cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A High-Throughput Screening Assay for the Identification of Flavivirus NS5 Capping Enzyme GTP-Binding Inhibitors Implications for Antiviral Drug Development

There are no effective antivirals currently available for the treatment of flavivirus infection in humans. As such, the identification and characterization of novel drug target sites are critical to developing new classes of antiviral drugs. The flavivirus NS5 N-terminal capping enzyme (CE) is vital for the formation of the viral RNA cap structure, which directs viral polyprotein translation and stabilizes the 5′ end of the viral genome. The structure of the flavivirus CE has been solved, and a detailed understanding of the CE–guanosine triphosphate (GTP) and CE–RNA cap interactions is available. Because of the essential nature of the interaction for viral replication, disrupting CE–GTP binding is an attractive approach for drug development. The authors have previously developed a robust assay for monitoring CE–GTP binding in real time. They adapted this assay for high-throughput screening and performed a pilot screen of 46 323 commercially available compounds. A number of small-molecule inhibitors capabl...
Ethnography: An Introduction to Method and Application

As the diversity and complexity of children with special needs continues to increase in the United States so does the need for culturally sensitive assessment and intervention for communication dis...
The Performance of Sequential Decoding in Conjunction with Efficient Modulation

The design of a communications system consisting of a sequential encoder-decoder, working in conjunction with a modulation-detection system is considered from the point of view of high-information transmission efficiency. Emphasis is placed on M orthogonal signal modulation and a scheme known as list-of- l quantization. The results of a computer study of the computational behavior of the sequential decoder are described and used to predict buffer memory overflow probability. The described design procedure allows prediction of system performance to within a fraction of a decibel. A practical sequential decoder and a list-of- l modulation-detection system of reasonable complexity, can achieve performance on a white Gaussian channel to within 4.5 dB of the Shannon limit with coherent reception and to within 7 dB with incoherent reception.
Challenges in bioinformatics: infrastructure, models and analytics.

Abstract The Research Informatics 2000 conference was held in Philadelphia, PA, USA, 29–30 November 2000.
A Pilot Study: Short‐term Reduction in Salivary Cortisol Following Low Level Physical Exercise and Relaxation among Adolescents and Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum

Many adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience high levels of stress and anxiety. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine whether physical exercise and relaxation could reduce stress and anxiety among those with ASD. Salivary cortisol levels were collected before and after each of three sessions during an 8-week exercise programme. Our findings showed a significant reduction in cortisol at the end of the sessions compared with the beginning. This was supported by a self-report anxiety measure. Although reductions in these stress measures were not sustained over time, our results highlight the potential of exercise and relaxation for improving symptoms of stress. Future studies are needed which examine longer term reductions in stress following physical exercise interventions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
MATING COMPETITIVENESS OF MASS-REARED MALES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE) FROM ECLOSION TOWERS

In Florida, an ongoing Preventative Release Program utilizes the sterile insect technique to prevent infestations of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Unlike other such programs, which use plastic, storage (PARC) boxes, the Florida operation holds pupae and newly emerged adults in eclosion towers prior to release. Although eclosion towers save space and labor, few data exist regarding the quality of sterile male medflies held in towers versus PARC boxes. Here, we present the results of field-cage trials comparing the mating success of sterile males held in towers versus PARC boxes. In addition, previous research has shown that exposing PARC box-held males to the aroma of ginger root oil (GRO) increases their mating competitiveness. Consequently, we assessed whether a similar increase was evident for tower-held males. Finally, we performed a mark-release-recapture study involving GRO-exposed and non-exposed males and estimated their relative survival and dispersal in the field using the trap catch data. Data from the mating trials showed that sterile males held in towers displayed approximately the same mating success as sterile males held in PARC boxes and that, among tower-held males, GRO significantly increased mating competitiveness relative to non-exposed males. In the trapping study, significantly more GRO-exposed males were captured than non-exposed males, and there was no apparent difference in the duration of the post-release interval over which GRO-exposed and non-exposed males were captured. These findings, along with earlier comparisons of adult weight, flight ability, and yield suggest no obvious differences in the efficacy of tower and PARC-box eclosion systems for medfly sterile release programs.
Analysis of Northern Distribution of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Japan by Geographical Information System

Aedes albopictus (Skuse), a mosquito vector of the dengue fever virus, is prevalent in Japan, distributed widely in Honshu Island with its northern limits between latitude 38° to 40°degrees north. The factors affecting distribution of the species in the northern part of Japan were studied using the geographical information system (GIS). During 1998–2000, larval surveillance was carried out in 26 urban and rural areas in the Tohoku district, in the northern part of Honshu Island, by collecting larvae from artificial and natural habitats. Climatological analysis, using the GIS, showed that the following conditions accounted for the current distribution of Ae. albopictus: an annual mean temperature higher than 11°C and a mean temperature of the coldest month, January, higher than −2°C. A period with temperature above 11°C in the confirmed area of the mosquito successively continues for more than 186 d per year. The accumulated temperature calculated from a temperature of 11°C, which may be close to the developmental zero of Ae. albopictus, was over 1,350 degree-days. The relationship between the beginning of short-daylength, inducing egg diapause, and the monthly mean temperature during September and October necessary for successful larval development in the Tohoku district is also discussed. We also show the relationship between the current distribution of Ae. albopictus and the annual mean temperature in the United States. From these results it is predicted that Ae. albpictus will be established in some cities in northeast United States.
Chronic NF-κB activation links COPD and lung cancer through generation of an immunosuppressive microenvironment in the lungs

// Rinat Zaynagetdinov 1 , Taylor P. Sherrill 1 , Linda A. Gleaves 1 , Pierre Hunt 1 , Wei Han 1 , Allyson G. McLoed 2 , Jamie A. Saxon 2 , Harikrishna Tanjore 1 , Peter M. Gulleman 4 , Lisa R. Young 1, 4 , Timothy S. Blackwell 1, 2, 3 1 Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA, 37232 2 Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, 37232 3 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Nashville, TN, USA, 37232 4 Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA, 37232 Correspondence to: Rinat Zaynagetdinov, e-mail: rinat.z.zaynagetdinov@vanderbilt.edu Keywords: NF-κB, COPD, lung cancer, macrophage, tregs Received: September 16, 2015 Accepted: December 02, 2015 Published: December 11, 2015 ABSTRACT Nuclear Factor (NF)-κB is positioned to provide the interface between COPD and carcinogenesis through regulation of chronic inflammation in the lungs. Using a tetracycline-inducible transgenic mouse model that conditionally expresses activated IκB kinase β (IKKβ) in airway epithelium (IKTA), we found that sustained NF-κB signaling results in chronic inflammation and emphysema by 4 months. By 11 months of transgene activation, IKTA mice develop lung adenomas. Investigation of lung inflammation in IKTA mice revealed a substantial increase in M2-polarized macrophages and CD4 + /CD25 + /FoxP3 + regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs). Depletion of alveolar macrophages in IKTA mice reduced Tregs, increased lung CD8 + lymphocytes, and reduced tumor numbers following treatment with the carcinogen urethane. Alveolar macrophages from IKTA mice supported increased generation of inducible Foxp3 + Tregs ex vivo through expression of TGFβ and IL-10. Targeting of TGFβ and IL-10 reduced the ability of alveolar macrophages from IKTA mice to induce Foxp3 expression on T cells. These studies indicate that sustained activation of NF-κB pathway links COPD and lung cancer through generation and maintenance of a pro-tumorigenic inflammatory environment consisting of alternatively activated macrophages and regulatory T cells.
Search for H 5

Following the suggestion that ${\mathrm{H}}^{5}$ might be stable against nucleon emission, a search was made for delayed neutrons resulting from the reaction ${\mathrm{Li}}^{7}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, 2p){\mathrm{H}}^{5}$. The targets were bombarded with a 340-MeV bremsstrahlung beam and the delayed neutrons detected in a shielded paraffin-moderated array of B${\mathrm{F}}_{3}$ counters. Counts were scaled in 14 delay channels of variable width and variable initial delay. Separated isotopes of ${\mathrm{Li}}^{7}$ and ${\mathrm{Li}}^{6}$ were used as targets. As ${\mathrm{H}}^{5}$ cannot be produced from the bombardment of ${\mathrm{Li}}^{6}$, counts observed during the bombardment of ${\mathrm{Li}}^{6}$ were used to measure the background. After background subtraction, the data fall uniformly about zero and show no apparent lifetime. Assuming a 10-msec half-life, an upper limit for the activation cross section is ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{A}\ensuremath{\le}3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}32}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. A comparison of this with the yield expected from the extrapolation of the measured yields of the reactions ${\mathrm{B}}^{11}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, 2p){\mathrm{Li}}^{9}$ and ${\mathrm{F}}^{19}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, 2p){\mathrm{N}}^{17}$ indicates that the upper limit for the activation cross section is of the order of 1% of the expected yield. Hence it appears unlikely that ${\mathrm{H}}^{5}$ is stable against particle emission.
Manufacturable 200GHz, Low Noise P+-GaInAs/N-AlInAs/GaInAs JHEMT Technology

It is becoming increasingly critical to successfully develop a compound semiconductor IC technology which is both high performance and low cost to penetrate crucial large volume markets such as future nun-wave wireless communications. This requires a simple transistor technology which (i) exhibits high performance across a wide bias range to perform both transmit and receive operations, (ii) has high threshold uniformity to enable high density, high speed signal processing circuits, and (iii) has a basic technology which is relatively transparent to the two commercially important family of materials, namely, GaAs and InP based. The Junction HEMT (JHEMT) technology which is presented satisfies the above criteria.
Violence and Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Mexican Drug War

An emerging literature has found that early life exposure to conflict has important effects on physical and cognitive development of a child. While this literature focuses on large scale violence such as civil wars, there is a lack of studies for areas with consistently high levels of criminal violence. This discrepancy is important as many areas in the world, particularly Central and South America, experience consistently high levels of criminal violence. This study examines whether these health effects also extend to this lower violence setting by focusing on the sharp increase in homicide rates in Mexico since 2007-08. Using sibling fixed effects, I study whether the levels and timing of municipality homicide rates affect children's physical health and cognitive and non-cognitive development in Mexico. The results suggest a strong effect of in utero exposure (depending on the trimester) on the physical health and cognitive development of children and no effect on socio-emotional behavior. Specifically, an average increase in the homicide rate between the pre-escalation period of 2005-06 and 2009 while in utero reduces both height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and cognition (measured by Raven’s scores) by 0.08 standard deviation (SD). Empirical analysis provides suggestive evidence about maternal stress as potential channel. The study does not find any evidence for the impact of exposure to homicide rates during childhood on health outcomes.
Large-Scale Region-Based Multimedia Retrieval for Solar Images

In this paper we present an extensive analysis into our task of expanding our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) content-based image-retrieval (CBIR) system query capabilities with region-based search features. In this first-of-its-kind functionality, for solar physics, we will be taking advantage of pre-computed image descriptors in order to generate region-based histogram-like signatures from our training set of previously identified solar events. With these signatures we then retrieve new similar solar events solely based on these scale and rotation invariant signatures. In this paper we present our proposed methodology and our extensive experimental setup with retrieval results. Our multimedia retrieval mechanism will be extensively tested with multiple variants of our signatures, multiple similarity measures, and finally validated using classification algorithms.
Image as a Strategic Tool for Service Marketers

Because of a relatively low degree of standardization of many services coupled with their intangible nature, consumers are not in a position to judge the actual worth of a service and must often rely on a service marketer’s image as a guide to evaluate service value. A service marketer thus must be more than a service provide er; he should also be an image maker.
Production of Highly Aligned Collagen Scaffolds by Freeze-drying of Self-assembled, Fibrillar Collagen Gels

Matrix and cellular alignment are critical factors in the native function of many tissues, including muscle, nerve, and ligaments. Collagen is frequently a component of these aligned tissues, and collagen biomaterials are widely used in tissue engineering applications. However, the generation of aligned collagen scaffolds that maintain the native architecture of collagen fibrils has not been straightforward, with many methods requiring specialized equipment or technical procedures, extensive incubation times, or denaturing of the collagen. Herein, we present a simple, rapid method for fabrication of highly aligned collagen scaffolds. Collagen was assembled to form a fibrillar hydrogel in a cylindrical conduit with high aspect ratio and then frozen and lyophilized. The resulting collagen scaffolds demonstrated highly aligned topographical features along the scaffold surface. This presence of an initial fibrillar network and the high-aspect ratio vessel were both required to generate alignment. The diameter...
Abstract 2159: Genomic characterization of benign and malignant thyroid tumors

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Background: Thyroid cancer cells typically harbor multiple genomic aberrations that drive malignant transformation. The goal of this study was to identify novel genetic markers to improve preoperative discrimination between benign and malignant thyroid neoplasms. Methods: Using Illumina HumanHap550 BeadChip with 561,446 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mark¬ers, we estimated copy number (CN) across the genome on 39 thyroid tumors with matched normal tissue, which included 14 benign tumors (follicular adenomas, FAs) and 25 malignant tumors (13 follicular variant papillary thyroid cancers, FVPTCs, and 12 papillary thyroid cancers, PTCs). The Cir¬cu¬lar Binary Seg¬men¬ta¬tion (CBS) algo¬rithm was applied to calculate copy number variation (CNV) based on Log R Ratio (LRR) values. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis was performed by using LOH Score plug-in in BeadStudio program. Within the regions showing CNV, candidate genes were further examined by real-time PCR. Results: The comprehensive genetic profile of 39 thyroid tumors was defined, and tumor -specific somatic change assessed using matched normal thyroid tissue as reference. With strict control of the false discovery rate, significant alterations averaged 32 CNVs in benign FAs, and 8 in malignant thyroid cancer (PTCs and FVPTCs), including 17 gains in FAs and 3 gains in cancers, and 2.9 losses in FAs and 4.4 losses in cancers. Additionally, an average of 12 copy-neutral LOHs per FA and 1 LOH per cancer were detected. Among the CNVs, we found 60 focal alterations that were specific either for benign FAs, or for thyroid cancers. We used empirical Bayes modified ANOVA to identify genes for which copy number was associated with tumor type. Increases in copy number on chromosome 12 were much more common in FAs than in cancers. GDF3, a candidate gene located in 12p13.31, was further validated by quantitative real time PCR, which showed results consistent with our SNP array results. Overall, follicular adenomas showed considerably higher levels of copy number variation than the two malignant tumor subtypes studied, i.e. PTCs and FVPTCs. Conclusions: Benign and malignant thyroid tumors may possess characteristic and distinguishable genomic profiles. The genetic changes identified in this study may allow the development of biomarkers for differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules. In the next phase of this study, we will perform a transcriptome-wide expression analysis on the same tissue sample set used for the SNP array study, and perform an integrated analysis combining DNA genetic alterations and differential gene expression to further refine the identification of candidate molecular changes that may be used in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid lesions. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2159.
Adolescent Stalking: A Review

Stalking is a dangerous and prevalent crime that traumatizes victims. Professional literature usually focuses exclusively on adult stalkers, ignoring the possibility that adolescents also stalk. However, recent research has established that adolescents do stalk. There are some similarities found between adult and adolescent stalking. For example, adolescent stalking tends to be male on female, just as adult stalking. However, unlike adult stalking, stalking in adolescence is more likely to be motivated by romantic emotions, stalking behaviors are more likely to involve physical approaches, and adolescent stalkers frequently change victims. This article reviews the pertinent literature on adolescent stalking with special focus on developmental and psychosocial factors, the relationship between adult and adolescent stalking, the legal and school response, and implications for social work. Suggestions for future research are also included.
Ab Initio Implementation of the Frenkel-Davydov Exciton Model: A Naturally Parallelizable Approach to Computing Collective Excitations in Crystals and Aggregates.

A fragment-based method for computing vertical excitation energies of molecular clusters is introduced based on an ab initio implementation of a Frenkel–Davydov exciton model consisting of singly excited monomer basis states. Our strategy is to construct and diagonalize the exact Hartree–Fock Hamiltonian in such a basis. Matrix elements between nonorthogonal determinants are computed via the corresponding orbital transformation and the resulting generalized eigenvalue problem is solved to determine collective excitation energies and wave functions. The basis may be expanded to include higher-lying fragment excited states in order to account for interfragment polarization effects. Absolute errors of ≲0.1 eV (relative to supersystem methods) are achievable for systems such as water clusters and crystalline arrays of organic chromophores such as pentacene and napthalenediimide. Preliminary tests for a nine-chromophore subunit of an organic nanotube suggest that it is possible to target the optically bright s...
Abstract 19: Reversal of Adverse Remodeling in Chronic Rat Myocardial Infarction by Cardiospheres: Role of the Tgf-beta Pathway

Background: Self-assembling three-dimensional cardiospheres (CSps) are known to be effective in improving function and attenuating remodeling as adjunctive therapy in acute myocardial infarction (MI), and they exert functional benefits in large animals with convalescent MI. The effect of cardiospheres in chronically-remodeled myocardium post-MI, and the mechanisms of benefit are unknown. Methods: We performed permanent LAD ligation in Wistar Kyoto female rats. One month later the animals underwent repeat thoracotomy and were randomly assigned to one of two groups: vehicle-treated controls, or CSp-treated, where CSps (at a seeding dose of 2X106 cells) were injected in the peri-infarct area. Mechanisms were also probed in vitro . Results: CSps downregulated the canonical Tgfβ1-smad2/3 pathway in co-cultures with fibroblasts and reduced fibroblast proliferation in vitro . Soluble endoglin, abundantly expressed in CSps, was found to limit the Tgfβ1-induced fibrosis in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo , left ventricular function gradually increased one month post-CSp injection with further improvement after up to six months of follow up. Immunoblots verified Tgfβ1/smad cascade downregulation one month post-CSp injection and upregulation of soluble endoglin. In addition, scar mass was reduced one month post-CSp injection compared to controls. Collagen density was attenuated within the infarcted region of the treated group, while immunostaining showed enhanced vessel density in the same region. Six months post-transplantation, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy was reduced in the CSp-treated group compared to control. Conclusions: CSps injected into the peri-infarct zone enhance angiogenesis and reduce established fibrosis in chronically-infarcted myocardium, thereby reversing, at least partially, adverse remodeling of the heart. The underlying mechanism involves modification of Tgfβ1/smad signaling, a key pathway in the cardiac response to injury.
Progress of human group A rotavirus vaccine

Group A rotavirus(RV)is the leading cause of severe diarrhea disease in infants and young children worldwide,which causes a high desease burden.Studies have indicated that further improvements in hygiene are unlikely to prevent the disease.Rotavirus vaccines are the most effective public health interventions for controlling rotavirus diarrhea.Currently there are 3 different brands of rotavirus vaccines put into use globally in more than 100 countries and regions,and have been included in some countries' childhood vaccination programs.This review briefly introduces the development status of Group A rotavirus vaccines,providing a reference for application and further promotion of rotavirus vaccines in our country.
Evaluation of a Health Coaching Experiential Learning Collaboration With Future Health Promotion Professionals

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to (1) describe the integration of experiential learning focused on health coaching in a graduate health promotion and behavior change course and (2) evaluate...
Is blood sugar the next lactate

This study evaluates whether an initial blood glucose level is similarly predictive of injury severity and outcome as admission lactate in trauma patients. Between February 2004 and June 2005, we prospectively compared patients with presenting blood sugars of ≤150 mg/dL (LBS) with those with blood sugars >150 mg/dL (HBS). Fifty patients had BS above 150 mg/dL, whereas 176 patients were ≤150 mg/dL. These groups had similar demographics except for age. Injury Severity Score (ISS) of ≥15 was seen in 56.0 per cent of HBS patients versus 28.4 per cent of LBS patients (P = 0.0006). HBS patients had similar infection rates (12.0% HBS vs. 5.7% LBS, P = 0.13) but a higher mortality (30.0% HBS vs. 5.7% LBS, P < 0.0001). There was a linear relationship between ISS and BS (r 2 = 0.18, P < 0.0001) and ISS and lactate (r2 = 0.17, P < 0.0001). Blood sugar trended with the lactate (r = 0.25, P = 0.0001). Hyperglycemic patients were more severely injured with higher mortality. BS correlated with lactate, and because it is easily obtainable, it may serve as a readily available predictor of injury severity and prognosis.
Auditory-induced neural dynamics in sensory-motor circuitry predict learned temporal and sequential statistics of birdsong

Predicting future events is a critical computation for both perception and behavior. Despite the essential nature of this computation, there are few studies demonstrating neural activity that predicts specific events in learned, probabilistic sequences. Here, we test the hypotheses that the dynamics of internally generated neural activity are predictive of future events and are structured by the learned temporal-sequential statistics of those events. We recorded neural activity in Bengalese finch sensory-motor area HVC in response to playback of sequences from individuals' songs, and examined the neural activity that continued after stimulus offset. We found that the strength of response to a syllable in the sequence depended on the delay at which that syllable was played, with a maximal response when the delay matched the intersyllable gap normally present for that specific syllable during song production. Furthermore, poststimulus neural activity induced by sequence playback resembled the neural response to the next syllable in the sequence when that syllable was predictable, but not when the next syllable was uncertain. Our results demonstrate that the dynamics of internally generated HVC neural activity are predictive of the learned temporal-sequential structure of produced song and that the strength of this prediction is modulated by uncertainty.
Variants to a knapsack decomposition heuristic for solving R&D pipeline management problems

Abstract The knapsack decomposition algorithm (KDA) (Christian and Cremaschi, 2015) decomposes the R&D pipeline management problem into a series of knapsack problems, which are solved along the planning horizon. It yields tight feasible solutions, and improves the solution times by several orders of magnitude for large instances. This paper investigates the impact of problem parameters and size, and KDA decision rules on KDA solution quality and time. The decision rules are (1) timing of new knapsack problem generations, and (2) formulation of the resource constraints in knapsack problems. The results revealed that the KDA decision trees were insensitive to problem parameters, and the KDA solution times grew super-linearly with linear increases in the length of the planning horizon and the number of products. The results suggest that the KDA where knapsack problems are generated after each realization with the original resource constraint yields the most accurate solutions in the quickest time.
Modeling and simulation of plasma processes

Some of the basic problems in modeling gas discharges between parallel plate electrodes are outlined. These problems are then illustrated with results from simulations of helium discharges in one spatial dimension. >
Calcifying nested stromal-epithelial tumor (CNSET) of the liver in Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome

Calcifying nested stromal-epithelial tumor (CNSET) is a rare neoplasm. In the 31 reported cases, CNSET is predominantly found in young girls and women. Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) (OMIM #130650) is an overgrowth syndrome with an increased risk to develop cancer. Associations have been seen between BWS and embryonal tumors, especially Wilms tumor, hepatoblastoma, and adrenocortical carcinoma. Here we report on a female patient with BWS who presented with CNSET. Two other cases with the same association have been reported, with our case representing the third such reported in the literature. Although we recognize a potential reporting bias we speculate that CNSET may represent an unrecognized addition to the spectrum of BWS tumorigenesis.
Abstract 5586: Breast cancer risk prediction: An update to the Rosner-Colditz breast cancer incidence model

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA Purpose: To update and build on the Rosner-Colditz breast cancer incidence model by evaluating the contributions to breast cancer risk of childhood and adolescent somatotype, fruit and vegetable intake, breastfeeding, and physical activity. Secondarily, we evaluated the contributions of these variables to breast cancer incidence models defined by ER and PR status of the tumor. Methods: Using data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII), we added childhood somatotype (average of somatotype at ages 5 and 10; 9 unit scale), adolescent somatotype (average of somatotype at ages 10 and 20; 9 unit scale), fruit and vegetable intake (servings/day), breastfeeding (months), and physical activity (METs/week) to the Rosner-Colditz breast cancer incidence model to determine whether these variables improved the discriminatory power of the model. We evaluated the contribution of these variables to a model for all invasive breast cancer as well as to models for ER+/PR+, ER+/PR-, and ER-/PR- breast cancer. Results: In the NHS/NHSII, we accrued over 3000 cases of invasive breast cancer with complete data on the selected breast cancer risk factors. Compared to the original Rosner-Colditz model, the models that included childhood or adolescent somatotype were significantly improved (p<0.001). The relative risk (RR) of invasive breast cancer for a 4 unit change in somatotype was 0.69 for childhood somatotype and 0.59 for adolescent somatotype. Including childhood somatotype increased the age-adjusted concordance statistic from 0.613 to 0.616 whereas including adolescent somatotype increased the age-adjusted concordance statistic from 0.613 to 0.618. Childhood and adolescent somatotypes also significantly improved ER+/PR+ and ER-/PR- breast cancer incidence models (p<0.02). Breastfeeding and vegetable intake suggestively improved the ER-/PR- model. The RR for five servings of vegetables per day was 0.82, while the RR for 12 months of breastfeeding was 0.87. While these variables were significantly associated with ER-/PR- breast cancer risk in the updated models, the differences in concordance statistics comparing models with to models without these variables were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Childhood and adolescent somatotype significantly improved breast cancer risk classification in the NHS/NHSII. Citation Format: Megan Rice, Shelley Tworoger, Susan Hankinson, Rulla Tamimi, A Heather Eliassen, Graham Colditz, Bernard Rosner. Breast cancer risk prediction: An update to the Rosner-Colditz breast cancer incidence model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 5586. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-5586
83 – Gender and Bacterial Infections

This chapter discusses certain bacterial infections in which gender plays a role in the epidemiology, pathophysiology, or clinical presentation and management of the disease. A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an example of a bacterial infection that affects men and women but whose epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical management differ mainly because of anatomic dissimilarities between the sexes. The variation between the male and female genitourinary anatomy explains many of these differences. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an example of a bacterial infection that is strictly gender specific because of anatomic differences in the reproductive tracts of men and women. Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) predominantly affected young women who had used highly absorbent tampons during menstruation. Listeriosis is an example of a bacterial infection that affects the sexes differently because of changes in the hormonal and immune status of women during pregnancy.
Gemcitabine/taxane adjuvant therapy in resected pancreatic cancer: A signal of improved survival?

392Background: Gemcitabine-taxane combination chemotherapy has demonstrated a survival benefit in metastatic pancreatic cancer (PC). We present our experience with gemcitabine/docetaxel (gem/tax) based adjuvant treatment (Rx) following curative intent surgery. Methods: Patients with upfront resectable PC from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2015 were identified from our institutional database and tumor registry. We included resected patients who received gem/tax as initial Rx administered exclusively at our institution with or without chemoradiation (CRTx). Patients were excluded if they died or recurred prior to Rx or received neoadjuvant Rx. Survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier methods and prognostic factors identified by Cox regression. Results: Of 185 eligible patients, 58 met study criteria. Characteristics included: median age of diagnosis 64.9 years, female gender 56.9%, Whipple procedure 69% and R1 resection in 55.2%%. Tumour characteristics included: median size 28.0mm, poor differentiation 53....
Predicting trace organic compound attenuation by ozone oxidation: Development of indicator and surrogate models.

Ozone oxidation has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment process for the attenuation of trace organic compounds (TOrCs); however, predicting TOrC attenuation by ozone processes is challenging in wastewaters. Since ozone is rapidly consumed, determining the exposure times of ozone and hydroxyl radical proves to be difficult. As direct potable reuse schemes continue to gain traction, there is an increasing need for the development of real-time monitoring strategies for TOrC abatement in ozone oxidation processes. Hence, this study is primarily aimed at developing indicator and surrogate models for the prediction of TOrC attenuation by ozone oxidation. To this end, the second-order kinetic equations with a second-phase Rct value (ratio of hydroxyl radical exposure to molecular ozone exposure) were used to calculate comparative kinetics of TOrC attenuation and the reduction of indicator and spectroscopic surrogate parameters, including UV absorbance at 254 nm (UVA254) and total fluorescence (TF). The developed indicator model using meprobamate as an indicator compound and the surrogate models with UVA254 and TF exhibited good predictive power for the attenuation of 13 kinetically distinct TOrCs in five filtered and unfiltered wastewater effluents (R2 values > 0.8). This study is intended to help provide a guideline for the implementation of indicator/surrogate models for real-time monitoring of TOrC abatement with ozone processes and integrate them into a regulatory framework in water reuse.
Increasing Research Quality in Entrepreneurial Students: Best Practices in Faculty-Librarian Partnerships

Faculty who adopt best practices in supporting student research in entrepreneurship classes not only receive better student projects; they model the kind of information behavior that is crucial to business success. Requiring students to use the best and most authoritative research sources introduces them to these resources and equips them to evaluate the quality of future resources they may encounter in the business world. Three librarians who support entrepreneurship courses highlight best practices in creating faculty-librarian partnerships that lead directly to better outcomes by improving resources used, providing targeted instruction, and designing good assignments and rubrics for assessing.
The effects of apparent task solubility and reward upon the duration of problem solving behavior

In the present study monetary reinforcement and information concerning task solubility were combined factorially to determine their effects upon the persistence of an anagram solution task. It was found that both monetary reinforcement and information that a high number of solutions were solvable caused reliably greater persistence at the task. However, only the reinforcement variable reliably affected the number of solutions obtained.
Role of Management, Corporate Governance, and Sarbanes-Oxley in Fraud: A Focus on the Precious Metals Industry

There is a connection between fraudulent behavior and lack of ethical principles and values in a corporation. Prevention of fraud in any organization is successful when there is a proper, preexisting “tone at the top” in an organization. The importance of setting an example of ethical behavior within an organization is a responsibility of executive management. In this study, a review of board composition characteristics, more specifically, the ratio of corporate boards, is conducted to find a possible correlation with a total of 11 fraud cases of publicly traded corporations in the precious metals industry from the year 2012. This study examines several theories to find a possible linkage between internal and independent corporate board members of publicly traded precious metals firms that possibly have been in violation due to lack of strong corporate culture. Due to the strict regulation of enterprises and financial reporting, companies are now being governed by economic legislations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to ensure investor protection and confidence. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is the legislation that connects corporate governance qualities to fraud prevention by enforcing rules that govern management relations for accurate financial reporting. The confidence stems from good leadership, sound corporate culture, and high ethical principles. After notable financial scandals in 2002, enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has served as reinforcement for public firms and financial reporting accountability. This study did not include any cases before 2012. The conclusion of this study is that the emphasis on legislation within financial reporting is a vital area of implementation within an enterprise. Understanding and following accounting rules and regulations is not only critical to corporate governance, but also in contributing to the enhancement of management’s role in accountability. The improvement of the management role and expectations serves as a catalyst for prevention of fraud in public companies.
The Molecular Basis for Binding of an Electron Transfer Protein to a Metal Oxide Surface

Achieving fast electron transfer between a material and protein is a long-standing challenge confronting applications in bioelectronics, bioelectrocatalysis, and optobioelectronics. Interestingly, naturally occurring extracellular electron transfer proteins bind to and reduce metal oxides fast enough to enable cell growth, and thus could offer insight into solving this coupling problem. While structures of several extracellular electron transfer proteins are known, an understanding of how these proteins bind to their metal oxide substrates has remained elusive because this abiotic–biotic interface is inaccessible to traditional structural methods. Here, we use advanced footprinting techniques to investigate binding between the Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 extracellular electron transfer protein MtrF and one of its substrates, α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, at the molecular level. We find that MtrF binds α-Fe2O3 specifically, but not tightly. Nanoparticle binding does not induce significant conformational changes in...
Modeling ablation of laminated composites: A novel manual mesh moving finite element analysis procedure with ABAQUS

Abstract The recent improvements of the commercial, general purpose Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software have allowed them to be used for modeling ablation problems. ABAQUS for example, provides a user-subroutine UMESHMOTION along with the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) adaptive remesh algorithm that enable the users to couple the heat transfer with the progressive surface recession (i.e., ablation). However, such a numerical capability is limited to model ablation problems when the ablation front (i.e., receding surface) is confined within a single material domain (e.g., homogenous material). For ablation problems when the ablation front proceeds from one material domain to another (e.g., laminated composite materials that consist of multiple laminate layers with different material orientations), such a numerical capability is insufficient, since the mesh is not allowed to flow from one material domain to another when the UMESHMOTION subroutine is used. In this paper, a novel computational procedure that sequentially performs the general heat transfer analysis and the general static analysis in ABAQUS, is proposed enabling the capability of ABAQUS for modeling ablation of laminated composites. The proposed procedure is verified by comparing the predictions of temperature and ablation histories of a two-dimensional isotropic panel (i.e., with single material domain) with those obtained using the traditional UMESHMOTION + ALE method. In addition, a case study of applying the proposed procedure to predict the thermal and ablation response of a laminated carbon fiber reinforced epoxy matrix (CFRP) composite panel subjected to a high-intensity and short-duration radiative heat flux is demonstrated.
Disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infection associated with heater-cooler units after aortic valve surgery without endocarditis.

Abstract Disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infections following cardiovascular procedures using Heater-Cooler systems have been associated with significant morbidity and mortality. We identified 2 patients, age 62 and 65 years, with disseminated Mycobacterium chimaera infection, following aortic valve surgery with graft involvement, diagnosed in 16 months and 3 years following their respective index surgeries. Mycobacterium chimaera was isolated from peri-graft tissue in one case and para-aortic tissue in the other. Neither of these cases had any evidence of infective endocarditis. Our cases highlight that disseminated infection with Mycobacterium chimaera , after valve surgery may occur without prosthetic valve involvement. The role of surgery to remove suspected infected valve, grafts and peri-graft tissue should be considered. Extensive review of the literature was performed.
An Hierarchical Planning, Loading, Routing and Control Scheme for Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) typically contain a set of numerically controlled workstations and a material handling system coordinated by a central controller for the purpose of simultaneous production of a variety of part types. General purpose machining centers are used with automatic tool change and part load/unload capability to permit quick, automated changeovers from workpiece to workpiece and part type to part type. The FMS represents a significant investment in training, hardware and software. This investment is justified by the ability of the system to produce a variety of high quality parts with short lead times while requiring less floor space than traditional systems. The key here is the flexibility of the system to change tools and route parts as needed to maintain high effective utilization rates for machines as the part mix varies. The average FMS manufactures 80 different parts with machines cutting over 75% of the time (Jaikumar and Van Wassenhove [1]).
Role of antidepressants in the treatment of adults with anorexia nervosa.

Abstract Introduction: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder that is difficult to treat and is associated with frequent relapses and high mortality rates. Psychiatric symptomatolog...
Achievement Gap in China

Education inequality exists everywhere, and China is no exception. However, the achievement gap in China takes entirely different forms and has different causes compared to that in the USA. Given that over 90 % of China’s population is ethnically Han, the gap is not primarily an ethnic one, but rather geographical, economical, and political. For example, education in Western China is generally of lower quality than that in more developed eastern provinces of China. Children in rural areas are much more likely than those in the cities to drop out of school and to have fewer opportunities to attend college. The national hukou system, a way to manage population based on their place of birth, has been another powerful cause of the gap. Additionally, China has intentionally created an educational system based on meritocracy. The patterns and causes of general educational gap are also applied to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) gap in China. China has undertaken numerous efforts to address the inequalities in education, out of national economic and political concerns.
Group B streptococcus. Is it time for a screening program

Group B streptococcal infection often causes perinatal sepsis. Early diagnosis is based on a high index of suspicion and laboratory tests. Proposed interventions targeted at the antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum periods have met with limited success. Screening has not been widely adopted.
The “speed limit” for macromolecular crystal growth

A simple "diffusion-to-capture" model is used to estimate the upper limit to the growth rate of macromolecular crystals under conditions when the rate limiting process is the mass transfer of sample from solution to the crystal. Under diffusion-limited crystal growth conditions, this model predicts that the cross-sectional area of a crystal will increase linearly with time; this prediction is validated by monitoring the growth rate of lysozyme crystals. A consequence of this analysis is that when crystal growth is diffusion-limited, micron-sized crystals can be produced in ~1 s, which would be compatible with the turnover time of many enzymes. Consequently, the ability to record diffraction patterns from sub-micron sized crystals by X-ray Free Electron Lasers and micro-electron diffraction technologies opens the possibility of trapping intermediate enzyme states by crystallization.
Billing and Coding

Medical billing and coding have become increasingly complex in the current state of health care. Although clinicians are responsible for determining the procedures, diagnoses, and evaluation and management codes for patient interactions, this does not tend to be their primary focus. As such, when instituting new procedures and operations, it is highly recommended that clinicians partner with specialists in billing and coding. Various certifications exist for this highly specialized group of trained individuals. Depending on your practice setting, these experts may be available to clinicians as either in-house resources or independent consultants. Ongoing, active dialogue between well-trained coders, compliance specialists, and surgeons will improve success with reimbursement submission.