cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of an Injury Induced Population of Muscle-Derived Stem Cell-Like Cells

We recently discovered a novel population of stem cells from the injured murine skeletal muscle. These injury induced muscle-derived stem cell-like cells (iMuSCs) are partially reprogrammed from differentiated myogenic cells and display a pluripotent-like state. The iMuSCs exhibit stem cell properties including the ability to differentiate into multiple lineages, such as neurogenic and myogenic differentiations; they also display a superior migration capacity that demonstrating a strong ability of muscle engraftment in vivo. IMuSCs express several pluripotent and myogenic stem cell markers; have the capability to form embryoid bodies and teratomas, and can differentiate into all three germ layers. Moreover, blastocyst microinjection showed that the iMuSCs contributed to chimeric embryos but could not complete germline transmission. Our results indicate that the iMuSCs are in a partially reprogrammed state of pluripotency, which are generated by the microenvironment of injured skeletal muscle.
K+/-, p-bar, and Omega - production in relativistic heavy ion collisions.

We discuss the production of antiprotons, kaons, and the ..cap omega../sup /minus//in nuclear collisions at relativistic energies in the framework of a simplifiedhadrochemical model. We point out the importance of ..delta.. resonances for/ital p/bar // as well as /ital K//sup /minus// production at 1--2 GeV/nucleon,particularly in the region below the threshold for their production inindividual /ital NN/ collisions. Quark matter formation may enhance..cap omega../sup /minus// production to a measurable level at 15 GeV/nucleon.
Adsorption Isotherms of Arsenic on Conditioned Layered Double Hydroxides in the Presence of Various Competing Ions

Analysis of effluents from various power plants indicates that, in addition to arsenic (As), these effluents also contain such ions as fluorides, nitrates, chlorides, carbonates, sulfates, and phos...
Dynamic Placement of Plasmonic Hotspots for Super-resolution Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

In this paper, we demonstrate dynamic placement of locally enhanced plasmonic fields using holographic laser illumination of a silver nanohole array. To visualize these focused “hotspots”, the silver surface was coated with various biological samples for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) imaging. Due to the large field enhancements, blinking behavior of the SERS hotspots was observed and processed using a stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy algorithm enabling super-resolution localization of the hotspots to within 10 nm. These hotspots were then shifted across the surface in subwavelength (<100 nm for a wavelength of 660 nm) steps using holographic illumination from a spatial light modulator. This created a dynamic imaging and sensing surface, whereas static illumination would only have produced stationary hotspots. Using this technique, we also show that such subwavelength shifting and localization of plasmonic hotspots has potential for imaging applications. Interestingly, illuminating...
Glycine Requirement of the Chick

SummaryThe glycine requirement of the young chick for optimum rate of growth is approximately 1.5% of the diet when provided as free glycine, and 1.0% when provided in combination as in gelatin, edestin, casein and glycylglycine. The young chick probably has a limited ability to synthesize glycine.
Understanding the mechanism of cavity resonance suppression using a cylindrical rod in cross∞ow

A number of previous experiments have shown that high frequency excitation can lead to dramatic suppression of cavity ∞ow resonances typically associated with modern aircraft weapons bays. However, despite all the documented efiectiveness of this method, there is a lack of clear understanding of the physics driving the suppression mechanism. In this regard, the key issue addressed in this paper is whether resonant acoustics suppression due to high frequency excitation is a result of shear layer stabilization, and, if this is so, what is the mechanism that causes this stabilization. High frequency excitation was introduced into the shear layer of a cavity by means of spanwise coherent vortex shedding in the wake of a smooth, circular cylinder (the ‘shedding+wake’ conflguration). It was found that this conflguration dramatically suppressed the self-sustained resonant acoustic tones in a cavity having length-to-depth ratio, L=D = 2:0, over a wide range of subsonic freestream Mach numbers. On the other hand, a conflguration that neither introduced high frequency excitation, nor had a wake-type proflle (the ‘nonshedding+no-wake’ conflguration) showed inconsistent resonance suppression characteristics. Time-averaged velocity proflles at various streamwise locations for all the conflgurations revealed that the baseline and nonshedding+no-wake conflgurations developed similar to free shear layers whereas the shedding+wake conflguration exhibited a wake-type mean velocity proflle due to the velocity deflcit region downstream of the cylinder. Linear stability calculations on the mean proflles close to the upstream edge of the cylinder revealed that the wake type proflle of the shedding+wake conflguration had a much smaller growth rate compared to that of either the baseline or nonshedding+no-wake conflgurations. It is hoped that the results presented in this paper will ofier better insight into designing efiective cavity resonance suppression devices for future aircraft applications.
Role of fatty acid beta-oxidation and calcium-independent phospholipase A2 in ischemic acute renal failure.

Membrane phospholipolysis during ischemic cell injury is accompanied by the activation of a novel calcium-independent phospholipase A2 in the proximal tubule. Long-chain fatty acid metabolic products produced by phospholipase A2 activation accumulate during ischemia as a result of the inhibition of
Basic Research on the Behavioral Economics of Reinforcer Value

Reinforcer value is a complex and multifaceted concept necessitating numerous levels of analyses and integration of both visual and quantitative approaches. This chapter summarizes the seminal basic operant laboratory work with both humans and nonhumans on this topic. In doing so, we provide the reader with numerous references and examples for prototypical approaches to the assessment and measurement of reinforcer demand and efficacy. Topics covered include: (a) basic preparations for measuring reinforcer value, (b) common design elements in evaluating reinforcer value, (c) quantitative analyses of reinforcer value, and (d) modulating factors.
Building Bridges From Hospital to Home: Understanding the Transition Experience for the Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Oncology Patient

Caregivers of pediatric oncology patients are expected to understand and adhere to a complex medical plan of care while at home; yet little is known about how to assess and evaluate the caregivers' abilities to adequately meet these demands. The purpose of this study was to describe the issues and daily challenges faced by caregivers as they transition from hospital to home after their child's cancer diagnosis. Patients and caregivers received a home visit by an expert pediatric oncology nurse within 72 hours postdischarge after initial diagnosis. The nursing narrative notes from these visits were analyzed using content analysis. Four explanatory themes emerged: (1) "We're doing okay," (2) "This isn't going so well," (3) "I could use a little help with this," and (4) "An RN in the house makes you feel safe and know what is correct." These analyses revealed many caregivers achieved mastery of caring for the child at home; however, an overwhelming majority of caregivers expressed questions or concerns to the nurse during the home visit, even those achieving mastery of care. A home visit by an expert pediatric oncology nurse assisted the caregiver in transitioning to caring for the child at home. Such programs should be considered when planning transition programs from hospital to home.
OpenGrowth: An Automated and Rational Algorithm for Finding New Protein Ligands.

We present a new open-source software, called OpenGrowth, which aims to create de novo ligands by connecting small organic fragments in the active site of proteins. Molecule growth is biased to produce structures that statistically resemble drugs in an input training database. Consequently, the produced molecules have superior synthetic accessibility and pharmacokinetic properties compared with randomly grown molecules. The growth process can take into account the flexibility of the target protein and can be started from a seed to mimic R-group strategy or fragment-based drug discovery. Primary applications of the software on the HIV-1 protease allowed us to quickly identify new inhibitors with a predicted Kd as low as 18 nM. We also present a graphical user interface that allows a user to select easily the fragments to include in the growth process. OpenGrowth is released under the GNU GPL license and is available free of charge on the authors’ website and at http://opengrowth.sourceforge.net/.
Comorbidities of asthma in U.S. children

Abstract Background Few epidemiologic population-based data are available to describe the wide range of health conditions that affect children with asthma. We conducted this study to identify common comorbidities of asthma during childhood and compare the prevalences of selected comorbidities among children with and without asthma. Methods We analyzed weighted data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey child sample, a sample of 10,954 U.S. children aged 3–17 years. Information about each child’s health, including history of asthma and other health conditions, was provided by an adult proxy respondent. We conducted binomial regression to compare the prevalences of 41 selected health conditions among children with and without current asthma. Results An estimated 10.4% of children aged 3–17 years (n = 1202) were identified as having current asthma. Nearly all conditions considered were more common among children with than without asthma. Compared to children without asthma, children with asthma had higher prevalences of hay fever or respiratory allergies (prevalence difference [PD]: 30.5%; 95% CI: 26.6, 34.4), eczema or skin allergies (PD: 14.1%; 95% CI: 10.7, 17.5), sinusitis (PD: 11.3%; 95% CI: 8.4, 14.1), food or digestive allergies (PD: 10.4%; 95% CI: 7.7, 13.1), and difficulty with emotions, concentration, behavior, or getting along (PD: 7.9%; 95% CI: 4.7, 11.1). Conclusions These results highlight the burden of comorbidities among children with asthma. Improved understanding of the impact of comorbidities among children with asthma may help develop best practices for the assessment, treatment, and control of coexisting health conditions.
SQWRL: a query language for OWL

The ability to extract information from OWL ontologies is a basic requirement. While SPARQL and its extensions are being used as an OWL query language in many applications, their understanding of OWL's semantics is at best incomplete. There is a pressing need for a concise, readable, and semantically robust query language for OWL. We describe a query language called SQWRL that we believe provides such a language. SQWRL is based on the SWRL rule language and uses SWRL's strong semantic foundation as its formal underpinning. The resulting language provides a small but powerful array of operators that allows users to construct queries on OWL ontologies. SQWRL also contains novel set operators that can be used to perform closure operations to allow limited forms of negation as failure, counting, and aggregation.
Purchasing power parity and the behavior of prices and nominal exchange rates across exchange-rate regimes

Abstract The evidence presented in this paper shows that purchasing power parity as a long-run proposition is indeed a very useful approximation. We see this quite clearly in the panel data for three historical periods examined here – the classical gold standard era from 1870 to 1914, the interwar period from 1921 to 1939, and the period after World War II from 1959 to 1998. Price-level behavior across countries differs in the way that PPP suggests when monetary arrangements differ and is highly similar when monetary arrangements are themselves similar. Inflation rates adjusted for exchange rate changes in general are highly correlated and bear a one-to-one relation to one another within and across the three periods and the varied monetary regimes that prevailed.
Online protest participation and the digital divide: Modeling the effect of the digital divide on online petition-signing

Scholars have long been concerned about the effect that digital inequalities might have on marginalized populations. Concern for the “digital divide” extends to social movement scholars, who worry that the digital divide will lead to social movements privileging the concerns of the middle class over those of disadvantaged groups. We argue for a novel way of testing for such effects—the use of a Heckman regression model to model participation in online activism. The Heckman model separately models selection effects (i.e. first-level digital divides that affect Internet access) and main effects (i.e. second-level digital divides and classic predictors of micro-mobilization). We find that the digital divide in access does not exert a selection effect and that the digital divide in usage exerts minimal effects in models predicting online petition-signing.
Keeping Her Surname as a Middle Name at Marriage: What Predicts this Practice Among Married Women Who Take Their Husband’s Last Name?

Data from 60,223 clients of MissNowMrs.com were used to identify predictors of women retaining their premarital surname as a middle name when changing their last name to that of their husband after they were married. Among women who changed their last name to that of their husband, 18 % kept their former last name as a middle name. We identify four significant predictors of women keeping their surname as their middle name: education, marital age, race, and region of residence. As their education level increased, women were significantly more likely to keep their surname before marriage as a middle name. Marital age had a curvilinear relationship with this naming choice. African Americans were significantly less likely than whites to use their birth name as a middle name while other women of color were significantly more likely than whites to follow this practice. The birth surname as middle name pattern was most common in the South, suggesting a regional cultural influence.
A competency framework for librarians involved in systematic reviews.

Objective: The project identified a set of core competencies for librarians who are involved in systematic reviews. Methods: A team of seven informationists with broad systematic review experience examined existing systematic review standards, conducted a literature search, and used their own expertise to identify core competencies and skills that are necessary to undertake various roles in systematic review projects. Results: The team identified a total of six competencies for librarian involvement in systematic reviews: “Systematic review foundations,” “Process management and communication,” “Research methodology,” “Comprehensive searching,” “Data management,” and “Reporting.” Within each competency are the associated skills and knowledge pieces (indicators). Competence can be measured using an adaptation of Miller’s Pyramid for Clinical Assessment, either through self-assessment or identification of formal assessment instruments. Conclusions: The Systematic Review Competencies Framework provides a standards-based, flexible way for librarians and organizations to identify areas of competence and areas in need of development to build capacity for systematic review integration. The framework can be used to identify or develop appropriate assessment tools and to target skill development opportunities.
From Zygote to Lens: Emergence of the Lens Epithelium

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Hans Spemann first discovered embryonic induction when he demonstrated that lenses failed to form in the frog, Rana fusca, following the destruction of the optic vesicle. Since that time, lens induction remains at the forefront of investigations of embryonic development. However, unlike in the early days of vertebrate experimental embryology, advanced genetic tools and techniques make it possible to paint a detailed molecular picture of how the lens comes into being. It is this picture, although not complete, that emerges in the following pages. Drawing from investigations using a number of different model systems and experimental approaches, this work traces the journey from fertilized zygote to the differentiation of the lens epithelium. These transitions from zygote to inner cell mass to epiblast to ectoderm to neural plate border to preplacodal ectoderm to lens placode to lens vesicle to lens epithelium occur through sequential paracrine signals that induce specific transcription factors leading to the production of proteins characterizing each stage. Understanding the paracrine signals that take place during normal embryonic development informs much of the current revolution fueled by the conversion of embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells into differentiated cell types in vitro.
Evaluating bank solvency with support vector machines

Banks as financial intermediaries play a very useful role in economic growth by facilitating the flow of funds to various sectors of the economy. Deterioration in a bank's performance and potential failure of the bank may lead to loss of confidence in the financial system that can result in loss of household savings and non-availability of funds to the business sector for economic expansion and growth. Banking regulators around the world are always looking for ways to identify sooner the banks that can be at risk of failure so that corrective action can be taken with minimal disruption to the economy. This study illustrates the use of support vector machines, an artificial intelligence technique, to predict the pending insolvency of a bank so that regulators can take appropriate steps to prevent a 'domino effect'. The study also compares the performance of support vector machines to multiple discriminant analysis in identifying 'unsafe' banks. To alleviate the problem of bias in the training set and to examine the robustness of support vector machine classifiers in identifying unsafe banks, we cross-validate our results through seven different samples of the data.
First Direct Observation of Runaway-Electron-Driven Whistler Waves in Tokamaks.

DIII-D experiments at low density (${n}_{e}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{19}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$) have directly measured whistler waves in the 100--200 MHz range excited by multi-MeV runaway electrons. Whistler activity is correlated with runaway intensity (hard x-ray emission level), occurs in novel discrete frequency bands, and exhibits nonlinear limit-cycle-like behavior. The measured frequencies scale with the magnetic field strength and electron density as expected from the whistler dispersion relation. The modes are stabilized with increasing magnetic field, which is consistent with wave-particle resonance mechanisms. The mode amplitudes show intermittent time variations correlated with changes in the electron cyclotron emission that follow predator-prey cycles. These can be interpreted as wave-induced pitch angle scattering of moderate energy runaways. The tokamak runaway-whistler mechanisms have parallels to whistler phenomena in ionospheric plasmas. The observations also open new directions for the modeling and active control of runaway electrons in tokamaks.
Environmental Justice in Theory and Practice: Measuring the Equity Outcomes of Los Angeles and New York’s “Million Trees” Campaigns:

Los Angeles and New York each sought to plant a million trees, prioritizing underserved neighborhoods. This paper examines how MillionTreesLA and MillionTreesNYC defined environmental justice and a...
The silence is deafening Persian arrows did not inspire the Greek charge at Marathon

The evidence presented in this essay leads to the conclusion that the Greek charge at Marathon was not inspired by the danger of Persian arrows. In fact, the unexpected and ferocious Greek advance ...
A commercial multi-line TRL calibration

A commercial implementation of the reference multi-line TRL has recently become available [1]. While the algorithm implementation has intentionally been kept as true to the previously published details [2]–[3] as possible, the implementation in a current and supported software application enables new capabilities. In addition to support for reference line Zo and propagation constant determination, Zo renormalization, and error term error bound comparison [4], the new implementation supports a wide-variety of vector network analyzer models. Fully automated MLTRL calibration is enabled by using programmable stage and positioner moves with appropriately equipped semi-automatic probe stations. The automation and improved consistency of probe placement results in dramatically faster and less laborious calibration with better calibration repeatability.
How to Compute the Cabibbo Angle with Six Quarks

Once upon a time there were only three quarks. Not so very long ago hadron spectroscopists thought there were only three kinds (or flavors) of quarks, if they believed in quarks at all. All known hadrons could be built up out of u, d and s quarks. Each of the quark flavors had the same strong interactions (now thought to be mediated by color SU(3) gauge gluons) but differed in mass and in weak and electromagnetic properties.
A Design Study of 3D Printed Reduced Height Waveguide Structures

In this paper, 3D printed reduced height waveguide, similar to a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW), based components operating in the X-& Ku-band are demonstrated. The waveguides are made hollow to reduce dielectric loss. Straight waveguide structures, a T-line resonator, power divider and a leaky wave antenna are designed, fabricated and characterized. Details of the design, fabrication, assembly, and testing are presented in the paper. Overall, this paper shows that compact waveguide structures (similar to SIW) having low loss can readily be prototyped using 3D printing. This process allows for the design of novel high functional density RF systems.
Facilitators and barriers to the novice nurse practitioner workforce transition in primary care.

ABSTRACTBackground and purpose:Little is known about the facilitators and barriers to the workforce transition of novice nurse practitioners (NPs) in primary care. This research aimed to identify factors contributing and detracting from a successful initial workforce transition for novice NPs in the
Leghemoglobin Reduction in Soybean Nodules

We present spectrophotometry evidence that ferric leghemoglobin (Lb) is reduced in nodules and suggest that ferric Lb reductase may be the enzyme responsible for the reduction. Thin nodule slices (1–2 mm) from fresh nodules were washed and maintained in isotonic solutions containing various oxidants and ligands. Nodule slices isolated under anaerobic conditions exhibited typical ferrous Lb absorption band which was not changed by the addition of ferricyanide. Slices of nodules incubated with hydroxylamine exhibited a 627 nm absorption peak which shifted to 608 nm or 622 nm if the slices were exposed to fluoride or acetate respectively and disappeared if exposed to nicotinate which are typical responses of ferric Lb. With longer incubation in nitrogen or air, the 627 nm peak disappeared with the appearance of typical ferrous Lb band or if nicotinate was present, a sharp peak at 554 nm appeared which is diagnostic for ferrous Lb nicotinate complex. These data substantiate that ferric Lb can be reduced in situ to ferrous Lb.
PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION AND DUAL ANTIPLATELET THERAPY IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS PRIOR TO KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) referred for kidney transplantation (KT) often undergo preoperative angiography with or without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The frequency, safety, and outcomes associated with PCI have not previously been reported. This is a retrospective
Optimizing RNA-RNA interaction computations

RNA-RNA (Ribo-Nucleic Acid) Interactions (RRI) has led to significant successes in Cancer treatment. However, programs that model these interactions are computationally and memory intensive: for sequences of lengths N and M, space is $\Theta (N^{2}M^{2})$, and the time is $\Theta (N^{3}M^{3})$. Conducting genome-wide RNA-RNA interactions can take forever. Therefore, there is a need to speed up these computations. On examining two RRI applications (piRNA and IRIS), we find that the dominant computations fit the polyhedral model, a widely accepted tool for loop nest optimization. Applying existing automatic polyhedral tools on this whole application is near to impossible. Hence, we analyzed a surrogate kernel that captures the main dependence pattern found in piRNA and IRIS. But even on this kernel, a state-of-the-art automatic polyhedral, Pluto does not significantly improve the performance of the baseline implementation. Whereas, with simple manual loop permutation and skewing techniques, we were able to achieve an average of $17\times$ (sequential) and $112\times$ (parallel on a 6-core Intel Broadwell processor) speed-up over the baseline. This performance represents 75% (respectively, 88%) of attainable single-core and multi-core L1 bandwidth. Preliminary results from tiling show that there is a room for two-three fold improvement when the data foot-print required to compute the inner three loop dimensions fit in the main memory.
First-generation circular migrants involved in the upbringing of their grandchildren: the case of Turkish immigrants in Germany

Following retirement, older immigrants increasingly tend to engage in circular migration. This back-and-forth movement introduces a variety of challenges affecting the nature of grandparenthood as well as grandparental involvement in the upbringing of grandchildren. For circular migrant grandparents, maintaining intergenerational relationships requires them to overcome not only geographic distances, but also linguistic and cultural differences. In families with circular migrant grandparents, intergenerational conflict often springs from disparate generational exposure to acculturation processes, producing divergent aspirations within the first and second generations regarding the upbringing of the third generation. This study explores how first-generation Turkish circular migrant grandparents attempt to raise grandchildren who reside in Germany by implementing ‘cultural and instrumental transfers’. This study undertakes a qualitative approach: semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of first-generation Turkish circular migrant grandparents (N = 40). The analysis finds that child-care assistance is characterised by intergenerational conflict – rather than solidarity or altruistic support – between the first and second generations. Moreover, through transnational arranged marriages, as a cultural transfer, and inter vivos gifts, as an instrumental transfer, grandparents encourage their grandchildren to return to Turkey permanently.
Estimating the Determinants of Remittances Originating from US Households Using CPS Data

The USA is the largest source country of worldwide remittances. This paper is the first to use Current Population Survey data to estimate the determinants of remittances originating from the USA for a diverse set of approximately 3800 households with at least one foreign-born worker. We employ a gravity model examining the role of various push, pull, and distance factors. Most notably, higher household earnings push monetary transfers abroad: We estimate an average earnings elasticity in the range of 0.20–0.30. Remittances are more responsive to earnings in households with more adult women relative to men.
Who Was Naamah? Insights from Robert Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated

Robert Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated (2009) attempts a verse-by-verse rendering of all fifty chapters of the Book of Genesis. This includes meticulous illustrations of genealogical lists ...
Clinical Presentations of Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus

There are descriptions of convulsions since neo-Babylonian times (1) reflecting the perception that an afflicted person was possessed by external forces or spirits. What was frightening to the observer was seeing a person possessed by a “seizure,” with “outside forces” prevailing over the person’s own control over mind and body. Occasionally such “possessions” were believed to be benign, but usually they were deemed to be evil, occasionally leading to ostracism of the individual from society or even relegation to an asylum.
Toward a more effective hurricane hazard communication

Tropical cyclones are among the most devastating natural disasters that pose risk to people and assets all around the globe. The Saffir-Simpson scale is commonly used to inform threatened communities about the severity of hazard, but lacks consideration of other potential drivers of a hazardous situation (e.g. terrestrial and coastal flooding). Here, we propose an alternative approach that accounts for multiple components and their likelihood of coincidence for appropriate characterization of hurricane hazard. We assess the marginal and joint probability of wind-speed and rainfall from landfalling Atlantic tropical cyclones in the United States between 1979~2017 to characterize the hazard associated with these events. We then integrate the vulnerability of affected communities to have a better depiction of risk that is comparable to the actual cost of these hurricanes. Our results show that the multihazard indexing approach significantly better characterizes the hurricane hazard, and is more appropriate for risk-informed decision-making.
Smart City and the Reinvented Politics of Governing Through Datafied Environment in Songdo, South Korea

This chapter examines the linkage between two governing strategies: the discourse of sustainable development and sociotechnical infrastructure of smart cities. Drawing on a case study of Songdo, South Korea, this chapter problematizes the interplay between the historical evolution of sustainable development as a new growth paradigm and the new urban governance model of smart cities afforded by the new regime of digital media. In doing so, this chapter explains how a smart city emerged from complex relationships among diverse actors and things including the nation-state, IT corporations, transnational non-governmental organizations, digital technologies, the urban environment, and the citizens. This transition is largely driven by the rationale that posits sustainability as an aim of “good governance.” This good urban governance model in turn foregrounds the civic virtue demanded of the globally minded, ecologically conscious, and responsible “good citizen.” Subsequently, this chapter challenges the role of the digital in the local experience of smart and green city, in the sense that the digital technologies were used to impose standardized universal solutions to the local problems.
Children With Medical Complexity: The 10-Year Experience of a Single Center

Children with medical complexity (CMC) have chronic, multisystem health conditions, substantial health care needs, major functional limitations, and high resource use. They represent <1% of US children yet account for more than one-third of total pediatric health care costs. Health care systems designed for typical children do not meet the unique needs of CMC. In this special article, we describe the experience of our Comprehensive Care Program for CMC in a pediatric tertiary care center, from its launch in 2007 to its present model. We review the literature, describe our collective lessons learned, and offer suggestions for future directions.
Arthroscopic Management of Subspinous Impingement in Borderline Hip Dysplasia and Outcomes Compared With a Matched Cohort With Nondysplastic Femoroacetabular Impingement

Background:Arthroscopic management of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) in the setting of borderline hip dysplasia is controversial. Recently, there has been increased awareness of a prominent ant...
Surface Modification by Plasma Polymerization

Plasma polymers are surface coatings formed in a plasma by the fragmentation of “monomer” molecules, the formation of reactive sites on surfaces (including newly formed plasma polymer) in contact with the plasma, and the reaction of monomer fragments with the surface and each other. Such films are formed in a glow-discharge, a plasma (electrically neutral ionized gas) formed (and sustained) by an electric field in a partial vacuum (less than 10 Torr pressure). As a consequence of the low pressure. electrons are characterized by electron temperatures of 10,000° C, average electron energies of 1–10 eV and non-equilibrium with gas molecules.1 The temperature of the latter is therefore close to ambient.
Mental health risks of parents of children with developmental disabilities: A nationally representative study in the United States.

Abstract Background Caring for a child with a developmental disability may affect parents’ mental health. There are few longitudinal or nationally representative studies, none on new mental health problems. Studies have few young children, and few adult children. Objective/hypotheses We hypothesized that parents of children with developmental disability would be more likely to develop mental health problems than other parents. Methods We used the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID, 1997–2017) and its Child Development Supplements, defining developmental disability by diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability, and requiring additional evidence of lasting impairment. We linked children’s and parents’ data spanning 20 years, including 44,264 mental health measurements for 4024 parents of 7030 children. Discrete-time hazard analysis controlled for child and parent characteristics. Results About 9.4% of children had developmental disability. Parents of children with developmental disability were more likely to develop mental health problems than other parents. The odds of developing anxiety or depression were higher when an adult child with developmental disability lived independently, nearly 3 times higher for mothers (OR 2.89, CI 2.33–3.59) and more than twice as large for fathers (OR 2.35, CI 1.70–3.26). Compared to fathers whose children did not have developmental disability and challenging behaviors, the odds of psychological distress were over 7 times larger (odds ratio, OR 7.18, 95% confidence interval, CI, 5.37–9.61) for those whose children had developmental disability and challenging behaviors. Conclusions Parents of children with developmental disability may benefit from increased emotional support, respite, and interventions addressing challenging behaviors.
Impact of Neonatal Airway Emergencies in a Large Children's Hospital

Background: Children9s hospitals often care for highly complex infants with severe rare birth defects including airway abnormalities that make standard airway management challenging. Our hospital has established a specialized multidisciplinary airway program that cares for these infants with difficult/critical airways including an emergency airway response team consisting of anesthesia and ENT providers. We also have an ongoing quality improvement database: National Emergency Airway Registry for Neonates (NEAR4NEOS) to capture safety data on all tracheal intubations (TIs) in the special delivery unit (SDU) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We sought to evaluate the current status of emergency airway management in these high-risk difficult/critical airway infants in our hospital. Methods: Retrospective review of the all emergency airway activation in NICU and SDU at the Children9s Hospital of Philadelphia from January 2016 — April 2018. Both Emergency Airway Response Database and the NEAR4NEOS database were reviewed by a content expert (NN) to describe the safety and outcomes. Results: Of the 1,009 intubations that occurred during the study period, 33 (3%) airway emergences were activated. Of these 33 activations (31 in NICU, 2 in SDU), 14 had existing endotracheal tube (8 unplanned extubations), 6 had existing tracheostomies, and 11 had natural airway. 25 required TI, 6 had re-insertion of tracheostomy cannula, and 2 had confirmation of airway placement with no need for adjustment. Of the 22 TIs (3 excluded, 1 taken directly to operating suite and 2 did not have NEAR4NEOS data), 20 were successful (90%), with median 4 (IQR 1-11) attempts and 2 (IQR 1-5) providers. Table 1 shows the advanced resources used for TI. Adverse tracheal intubation associated events occurred in 41% of the cases with 4 having dysrhythmia, 3 having cardiac arrest with return of spontaneous circulation, and 1 died due to failure to establish airway. 77% (17/22) had more than 20% of decline in oxygen saturation level during the intubation procedure. Conclusions: Activation of the emergency airway team was uncommon. In patients when it was activated, a high percentage were able to be intubated. However this requires expertise with a number of advanced airway devices and is still associated with a high rate of adverse events. Ongoing hospital wide difficult airway system with multidisciplinary teams and expertise are necessary to continue to improve our current practice.
Forensic characterization of sea turtle oil by ambient ionization mass spectrometry: Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, Dermochelys coriacea, Eretmochelys imbricata, Lepidochelys kempii, and Lepidochelys olivacea

Abstract Historically the oils from sea turtles have had a high commercial demand, and this trade has contributed to an alarming decrease in sea turtle populations worldwide. Determining the species source of seized animal oils is challenging and this has hindered enforcement of the ban on trade in sea turtle oil. In this work we investigate if the chemotypes obtained from ambient ionization mass spectrometry analysis can assist in making species classifications of oil. Oil was either obtained or yielded from tissue from Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), Kemp's Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), Olive Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), and Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Additionally, common oils from vegetable and animal sources were investigated to determine if any other oil sources could be confused with sea turtle oils. The oil samples were ionized both in the positive and negative mode by Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) and the masses were measured in a time of flight mass spectrometer (AccuTOF by JEOL). Positive and negative mode mass spectra produced species-specific chemotypes and no other oils analyzed in this study produced chemotypes resembling those of sea turtle oils. We conclude that this approach is accurate and very useful for rapidly characterizing neat sea turtle oils without the need for sample derivatization.
Vertical Transactions under Uncertainty

Transactions between entities engaging in successive stages of production often take place outside the spot market. Some producers employ forward contracts to tie down price or quantity; others rely on some form of principal-agent arrangement; still others enter into joint stock ownership or even integrate vertically, thus, placing decision making in the hands of a single authority. These arrangements represent, in varying degrees, the producers’ attempts to bypass the market. In a market-oriented economy, such practices require careful explanation. The purpose of this paper is to study how market uncer­tainties motivate these arrangements and to explain why one of these arrangements or a combination of them is chosen under a given set of market conditions.
Sophistry, Dialectic, and Teacher Education: A Reinterpretation of Plato's Meno

Plato’s Meno offers students in teacher education programs a means through which to not only investigate the content of Meno, but also a means to construct and clarify their own philosophical positions. This essay argues for a rereading of Meno, and in the process of highlighting the overall dialogue, attempts to achieve two specific goals: (1) reviving Plato’s indictment of sophistry as an important and timely way to investigate what it means to achieve a deeper sensibility of teaching and learning; and (2) demonstrating that the Socrates/slave-boy “dialectic” is actually a display of sophistry, for sophists, to demonstrate the flaws of sophistry. By offering such an interpretation as (2), an argument is made against sophistry and for authentic dialectic (versus Socratic dialectic) in contemporary schools. To have authentic dialectic in American schools, teacher-education programs should engage teachers and prospective teachers in the kind of dialectic for which this essay argues. Using Meno to achieve dialogue is one way to realize this point, uniquely so as Meno is a dialogue about dialogue.
Conducting the Reaction Itself

Reagent dispersions, azeotropes, acidity, inert atmosphere, syringe, cannula, Dean-Stark trap, Soxhlet extractor, thimble, pressure tubes, microwave reaction, microwave digestion, Parr shaker, ozone, ultrasonication, pyrophoric reagents, Schlosser's base, gas-tight syringe, quenching, diazomethane, Diazald, lithium aluminum hydride, hydrogen peroxide.
Neurohistopathological findings at the electrode-tissue interface in long-term deep brain stimulation: systematic literature review, case report, and assessment of stimulation threshold safety.

Objectives Despite the widespread use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the treatment of neurologic disorders for over a quarter of a century, there has not been a systematic review and analyses of cases in which long-term postmortem clinic-pathologic data have been collected demonstrating the effects of chronically implanted electrodes and electrical stimulation on human brain tissue. Our objective is to provide a comprehensive systematic review of the literature on clinicopathologic findings of DBS tissue–electrode interface (TEI) and to determine types and prevalences of neuropathological findings among electrode materials and stimulation parameters and to augment this with previously unpublished histopathological data, images, and analyses from a DBS case implanted for 12 years, providing the longest duration histopathological follow-up. Materials and Methods A Medline literature review identified DBS cases upon which postmortem clinicopathologic follow-up was performed with adequate characterization of TEI. Direct follow-up with authors augmented this with unpublished data and neuropathological details. Results We identified 40 cases, mean age 59.1 ± 13.0 (range: 21–88) years, involving 58 implanted DBS electrodes. The mean postmortem histopathological follow-up of the implanted DBS electrodes was 22.2 ± 29.2 (range: 0.067–146) months, including our case with a 12-year follow-up. The following histological changes were identified: fibrous sheaths (5–25 μm thickness) surrounding the electrode (94%), fibrillary gliosis (73%), reactive astrocytes (78%), multinucleated giant cells (75%), mononuclear leukocytes (92%), and macrophages (91%). Microglial activation (60%), axonal spheroids (64%), and neuronal loss (60%) were less common and absent at 12-year follow-up in the index case. This is seventh case reporting T cell presence at the TEI. Conclusions Neuropathological findings from published cases and our 12-year follow-up index case confirm the long-term safety of neuromodulation and stimulation thresholds and demonstrate persistence of T cells and occasional subclinical focal tissue injury.
Ethical Decision Making and Information Technology: An Introduction with Cases

From the Publisher: Contents: ethics & ethical decision making; ethics & information technology; solving ethical dilemmas: a sample case exercise; & the cases  who controls content of e-mail & BBS; offensive graphic images in an office environment; stolen passwords & its after-effect; copyright ethics in schools & industry; confidential or dummy data; copyright ethics overseas; patient data in a hospital is compromised; & many more. Appendixes: ethics codes & policies (e-mail privacy policy, internet use policy); worksheets for the 4-step analysis process.
An approach to reduce the Erlang B probability of the M/M/2/2 system

It is well known that the Erlang B probability of an M/M/1/1 system can be reduced by evenly splitting the capacity of its single server into two servers, which leads to an M/M/2/2 system with homogeneous servers. In this paper, we analytically prove that the Erlang B probability can be further reduced by unevenly splitting the capacity of the single server into two servers, which leads to an M/M/2/2 system with heterogeneous servers. As a matter of fact, there exists an optimal load ratio of the two heterogeneous servers at which the Erlang B probability reaches its minimum.
The current biology of resistin

Obesity and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus are globally epidemic. Insulin resistance is a major contributor to the pathogenesis of type II diabetes and plays a role in numerous other metabolic disorders including hypertension, dyslipidaemia and atherosclerosis. Obesity, in particular visceral adiposity, is positively correlated with insulin resistance. Although this correlation between adiposity and insulin resistance is well established in human beings as well as in rodent models, the mechanisms involved in obesity-related insulin resistance are not fully defined. One mechanism is that factors secreted from adipocytes can affect peripheral insulin resistance. One candidate for such a factor is resistin, an adipocyte-secreted hormone that impairs glucose homeostasis and insulin action in the mouse. This review will summarize our current understanding of resistin and will attempt to provide a framework for future study of its role in rodent and human physiology.
Supramolecular BioNanocomposites: Grafting of Biobased Polylactide to Carbon Nanoparticle Surfaces

Novel carbon nanostructures are attracting increasing interest and the combination of graphitic substrates with grafted biodegradable polymers may ultimately be of interest in a variety of biomedical and sensing applications. Here, a novel graphitic nanosubstrate, carbon nanospheres derived from cellulose, is functionalized with polylactides (PLA) using an established thionyl chloride intermediate scheme; the resulting supramolecular bionanocomposite is 97% from renewable resources. In addition, a direct ‘grafting from’ approach is utilized to grow polylactide chains on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). In the latter case, unlike previous approaches, the ring-opening polymerization is initiated directly from a hydroxyl bearing surface. Verification of the covalent attachment and characterization of the grafted layer are accomplished via a variety of techniques and methods. Even after repeated washing, thermal gravimetric analysis clearly shows the presence of a grafted layer, which decomposes at approximately 300°C, a value characteristic of PLA; it is found that 20 mg m–2 of PLA is grafted to the MWCNT and 3.9 mg m–2 of PLA is grafted to the carbon nanospheres. Solubility tests clearly show the graphitic structures have been fundamentally altered in their physiochemical properties; they become highly soluble in chloroform after the grafting reaction is complete. Transmission electron microscopy provides evidence of a 2–3 nm thick polymer layer. Finally, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows several characteristic peaks of PLA including the ester group at 1760 cm–1.