cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of integrated control effect of iodine deficiency disorder for 19 years in Yi County of Hebei Province

[Objective]To evaluate the integrated control measures and effect of iodine deficiency disorder for 19 years in Yi County of Hebei Province.[Methods]The integrated measures such as attention from government and sectoral coordination,universal consumption of iodized salt,strengthening supervision and evaluation,disease surveillance and epidemiological investigation,health education and health promotion,etc were adopted.The evaluation was performed on children 's urinary iodine median,goiter rate and consumption rate of iodized salt.[Results]The goiter prevalence among children decreased from 27.90% in 1993 to 2.05% in 1998,it had been controlled within 5% since 1998-2011;consumption rate of qualified iodized salt increased from 33.16% in 1993 to 96.06% in 1996,it had been above 90% since 1996-2011;children 's urinary iodine median increased from 70.63 μg/L in 1994 to 139.10 μg/L in 1995,it had been above 100 μg/L since 1995-2011.[Conclusion]The adopted integrated measures are the effective way for sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disorders.
Atom Optics: Using Light to Position Atoms

In most conventional lithography techniques, a light-sensitive resist is used to transfer a pattern from a mask to a substrate. The process is massively parallel because one mask can be used to expose millions of features at the same time. The minimum size of the features that can be created with conventional lithography is of the order of half the wavelength of the light being used. Extensions of optical lithographic techniques, involving deep ultraviolet light, are predicted to reach a limit of approximately 0.10 μm[l] by the year 2001. Other exposure technologies such as electron beam and x-ray, that have been proposed for producing smaller features than ultraviolet light, are problematic. For example, in conventional electron beam systems the writing process is serial, so large complicated patterns take a very long time to write. Moreover, in both electron beam and x-ray lithography, the masks and the substrates can be damaged by the high energy beams. Thus, there is great interest in developing parallel techniques for creating nanometer-scale features without damage and without masks. The new field of atom optics offers various massively parallel fabrication techniques which hold the promise for creating nanometer-scale features with good contrast and high resolution using low energy atomic beams. These advantages are augmented by the “direct-write” nature of atom optical fabrication, that is, structures can be deposited directly on a substrate without the intermediate process steps involved with using a resist.
Platelet-activating factor induces the expression of metalloproteinases-1 and -9, but not -2 or -3, in the corneal epithelium.

Purpose The inflammatory mediator platelet-activating factor (PAF) induces the expression of interstitial collagenase (metalloproteinase-1) messenger RNA in rabbit corneal epithelium. In this study, the authors investigated the effect of PAF on gene expression and protein activity of other matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the cornea. Methods Rabbit corneas were incubated in an organ culture with 100 nM of cPAF (a nonhydrolyzable PAF analog), PAF, or lyso-PAF, an inactive metabolite of PAF. In some experiments, the corneas were preincubated for 1 hour with 10 microM BN50730, a PAF antagonist, before cPAF was added to the medium. Corneal epithelial cells and/or conditioned medium were collected at different times for analysis. Also, in vivo experiments were done by injecting 2 micrograms of cPAF intrastromally into rabbit eyes and collecting the epithelium 8 hours later for study. Northern blot analysis and zymography were performed to determine the mRNA abundance and/or enzyme activity of 92 kd gelatinase (MMP-9), 72 kd gelatinase (MMP-2), and stromelysin (MMP-3). The activity of MMP-1 was tested by collagenase assays. Results cPAF induced the expression of MMP-9 mRNA, but not MMP-3 mRNA. The message was induced at 4 hours and remained elevated at 48 hours, with a peak at 36 hours. In corneas preincubated with BN50730, MMP-9 mRNA activation by cPAF was inhibited. In vivo injection of cPAF also induced the expression of MMP-9. Furthermore, cPAF increased MMP-9 activity in the epithelial cells and in the conditioned media. The effect was blocked by BM50730. cPAF did not affect MMP-2 activity. Finally, cPAF also increased MMP-1 collagenolytic activity of the corneal epithelium, which was blocked by the PAF antagonist. Conclusion These results suggest a novel mechanism by which PAF activates MMPs. The lipid mediator selectively enhances the expression of MMP-1 and MMP-9 in rabbit corneal epithelium. This activation by PAF may be involved in the remodeling mechanisms of the cornea after injury and, when overexpressed, may lead to the formation of corneal ulcers. Specific PAF antagonists could therapeutically deter corneal ulcer formation and facilitate corneal wound healing.
Wheel running reduces ethanol seeking by increasing neuronal activation and reducing oligodendroglial/neuroinflammatory factors in the medial prefrontal cortex

The therapeutic effects of wheel running (WR) during abstinence on reinstatement of ethanol seeking behaviors in rats that self-administered ethanol only (ethanol drinking, ED) or ED with concurrent chronic intermittent ethanol vapor experience (CIE-ED) were investigated. Neuronal activation as well as oligodendroglial and neuroinflammatory factors were measured in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) tissue to determine cellular correlates associated with enhanced ethanol seeking. CIE-ED rats demonstrated escalated and unregulated intake of ethanol and maintained higher drinking than ED rats during abstinence. CIE-ED rats were more resistant to extinction from ethanol self-administration, however, demonstrated similar ethanol seeking triggered by ethanol contextual cues compared to ED rats. Enhanced seeking was associated with reduced neuronal activation, and increased number of myelinating oligodendrocyte progenitors and PECAM-1 expression in the mPFC, indicating enhanced oligodendroglial and neuroinflammatory response during abstinence. WR during abstinence enhanced self-administration in ED rats, indicating a deprivation effect. WR reduced reinstatement of ethanol seeking in CIE-ED and ED rats, indicating protection against relapse. The reduced ethanol seeking was associated with enhanced neuronal activation, reduced number of myelinating oligodendrocyte progenitors, and reduced PECAM-1 expression. The current findings demonstrate a protective role of WR during abstinence in reducing ethanol seeking triggered by ethanol contextual cues and establish a role for oligodendroglia-neuroinflammatory response in ethanol seeking. Taken together, enhanced oligodendroglia-neuroinflammatory response during abstinence may contribute to brain trauma in chronic alcohol drinking subjects and be a risk factor for enhanced propensity for alcohol relapse.
Bilateral vocal fold paralysis and dysphagia secondary to diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis

Background Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is an idiopathic spinal disease common in the elderly and characterized by flowing ossification and osteophyte formation along the spinal column. Cervical hyperostosis is capable of producing dysphagia, stridor, and airway obstruction; however, there are no extant reports of true paralysis of bilateral vocal folds in patients fulfilling the criteria for DISH. Methods and Results We report a case of a 61-year-old man presenting with dysphagia and dyspnea. Flexible laryngoscopy revealed bilateral true vocal fold paralysis. Cervical radiograph showed flowing ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament with preservation of intervertebral disc height. Tracheotomy and cervical osteophytectomy were performed, after which the patient showed improved swallowing and speaking ability and was decannulated without complication. Conclusion In the case presented, cervical osteophytectomy dramatically reversed bilateral vocal fold paralysis and dysphagia secondary to hyperostosis, thus negating the need for prolonged tracheostomy and feeding tube dependence. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2016
Self-Assembly of Axially Functionalized Subphthalocyanines in Thin Films

The addition of trialkoxylbenzyloxyl substituents at the axial position of conformationally nonplanar SubPc promotes its solid-state self-assembly. Unlike prior SubPc derivatives, photophysical studies suggest the presence of intermolecular electronic coupling between neighboring cores of SubPc derivatives, the strength of which depends on both the electronic nature of the core—which we tune through fluorination—and the extent of van der Waals interactions originating from the alkyl side chains on the trialkoxylbenzyloxyl tail. Modulating the relative strength of core–core and van der Waals interactions introduces morphological richness and provides access to liquid crystalline hexagonal and smectic phases. When core–core interactions are strong, thin films of SubPc spontaneously adopt a highly crystalline lamellar structure in the solid state. Thin films of trialkoxylbenzyloxyl-substituted SubPcs thus support efficient energy and charge transfer given their intermolecular electronic communication and lon...
Amused teachers and public readers : empathy and derision in "student blooper" collections.

This dissertation examines the long-standing tradition in education of sharing and publishing students’ unintentionally amusing mistakes. Often called “bloopers,” “boners,” and “howlers,” students’ writing mistakes have been published in print since at least the early 20th century and more recently online. Using theories of reading student writing, academic discourse, ethics, and humor, this project analyzes the misconceptions that teachers and public audiences have of students, re-reads student writing for its potential, and explores the ethical implications of sharing student work with public audiences. The first two chapters ground the reader in the historical, social, and cultural contexts in which teachers share or publish student writing. The culture of remediation, persistent in K-12 and higher education contexts, shapes readings of student writing that prioritize correctness. Collections of student “bloopers” imply aspects of teacher-student relationships; thus these relationships can be re-thought not only in terms of broader models like remediation, but also through the practices that help define those relationships, such as methods of reading and assessing student writing. The third chapter reviews several frameworks related to ethical uses of student writing, such as those embraced by professional organizations and institutional guidelines. Through a closer look at the value of student writing from a research perspective, this chapter explores the tension between the treatment of student writing in research and the treatment of student writing in teaching. Meanwhile, the fourth chapter provides an extensive re-reading of several published student excerpts on the website Shit My Students Write. Through the application of humor theory, we can acknowledge the aspects of student error that prompt teachers to be humored while also interrogating the assumptions and misconceptions about error that inform why we are humored. This dissertation concludes with recommendations for engaging with representations of students and student writing. Teacher education is an important site that can foster changes in the teaching profession. Further recommendations for advocacy through public rhetoric are provided.
A Global Adaptive System for Supporting Human Rights

We often fail to see important dimensions of international human rights (HR) protection because we use lenses that do not reveal them. This short article suggests a way of looking at HR protection that I believe has value in many contexts and for many—those who make decisions about human rights and those who suffer from deprivation of those rights. It reveals important factors and forces that influence HR protection, but that conventional lenses often fail to reveal. In doing so it opens up potential avenues for increasing the effectiveness of efforts to improve such protections.
Red Imported Fire Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Mortality Following Exposure to Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate (NaHCO3)

Red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, worker responses to sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3) placed on surfaces and in liquid food were evaluated in laboratory bioassays. The median leth...
Cook-Heilbron thiazole synthesis

5-Amino-thiazole synthesis from α-aminonitriles and carbon disulfide, or carbon oxysulfide, isothiocyanate, dithioacids.
Tiling a Checker Rectangle

Imagine you have an m × n rectangle R and lots of dominoes (a domino is a 1 × 2 rectangle). It is easy to find the conditions under which R can be tiled by dominoes, i.e., covered by dominoes, without any dominoes overlapping or sticking out over the boundary of R. Indeed, R can be tiled by dominoes if and only if mn is even (prove it!).
The Food & Fitness Community Partnerships: Results From 9 Years of Local Systems and Policy Changes to Increase Equitable Opportunities for Health.

The Food & Fitness (FF the change model that emerged from the work; efforts and changes achieved related to community food, school food, and active living/built environment; overall factors in the community that helped or hindered the work of the partnerships; and a depiction of the community-determined process for change employed by the partnerships are described. Local systems and policy change is a long-term process. Community-determined efforts that build capacity for systems change, commitment to long-term funding, and provision of technical assistance tailored to community needs were elements that contributed to success in the F&F work. Achieving intermediate outcomes on the road to policy and systems change created a way to monitor success and make midcourse corrections when needed.
Investigation of PP2A and Its Endogenous Inhibitors in Neuroblastoma Cell Survival and Tumor Growth.

Abstract High-risk neuroblastoma continues to carry a poor prognosis. Nearly 50% of these tumors relapse following extensive treatment regimens. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a tumor suppressor, has been shown to be downregulated in many human cancers via multiple mechanisms including upregulation of its endogenous inhibitors, I2PP2A or CIP2A. We hypothesized that inhibition of the endogenous PP2A inhibitors or activation of PP2A would decrease tumorigenicity in human neuroblastoma cells. Four human neuroblastoma cell lines were utilized. Expression of PP2A and its endogenous inhibitors I2PP2A and CIP2A was confirmed by immunoblotting. PP2A activation was measured via phosphatase activation assay. Multiple parallel methods including siRNA inhibition of the endogenous PP2A inhibitors and pharmacologic activation of PP2A were utilized. Cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion assays were performed. In vivo studies were utilized to determine the effects of PP2A activation on neuroblastoma tumor growth. Inhibition of the endogenous inhibitors of PP2A or pharmacologic activation of PP2A with the PP2A activator FTY720 led to decreased neuroblastoma cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion. Treatment of mice bearing SK-N-AS or SK-N-BE(2) neuroblastoma tumors with FTY720 resulted in a significant decrease in tumor growth compared to vehicle-treated animals. In conclusion, activation of PP2A may provide a novel therapeutic target for neuroblastoma.
Egg quality, fatty-acid composition and gastrointestinal morphology of layer hens fed whole flaxseed with enzyme supplementation.

1. Flaxseed is a rich source of α-linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3 n–3). Feeding flaxseed to hens can increase n–3 fatty acids (FA) in eggs. However, non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) in flaxseed decrease ...
Switched-Beam Endfire Planar Array With Integrated 2-D Butler Matrix for 60 GHz Chip-to-Chip Space-Surface Wave Communications

A two-dimensional Butler matrix feed network is designed, implemented, and integrated with a 60 GHz 2 × 2 circular patch planar array for chip-to-chip communications. The realized antenna module is a thin multilayer microstrip structure with a footprint small enough to fit over a typical multicore chip. The network enables endfire (azimuthal) scan of the array main beam in the four diagonal directions, which is demonstrated for the first time in this letter. The antenna module provides a seamless and practical way to achieve reconfigurable interchip communication in multicore multichip (MCMC) systems. A hybrid space-surface wave interconnect is proposed that takes advantage of surface-wave coupling. The matrix is a four-input, four-output, i.e., 4 × 4, network consisting of four interconnected quadrature (90 $^\circ$ ) hybrid couplers. A multiantenna module (MAM) consisting of five antenna modules that emulates diagonal interchip communication in MCMC systems is fabricated. The simulation and measurement of transmission coefficients between the antenna modules on the MAM are performed and compared.
Extrinsic Denomination and the Origins of Early Modern Metaphysics: The Scholastic Context of Descartes’s Regulae

An assessment of Descartes’s relation to his Aristotelian contemporaries in his Regulae ad directionem ingenii—and more specifically his relation to the theory of scientific habitus—has never been undertaken and is long overdue. Despite broad scholarly consensus that Descartes rejected the scholastic theory of scientific habitus in the Regulae, I will show that, in fact, he redefines a centuries-old scholastic debate about the unity of science, and that he does so by employing, not rejecting, the concept of scientific habitus. For Descartes, the sciences are collectively one in virtue of a habitus which inclines the intellect to regard all things, not as they are in reality, but rather as they are relative to the intellect alone. Descartes establishes the unity of science via what Suarez refers to as “extrinsic denomination” in Disputationes metaphysicae 44.11.64. This creates a serious problem. As he no doubt knew and as Suarez would have rightly pointed out, the extrinsic denominations that Descartes employs in the Regulae have no ontological basis in the things denominated. Descartes’s method creates, arguably for the first time, a chasm between how things can be known by the intellect and how they are in reality—i.e., between “epistemology” and “ontology”—that motivates him to pursue metaphysics after the Regulae.
Intrathecal pumps

Direct neuroaxis drug delivery has expanded the physician’s armamentarium to provide treatment options to those who have failed more conservative interventions. Starting from Bier’s ‘cocainization of the spinal cord’ in 1898, direct nervous system pharmacy delivery has long been recognized as an effective means to treat pain. Intrathecal pump systems are now commonplace in the management of numerous pain states, as well as of neuromuscular sequelae of central nervous system injury. There has been much advancement in the physiologic and pharmacologic understanding of direct neuromodulation, providing a growing number of treatment options depending on the specific disease state. As well, surgical techniques and catheter systems have undergone refinements providing improved long-term safety and efficacy. We present a review of the historical evolution to current intrathecal therapies, as well as a dialog regarding patient selection, drug options, and side effects. Also, included is a discussion of surgical techniques, current delivery options and complications concerning pump placement.
Preoperative ultrasound for the diagnosis of thyroglossal duct cysts: A validation study.

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the use of ultrasound to distinguish between thyroglossal duct cysts (TGDC) and dermoid cysts (DC) for surgical planning. To validate the SIST (septae + irregular wall + solid components = TGDC) scoring system proposed by Oyewumi et al. [1]. Methods This was a retrospective chart review of pediatric patients with midline neck masses who presented between the years of 2005 and 2014 and underwent preoperative ultrasound and surgical resection. Two pediatric radiologists blinded to diagnosis reviewed each US for 14 separate characteristics. According to the SIST scoring system, one point was given for each of the following: internal septae, irregular walls, and solid components. Results 45 patients met inclusion criteria. Final pathologic diagnosis showed 29 patients had TGDC, 16 had DC. The majority of patients with both TGDC and DC earned SIST scores of 0. Conclusion While ultrasound remains a useful part of the work-up of lesions of the head and neck in children, this small retrospective study was not able to validate the previously proposed SIST scoring system None of the parameters discussed in the original paper was found to be a statistically significant determinant of TGDC.
Time as a Factor in Biomonitoring Estuarine Systems with Reference to Benthic Macrophytes and Epibenthic Fishes and Invertebrates

Estuarine and coastal populations undergo regular short- and long-term fluctuations in various functions which approximate diurnal, tidal, seasonal, and annual periodicities. This, together with a highly unstable physicalenvironment, leads to considerable variation in temporal relationships of estuarine communities thus complicating biological monitoring programs. The implications of temporal variation of the natural environment are discussed relative to the biological sampling necessary to account for such variability; examples are taken from studies in three bay systems along the Gulf coast of north Florida. The natural physicochemical functions in coastal systems are associated with rapid (diurnal) as well as long-term (seasonal) variations which should be determined from carefully designed sampling programs if causative elements of the impact of pollutants are to be determined. Against this background, the timing of pollutant entry into the system could control the actual nature of the impact. This should be related to natural cycles of various organisms in a given system after adequate determination of the timed sequence of biological variation. Regular changes of assemblages of epibenthic organisms, though often temporally stable on an annual basis, are only roughly synchronized with seasonal patterns of key physical functions such as temperature and salinity. Community structure can be masked or distorted by inadequate sampling either on a short-term or seasonal basis. This, together with seasonally directed changes in the actual impact of a given pollutant, should be taken into consideration in the design of a given biomonitoring program. The goals of each project should be reconciled with the short- and long-term variations of the biological system in question.
The Planet Earth: A Review of the Influence of Cratering on the Geological Evolution of our Planet

In this chapter, we will look at some aspects of the Earth’s geological evolution from the perspective of intense meteoritic (planetesimal) bombardment and the influence that crater formation had on the crustal morphology, the weather, and ultimately the development and evolution of life. This chapter is an elaborated summary of previously published work, as noted in the citations in the text and references therein.
Local Unsupervised Learning for Image Analysis.

Local Hebbian learning is believed to be inferior in performance to end-to-end training using a backpropagation algorithm. We question this popular belief by designing a local algorithm that can learn convolutional filters at scale on large image datasets. These filters combined with patch normalization and very steep non-linearities result in a good classification accuracy for shallow networks trained locally, as opposed to end-to-end. The filters learned by our algorithm contain both orientation selective units and unoriented color units, resembling the responses of pyramidal neurons located in the cytochrome oxidase 'interblob' and 'blob' regions in the primary visual cortex of primates. It is shown that convolutional networks with patch normalization significantly outperform standard convolutional networks on the task of recovering the original classes when shadows are superimposed on top of standard CIFAR-10 images. Patch normalization approximates the retinal adaptation to the mean light intensity, important for human vision. We also demonstrate a successful transfer of learned representations between CIFAR-10 and ImageNet 32x32 datasets. All these results taken together hint at the possibility that local unsupervised training might be a powerful tool for learning general representations (without specifying the task) directly from unlabeled data.
Single-drug multi-ligand conjugates

3957 Tumor-targeted chemotherapy involves active drug delivery systems (conjugates) consisting of two key molecular segments, the antitumor (cytotoxic, CTX) moiety and the tumor-seeking vehicle (TSV). Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and small-molecule peptides (SMPs) have been used as TSVs. While the MAb conjugates usually lead to high tumor uptake, they may be associated with high healthy organ toxicity due to their long circulation half-lives. SMPs have a shorter blood residency which may lead to lower systemic toxicity. They may show, however, low target doses, and therefore, low therapeutic efficacies. To address these shortcomings, we designed drug conjugates with multiple copies of either the CTX (referred to as multi-drug single-ligand conjugates), the TSV (single-drug multi-ligand conjugates, SDMLCs), or both (multi-drug multi-ligand conjugates), using SMPs as the targeting elements. The rationale for this approach was to combine the multivalency of MAbs with circulatory clearance of SMPs. In this report we describe the synthesis and cytotoxicity evaluation of a model SDMLC consisting of one paclitaxel CTX and two bombesin-derived TSVs. Thus, the 9-amino acid peptide TyrGlnTrpAlaValGlyHisLeuMet-NH2 (YBBN[7-14]) was prepared through the Fmoc protocol. Two molar equivalents of this peptide were N-terminally condensed with Boc-glutamic acid to afford the di-ligand scaffold of the final conjugate. Following acid deprotection, the compound was coupled to paclitaxel-2′-hemisuccinate to afford the final SDMLC compound, PTXE(YBBN[7-14])2 (2, Table 1). A water-soluble conjugate (3) was also prepared by insertion of a PEG linker. Cytotoxic activities of conjugates 2 and 3 against different human cancer cell lines were compared to those of free PTX and a mono-ligand conjugate (1). Both di-BBN conjugates had higher activity than 1 in both cell lines tried. Against free PTX, the conjugates had mostly better activities against the cell lines of Table 1. These results point to the advantage multi-ligand receptor-directed drug conjugates over the single-ligand conjugates and warrant further investigation of these compounds. Table 1. Cytotoxicity of PTX-di-BBN SDMLCs in different human cancer cell lines as compared to those of PTX and the mono-ligand conjugatea Compound Structure SKNAS FADU MO59J JNPSRL HuTu-80 1 PTXBBN[7-14] 22±0.05 26±0.0 7 N/Ac N/A 16±0.03 (51±0.03)b (85±0.05) (85±0.02) 2 PTXE(YBBN[7-14])2 87±0.06 89±0.0 4 64±0.0 4 86±0.02 93±0.01 (59±0.03) (87±0.04) (58±0.04) (31±0.08) (77±0.14) 3 PTXPEGE(YBBN[7-14)2 70±0.04 N/A N/A 55±0.0 7 90±0.0 1 (55±0.07) (26±0.02) (84±0.04) aDefined as %growth inhibition ± SD bNumbers in parentheses refer to %inhibition induced by unconjugated PTX at equimolar concentrations and in the same experiment cNot available
Modification of a Bentonite Clay with the Ionic Liquid 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Ethylsulfate

Bentonite clays are widely utilized in many applications associated with controlling the flow properties of liquids due to their unique abilities to swell upon interaction with water. However, cont...
Daniella dos Santos, president of the BVA, responds.

The BVA does try to strike a balance, listen to feedback from the profession, and act on it where appropriate. As Michael Smalley says, there is potential for animal health and welfare problems to build up over the coming weeks and months and the BVA was keen to give practices the opportunity to prepare for the UK being under …
Elemental Mercury Use in Religious and Ethnic Practices in Latin American and Caribbean Communities in New York City

Elemental mercury is used in folk medicine and in certain religious practices in the Latin American and Caribbean communities. However, exposure to mercury can cause serious health problems including neurotoxicity. There are, therefore, concerns that mercury users are exposing themselves to dangerous levels of this toxicant. A survey was conducted to determine the use pattern of elemental mercury in the Latin American and Caribbean communities in New York City. Two hundred and three adults participated in the survey. Forty-four percent of the respondents from the Caribbean and 27% from Latin America stated that they have knowledge of such cultural uses.
Helpful and Hurtful Empathy: How the Interplay of Empathy, Shame, and Anger Predicts Responses to Hypothetical Rape Disclosures:

Responses to rape victims, although often helpful, can be hurtful and hinder victims' health and recovery. Adopting a multidimensional approach to dispositional empathy, this research investigated how different subfacets of empathy predict responses to hypothetical rape victims. Before reading a sexual assault scenario, 282 participants completed measures of cognitive and emotional empathy. Participants' subsequent emotional arousal was measured by self-report, as were their intentions to help, avoid, or blame the victim. A path model demonstrated that dispositional empathy predicted behavioral intentions toward hypothetical rape victims by altering their vulnerability to experience shame or anger. People who tended to feel personal distress were more likely to mirror rape victims' assumed shame. Due to its antisocial nature, experiencing shame, in turn, led to hurtful behaviors such as blaming or distancing oneself from the victim. On the other hand, people who tended to feel empathic concern were more likely to feel anger on behalf of the victim following a rape disclosure. Anger is a motivating force for action and promotes helping behavior. A second study demonstrated that these results appear unique to rape disclosure, namely, participants reactions to nonsexual assault were unsuccessfully captured by this model. Understanding how empathetic arousal of shame can lead to hurtful intentions toward rape victims has important implications for future interventions: Programs that draw attention to the shame or humiliation experienced by rape victims may do more harm than good. For instance, some anti-rape campaigns portray pictures of women covering their faces. These campaigns, however well intentioned, may discourage people from helping victims because they may evoke feelings of shame in the perceiver. On the other hand, societal movements, such as the #Metoo movement, may be particularly effective by reducing the shame surrounding sexual assault and promote helpful behaviors.
Marginalized centre: Wana people and the geography of power

The Wana of Morowali (Indonesia) are nowadays a small endangered community marginalized by the Indonesian government, world religions and the other communities in the area but, according to their own mythology, they are not the periphery of the world, but the real centre of it. Their cosmogonic myth tells how the Wana land (Tana Taa) was the first land placed on the primordial waters and it was full of mythical power, a power that, when the land was spread around the world to create the continents, abandoned the Wana to donate wealth and power to the edge of the world: the West. This myth has a pivotal role in the Wana worldview, their categorization of the world and the power relationships in it. The Wana reverse the traditional relationship between centre and periphery, placing themselves in a powerless centre (the village or the Tana Taa) that gave all its power to a periphery (the jungle or the West) that must be explored to obtain power and knowledge. This relationship not only expresses a clear agency in shaping the relationship of power with forces way stronger than the Wana (Government and world religions) but also creates internal hierarchies based on the access to this knowledge; granted to men and partially precluded to women due to the cultural characterizations of these genders. Indeed, the majority of shamans, called tau walia (human-spirit), are men, and they are the only one that can travel between the human and the spiritual world, obtaining a spiritual and social power. In this article, we will see how Wana categorise the world and use religion, rituality and gender to express their agency to cope with the marginalization by the government, the world religions and the other community in the area.
AMG 479, a fully human anti-IGF-1R monoclonal antibody, Inhibits IGF-1 induced phospho-Akt and enhances the antineoplastic activity of cyclophosphamide in vivo

4001 AMG 479 is a fully human monoclonal antibody raised against the type I IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R). AMG 479 exerts its anti-tumor effects by inhibiting IGF-1R signaling through ligand blocking and receptor internalization and degradation. Currently, a single agent phase II clinical trial is underway to test the activity of AMG 479 against Ewing’s sarcoma. In the present study, we tested the ability of AMG 479 to inhibit IGF-1 driven PI3K/Akt pathway activation in sarcoma cell lines as well as its ability to enhance responsiveness to cyclophosphamide.AMG 479 was able to inhibit more than 80% of IGF-1 induced phospho-Akt (pAkt) and phospho-p70S6K (pp70S6K) in the sarcoma cell lines SK-ES-1, SJSA-1 and A673. To test whether this inhibitory effect can also be achieved in vivo, we dosed xenograft bearing mice (SK-ES-1, SJSA-1 or A673) with 1 mg of AMG 479 or hIgG1 6 hrs prior to challenge with an intraperitoneal injection of IGF-1 (15 μg). Tumor lysates generated from xenograft samples demonstrated that AMG 479 effectively inhibited IGF-1 induced Akt and p70S6K phosphorylation. Interestingly, in SJSA-1 xenografts, AMG 479 was also able to inhibit all basal pAkt activity. Treatment of SK-ES-1 and SJSA-1 xenografts with AMG 479 (300 μg/dose, 2x/week) resulted in highly significant (p 70% vs. hIgG1). In contrast, AMG 479 failed to inhibit the growth of A673 xenografts when used as single agent. In this resistant model, the addition of the DNA alkylating agent cyclophosphamide (25 mg/kg, 3x/week) to AMG 479 therapy resulted in significant (p=0.0020 vs. AMG 479, p=0.0002 vs. cyclophosphamide) tumor growth inhibition compared to either therapy alone, suggesting that these two agents can be combined clinically for the treatment of sarcoma. Together, the data suggest that AMG 479 has therapeutic potential in sarcoma patients both as monotherapy and in combination with approved chemotherapeutic agents.
COVID-19 antibody testing in blood donors: Prevalence, symptoms, and suitability for convalescent plasma donation

Background/Case Studies: Routine testing of donations for COVID-19 antibody was implemented as a tool to evaluate donor suitability for convalescent plasma (CCP) donation, monitor geographic and demographic trends, and associate COVID-related symptoms (Sx) to serological test results We report initial results of antibodyreactive donors and associated responses regarding their Sx >14d prior to donation Study Design/Methods: Starting June 15, 2020, allogeneic donors were tested using the Ortho Anti-SARSCoV2 Total Ig Test Reactive donors were invited to an online survey ≈2 weeks post-donation;eligibility criteria were ≥ age 18, English proficiency and an email on file The survey inquired about COVID-related Sx and COVID testing performed outside the blood center Sx duration and severity were not ascertained Donor responses were linked via DIN to operational data Results/Findings: During the first 6 weeks, cumulative seroprevalence was 1 5% (8588 reactive/573,586 donations tested) Reactive rates were higher in first-time vs repeat donors (2 4 vs 1 3%, X2 p<0 0001), and in Hispanic and African American donors vs Caucasians (3 5% vs 1 4%, p<0 0001) Antibody (Ab) prevalence did not differ by sex, and the age group with the highest rate was 18-24yo (3 1%) Modest differences were observed by geography, ranging from 1 3% Ab prevalence in the West to 1 9% in the Northeast The range of reported Sx from 1546 survey respondents was 0 to 12, with 44% of donors indicating they were asymptomatic pre-donation The average number of Sx was 2 9 for all donors, and 5 2 from those with any reported symptom Ortho-reactive donors who previously tested reactive reported more Sx on average than previously nonreactive donors (4 0 vs 2 5 Sx), as did those diagnosed with COVID-19 by a healthcare provider (5 0 vs 2 3) Fatigue (41%), myalgia (35%), headache (33%), cough (29%), loss of smell (29%) and taste (28%), and fever (22%) were most commonly reported The number of Sx reported did not differ by presence or count of 5 chronic health conditions associated with increased COVID morbidity An algorithm to select candidate CCP donors based on the 3 most common symptoms identified 357 donors (23%), while also requiring a diagnostic test or physician diagnosis yielded 177 donors (11 4%) S/CO ratios correlated with symptom number, with asymptomatic infections or those with 1-4 symptoms having lower S/COs (median S/CO < 85) than those with 5-8 Sx(median S/CO 108) or 9-12 Sx (median S/CO 170);Kruskal-Wallis p<0 0001 Conclusions: The demographics and geographic associations with COVID-19 Ab prevalence were generally consistent with widely reported findings Prior symptoms of donors may be useful in identifying suitability for convalescent plasma collection
Chemoenzymatic route to stereodefined 2-(azidophenyl)oxazolines for click chemistry.

Abstract Aryl-substituted esters of a racemic diprotected 2-azido-1-alkanol were submitted to the Staudinger/aza-Wittig reaction in order to assess scope and establish conditions for their cyclization to the corresponding 2,4,5-trisubstituted oxazolines. Following the cyclization study, the (2R,3R)-antipode of the azidoalkanol was obtained in high ee by incubation of the corresponding racemic azidoacetate with pig liver esterase (PLE). The p-nitrobenzoate of the enantioenriched 2-azido-1-alcohol was cyclized by the Staudinger/aza-Wittig to give the corresponding (4R,5R)-disubstituted-2-(4-nitrophenyl) oxazoline. Selective reduction of the nitrophenyloxazoline to the corresponding aminophenyloxazoline using aluminum amalgam followed by direct azidation of the 2-(4-aminophenyl) moiety provided the corresponding (4R,5R)-2-(4-azidophenyl) oxazoline derivative. The azidophenyl oxazoline was reacted with a proven click partner 4-ethynylfluorobenzene under copper/sodium ascorbate mediation to provide the click triazole product in high yield.
Role of Gender in Burn-Induced Heterotopic Ossification and Mesenchymal Cell Osteogenic Differentiation

BACKGROUND Heterotopic ossification most commonly occurs after burn injury, joint arthroplasty, and trauma. Male gender has been identified as a risk factor for the development of heterotopic ossification. It remains unclear why adult male patients are more predisposed to this pathologic condition than adult female patients. In this study, the authors use their validated tenotomy/burn model to explore differences in heterotopic ossification between male and female mice. METHODS The authors used their Achilles tenotomy and burn model to evaluate the osteogenic potential of mesenchymal stem cells of male and female injured and noninjured mice. Groups consisted of injured male (n = 3), injured female (n = 3), noninjured male (n = 3), and noninjured female (n = 3) mice. The osteogenic potential of cells harvested from each group was assessed through RNA and protein levels and quantified using micro-computed tomographic scan. Histomorphometry was used to verify micro-computed tomographic findings, and immunohistochemistry was used to assess osteogenic signaling at the site of heterotopic ossification. RESULTS Mesenchymal stem cells of male mice demonstrated greater osteogenic gene and protein expression than those of female mice (p < 0.05). Male mice in the burn group formed 35 percent more bone than female mice in the burn group. This bone formation correlated with increased pSmad and insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling at the heterotopic ossification site in male mice. CONCLUSIONS The authors demonstrate that male mice form quantitatively more bone compared with female mice using their burn/tenotomy model. These findings can be explained at least in part by differences in bone morphogenetic protein and insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling.
Benchmarking a new open-source 3D circulation model (ELCIRC)

Released recently as an open source code, ELCIRC ( E ulerian- L agrangian Cir culation) solves the primitive shallow-water Navier-Stokes equations with turbulence closure submodels. Numerically it uses a semi-implicit finite-difference/volume method on unstructured horizontal grids and structured grids in the unstretched vertical direction. An Eulerian-Lagrangian method (ELM) is used to treat the advection, and wetting and drying is a natural part of the algorithm. The model has low-order accuracy, but is very flexible, computationally efficient, and robust. Overall, it has shown excellent ability to address complex river-to-ocean systems, and is currently used as the computational engine for our observation and forecasting system for the Columbia River estuary and plume. As a part of the development of ELCIRC, we carefully assessed its performance against a wide set of controlled benchmark problems: wave propagation on a slope, geostrophic flow in a straight channel, and adjustment under gravity, etc. In this paper we report on these benchmark studies, which provide very useful insights on the capabilities and limitations of the model. Using carefully defined error metrics, convergence studies are carried out. Compared against well-established higher-order models (in particular, ADCIRC and ROMS), ELCIRC has the capability of compensating for its low-order accuracy through inexpensive high resolution. Benchmarks will be made available electronically before the publication of the conference proceedings.
Violence Risk Assessment

This chapter first considers why and in what ways law is concerned with anticipating violence and how evidence in the form of violence risk assessment is legally evaluated; it then contrasts clinical and actuarial methods of risk assessment and addresses key issues and controversies pertinent to each, and surveys ways in which clinical or actuarial estimates of violence risk are best communicated to legal decision makers. Keywords: risk; violence; dangerousness; assessment; actuarial
Attention to Self and Speech Fluency

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of attention to self on physiologicalarousal and speech fluency in typical speakers. Past research has provided evidence of socialinfluences on behavioural performance (Krauss, 2002). However, social influences on speechfluency are still unclear. One possibility is that social anxiety about the self increasesphysiological arousal, which can in turn impacts speech fluency. Another possibility is thatsocial anxiety about the self impacts both physiological arousal and speech fluency. Although afew studies have also investigated the link between physiological arousal and stuttered speech(e.g., Weber & Smith, 1990), the relations among social anxiety, physiological arousal, andspeech fluency remain unclear. Participants are currently being run according to the following design. College age students arepresented three tasks over a computer monitor. These include 1) a baseline task consisting ofmovie clip, 2) a cognitively demanding Stroop-like task, and 3) a narrative task in which a storyis created. These three tasks are presented in counterbalanced order across two conditions. Inone condition, participants see a video presentation of themselves on an adjacent monitor toincrease attention to self. In the other condition, this video presentation is not available for themto see. Skin conductance and heart rate are acquired for measures of respiratory sinusarrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance responses (SCR). RSA is a measure ofparasympathetic influence on the heart that decreases when a person faces a challenge,whereas SCR is a measure of sympathetic arousal (Porges, 2007) that increases when aperson meets a challenge. Finally, narratives are transcribed and disfluent events are coded. Analysis of 11 participants shows, contrary to expectations, that RSA is greater when telling thestory compared to watching the movie. Data collection and analysis will continue.
Effects of Warning Signal Words on Consumer-Product Hazard Perceptions

This experiment investigated the influence of warning signal words and a signal icon on perceptions of hazard for consumer products. Under the pretext of a marketing research study, 90 high school ...
Predicting Raccoon, Procyon lotor , Occurrence Through the Use of Microhabitat Variables

Recent increases in Raccoon ( Procyon lotor ) abundance have been implicated for decreased nesting success of songbirds and transmission of rabies. Understanding the relationship between occurrence and microhabitat factors should be helpful in managing this species, though our current understanding of this relationship is inadequate. Therefore, we conducted a study in western Tennessee during 2000–2002 to determine this association. Occurrence (capture) data were assessed from results of live trapping at 176 and 112 trap sites during winter and summer, respectively, at three sites. A maximum of 26 habitat variables were measured at each trap location; all grids were combined for statistical analyses to account for varying relationships between occurrence and microhabitat factors across different landscapes. Univariate and stepwise logistic-regression analyses were used to assess associations among microhabitat variables and occurrence. Resulting models were validated through the jackknife procedure. Predictive equations were constructed from logistic-regression models to compute capture probabilities. Univariate analyses yielded numerous significant variables with those representing forest characteristics and proximity to water generally the most significant. Strong concordance was observed between winter and summer seasons for most variables though several differed (number of large hardwood snags, ground dens, and plant food species, distance to potential water and roads). Such temporal variability was expected due to seasonal differences in habitat components and biological needs of Raccoons. Variables included in derived models were similar to those scoring highest in univariate analyses; classification rates for models (winter = 72%; summer = 78%) were among the highest recorded for generalist species. By accounting for landscape attributes and replicating across sites, more accurate and useful models were developed. Such models should provide the information required to effectively manage this species.
Parametrization of stable systems from impulse response data

This paper addresses the problem of identifying the class of all stable system transfer functions that interpolate the given partial impulse response sequence. In this context, classical Pade approximations that are also stable, are shown to be a special case of this general formulation. The theory developed in this connection is utilized to obtain a new criterion for determining the model order and system parameters for rational systems, and, further, to generate nonminimum phase optimal stable rational approximations of nonrational systems from its impulse response sequence. >