cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The PINHEAD/ZWILLE gene acts pleiotropically in Arabidopsis development and has overlapping functions with the ARGONAUTE1 gene

Several lines of evidence indicate that the adaxial leaf domain possesses a unique competence to form shoot apical meristems. Factors required for this competence are expected to cause a defect in shoot apical meristem formation when inactivated and to be expressed or active preferentially in the adaxial leaf domain. PINHEAD, a member of a family of proteins that includes the translation factor eIF2C, is required for reliable formation of primary and axillary shoot apical meristems. In addition to high-level expression in the vasculature, we find that low-level PINHEAD expression defines a novel domain of positional identity in the plant. This domain consists of adaxial leaf primordia and the meristem. These findings suggest that the PINHEAD gene product may be a component of a hypothetical meristem forming competence factor. We also describe defects in floral organ number and shape, as well as aberrant embryo and ovule development associated with pinhead mutants, thus elaborating on the role of PINHEAD in Arabidopsis development. In addition, we find that embryos doubly mutant for PINHEAD and ARGONAUTE1, a related, ubiquitously expressed family member, fail to progress to bilateral symmetry and do not accumulate the SHOOT MERISTEMLESS protein. Therefore PINHEAD and ARGONAUTE1 together act to allow wild-type growth and gene expression patterns during embryogenesis.
Mechanisms of pathological synchrony in Parkinson's disease induced by changes in synaptic and cellular properties due to dopamine

input. The dynamics of and bifurcations in the models were studied by computational and analytical techniques. There is an experimental evidence for how dopamine presynaptically suppresses different types of basal ganglia synapses. We show how the chance in strength of dopamine-modulated synapses promotes intermittent synchronous activity patterns under very general conditions and investigate the cellular properties, necessary for this dynamics. It is also known that dopamine affects not only synaptic properties, but also cellular properties of BG neurons. In particular, change in the dopaminergic status leads to change in the temporal features of firing patterns of STN neuron. So we also considered how dopaminedependent features of STN neuron firing modulate the GPe response and the synchrony between STN input and GPe output. As STN dopaminergic modulation and STN activity pattern vary, we observe the overall transition from low coherence state to high coherence state through intermittent synchronous activity. This points to the important role of GPe cells within BG circuit and demonstrate that the response of GPe cell, which was achieved through the interaction between the intrinsic properties of the cell itself and membrane properties of STN cell, provide good source for the temporal characteristics of synchrony observed in experimental setting. In sum, our modeling studies explain how the lack of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease may lead to the generation of intermittent synchronous dynamics in the basal ganglia via two different pathways: cellular and synaptic.
Increased Prevalence of Preeclampsia among Women Undergoing Procedural Intervention for Renal Artery Fibromuscular Dysplasia

Background Renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia (RA-FMD) has a higher prevalence among women and a presumed hormonal etiology. Although preeclampsia has a clinical presentation similar to symptomatic RA-FMD and occurs exclusively in women, associations between these 2 diseases have not been characterized. To explore epidemiologic associations between RA-FMD and preeclampsia, we administered a validated screening instrument for preeclampsia to a cohort of women with a history of pregnancy who had previously been treated with procedural intervention for symptomatic RA stenosis. Methods Women with a history of pregnancy who had previously undergone procedural intervention (including angioplasty and/or bypass) for symptomatic RA stenosis were identified from a prospectively maintained operative registry and screened for remote history of preeclampsia using a validated survey instrument. Univariable associations between RA-FMD and preeclampsia among participants with a history of pregnancy were evaluated using t -tests for continuous factors and chi-squared tests for dichotomous factors. Multivariable associations were evaluated using logistic regression models. Results A total of 144 women were identified who met the study inclusion criteria, including 94 with atherosclerotic RA stenosis and 50 with RA-FMD. Sixty-nine patients were contacted, 59 consented to participate, and 52 had a history of pregnancy (and therefore were at risk for preeclampsia). Participants completed the survey instrument at a mean of 7.1 ± 3.1 vs. 6.9 ± 3.6 years after RA procedural intervention, respectively. Survey responses indicated a history of preeclampsia in 19/52 (36.5%) of participants overall, including 14/27 (51.9%) with RA-FMD versus 5/20 (20.0%) with RA atherosclerosis ( P = 0.02). Preeclampsia remained associated with FMD in a multivariable model adjusting for smoking status, age at time of surgery, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (odds ratio [OR] 9.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49–60.6, P = 0.017); age at the time of surgery (OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.04–7.42, P = 0.041) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (OR 3.31, 95% CI 1.29–8.52, P = 0.013) were also associated with FMD in the multivariable model. Conclusions Women with a history of procedural intervention for symptomatic RA stenosis have an overall prevalence of preeclampsia which greatly exceeds that expected in the general population, and our results suggest that preeclampsia is specifically associated with RA-FMD. Further investigation is needed to characterize the mechanistic relationships between FMD and preeclampsia and may have potential to decrease related cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Homing in on consciousness in the nervous system: An action-based synthesis

What is the primary function of consciousness in the nervous system? The answer to this question remains enigmatic, not so much because of a lack of relevant data, but because of the lack of a conceptual framework with which to interpret the data. To this end, we have developed Passive Frame Theory, an internally coherent framework that, from an action-based perspective, synthesizes empirically supported hypotheses from diverse fields of investigation. The theory proposes that the primary function of consciousness is well-circumscribed, serving the somatic nervous system. For this system, consciousness serves as a frame that constrains and directs skeletal muscle output, thereby yielding adaptive behavior. The mechanism by which consciousness achieves this is more counterintuitive, passive, and "low level" than the kinds of functions that theorists have previously attributed to consciousness. Passive frame theory begins to illuminate (a) what consciousness contributes to nervous function, (b) how consciousness achieves this function, and (c) the neuroanatomical substrates of conscious processes. Our untraditional, action-based perspective focuses on olfaction instead of on vision and is descriptive (describing the products of nature as they evolved to be) rather than normative (construing processes in terms of how they should function). Passive frame theory begins to isolate the neuroanatomical, cognitive-mechanistic, and representational (e.g., conscious contents) processes associated with consciousness.
The Effects of Professional Role, Decision Context, and Gender on the Ethical Decision Making of Public Accounting Professionals

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the degree to which professional role (auditor or tax professional), decision context (an audit or tax environment), and gender influence the ethical decision making of public accounting professionals. The primary analysis, including all 134 accounting professionals who participated in our experiment, indicates that these participants are both less likely to indicate they would concede to a client in a contentious situation and less likely to recommend conceding when they are in an audit as opposed to tax context. Furthermore, work experience in auditing (as opposed to tax) is associated with a decreased likelihood of conceding to the client in both contexts. However, when data for males and females are analyzed separately, professional role, context, and moral intensity are significantly related to males' decision making, but are not significant with respect to females' decisions. This suggests that males and females may use different decision-making processes. Possible ...
Predictors of response to cardiac resynchronization therapy: the holy grail of electrophysiology.

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) has been found to improve quality of life, reduce heart-failure related hospitalizations, and prolong survival in patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV heart failure and electrocardiographic evidence of ventricular dyssynchrony [1–2]. CRT is currently an indispensable mode of treatment for the increasing number of eligible persons with severe heart failure [3, 4]. Although there is significant success of CRT, there are a significant number of patients who do not show improvement with CRT [2, 5–7]. It is reported in many clinical trials such as the Multicenter InSync Randomized Clinical Evaluation (MIRACLE) that 34% of individuals eligible for CRT did not benefit based on a heart failure clinical composite score [2, 5, 7–9]. These so called ‘‘nonresponders’’ have spurred research into identifying potential responders to CRT before device implantation. Important echocardiographic parameters measuring ventricular dyssynchrony using tissue doppler imaging (TDI) among other methods, as well as important parameters such as device lead placement and level of scar formation are important when determining ideal patients for CRT [8–16]. Several single-center studies have established different echocardiographic parameters to distinguish CRT responders from non-responders. Furthermore, in the multicenter study of Predictors of Response to CRT (PROSPECT), echocardiographic measures of ventricular dyssynchrony such as left ventricular endsystolic volume (LVESV) and septal-posterior wall motion delay (SPWMD) were used to predict responsiveness to CRT [16]. It was shown that despite promising data from small single-center studies, echocardiographic measures of ventricular dyssynchrony fail to have enough predictive clinical merit to be established as selection criteria for CRT [16]. In the current report by Pavlopoulos and Nihoyannopoulos, the authors review both echocardiographic and clinical parameters for predicting response to CRT. This review article highlights the point that besides echo based parameters, perhaps clinical parameters such as the medical history of whether atrial fibrillation exists, or ischemic versus non-ischemic cardiomyopathy may help. Furthermore, incorporating more advanced imaging modalities such as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging may help overcome certain limitations of echocardiography. It has been shown in the multicenter study PROSPECT that echo-based dyssynchrony is not sufficient and failed to predict responsiveness to CRT. Therefore, it is imperative in the future as the Editorial comment on the article of Pavlopoulos and Nihoyannopoulos (doi: 10.1007/s10554-009-9523-5).
PGC-1α: a key regulator of energy metabolism

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator (PGC)-1alpha is a member of a family of transcription coactivators that plays a central role in the regulation of cellular energy metabolism. It is strongly induced by cold exposure, linking this environmental stimulus to adaptive thermogenesis. PGC-1alpha stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and promotes the remodeling of muscle tissue to a fiber-type composition that is metabolically more oxidative and less glycolytic in nature, and it participates in the regulation of both carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. It is highly likely that PGC-1alpha is intimately involved in disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiomyopathy. In particular, its regulatory function in lipid metabolism makes it an inviting target for pharmacological intervention in the treatment of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Are surgical residents prepared for mass casualty incidents

Abstract Introductory Sentence. We hypothesize that resident education is inadequate with respect to management of multiple/mass casualty incidents that may involve chemical, biological, and nuclear exposures. Methods. After IRB approval, chief level residents in Surgery (10), Emergency Medicine (10), and Anesthesia (8) at our university based level-one trauma center were asked to anonymously complete a survey questionnaire. Responses were tabulated and statistically analyzed with Mann-Whitney rank sum, Fisher exact test, and Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA. Results. Every chief resident responded. All the residents were similar with respect to age, sex, and intended setting of clinical practice. Only a single resident reported military experience. Two residents (7.1%), including the one with military experience, had administered medical care while wearing a protective suit. Compared to emergency medicine residents, surgical residents reported significantly less formal teaching in mass casualty incidents (P = 0.0249), trauma triage (P = 0.0139), and nuclear, biological, chemical agents (P = 0.0027). When surgical residents were compared to anesthesia residents, there was significantly less training for surgical residents in nuclear, chemical, and biological agents (P = 0.0295). Multiple/mass casualty incident experience did not differ between residents. However, the most common incidents involved only 3–5 patients with blunt trauma. Emergency medicine residents were significantly more comfortable in treating patients with exposure to anthrax (P = 0.0110), sarin (P = 0.048), and nuclear exposure (P = 0.0108). Conclusions. Surgical residents have significantly less formal training in mass casualties, triage, and chemical, biological, and nuclear exposures than residents in other specialties. Therefore, surgical residents are less comfortable treating these types of patients. Since surgeons are often expected to take leadership roles in mass casualty incidents, surgical education should be modified to match or exceed that of other residents.
Trebouxia jamesii and the question of multinucleate cells in the lichen photobiont Trebouxia

The question of whether or not some Trebouxia species have multi- nucleate cells is a controversial one. Trebouxia jamesii was re-examined and found to have multinucleate cells in cultures grown on rich, organic media. Possible reasons for this condition are discussed.
In vitro interaction of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat transactivator and the general transcription factor TFIIB with the cellular protein TAP.

We have reported the molecular cloning, expression, and characterization of a human cellular protein, TAP, which possesses a strong transcriptional activation domain and binds the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat transactivator in vitro and in vivo (L. Yu, Z. Zhang, P.M. Loewenstein, K. Desai, Q. Tang, D. Mao, J.S. Symington, and M. Green, J. Virol. 69:3007-3016, 1995). Here we show that TAP binds the general transcription factor TFIIB. Furthermore, we delineate the binding domains of TAP, Tat, and TFIIB, as well as measure the strengths and specificity of these protein-protein interactions. TAP binds strongly to Tat, with a Kd of (approximately 2 to 5) x 10(-7) M. The Tat activation region contains a 17-amino-acid conserved core domain which is the single contact site for TAP. Single-amino-acid substitutions within the Tat core domain inactivate transactivation in vivo and in vitro and greatly reduce binding of Tat to TAP in vitro. TAP binds strongly to TFIIB, with about the same Kd as for Tat. The interaction between TAP and TFIIB requires a sequence near the carboxy terminus of TFIIB which is also required for binding the strong acidic activator VP16. The contact sites for Tat and TFIIB map within the TAP C-terminal region, which contains the TAP activation domain. These combined results are consistent with the hypothesis that TAP is a cellular coactivator that bridges the Tat transactivator to the general transcription machinery via TFIIB.
Gel-permeation chromatography: X. Molecular weight detection by low-angle laser light scattering

Effluent from a gel-permeation chromatographic column has been simultaneously and continuously monitored with a differential refractometer and a low-angle laser light-scattering (LALLS) photometer. This provides a true and direct determination of molecular weight distribution rather than through a calibration method as obtained by conventional GPC techniques. Computer assisted data reduction provides a rapid determination of Mw, Mn, Mz, Mw/Mn, as well as a plot of molecular weight distribution. Samples of very narrow molecular weight distribution (MWD) polystyrene from Pressure Chemicals Co. and relatively wide MWD samples of poly(methyl methacrylate) in chloroform have been characterized.
The energy blocker inside the power house: mitochondria targeted delivery of 3-bromopyruvate

A key hallmark of many aggressive cancers is accelerated glucose metabolism. The enzymes that catalyze the first step of glucose metabolism are hexokinases. Elevated levels of hexokinase 2 (HK2) are found in cancer cells, but only in a limited number of normal tissues. Metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells using the energy blocker 3-bromopyruvate (3-BP), which inhibits HK2, has the potential to provide tumor-specific anticancer agents. However, the unique structural and functional characteristics of mitochondria prohibit selective subcellular targeting of 3-BP to modulate the function of this organelle for therapeutic gain. A mitochondria-targeted gold nanoparticle (T-3-BP-AuNP), decorated with 3-BP and delocalized lipophilic triphenylphosphonium cations to target the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm), was developed for delivery of 3-BP to cancer cell mitochondria by taking advantage of the higher Δψm in cancer cells compared to normal cells. In vitro studies demonstrated an enhanced anticancer activity of T-3-BP-AuNPs compared to the non-targeted construct NT-3-BP-AuNP or free 3-BP. The anticancer activity of T-3-BP-AuNPs was further enhanced upon laser irradiation by exciting the surface plasmon resonance band of AuNP and thereby utilizing a combination of 3-BP chemotherapeutic and AuNP photothermal effects. The lower toxicity of T-3-BP-NPs in normal mesenchymal stem cells indicated that these NPs preferentially kill cancer cells. T-3-BP-AuNPs showed an enhanced ability to modulate cancer cell metabolism by inhibiting glycolysis as well as demolishing mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Our findings demonstrate that concerted chemo-photothermal treatment of glycolytic cancer cells with a single NP capable of targeting mitochondria, mediating simultaneous release of a glycolytic inhibitor and photothermal ablation, may have promise as a new anticancer therapy.
Bryophytes on isolated Quercus garryana trunks in urban and agricultural settings in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.

Abstract The bark of isolated Oregon white oaks (Quercus garryana Dougl.) supports a distinctive bryophyte flora. Savannah oaks are now rare, but isolated oaks remain in urban and agricultural areas. I documented the bryophyte flora and searched for Syntrichia laevipila var meridionalis, previously considered rare in the Pacific Northwest, on isolated oaks in urban and agricultural areas throughout the Willamette Valley. Most bryophytes on the wet sides of trunks were pleurocarpous mat-formers, while most on the dry sides were acrocarpous cushion- or turf-formers. Isolated oaks and their distinctive bryophyte community occurred to 201 m elevation, but S. laevipila var meridionalis was present only at or below 100 m elevation, never without the variety laevipila. Dry bark bryophytes were often heavily grazed, possibly by springtails or slugs. Gemmipary, present among several oak-dwelling species, may be a response to grazing or exhaust fumes.
Introducing the Contrapositive and Converse

In the last chapter (see Theorem 2.7) we saw that two statement forms, P and Q, that have the same truth table are equivalent. This was also expressed by showing that the equivalence, P↔Q, is a tautology. When you are confronted with a mathematical statement that you need to prove, you will often find it helpful to paraphrase it. You will use tautologies to do so, since you don’t want to change the truth value of your statement. Some useful tautologies appeared in Theorem 2.9. More appear below and throughout this chapter.
Does access to health insurance reduce the risk of miscarriages? Evidence from Mexico’s Seguro popular

This paper analyzes whether Mexico’s de-facto non-contributory health insurance program Seguro Popular had an effect on the risk of miscarriage during pregnancy. Using data on pregnancies over the 2004–08 period from the 2009 round of the National Survey on Demographic Dynamics (ENADID), and employing the staggered roll-out of the program as an identification strategy, it is found that it resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of a miscarriage. For the target population, a one percentage point increase in eligibility is found to decrease miscarriages by .04 percentage point at the average.
Coercion, Taxation, and Voluntary Association

Voluntary and coercive relationships among person play important roles in ethics, political theory, and Western law. This essay attempts to clarify the meaning and limits of coercion using matrix representations of voluntary and coercive proposals. Two settings are focused on in this paper: the first is one in which an outsider can make explicit or implicit proposals that an individual (or organization) can accept or reject. The second is one where governments make explicit or implicit proposals that an individual or organization can accept or reject by emigrating to another polity. In both settings the "base line" turns out to be important in assessing whether a proposal is voluntarily accepted or "forced" upon the person or organization of interest.
Dynamic interfacial tension and dilational rheology of dispersant Corexit 9500

Abstract During the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in 2010, approximately 4200 m 3 of Corexit 9500 were introduced to the Gulf of Mexico to disperse the 4.9 million barrels of crude oil that were released. This was the first time that dispersants were applied below the ocean surface. For such subsurface applications, rates of adsorption could provide critical insight about a dispersant’s ability to interact with a gushing oil plume. Most of the published literature, however, focuses on swirling flask and wave tank tests to quantify dispersant effectiveness and is more applicable to surface applications. To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the interface and insight about adsorption rates, we measure dynamic interfacial tension and dilational rheology, which have not been previously reported for the Corexit 9500 system. Measurements show that increasing the aqueous salinity to approximately that of sea water drastically increases Corexit 9500s adsorption rates and lowers interfacial tensions. Specifically, the interfacial tension decreases from a pure interface value of 22.4 mN/m to approximately 2 mN/m at 10 wt% Corexit 9500 and 0.01 wt% Corexit 9500 for the fresh and salt water systems, respectively. The time for achieving equilibrium is inversely proportional to the concentration. Dynamic and equilibrium interfacial tensions for both systems are well described by a simplified predictive model for several orders of magnitude in concentration. Finally, moderately high dilational moduli values which are frequency independent and primarily elastic in nature were measured. The time scales for adsorption reported here could be useful in designing the process for spraying the dispersant in deep-sea applications. The model parameters, although not physically correct due to the assumption of a single component system, could be useful in predicting the adsorption of the sprayed dispersant to the rising oil plume.
Neurologic Sequelae of Tuberculous Meningitis

A novel scoring system has been developed to predict neurologic sequelae (NS) in children with tuberculous meningitis, in a retrospective study of 20 cases treated during 1991-2001 at the University of California and Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA.
H03 Rate of progression is associated with age of disease onset for all HD

Background Understanding the rate of progression in HD is a key component for the design of clinical trials. Previous research has shown a significant positive relationship between the rate of disease progression and the length of the CAG repeat length and/or the age of disease onset. Much of this research has been criticised as driven by outliers and/or accounted for by the most extreme cases. For instance, CAG lengths greater than 60 often manifest as juvenile onset and demonstrate a more rapid decline. Aims A large collaborative dataset from the Huntington Study Group was analysed to examine whether the relationship between progression rate and onset age was consistent regardless of outliers. Methods 4607 participants were included in the analyses although complete data were available for 2960. Years of longitudinal study varied from 1 to 15 years. Age at onset ranged from 2 to 81 years old. Growth curve analysis using linear mixed effects regression were used to examine possible outcomes controlling for gender, age of onset and all interactions. Results Results show that total motor score, symbol digit, Stroop colour naming and general functioning have more rapid progression with earlier age of onset. Conclusion Comparison curves will be shown for various subgroups with onset ages of 18, 30, 45, 60 and 80 demonstrating varying rates of progression. Implications for clinical trial design will be addressed.
Protocol for the examination of specimens from patients with carcinoma of the ampulla of vater : A basis for checklists

A protocol for the pathologic examination and reporting of specimens from patients with carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater has been developed by the Cancer Committee of the College of American Pathologists. The protocol incorporates all basic pathology data of diagnostic and prognostic significance appropriate for the treatment of patients with ampullary carcinoma. The purposes of the protocol are to serve as a basis for the development of checklists, as an outline for full narrative reporting, as a basis for research protocols, or as a guide for other types of synoptic or reporting formats. The protocol is stratified to accommodate the surgical procedures usually employed for carcinomas of the ampulla of Vater, including acquisition of cytologic specimens, incisional biopsy, excisional biopsy, and Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy, partial or complete, with or without partial gastrectomy). Explanatory notes detailing specific procedures and rationales for documentation of specific pathologic data are included in the protocol. The protocol uses the staging system for carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater defined by the American Joint Committee on Cancer and the International Union Against Cancer.
Online evaluation of a commercial video image analysis system (Computer Vision System) to predict beef carcass red meat yield and for augmenting the assignment of USDA yield grades. United States Department of Agriculture.

Objective quantification of differences in wholesale cut yields of beef carcasses at plant chain speeds is important for the application of value-based marketing. This study was conducted to evaluate the ability of a commercial video image analysis system, the Computer Vision System (CVS) to 1) predict commercially fabricated beef subprimal yield and 2) augment USDA yield grading, in order to improve accuracy of grade assessment. The CVS was evaluated as a fully installed production system, operating on a full-time basis at chain speeds. Steer and heifer carcasses (n = 296) were evaluated using CVS, as well as by USDA expert and online graders, before the fabrication of carcasses into industry-standard subprimal cuts. Expert yield grade (YG), online YG, CVS estimated carcass yield, and CVS measured ribeye area in conjunction with expert grader estimates of the remaining YG factors (adjusted fat thickness, percentage of kidney-pelvic-heart fat, hot carcass weight) accounted for 67, 39, 64, and 65% of the observed variation in fabricated yields of closely trimmed subprimals. The dual component CVS predicted wholesale cut yields more accurately than current online yield grading, and, in an augmentation system, CVS ribeye measurement replaced estimated ribeye area in determination of USDA yield grade, and the accuracy of cutability prediction was improved, under packing plant conditions and speeds, to a level close to that of expert graders applying grades at a comfortable rate of speed offline.
Tumors and Aging: The Influence of Age-Associated Immune Changes Upon Tumor Growth and Spread

There has been a clinical impression that tumors are less malignant in older people. Such has been claimed for breast, colon, prostate and lung carcinomas (Schottenfield and Robbins, 1971; Berkson et al., 1957, Calabrese et al., 1973; Ershler et al., 1983; Pickren et al., 1982; Suen et al., 1974). The great heterogeneity in clinical populations, confounded by antecedent illness, medicines, exposures, and social circumstances have precluded a statistical confirmation of such age-associated changes. Nonetheless, in experimental animals, ’we and others have found significant differences in tumor growth and spread when the common variable is host age. Weakly immunogenic tumors such as B16 melanoma or Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) growrnore slowly in old mice, but more immunogenic tumors such as methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcomas grow more rapidly. We have explored a variety of proposed mechanisms for the observed differences and have concluded that the age-associated decline in immune function (immune senescence) is central to the reduced aggressiveness of weakly antigenic tumors in older hosts.
Laser Inertial Fusion-based Energy (LIFE) - Developing Manufacturing Technology for low cost and high volume fusion fuel is critical to our future energy needs

Sustainably providing for the world’s energy needs is one of the most urgent – and difficult – challenges facing today’s society. Worldwide electric power demand is expected to double from its current level of about two trillion watts (TW) to four TW by 2030 and could reach eight to ten TW by 2100. As many as 10,000 new one-gigawatt (GW) power plants will be needed to keep up with this demand. Yet fossil-fuel supplies, such as coal and natural gas, are limited, and the environmental effects of that many additional fossil-fuel plants could be devastating. Conventional nuclear power could provide clean energy, but poses waste-disposal and proliferation concerns. All available energy options have limitations and liabilities, so revolutionary responses must be pursued in parallel with evolutionary ones. The Laser Inertial Fusion Energy concept, or LIFE, is one such revolutionary response.
A full-duplex active eavesdropper in mimo wiretap channels: Construction and countermeasures

We examine the design of a full-duplex active eaves-dropper in the 3-user MIMOME wiretap channel, where all nodes are equipped with multiple antennas. The adversary intends to optimize its transmit and receive sub-arrays and jamming signal parameters so as to minimize the MIMO secrecy rate of the main channel. The full-duplex operating mode of the adversary induces self-interference at its receive sub-array, which is factored into the adversary's optimization. We characterize the worst-case jamming covariance for arbitrary and Gaussian input signaling, and develop a numerical algorithm to compute the same. We then examine sub-optimal active eavesdropping schemes that comprise essentially an antenna subset selection problem for the adversary, followed by a brief discussion of a potential countermeasure where the transmitter allocates some of its spatial dimensions for jamming the eavesdropper. Numerical results are presented to verify the efficacy of the proposed adversarial optimization algorithms.
Big data in sleep medicine: prospects and pitfalls in phenotyping

Clinical polysomnography (PSG) databases are a rich resource in the era of "big data" analytics. We explore the uses and potential pitfalls of clinical data mining of PSG using statistical principles and analysis of clinical data from our sleep center. We performed retrospective analysis of self-reported and objective PSG data from adults who underwent overnight PSG (diagnostic tests, n=1835). Self-reported symptoms overlapped markedly between the two most common categories, insomnia and sleep apnea, with the majority reporting symptoms of both disorders. Standard clinical metrics routinely reported on objective data were analyzed for basic properties (missing values, distributions), pairwise correlations, and descriptive phenotyping. Of 41 continuous variables, including clinical and PSG derived, none passed testing for normality. Objective findings of sleep apnea and periodic limb movements were common, with 51% having an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) >5 per hour and 25% having a leg movement index >15 per hour. Different visualization methods are shown for common variables to explore population distributions. Phenotyping methods based on clinical databases are discussed for sleep architecture, sleep apnea, and insomnia. Inferential pitfalls are discussed using the current dataset and case examples from the literature. The increasing availability of clinical databases for large-scale analytics holds important promise in sleep medicine, especially as it becomes increasingly important to demonstrate the utility of clinical testing methods in management of sleep disorders. Awareness of the strengths, as well as caution regarding the limitations, will maximize the productive use of big data analytics in sleep medicine.
The Unkindest Cut: The White Commission Proposal to Restructure the Ninth Circuit

When a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing in March 2017 on “ideas for restructuring the Ninth Circuit,” one surprise emerged: there were repeated references to the report and recommendations of the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals, generally known as the White Commission after its chairman, the late Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Darryll Issa (R. Calif.) went so far as to say that the White Commission’s proposals may provide a “middle ground” between those who want to break up the circuit and those who do not. Notwithstanding the complimentary references at the hearing, it would be a great mistake to revive the White Commission’s approach to restructuring the Ninth Circuit. This article explains why. The Commission purports to embrace one of the principal arguments made by opponents of a circuit split: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals “should continue to provide the West a single body of federal decisional law.” But the Commission’s plan would not accomplish that objective. Under the Commission’s plan, the Ninth Circuit would remain intact, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would be divided into three “regionally based adjudicative divisions.” Each regional division would function as a “semi-autonomous” decisional unit. The circuit-wide en banc process would be abolished, and divisional decisions would be binding only within the division. There would also be a “Circuit Division” whose sole responsibility would be to resolve conflicting decisions between the regional units. This “Circuit Division” is the keystone of the Commission’s plan to maintain “desirable circuit-wide uniformity.” But when one digs into the details, it becomes clear that there is less to the Circuit Division than meets the eye. The Circuit Division would resolve only “square” conflicts – a category apparently limited to cases in which one division has explicitly rejected another’s precedent. It would act only upon the request of a party, and it would probably limit itself to issues that affect the operations of multicircuit actors – a circumstance that is the exception rather than the rule. And the Circuit Division would resolve only the issue in conflict, not the entire case. In short, decisions of the Circuit Division would be so infrequent, and their effect on the law of the division so limited, that “the law of the circuit” would shrink to near-insignificance. The Commission plan thus fails to provide the “middle ground” that Chairman Issa hoped for.
Hourly storm characteristics along the U.S. West Coast: Role of atmospheric rivers in extreme precipitation

Gridded hourly precipitation observations over the conterminous U.S., from 1948 to 2002, are analyzed to determine climatological characteristics of storm precipitation totals. Despite generally lower hourly intensities, precipitation totals along the U.S. West Coast (USWC) are comparable to those in southeast U.S. (SEUS). Storm durations, more so than hourly intensities, strongly modulate precipitation-total variability over the USWC, where the correlation coefficients between storm durations and storm totals range from 0.7 to 0.9. Atmospheric rivers (ARs) contribute 30–50% of annual precipitation on the USWC and make such large contributions to extreme storms that 60–100% of the most extreme storms, i.e., storms with precipitation-total return intervals longer than 2 years, are associated with ARs. These extreme storm totals are more strongly tied to storm durations than to storm hourly or average intensities, emphasizing the importance of AR persistence to extreme storms on the USWC.
Abstract 5734: The influence of body mass index on overall survival following surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer

Prior work implicated an association between increased body mass index (BMI) and lower risk of mortality from lung cancer. The aim of our study was to comprehensively evaluate the influence of BMI on long-term overall survival in surgical patients with non-small cell lung cancer. This study investigated 1935 patients who underwent surgical resection for lung cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center (from 2000 - 2014). Study variables included both patient and treatment related characteristics. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify variables associated with overall survival. By univariate analysis, significant predictors of better survival were higher BMI, pathologic tumor stage (stage I versus stages II, III, or IV), type of surgery (lobectomy/pneumonectomy versus wedge resection/segmentectomy), younger age, female gender, and adenocarcinoma histology (versus squamous) (all p Citation Format: Xi Liu, Boris Sepesi, Kathryn A. Gold, Arlene M. Correa, John V. Heymach, Ara A. Vaporciyan, Jason Roszik, Ethan Dmitrovsky. The influence of body mass index on overall survival following surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5734. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5734
Differential privacy as a tool for truthfulness in games

Differential privacy guarantees the input data from a single individual has a very small impact on the output of a computation. Tools from privacy can also be used in game theory and economics to incentivize people to truthfully reveal their data.
Multiple Primary Squamous Carcinomas of the Upper Aerodigestive Tract

Thirty to 40,000 patients develop cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract each year. This group comprises approximately 5% of all cancers. The most common type is squamous carcinoma, arising in the mucous membranes of the larynx, hypopharynx, oropharynx, nasopharynx, and oral cavity. Survival after treatment for these cancers is usually very poor, but not necessarily because of recurrent disease. These patients are of advanced age with poor nutrition and many associated medical problems that adversely affect the patient’s longevity. In addition, because most of these patients have mucosal changes throughout their entire upper aerodigestive tract, “a field of cancerization,” they are at risk for the development of second carcinomas (1). The survival of approximately one third of these patients is a direct result of the biologic behavior of a second synchronous or metachronous primary cancer (2–4). The type of treatment given for the initial or “index” cancer has a major effect on how the second cancer is treated. There is no evidence that the use of radiation can prevent this phenomenon and, in fact, its previous use may compromise the ideal treatment for the subsequent cancer (5). Almost every paper published today dealing with the treatment of squamous carcinomas of the head and neck ends commenting on “the survival of patients with head and neck squamous carcinomas will not be markedly improved until the question of second cancers in the upper aerodigestive tract is addressed.” In any list of reasons for failure of treatment of a squamous carcinoma of the head and neck, the following are considered: local regional failure, distant metastasis, complications of treatment, intercurrent disease, and second primary cancers. The problem with second primary cancers has been around a long time and, in fact, in an autopsy series in 1932 that consisted of 1078 examinations of cancer patients, multiple cancers were found in 40, which represented 3.7% (6).
Denotational Semantics Applied to the Typesetting of Maple Expressions

Using your favourite document preparation package for typesetting mathematical expressions — to include in papers and theses, for example — can be tedious at the best of times. It is particularly frustrating when the desired expressions already exist somewhere else, such as in an active Maple session, but are not in any kind of format that is both transferable and typographically useful. Here, the concepts of denotational semantics are applied to the problem of exporting Maple expressions to FrameMaker via MIF (Maker Interchange Format) files.
Preliminary Validation of the Rey 15-Item Test and Reliable Digit Span in Native Japanese Samples.

The Rey 15-Item Test and reliable digit span were evaluated in Japan. Participants were controls (n = 15), healthy volunteers instructed to simulate memory impairment (n = 12; 5 of 17 volunteers di...
Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depressed Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Management and Treatment

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depressed Adolescents provides clinicians, clinical supervisors, and researchers with a comprehensive understanding of etiological pathways as well as current CBT approaches for treating affected adolescents. Chapters guide readers from preparations for the first session and clinical assessment to termination and relapse prevention, and each chapter includes session transcripts to provide a more concrete sense of what it looks like to implement particular CBT techniques with depressed teens. In-depth discussions of unique challenges posed by working with depressed teens, as well as ways to address these issues, also are provided.
Implementation of an electronic medical record tool for early detection of deep vein thrombosis in the ambulatory oncology setting.

Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization in cancer patients. Objectives To evaluate the feasibility of an electronic alert to identify and screen at-risk individuals and gather rates of early detection of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Patients/methods An alert was built into the electronic medical record based on a validated risk tool (Khorana Score [KS]) and outcomes evaluated in an initial silent phase. The alert functioned in real time to warn physicians of high-risk patients (KS ≥ 3) and suggested lower extremity screening ultrasonography in a subsequent active phase. Results Of 194 consecutive patients identified as high risk in the silent phase, 14 (7.2%) developed subsequent DVT or pulmonary embolism (PE) over 90-day follow-up, with a median of 27 days. Mean 90-day emergency room (ER) visits, all-cause admissions, and length of stay (days) for patients with DVT were 1.2, 1.6, and 9.1 compared to 0.89, 0.93, and 5.1 for all patients, respectively. In the active phase, 197 consecutive alerts met inclusion criteria, and 40 patients (20.3%) received a screening ultrasound. Five (12.5%) had a DVT and were started on therapeutic anticoagulation. Of patients with alerts who had screening deferred, 13 (8.3%) were later diagnosed with DVT (median 50.5 days) and 7 (4.5%) with PE. Conclusion An automated alert may have value in early detection of DVT in high-risk cancer patients leading to earlier intervention, and could potentially prevent VTE-related morbidity.
Minimal Clinically Important Difference of Shoulder Outcome Measures and Diagnoses: A Systematic Review.

ObjectivePatient-reported outcome scales determine response to treatment. The minimal clinically important difference of these scales is a measure of responsiveness: the smallest change in a score associated with a clinically important change to the patient. This study sought to summarize the litera
Multi-fidelity Gaussian process modeling for chemical energy surfaces

Abstract There has been a recent surge of interest in using Gaussian process (GP) regression to model chemical energy surfaces. Herein, we discuss an extension of GP modeling called autoregressive Gaussian process (ARGP) modeling, which uses an approximation to the target function to improve learning efficiency and has never been applied to high-accuracy chemical energy surfaces. Our calculations demonstrate that ARGP regression improves the prediction error of a five-point GP regression by two orders of magnitude for an N2 dissociation curve and reproduces the energy surface of H2O with sub-chemical accuracy, using only 25 training points.
Pituitary disease in pediatric brain tumor survivors

Introduction: Treatment of childhood brain tumors, including surgical resection and especially external beam radiation, often results in endocrine complications manifested by hypopituitarism, which...
The Effect of Ratio of Adult Inspiratory Flow to Gas Flow on Aerosol Delivery via High-Flow Nasal Cannula for Adults

Background: Aerosol delivery via high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) during distress breathing generated higher lung deposition than quiet breathing. Both in vitro and radiolabeled in vivo studies report lung deposition decreased as flow increased. We hypothesize that aerosol deposition is related to the ratio of HFNC flow:patient9s inspiratory flow and that an optimal ratio could improve aerosol delivery via HFNC. Methods: An adult patient mannikin (Laerdal adult airway management trainer), with realistic airway anatomy was used. A collecting filter connected between the trachea and a model lung (TTL, Michigan Instruments), simulating distress and quiet breathing for adults with tidal volumes of 300, 500 and 700 mL. A flow and volume monitor (NICO) was placed distal to the collecting filter. HFNC was set at 5, 10, 20, 40 and 60 L/min. A mesh nebulizer (Aerogen) was placed at the dry side of humidifier (Fisher & Paykel), with large size of nasal cannula. Albuterol (2.5 mg in 1 mL) was nebulized for each condition (n=3). Drug eluted from the filter and assayed with UV spectrophotometry (276 nm). Results: During quiet breathing (f=15 breaths/min, I:E=1: 2, VT was 300, 500 and 700 mL), delivered dose increased as HFNC flow decreased (P Conclusions: In aerosol delivery via HFNC for adults, the minimum flow produced optimal lung deposition in quiet breathing, while in distress breathing, HFNC flow:patient9s inspiratory flow of 0.37 to 0.5 produced optimal 9lung9 deposition.
Metric Vector Spaces

In this chapter, we study vector spaces over arbitrary fields that have a bilinear form defined on them. As we will see, the study of such vector spaces has a very geometric flavor, and hence so does the terminology.