cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Contingency planning for Cassini's final mission phase

During the eleven years that the Cassini spacecraft has spent in Saturn orbit, it has flown throughout the Saturnian System. One place it has never been, however, is between Saturn's rings and atmosphere, which is exactly where it is headed for its final months. Two environmental factors pose a risk to the spacecraft in this region: D Ring dust and thermosphere density. Dust particle impacts could potentially damage sensitive components of the spacecraft or instruments. High thermospheric densities could cause the spacecraft to lose attitude control and tumble. Fortunately, these factors are anti-correlated; dust particle counts increase with radial distance whereas atmospheric density decreases, leaving a corridor of reduced risk between the rings and atmosphere. While this corridor reduces risk to the spacecraft, it does not eliminate it. Additional risk reduction could be had by restricting the spacecraft to certain orientations while within the corridor; however, this would come at the expense of science, as the safest orientations do not point the instruments in preferred directions. As such, a compromise must be achieved between risk reduction and science satisfaction. The Cassini Project maintains environmental contingency plans to respond to the uncertainties in the proximal corridor: the dustiness of the D ring and the thickness of the thermosphere. The contingency plans allow the nominal flight plan to use science-friendly orientations while within the corridor, which could then be superseded by a safer orientation should a contingency need to be invoked. This paper describes the contingency plans for dealing with deviations from the predicted environment in the proximal corridor. Moreover, it details the predicted environments, methods for detecting deviations from the predictions, the nominal flight plan, and the method for implementing the contingency responses into the spacecraft activity sequence.
Human Rights, Human Dignity, and Human Experience

The contested understandings of human dignity today make it very problematic as a reliable principle for determining the scope and merit of particular claims of human rights (at least beyond the principle’s narrow, universally agreed-upon core meaning). Merely relying on an overlapping consensus is insufficient. Nevertheless, the beginnings of a broader shared understanding of the meaning and implications of human dignity, as a foundational principle of human rights law, can emerge from our concrete experience. As a common point of reference for critically evaluating and integrating the diversity of instantiations of human rights in differing legal traditions, the elementary experience of human dignity leads us to regard law as a vehicle for sustained and reasoned reflection on the value of human persons and on the scope of our obligations to respect and protect them.
Mechanistic features of cell-surface adhesion receptors

Publisher Summary Biology depends on a vast array of information processing activities that are coordinated by diverse cell-surface adhesion receptors and their cognate ligands. Though these receptor–ligand pairs differ in chemical and structural terms, there are common principles that must be carefully considered in order to construct viable molecular and atomic mechanisms for signaling. This chapter examines the diversity of mechanisms thought to be involved in adhesion and signaling and highlights some of the shared principles that must be considered for all signaling pathways utilizing cell-surface receptors. The engagement of receptor–ligand pairs leads to an increase in their local density/concentration at cell–cell and cell–ECM interfaces, and in many cases may support a natural coupling between signaling and adhesive function. The chapter provides the quantitative understanding of both the cell–surface oligomeric state and the available concentration of receptor and ligand on their cell surfaces, as they dictate the relative stoichiometries and the type of signaling complexes that can be formed at cell–cell and cell–ECM interfaces. While direct structural information, in the form of X-ray and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures, may provide enormous insights into function and mechanism, in the absence of confirmatory biochemical data great care should be exercised in extrapolating intermolecular contacts observed in crystal structures to physiologically relevant protein–protein interfaces.
Novel Web-based Remote Collaboration System Architecture for Wider Use Cases

Although web-based remote collaboration systems are getting popular, they are not suitable for long-distance or demanding use cases due to the web browser limitations. To cover wider range of use cases, we propose novel architecture for web-based remote collaboration systems. The main features are relay-servers, overlay-managers, and timecode-servers. The relay-servers enable the web-based systems to exchange data smoothly and locally even in long-distance collaboration. The overlay-managers and timecode-servers enable web-based systems to deal with native applications in order to provide high quality collaboration experience. A prototype is implemented and tested to confirm that the proposal can construct unprecedented collaboration systems suitable for long-distance and demanding collaboration scenarios; targets not possible with conventional web-based collaboration systems.
Education that Supports All Students: Food Sovereignty and Urban Education in Detroit

In the context of recognizing and resisting an educational system that sorts young people into prisons, and the systemic violence of exposing youth to poisonous amounts of environmental pollution through toxic food, air, and water, I find Detroit—like so many other communities around the world for which modern economics has failed—to be rich with hope and promise despite the clearly visible economic abandonment and worldwide notoriety for bankruptcy, violence, and crime. While there is plenty of research that exist to tell stories that further pathologize poverty and criminalize youth, the work in this chapter resists such a fetish and turns attention to the resilience and political organizing of educator-activists as cultural workers recognizing that schools ought to focus learning around a fundamental student need—the need and right to nourishing and culturally appropriate food.
Surface Coating of Nanoparticles Reduces Background Inflammatory Activity while Increasing Particle Uptake and Delivery

In the study of host−pathogen interactions, vaccines and drug delivery, particulate delivery system are widely used to mimic pathogen size, pattern recognition receptor agonist presentation, and target cells or organs. However, some of the polymeric systems used in particulate delivery have inherent inflammatory properties that are variable and nonspecific. These properties enhance their adjuvant activity, but confound the analysis of signaling mechanisms. Here, we present a method for particle coating with minimal background immune activation via passivation of the surface with silica-silane. We show herein that a silica-silane shell passivates polymer particles rendering them inert to activation of innate immune cells. The method is broadly applicable and can be used to coat polymeric particles of many different compositions. This method of silica-silane coating also allows conjugation of amine-bearing agonists and provides for controlled variation of agonist loading. Finally, we demonstrate our particl...
188. Functional Analysis of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiac Myocytes

Recent and exciting advances in stem cell biology have made it possible to quickly and efficiently derive induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from human somatic cell types, as well as differentiate pluripotent cells to committed lineages, such as cardiac myocytes (hiPSC-CMs). The nature of these cells makes them ideal potential candidates for cell therapy treatments, such as implantation of hiPSC-CMs following myocardial infarction. Use in therapy requires optimization of these cells physiologically, which in turn requires appropriate assays to determine cell function beyond gene expression profiles. Difficulty in accurately characterizing hiPSC-CM function comes from large variability in cell size and shape, as well as isotropy of axis of contraction. We utilize here micropatterning techniques, whereby single cell-sized (2500 μm2) rectangles of fibronectin are applied to glass cover slips. The hiPSC-CMs are then cultured on the cover slip at a low density such that one cell occupies the rectangular shaped space. This persuades the cells to assume a rectangular shape, similar to that of an adult myocyte, and causes them to contract along the long axis of the rectangle. By normalizing size, shape, and alignment of hiPSC-CMs, microscopy can be used to determine and compare kinetics of contraction and relaxation, utilizing the IonOptix software and an inverted microscope. Additionally, this technique can be used for traction force microscopy. Here we use fibronectin patterns that are micropatterned onto a polyacrylamide hydrogel, and the hiPSC-CMs are cultured on top of it. Next, 0.2 μm diameter fluorescent beads are embedded in the hydrogel such that when the cell contracts, it pulls on the hydrogel, and movement of the beads is then tracked using confocal microscopy. An ImageJ program analyzes movement of the beads and uses the known Young's modulus of the hydrogel to calculate traction force generated by the individual cells. Preliminary results show that iPSC-CMs will morphologically take the shape of the fibronectin stamp and will contract along the long axis of the rectangle. Additional quantification of these data will be presented and discussed.
Data Intensive Imaging and Microscopy: A Multidimensional Data Challenge

This chapter provides an introduction to how data-mining techniques can help to correlate multiple modalities of signals to extract information from images. The discussion is built around two genres of applications of imaging/spectral informatics. One is exploration of the role of informatics to enhance the resolution of detection of spatial correlations in chemistry through examples of chemical imaging techniques based on electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and cathodoluminescence (CL). These case studies serve to highlight the use of data dimensionality reduction techniques to link the multiple modalities of imaging contrast that serve to enhance the “information contrast” that helps to uncover subtle but important spatial correlations in chemistry. The other set of case studies is built around the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These examples serve to highlight a different role in the application of informatics methods in materials characterization, namely to track changes in physical/structural properties of materials associated with processing variations. Here it is demonstrated how data dimensionality reduction methods can uncover correlations between features in spectra that cannot be detected by visual inspection. Hence spectral informatics provides a methodology to monitor structural and chemical pathways that govern processing–property relationships in materials.
Ionizing radiation induces EphA2 S897 phosphorylation in a MEK/ERK/RSK-dependent manner.

AbstractPurpose: The EphA2 tyrosine kinase is frequently overexpressed in human tumors that are also treated with radiation. However, few studies have examined the effect of radiation on the EphA2 receptor itself. The purpose of this project was to investigate the impact of radiation on EphA2 to better understand mechanisms of radioresistance.Materials and methods: Cell lines were exposed to X-rays and assayed for changes in EphA2 protein levels and phosphorylation over time by Western blotting. HEK293 cells stably expressing wild-type EphA2 or the S897A mutant were analyzed for cell survival from X-rays.Results: Treatment of different cancer cell lines with 2 Gy of X-rays induced the phosphorylation of EphA2 on S897 but no changes were found in EphA2 total levels or its tyrosine phosphorylation. Radiation-induced S897 phosphorylation was unaffected by an AKT inhibitor but blocked by a MEK or RSK inhibitor. HEK293 cells expressing the EphA2 S897A mutant had a nearly 2-fold lower level of cell survival fro...
Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Onetime Injectable Dexamethasone Administered Orally in the Pediatric Emergency Department for Asthma Exacerbation.

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the efficacy of injectable dexamethasone administered orally in pediatric patients who presented to the emergency department with asthma exacerbation. METHODS This was a retrospective study of patients 0 to 18 years of age who presented to and who were directly discharged from the emergency department at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital between September 1, 2012, and September 30, 2015, for the diagnosis of asthma or asthma exacerbation. Patients had to receive a onetime dose of injectable dexamethasone orally prior to discharge. Patients were followed for a 30-day period to identify the number of asthma relapses. RESULTS Ninety-nine patients were included in this study. The average weight-based dose ± SD of dexamethasone was 0.35 ± 0.18 mg/kg (range, 0.08–0.62 mg/kg) and the actual dose ± SD was 10.58 ± 1.92 mg (range, 5–16 mg). Over a 30-day period, 6 patients (6%) had one repeated emergency department visit, 6 patients (6%) were admitted to the hospital, and 3 patients (3%)...
An advance notification system for smart structures in seismic zones

This paper presents an advance notification system which links smart structures in seismic regions and enables them to learn of impending earthquakes prior to the initial excitation. When an event occurs, the smart structure or sensor nearest the epicenter is triggered by the initial P wave and calculations are performed to estimate the earthquake's predominant frequency, epicentral distance, and magnitude. This information then is sent to the remaining smart structures via a networked telecommunications system where it is used to prepare active control systems and expedite emergency management procedures.
Keep the dream alive: the DACA dilemma

This paper will examine the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) executive order by then President Obama in 2012. Special attention will be placed on the impact of this program on higher e...
Factors predictive of gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophageal motility disorders in patients with non-cardiac chest pain.

Background: Patients with non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) are referred for esophageal motility testing and pH monitoring since gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and esophageal motility disorders...
Predicted and observed scatter in the fuel rod temperature of replicate rods during irradiation

Irradiation data collected from test fuel rods that were identically built and operated may be used to define a range of normal performance for a specific fuel rod design. By comparing the data to computer code calculations, it is possible to define the range of applicability of fuel thermal performance computer codes. Data scatter for the centerline temperature from identical rods in several test assemblies decreases from the first power ascension to the third power ascension. Calculated uncertainty bands for the data (i.e., expected variability for the data assuming dimensional tolerances, material property uncertainties, and power uncertainties) are found to be larger than the data scatter. The FRAPCON-2 temperature calculations agree with temperature data from helium-filled rods; however, the code does not match beginning-of-life temperatures from a xenon-filled rod. However, the code results agreed with data obtained from the xenon filled rod at higher burnup, thus indicating that the code adequately calculates fuel temperatures for fission gas-filled rods later in life.
Designing Learning Technologies to Support Self-Regulation During Ill-Structured Problem-Solving Processes

This chapter presents a web-based, database-driven cognitive support system for scaffolding self-regulation in the process of ill-structured problem solving. Self-regulation theory was used as a guiding framework for the design of this cognitive tool. The design features, functions and rationales of the system are detailed in the chapter. Of particular interest are the mechanisms of question prompts, expert view, and peer review in supporting self-monitoring, self-regulation, and self-reflection during ill-structured problem solving. Empirical studies are summarized on the effects of various support mechanisms conducted in several different knowledge domains (e.g., instructional design, education, and pharmacy) and contexts using different research methods. The findings show that the cognitive support system has a positive influence on self-monitoring and self-regulation, which subsequently facilitates ill-structured problem-solving processes. The limitations of the system, as well as design implications for developing interactive learning technologies, are discussed regarding fostering students’ self-regulatory learning to develop their ill-structured problem solving skills.
Thermodynamic and Kinetic Analysis of Bromodomain–Histone Interactions

Multiple factors are involved when selecting a technique and designing experiments to investigate emerging questions in biochemistry. Success depends on a conceptual understanding of a given spectroscopic approach and the ability to design a system to optimize the quality of the acquired data. In this chapter, we discuss fluorescence anisotropy and its application in characterizing the factors that drive the acetylation-dependent interactions between histone and bromodomain proteins. The steady-state and pre-steady-state binding events associated with biomolecular assemblies can be quantified with this technique, so long as the proper assays and binding models are developed. To accomplish this, the continuum of experimental considerations from instrumental setup and choice of fluorophore, to experimental procedures, and data analysis is described. The methodology is discussed in sufficient detail such that this chapter is a complete guide to setting up and performing fluorescence anisotropy measurements to study biomolecular interactions. A thermodynamic and kinetic analysis is performed to determine the factors that drive molecular recognition and binding affinity, resulting in the identification of an induced-folding mechanism.
Beta-lactam carryover in arterial and central venous catheters is negligible.

Abstract Background Therapeutic drug monitoring is used for aminoglycosides and vancomycin, and has been proposed for β-lactam antibiotics. Clinical blood samples in the ICU are often obtained via an existing vascular catheter rather than fresh needle phlebotomy. If antibiotics had previously been infused through a vascular catheter then used for blood sampling, carryover of antibiotic from the infusion to the sample might result in misleading assessments of target attainment. To address this concern we conducted a series of in vitro measurements of carryover for three commonly used antibiotics. Methods We infused piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem, and cefepime at pharmacologic concentrations through commonly used vascular catheters at our hospital and flushed the catheters. We then aspirated warmed citrated bovine blood through each catheter and measured antibiotic concentrations in each aspirate. Results Carryover was below the limits of detection for piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem, and vancomycin. Cefepime carryover, in contrast, was not negligible and needs to be investigated more fully. Conclusion Carryover from prior infusions does not appear to jeopardize measurements of piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem, or vancomycin in commonly used vascular catheters at our institution. Caution in interpreting samples obtained for cefepime measurements appears advised until more data is available.
A Scoring System Based on Differentially Weighted Criteria for Establishing a Standardized Threshold for the Diagnosis of Early Mycosis Fungoides

The threshold for the early diagnosis of the mycosis fungoides form of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (MF-CTCL) is indistinct, and varies from center to center, because there is no “gold standard” for this diagnosis. Neither the clinical nor the histologic features allow all cases to be diagnosed in the early patch/plaque forms of the disease. Adjunctive tests of high specificity but low sensitivity are now coming into increasing clinical use; these appear to have value in making this diagnosis. A scoring system is now proposed that standardizes the threshold for the diagnosis of MF-CTCL in its early stages. Scores are assigned according to the strength of clinical morphology (2 point maximum), distribution (2 point maximum), and histology (3 point maximum) with regard to likelihood of MF-CTCL. A threshold of 5 points is defined as the inclusion point. Additional points (2 points each, up to a maximum of 4 points) can be gathered in support of the diagnosis if highly specific adjunctive tests (i.e., Pan T cell marker discordance, T cell receptor gene rearrangement, Sezary cells in the blood, elevated nuclear contour index, or aneuploidy) are positive. It is proposed that application of standardized threshold criteria to characterize patients entered into studies of pathogenesis, diagnosis, therapy, or prognostication will standardize Stage I MF-CTCL patients, allowing better comparisons of studies executed at different centers, and will homogenize patient entry into multi-center protocols.
Distributed Model Predictive Control for More Electric Aircraft Subsystems Operating at Multiple Time Scales

This article considers predictive control of the jet engine and electrical power distribution system of a more electric aircraft (MEA) with asynchronous distributed controllers. The shafts of the engine spools are mechanically coupled to the electrical generators of the microgrid, linking the dynamics of the two subsystems. As the subsystems and their controllers are designed by different entities, the preservation of subsystem privacy must be an integral part of any coordination mechanism and, due to the underlying subsystems having differing time scales in their dynamics, the subsystem control updates are not guaranteed to be synchronized. To address these requirements, a distributed model predictive control (D-MPC) algorithm based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is proposed, which accounts for and exploits the differing control update rates of the engine and power subsystem controllers while preserving privacy. An extension to the Algorithm that seeks to minimize the required communication volume by downsampling the interactions to the rate of the engine time scale is also presented. Simulation results on a high-fidelity nonlinear system model demonstrate that the distributed controllers can outperform a decentralized controller and their performance can match that of a fully centralized controller.
Microbial Interaction Network Inference in Microfluidic Droplets.

Summary Microbial interactions are major drivers of microbial community dynamics and functions but remain challenging to identify because of limitations in parallel culturing and absolute abundance quantification of community members across environments and replicates. To this end, we developed Microbial Interaction Network Inference in microdroplets (MINI-Drop). Fluorescence microscopy coupled to computer vision techniques were used to rapidly determine the absolute abundance of each strain in hundreds to thousands of droplets per condition. We showed that MINI-Drop could accurately infer pairwise and higher-order interactions in synthetic consortia. We developed a stochastic model of community assembly to provide insight into the heterogeneity in community states across droplets. Finally, we elucidated the complex web of interactions linking antibiotics and different species in a synthetic consortium. In sum, we demonstrated a robust and generalizable method to infer microbial interaction networks by random encapsulation of sub-communities into microfluidic droplets.
High-Resolution Comparative Genomic Hybridization of Mirna Genes In Therapy-Related AML Identifies a Somatic Deletion of MiR-223

Abstract Abstract 2759 MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression and diverse cellular processes. Expression profiling of miRNAs has identified dysregulated miRNAs in many cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, the mechanism for altered miRNA gene expression and the frequency of miRNA gene mutations in AML is largely unknown. We performed next-generation sequencing and high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to determine the frequency of miRNA gene mutations in 30 patients with therapy-related AML (t-AML). The sequencing is completed, and final analysis is underway. Herein, we report the results of the CGH. We designed custom CGH arrays for all 835 miRNA genes in miRBase (version 14) and 44 genes involved in miRNA processing. Average probe spacing was 30 bp for miRNA genes and 80 bp for miRNA processing genes and 10 kb flanking regions were interrogated for all genes. In each case, genomic DNA from leukemic blasts was compared with DNA from a skin biopsy from that patient. The median age of the 30 patients with t-AML was 49.2 years (25-77) with M:F ratio 13:17. The mean blast % was 81% (31-100). Consistent with previous reports, many of these patients had an abnormal karyotype with abnormalities of chromosome 5 and 7, 13% and 17% respectively. As expected, CGH analysis confirmed copy number alterations already identified by cytogenetics. In addition, we identified a single t-AML sample (from a male patient) that carried a small (435 kb) hemizygous deletion of miR-223 on chromosome × that was not apparent by cytogenetics. Quantitative PCR of genomic DNA confirmed the loss of the miR-223 gene, and real time RT-PCR demonstrated loss of miR-223 expression. Of note, miR-223 has been implicated in the regulation of granulopoiesis, and mice lacking miR-223 display a myeloproliferative phenotype (Johnnidis, Nature 2008). We screened an additional 27 AML patients for miR-223 expression and identified 3 other samples with miR-223 expression 2 standard deviations below the normal (based on CD34+ cells from healthy donors). No copy number alterations in miR-223 were detected in these patients, suggesting epigenetic silencing of miR-223. Consistent with this possibility, one of these patients carried a t(8;21), which has been shown to epigenetically silence miR-223 (Fazi, Cancer Cell 2007). The mechanism by which miR-223 is silenced in the other two AML samples is under investigation. In summary, cytogenetically silent deletions of miRNA genes are uncommon in t-AML. Loss of miR-223 expression can occur through somatic mutation or epigenetic silencing and is likely to contribute to leukemic transformation in a subset of patients with AML. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Dielectric Behaviour of Defects in Power Transformer Insulation using Finite Element Method

The power transformer is the heart of the electric system and the most expensive part of the electrical utilities. Partial discharge in power transformers is among the most a crucial concern to be analyzed in the electrical power components. In this paper, a 2D finite element model of power transformer is developed to study the partial discharge defects in power transformer. Both healthy and defective conditions in power transformer have been modeled. The defective one includes different shapes of voids and crack in pressboard insulation of the transformer winding. Also bubbles and metallic particles in the oil power transformer are analysed. The power transformer is modeled and the dielectric response of the defects are carried out in the time domain. The results show that the electric field in the defective transformer is considerably high corresponding to the surrounding region showing the high electric stress in the defects. Graphs are plotted to visualize the electric field distribution.
Accountability after Nuclear War: Why Not Plan Ahead?

If nuclear war occurs, non-belligerents want the conductors to take responsibility for providing assistance to deal with harm imposed on them. This harm could take the form of radioactive fallout, ...
How high brand loyalty consumers achieve relationships with virtual worlds and its elements through presence

Presence is linked to the relationship between consumers‘ sought after uses and gratifications to ultimately gain media consumption experiences. As consumers pursue uses and gratifications from vid...
Imitation, Intertextuality and the Minerva Press Novel

Jane Austen’s famous reference to Ann Radcliffe and 'all her imitators' in Northanger Abbey can be understood both as a satirical characterisation of popular gothic novels and as a record of a historical mode of describing those same texts. This article provides a new reading of fictional 'imitation' in the Romantic period arguing that, as it was practised by Minerva Press novelists, it became a crucial fulcrum in the ongoing Romantic debate over the literary status of the novel. While charges of 'imitation' are often understood as derogatory, and were frequently deployed against the Minerva Press’s fiction by critics, looking closely at the novels in question suggests that many novelists used imitation quite deliberately as a literary strategy. This essay suggests that the fiction produced by Minerva's novelists is deeply entwined with the press’s status as England’s highest-producing novel publisher, in that the form and function of Minerva novels stems from their collective identity: each novel is produced and consumed specifically as one of many—one of many narratives, but also one of many physical, circulating objects, lent, sold and exchanged between readers. Using allusions, parodic inversions, self-referential prefaces and a multitude of other narrative strategies, the novelists exploit the creative potential of their imitative parameters.
Experiences from Software Engineering of Large Scale AMR Multiphysics Code Frameworks

Many research problems are being pursued through simulations that require multi-physics capabilities in codes, that are also able to run on HPC platforms. Multiphysics implies many solvers with divergent, and sometimes conflicting, demands on the software infrastructure. Additionally many multiphysics simulation codes make use of structured adaptive mesh refinement to achieve maximum resolution where needed within resource constraints, which places even more demands on software infrastructure. The software architecture and process for these codes, therefore, is a challenging task. In this experience report we detail the challenges faced, design choices made, and insights from two such major software efforts, FLASH and Chombo.
Designing Courses in Communication Sciences and Disorders Using Backward Design

Purpose To ensure that students are learning the most important information and developing the most important skills and to make certain that any externally mandated standards are met, professors n...
Network meta-analysis from a pairwise meta-analysis design: to assess the comparative effectiveness of oral care interventions in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia in critically ill patients

In this research, we assessed the usefulness of network meta-analysis (NMA), in creating a hierarchy to define the most effective oral care intervention for the prevention and management of ventilation-associated pneumonia (VAP). We applied NMA to a previously published robust pairwise meta-analysis. Statistical analyses were based on comparing rates of total VAP events between intervention groups and placebo-usual care groups. We synthesized a netgraph, reported the ranking order of the interventions, and summarized output by a forest plot with a reference treatment placebo/usual care. The results of this NMA are from the low and high risk of bias studies, and hence, we strongly recommend not to use findings of this NMA for clinical treatment needs, but based on results of the NMA, we highly recommend for future clinical trials. With our inclusion and exclusion criteria for the NMA, we extracted 25 studies (4473 subjects). The NMA included 16 treatments, 29 pairwise comparisons, and 15 designs. Based on results of NMA frequentist-ranking P scores, tooth brushing (P fixed-0.94, P random-0.89), tooth brushing with povidone-iodine (P fixed-0.90, P random-0.88), and furacillin (P fixed-0.88, P random-0.84) were the best three interventions for preventing VAP. Any conclusion drawn from this NMA should be taken with caution and recommend future clinical trials with the results. NMA appeared to be an effective platform from which multiple interventions reported in disparate clinical trials could be compared to derive a hierarchical assessment of efficacy in VAP intervention.
Human Dignity and Political Criticism

Many, including Marx, Rawls, and the contemporary 'Black Lives Matter' movement, embrace the ambition to secure terms of co-existence in which the worth of people's lives becomes a lived reality rather than an empty boast. This book asks whether, as some believe, the philosophical idea of human dignity can help achieve that ambition. Offering a new fourfold typology of dignity concepts, Colin Bird argues that human dignity can perform this role only if certain traditional ways of conceiving it are abandoned. Accordingly, Bird rejects the idea that human dignity refers to the inherent worth or status of individuals, and instead reinterprets it as a social relation, constituted by affects of respect and the modes of mutual attention which they generate. What emerges is a new vision of human dignity as a vital political value, and an arresting vindication of its role as an agent of critical reflection on politics.
Comparison of Maternal and Neonatal Subspecialty Care Provision by Hospital.

Objective The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between a hospital's provision of subspecialty neonatal and maternal care. Specifically, we sought to understand where women with high-risk maternal conditions received intrapartum care and estimate the potential transfer burden for those with maternal high-risk conditions delivering at hospitals without subspecialty maternal care. Study Design This is a descriptive study using data from 2015 State Inpatient Databases and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey. Characteristics were compared between hospitals based on the concordance of their maternal and neonatal care. The incidences of high-risk maternal conditions (pre-eclampsia with severe features, placenta previa with prior cesarean delivery, cardiac disease, pulmonary edema, and acute liver failure) were compared. To determine the potential referral burden, the percent of women with high-risk conditions delivering at a hospital without subspecialty maternal care but delivering in a county with a hospital with subspecialty maternal care was calculated. Results The analysis included 486,398 women who delivered at 544 hospitals, of which 104 (19%) and 182 (33%) had subspecialty maternal and neonatal care, respectively. Ninety-eight hospitals provided both subspecialty maternal and neonatal care; however, 84 hospitals provided only subspecialty neonatal care but no subspecialty maternal care. Among high-risk maternal conditions examined, approximately 65% of women delivered at a hospital with subspecialty maternal care. Of the remainder who delivered at a hospital without subspecialty maternal care, one-third were in a county where subspecialty care was present. For women with high-risk conditions who delivered in a county without subspecialty maternal care, the median distance to the closest county with subspecialty care was 52.8 miles (IQR 34.3–87.7 miles). Conclusion Approximately 50% of hospitals with subspecialty neonatal care do not provide subspecialty maternal care. This discordance may present a challenge when both high-risk maternal and neonatal conditions are present. Key Points
“Much more chewing”: a case study of resistance to school reform in rural New York during the early twentieth century

Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as the United States was transformed from an agrarian nation to an industrial one, significant changes in the nation’s economic, social, and politica...
Differences in Exclusive Breastfeeding Rates in US Hospitals According to Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative Designation and Area Deprivation Index Category

Background: Disparities in breastfeeding persist placing a greater burden of disease on non-Hispanic black and Hispanic women and infants. Targeted implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Init...
Considering the Long-Term Transformative Impact of Creativity Training on the Work and Lives of Teachers:

The purpose of this study is to examine teacher perceptions of the long-term transformative impact of Piirto’s Creativity Model and personal creativity exploration on teachers. Creativity training ...
The Glass Houses of Attending Surgeons: An Assessment of Unprofessional Behavior on Facebook among Practicing Surgeons

Purpose Our recent publication demonstrated that unprofessional behavior on Facebook is common among surgical residents. In the formulation of standards and curricula to address this issue, it is important that surgical faculty lead by example. Our current study refocuses on the Facebook profiles of faculty surgeons involved in the education of general surgery residents. Methods The American College of Surgeons (ACS) web site was used to identify general surgery residencies located in the Midwest. Departmental web sites were then searched to identify teaching faculty for the general surgery residency. Facebook was then searched to determine which faculty had profiles available for viewing by the general public. Profiles were then placed in 1 of the 3 following categories: professional, potentially unprofessional, or clearly unprofessional. Statistical Analysis A chi-square test was used to determine significance. Results In all, 57 residency programs were identified on the ACS web site, 100% of which provided an institutional web site listing the surgical faculty. A total of 758 general surgery faculty were identified (133 women and 625 men), of which 195 (25.7%) had identifiable Facebook accounts. In all, 165 faculty (84.6%) had no unprofessional content, 20 (10.3%) had potentially unprofessional content, and 10 (5.1%) had clearly unprofessional content. Inter-rater reliability was good (88.9% agreement, κ = 0.784). Clearly unprofessional behavior was found only in male surgeons. For male surgeons, clearly unprofessional behavior was more common among those in practice for less than 5 years (p = 0.031). Alcohol and politics were the most commonly found variables in the potentially unprofessional group. Inappropriate language and sexually suggestive material were the most commonly found variables in the clearly unprofessional group. Conclusions Unprofessional behavior on Facebook is less common among surgical faculty compared with surgical residents. However, the rates remain unacceptably high, especially among men and those in practice for less than 5 years. Education on the dangers of social media should not be limited to residents but should instead be extended to attending surgeons as well.
Disowned by the Ownership Society: How Native Americans Lost Their Land

Over the past five centuries, Europeans have enclosed the global commons and, in the process, incorporated whole continents of aboriginal land. Some scholars argue that Indians in North America were spared the ravages of compulsory enclosure, having sold their land to non-Indians through willing-seller transactions and benefited from federal government trust and treaty policies. Moreover, where enclosure existed, it is widely believed to have ended as Indians converted to agriculture, thereby internalizing hard work, sedentary life styles, and allotted ownership. This study disputes such historical accounts and suggests a wave of new enclosures in accordance with recent U.S. Department of Agricultural minority lending policies. By discriminating against Native American farmers and ranchers, the federal government has enabled the erasure of title, livelihood opportunities, and cultural identity among Indian farming and ranching communities. Evidence from the Fort Berthold Reservation of North Dakota reveals the complex complicity of the federal government in Indian land erasure and points to a changing reservation geography that, even now, makes castaways of agrarian Indians.
Excitatory action of ATP on embryonic chick muscle

It has been suggested that ATP might play a role in synaptic transmission at developing vertebrate neuromuscular junctions. To increase our understanding of the events underlying synapse formation, we have used intracellular recording and patch clamp recording to examine the response of chick myoblasts and myotubes to to ATP and other nucleotides, ATP, applied at micromolar concentrations, has a potent depolarizing action on chick myoblasts and myotubes. The ATP depolarization declines during prolonged application of ATP and shows no recovery for at least 20 min after the removal of ATP. The physiological event that underlies the ATP response has a reversal potential near O mV and is due to a conductance increase. However, contrary to our expectation, in a series of nearly 200 cell-attached and outside-out patch recordings, we did not detect single-channel currents that were related to ATP. The myotube ATP receptor is pharmacologically distinct from putative ATP receptors in other systems. It is not activated by ADP, AMP, or adenosine. Furthermore, the nonhydrolyzable ATP analogs, AMP-PNP, alpha,beta-meATP, and beta,gamma-meATP (respectively, 5-adenylylimido diphosphate; alpha,beta- methylene adenosine 5′-triphosphate; and beta,gamma-methylene adenosine 5′-triphosphate), which are potent ATP agonists in other systems, have no depolarizing action on myotubes. The ATP receptor is also distinct from the nicotinic ACh receptor since responses to ATP are unaffected by the nicotinic antagonists d-tubocurarine and alpha-bungarotoxin. We therefore applied alpha-bungarotoxin to nerve-muscle co-cultures in the hope of uncovering an additional component of the postsynaptic potential, which might represent a synaptic action of ATP. Under these experimental conditions no evidence indicative of a postsynaptic action of ATP released from nerve terminals was observed.
Vitamin C Determination by Indophenol Method

Vitamin C is an essential nutrient in the diet, but is easily reduced or destroyed by exposure to heat and oxygen during processing, packaging, and storage of food. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires the Vitamin C content to be listed on the nutrition label of foods. The instability of Vitamin C makes it more difficult to ensure an accurate listing of Vitamin C content on the nutrition label.
User Guide for the Discrete Dipole Approximation Code DDSCAT (Version 5a10)

DDSCAT.5a is a freely available software package which applies the "discrete dipole approximation" (DDA) to calculate scattering and absorption of electromagnetic waves by targets with arbitrary geometries and complex refractive index. The DDA approximates the target by an array of polarizable points. DDSCAT.5a requires that these polarizable points be located on a cubic lattice. DDSCAT.5a10 allows accurate calculations of electromagnetic scattering from targets with "size parameters" 2 pi a/lambda < 15 provided the refractive index m is not large compared to unity (|m-1| < 1). The DDSCAT package is written in Fortran and is highly portable. The program supports calculations for a variety of target geometries (e.g., ellipsoids, regular tetrahedra, rectangular solids, finite cylinders, hexagonal prisms, etc.). Target materials may be both inhomogeneous and anisotropic. It is straightforward for the user to import arbitrary target geometries into the code, and relatively straightforward to add new target generation capability to the package. DDSCAT automatically calculates total cross sections for absorption and scattering and selected elements of the Mueller scattering intensity matrix for specified orientation of the target relative to the incident wave, and for specified scattering directions. This User Guide explains how to use DDSCAT.5a10 to carry out EM scattering calculations. CPU and memory requirements are described.
The trigeminofacial innervation of the cephalic lateral line organs and photophores of the lantern fish Tarletonbeania crenularis (Myctophidae)

The trigeminofacial innervation of the cephalic photophores and lateral line organs of Tarletonbeania crenularis has been studied from gross dissections. The facial and trigeminal roots leave the brainstem separately, but later intermingle forming a trigemino‐facial complex. The seventh nerve gives rise to the hyomandibular trunk and sends a branch rostrad to join the trigeminal forming the supra‐ and infraorbital trunks. The supraorbital trunk innervates the Dn photophore, the snout, the iris, the supraorbital lateral line organs and part of the olfactory sacs. The infraorbital trunk supplies the infraorbital lateral line organs, the Vn photophore and the tissues surrounding the premaxillaries. The hyomandibular trunk passes to the opercular photophores and lateral line organs, and together with a branch from the infraorbital trunk supplies the branchiostegal photophores and lateral line organs of the mandible.
Geometry-Dependent Phosphodiester Hydrolysis Catalyzed by Binuclear Copper Complexes

Two isomeric binuclear ligands PBTPA and MBTPA and their copper(II) complexes were prepared and examined for hydrolysis of a model phosphodiester substrate: bis(p-nitrophenyl)phosphate. A bell-shaped pH vs rate profile, which is in agreement with one mechanism proposed for bimetallonucleases/phosphatases, was observed for the binuclear complex of copper(II) and PBTPA. At pH 8.4, a maximum rate of 1.14 × 10-6 s-1more than 104-fold over uncatalyzed reactionswas achieved. However, the analogous complex of MBTPA did not show significant rate enhancement. The binuclear complex of copper(II) and PBTPA also showed 10-fold acceleration over mononuclear complex of copper(II) and tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (TPA) catalyzed reaction. A phage φX174 DNA assay showed that the complex of copper(II) and PBTPA promoted supercoiled phage φX174 DNA relaxation under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, in contrast to the hydrolytic inactivity of the mononuclear complex of copper(II) and TPA.
Determinants of arrhythmic death during coronary artery reperfusion: effect of perfusion bed size.

Abstract To further our understanding of the factors determining the consequences of transient episodes of ischemia, we studied the influence of the size of the ischemic bed on the incidence of ventricular fibrillation (VF). The circumflex coronary artery (CFX) was occluded at various locations in 19 dogs. After 20 minutes of occlusion followed by 10 minutes of reperfusion the dogs were killed. The portion of the left ventricle (LV) at risk of infarcting (RLV) was defined as the region supplied by the occluded CFX and determined by simultaneous perfusion of the CFX with saline solution, just beyond the occlusion site, and of the aorta with Evan's blue. Bread loaf slices of the heart were photographed and projected, and the normal (blue) and risk regions (unstained) traced. The product of area and slice weight yielded mass of normal and risk regions. The RLV of dogs that died of reperfusion VF (n = 6) was 42.3 ± 5.0%, larger ( p 35% ( p = 0.0005). As is true for VF occurring during coronary artery occlusion, the incidence of reperfusion VF is related to the size of the ischemic insult.