cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comorbidities Influence Survival in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Abstract 3142 Introduction: Advancing age is associated with poorer prognosis in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Comorbidities increase in prevalence with age, but the impact of comorbidities on survival in patients with MM is not known. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of comorbidities on survival in multiple myeloma. Methods: All patients (pts) with MM diagnosed and treated at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri from 1999–2010 were identified from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Oncology Data Services Database. The institution9s cancer registrars retrospectively collect clinical, demographic and survival data in accordance with the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer guidelines. Comorbidities are graded as None, Mild, Moderate or Severe using the ACE-27 comorbidity index [Piccirillo et al. J Reg Mgmt 1999]. Patients without data on comorbidities were excluded from the study. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), calculated from the date of diagnosis and censored at the time of last follow-up. OS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and compared between comorbidity groups using the Log-Rank test. The independent effects of age and comorbidities were evaluated using Cox Proportional Hazards Modeling. Results: 569 patients were identified in the database. Median age of patients was 59 years (range 33–91 years); 54.8% were male, 45.2% were female; 74.9% were white, 23.2% were black, and 1.9% were other races/ethnicities. Based on the ACE-27 comorbidity index, 181 pts (31.8%) had no comorbid medical conditions, 226 (39.7%) had mild comorbidities, 115 (20.2%) had moderate comorbidities, 47 (8.3%) had severe comorbidities. In the entire cohort, the median OS was 49.2 months [95% confidence intervals (CI) 42.9 – 55.6 months]. Survival by comorbidity category and age group are shown in table 1. The differences in survival between comorbidity groups in each age group and the entire cohort were statistically significant (log-rank p Disclosures: Vij:Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau.
Abstract P5-16-21: The association of higher tumor HER2 load with treatment response to neoadjuvant therapy in HER2 positive breast cancer patients

Background: Neoadjuvant therapy for HER2 positive invasive breast cancer is used to downstage tumor prior to surgery, objectively measure response, and evaluate novel therapies in clinical trials. Residual Cancer Burden (RCB) established by pathologic evaluation of post-treatment surgical specimens is a marker of tumor response to chemotherapy as well as predictor of recurrence-free survival in HER2 positive breast cancer. The relationship between the HER2 tumor load and the response to chemotherapy in not known. Specific Aims: To evaluate RCB after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and HER2-targeted treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer, and to determine clinicopathologic factors associated with treatment response as represented by RCB. Methods: This retrospective chart review included all HER2-positive breast cancer patients, stage I – III, receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy and HER2-targeted therapy with post-treatment surgical resection at an Allina Health hospital from 2013-2016. Review of clinicopathologic variables included HER2/CEP17 ratio, HER2 absolute copies, ER/PgR status (using the H score calculation), patient age, baseline tumor size, and gross and microscopic pathology review of breast tissue specimens with RCB evaluation completed by breast pathologists. To compare factors related to response, chi-square with Monte-Carlo simulation was used to analyze dichotomous variables, and Mann Whitney U-tests were used for continuous variables. Findings: The study included 97 patients. Upon surgical resection, complete pathologic response (RCB-0) was found in 47% (46/97 patients), and partial pathologic response (RCB-I) in 15% (15/97 patients). As compared to non-responders (RCB-2 and RCB-3) the complete and partial responders (RCB-0 and RCB-1) were associated with greater HER2/CEP17 ratios (10.2 vs. 6.5; p=0.003), and greater HER2 absolute copies (25 vs. 15.8; p Conclusions: The majority of patients with HER2 positive tumors show considerable benefit with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and HER2-targeted treatment (63% in our study) based on RCB assessment. Predictors of response as measured by RCB include high HER2/CEP17 ratios, high absolute copies of HER2 signals by FISH, and lower ER expression. Citation Format: Lillemoe TJ, Susnik B, Grimm E, Kang S-HL, Swenson KK, Krueger JL, Finkelstein MJ, Tsai ML. The association of higher tumor HER2 load with treatment response to neoadjuvant therapy in HER2 positive breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-16-21.
Using machine learning to secure IoT systems

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a massive group of devices containing sensors or actuators connected together over wired or wireless networks. With an estimate of over 25 billion devices connected together by 2020, IoT has been rapidly growing over the past decade. During the growth, security has been identified as one of the weakest areas in IoT. When implementing security within an IoT network, there are several challenges including heterogeneity within the system as well as the quantity of devices that need to be addressed. To approach the challenges in securing IoT devices, we propose using machine learning within an IoT gateway to help secure the system. We investigate using Artificial Neural Networks in a gateway to detect anomalies in the data sent from the edge devices. We are convinced that this approach can improve the security of IoT systems.
The word as weapon: sermons as organizational discourse during the 1979 Southern Baptist Convention

ABSTRACTAs part of a larger multiyear examination of the discourse surrounding the split of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1979–1989, this article examines the ways in which Fundamentalists utilized their 1979 convention sermons as means to define their vision for the organizational soul of the Southern Baptist Convention. Consequently, this article explores how sermons function as more than theological discourse but as key organizational rhetoric in the life and conflict of religious organizations.
Omnidirecitional wireless power transfer for portable devices

In this paper, omnidirectional wireless power transfer system proposed by Intel and the University of Hong Kong are evaluated first based on FEA simulation and numerical model. The analysis results show that their systems cannot generate preferred omnidirectional magnetic field. Then, a new transmitter coil structure with preferred omnidirectional magnetic field is proposed. Two modulation methods of the excitation current are also studied and compared. Finally, three 6.78MHz LCL resonant converters are built to drive the transmitter coils and generate omnidirectional magnetic field. Near field probe is used to measure the magnetic field to verify both the proposed transmitter coil structure and modulation methods.
Tips and tricks for increasing student engagement

Do you feel like your students are going through the motions? Ready to mix it up? In this session, we will explore methods to increase student engagement and meet the needs of diverse learners. Participants will leave with new arsenal of strategies that can be applied across disciplines. For more about engaging students: https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/teaching/engaging-students-in-discussion
Lymphocyte Fate and Metabolism: A Clonal Balancing Act

Activated lymphocytes perform a clonal balancing act, yielding a daughter cell that differentiates owing to intense PI3K signaling, alongside a self-renewing sibling cell with blunted anabolic signaling. Divergent cellular anabolism versus catabolism is emerging as a feature of several developmental and regenerative paradigms. Metabolism can dictate cell fate, in part, because lineage-specific regulators are embedded in the circuitry of conserved metabolic switches. Unequal transmission of PI3K signaling during regenerative divisions is reminiscent of compartmentalized PI3K activity during directed motility or polarized information flow in non-dividing cells. The diverse roles of PI3K pathways in membrane traffic, cell polarity, metabolism, and gene expression may have converged to instruct sibling cell feast and famine, thereby enabling clonal differentiation alongside self-renewal.
Frontal sinusitis complicated by a brain abscess and subdural empyema

A 49-year-old male was brought to the Emergency Department after being found unresponsive. The patient had multiple seizures and was intubated in the prehospital setting. A computed tomography scan showed bilateral paranasal sinus disease, and magnetic resonance imaging showed a right frontal abscess and subdural empyema. Neurosurgery took the patient to the operating room, performed a craniotomy, and drained a large amount of purulent fluid. He was subsequently discharged for acute rehabilitation. Clinicians should consider complicated frontal sinusitis, especially in the undifferentiated patient presenting with neurologic deficits and signs or symptoms of sinus disease.
Positive Expectancies for E-Cigarette Use and Anxiety Sensitivity Among Adults.

Introduction Although e-cigarette use is on the rise among youth and adults, there is little understanding of the individual difference factors at a cognitive level of analysis for e-cigarette beliefs and quit behavior. Method The present investigation sought to test a theoretically driven interactive model of positive expectancies for e-cigarettes and anxiety sensitivity (fear of the consequences of anxiety) among 551 adult e-cigarette users (50.6% female, Mage = 35.2 years, SD = 10.1). Results Results indicated a significant interaction between positive expectancies for e-cigarette use and AS was significantly related to greater perceived benefits of e-cigarette use, greater perceived risk of e-cigarette use, and more serious attempts for trying to quit e-cigarettes. The significant interaction effect for each dependent variable was evident over and above the main effects as well as the covariates of sex, income, education, and concurrent combustible cigarette use. The form of this interaction indicated that e-cigarette users higher in AS who also maintained more positive outcome expectancies for e-cigarette use reported more perceived benefits as well as more perceived risk of e-cigarette use and engaged in more (failed) attempts to quit e-cigarettes. Conclusions Overall, the current data suggest that individual differences in AS and positive expectancies may represent two important factors to consider in e-cigarette beliefs and quit attempts. Implications This study provides the first empirical evidence of a transdiagnostic construct (anxiety sensitivity) in relation to e-cigarette use and how it interplays with positive expectancies for e-cigarette use beliefs and behavior. These novel data suggest that future clinical research may benefit by understanding the potential therapeutic role of anxiety sensitivity and expectancies for e-cigarette use behavior.
Therapy with Recombinant Leukocyte Growth Factors

The complete blood count (CBC) is one of the most commonly obtained laboratory tests in Neonatology. When a neonatologist finds a low blood concentration of neutrophils, it can be expected as in a neonate with septic shock, or it can be unanticipated and puzzling. A neonatologist finding neutropenia might wonder: What conditions should I consider in the differential diagnosis? Will the neutropenia be a significant clinical problem or will it be trivial and transient? Should I order rG-CSF? This chapter will focus on the last of these questions, reviewing the studies and the reasoning involved in this decision, and will include an algorithm as a guide to answering this question.
Disturbed State Concept (DSC) for Constitutive Modeling of Geologic Materials and Beyond

The disturbed state concept (DSC) has been used for constitutive modeling of soils (sands and clays). It has been also used for other materials such as rocks, rockfill, asphalt, concrete, silicon, polymers, and interfaces and joints. Because of its generality and unified nature, it has found applications for topics such as active and passive earth pressures, and representation of transfer function for piles. It also can include critical state and self organized criticality (SOC) as special cases. This paper presents a brief description of the DSC and then lists publications by the Author and Coworkers, and “by Other Researchers” on the DSC and its applications. A review is also presented about other available models for Geomaterials and the rationale for the need and development of the DSC.
Critical Points at Infinity of Mixed Type

If a critical point at infinity \(\bar z\) has some characteristic ξ-pieces and some noncharacteristic ξ-pieces, the definition of the cones of \(\bar z\) changes and adapts, according also to whether \(\bar z\) is of the third kind along these ξ-pieces or not.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Spinal Cord Injury

During the last decades electrophysiological studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have demonstrated significant reorganization in the corticospinal system after human spinal cord injury (SCI). Evidence has shown that the latency and thresholds of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by TMS in upper and lower limb muscles are increased after SCI regardless of the time of injury. Electrophysiological studies indicated that corticospinal reorganization may contribute to aspects of functional recovery after SCI. Repetitive TMS has been used to induce long-lasting changes in corticospinal excitability and improvements in functional outcomes but their effect remains limited and inconsistent. Together, these studies revealed a large plastic capacity of the corticospinal system after SCI. Increasing our knowledge of the role of corticospinal plasticity in functional restoration after SCI may support the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.
Using Zebrafish to Study Collective Cell Migration in Development and Disease.

Cellular migration is necessary for proper embryonic development as well as maintenance of adult health. Cells can migrate individually or in groups in a process known as collective cell migration. Collectively migrating cohorts maintain cell-cell contacts, group polarization, and exhibit coordinated behavior. This mode of migration is important during numerous developmental processes including tracheal branching, blood vessel sprouting, neural crest cell migration and others. In the adult, collective cell migration is important for proper wound healing and is often misappropriated during cancer cell invasion. A variety of genetic model systems are used to examine and define the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind collective cell migration including border cell migration and tracheal branching in Drosophila melanogaster, neural crest cell migration in chick and Xenopus embryos, and posterior lateral line primordium (pLLP) migration in zebrafish. The pLLP is a group of about 100 cells that begins migrating around 22 hours post fertilization along the lateral aspect of the trunk of the developing embryo. During migration, clusters of cells are deposited from the trailing end of the pLLP; these ultimately differentiate into mechanosensory organs of the lateral line system. As zebrafish embryos are transparent during early development and the pLLP migrates close to the surface of the skin, this system can be easily visualized and manipulated in vivo. These advantages together with the amenity to advance genetic methods make the zebrafish pLLP one of the premier model systems for studying collective cell migration. This review will describe the cellular behaviors and signaling mechanisms of the pLLP and compare the pLLP to collective cell migration in other popular model systems. In addition, we will examine how this type of migration is hijacked in various types of collectively invading cancer cells.
Reduced Heat Generation During Magnetic Stimulation of Rat Sciatic Nerve Using Current Waveform Truncation

Current truncating circuit designs used in some controllable pulse width transcranial magnetic stimulation systems can be adapted for use with the peripheral nervous system. Such a scaled-down stimulator produces neuromuscular activation using less stimulus energy than described in previous reports of sciatic nerve stimulation. To evaluate the energy reductions possible with current truncation, we performed six in vivo experiments in rats where the magnetic stimulating coil abutted the sciatic nerve. We used electromyographic data to quantify neuromuscular response, with a criterion level of 20%-of-maximum to indicate a useful level of neuromuscular activation. The energy required to evoke this criterion response from muscles innervated by the sciatic nerve was reduced by approximately 34% from 10.7J with a stimulus waveform lasting 300 ${\mu }\text{s}$ to 7.1J with a waveform lasting 50 ${\mu }\text{s}$ . In water, the 300 ${\mu }\text{s}$ pulse heated the coil by 0.30°C whereas the 50 ${\mu }\text{s}$ pulse heated the coil by 0.15°C. Truncated-waveform magnetic stimulation systems can be used in basic research and clinical applications not requiring rapidly pulsed stimuli. An example of such a clinical application is left vagus nerve stimulation, a treatment that is reported to reduce epileptic partial-onset seizures.
Specifying Multilevel Mixture Selection Models in Propensity Score Analysis

Causal inference with observational data is challenging, as the assignment to treatment is often not random and people may have different reasons to receive or to be assigned to the treatment. Moreover, the analyst may not have access to all of the important variables and may face omitted variable bias as well as selection bias in nonexperimental studies. It is known that fixed effects models are robust against unobserved cluster variables while random effects models provide biased estimates of model parameters in the presence of omitted variables. This study further investigates the properties of fixed effects models as an alternative to the common random effects models for identifying and classifying subpopulations or “latent classes” when selection or outcome processes are heterogeneous. A recent study by Suk and Kim (2018) found that linear probability models outperform standard logistic selection models in terms of the extraction of the correct number of latent classes, and the authors continue to search for optimal model specifications of mixture selection models across different conditions, such as strong and weak selection, various numbers of clusters and cluster sizes. It is found that fixed-effects models outperform random effects models in terms of classifying units and estimating treatment effects when cluster size is small.
The Health Benefits of a Pedometer-Based 100,000 Steps/Week Physical Activity Program

Pedometers can be an effective tool to increase step counts in a physically inactive population. In a more active population, pedometers may also be useful for further increasing physical activity and improving cardiovascular disease risk factors. Our purpose was to assess the adherence and determine the health impact of a 100,000 steps/week (14,286 steps/day) goal in a somewhat-active (7500–9999 steps/day) to active (10,000–12,500 steps/day) population. Thirty-two apparently healthy subjects, 13 males (age 44 ± 14 years) and 19 females (age 39 ± 13 years) who had a baseline activity level between 7500 and 12,500 steps/day, were studied. Participants were assessed prior to and 16 weeks after completing a 100,000 steps/week intervention. Pre- and post-assessments of health included body composition, resting blood pressure, blood lipid profile, fasting blood glucose, and a 3-min walk test to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. Fifty-three percent of participants adhered (≥ 90,000 steps/week) to the 100,000 steps/week physical activity program yet all participants increased their stepping by 23,303 ± 11,480 steps/week. With increased stepping, significant improvements in body composition were observed. Improvements included reduced body mass index (pre: 27.2 ± 3.6 kg/m2; post: 26.9 ± 3.6 kg/m2; P = 0.026), reduced total percent body fat (pre: 35.7 ± 9.9%; post: 34.3 ± 10.4%; P < 0.001), and reduced waist circumference (pre: 83.8 ± 10.2 cm; post: 81.5 ± 10.0 cm; P = 0.001). An unexpected increase was observed for low density lipoprotein cholesterol (pre: 109.7 ± 22.7 mg/dL; post: 117.6 ± 20.4 mg/dL; P < 0.05). Individuals who were previously somewhat-active or active can gain additional health benefits, particularly improvements in body composition, by increasing to 100,000 steps/week with the use of a pedometer.
Testing the relation between disgust and general avoidance behavior

Abstract Disgust is posited to serve a disease-avoidance function, signaling the potential presence of a contaminant and encouraging prophylactic behavior. Indeed, some research indicates that disgust sensitivity is associated with avoidance of specific, disgust-related stimuli. However, disgust may be related to more general behavioral avoidance tendencies, but relatively little research has empirically tested this link. Across two studies, we sought to fill this gap. In Study 1, participants completed measures of disgust sensitivity, as well as a performance-based task and a self-report measure of approach-avoidance tendencies. Greater disgust sensitivity was generally correlated with more self-reported avoidance tendencies and more avoidance behavior of positive stimuli in the performance-based task. In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to either a disgust or control condition, which entailed consuming disgusting flavored or normally flavored jellybeans, respectively. They then completed the performance-based measure of avoidance. Participants in the disgust condition exhibited more avoidance behavior than participants in the control condition. Across both studies, disgust was associated with avoidance tendencies. These findings have broad implications for the role of disgust is shaping worldview and attitudes, in addition to disease avoidance.
Compaction of machining chips: Extended experiments and modeling

Abstract The process of compaction of machining chips inside a cylindrical processing chamber is investigated. This process can be either an independent process or the first step in the Friction Extrusion Process (FEP) where the consolidated chips are softened due to frictional heating and are turned into a wire through an extrusion hole in the die. The current study provides an extension to our previous study in order to determine experimentally the Poisson's ratio as a function of the relative density during compaction. This determination is done through measurements of strains on the outer surface of the processing chamber containing the machining chips. The elastic theory of a thick-walled cylinder under internal pressure is employed to relate the surface strain measurements to stress and strain states at the processing chamber-chips interface. Also, the loading machine compliance effect is removed from the compaction and uniaxial test results whereas in the previous work it is implicitly assumed that the loading machine is rigid so that the measured axial deformation is taken to be entirely due to the deformation of the compacted chips. The porous elastic-plastic material model developed previously is extended to model the mechanical behavior of the chips during the compaction process. Simulation predictions of the axial stress-strain curves are performed and the predicted data are found to have a good agreement with experimental data.
Performance Characteristics of a Targeted Sequencing Platform for Simultaneous Detection of Single Nucleotide Variants, Insertions/Deletions, Copy Number Alterations, and Gene Fusions in Cancer Genome

Context.— An increasing number of molecular laboratories are implementing next-generation sequencing platforms to identify clinically actionable and relevant genomic alterations for precision oncol...
Evolving risk of therapy-related myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia (tMDS/AML) following modern cancer therapies.

7516Background: Data describing risks of tMDS/AML after targeted and immunotherapy (IO) agents are lacking. Melanoma (Mel) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are considered chemotherapy insensitive and...
Evaluation of adhesive performance of a mixture of soy, sorghum and canola proteins

Abstract Soy protein has been the most widely researched protein-based adhesive; however, soy protein remains an expensive product because of its competitive uses in both food and feed industries. To mitigate such competition, this project was aimed to investigate protein composites by mixing low value sorghum and canola proteins into soy proteins. In addition to cost reduction, a novel composite with optimal composition of three protein were identified showing superior adhesion properties. For example, compared to soy protein alone, the optimum protein mixture (sorghum:canola:soy = 3:2:5) had a 63 % increase in dry adhesion strength, 103 % increase in wet adhesion strength, and 61 % increase in soaked adhesion strength. The physiochemical properties of different protein samples were characterized using rheometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography, SDS-PAGE and surface hydrophobicity analysis. Protein analysis showed that the improved adhesive performance was likely due to optimizing protein molecular weight distribution and hydrophobicity. The present study demonstrates a simple, straight forward approach to improve soy protein-based adhesion performance and also reduce the overall cost of the plant protein-based composites as adhesives.
Using the MoBI motion capture system to rapidly and accurately localize EEG electrodes in anatomic space

During mobile brain/body imaging (MoBI) experiments, electroencephalography and motion capture systems are used in concert to record high temporal resolution neural activity and movement kinematics while participants perform demanding perceptual and cognitive tasks in a naturalistic environment. A typical MoBI setup involves positioning multi-channel electrode caps based on anatomical fiducials as well as experimenter and participant intuition regarding the scalp midpoint location (i.e., Cz). Researchers often use the "template" electrode locations provided by the manufacturer, however, the "actual" electrode locations can vary based on each participant's head morphology. Accounting for differences in head morphologies could provide more accurate clinical diagnostic information when using MoBI to identify neurological deficits in patients with motor, sensory, or cognitive impairments. Here, we asked whether the existing motion capture system used in a MoBI setup could be easily adapted to improve spatial localization of electrodes across participants without requiring additional or specialized equipment that might impede clinical adoption. Using standard electrode configurations, infrared markers were placed on a subset of electrodes and anatomical fiducials, and the remaining electrode locations were estimated using spherical or ellipsoid models. We identified differences in event-related potentials between "template" and "actual" electrode locations during a Go/No-Go task (p < 9.8e-5) and an object-manipulation task (p < 9.8e-5). Thus, the motion capture system already used in MoBI experiments can be effectively deployed to accurately register and quantify the neural activity. Improving the spatial localization without needing specialized hardware or additional setup time to the workflow has important real-world implications for translating MoBI to clinical environments.
Passive, free-space heterodyne laser gyroscope

Laser gyroscopes making use of the Sagnac effect have been used as highly accurate rotation sensors for many years. First used in aerospace and defense applications, these devices have more recently been used for precision seismology and in other research settings. In particular, mid-sized (~1 m-scale) laser gyros have been under development as tilt sensors to augment the adaptive active seismic isolation systems in terrestrial interferometric gravitational wave detectors. The most prevalent design is the 'active' gyroscope, in which the optical ring cavity used to measure the Sagnac degeneracy breaking is itself a laser resonator. In this article, we describe another topology: a 'passive' gyroscope, in which the sensing cavity is not itself a laser but is instead tracked using external laser beams. While subject to its own limitations, this design is free from the deleterious lock-in effects observed in active systems, and has the advantage that it can be constructed using commercially available components. We demonstrate that our device achieves comparable sensitivity to those of similarly sized active laser gyroscopes.
Does MRI-guided TULSA provide a targeted approach to ablation?

MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation is an exciting, minimally invasive technology with the potential to provide targeted ablation of prostate cancer tissue. At 3 years, functional outcomes remain good with 76% remaining free from salvage treatment. Future studies using a focal approach may provide evidence for widespread uptake of this technology.
SegAlign: A Scalable GPU-Based Whole Genome Aligner

Pairwise Whole Genome Alignment (WGA) is a crucial first step to understanding evolution at the DNA sequence-level. Pairwise WGA of thousands of currently available species genomes could help make biological discoveries, however, computing them for even a fraction of the millions of possible pairs is prohibitive – WGA of a single pair of vertebrate genomes (human-mouse) takes 11 hours on a 96-core Amazon Web Services (AWS) instance (c5.24xlarge). This paper presents SegAlign – a scalable, GPU-accelerated system for computing pairwise WGA. SegAlign is based on the standard seed-filter-extend heuristic, in which the filtering stage dominates the runtime (e.g. 98% for human-mouse WGA), and is accelerated using GPU(s). Using three vertebrate genome pairs, we show that SegAlign provides a speedup of up to $14 \times $ on an 8-GPU, 64-core AWS instance (p3.16xlarge) for WGA and nearly $2.3 \times $ reduction in dollar cost. SegAlign also allows parallelization over multiple GPU nodes and scales efficiently.
Exemptions to state laws regulating opioid prescribing for patients with cancer-related pain: A summary.

Background Cancer-related pain is highly prevalent and is commonly treated with prescription opioids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now encourages conservative opioid prescribing in recognition of potential opioid-related risks. However, CDC guidelines have been misapplied to patients with cancer. Recent laws at the state level reflect the CDC's guidance by limiting opioid prescribing. It is unclear whether states exempt cancer-related pain, which may affect cancer pain management. Thus, the objective of this study was to summarize current state-level opioid prescribing laws and exemptions for patients with cancer. Methods Two study authors reviewed publicly available state records to identify the most recent opioid prescribing laws and cancer-related exemptions. Documents were required to have the force of law and be enacted at the time of the search (November 2020). Results Results indicated that 36 states had enacted formal legislation limiting the duration and/or dosage of opioid prescriptions, and this was largely focused on acute pain and/or initial prescriptions. Of these states, 32 (89%) explicitly exempted patients with cancer-related pain from opioid prescribing laws. Exemptions were broadly applied, with few states providing specific guidance for cancer-related pain prescribing. Conclusions The results of this study indicate that most states recognize the importance of prescription opioids in cancer-related pain management. However, drafting nuanced and clinically relevant opioid legislation is challenging for a heterogenous population. Additionally, current attempts to regulate opioid prescribing by state law may unintentionally undermine patient-centered approaches to pain management. Additional resources are needed to facilitate clarity at the intersection of opioid-related legislation and clinical management for cancer-related pain. Lay summary In this review of state-level legislation, current limitations on opioid prescribing are summarized and detailed information is provided on exemptions for patients with cancer. The majority of states have enacted specific dosage and/or duration limitations on opioid prescribing while including broad exemptions for cancer-related pain. Cancer-related pain exemptions are important to include, as is consistent with national and professional guidelines (eg, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). However, these exemptions may also unintentionally undermine patient-centered approaches to pain management. Additional resources, including specific guidance for patients with cancer, are needed to facilitate clarity at the intersection of opioid-related legislation and clinical pain management. ​.
Designing a Replicable Data Infrastructure for Education Research

The field of education research suffers from a lack of replication of existing research studies. SERA (The Special Education Research Accelerator) is a proposed crowdsourcing platform being developed by a research team at the University of Virginia’s School of Education that intends to help provide a solution by enabling large-scale replication of research studies in special education. In this paper, we present our design and implementation of a cloud-based data pipeline for a research study that could serve as a model for SERA. Cloud-based design considerations include: financial cost, technical feasibility, security concerns, automation capabilities, reproducibility, and scalability [1] [17]. We have designed an architectural frame-work that practitioners in education research can use to host their studies in the cloud and take advantage of automation, reproducibility, transparency, and accessibility. Implementation of our platform design includes automating the data extraction and cleaning, populating the database, and performing analytics and tracking. Additionally, the project includes the development of a web-facing API for researchers to query the database with no SQL knowledge necessary as well as a web-facing dashboard to present select information and metrics to the applied research team. Our data pipeline is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides functionality for automation, storage, database hosting, and APIs. We present this architecture to demonstrate how data could flow through the pipeline of SERA to achieve the goals of large-scale replication research.
In Defense of At-Large Representation: A Positive Approach

This paper reconsiders the merits of at-large representation in municipal councils from a positive perspective. After briefly reviewing the normative justifications for at-large representation, I develop a voting model of a council election that includes some at-large representation and show that under this model a citizen's voting power is maximized when the number of at-large representatives is roughly the square root of the total number of representatives. This is the first positive model to establish the benefits of at-large representation and the only positive model of an election that produces such explicit recommendations. The voting model I employ is based on an earlier voting model developed by John Banzhaf that has been used in litigation several times. I provide both an explication of his model and a review and critique of its uses by the courts. I conclude the essay with a discussion of the legal and policy implications of these results.
Simultaneous determination of residues of chloramphenicol, florfenicol, florfenicol amine, and thiamphenicol in shrimp tissue by gas chromatography with electron capture detection.

A gas chromatographic (GC) method is presented for determining residues of chloramphenicol (CAP), florfenicol (FF), florfenicol amine (FFa), and thiamphenicol (TAP) in shrimp tissues, with meta-nitrochloramphenicol (mCAP) as the internal standard. The composited shrimp is extracted with basic ethyl acetate, followed by an acetonitrile-basic ethyl acetate mixture. This extract is centrifuged, filtered, evaporated, and reconstituted in water; the reconstituted extract is acidified, defatted with hexane, and passed through a propylsulfonic acid (PRS) and C 18 solid-phase extraction (SPE) system. The C 18 SPE column is eluted with methanol, and the PRS SPE column is eluted with basic MeOH plus counter ion. The combined eluates are evaporated, reconstituted in acetonitrile, and derivatized with Sylon BFT. After derivatization, the addition of toluene directly to the sample, followed by the addition of basic water, quenches the derivatization process. After centrifugation, the organic layer is carefully removed, and the analytes are determined by GC with electron capture detection. Shrimp tissues were fortified with fenicols (i.e., CAP, FF, FFa, and TAP) at 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 ng/mL. Overall recoveries were 88, 101, 91, and 84% with overall interassay (between-day) variabilities (i.e., relative standard deviations) of 5.3, 9.4, 12.8, and 7.4% for CAP, FF, FFa, and TAP, respectively. The method detection limits were calculated as 0.7, 1.4, 2.4, and 1.3 ng/g (ppb) for CAP, FF, FFa, and TAP, respectively, based on a 10 g sample. The quantitation limit as determined empirically by this method is the lower limit of the standard curve, which is about 5 ng/g (ppb) for each analyte.
Beyond the genome to tissue proteomics.

The ongoing revolution in molecular medicine can be divided into three phases. The first phase is gene discovery, in which the tools of molecular biology are applied to identify and sequence previously unknown genes. Identification of most of the expressed human genes will be accomplished before 2005. The second phase is molecular fingerprinting, which correlates the genomic state, the complementary DNA expression pattern, and the protein repertoire with the functional status of the cells or tissue. The promise of this phase is that expression profiles can uncover clues to functionally important molecules, and will generate information to tailor a treatment to the individual patient. The third phase is the synthesis of proteomic information into functional pathways and circuits in cells and tissues. This must take into account the dynamic state of protein post-translational modifications and protein–protein or protein–DNA interactions. Through an integrated genomic/proteomic analysis, the ultimate outcome will be an actual functional understanding of the molecular events that underlie normal development and disease pathophysiology. This higher level of functional understanding will be the basis for true rational therapeutic design.
O USO DE FEEDBACK DO SUPERVISOR E FEEDBACK AFIXADO PUBLICAMENTE PARA AUMENTAR A SEGURANÇA EM UM AMBIENTE DE FÁBRICA

The effects of safety-related and behaviorally relevant verbal and posted feedback from supervisors in a manufacturing plant were evaluated using a multiple baseline across behaviors design. During baseline, plant safety averaged 35.3% for the behaviors and conditions on Checklist 1, and 35.0% for the behaviors and conditions on Checklist 2. When verbal supervisory feedback was implemented, the plant safety average increased to 50.6% for Checklist 1, and 75.7% for Checklist 2. When posted supervisory feedback was added to the intervention package, the plant safety average further increased to 58.0% for Checklist 1, and 83.3% for Checklist 2. These results are consistent with previous findings that performance feedback can increase critical work behaviors. Key words: health, injury prevention, behavior-based safety, feedback, accidents.
Analyzing draft speak to craft radically concise text

The term draft speak references common turns-of-phrase that writers instinctively use when first working out their message. Such writing turns out longer and less clear than readers generally prefer. Increasingly, readers view texts on screens of limited size, smartphones and tablets where clear but concise text minimizes panning/scrolling. However, writers are typically instructed to "be concise" without adequate text-analysis tools to create concision, except by intuition and time-consuming trial and error. This paper discusses grammatical structures that writers can consciously target to optimize text concision.
Phenol sulfotransferase. II. Inactivation by phenylglyoxal, N-ethylmaleimide and ribonucleotide 2',3'-dialdehydes.

Abstract Phenylglyoxal, a chemical modifying agent for arginine residues, produced rapid inactivation of a rat liver phenol sulfotransferase (3-phosphoadenylylsulfate:phenol sulfotransferase, EC 2.8.2.1). Enzyme inactivation was accompanied by incorporation of 1.5 mol [7− 14 C]phenylglyoxal per mol enzyme. 3′-Phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS), the sulfate donor, prevented inactivation and decreased [7− 14 C]phenylglyoxal incorporation to 0.78 mol/mol enzyme. The sulfhydryl-modifying agent, N -ethylmaleimide, also caused rapid inactivation of phenol sulfotransferase with concomitant incorporation of 2.35 mol N-[ 3 H ]ethylmaleimide per mol enzyme. These results suggest a possible role for arginine residues as anionic recognition sites for the sulfate donor PAPS, and indicate the presence of essential sulfhydryl residues on phenol sulfotransferase. Ribonucleotide dialdehydes (ATPDA, ADPDA, AMPDA, APSDA), but not the corresponding 2′, 3′-acyclic nucleotides (ATPDO, ADPDO AMPDO, APSDO), produced rapid and irreversible inactivation of phenol sulfotransferase. These ribonucleotide dialdehydes appear to modify the active site of the enzyme, since inclusion of the sulfate donor, PAPS, or the product, adenosine 3′, 5′-bisphosphate (PAP), in the incubation mixture prevented loss of enzyme activity. In contrast, the sulfate acceptor, p -nitrophenol, did not show similar protective effects. Kinetic studies indicated that the ribonucleotide dialdehydes inactivated the enzyme via a unimolecular reaction within a dissociable enzyme-inhibitor complex rather than via a nonspecific bimolecular process. Radioactively labeled ribonucleotide dialdehydes (e.g., [2, 8 −3 H]ATP) were incorporated into protein concomitant with loss of enzyme activity. The incorporated ligand could be removed by dialysis in phosphate or Tris buffer. The protein-ligand complex could be stabilized to dialysis by pretreatment with sodium borohydride. The results of these studies suggest that ribonucleotide dialdehydes are affinity labeling reagents for phenol sulfotransferase, causing enzyme inactivation by the possible formation of a Schiff base adduct with an active-site lysine residue.
Impact of correlation on the capacity of MIMO channels

This paper presents exact results on (i) the moment generating function (MGF) of the multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channel capacity and (ii) the outage probability and the capacity complementary distribution function (CCDF) of MIMO maximal ratio combining (MRC) systems both in correlated Rayleigh fading environment. We then deduce from the first result both the mean and the variance of this capacity as well as the Gaussian-approximated capacity CCDF. The mathematical formalism is illustrated by some numerical examples that show the impact of various parameters on the capacity of correlated MIMO channels.
The effect of time on training retention rates of United States Air Force Loadmaster apprentice students

The purpose of this study was to determine if extended periods of time out of the training environment has an effect on the retention of training. The rationale for conducting this study was based on the fact that little research has been done in this area. The findings of the study indicated that extensive periods of time out of training do significantly influence the amount of training retained fromone loadmaster course to the other. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between the number of days out of training and the posttest scores. The optimum training break between courses appears to be between 10 and 20 days. Training retention is apparently affected by time.
Still Seeking Rents, After all these Years? Testing a Neo-Beardian Account of the Birth of the Bank of the United States

Charles Beard's Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy (1915), though less renowned than his Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (1913), proffers a similar thesis: The voting behavior of members of the first federal Congress (1789-1791), especially on core features of Hamilton's program for reviving public credit, is well-explained by the economic interests of the actors. Beard offered some data on securities ownership among MCs, as federal bonds were expected to appreciate upon passage of the debt funding and national bank bills. Writing on central bank origins over eighty years later, Lawrence Broz (1997) claimed that the rent-seeking interests of individual actors were sufficient to explain the creation of the Bank of the United States. Broz offered no data in support of this neo-Beardian hypothesis. This paper is designed to review the 1791 debate over the national bank bill and test Broz's hypothesis using new data sources. An extensive database of antebellum securities transactions produced by Robert Wright of NYU's Stern School of Business represents one supplement to Beard's original figures, while hand examination of Treasury Department ledgers at the National Archives satellite location in College Park, Maryland offers additional evidence for evaluation. With these improved data, I test Broz's sufficiency claim in multiple ways. First, I examine securities ownership and voting patterns in the chamber as a whole; here Broz's hypothesis narrowly fails. However, when sufficiency is conceived in terms of attracting the support of critical voting blocs, Broz's hypothesis fares far better. Specifically, a regional test of Broz's hypothesis reveals that Northern securities holders broke overwhelmingly for the bank bill, and in numbers sufficient to cover the margin of victory. As such, I conclude that an actor-centered account of the Bank's origins has empirical support.
Variable Elimination and Chaining in a Resolution-based Prover for Inequalities

A modified resolution procedure is described which has been designed to prove theorems about general linear inequalities. This prover uses "variable elimination", and a modified form of inequality chaining (in which chaining is allowed only on so called "shielding terms"), and a decision procedure for proving ground inequality theorems. These techniques and others help to avoid the explicit use of certain axioms, such as the transitivity and interpolation axioms for inequalities, in order to reduce the size of the search space and to speed up proofs. Several examples are given along with results from a computer implementation. In particular this program has proved some difficult theorems such as: The sum of two continuous functions is continuous.