral Healthcare: How to Enhance Clinical Practice, Management and Communications."
Scope of Semantic Activation and Innovative Thinking in College Students with ADHD

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show high divergent thinking on standardized laboratory measures. This study assessed innovative thinking in adults with ADHD using a realistic task and investigated a possible cognitive mechanism for ADHD-related advantages in innovative thinking. College students with and without ADHD (n = 30 per group) completed a cell-phone feature invention task and word association task. Latent semantic analysis was used to measure semantic distance within cue-associate pairs on the word association task. Compared to non-ADHD peers, students with ADHD scored higher in originality, novelty, and flexibility on the cell phone task, and produced associates of lower semantic relatedness on the word association task. Tests of statistical mediation confirmed that the higher flexibility of the ADHD group was explained by semantic distance within cue-associate pairs on the word association task. Results support the possibility that ADHD is positively associated with...
System and Software Quality Attributes for Real-Time Embedded Systems

Software quality attributes (Bass et al. 2013) refer to nonfunctional requirements of software, which can have a profound effect on the quality of a real-time embedded system. During requirements specification, software quality requirements are specified as nonfunctional requirements. Many software quality attributes can be addressed and evaluated at the time the software architecture is developed. Some quality attributes are actually system quality attributes because both hardware and software considerations are needed to achieve high quality. These system quality attributes include scalability, performance, availability, safety, and security. Other quality attributes are purely software in nature because they rely entirely on the quality of the software. These software quality attributes include maintainability, modifiability, testability, traceability, and reusability. This chapter provides an overview of system and software quality attributes, and discusses how they are supported by the COMET/RTE software design method. SCALABILITY Scalability is the extent to which the system is capable of growing after its initial deployment. There are system and software factors to consider in scalability. From a system perspective, there are issues of adding further hardware to increase the capacity of the system. In a centralized system, the scope for scalability is limited, such as adding more memory, more disk capacity, or an additional CPU. A distributed system offers much more scope for scalability by adding more nodes to the configuration. From a software perspective, the system needs to be designed in such a way that it is capable of growth. A distributed component-based software architecture is much more capable of scaling upward than a centralized design. Components are designed such that multiple instances of each component can be deployed to different nodes in a distributed configuration. A light rail control system that supports multiple trains and multiple stations can have a component-based software design, such that there is one instance of a train component for each train and one instance of a station component for each station. Such a software architecture can be deployed to execute in a small town, in a large city, or in a wide geographical region. A service-oriented architecture can be scaled up by adding more services or additional instances of existing services. New clients can be added to the system as needed. Clients can discover new services and take advantage of their offerings.
An Outside-of-School Physical Activity Requirement for Physical Education

The purpose of this article is to describe the concept of an outside-of-school physical activity requirement for physical education and provide suggestions for implementation.
Citizen Science: Exploring the Potential of Natural Resource Monitoring Programs to Influence Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

Citizen science programs monitoring ecosystems and natural resources are promoted for their potential to foster environmental awareness and stewardship. We surveyed volunteers in natural resource monitoring programs to determine whether they perceived changes in their environmental attitudes and decision-making. The majority of participants perceived changes in their attitude towards the resource being monitored, but not in their decision-making towards the resource they monitored or towards the environment more broadly. While the resources volunteers monitored in this study were diverse, program volunteers themselves were not. Participants were largely white, older, affluent, well-educated, held strong pre-existing environmental attitudes, and were involved in other conservation, research, or management efforts. While engaging this narrow range of self-selected volunteers has the potential to reinforce existing pro-environmental attitudes through strengthening social networks, citizen science programs can increase their potential to promote attitude and behavioral change by making a concerted effort to engage a more diverse ‘citizenry.’ This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
The Abiotic Nitrogen Cycle

Natural environments on Earth are amenable to a diverse array of chemical reactions that can convert one form of nitrogen into another, often with the participation of additional substances such as minerals, dissolved metals, and organic compounds. These processes collectively define a natural chemical nitrogen cycle, analogous to the familiar biologically driven cycle but even more intricate with respect to the number of pathways by which nitrogen can be transformed and transported across land, air, and water. The fully assembled abiotic nitrogen cycle manifests a landscape rich in opportunities for investigation either with or without parallel attention to biological processes.
Factors affecting Neofuscicoccum ribis infection and disease progression in blueberry

Botryosphaeria stem blight is an economically important disease of blueberry worldwide. In this study, factors affecting inoculum production, infection and disease progression of Neofusicoccum spp. in blueberries were investigated. Under laboratory conditions conidia of the main three Neofusicoccum species (N. australe, N. parvum and N. ribis) were released from pycnidia at 15–30 °C and under relative humidities (RHs) of 80–100%, with greatest numbers released by N. parvum. The greatest numbers of oozing pycnidia and conidial release occurred at higher temperatures (25–30 °C) and RHs (92–100%). Inoculation of green shoots with different N. parvum and N. ribis conidial concentrations (50 μL of 5 × 104−5 × 106 conidia/ mL) caused 100% incidence but lesion lengths increased with increasing concentrations. Wound age affected N. ribis lesion development, with lesions only observed for 0–7-day-old wounds in soft green shoots and 0–4-day-old wounds for both hard green shoots and trunks. Colonisation length decreased with increasing wound age. Lesions developed on wounded shoots when plants were exposed to 20 or 25 °C and 90 or 100% RH during the early infection processes; and in non-wounded shoots spot-like lesions were observed although N. ribis colonised the stem tissue. Seasons (summer, autumn and winter) had no effect on susceptibility of wounded plants to N. ribis. External lesions only developed in summer-inoculated plants and colonisation length was lower in winter-inoculated plants. Information on host and environmental factors that affect disease development determined by the study will be used to inform the development of control strategies.
Teaching The Latin Deli in the Age of Trump

National, community, and personal histories converge in Judith Ortiz Cofer's “American History,” which records a catastrophic event in American history through the eyes of an adolescent Puerto Rica...
Primary Care and Home Visiting Utilization Patterns among At-Risk Infants.

Objective To describe well child care (WCC) utilization in the first year of life among at-risk infants, and the relationship to home visiting enrollment. Study design Retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data for infants ≥34 weeks' gestation from 2010 to 2014, within a regional, academic primary care system. Association between WCC visits and home visiting enrollment was evaluated using bivariate comparisons and multivariable Poisson regression. Latent class analysis further characterized longitudinal patterns of WCC attendance. Multivariable logistic regression tested the association between home visiting and pattern of timeliest adherence to recommended WCC. Results Of 11 936 infants, mean number of WCC visits was 4.1 in the first 12 months of life. Of 3910 infants eligible for home visiting, 28.5% were enrolled. Among enrolled infants, mean WCC visits was 4.7 vs 4.4 among eligible, nonenrolled infants, P value Conclusions A pattern of timely WCC attendance was more likely among infants in home visiting; however, most infants eligible for home visiting were not enrolled.
Refractive optically multiplexed LWIR imaging system

Using a novel computational imaging architecture, we double the field of view of a long-wave infrared microbolometer camera while maintaining resolution. Due to the compact designs enabled by this architecture and the critical impact of resolution on classification performance, this approach is compelling for surveillance applications where low size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) systems are desired. We detail the optical design, characterization, and performance of a compact, refractive, optically multiplexed imaging system for use in the long-wave infrared (8-12 μm). A pair of prisms are used to divide the aperture and expose the uncooled microbolometer focal plane to two fields of view simultaneously, doubling the number of output pixels and the horizontal field of view. The image is reconstructed by rotating the prisms about the optical axis, inducing opposing vertical shifts in the two channels. Focal length, field of view, MTF, and NEDT are used to compare performance to a conventional camera. Shifting methods for proper demultiplexing are discussed, and reconstructed images are offered as a demonstration of system performance.
Pentecostal Epistemology, the Problem of Incommensurability, and Creational Hermeneutic

This article expounds James K.A. Smith’s pentecostal epistemology, analyzing its characteristics as affective, pretheoretical knowledge and its ambiguous relationship to cognitive, theoretical knowledge, and then correlating this relationship to Smith’s exposition of the problem of incommensurability between pretheoretical transcendence and theoretical immanence. I argue that Smith’s epistemology is partly rooted in Heidegger’s notion of Dasein as being-in-the-world in order to clarify the relationship between the affects and cognition. I then address the problem of incommensurability and argue that Smith’s creational hermeneutic eliminates the problem altogether, healing the ambiguous relationship between affective, pretheoretical knowledge and cognitive, theoretical knowledge that affects his pentecostal epistemology.
Federico Gaeta: His Last Ten Years of Mathematical Activity

In his last ten years of mathematical activity, i.e., from 1990 to 2000, Federico Gaeta focused on Effective Methods in Algebraic Geometry (mainly Computational Invariant Theory), Combinatorics and Commutative Algebra, although his contributions in these fields were never published in journals. At the age of 70, while he was emeritus professor at the UCM, he participated in the spring semester at the IHP on Surfaces de Riemann et Fibres Vectoriels where, after discussions with D. Eisenbud he wrote the paper A fully explicit resolution of the ideal defining N generic points in the plane. It is profusely quoted by many authors as a preprint of 1995. This paper was in fact a more explicit and computational version of an old publication of his, Sur la distribution des degres de formes appartenant a la matrice de l’ideal homogene attache a un groupe de N points generiques du plan, appeared in CR. Acad. Sci. Paris in 1951.
Response of Cortical Oxygen and Striatal Extracellular Dopamine to Metabolic Acidosis in Newborn Piglets

This study determined the relationships of metabolic acidosis, cortical oxygen pressure, and striatal extracellular dopamine in the brain of newborn piglets. After a baseline period of 120 minutes, a 0.6 N HCl solution was infused intravenously to decrease the blood pH to about 7.0–7.05. The metabolic acidosis was then corrected by injecting sodium bicarbonate and measurements were continued for one hour. The results show that decreased blood pH to about 7.2–7.15 does not cause a statistically significant change in mean blood pressure, cortical oxygen pressure or striatal extracellular dopamine. Further decrease in pH caused significant decrease in both blood pressure and cortical oxygen pressure. By the end of the period of acidosis the cortical oxygen pressure decreased from the control value of 43 ± 4 Torr to 22 ± 8 Torr. Changes in the extracellular level of striatal dopamine were parallel to changes in cortical oxygen pressure. The extracellular dopamine increased to 1270 % of the control on the end of HCl injection. Infusion of bicarbonate to correct the acidosis resulted in an increase of cortical oxygen and progressive decline of dopamine in the extracellular medium. It is suggested that the level of extracellular dopamine in the striatum of newborn piglets was not directly affected by decrease in pH but was dependent on changes in tissue oxygen pressure during metabolic acidosis.
Glutamine Protects GI Epithelial Tight Junctions

l-Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in blood stream accounting for 30–35 % of the amino acid nitrogen in plasma. It was classified as a non-essential amino acid because it can be readily synthesized in the body from glutamate by glutamine synthetase, which is expressed at high levels in skeletal muscle, liver, brain and stomach tissue. Intracellular concentration of l-glutamine ranges from 2 to 20 mM, and its concentration in the extracellular fluid varies from 0.5 to 0.8 mM. Under conditions of extreme physical exertion, trauma and severe infections, the rate of utilization of glutamine is more than its rate of synthesis, resulting in a significant decline in plasma glutamine concentration. Glutamine is an essential fuel for the gastrointestinal tract. It is required for the synthesis of proteins, nucleic acids and antioxidants, such as glutathione, and involved in the maintenance of acid–base balance with the release of ammonia during its metabolism. Under conditions of reduced plasma glutamine concentration, body depends on the exogenous glutamine to meet its requirements. Therefore, l-glutamine now is reclassified as a conditionally essential amino acid.
Transcranial Doppler Sonographic (TCD) Monitoring of Basilar Artery Thrombolysis

Acute basilar artery thrombosis is an often fatal disease which may be reversed by intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy. Important parameters for improving outcome include early identification of vessel occlusion, treatment before the onset of coma or tetraparesis, and successful recanalization of the affected arteries
The Limits of Corporate Rights under International Law

Abstract For most commentators, the acceptance of corporate rights under international human rights law is part of a broader push to recognise corporations as subjects of international law. As subjects, corporations would not only enjoy some international legal rights, but they would also be liable for many international legal duties. In prior work, I have criticized the effort to impose international legal duties on corporations in the context of the Alien Tort Statute, arguing that there is insufficient international consensus to treat corporations as subjects of international law. In this Article, I criticize the parallel effort to treat corporations as subjects that enjoy international legal rights. I do not argue that corporations can never hold legal rights under international law. But the manner in which corporations have acquired rights in certain bodies of international law does not support the goal of recognising corporations as "subjects" of customary international law. For these reasons, business corporations generally enjoy rights under international law when such rights are explicitly authorised through formal lawmaking processes such as international treaties or national statutes. There is very little support for recognising such rights under general customary international law. In some limited cases, treaties without plain language granting corporate rights might still be interpreted to do so, but only if such protection were deemed necessary to protect the rights of natural persons. Table of Contents I. Introduction....... 730 II. Subjects, Rights, and Duties .....733 A. Subjects and International Law 733 B. Business Corporations and International Law.. .....735 III. The Origins of International Rights for Corporations 738 A. Business Corporations and the Law of Diplomatic Protection......... ........ 738 B. Business Corporations and International Investment Treaties. 741 1 . Convention on the settlement of international disputes between states and nationals of other states. 742 2. Model BITs. .744 3. Summary 745 IV. Corporate Rights and International Human Rights Law.... ....746 A. European Convention on Human Rights. ....746 1. The textual basis for corporate rights under the ECHR. 746 2. The jurisprudential development of corporate rights under the ECHR 748 3. Other international human rights treaties 750 V. The Limits of Corporate Rights under International Law 751 A. Subjects and Rights.. 751 B. The Practical Complexities of Granting Corporate Rights..... 752 1. The separation of ownership and control. 752 2. Diversity of corporate forms. ..753 VI. Conclusion …
Abstract B044: Engineering CAR NK cells for antigen-dependent autocrine expansion

Given promising results with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in hematologic malignancies attention has turned to whether CAR natural killer (NK) cells might have utility in cancer immunotherapy. NK cells are known to have potent cytolytic function and the ability to secrete interferons and cytokines, including GM-CSF and interferon-γ (IFNγ) upon stimulation. In pre-clinical models CAR NK cells have been shown to have efficacy and possibly some advantages over CAR T-cells. Several biotechs and pharmas are currently exploring this approach, but a major limitation of NK cells is their inability to produce autocrine growth factors to promote their own expansion and activation. In the context of CAR NK cell therapy, a major limitation is the inability of the infused CAR NK cells to expand in the absence of cytokine signals to initiate their proliferation and enhance their effector functions. IL-12 and IL-15 are essential for the clonal expansion of NK cells; however, recombinant IL-12 and IL-15 are quite toxic when administered systemically. Additionally, engineering NK cells to constitutively secrete IL-12 or IL-15 is not an attractive strategy as this may also result in off-target toxicity. Our goal is to engineer chimeric receptors with the intracellular signaling domains of IL-12 or IL-15 receptors fused to the extracellular domains of cytokine receptors. Consequently, self-secreted cytokines by activated NK cells or recognition of tumor cells will provide autocrine growth signal, permit NK clonal expansion and enhance NK effector functions. Citation Format: Avishai Shemesh, Kole T. Roybal, Lewis L. Lanier. Engineering CAR NK cells for antigen-dependent autocrine expansion [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 B044.
New and novel rapid diagnostics that are impacting infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship.

Purpose of reviewThe current review summarizes advances in rapid diagnostic testing that impacts infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship programs.Recent findingsA variety of rapid diagnostic technologies to identify organisms in cultured blood are now available. When coupled with antimicr
Age and Race-Related Differences in Sleep Discontinuity Linked to Associative Memory Performance and Its Neural Underpinnings

There is a strong relationship between sleep and memory for the details of past events. In old age, both episodic memory performance and related neural activity decline. These changes occur in parallel to age-related decreases in sleep quality. Thus, poor sleep quality may be an explanatory factor for poor memory in older adulthood. Furthermore, Black adults tend to sleep more poorly than White adults, and this could be explained by differences in health and psychosocial factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, race-related stress). However, there have been no studies investigating the effect of race on sleep quality, episodic memory, and memory-related neural function. In the current pilot study, we recruited a diverse sample of older and younger adults and measured their habitual sleep using a wrist-worn accelerometer for 1 week. We recorded their electroencephalography (EEG) as they performed an episodic memory task to assess the impact of habitual sleep on memory-related neural oscillations. We found that more variable sleep quality was associated with worse memory performance, particularly for older adults. Additionally, Black participants demonstrated greater intraindividual sleep variance than White participants, and greater sleep variance was strongly linked to reduced memory-related neural activity in Black participants. Taken together, maintaining good sleep quality is especially important for memory performance in older adulthood, and greater sleep variation, that is evident in Black adults, may hamper memory-related neural function.
Anterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery Bypasses: The 7-Bypass Framework Applied to Ischemia and Aneurysms in the Cerebellopontine Angle.

Background Aneurysms of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) are rare. Primary clip reconstruction of these lesions is a challenge because of the limited surgical exposure and frequent nonsaccular aneurysm morphology. Endovascular treatment options exist, but outcomes are equivalent to those for open surgery. Historically, AICA aneurysms not amenable to clipping or primary coiling have been treated with parent vessel sacrifice. Objective To determine whether an AICA revascularization strategy would afford for the safe treatment of AICA aneurysms and other posterior circulation pathologies without compromising perfusion of the AICA territories. Methods We describe a series of AICA bypasses to treat 4 AICA aneurysms and 3 vertebral artery/AICA occlusions. Results We used 7 types of bypasses to revascularize the AICA territory. Bypass types included extracranial-to-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass without an interpositional graft, EC-IC with an interpositional graft, in situ bypass, reanastomosis, reimplantation, intracranial-to-intracranial bypass with interpositional graft, and combination bypasses. In particular, we performed the following 7 bypasses: OA-a3 AICA, OA-RAG-a3 AICA, p3 PICA-a3 AICA, a2 AICA reanastomosis, V4 VA-a3 AICA, V3 VA-SVG-a3 AICA, and a combined OA-a3 AICA bypass and p3 PICA reanastomosis. AICA revascularization allows for the safe treatment of AICA aneurysms and other posterior circulation pathologies without compromising perfusion of the AICA territories. Conclusion All 7 AICA bypasses are feasible for application to AICA aneurysms and ischemic disease. Our experience with the 7-bypass framework demonstrates the utility of the framework as a decision-making tool and the breadth of bypass innovation possible in this anatomically challenging region.
Adversarial perturbations to manipulate the perception of power and influence in networks

Observed social networks are often considered as proxies for underlying social networks. The analysis of observed networks oftentimes involves the identification of influential nodes via various centrality metrics. Our work is motivated by recent research on the investigation and design of adversarial attacks on machine learning systems. We apply the concept of adversarial attacks to social networks by studying strategies by which an adversary can minimally perturb the observed network structure to achieve their target function of modifying the ranking of nodes according to centrality measures. This can represent the attempts of an adversary to boost or demote the degree to which others perceive them as influential or powerful. It also allows us to study the impact of adversarial attacks on targets and victims, and to design metrics and security measures that help to identify and mitigate adversarial network attacks. We conduct a series of experiments on synthetic network data to identify attacks that allow the adversarial node to achieve their objective with a single move. We test this approach on different common network topologies and for common centrality metrics. We find that there is a small set of moves that result in the adversary achieving their objective, and this set is smaller for decreasing centrality metrics than for increasing them. These results can help with assessing the robustness of centrality measures. The notion of changing social network data to yield adversarial outcomes has practical implications, e.g., for information diffusion on social media, influence and power dynamics in social systems, and improving network security.
Looking Back on Colonial Korea: Nostalgia and Anti-Nostalgia in Park Chang-wook’s "The Handmaiden"

This article examines how South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s 2016 film The Handmaiden (Agassi) retrospects on Korea’s late colonial period by keeping out of reach any unproblematic return to Korean sovereign nationality. Instead, the film keeps the tense suspended in a “futureless” colonial modernity where characters navigate the perceived dead end of Japanese cultural imperiality and patriarchy. This article considers how the liberal cosmopolitan subjectivity offered to oppressed women in the film may not sufficiently emancipate them from the larger global colonial matrix. In fact, the film’s anti-nostalgia for the Japanese colonial period may work to displace national identifications and assert a contemporary nostalgia for English modernity.
Removal efficiency of micro- and nanoplastics (180 nm-125 μm) during drinking water treatment.

Abstract This study investigated the removal efficiency of micro- and nanoplastics (180 nm–125 μm) during drinking water treatment, particularly coagulation/flocculation combined with sedimentation (CFS) and granular filtration under ordinary working conditions at water treatment plants (WTPs). It also studied the interactions between biofilms and microplastics and the consequential impact on treatment efficiency. Generally, CFS was not sufficient to remove micro- and nanoplastics. The sedimentation rate of clean plastics was lower than 2.0% for all different sizes of plastic particles with coagulant Al2(SO4)3. Even with the addition of coagulant aid (PolyDADMAC), the highest removal was only 13.6% for 45–53 μm of particles. In contrast, granular filtration was much more effective at filtering out micro- and nanoplastics, from 86.9% to nearly complete removal (99.9% for particles larger than 100 μm). However, there existed a critical size (10–20 μm) where a significant lower removal (86.9%) was observed. Biofilms were easily formed on microplastics. In addition, biofilm formation significantly increased the removal efficiency of CFS treatment from
Hippocampal Zinc transporter 3 mRNA expression and metabolic changes defined by 1H-MRS in weaning rats following heat stress and febrile convulsion

Objective To asses the value of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) combined with neuropathological findings in early detection of metabolic abnormities and damages of the brain neurons following heat stress (HS) and febrile convulsion (FC). Methods Febrile convulsion models were established in weaning rats (21 days old) by means of hot water bath. -1H-MRS was performed to measure the changes in N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (cho), lactate (Lac) and creatine (Cr) contents in the brain tissue following HS or FC, and in sire hybridization was used to detect Zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3) mRNA expression in the hippocampus. Results In the control group, HS group and FC group, the NAA/Cr ratio (1.5±0.42, 1.57±0.59, and 1.61±0.37, respectively) and Cho/Cr ratios showed no significant differences, but a significant increase in Lac/Cr ratio was observed in FC group. ZnT3 3 mRNA expression was detected in the dentate gyms of the rats following the onset of FC. Conclusions As Lac increase is a putative marker of seizure-induced neuronal damage, and ZnT3 is associated with mossy fiber sprouting in the hippocampus, our results suggest that even a single temporary FC may result in marked changes in neuronal metabolism and cause subtle brain injury. Key words: Febrile seizures; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Spectroscopy, Zinc transporter 3
The Coronavirus in Context: Guidance for Psychotherapists During a Pandemic

We outline a context-centered therapy approach to helping clients cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Context-centered therapy is a constructivist approach that emphasizes shifts in an individual’s...
Listing Malignant Melanoma Patients for Renal Transplantation.

Abstract Background Melanoma is an immune responsive malignancy and the need for immunosuppression for successful transplantation may lead to recurrent disease. The recommended waiting time is unknown with various groups recommending anywhere from no wait to 5 years. Methods In this single-center, retrospective observational study all kidney transplant recipients’ charts from 1991 to 2015 were reviewed for a diagnosis of melanoma before transplantation. The charts were reviewed for the clinical characteristics of melanoma pre transplantation, induction immunosuppression, maintenance immunosuppression, graft function, death, and recurrence of melanoma. Results Thirteen patients with a history of melanoma underwent kidney transplantation during this period. Recipients had been in remission for an average of 7.0 years (range, 10 months to 20 years, median 6 years). Approximately 61.5% received a living donor transplant, antithymocyte globulin was administered in 23.1% of recipients, and the remaining 76.9% received basiliximab. Melanoma recurred in 1 patient (7.7%). Maintenance immunosuppression varied, but only 2 patients remained on standard triple therapy with prednisone, calcineurin inhibitor, and antimetabolite therapy. Average follow-up time since transplant was 7.5 years, with 1 patient death 9 years post transplant from sepsis. Conclusion In conclusion, with our center demonstrates safety of kidney transplantation in patients with a prior history of localized melanoma and shorter waiting time. In malignant melanoma stage 0 and 1, waiting the recommended 5 years from the time of remission to kidney transplantation should be reconsidered.
Hydrogen production from water: past and present

Hydrogen derived from sustainable materials may be an important energy vector in a post petroleum economy. The focus of this short review article is on the most studied methods for making hydrogen from water including: electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, and thermally driven reactions on reducible oxides. Hydrogen from renewables comes at a cost. Therefore, projected process cost issues are necessary in determining the best path forward. The most important challenge in the thermally driven reaction is finding a metal oxide that can be reduced at practical temperatures with acceptable reaction kinetics while the most important challenge for photocatalytic reactions is to find a stable semiconductor-based material capable of splitting water using a large fraction of sun light.
A Short Proof of Fermat’s Two-square Theorem

Theorem. If a prime p satisfies p≡1 (mod4) then it is a sum of two squares.Proof. Letting {a, b} denote a multiset (that is, {a,b}={b,a} and {a, a} has two elements a), define S:={{a,b}∈N2: there e...
Understanding value and patient complexity among common inpatient vascular surgery procedures.

Abstract Objective Vascular surgery patients are highly complex, second only to patients undergoing cardiac procedures. However, unlike cardiac surgery, work relative value units (wRVU) for vascular surgery were undervalued based on an overall patient complexity score. This study assesses the correlation of patient complexity with wRVUs for the most commonly performed inpatient vascular surgery procedures. Methods The 2014 to 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Participant Use Data Files were queried for inpatient cases performed by vascular surgeons. A previously developed patient complexity score using perioperative domains was calculated based on patient age, American Society of Anesthesiologists class of ≥4, major comorbidities, emergent status, concurrent procedures, additional procedures, hospital length of stay, nonhome discharge, and 30-day major complications, readmissions, and mortality. Procedures were assigned points based on their relative rank and then an overall score was created by summing the total points. An observed to expected ratio (O/E) was calculated using open ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (rOAAA) as the referent and then applied to an adjusted median wRVU per operative minute. Results Among 164,370 cases, patient complexity was greatest for rOAAA (complexity score = 128) and the least for carotid endarterectomy (CEA) (complexity score = 29). Patients undergoing rOAAA repair had the greatest proportion of American Society of Anesthesiologists class of ≥IV (84.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 82.6%-86.8%), highest mortality (35.5%; 95% CI, 32.8%-38.3%), and major complication rate (87.1%; 95% CI, 85.1%-89.0%). Patients undergoing CEA had the lowest mortality (0.7%; 95% CI, 0.7%-0.8%), major complication rate (8.2%; 95% 95% CI, 8.0%-8.5%), and shortest length of stay (2.7 days; 95% CI, 2.7-2.7). The median wRVU ranged from 10.0 to 42.1 and only weakly correlated with overall complexity (Spearman's ρ = 0.11; P Conclusions Patient complexity varies substantially across vascular procedures and is not captured effectively by wRVUs. Increased operative time for open procedures is not adequately accounted for by wRVUs, which may unfairly penalize surgeons who perform complex open operations.
Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Substituted Tryptamines in Rats

Novel synthetic compounds have been available for decades as quasi-legal alternatives to controlled substances. The hallucinogen-like effects of eight novel substituted tryptamines were evaluated to determine their potential abuse liability. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (DOM, 0.5 mg/kg, i.p., 30 min) from saline. 4-Acetoxy-N,N-diethyltryptamine (4-AcO-DET), 4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine (4-OH-MET), 4-hydroxy-N,N-diethyltryptamine (4-OH-DET), 4-acetoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine (4-AcO-MiPT), 4-acetoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (4-AcO-DMT), 4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (4-OH-DMT, psilocin), 5-methoxy-N-methyl-N-isopropyltryptamine (5-MeO-MiPT), 4-acetoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (4-AcO-DiPT), and 4-hydroxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (4-OH-DiPT) were tested for their ability to substitute for the discriminative stimulus effects of DOM. All test compounds fully substituted for DOM with potencies less than or equal to that of DOM. 4-OH-MET, 4-OH-DET, 4-OH-DMT, and 4-AcO-DMT decreased response rate at doses that fully substituted. Because the test compounds produced DOM-like discriminative stimulus effects, they may have similar abuse liability as DOM. 4-Acetoxy substituted compounds were less potent than 4-hydroxy substituted compounds, and the N,N-diisopropyl compounds were less potent than the dimethyl, diethyl, N-methyl-N-ethyl, and N-methyl-N-isopropyl compounds.
Balanced Input from the tRNA Prenyltransferase MiaA Controls the Stress Resistance and Virulence Potential of Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT An ability to adapt to rapidly changing and often hostile environments is key to the success of many bacterial pathogens. In Escherichia coli, the highly conserved enzymes MiaA and MiaB mediate the sequential prenylation and methylthiolation of adenosine-37 within tRNAs that decode UNN codons. Here, we show that MiaA, but not MiaB, is critical to the fitness and virulence of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC), a major cause of urinary tract and bloodstream infections. Deletion of miaA has pleiotropic effects, rendering ExPEC especially sensitive to stressors like nitrogen and oxygen radicals and osmotic shock. We find that stress can stimulate striking changes in miaA expression, which in turn can increase translational frameshifting and markedly alter the bacterial proteome. Cumulatively, these data indicate that ExPEC, and likely other organisms, can vary MiaA levels as a means to fine-tune translation and the spectrum of expressed proteins in response to changing environmental challenges.
Classroom-Based Citizen Science: Impacts on Students' Science Identity, Nature Connectedness, and Curricular Knowledge.

Citizen science projects are an increasingly popular way to engage the public in the process of science. However, few studies have evaluated learning outcomes beyond knowledge gains in formal learn...
Bone-modifying agents for bone loss in patients with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy; insights from a network meta-analysis.

The data of head-to-head comparisons of the effect of bone-modifying agents (BMAs) in patients with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer without skeletal metastasis is limited. Thus, we conducted a network meta-analysis to compare each BMA for the efficacy of bone mineral densities (BMDs) and the risk of fracture. We performed a network meta-analysis to compare the change of BMDs and the risk of vertebral fracture in the studies included using a random-effect model. The primary outcomes are the change of BMD of the lumbar spine (LS) and the total hip (TH) from the baseline at 1 year from the initiation of the BMA and the risk of vertebral fracture. We identified and included 15 studies in this analysis. All BMAs except risedronate showed a significant increase of BMD of the LS compared with groups without BMA, among which zoledronate showed the most BMD gain. At TH, bisphosphonates (alendronate, pamidronate, and zoledronate) and denosumab showed significant elevation compared with the no-BMA group. Denosumab was associated with the most BMD gain at the TH. Only denosumab reduced the risk of vertebral fracture (relative risk [95% confidence interval]: 0.40 [0.20–0.81]). Although zoledronate showed the highest BMD gain at the LS, it did not reduce the risk of vertebral fracture in this analysis. Most bisphosphonates and denosumab significantly increased BMD at the LS and the TH in patients receiving ADT for prostate cancer without skeletal metastasis. In particular, zoledronate and denosumab were the most potent BMAs in terms of BMD increment at the LS and the TH, respectively. However, denosumab, not zoledronate, was the only BMA that showed a significant risk reduction of vertebral fracture. We need further studies to examine the change of bone quality and the effect on the risk of non-vertebral and hip fractures.
Smoking, sociodemographic determinants, and stress in the Alabama Black Belt.

Purpose: In the Alabama Black Belt, poverty is high, and the educational level is low. Studies have found increased tobacco use among individuals exposed to high levels of stress. Few studies have been conducted in this region to measure smoking status, its sociodemographic determinants, and how smoking status relates to stressful environmental conditions. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 1,387 individuals. Findings: Approximately 25% of the respondents currently smoked cigarettes. Females were less likely to smoke compared to males (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.23-0.38). Blacks were less likely to smoke cigarettes compared to whites (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43-0.95). Compared to individuals who were employed, participants who were unemployed or retired had increased odds of smoking (OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.15-2.20). The odds of being a current smoker were increased in the presence of moderate level stress (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.38-3.07) or when there was a high level of stress (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.47-3.31). Smoking was associated with increased odds of having a moderate level (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.38-3.08) and a high level of stress (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.47-3.32). Females who reported moderate to high levels of stress had increased odds of being smokers compared to males. Interaction between gender and stress showed deviation from additivity. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a high rate of cigarette use in the area. Increased stress levels appear to predispose females more than males to cigarette smoking. The implications of this association may guide interventions targeted at reducing smoking and its complications.
Deep Brain Stimulation for Neurological Diseases

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective surgical therapy for well-selected patients with advanced Parkinson disease and essential tremor. DBS may also offer promise for other neurological diseases, such as dystonia, Tourette Syndrome and epilepsy. Keywords: deep brain stimulation; Parkinson disease; movement disorder; epilepsy; depression
Drosophila Notch Receptor Activity Suppresses Hairless Function during Adult External Sensory Organ Development

The neurogenic Notch locus of Drosophila encodes a receptor necessary for cell fate decisions within equivalence groups, such as proneural clusters. Specification of alternate fates within clusters results from inhibitory communication among cells having comparable neural fate potential. Genetically, Hairless (H) acts as an antagonist of most neurogenic genes and may insulate neural precursor cells from inhibition. H function is required for commitment to the bristle sensory organ precursor (SOP) cell fate and for daughter cell fates. Using Notch gain-of-function alleles and conditional expression of an activated Notch transgene, we show that enhanced signaling produces H-like loss-of-function phenotypes by suppressing bristle SOP cell specification or by causing an H-like transformation of sensillum daughter cell fates. Furthermore, adults carrying Notch gain of function and H alleles exhibit synergistic enhancement of mutant phenotypes. Over-expression of an H+ transgene product suppressed virtually all phenotypes generated by Notch gain-of-function genotypes. Phenotypes resulting from over-expression of the H+ transgene were blocked by the Notch gain-of-function products, indicating a balance between Notch and H activity. The results suggest that H insulates SOP cells from inhibition and indicate that H activity is suppressed by Notch signaling.
Holographic current study in laser and photorefractive crystals

Summary form only given. We generalized the theory behind the light-induced grating (LIG) electro-motive force (EMF) technique for material characterization and interferometry, first introduced by Petrov et al. In particular, we have accounted for the screening length, that allowed us to describe adequately the dependence of the amplitude, and the decay-time.
Barriers to Successful End-User Programming

ajko@cs.cmu.edu, http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ajko In my research and my personal life, I have come to know numerous people that our research community might call end-user programmers. Some of them are scientists, some are artists, others are educators and other types of professionals. One thing that all of these people have in common is that their goals are entirely unrelated to producing code. In some cases, programming may be a necessary part of accomplishing their goals, such as a physicist writing a simulation in C or an interaction designer creating an interactive prototype. In other cases, programming may simply be the more efficient alternative to manually solving a problem: one might find duplicate entries in an address book by visual search or by writing a short Perl script. In either case, the fact that end-user programmers are motivated by their domain and not by the merits of producing high-quality, dependable code, means that most of the barriers that end users encounter in the process of writing a program are perceived as distractions. This is despite the fact that such barriers can represent fundamental problems in end-users’ program’s or their understanding of how to use a programming language effectively. Much of my research has focused on understanding these barriers and how end users overcome them. When are they insurmountable and why? What happens when end users fail to overcome them? And how can tools help end-user programmers’ improve their programs’ dependability, while allowing them to remain focused on their goals, rather than their code?