cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mitigating death anxiety: Identifying music’s role in terror management:

Based on the ideas of social-anthropologist Ernest Becker, Terror Management Theory (TMT) explains human behavior as being motivated by conscious and unconscious mortality salience. This article ex...
Genetic source of reading disability and a proposal to use nlsy-children to study genetic and environmental influences on reading disability

Reading disability, also known as dyslexia, is defined as difficulty in learning to read despite adequate intelligence, customary instruction, and typical patterns of family and social support. It can have a major influence on the cognitive, emotional, and social development of affected individuals. Depending on the defining criteria, reading disability affects 5-15% of school children (Paulesu et al., 2001; Shaywitz et al., 1998) and accounts for more than 80% of all learning disabilities (Lerner, 1989). Reading disability is the most common neuro-behavioral disorder that affects children and is a major social, educational, and mental health problem.
What Gets Me Through: My Top Ten List

This humorous essay is a Top Ten List of ways to make get through a difficult period of teaching. Some of the strategies are personal, some professional.
Does it Pay to Forecast the Business Cycle? A U.S. Update and an International Perspective

Over the period 1970-2015, investment returns were enhanced by merely knowing concurrently whether the economy was in a state of expansion or contraction, and making the most basic asset allocation decision of whether to be in stocks or bonds. In the United States, an annual excess return of 2.01% was earned by investing in stocks during expansions and in bonds during contractions. In eight foreign markets, the average annual excess return from the same strategy was 1.74%. Forecasting business cycle troughs is more important than business cycle peaks. The authors conclude simple passive timing improves fund performance using business cycle peaks/troughs, and even slight forecasting prowess is rewarded with positive performance. Importantly, even investors who invested one month after the cycle turns could still earn excess returns.
Rupture After Bypass and Distal Occlusion of Giant Anterior Circulation Aneurysms

Background Giant aneurysms are very high-risk lesions both in terms of natural history and treatment. Bypass with distal occlusion is thought to be a safe treatment option for these aneurysms. Here, we report 2 cases of aneurysm rupture after bypass and distal occlusion, review the literature, and discuss the possible underlying mechanisms, in the hopes of influencing treatment planning and averting such complications in the future. Case Description Two patients successfully underwent surgical treatment of a giant anterior circulation aneurysm via bypass and distal vessel occlusion. In each case, there was sudden thrombosis of the aneurysm without any sign of rupture at the time of surgery. Both patients then experienced delayed postoperative rupture with devastating consequences. Conclusions Aneurysm rupture can occur after bypass and distal occlusion, despite initial appearances of intraoperative stability. We suggest that the mechanisms are not a simple pressure within the dome and may be due to rapid thrombosis with subsequent aneurysm wall destabilization or stretching and capacitance causing persistent filling. When possible, it seems that complete trapping or proximal occlusion may be preferable to distal occlusion for these giant aneurysms. The optimal management of these highly morbid lesions remains to be determined.
Pediatric Cardiovascular Toxicity: Special Considerations

Pediatric exposures to xenobiotics are more frequent than in any other age group. In 2011, U.S. poison control centers dealt with 2,333,004 human exposures with major occurrences in children 19 years of age and under (62%). Children are more likely to be poisoned by substances that are readily available. While the majority are of low toxicity and result in no symptoms, there are toxins that can result in significant morbidity and mortality of children. A number of dramatic pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and psychosocial changes occur as preterm infants mature toward term, as infants mature through the first few years of life, and as children reach puberty and adolescence. Understanding normal cardiac development is essential prior to discussing the adverse effects that toxins can have on the developing heart. Embryology is important to pediatric cardiology because it helps to clarify the etiology and pathogenesis of cardiac malformations. Respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure have age-specific normal values. Additionally, differences occur when comparing electrocardiogram waveforms between adults and children. Toxicology should be in the differential of every pediatric patient or a dangerous condition may be missed.
Ideas to Consider for New Chemical Engineering Educators: Part 1 (Courses Offered Earlier in the Curriculum).

Chemical engineering faculty members, whether they are new to the profession or experienced educators, are often asked to teach a core course that they have not taught before. Many instructors would like to take the time required to come up with some new ideas to revolutionize the course in ways that engage students and maximize learning. The realities of the responsibilities of a faculty position often pose a significant challenge to accomplishing this goal, especially for young faculty. To aid in achieving the goal of improved quality of instruction in chemical engineering core courses, this paper summarizes the authors’ selection of the most effective, innovative approaches reported recently in the literature or discussed at previous conferences for chemical engineering courses that appear later in the curriculum. Much of this material was initially presented at the 2007 ASEE Summer School for Chemical Engineering Faculty. The challenges associated with particular courses and solutions successfully applied to address those challenges are also described. Courses covered in this paper include solution thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, kinetics and reactor design, process control, and senior design.
Are implicit personality theories associated with parental reactions to child transgressions

Abstract Implicit personality theories (IPTs) represent the beliefs people hold about the extent to which personality is malleable (i.e., incremental beliefs) versus fixed (i.e., entity beliefs). IPTs influence how individuals process, understand, and respond during social interactions. The research described herein examined (a) whether parents who view personality as fixed (i.e., high-entity belief parents) are more likely (relative to low-entity belief parents) to respond to vignettes describing child transgressions with negative affect, hostile attributions, and harsh parenting tactics; and (b) whether the IPT beliefs of high-entity belief parents can be altered through a brief intervention. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, 187 parents (58.3% mothers) reported IPT beliefs and reactions to vignettes describing child transgressions. As expected, high-entity belief parents (compared to low-entity belief parents) were more likely to: 1) attribute cause for transgressions to children's personalities, 2) ascribe negative traits, 3) make hostile attributions, 4) and select harsh parenting strategies. Building on these results, Study 2 demonstrated that a modified IPT intervention significantly reduced entity beliefs in a sample of high-entity belief parents (n = 63; 71.4% mothers). Collectively, findings suggest that IPTs may serve as a novel target for interventions designed to reduce harsh parenting practices.
Safety and feasibility of transcranial direct current stimulation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - a pilot study with a single subject experimental design.

Introduction: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been explored as a neuromodulatory tool to prime motor function in several neurological disorders. Studies using tDCS in amyotrophic...
Bio-inspired nonheme iron catalysts for olefin oxidation

Abstract A number of nonheme iron complexes have recently been identified that catalyze the epoxidation and cis-dihydroxylation of olefins with H2O2 as oxidant. These catalysts have been inspired by a class of arene-dihydroxylating enzymes called the Rieske dioxygenases, the active sites of which consist of an iron center ligated by two histidines and a bidentate aspartate residue. The two remaining sites are cis to each other and utilized for oxygen activation. The most effective biomimetic catalysts thus far have polydentate ligands that provide two such cis-oriented labile sites to activate the H2O2 oxidant. This overview summarizes recent developments in this sub-field of bio-inspired oxidation catalysis and discusses the evolution of the mechanistic pathways proposed to rationalize the new experimental results and the dichotomy between olefin epoxidation versus cis-dihydroxylation.
The ODDness of Webpages

Users and content providers want websites to load quickly. A widely used web performance metric that rewards both the early appearance of content and the timely completion of page load is the Speed Index (SI). Lower SI values correspond to higher user satisfaction, which makes reducing page SI an important goal.In this paper, we observe that all images on a webpage are not created equal and indeed vary considerably along a metric we dub image density, or the ratio of byte weight to pixel size. Variation in image density creates opportunities to prioritize lower density images to reduce page SI by displaying more pixels sooner for every loaded byte. We define Object Density Distribution (ODD) – a new webpage characterization metric. To understand the potential for image prioritization, we characterize ODD of existing webpages, their ODDness if you will, and show that ODD skewness and kurtosis indicate meaningful prioritization opportunities. To understand the effectiveness of image prioritization, we propose a URL-based prioritization mechanism and measure its performance across 20 test pages loaded from the Apache, NGINX, and Caddy servers. Our results show SI improvement over 40% in some cases and mean improvement of 5.7%. These SI improvements and the simplicity of our prioritization method create a compelling case for the adoption of our method by content distribution networks (CDNs) and future browser implementations.
Hierarchy as a Clustering Structure

Directions for representing and comparing hierarchies are discussed. Clustering methods that are invariant under monotone dissimilarity transformations are analyzed. Most recent theories and methods concerning such concepts as ultrametric, tree metric, Robinson matrix, pyramid, and weak hierarchy are presented. A linear theory for binary hierarchy is proposed to allow decomposing the data entries, as well as covariances, by the clusters.
Practical Stability of Switched Systems With Multiple Equilibria Under Disturbances

Our objective in this paper is to establish robustness to disturbances for continuous-time switched systems with multiple equilibria (SSME) while being unaware of the disturbances. We provide an average dwell-time bound which can be computed without explicit knowledge of the disturbance. Switching signals that satisfy this bound ensure safe operation of the switched system for sufficiently small disturbances by the notion of practical stability. In essence, this paper establishes the robustness property that safe evolution of the SSME in the absence of disturbances results in the safety of the SSME under mild disturbances. Our motivation for studying SSMEs under disturbances arises from robotics, where certain motion planning problems require switching among controllers under unknown or unmodeled disturbances. However, these results are applicable to a much broader class of applications.
chapter 7 – Singleton Resources

Publisher Summary In this chapter, one will have a single resource, and will learn more about the preferred way of implementing Web services in GT4: using a separate class for the service and the resource. To do this, the chapter explains more about resource homes. This chapter splits the implementation into three files: (1) The resource: $EXAMPLES_DIR/org/globus/examples/services/core/singleton/impl/MathResource.java; (2) The resource home: $EXAMPLES_DIR/org/globus/examples/services/core/singleton/impl/MathResourceHome.Java; and (3) The service itself: $EXAMPLES_DIR/org/globus/examples/services/core/singleton/impl/MathService.Java. The service is the stateless frontend (the client only interacts with this class, even if there are more classes lurking around in the background). The resource is the stateful class where all the information is kept. The resource home is in charge of managing the resources. In this chapter, the resource home is very simple because it will only deal with a single (or singleton) resource. In this chapter only the implementation of the service is changed. The interface is still the same, so there's no need to modify the WSDL file.
Current Status of PET Technology

Recent technological advancements have led to the development of new PET instrumentation that provides clinical images of whole-body surveys with high signal-to-noise ratio with scan times of 10–15 min. In this chapter, we describe the current status of modern PET/CT systems and the underlying technological developments. Our focus will be on hardware developments ranging from improved Lu-based scintillators, through new photosensor technology with an emphasis on silicon photomultipliers, to new detector designs meant to improve system spatial and timing resolution as well as sensitivity. We briefly describe more advanced image generation methods that aim to produce more accurate images with high signal-to-noise ratio while utilizing the enhanced information achieved by the new hardware.
Telehealth educational interventions in nurse practitioner education: An integrative literature review.

Background Telehealth is a solution to combat multiple health care problems such as lack of access, provider shortages, increasing health care expenditures, and a growing number of people living with chronic conditions. Nurse practitioner students are not adequately educated in telehealth and may be unprepared to use it in their future careers. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of telehealth educational interventions synthesizing current literature. Data sources Using PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases, a search was conducted in October 2019 for peer-reviewed articles in English using search terms "telemedicine," telehealth," "ehealth," "mhealth," and "mobile health," along with "graduate nursing education" and "nursing education." Conclusions A total of 15 articles were included for review. Minimal nurse practitioner student education should include didactic content and student projects because of the ease of implementation. When telehealth didactic education is combined with experiential learning such as simulation and clinical experience, the benefit is greater. Implications for practice The identified methods for increasing telehealth education should be implemented to prepare nurse practitioner students because telehealth continues to grow and become a vital part of American health care. Telehealth educational resources should be increased, as telehealth is only as useful as providers are prepared to use it.
Whole country-of-origin network development abroad

The support that networks offer during the internationalization process is well documented in the international business literature. However, this work has primarily focused on firm-level networks while underappreciating the cooperative behaviors that may emerge among organizations in the pursuit of common network-level goals. To better understand these concerted and coordinated actions, we engaged in a qualitative examination of two clusters of Italian organizations abroad. We observed that goal-directed and governed networks emerged in these clusters, bounded by their common desire to support Italian firms’ internationalization. This insight underlies our contributions to the international business and whole network literatures. We offer a process model outlining the emergence of a particular type of whole network: the country-of-origin network. This process is much more distributed, emergent, and context-dependent than previously theorized. Our model illustrates that network development involves the active and coordinated efforts of diverse actors working to create infrastructure that can be accessed by and shared between new and existing organizations. Our finding that both networks were governed utilizing a distinct but context-appropriate governance structure provides new insight into how networks support internationalization. Furthermore, it illustrates that whole network-level support is distinct from, but complementary to, the firm-to-firm support highlighted in previous studies.
Treatment of granuloma annulare and suppression of proinflammatory cytokine activity with tofacitinib.

Background Granuloma annulare (GA) is a common cutaneous inflammatory disorder characterized by macrophage accumulation and activation in skin. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood, and there are no effective treatments. The potential health implications of severe GA are unknown. Objective We sought to better understand GA pathogenesis and evaluate a molecularly targeted treatment approach for this disease. Methods We used single-cell RNA sequencing to study the immunopathogenesis of GA and also evaluated the efficacy of tofacitinib (a Janus kinase 1/3 inhibitor) in 5 patients with severe, long-standing GA in an open-label clinical trial. Results Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we found that in GA lesions IFN-γ production by CD4+ T cells is upregulated and is associated with inflammatory polarization of macrophages and fibroblasts. In particular, macrophages upregulate oncostatin M, an IL-6 family cytokine, which appears to act on fibroblasts to alter extracellular matrix production, a hallmark of GA. IL-15 and IL-21 production appears to feed back on CD4+ T cells to sustain inflammation. Treatment of 5 patients with recalcitrant GA with tofacitinib inhibited IFN-γ and oncostatin M, as well as IL-15 and IL-21, activity and resulted in clinical and histologic disease remission in 3 patients and marked improvement in the other 2. Inhibition of these effects at the molecular level paralleled the clinical improvement. Evidence of systemic inflammation is also present in some patients with severe GA and is mitigated by tofacitinib. Conclusions The Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription pathway is activated in GA, likely in part through the activity of IFN-γ and oncostatin M, and Janus kinase inhibitors appear to be an effective treatment.
Sketch & Project Methods for Linear Feasibility Problems: Greedy Sampling & Momentum.

We develop two greedy sampling rules for the Sketch & Project method for solving linear feasibility problems. The proposed greedy sampling rules generalize the existing max-distance sampling rule and uniform sampling rule and generate faster variants of Sketch & Project methods. We also introduce greedy capped sampling rules that improve the existing capped sampling rules. Moreover, we incorporate the so-called heavy ball momentum technique to the proposed greedy Sketch & Project method. By varying the parameters such as sampling rules, sketching vectors; we recover several well-known algorithms as special cases, including Randomized Kaczmarz (RK), Motzkin Relaxation (MR), Sampling Kaczmarz Motzkin (SKM). We also obtain several new methods such as Randomized Coordinate Descent, Sampling Coordinate Descent, Capped Coordinate Descent, etc. for solving linear feasibility problems. We provide global linear convergence results for both the basic greedy method and the greedy method with momentum. Under weaker conditions, we prove $\mathcal{O}(\frac{1}{k})$ convergence rate for the Cesaro average of sequences generated by both methods. We extend the so-called certificate of feasibility result for the proposed momentum method that generalizes several existing results. To back up the proposed theoretical results, we carry out comprehensive numerical experiments on randomly generated test instances as well as sparse real-world test instances. The proposed greedy sampling methods significantly outperform the existing sampling methods. And finally, the momentum variants designed in this work extend the computational performance of the Sketch & Project methods for all of the sampling rules.
Passing on PCOS: new insights into its epigenetic transmission.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent reproductive-metabolic disorder with poorly understood etiology. Mimouni et al. (2021) demonstrate global genomic DNA hypomethylation in women with PCOS and their daughters, and in F3 generation PCOS-like mice, together with substantial normalization of PCOS-like mice by methyl donor dietary supplementation.
Intrachain interaction topology can identify functionally similar intrinsically disordered proteins

Functionally similar IDPs (intrinsically disordered proteins) often have little sequence similarity. This is in stark contrast to folded proteins and poses a challenge for the inverse problem, functional classification of IDPs using sequence alignment. The problem is further compounded because of the lack of structure in IDPs, preventing structural alignment as an alternate tool for classification. Recent advances in heteropolymer theory unveiled a powerful set of sequence-patterning metrics bridging molecular interaction with chain conformation. Focusing only on charge patterning, these set of metrics yield a sequence charge decoration matrix (SCDM). SCDMs can potentially identify functionally similar IDPs not apparent from sequence alignment alone. Here, we illustrate how these information-rich "molecular blueprints" encoded in SCDMs can be used for functional classification of IDPs with specific application in three protein families-Ste50, PSC, and RAM-in which electrostatics is known to be important. For both the Ste50 and PSC protein family, the set of metrics appropriately classifies proteins in functional and nonfunctional groups in agreement with experiment. Furthermore, our algorithm groups synthetic variants of the disordered RAM region of the Notch receptor protein-important in gene expression-in reasonable accordance with classification based on experimentally measured binding constants of RAM and transcription factor. Taken together, the novel classification scheme reveals the critical role of a high-dimensional set of metrics-manifest in self-interaction maps and topology-in functional annotation of IDPs even when there is low sequence homology, providing the much-needed alternate to a traditional sequence alignment tool.
Does economic power or leadership matter? The difference between male and female world leaders in managing pandemics

Factors that are typically associated with better disease prevention and control, such as the health care expenses and the wealth of a nation, are no longer reliable predictors of disease parameter...
Cracked Solar Cell Performance Depends on Module Temperature

When cells in a crystalline silicon photovoltaic module crack, packaging materials hold the fragments together. Changes in module temperature cause cell fragments to move, allowing cracked metallization to lose and regain contact. We intentionally cracked cells in commercial PV modules and characterized the modules’ temperature-dependent electroluminescence (EL) response. Here we show that (1) metallization makes contact across cracks in a way that is temperature dependent and (2) this contact is not a function of temperature, but is hysteretic. We expect that any electro-optical characterization made at a single temperature will be misleading as to the effects of cracked cells at different temperatures. And we expect that a single temperature sweep cannot fully characterize the temperature dependence of electro-optical performance of modules with cracked cells.
Development of a Rat Sandwich-Cultured Hepatocytes Model Expressing Functional Human Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide (OATP) 1B3: A Potential Screening Tool for Liver-Targeting Compounds

Purpose: Organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B3 transports many clinically important drugs, including statins, from blood into the liver. It exclusively expresses in human liver under normal physiological conditions. There is no rodent ortholog of human OATP1B3. Tissue targeting of therapeutic molecules mediated by transporters, including liver-targeting via liver-specific OATPs, is an emerging area in drug development. Sandwich-cultured primary hepatocytes (SCH) are a well characterized in vitro model for assessment of hepatic drug uptake and biliary excretion. The current study was designed to develop a novel rat SCH model expressing human OATP1B3 to study the hepatic disposition of OATP1B3 substrates. Methods: Primary rat hepatocytes transduced with adenoviral vectors expressing FLAG-tagged OATP1B3 (Ad-OATP1B3), a control vector Ad-LacZ, or that were non-transduced were cultured in a sandwich configuration. FLAG immunoblot and immunofluorescence-staining determined expression and localization of OATP1B3. Uptake of [3H]-cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8), a specific OATP1B3 substrate, was determined. Taurocholate (TC) is a substrate routinely used in SCH to assess biliary excretion via bile canaliculi (BC) and is also a substrate of OATP1B3. [3H]-TC accumulation in cells+BC, cells, biliary excretion index (BEI) and in vitro Clbiliary were determined using B-CLEAR® technology. Results: OATP1B3 protein was extensively expressed and primarily localized on the plasma membrane in day 4 Ad-OATP1B3-transduced rat SCH. [3H]-CCK-8 accumulation in cells+BC was significantly greater (~5-13 folds, p<0.001) in day 4 SCH with vs. without Ad-OATP1B3-transduction. Expressing OATP1B3 in rat SCH significantly increased [3H]-TC accumulation in cells+BC and cells, without affecting BEI and in vitro Clbiliary. Conclusions: Rat SCH expressing human OATP1B3-is a novel in vitro model allowing simultaneous assessment of hepatic uptake, hepatocellular accumulation and biliary excretion process of a human OATP1B3 substrate. This model could be a potential tool for screening for liver-targeting compounds mediated by OATP1B3.
Chasing the fitness optimum: temporal variation in the genetic and environmental expression of life-history traits for a perennial plant

Abstract The ability of plants to track shifting fitness optima is crucial within the context of global change, where increasing environmental extremes may have dramatic consequences to life history, fitness, and ultimately species persistence. However, to track changing conditions relies upon the complex relationship between genetic and environmental variance, where selection may favor plasticity, the evolution of genetic differences, or both depending on the spatial and temporal scale of environmental heterogeneity. Over three years, we compared the genetic and environmental components of phenological and life-history variation in a common environment for the spring perennial Geum triflorum. Populations were sourced from alvar habitats that exhibit extreme, but predictable annual flood-desiccation cycles and prairie habitats that exhibit similar, but less predictable variation in water availability. Narrow-sense heritabilities were generally higher for early life history (emergence probability) relative to later life history traits (total seed mass), indicating that traits associated with establishment within an environment are under stronger genetic control relative to later life-history fitness expressions, where plasticity may play a larger role. This pattern was particularly notable in seeds sourced from environmentally extreme, but predictable alvar habitats relative to less predictable prairie seed sources. Fitness landscapes based on seed source origin, largely characterized by varying water availability and flower production, described selection as the degree of maladaptation to the prairie common garden environment relative to seed source environment. Plants from alvar populations were consistently closer to the fitness optimum across all years. Annually, the breadth of the fitness optimum expanded primarily along a moisture gradient, with inclusion of more populations onto the expanding optimum. These results highlight the importance of temporally and spatially varying selection for the evolution of life history, indicating plasticity within perennial systems may over time become the primary mechanism to track fitness for later life history events.
Langevin Dynamics Modeling of Gas-Phase Ion Recombination with Dilute Ion Concentration

Ion recombination in the gas phase plays an important role in plasma science and chemistry that is closely related to various applications in combustion and materials processing. Due to the lack of robust theoretical models of three body ion recombination, this project intends to develop a Langevin dynamics-based ion recombination rate constant model that is applicable for a broad pressure and temperature range combination taking into account the effect of ionic structure (especially for polyatomic ions). At high pressures, Langevin Dynamics is commonly considered to be efficient model for ion-neutral gas interactions and the implementation of LD enables the trajectory analysis and obtaining the ensemble averaged estimates of the of ion recombination rate constant. Ion recombination or mutual neutralization is modeled within the framework of classical physics and thus does not explicitly model the quantum nature of electron transfer kinetics from the anion to the cation. We hypothesized that electron transfer takes place with near certainty when two atoms (one part of the cation and the other part of the anion) when their separation is less than or equal to σ - distance σ between two atoms at which the potential energy (due to van der Waals or polarization interaction) between the ions is zero. The comparison with experimental data 1 – 5 for several ion pairs reveals an agreement of ±50% with most of the tested ion pairs. At low pressure end, a good agreement is observed as well between ion pairs that consist of polyatomic ions.
Exploring the Interactions of Ionic Liquids with Bio-Organic Amphiphiles Using Computational Approaches

Bio-organic amphiphiles have been shown to effectively impart unique physicochemical properties to ionic liquids resulting in the formation of versatile hybrid composites. In this work, we utilized...
Abstract P3-05-10: Glucocorticoid and aldosterone mimic progestin-induction of a therapy-resistant cytokeratin-5 positive cell population in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer through a Bcl6-dependent mechanism

Resistance to anti-estrogen therapy remains a significant problem in patients diagnosed with estrogen receptor-α (ERα) positive breast cancer. Recent progress has defined a "lumino-basal" subclass of ERα-positive breast cancer characterized by mosaic presence of a minor population of ERα-negative cells expressing the basal cytokeratin-5 (CK5). The CK5-positive cells are therapy-resistant and have increased tumorigenic potential. Initial studies have suggested that progestins but not other steroids expand this CK5+ cell population. Unexpectedly, we discovered that at least two 3-ketosteroids other than progestins, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, are capable of inducing the CK5+/ERα- cell population. CK5+ cells induced by glucocorticoid or aldosterone showed increased clonogenicity in soft agar, expressed the stem cell marker CD44, showed loss of ERα and PR expression, and demonstrated therapy-resistance with reduced apoptosis in response to chemotherapy, and were further enriched following adjuvant antiestrogen or chemotherapies. Induction of CK5+ cells by 3-ketosteroids was consistently preceded by induction of Bcl6, a transcriptional repressor implicated in breast cancer progression. Suppression of Bcl6 by shRNA or the Bcl6 suppressor, prolactin, abolished 3-ketosteroid-induction of CK5+ cells. Prolactin also blocked 3-ketosteroid-induced colony formation in vitro and suppressed progestin-induction of the CK5+ cell population in T47D xenograft tumors in vivo. Survival analyses with recursive partitioning revealed that CK5 and Bcl6 transcripts or protein levels in ERα+ breast cancer identify patients at high or low risk for tumor in two independent cohorts. The observations provide a mechanism by which stress-related or pharmacologic elevation of glucocorticoids may adversely affect patients with ERα+/CK5+ breast cancer, and may justify further exploring of inhibitors to 3-ketosteroid receptors or Bcl6 for therapeutic benefit. Citation Format: Hallgeir Rui, Takahiro Sato, Amy Peck, Melanie A Girondo, Chengbao Liu, Albert J Kovatich, Jeffery A Hooke, Craig D Shriver, Edith Mitchell, Terry Hyslop, Chelain Goodman. Glucocorticoid and aldosterone mimic progestin-induction of a therapy-resistant cytokeratin-5 positive cell population in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer through a Bcl6-dependent mechanism [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-05-10.
The mup-4 Locus in Caenorhabditis elegans Is Essential for Hypodermal Integrity, Organismal Morphogenesis and Embryonic Body Wall Muscle Position

mup-4 is a member of a set of genes essential for correct embryonic body wall muscle cell positions in Caenorhabditis elegans. The mup-4 phenotype is variably expressed and three discrete arrest phenotypes arise during the phase of embryonic development when the worm elongates from a ball of cells to its worm shape (organismal morphogenesis). Mutants representing two of the phenotypic classes arrest without successful completion of elongation. Mutants of the third phenotypic class arrest after completion of elongation. Mutants that arrest after elongation display profound dorsal and ventral body wall muscle cell position abnormalities and a characteristic kinked body shape (the Mup phenotype) due to the muscle cell position abnormalities. Significantly, genetic mosaic analysis of mup-4 mutants demonstrates that mup-4 gene function is essential in the AB lineage, which generates most of the hypodermis (epidermis), a tissue with which muscle interacts. Consistent with the genetic mosaic data, phenotypic characterizations reveal that mutants have defects in hypodermal integrity and morphology. Our analyses support the conclusion that mup-4 is essential for hypodermal function and that this function is necessary for organismal morphogenesis and for the maintenance of body wall muscle position.
Counting Chickens when they Hatch: Timing and the Effects of Aid on Growth

Recent research yields widely divergent estimates of the cross-country relationship between foreign aid receipts and economic growth. We re-analyse data from the three most influential published aid‐growth studies, strictly conserving their regression specifications, with sensible assumptions about the timing of aid effects and without questionable instruments. All three research designs show that increases in aid have been followed on average by increases in investment and growth. The most plausible explanation is that aid causes some degree of growth in recipient countries, although the magnitude of this relationship is modest, varies greatly across recipients and diminishes at high levels of aid. Economists have spent decades debating, without resolution, the cross-country relationship between foreign aid receipts and economic growth. Some find that aid robustly causes positive economic growth on average. Others cannot distinguish the average effect from zero. Still others find an effect only in certain countries, such as those with good policies or governance. Wearied readers of this literature would be right to wonder what produces diverse findings from apparently the same aid and growth data. Here, we show that two traits of previous research help to explain why different studies reach different conclusions. Both traits relate to how these studies treat the timing of causal relationships between aid and growth. First, the most cited research has focused on measuring the effect of aggregate aid on contemporaneous growth, while many aid-funded projects can take a long time to influence growth. Funding for a new road might affect economic activity in short order, funding for a vaccination campaign might only affect growth decades later and humanitarian assistance may never affect growth. Second, because current growth is likely to affect current aid, these studies require a strategy to disentangle correlation from causation. They have tended to rely on instrumental variables but the instruments that have been used are of questionable validity and strength. When these issues are addressed, the divergence in empirical findings is greatly reduced. We show this by stepwise altering the research design of the three most influential papers in the aid and growth literature. We hold all else constant: we begin by
LSDNet: A Neural Network for Multisensory Perception.

Infant Multisensory Perception Research on infant multisensory perception has detailed the increasing capacity of infants to differentiate stimuli when it is present to multiple sensory modalities (Bahrick (2002), Lewkowicz & Lickliter (1994)). Bahrick and Lickliters (2002) intersensory redundancy theory posits a two-fold thesis to explain infant and neonate multisensory perception. In the first thesis, infant attention is directed towards amodal features when redundant sensory information is present to two or more sensory modalities. Secondly, when only unimodal input is available, attention is directed towards modalityspecific features. Modality-specific features are particular for a given sensory modality (color, scent, pitch, etc), and amodal features are evident in multiple sensory modalities (rhythm, rate, tempo, intensity, etc). Our model attempts to replicate the overall computational structure to Bahrick and Lickliters theory and to offer validation to the two-fold thesis. Though their thesis is highly compatible to a computational approach, to date there have been no attempts to create such a model, and as such the LSDNet promises a new direction for multisensory research.
Effects of synthetic micro- and nano-structured surfaces on cell behavior

Topographical cues, independent of biochemistry, generated by the extracellular matrix may have significant effects upon cellular behavior. Studies have documented that substratum topography has direct effects on the ability of cells to orient themselves, migrate, and produce organized cytoskeletal arrangements. Basement membranes are composed of extracellular matrix proteins and found throughout the vertebrate body, serving as substrata for overlying cellular structures. The topography of basement membranes is a complex meshwork of pores, fibers, ridges, and other features of nanometer sized dimensions. Synthetic surfaces with topographical features have been shown to influence cell behavior. These facts lead to the hypothesis that the topography of the basement membrane plays an important role in regulating cellular behavior in a manner distinct from that of the chemistry of the basement membrane. This paper describes the topography of the basement membrane and reviews the fabrication of synthetic micro- and nano-structured surfaces and the effects of such textured surfaces on cell behavior.
Controversies about stuttering therapy

Abstract Current controversies with respect to (1) the need to attend to the feelings and attitudes of stutterers; (2) the teaching of controlled stuttering as opposed to shaping fluency; (3) criteria for determining successful therapy; (4) the problem of relapse; and (5) therapy for the young stutterer are briefly discussed. It is noted that while there may be many controversies in the area of stuttering therapy, the author presently believes that the issue of whether or not to attent to the feelings and attitudes of stutterers is the most important and that the proliferation on the market of exclusively behavior-oriented therapy programs may be fostering the training of technicians without the skills necessary to assist others in identifying and handling feelings and attitudes.
Beyond the Ball: Implications for HIV risk and prevention among the constructed families of African American Men who have Sex with Men

African American men who have sex with men (AAMSM) are disproportionately burdened by new and existing HIV infections. In spite of this, few HIV prevention interventions have been developed that meet the specific needs of AAMSM and that are culturally appropriate and build on strengths and resources. In this paper, we examine constructed families, including those who belong to houses and those who do not, from a three city sample of 196 AAMSM. Results show that the majority of AAMSM who belong to constructed families do not participate in houses or balls. Both house and non-house affiliated constructed families are important sources of social support among AAMSM. Participants reported limited success in spreading HIV messages at ball events, but talk about HIV within their constructed families. Social network approaches to HIV prevention may capitalize on existing social ties within constructed families to promote safer sexual behaviors.
Crises reveal the quality of leadership

In the months ahead, the new administration will have to begin discovering and undoing the worst machinations of the Bush years. None of that will be possible until the reflexive, even obsessive opacity of the previous administration is reversed and more transparent government restored. It is clear that the new president will also have to restore not just the broken economy, but the confidence of the nation. He will have to give the country its optimism back.
Two Models of Models in Biomedical Research

L'A. remet en question les experimentations sur animaux dans la recherche scientifique. A l'appui des theories de l'evolution, il montre que ces experiences peuvent etre utilisees dans certains domaines mais qu'elles peuvent aussi manquer totalement de fiabilite dans la recherche plus poussee
Finite Quantum Electrodynamics: A Field Theory Using an Indefinite Metric

A finite relativistic field theory of quantum electrodynamics is formulated; the theory involves as an essential element the use of an indefinite metric to remove the divergences. Two auxiliary fermion fields with anticommutation relations of opposite sign from the normal fermion field (electron) are coupled with the electron to the electromagnetic field in such a manner that any matrix element, calculated by a perturbation expansion, is finite. Although the new Lagrangian is not explicitly gauge invariant, the electromagnetic field is quantized by a method that yields a propagator in the true Landau gauge, and it is shown that this is sufficient to insure that the physical vector particles are zero-mass transverse quanta (i.e., photons). The physical electron mass and the fine-structure constant are put into the theory, leaving only the masses of the two auxiliary fields as parameters. The effects of mass and charge renormalization are calculated (the former using a technique involving a Taylor expansion in the mass), and are required to be small so that there is no explicit contradiction to the validity of the perturbation expansion. The anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and the differential and total cross sections for Compton scattering are calculated and compared with experiment. A range of the auxiliary mass parameters is found for which the predictions agree with experiment and for which the expansion criteria are satisfied. Thus, a finite quantum electrodynamics is accomplished.
Defining Social Enterprise Across Different Contexts A Conceptual Framework Based on Institutional Factors

Over the past several decades the concept of social enterprise has grown dramatically in many regions of the world. Defined as the use of nongovernmental, market-based approaches to address social issues, social enterprise often provides a ‘business’ source of revenue for many types of socially oriented organizations and activities.1 However, within these broad parameters, world regions have come to identify different definitions and concepts with the social enterprise movement in their areas (Kerlin, 2006). This variation has also resulted in considerable debate among researchers and practitioners on how to define the concept (Mair et al., 2006; Light, 2008). To address these difficulties, this research draws on the theory of historical institutionalism to advance understanding of how context influences the development of social enterprise as well as to propose a preliminary conceptual framework for social enterprise that spans regional differences in the term.
Antigenic reactivity of the major glycoprotein of equine infectious anemia virus, a retrovirus

The immunogenic contributions of the carbohydrate and peptide portions of the major envelope glycoprotein of equine infections anemia virus, EIAV gp90, were analyzed by measuring the effects of specific glycosidase and protease digestions on the reactivity of the glycoprotein with immune sera from infected horses. The results of both direct and competitive radioimmunoassay demonstrated that immune sera contained antibodies reactive with both the carbohydrate and protein moieties of EIAV gp90, with the predominant reactivity apparently against the gp90 peptide epitopes. These results contrast with previous descriptions of retrovirus glycoprotein antigenicity in which antigenic reactivity was attributed exclusively to protein (Friend murine leukemia virus) or to carbohydrate (bovine leukemia virus). Thus EIAV gp90 displays a complex antigenicity which must be taken into consideration in analyzing the biochemical nature of antigenic variation of the virus during persistent infections in horses.
esBAF facilitates pluripotency by conditioning the genome for LIF/STAT3 signalling and by regulating polycomb function

Signalling by the cytokine LIF and its downstream transcription factor, STAT3, prevents differentiation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs). This contrasts with most cell types where STAT3 signalling induces differentiation. We find that STAT3 binding across the pluripotent genome is dependent on Brg1, the ATPase subunit of a specialized chromatin remodelling complex (esBAF) found in ESCs. Brg1 is required to establish chromatin accessibility at STAT3 binding targets, preparing these sites to respond to LIF signalling. Brg1 deletion leads to rapid polycomb (PcG) binding and H3K27me3-mediated silencing of many Brg1-activated targets genome wide, including the target genes of the LIF signalling pathway. Hence, one crucial role of Brg1 in ESCs involves its ability to potentiate LIF signalling by opposing PcG. Contrary to expectations, Brg1 also facilitates PcG function at classical PcG targets, including all four Hox loci, reinforcing their repression in ESCs. Therefore, esBAF does not simply antagonize PcG. Rather, the two chromatin regulators act both antagonistically and synergistically with the common goal of supporting pluripotency.