cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A mashup of policy tools and CDA as a framework for educational policy inquiry

ABSTRACTThis article uses an analytic approach that combines a classic educational policy framework with critical discourse analysis (CDA) to problematize power and meaning as expressed through educational legislation in the United States. This examination shows how state-level school desegregation policy documents construct particular understandings of how school districts should rectify contemporary problems of racial and ethnic inequalities that are rooted in historical discriminatory practices. Using an analytic perspective based on policy tools, and a conceptualization of CDA as an element of sociocultural research, I examine statutes designed to address school segregation and promote racial and ethnic integration in the state of Minnesota. In order for policies that shape social equity to succeed, they must address the social contexts in which inequalities have been constructed. Combining CDA approaches with traditional policy analysis frameworks offers one way to make the workings of political ideo...
Predictors of loud snoring in persons with spinal cord injury.

AbstractBackground: Predictors of loud snoring were examined in a cohort of 197 persons with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) recruitedby advertisement and from a Veterans Affairs Medical Center SCI Service.Methods: Data were collected on age, marital status, antispasticity medications, duration of injury, level and completeness of injury,stature, and weight.Body mass index (BMI) was calculated for all participants. A health questionnaire was used to collect data onsnoring and respiratory history. Habitual snorers were defined as those who reported loud snoring more than 1 night per week.Results: The mean age(± SD) was 51.2 ± 14.8 years, and 84 of 197 (42.6%) were habitual snorers. The most obese researchsubjects,regardless of antispasticity medication use, were more likely to report snoring,but the risk of snoring was greatest among subjectswho were obese and used antispasticitymedication. Subjects who used antispasticity medication and had a BMI above the median(≥25.3 kg/m2) had a 7 -fold risk of report...
LIFE STYLE AND CREATIVITY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION.

Five groups of 12 undergraduate college females each (art majors, visually disabled, dance majors, physically but not visually disabled, and a control group) were repeatedly administered a battery of tests of creativity under systematically varied conditions of visual and kinesthetic stimulation. In addition, an unselected group of 40 Ss were repeatedly administered the same tests under neutral conditions. The first four groups were selected to represent extremes of a visual creativity and a kinesthetic creativity dimension, and it was predicted that score increases would be a function of the intensity of experimental manipulation, its sensory congruence with S's creative style, and Ss' initial levels of creativity. All forms and levels of stimulation were found to increase creativity significantly. Initially most creative Ss remained most creative under all conditions. The physically disabled group was consistently least creative. Creativity appears to be an individually stable characteristic that is sys...
The Pythagorean table of opposites, symbolic classification, and Aristotle.

At Metaphysics A 5 986a22-b2, Aristotle refers to a Pythagorean table, with two columns of paired opposites. I argue that 1) although Burkert and Zhmud have argued otherwise, there is sufficient textual evidence to indicate that the table, or one much like it, is indeed of Pythagorean origin; 2) research in structural anthropology indicates that the tables are a formalization of arrays of “symbolic classification” which express a pre-scientific world view with social and ethical implications, according to which the presence of a principle on one column of the table will carry with it another principle within the same column; 3) a close analysis of Aristotle's arguments shows that he thought that the table expresses real causal relationships; and 4) Aristotle faults the table of opposites with positing its principles as having universal application and with not distinguishing between those principles that are causally prior and those that are posterior. Aristotle's account of scientific explanation and his own explanations that he developed in accordance with this account are in part the result of his critical encounter with this prescientific Pythagorean table.
The Actor-Playwright

The youth who left Westminster School for his step-father’s trade of bricklaying had been given a solid grounding in the classical languages and inspired with a love of literature, but how or when he decided to become a dramatic poet is difficult to determine. Unlike Shakespeare, whose ‘lost years’ are completely undocumented, many of Jonson’s activities in his later youth and early manhood are known, but the surviving records are incomplete. However, when one combines the evidence from official documents with Jonson’s own statements and those of others, one can sketch in a rough outline of his early life. His initial work as a bricklayer was apparently followed by brief service as a soldier in the Low Countries, an early marriage, entry into the Tylers and Bricklayers Company, a dramatic apprenticeship as an actor-playwright with the theatrical troupe known as Pembroke’s Men and as a collaborative playmaker for the Lord Admiral’s Men. By 1598, when he wrote his first piece for Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, he had begun to develop the comedy of humours into a vehicle for dramatic satire, but he had established neither an exclusive claim to the form nor a secure economic base for his poetic career.
Hoax Springs Eternal: The Psychology of Cognitive Deception

Unlike sleights of hand, which fool the senses, sleights of mind challenge cognition. This book defines and explains cognitive deception and explores six prominent potential historical instances of it: the Cross of King Arthur, Drake's Plate of Brass, the Kensington Runestone, the Vinland Map, the Piltdown Man, and the Shroud of Turin. In spite of evidence contradicting their alleged origins, their stories continue to persuade many of their authenticity. Peter Hancock uses these purported hoaxes as case studies to develop and demonstrate fundamental principles of cognitive psychology. By dissecting each ostensible artifact, he illustrates how hoaxes can deceive us and offers us defenses against them. This book further examines how and why we allow others to deceive us and how and why we even deceive ourselves at times. Accessible to beginner and expert alike, Hoax Springs Eternal provides an essential interdisciplinary guide to cognitive deception.
Regulation of Energy Metabolism During Exercise

The human body has a tremendous capacity to produce ATP from the intrinsic energy metabolism pathways. This large capacity is necessary as exercise can result in greater than 20-fold increase in the rate of energy expenditure. This chapter provides an overview of the central and peripheral mechanisms by which the body induces and regulates the increase in energy metabolism with exercise.
Metabolism and Energy Expenditure, But Not Feeding or Glucose Tolerance, Are Impaired in Young Kiss1r KO Female Mice

Kisspeptin regulates reproduction via signaling through the receptor, Kiss1r, in GnRH neurons. However, both kisspeptin and Kiss1r are produced in several peripheral tissues, and recent studies have highlighted a role for kisspeptin signaling in metabolism and glucose homeostasis. We recently reported that Kiss1r knockout (KO) mice display a sexually dimorphic metabolic phenotype, with KO females displaying obesity, impaired metabolism, and glucose intolerance at 4-5 months of age. However, it remains unclear when this metabolic phenotype first emerges in development, or which aspects of the pleiotropic phenotype underlie the metabolic defects and which are secondary to the obesity. Here, we studied Kiss1r KO females at different ages, including several weeks before the emergence of body weight (BW) differences and later when obesity is present. We determined that at young adult ages (6 wk old), KO females already exhibit altered adiposity, leptin levels, metabolism, and energy expenditure, despite having normal BWs at this time. In contrast, food intake, water intake, and glucose tolerance are normal at young ages and only show impairments at older adult ages, suggesting that these impairments may be secondary to earlier alterations in metabolism and adiposity. We also demonstrate that, in addition to BW, all other facets of the adult metabolic phenotype persist even when gonadal sex steroids are similar between genotypes. Collectively, these data highlight the developmental emergence of a metabolic phenotype induced by disrupted kisspeptin signaling and reveal that multiple, but not all, aspects of this phenotype are already disrupted before detectable changes in BW.
Minding the Gap: Preparing the Working Class for Success in Academia

While many books and articles, including autobiographical accounts, have been written about the working class student and the difficulties of navigating academia, little has been published about the meaning that a working class presence has in academia, and how to bridge the divides between knowing, understanding, and connecting with academic structures and practices when there is little institutional infrastructure to support those needs.
Novel Method for Evaluation and Prediction of Capacity Loss Metrics in Li-Ion Electrochemical Cells

Abstract Practical methods and metrics are needed to assist battery development and end-user communities in the area of battery aging, in particular, understanding capacity loss in Li-ion cells. Tools are sought that offer both diagnostic and prognostic benefits, while minimizing the need for prolonged testing or undue commitment of tangible resources. Based on a chemical engineering batch reactor approach to cell aging, this work is a move in the direction to meet such needs. Capacity loss is interpreted by a combination of sigmoidal rate expressions, having physically-meaningful parameters, which cover chief mechanisms that affect loss of available lithium and loss of active host material. A lithium source term is also accommodated by the modeling approach. Development is shown to identify reversible and irreversible capacity loss contributions, as well as calculate molar-based terms for lithium and active sites, and how these change over time due to cell aging. The method is demonstrated on NCA/graphite cell chemistries, where conditions of cycle-life, calendar-life, and temperature are considered. The resultant capability adds value toward deepening our understanding of aging contributions that impact capacity, and provides a foundation for improving Li-ion cell design and management through diagnostic and predictive elements.
Protesting via the Null Ballot: An Assessment of the Decision to Cast an Invalid Vote in Latin America

Rates of invalid voting in Latin America are among the highest in the world. Yet, scholars have not reached an agreement about whether these votes are driven by voter protest and, if so, what voters are protesting. Understanding whether these high invalid vote rates signify anti-democratic tendencies is particularly relevant given recent recessions in democratic quality across the region. This paper presents a theoretical framework and empirical tests using individual level data from 14 Latin American countries to show that invalid voting in presidential contests is used by individuals, particularly those high in knowledge, to protest poor government performance. However, invalid voting is not, on balance, an anti-system behavior. While political alienation differentially predicts invalid voting in countries with mandatory vote laws, the link between performance assessments and self-reported invalid voting is consistent across various contextual features that scholars link to invalid voting behavior.
Acquired Hemophilia A. Experience Of a Single Center

Introduction Acquired hemophilia A is a rare and serious autoimmune disease. Morbidity and mortality are associated with advanced age, comorbidities, toxicity of treatment and bleeding severity. Treatment goals are control of the bleeding and eradication of the inhibitor, while treating the underlying condition if it is present. Objective To describe the baseline characteristics of acquired hemophilia A patients and to assess the response to treatment. Patients and Methods Between November 1991 and April 2013, 27 patients were diagnosed with acquired hemophilia A (mean age 59, range 21-86; 18 women - 66%) in the Departamento de Hemostasia y Trombosis. Five patients were lost from follow-up. APTT mixing studies with normal plasma (1:1) and time-temperature dependent effect on the APTT were performed for a-FVIII diagnosis. Whenever possible, inhibitor activity was titrated by Bethesda method at diagnosis (BU/mL). Medical records were reviewed to evaluate the initial symptoms, underlying diseases, treatments and outcome. Results The mean follow-up was 86 weeks (range 1-640). Underlying etiologies included: idiopathic 70.4%, postpartum 14.8%, malignancy 11.1%, autoimmune disease 3.7%. All patients had bleeding at diagnosis. The most frequent sites of bleeding were: muscular 32%, soft tissue 18%, urinary tract 9%, gastrointestinal tract 6%; being from multiple sites in 9%. At diagnosis, the mean value for FVIII was 6% (range 1-40), and inhibitor titer 220 BU/mL (range 2.2-1173). Initial therapeutic scheme included glucocorticoids in 97% of the patients, 13 in monotherapy (mean age 53 years ± 19), 13 with cyclophosphamide (63 years ± 18) (p= ns), and human immunoglobulin in 1 patient. This last patient died after 1 week of diagnosis due to uncontrolled gastrointestinal bleeding (previous to the era of rVIIa). As a second-line therapy, rituximab was used in 3 patients. Sixty-three (63%) patients achieved complete response (CR) (inhibitor titer 50% without bleeding episodes), without differences between monotherapy or combined. Overall, women responded more frequently than men (93.3% vs. 71.4%, p= ns). All patients that received rituximab achieved CR. Conclusions In this study, the overall response rate was higher than 80%. In most cases, the disease has a prolonged course like other autoimmune diseases, with remissions and relapses. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Measuring salivary blood: A potential in vivo assay to quantify platelet transfusion efficacy.

Abstract Salivary blood is known to increase in patients with intraoral mucosal bleeding. Mucosal bleeding is a frequent sequelae of thrombocytopenia, which is typically managed with platelet transfusion. Within the past few years, multiple different types of platelet products have become available, each with potential differences in efficacy. Typically, platelet transfusion efficacy is demonstrated by the increase in platelet count after transfusion. However this approach is complicated by the fact that activated platelets tend to produce lower post-transfusion platelet counts, but may be more efficacious in a bleeding patient. Intraoral blood levels, measured by salivary transferrin, urine dipstick hemoglobin or another method, could be used as an in vivo assay to monitor a patient’s response to platelet transfusion and compare different types of platelet products.
Chapter 7 - Neuropsychologic assessment

In this chapter, we review the use of neuropsychologic assessment in epidemiologic studies. First, we provide a brief introduction to the history of clinical neuropsychology and neuropsychologic assessment. We expand on the principal components of a neuropsychologic assessment and cognitive domains most commonly examined. This chapter also seeks to highlight specific domains and tests with validated psychometric properties that are widely accepted in clinical practice, as well as how data from a neuropsychologic test should be interpreted. Additionally, the important roles that neuropsychologic assessments play in tracking normative changes, patient diagnoses, care, and research will be discussed. Factors to consider when deciding on the inclusion of test instruments for a research study will also be reviewed. Lastly, we shed light on the contributions that neuropsychology has played in epidemiologic studies, as well as some challenges frequently faced when participating in this field of research.
Modern stored procedures using GraalVM: invited talk

Stored procedures provide a way to centralize business logic involving multiple SQL statements and running them inside a database management system. They are typically executed inside the address space of the database. Doing so helps avoid expensive network round trips and saves time and memory by having direct access to the data that is being processed.However, despite those benefits, the use of stored procedures is often considered harmful for a variety of reasons: (1) stored procedure languages are often vendor-specific, (2) developers for specialized stored procedure languages are hard to find, (3) stored procedures are stored in the database and often harder to keep track of within modern version control systems, and (4) tool support is often lacking behind that of other programming languages.The contributions of this talk are twofold: First, we present the embedding of the multilingual GraalVM into the Oracle Database and the MySQL database to allow for executing stored procedures and user-defined functions. Second, we show how the use of JavaScript as stored procedure language can remedy the above mentioned disadvantages.GraalVM is a multilingual virtual machine that is being developed by Oracle Labs. GraalVM allows for executing many modern programming languages such as JavaScript, R or Python with very high performance. Additionally, GraalVM has been designed to run on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) as well as being embeddable into systems such as the Oracle Database that are not running on a JVM. In order to embed GraalVM and use it for executing stored procedures, it needs to access data stored in the database efficiently. If the types of the host system (e.g. SQL types) and the types of the stored procedure language match, this should happen without converting or copying the data. Otherwise, conversion of the data between the two type systems is required. We show how the speculative just-in-time compiler provided by GraalVM can be leveraged to perform such conversions with minimal effort.In the talk, we also demonstrate how JavaScript can be used as stored procedure language in the Oracle Database and MySQL. JavaScript is one of today's most popular programming languages with a vibrant open-source community providing a vast number of reusable software packages. We show an effective development workflow for implementing stored procedures in JavaScript and how developers can leverage popular open-source packages. With this, we want to remedy the above mentioned disadvantages and bring stored procedures to a larger developer audience.
Pre-post, mixed-methods feasibility study of the WorkingWell mobile support tool for individuals with serious mental illness in the USA: a pilot study protocol.

Introduction Successful competitive employment has been found to be related to enhanced self-esteem, higher quality of life and reduced mental health service use for individuals living with serious mental illnesses (SMIs) including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. The effectiveness of the individual placement and support model has been demonstrated in multiple randomised controlled trials in many countries. The management of stress, depression and anxiety in the workplace may be effectively enhanced through digital mental health interventions. The WorkingWell mobile support tool (‘app’) is specifically designed to meet the need for illness management support for individuals with SMI in the workplace, as an adjunct to professional treatment. Methods and analysis The WorkingWell app, grounded in evidence-based supported employment, is informed by user experience design. It will be tested in a pre-post design, mixed-methods pilot study to explore issues of feasibility, acceptability and usefulness, and to provide preliminary data on the impact of use. Putative mediators of improved job tenure and psychological well-being, including postintervention changes in social support, self-efficacy and work-related motivation, will be investigated. Forty individuals at least 18 years of age, meeting the eligibility requirements for supported employment services (ie, diagnosed with a mental illness meeting the criteria for severity, duration and treatment), working a minimum of 10 hours per week at study enrolment, and speaking, reading and writing in English will be recruited for the pilot study. Research staff will recruit individuals at community-based mental health agencies; provide orientation to the study, the study smartphones and the WorkingWell app; conduct research interviews including standardised measures as well as semistructured items; and provide technical assistance in telephone calls and inperson meetings. A sample of 10 agency staff will be recruited to obtain further information on the feasibility, acceptability and usefulness of WorkingWell. Ethics and dissemination The study design and procedures are approved by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Central Office Research Review Committee and the Vermont Agency of Human Services Institutional Review Board. Study findings will be disseminated to agency partners, state agencies and funders, and to the research and technology development communities. Findings from the study will inform the design, data collection procedures and protocol for future full-scale randomised controlled trial testing of the effectiveness of the WorkingWell app, as well as investigations of work-related variables as mediators of psychological well-being and quality of life for individuals with SMI.
Oxide Morphology of a FeCrAl Alloy, Kanthal APMT, Following Extended Aging in Air at 300 °C to 600 °C

Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are of interest to the nuclear materials community due to their resistance to high-temperature steam oxidation under accident conditions. The present work investigates oxide formation at temperatures relevant to light water reactor cladding operation following extended aging to assess growth kinetics, chemical composition, and microstructure of oxide formation on a commercial FeCrAl alloy, Fe-21 wt pct Cr-5 wt pct Al-3 wt pct Mo (Kanthal APMT). Aging treatments were performed for 100 to 1000 hours in stagnant air at 300 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C, respectively. Oxide growth behavior under the investigated conditions follows a logarithmic time dependence. When the oxidization temperature is 400 °C or below, the oxide is amorphous. At 500 °C, isolated crystalline regions start to appear during short period aging time and expand with extended exposures. Crystalline α-Al2O3 oxide film develops at 600 °C and the correlated logarithmic rate constant decreases significantly, indicating enhanced oxidation resistance of the formed oxide film. In addition, Mo segregation at grain boundaries has been observed when the aging temperature exceeds 500 °C. The results of this study can be viewed as an upper bounding result for potential oxide coarsening during reactor operation.
George Peter Murdock: Stemming the Tide of Sterility with an Atlas of World Cultures

In his Atlas of World Cultures, George Murdock catalogues more than 1000 discreet populations of peoples that are too often amalgamated at the level of the nation-state. For each of these ethnically informed cultural populations, Murdock provides nearly fifty points of tabular ethnographic codes, including mating systems, kinship networks, levels of consanguinity, post-marriage living arrangements, type and intensity of agriculture, settlement patterns, and social fluidity, which are then combined with environmental statistics such as latitude, and primary and secondary climate classifications. This chapter asks and answers questions concerning Galton’s Problem, finding commonalities among contiguous cultures to extend, not simply from contiguity, but from shared selective pressures. Murdock’s cross-cultural classificatory variants therefore derive from ecologically driven evolution, as described in social biogeographical applications of life history theory.
Peripheral Auditory Development in the Cat and Rat

The cat and the rat are altricious animals. They are well-suited for studying the development of hearing because their cochleae are still immature at birth. However, other investigators have reported differences in the age of onset for cochlear microphonic (CM) potentials and compound action potentials (AP) in these two species. In the cat, CM appears two days before birth (Romand, 1971), whereas the rat’s onset of CM is reported to be 8–9 days after birth with the onset of AP occurring 11 days after birth (Crowley and Hepp-Raymond, 1966; Uziel et al., 1981).
Principles of Ultrasonic Imaging and Instrumentation

Vivid images of the carotid bifurcation and atherosclerotic plaques can be obtained using real time transcutaneous ultrasound (Fig. 5.1). Compared to other imaging methods, ultrasound has several advantages for studying the dynamic processes that characterize arterial pathology. Acquiring data at rates as high as 10,000 samples per second, while measuring motions less than 0.001 mm (1 μm) and strains in millimeter voxels less than 0.1%, ultrasound is ideally suited to obtain information about complicated turbulent blood flow in real time, as well as the associated dynamics of the arterial walls containing those flows. However, the identification of intraplaque tissue types visualized in ultrasound images has been elusive. Differentiating the types of plaque tissues is considered to be important.
Shared Prosperity (or Lack Thereof) in the Sharing Economy

This paper examines the potential economic spillover effects of a home-sharing platform---Airbnb---on the growth of a complimentary local service---restaurants. By circumventing traditional land-use regulations and providing access to underutilized inventory, Airbnb attracts visitors to outlets that are not traditional tourist destinations. Although visitors generally bring significant spending power, it is unclear whether visitors use Airbnb only primarily for lodging and thus do not contribute to the adjacent economy. To evaluate this, we focus on the impact of Airbnb on the restaurant employment growth across locales in New York City (NYC). Specifically, we focus on areas in NYC that did not attract a significant tourist volume prior to the emergence of home-sharing service. Our results indicate a salient and economically significant positive spillover effect on restaurant job growth in an average NYC locality. A 1 percentage point increase in the intensity of Airbnb activity (Airbnb reviews per household) leads to approximately 1.7% restaurant employment growth. Since home-sharing visitors are lodging in areas that are not accustomed to tourists, we also investigate the demographic and market-structure related heterogeneity of our results. Notably, restaurants in areas with a relatively high number of White residents disproportionately benefit from the economic spillover of Airbnb activity whereas the impact in majority Black areas is not statistically significant. We validate the underlying mechanism behind the results by evaluating the impact of Airbnb on Yelp visitor reviews, revealing that areas with increased Airbnb activity experience a surge in their share of NYC visitor reviews. This result is further validated by evaluating the impact of a unique Airbnb neighborhood-level exogenous policy recently implemented in New Orleans.
The pediatric cervical spine instability study. A pilot study assessing the prognostic value of four imaging modalities in clearing the cervical spine for children with severe traumatic injuries.

Purpose Cervical spine clearance in severely injured children after trauma is often difficult because of unique injury patterns, concerns about radiation exposure to growing tissue, and unfamiliarity with unstable cervical injuries. We prospectively assessed the utility of four radiographic modalities to clear the cervical spine in children after severe trauma.
Comparison between pure MPI and hybrid MPI-OpenMP parallelism for Discrete Element Method (DEM) of ellipsoidal and poly-ellipsoidal particles

Parallel computing of 3D Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations can be achieved in different modes, and two of them are pure MPI and hybrid MPI-OpenMP. The hybrid MPI-OpenMP mode allows flexibly combined mapping schemes on contemporary multiprocessing supercomputers. This paper profiles computational components and floating-point operation features of complex-shaped 3D DEM, develops a space decomposition-based MPI parallelism and various thread-based OpenMP parallelism, and carries out performance comparison and analysis from intranode to internode scales across four orders of magnitude of problem size (namely, number of particles). The influences of memory/cache hierarchy, processes/threads pinning, variation of hybrid MPI-OpenMP mapping scheme, ellipsoid versus poly-ellipsoid are carefully examined. It is found that OpenMP is able to achieve high efficiency in interparticle contact detection, but the unparallelizable code prevents it from achieving the same high efficiency for overall performance; pure MPI achieves not only lower computational granularity (thus higher spatial locality of particles) but also lower communication granularity (thus faster MPI transmission) than hybrid MPI-OpenMP using the same computational resources; the cache miss rate is sensitive to the memory consumption shrinkage per processor, and the last level cache contributes most significantly to the strong superlinear speedup among all of the three cache levels of modern microprocessors; in hybrid MPI-OpenMPI mode, as the number of MPI processes increases (and the number of threads per MPI processes decreases accordingly), the total execution time decreases, until the maximum performance is obtained at pure MPI mode; the processes/threads pinning on NUMA architectures improves performance significantly when there are multiple threads per process, whereas the improvement becomes less pronounced when the number of threads per process decreases; both the communication time and computation time increase substantially from ellipsoids to poly-ellipsoids. Overall, pure MPI outperforms hybrid MPI-OpenMP in 3D DEM modeling of ellipsoidal and poly-ellipsoidal particles.
Loss of CD169+ Subcapsular Macrophages during Metastatic Spread of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to assess CD169 expression in metastatic and nearby tumor-free lymph nodes of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). STUDY DESIGN Retrospective analysis based on immunohistochemistry. SETTING Tertiary care center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The abundance of CD169+ cells in the subcapsular sinuses (SCSs) of lymph nodes was assessed immunohistochemically in paraffin-embedded tissue samples derived from 22 patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal SCC. RESULTS SCSs of lymph nodes harboring metastatic SCC contained significantly fewer CD169+ macrophages (106.5 ± 113.6 cells/mm2) compared to nearby tumor-free lymph nodes (321.3 ± 173.4 cells/mm2, P < .001). This observation extended to 21 of the 22 cases investigated. In addition, 6 patients who later developed recurrent disease contained lower numbers of CD169+ cells (268.6 ± 169.5 cells/mm2) in nearby tumor-free lymph nodes compared to 341.0 ± 176.1 cells/mm2 in those who remained disease free (P = .399). Human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive patients (n = 4) had a 6-fold lower number of CD169+ cells in metastatic nodes (61.2 ± 85.5 cells/mm2) compared to nearby tumor-free lymph nodes (369.5 ± 175.5 cells/mm2, P = .028). In comparison, HPV-negative patients had only a 3-fold reduction (116.6 ± 118.5 cells/mm2 vs 310.6 ± 176.2 cells/mm2, P < .001). CONCLUSION Metastatic spread of SCC to regional lymph nodes is associated with lower abundance of CD169+ macrophages in the SCSs of draining lymph nodes. These results set the stage for an in-depth investigation into the mechanism(s) by which metastatic SCC controls CD169+ macrophage abundance and its significance as it relates to prognosis and treatment response.
Recent advances in photodynamic therapy for cancer and infectious diseases

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment by combining light and a photosensitizer to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) for cellular damage, and is used to treat cancer and infectious diseases. In this review, we focus on recent advances in design of new photosensitizers for increased production of ROS and in genetic engineering of biological photosensitizers to study cellular signaling pathways. A new concept has been proposed that PDT-induced acute inflammation can mediate neutrophil infiltration to deliver therapeutics in deep tumor tissues. Combination of PDT and immunotherapies (neutrophil-mediated therapeutic delivery) has shown the promising translation of PDT for cancer therapies. Furthermore, a new area in PDT is to treat bacterial infections to overcome the antimicrobial resistance. Finally, we have discussed the new directions of PDT for therapies of cancer and infectious diseases. In summary, we believe that rational design and innovations in nanomaterials may have a great impact on translation of PDT in cancer and infectious diseases. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Infectious Disease Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology.
A Feasible Method for Quantifying Living Pancreatic Human Islets in Murine Livers Posttransplantation by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy.

BACKGROUND Current histological methods cannot accurately determine the survival rate of human pancreatic islets following portal vein infusion. This is due, in part, to the low number of infused islets relative to the whole liver. In this study, we assessed the ability of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to track human islets posttransplantation. METHODS Immunodeficient mice were transplanted with human islets. Following engraftment, animals were euthanized, livers procured, and human islet β cells immunofluorescently labeled with an insulin-specific antibody and evaluated by CLSM. A calibration curve comparing the area of insulin + hepatic islet β cells to the number of human islets collected was developed. Levels of human C-peptide were measured in transplant recipients to determine islet function. RESULTS The short-term survival rate of islet transplants was defined as y = 0.0422x + 2.7008, in which x is human islet number and y is liver islet β cell area. Employing CLSM, human islets were detected in immunofluorescent labeled murine liver tissue sections posttransplantation. The β cell-relative area of human islets in 500 islet equivalent (IEQ) specimens was 20.21 ± 1.16 mm and in 1000 IEQ specimens 39.4 ± 2.23 mm posttransplantation. Human islet posttransplant survival rates were 82.9 ± 5.50% (500 IEQ group) and 86.9 ± 5.28% (1000 IEQ group). CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that CLSM can be employed to quantify and characterize pancreatic human islets after transplantation to murine livers.
Modern mortality risk stratification scores accurately and equally predict real-world postoperative mortality after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm

Abstract Objective It is often unclear which patients presenting with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) are likely to survive after surgery. The Harborview Medical Center (HMC), Dutch Aneurysm Score (DAS), and Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) risk scores have been recent attempts at predicting mortality in this setting. We compared the prognostic value of these scoring systems for patients at our institution with rAAA. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed for all patients who received surgery at our institution for rAAA between January 1, 2011, and November 27, 2019. The χ2, Fisher's exact, and t-tests were used to screen preoperative variables against in-hospital mortality. HMC, DAS, and VSGNE scores were calculated for each patient and tested against in-hospital mortality. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to assess performance of each scoring system. Results Sixty-four patients were identified during the study period. Fifteen patients were excluded because 4 patients chose comfort care and an additional 11 patients were missing key variables. The final cohort for analysis included 49 patients who underwent surgery, including 33 patients receiving endovascular repair and 16 patients receiving open repair. The in-hospital mortality was 37% (24% for endovascular repair vs 63% for open repair). Individual variables associated with in-hospital mortality were lowest preoperative systolic blood pressure (P = .036), creatinine greater than 2.0 mg/dL (P = .020), first recorded intraoperative pH (P = .007), and use of suprarenal aortic control (P = .025), and preoperative cardiac arrest approached significance (P = .051). Plots of the HMC and VSGNE scores vs in-hospital mortality rate produced linear relationships (R2 = 0.97 and R2 = 0.93, respectively), in which a higher score was associated with a greater likelihood of mortality. On logistic regression analysis using HMC score components, creatinine greater than 2.0 mg/dL produced a significant association with in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 12.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-131.7). Similar analysis using VSGNE components produced a significant association between suprarenal aortic control and in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 5.5; 95% CI, 1.2-25.5). receiver operating characteristic curves produced an area under the curve of 0.74 (95% CI, 0.60-0.88), 0.73 (95% CI, 0.58-0.87), and 0.67 (95% CI, 0.51-0.83) for the HMC, VSGNE, and DAS, respectively. Conclusions The HMC, VSGNE, and DAS scores performed similarly and adequately predicted in-hospital mortality after rAAA. The HMC score holds the added benefit of using preoperative variables, setting it apart as a valid prognostic indicator in the preoperative setting.
2.2.2-Cryptand as a bidentate ligand in rare-earth metal chemistry

The 2.2.2-cryptand ligand (crypt) that is heavily used in reductions of rare-earth metal complexes to encapsulate alkali metals has been found to function as a bidentate ligand to rare-earth metal ions in some cases. The X-ray crystal structures of the reduced dinitrogen metal complex, [{(R2N)2Ce(crypt-κ2-O,O′)}2(μ–η2:η2-N2)] (R = SiMe3), and the ytterbium metallocene, (C5Me5)2Yb(crypt-κ2-O,O′), are presented to demonstrate this binding mode. The implications of this available binding mode in rare-earth metal cryptand chemistry are discussed.
Association of Heparin Dose, Route, Timing, and Duration With Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia.

Background The prevalence of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) varies by population and the type and duration of heparinoid exposure; however, the association with unfractionated heparin (UFH) dose, route, timing, and duration has not been evaluated in cardiac surgery patients. Methods A retrospective case-control study matched HIT-positive adult cardiac surgery patients (positive platelet factor 4 immunoglobulin G and serotonin release assays) 1:1 with HIT-negative controls. Total UFH dose, route, timing, and duration were compared between groups. Results The study included 124 patients, 92 male (74%), with mean age of 65 ± 11 years. Significantly more HIT-positive patients received intravenous UFH preoperatively or postoperatively compared with patients without HIT (55 [88.7%] vs 23 [37.1%]; P Conclusions Odds of HIT were increased 10-fold in adult cardiac surgery patients receiving preoperative or postoperative intravenous UFH infusion. Intraoperative UFH dose and subcutaneous route were not associated with HIT. Future study should evaluate incorporation of intravenous UFH administration, dose, and duration in HIT scoring tools for cardiac surgery patients.
Note to Physicians and Sonographers on Potential Underestimation of Acoustic Safety Indexes for Diagnostic Array Transducers

Two scientists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration comment on limitations of acoustic safety indexes that can arise from spatial averaging effects of hydrophones that are used to measure acoustic output.
Sustainability Rating Assessment of a Building using CASBEE Tool

The impact of buildings assessment has run a global trend in the building industry to significantly promote the development of the green building concept. The main objective of the current work is to achieve sustainable development by application of green rating assessment tool. A five-story residential building was selected as a case study and Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) rating tool adopted for assessment. The selected rating tool investigated the sustainability level using primary and secondary data of the case study. The study highlighted an achieved rating level is 1.02 out of 3.00 which equals 34% when converted to point system, with "GOOD" level of certification, three stars ratings and B+ grade. This study can explored the adaptation of rating assessment tools in the building sector for investigating the design attributes that pose barriers to obtain rating assessment upto an acceptable sustainable level.
'To Save the People from Themselves': The Emergence of American Judicial Review and the Transformation of Constitutions

In this expansive history, Robert J. Steinfeld offers a thorough re-interpretation of the origins of American judicial review and the central role it quickly came to play in the American constitutional system. Beginning with Privy Council review of American colonial legislation, the book goes on to provide detailed descriptions of the character of the first American constitutions, showing that they drew heavily on traditional Anglo/American constitutional assumptions, which treated legislatures as the primary interpreters of constitutions. Steinfeld then expertly analyses the central role lawyers and judges played in transforming these assumptions, creating the practice and doctrine of American judicial review in a half dozen state cases during the 1780s. The book concludes by showing that the ideas formulated during those years shaped critical decisions taken by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which turned the novel practice into a permanent, if still deeply controversial, feature of the American constitutional system.
Predictors of Anti-Asian Xenophobia During Covid-19: Towards Developing Targeted Intervention Campaigns

Anti-Asian xenophobia (AAX) spiked during Covid-19, exacerbating health disparities among affected groups. This study uses data from a national survey to identify predictors of AAX to enable targeting of audience segments and effective messaging to counteract Anti-Asian attitudes and behaviors. Using Intergroup Threat Theory (ITT) to pinpoint possible predictors, we find that situation specific variables such as favorability toward Trump and information seeking and avoidance behaviors consistently predict higher levels of AAX. Individual differences like being female, well-educated, and having a high tolerance for ambiguity are negatively related to AAX.
Maternal language disparities in neonatal intensive care unit outcomes.

Objective To examine associations of maternal primary language with neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) outcomes (mother's milk at discharge, necrotizing enterocolitis [NEC], late-onset sepsis, weight gain) DESIGN: We performed a retrospective cohort study of mother-infant dyads ( Results Among 1402 mothers, 85% spoke English, 7% spoke Spanish, and 7% spoke another language. Compared to English, infants with Spanish-speaking mothers had slower growth (-0.34 z-score units [-0.58, -0.10]). Infants with other non-English-speaking mothers had increased mother's milk at discharge (aOR 1.48 [1.18, 1.85]), NEC (aOR 1.43 [1.05, 1.95]), late-onset sepsis (aOR 2.84) [1.67, 4.83] and slower growth (-0.17 z-score units [-0.29, -0.05]). Conclusions After adjustments, preterm infants with non-English-speaking mothers had worse outcomes than infants with English-speaking mothers.
Nanotube Membranes for Biotechnology

In this chapter, we discuss nanopore membranes developed for applications in the field of bio/nanotechnology. These nanopore membranes are suitable for template synthesis, bioseparations, and chemical and biochemical sensor development. We will briefly review the materials and methods of nanotube membrane technology and then discuss research and applications of these membranes with respect to template synthesis, separations, and sensing.
Protocol Deviations before and after Treatment with Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator in Community Hospitals

Background Protocol deviations before and after tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment for ischemic stroke are common. It is unclear if patient or hospital factors predict protocol deviations. We examined predictors of protocol deviations and the effects of protocol violations on symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH). Methods We used data from the Increasing Stroke Treatment through Interventional Behavior Change Tactics trial, a cluster-randomized, controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a barrier assessment and educational intervention to increase appropriate tPA use in 24 Michigan community hospitals, to review tPA treatments between 2007 and 2010. Protocol violations were defined as deviations from the standard tPA protocol, both before and after treatment. Multilevel logistic regression models were fitted to determine if patient and hospital variables were associated with pretreatment or post-treatment protocol deviations. Results During the study, 557 patients (mean age 70, 52% male, median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score 12) were treated with tPA. Protocol deviations occurred in 233 (42%) patients: 16% had pretreatment deviations, 35% had post-treatment deviations, and 9% had both. The most common protocol deviations included elevated post-treatment blood pressure, antithrombotic agent use within 24 hours of treatment, and elevated pretreatment blood pressure. Protocol deviations were not associated with sICH, stroke severity, or hospital factors. Older age was associated with pretreatment protocol deviations (adjusted odds ratio [OR], .52; 95% confidence interval [CI], .30-.92). Pretreatment deviations were associated with post-treatment deviations (adjusted OR, 3.20; 95% CI, 1.91-5.35). Conclusions Protocol deviations were not associated with sICH. Aside from age, patient and hospital factors were not associated with protocol deviations.