cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intravascular ultrasound imaging of human coronary arteries in vivo. Analysis of tissue characterizations with comparison to in vitro histological specimens.

BACKGROUNDIntravascular ultrasound imaging was performed in 27 patients after coronary balloon angioplasty to quantify the lumen and atheroma cross-sectional areas.METHODS AND RESULTSA 20-MHz ultrasound catheter was inserted through a 1.6-mm plastic introducer sheath across the dilated area to obtain real-time images at 30 times/sec. The ultrasound images distinguished the lumen from atheroma, calcification, and the muscular media. The presence of dissection between the media and the atheroma was well visualized. These observations of tissue characterization were compared with an in vitro study of 20 human atherosclerotic artery segments that correlated the ultrasound images to histological preparations. The results indicate that high-quality intravascular ultrasound images under controlled in vitro conditions can provide accurate microanatomic information about the histological characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques. Similar quality cross-sectional ultrasound images were also obtained in human corona...
Accountable Care Organizations: What Radiologists Should Know

ACO : Accountable Care Organization The landscape of health care is quickly changing, with new legislation and economic factors driving health care reform. Yet, fundamentally many health care delivery professionals, including physicians, remain unaware of the changing landscape and its
Roles of BRCA1 in DNA damage repair: a link between development and cancer

DNA damage causes devastating problems for developing organisms. Recent studies reveal that BRCA1 plays essential roles in homologous recombinational repair, non-homologous end joining, and nucleotide excision repair. BRCA1 mediates these functions by interaction with components of the DNA repair machinery and by regulating expression of genes that are involved in these DNA damage repair pathways. Consequently, the absence of BRCA1 results in accumulation of chromosome damage, cell cycle abnormalities and apoptosis, leading to developmental abnormalities and adult tumorigenesis. In this review, we discuss recent advances regarding our understanding of the functions of BRCA1 in DNA damage repair and cellular responses that link development and cancer.
Order effects in contingency learning: The role of task complexity

Dennis and Ahn (2001) found that during contingency learning, initial evidence influences causal judgments more than does later evidence (a primacy effect), whereas Lopez, Shanks, Almaraz, and Fernandez (1998) found the opposite (a recency effect). We propose that in contingency learning, people use initial evidence to develop an anchoring hypothesis that tends to be underadjusted by later evidence, resulting in a primacy effect. Thus, factors interfering with initial hypothesis development, such as simultaneously learning too many contingencies, as in Lopez et al., would reduce the primacy effect. Experiment 1 showed a primacy effect with learning contingencies involving only one outcome but no primacy effect with two outcomes. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the magnitude of the primacy effect correlated with participants' verbal working memory capacity. It is concluded that a critical moderator for exhibition of the primacy effect is task complexity, presumably because it interferes with initial hypothesis development.
Protein kinase C and its 80-kilodalton substrate protein in neuroblastoma cell neurite outgrowth

A potential role of the protein kinase C (PKC) system in differentiation of human neuroblastoma cell line LA-N-5 was investigated. It was found that neurite outgrowth induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA, 81 nM) was associated with a down-regulation of PKC as determined independently by immunocytochemistry, immunoblot, and enzyme activity assay. Down-regulation of PKC in cells induced to differentiate by retinoic acid (1 microM) was less pronounced, whereas it was undetected in cells induced to differentiate by nerve growth factor (100 ng/ml). The in vitro phosphorylation of an 80-kilodalton protein present in control LA-N-5 cells or in cells treated with TPA, retinoic acid, or nerve growth factor for 1 day decreased to various extents at days 4 or 7 concomitant with neuritogenesis. Pretreatment of LA-N-5 cells with a high concentration (1 microM) of TPA to deplete cellular PKC rendered the cells unresponsive to the differentiating effect of the agents. It was observed that CHP-100 cells, another human neuroblastoma line shown to be resistant to differentiation induced by the agents, had a reduced PKC level and the amount of in vitro phosphorylation of the 80-kilodalton protein was greatly reduced in control cells and remained relatively unchanged when the cells were treated with the agents for up to 7 days. The present studies suggested that PKC and its 80-kilodalton substrate protein were likely involved in initiation and/or progression of LA-N-5 cell differentiation induced by TPA and that separate PKC-independent pathways might also be involved in the differentiating effect of retinoic acid or nerve growth factor.
Parallel Rendering for Legible Illustrative Visualizations of Dense Geometries on Commodity CPUs

This paper presents a parallel visualization technique for illustrative rendering of dense three-dimensional (3D) geometry data sets. Our approach maps the depth information in each geometry onto various visual dimensions of graphical representations, including shape, color, brightness, transparency, and size, to achieve legible display in dense geometry environments where visual clutters often hinder perception and navigation in the visualizations. At the same time, we leverage legacy CPU computing power to overcome performance challenges as a result of the depth-dependent illustrations used for the visual legibility enhancement. This is realized by a novel parallel rendering algorithm we developed particularly for illustrative visualizations of depth-dependent stylized dense geometries at interactive frame rates. While the computation could be performed atop modern GPU devices, we target a parallel visualization framework that enables it to efficiently run on commodity CPUs, which are much more available than GPUs for ordinary users. We evaluated our framework with visualizations of depth-stylized geometries derived from 3D diffusion tensor MRI data, by comparing its efficiency with several other alternative parallelization platforms with respect to the same computations. Results show that our approach can efficiently render highly dense 3D geometry data sets and, thus, it offers not only an alternative and complementary, but also more adoptable, solution to users in contrast to parallel visualization environments that rely on GPUs.
Integrated photometric redshifts and SED fitting as tool for galaxy evolution studies

Photometric redshifts, i.e. redshifts derived by comparing an observed spectral-energy distribution (SED) to a range of empirical or theoretical SED templates, are commonly used in studies of the high-redshift Universe. Often, the next step is to use these redshifts as fixed input parameters for SED fitting to derive physical properties for each galaxy. However, this two-step approach ignores degeneracies between redshift and, e.g., stellar mass. Here I present first results using an improved approach that integrates both methods. I find that mass determinations are, on average, three times more uncertain than they seem from the common two-step approach. If not accounted for, these underestimated uncertainties can impact our ability of making meaningful comparisons between observations and simulations of galaxy evolution.
“You” Got that Right

A 63-year-old African American male with a history of hypertension is admitted to the hospital. With sepsis and hypotension and is scheduled for a lumbar puncture procedure. The hemoglobin (Hgb) level is 6.9 g/dL, the platelet count is 65 K/µL, the prothrombin time (PT) is 16.5 s (international normalized ratio, INR 1.4), and the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) is 42.0 s. The patient’s transfusion history is unknown. There is a request for two units of RBCs, one unit of single donor (apheresis) platelets, and one unit of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) prior to the lumbar puncture.
13 SURGICAL TREATMENT OF PERIPHERAL ENTRAPMENT NEUROPATHY OF THE LOWER EXTREMITIES: OUTCOMES FROM 158 CONSECUTIVE SURGICAL CASES.

Objective We report the outcome of 158 patients with peripheral entrapment neuropathy treated surgically by multiple nerve decompressions of the peroneal and tibial system. This is a promising approach for the treatment of pain, numbness, and balance disturbance in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with peripheral nerve entrapment syndromes in the lower extremities. Methods Records of 158 consecutive patients with diabetic and nondiabetic neuropathy, treated surgically by multiple nerve decompression, were reviewed to document changes in the visual analogue scale, sensation improvement, reduction in pain medication requirement, and balance improvement. All patients underwent tarsal tunnel release and neurolysis of lower extremity nerves of the tibial and peroneal system as a concomitant part of the procedure. Patients offered surgical intervention met specific criteria including documented sensory abnormalities using neurosensory testing by the Pressure-Specified Sensory Device (PSSD) and a positive Tinel9s sign on examination over the involved nerve. Results Eighty-eight percent of the patients with preoperative numbness reported sensation improvement. Eighty-one percent of patients with balance disturbance reported improved balance after the procedure. From those patients who underwent the procedure mainly for pain relief, 83% reported an improvement in the visual analogue scale of more than 50% and 77% improved in more than 5 points of the scale. After the procedure, patients reported a decrease in their pain medication requirement (p ≥ .001), sensation improvement (p ≥ .001), and pain relief (p ≥ .001). Conclusion Similar to experiences found in the upper extremity, nerve decompression in the lower extremity is a safe and effective procedure to improve the quality of life of patients with peripheral neuropathy secondary to nerve compression. Documentation and staging of the severity of neuropathy with neurosensory testing and the presence of Tinel9s sign facilitate successful selection of surgical candidates. Decompression and neurolysis of compressed lower extremity nerves are associated with statistically significant improvement in the visual analogue scale and sensation. The great majority of patients are very satisfied with the results.
The University Political Education Entering Community

Community service is of great significance of education and management in higher education. Consequently the spiritual motivation should be conducted by strengthening the construction in management (executive) staff from both teachers and students , promoting the cultural ingredients in extra-curriculum activities and bettering the management mechanics (and system) for a stable and harmonious environment.
Distributed Weighted Extreme Learning Machine for Big Imbalanced Data Learning

Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) and its variants have been widely used in many big data learning applications where raw data with imbalanced class distribution can be easily found. Although there have been several works solving the machine learning and robust regression problems using MapReduce framework, they need multi-iterative computations. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel Distributed Weighted Extreme Learning Machine based on MapReduce framework, named DWELM, which can learn the big imbalanced training data efficiently. Firstly, after indepth analyzing the properties of centralized Weighted ELM (WELM), it can be found out that the matrix multiplication operators in WELM are decomposable. Next, a DWELM based on MapReduce framework can be developed, which can first calculate the matrix multiplications effectively using two MapReduce Jobs in parallel, and then calculate the corresponding output weight vector with centralized computing. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on synthetic data to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed DWELM in learning big imbalanced training data with various experimental settings.
Concepts and Background of Causation

Since the beginning of history, natural science has been based on common experience. Primitive man observed things in space and in time and made conjectures for the explanation of natural phenomena (Lenzen, 1954). Such experiences led to the belief that the sun is the cause of light, that fire caused smoke, and that injury caused pain. They led to the concept that causation is a process by which one phenomenon, the cause, gives rise to another phenomenon, the effect.
Evaluation of a participative education process for increasing tween restraint use in Virginia: The Make it Click initiative

Abstract Introduction Nearly half of 8–12 year-old tweens killed in car crashes every year in the US are completely unrestrained, and the majority sit in the front seat. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a school-based program targeting increased safety restraint and back-seat use among tweens. Design and setting The multi-component school-wide program was evaluated via a pre-post control-group design in four public elementary schools in an economically disadvantaged, multi-ethnic urban community in southeastern Virginia. Study schools had 1184 students enrolled in third through sixth grades. Intervention The Make it Click Initiative was developed with input from student focus groups, surveys, and school personnel. Grounded in social cognitive theory and principles of behavioral psychology, the participative education program included: (a) competition to achieve a high rate of students buckled in the back; (b) a creativity contest with entries illustrating a car safety theme; (c) a series of parent education flyers; (d) car safety assignments that support state learning objectives; (e) a safety-themed play; (f) teacher newsletters; and (g) educational presentations. Main outcome measures Behavioral observations (N = 762) of children’s restraint and back seat use. Results Make it Click intervention schools’ observed safety belt use increased from 31.9% to 67.9%, and students in intervention schools were 3.3 times more likely to wear their belts at follow-up than students in control schools, X2(1) = 19.72, p Conclusions The program resulted in significant improvements in observed safety belt use that outlasted results observed locally from the national high visibility enforcement program alone. Theory-driven participative education programs can improve the safety practices of school-age children.
The Hα Emission of Nearby M Dwarfs and its Relation to Stellar Rotation

National Science Foundation (U.S.). Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship (Award AST-1602597)
An Analysis of Archaeofauna Recovered from a Russian Period Camp on St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska

This paper examines the history of the early Russian-American settlement of Zapadni (XPI-007) on St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs. An analysis of faunal remains recovered from the site during archaeological work done in association with The St. Paul History and Archaeology Project, led by Douglas Veltre and Allen McCartney in 2000 and 2001, supplements oral and written historical records. These well-preserved archaeofauna provide insight into the ethnic identity of the Unangax laborers who harvested northern fur seals ( Callorhinus ursinus ) near the site between AD 1787 and the early 1800s and a glimpse at the beginning of the creolization that affected both Unangax and Russian individuals. Although a small number of domesticated specimens were identified, the Zapadni faunal assemblage demonstrates the maintenance of traditional Unangax foodways during a time of intense colonialism and shows the overwhelming importance of northern fur seal pups as a subsistence resource.
Microcoaxial phacoemulsification Part 1: laboratory studies.

Purpose To examine and compare the fluidic, thermal, and incision behaviors of 2.2 mm microcoaxial and sleeveless bimanual phacoemulsification. Setting Private practice, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Method Fluidic performance of microcoaxial phacoemulsification and sleeveless bimanual microphacoemulsification was examined using a reduced-size irrigating sleeve and numerous irrigating choppers, respectively. Incision temperature during phacoemulsification, incision sealability after phacoemulsification, and incision leak were compared in cadaver eyes. Porcine eyes were used to determine whether a full-sized single-piece SN60AT intraocular lens (IOL) (AcrySof) could be inserted through a 2.2 mm incision. Results Fluidic comparison indicated greater irrigation flow and a more stable occlusion break response with the microcoaxial setup than with the sleeveless bimanual setup under the same test conditions. Incision temperature during phacoemulsification, incision sealability after phacoemulsification, and incision leakage tests indicated that the microcoaxial setup produced less temperature rise, better incision sealability, and less incision leakage. A full-sized SN60AT IOL could be inserted through a 2.2 mm incision. Conclusions Laboratory results indicate that microcoaxial phacoemulsification through a 2.2 mm incision offers fluidic-, thermal-, and incision-related benefits over sleeveless bimanual microphacoemulsification. Moreover, a full-sized single-piece acrylic IOL could be safely implanted without enlarging the 2.2 mm incision.
Assessment and control of the impermeability of graphene for atomically thin membranes and barriers

Two-dimensional materials such as graphene offer fundamentally transformative opportunities in membrane separations and as impermeable barriers, but the lack of facile methods to assess and control its ‘impermeability’ critically limits progress. Here we show that a simple etch of the growth catalyst (Cu) through defects in monolayer graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can be used to effectively assess graphene quality for membrane/barrier applications. Using feedback from the method to tune synthesis, we realize graphene with nearly no nanometer-scale defects as assessed by diffusion measurements, in contrast to commercially available graphene that is largely optimized for electronic applications. Interestingly, we observe clear evidence of leakage through larger defects associated with wrinkles in graphene, which are selectively sealed to realize centimeter-scale atomically thin barriers exhibiting <2% mass transport compared to the graphene support. Our work provides a facile method to assess and control the ‘impermeability’ of graphene and shows that future work should be directed towards the control of leakage associated with wrinkles.
Familiar Tonal Context Improves Accuracy of Pitch Interval Perception.

A fundamental feature of everyday music perception is sensitivity to familiar tonal structures such as musical keys. Many studies have suggested that a tonal context can enhance the perception and representation of pitch. Most of these studies have measured response time, which may reflect expectancy as opposed to perceptual accuracy. We instead used a performance-based measure, comparing participants’ ability to discriminate between a “small, in-tune” interval and a “large, mistuned” interval in conditions that involved familiar tonal relations (diatonic, or major, scale notes), unfamiliar tonal relations (whole-tone or mistuned-diatonic scale notes), repetition of a single pitch, or no tonal context. The context was established with a brief sequence of tones in Experiment 1 (melodic context), and a cadence-like two-chord progression in Experiment 2 (harmonic context). In both experiments, performance significantly differed across the context conditions, with a diatonic context providing a significant advantage over no context; however, no correlation with years of musical training was observed. The diatonic tonal context also provided an advantage over the whole-tone scale context condition in Experiment 1 (melodic context), and over the mistuned scale or repetition context conditions in Experiment 2 (harmonic context). However, the relatively small benefit to performance suggests that the main advantage of tonal context may be priming of expected stimuli, rather than enhanced accuracy of pitch interval representation.
Growth perturbations from stimulant medications and inhaled corticosteroids.

Stimulant medications for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for the treatment of asthma are two classes of medications that are commonly prescribed in pediatrics. Among other adverse effects of these medications, growth attenuation has long been a focus of investigation. With stimulants, growth deficits of 1–1.4 cm/year have been observed in the short term, mainly in the first 2 years of treatment, in a dose-dependent manner. Long-term studies on stimulants have reported divergent effects on growth, with many studies showing no clinically significant height deficits by adulthood. The study that followed the largest cohort of children on stimulants, however, reported an overall adult height deficit of 1.29 cm in subjects who had received stimulant medications, with mean adult height deficit of 4.7 cm among those taking the medication consistently. With ICS use, mild growth suppression is seen in the short term (particularly in the first year of therapy) with growth rates reduced by 0.4–1.5 cm/year. Available current evidence indicates that the impact of ICS use on adult height is not clinically significant, with effects limited to 1.2 cm or less. There is significant individual variability in growth suppression with ICS use, with the specific pharmacologic agent, formulation, dose exposure, age, puberty, medication adherence, and timing of administration being important modifying factors. Based on currently available evidence, the therapeutic benefits of ICS for management of asthma and stimulant medications for management of ADHD outweigh the potential risk for growth suppression. Strategies to minimize growth attenuation and other potential adverse effects of these medications include using the lowest efficacious dose, frequent assessments and dose titration. Particular vigilance is essential with concomitant use of multiple medications that can attenuate growth and to evaluate for potential adrenal insufficiency from ICS use.
Planetary science: Haze cools Pluto's atmosphere.

Modelling suggests that Pluto's atmospheric temperature is regulated by haze, unlike the other planetary bodies in the Solar System. The finding has implications for our understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres. See Letter p.352 Pluto's atmospheric temperature has been observed to be colder than predicted by standard theory. One possible explanation is the presence of water vapour, but it would have to be many orders of magnitude out of equilibrium to generate such a cool atmosphere. Xi Zhang and collaborators show through modelling that Pluto's atmospheric temperature is regulated by haze particles, rather than gas molecules, making it unique in the Solar System. This leads to a clear prediction that Pluto should be brighter than previously thought at mid-infrared wavelengths. This prediction should be testable next year with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Trends in Tracheostomy After Stroke: Analysis of the 1994 to 2013 National Inpatient Sample.

Background:Real-world data on long-term trends in the use of tracheostomy after stroke are limited.Methods:Patients who underwent tracheostomy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS), intracerebral hemorrh...
Randomized clinical trials and personalized medicine: A commentary on deaton and cartwright.

Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) have had a long, and often illustrious, history in the biomedical and clinical sciences. However, as Deaton and Cartwright make clear, population-based RCTs are assumption-laden and not necessarily the most appropriate or compelling strategies to use to assess an intervention in many settings. For example, the emergence of ‘personalized’ medicine, in which interventions are chosen for an individual patient based on that patient’s nuanced and possibly unique genetic or biochemical profile, has called into question the value of population-based RCTs. Although many researchers have proposed trial designs appropriate for advancing personalized medicine, this commentary focuses on the motivation and basic elements of three extensions and alternatives to traditional RCTs appropriate for personalized medicine. These extensions and alternatives to RCTs leverage modern developments in biomedical assays and health technologies, ‘big data’ collections and artificial intelligence, and include isolated N-of-1 trials, aggregated N-of-1 trials, trial designs that test an algorithm for matching interventions to patient profiles rather than testing a single intervention, and clinical and health ‘rapid learning systems.’ Ultimately, it is argued that although some elements of the traditional RCT are not likely to go away, how these elements are exploited to advance personalized medicine will be radically different than the way they were leveraged in population-based RCTs of the past.
Adaptive reduction of constitutive model-form error using a posteriori error estimation techniques

Abstract In engineering practice, models are typically kept as simple as possible for ease of setup and use, computational efficiency, maintenance, and overall reduced complexity to achieve robustness. In solid mechanics, a simple and efficient constitutive model may be favored over one that is more predictive, but is difficult to parameterize, is computationally expensive, or is simply not available within a simulation tool. In order to quantify the modeling error due to the choice of a relatively simple and less predictive constitutive model, we adopt the use of a posteriori model-form error-estimation techniques. Based on local error indicators in the energy norm, an algorithm is developed for reducing the modeling error by spatially adapting the material parameters in the simpler constitutive model. The resulting material parameters are not material properties per se, but depend on the given boundary-value problem. As a first step to the more general nonlinear case, we focus here on linear elasticity in which the “complex” constitutive model is general anisotropic elasticity and the chosen simpler model is isotropic elasticity. The algorithm for adaptive error reduction is demonstrated using two examples: (1) A transversely-isotropic plate with hole subjected to tension, and (2) a transversely-isotropic tube with two side holes subjected to torsion.
Conserving our National Water Resources

In considering the problem of conserving our national water resources, we are concerned with the various forms in which and places wherein water exists and the changes and effects which transpire in its travels, as well as the uses to which it is put. The problem is national in scope and involves every phase of the hydrologie cycle. Water occurs as liquid or ice in the oceans, lakes, rivers and other surface depressions; as liquid or frost in ground and underground storage; as clouds, fog, mist and vapor in suspension in the atmosphere. It changes from one to another of these forms and moves from one to another of these places. The hydrologie cycle (natural circulation) involves, (a) evaporation from exposed water and earth surfaces and transpiration from ground storage through the leaves of trees and other vegetation; (b) precipitation as rain, snow, fog or dew when the moisture laden air strikes sufficiently cool air to cause condensation; (c) absorption by the surface soil and infiltration into the underground strata of soil, sand, gravel or porous rock; (d) surface run-off by flow over the surface of the ground to creeks and rivers and thence to lakes and oceans when the rate of precipitation is greater than the rate of absorption and infiltration. The water stored by infiltration is known as ground water and the surface of the underground reservoir so created is called the water table. Absorption, infiltration and run-off are closely related. Absorption and infiltration vary with the characteristics of the soil and conditions which tend to retard or prevent surface run-off. Run-off varies with intensity and duration of precipitation, the absorption and infiltration capacity of the soil and conditions which tend to assist surface and stream flows. Man seriously disturbed the natural arrangement by acts which interfered with evaporation and transpiration, which decreased absorption, infiltration and ground-water storage, and which accelerated run-off. The primary factors of this human interference have been, and still are, the stripping of the forests without reforestation; unnecessary removal of the vegetative
45-P: WHEN A DSA IS NOT A DSA: POSITIVE VIRTUAL CROSSMATCHES RESULTING IN ACTUAL NEGATIVE CROSSMATCHES

Aim A negative flow crossmatch (FXM) represents the gold standard for successful kidney transplantation, since this highly sensitive test detects low levels of donor specific antibody (DSA). Positive correlation between FXM and luminex antibody assays is vital for survival of kidney transplant recipients and their grafts. We identified patients eliminated from the UNOS kidney waiting list due to a positive virtual crossmatch, (i.e. DSA levels EXPECTED to yield a positive FXM), yet who actually had a negative FXM result. This enabled our laboratory to develop an improved algorithm which more accurately selects patients’ unacceptable antigens (UA) in UNET. Methods FXMs were performed using sera from 87 potential kidney recipients against 51 different pronase treated (15 min/37 °C) donor cells. This sera was also analyzed for HLA class I and II DSA using luminex single antigen assay (One Lambda). We focused on patient sera containing only one DSA to donor cells tested in the FXM. A correlation between results of the luminex assays (MFI = median fluorescence intensity) and FXM was then determined. Results The average luminex MFI levels for sera exhibiting positive virtual crossmatches and resulting in positive actual FXM was 4,638 ± 379 for class I (n = 89) and 6,684 ± 776 for class II (n = 44) DSA. However, in sera containing DSA expected to produce positive virtual crossmatches but which resulted in negative FXM, the average MFI level was 2,609 ± 142 (n = 60) and 4,824 ± 656 (n = 41) for class I (p Conclusions To reduce false positive predictive results (i.e. virtual crossmatches), luminex MFI cutoffs to select patients’ UA in UNET were increased based on results of actual FXMs. Continual monitoring of correlation between FXM and luminex antibody testing should be performed.
MR-Guided Renal Ablation

Percutaneous thermal ablation has become a viable option in the management of small renal cortical neoplasms. Radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation are the most commonly used and most thoroughly investigated thermal modalities used for this purpose. The utilization of MRI to guide and monitor thermal ablation as opposed to CT or US offers several distinct advantages. In this chapter the rationale and advantages of MRI guidance for percutaneous renal ablation are discussed, as well as the interventional MRI suite setup and equipment. A detailed explanation of the approach and findings on follow-up imaging are then elucidated. This chapter is concluded by a discussion of various safety issues and potential complications.
The Emerging Politics of Curriculum Reform: Technology, Knowledge, and Power in Homeschooling

In the late 1960 s, the critically oriented curriculum theorist Dwayne Huebner urged us to broaden the focus of curriculum scholarship to institutions outside the formal school setting. If we were too wedded to schools, we would limit our opportunity to envision new possibilities (Huebner, 1966). For Huebner, new technologies offered now possibilities, if they were used in ethically wise ways. At nearly the same time, the influential Brazilian educator Freire (1970) developed both a theory and practice of doing critical education based almost entirely on experiences from working with people and institutions that were expressly informal. Both urged us to act as social and moral critics as we worked to envision different configurations of knowledge, power, pedagogy, and educative environments.
Philosophers in Prison: Students in the Indiana Women’s Prison College Program Reflect on Philosophical Theories of Punishment

Since philosophy is a communal enterprise, it is a particular privilege to hold a philosophical conversation with people whose voices are too often excluded, like my students at the Indiana Women’s Prison. These women taught me that Aristotelian virtue ethics might give us some insight into abusive relationships, and Plato’s tripartite soul can express the intensity of drug addiction.
De-implementation of tradition-based practices in critical care: A qualitative study.

Aim To explore the process of tradition-based practice (TBP) de-implementation by critical care nurses. Background Ritualistic and routine practices have been described as sacred cows or TBPs. Many clinical practices have insufficient or no evidence and may lead to poor patient outcomes. De-implementation (termination) of potentially harmful, ineffective, or non cost-effective TBP is necessary to facilitate evidence-based practice (EBP) in the clinical setting. Design Descriptive qualitative inquiry guided this study. Methods Twenty-two critical care nurses from an acute care hospital in central Florida participated. Individual and focus group interviews were performed March to July 2016 and analysed using thematic analysis. Results Three themes were identified: (a) uncertainty, (b) desire to know, and (c) preparing for practice change. Nurses were uncertain about the scientific underpinnings of everyday clinical practices and had difficulty differentiating TBP from EBP. De-implementation processes and strategies appeared to replicate implementation processes. Conclusion More research is needed to evaluate de-implementation processes and strategies used for de-implementation. An emphasis should be placed on ensuring that nurses are knowledgeable about fundamental EBP skills to encourage assessment of clinical practices for supporting research evidence. Awareness and understanding of TBPs will facilitate a more comprehensive approach towards achieving the gold standard of EBP.
Mouse Models of the Fragile X Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS) and the Fragile X Premutation

Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is a late-developing neurodegenerative disease that develops in some carriers of the fragile X premutation (PM) as the result of a 55–200 CGG trinucleotide repeat expansion in fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1). CGG-repeat knockin mouse models have been developed that model much, but not all, of the molecular, histological, and neurobehavioral pathology seen in FXTAS and in some affected PM carriers. This includes elevated Fmr1 mRNA, reduced levels of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), intranuclear inclusions in neurons and astrocytes, mild motor dysfunction resembling ataxia, anxiety, and cognitive impairments. These mice have provided insight into when disease processes become evident during development, the molecular mechanisms of pathology, and the scope of neurobehavioral involvement. Moreover, these mice are being used pre-clinically to develop and test possible treatment approaches that may improve neurological function in affected individuals. This chapter describes the features of FXTAS, recently recognized pathology in some affected PM carriers, and the development and use of mouse models to study these disorders.
Abraham Zabludovsky as a representative of brutalism in Mexican architecture

Brutalism was a trend that appeared in architecture in response to the International Style, with preference forthe aesthetics of machines and clean geometric forms striving for lightness and stylistic purity. Le Corbusieris considered to be the precursor of this style, but its concept was best presented both in theory and practiceby Alison and Peter Smithson. Th e idea of expressing form, the sincerity of material, and deriving fromwhat could be found in the area of construction has spread throughout the world. In Mexico, an architect ofPolish descent, Abraham Zabludovsky, became an advocate of Brutalism and, along with Teodor Goznalezde Leon, has created many buildings which are now iconic for the of Mexico city. Th is study aims to presentthe case of Zabludovsky’s architectural concepts.
How do small birds evolve in response to climate change? Data from the long-term record at La Brea tar pits.

Biology textbooks describe the small changes in the beaks of the Galapagos finches as exemplars of how birds evolve in response to environmental changes. However, recent studies of the abundant fossil birds at Rancho La Brea find no evidence of evolutionary responses to the dramatic climate changes of the glacial-interglacial cycle over the past 35 000 years: none of the large birds exhibit any change in body size or limb proportions, even during the last glacial maximum approximately 18 000-20 000 years ago, when the southern California chaparral was replaced by snowy coniferous forests. However, these are all large birds with large ranges and broad habitat preferences, capable of living in many different environments. Perhaps the smaller birds at La Brea, which have smaller home ranges and narrower habitats, might respond to climate more like Galapagos finches. The only 3 common small birds at La Brea are the western meadowlark, the yellow-billed magpie and the raven. In this study, we demonstrate that these birds also show complete stasis over the last glacial-interglacial cycle, with no statistically significant changes between dated pits. Recent research suggests that the small-scale changes over short timescales seen in the Galapagos finches are merely fluctuations around a stable morphology, and rarely lead to long-term accumulation of changes or speciation. Instead, the prevalence of stasis supports the view that long-term directional changes in morphology are quite rare. While directional changes in morphology occur frequently over short (<1 ka) timescales, in the long term such changes only rarely remain stable for long enough to appear in the fossil record.
Prospective Associations of Child Maltreatment Subtypes With Adult Educational Attainment: Tests of Mediating Mechanisms Through School-Related Outcomes:

This study tests a developmental cascades model in which childhood maltreatment is hypothesized to influence adult educational attainment by increasing attention problems and reducing successful sc...
O9 Food Systems, Climate Change, and Food Waste: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs Among Middle School Students

Background The food system including food waste is a major contributor to climate change and driven largely by consumers. Attitudes and beliefs about food and the environment influence consumer eating and wasting behaviors. Objective To provide baseline data on the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of middle school students regarding topics of the food system, climate change, and food waste prior to beginning a food systems education intervention. Study Design The data was collected at baseline using a validated student survey and is part of a larger non-randomized cluster controlled trial, Healthy Planet, Healthy Youth. This nutrition education intervention consists of a food system curriculum designed to inform students of the food system and environment to change beliefs, behaviors, and knowledge related to food, the environment, and waste habits. Setting Two public middle schools in central Illinois Participants Sixth-grade students part of the Advancement by Individual Determination (AVID) Program (n = 68, ages 10-12 years). Measurable Outcome/Analysis Student's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about the food system, food waste, climate change, stewardship, and an underpinning of the Self Determination Theory: relatedness, were measured. Descriptive statistics were run using survey results and participant demographics. Results The majority of students find themselves throwing away their uneaten food from school lunch (60%) versus when they eat at a restaurant (8%). Likewise, students are more inclined to share or save unwanted food if it is from a restaurant (75%) than if it is from school lunch (19%). Students who identified as White had significantly higher knowledge scores on climate change and a combined knowledge related to farming, natural resources, and food waste, transportation, and processing. They also had significantly higher stewardship scores. Conclusion Students conserve food differently based on their dining setting. Gaps in knowledge and beliefs about the environment and food system exist across race. Funding None.
Size Effect on FRP External Reinforcement and Retrofit of Concrete Structures

Abstract The size effect on the strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beams flexurally strengthened by surface bonded sheets of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) is studied. As the failure is neither d...
Structures of three disubstituted [13]-macro-di-lac-tones reveal effects of substitution on macrocycle conformation.

The synthesis and crystal structures of three new disubstituted [13]-macro­di­lactones, namely, trans-4,8-dimethyl-1,10-dioxa­cyclo­tridec-5-ene-2,9-dione, C13H20O4, I, cis-4-(4-bromo­phen­yl)-13-methyl-1,10-dioxa­cyclo­tridec-5-ene-2,9-dione C18H21BrO4, II, and trans-11-methyl-4-phenyl-1,10-dioxa­cyclo­tridec-5-ene-2,9-dione, C18H22O4, III, are reported and their conformations are put in the context of other [13]-macrodilactone structures reported previously. Together, they show that the number, location, and relative disposition of groups attached at the termini of planar units of the [13]-macrodilactones subtly influence their aspect ratios.
Closed circuit system in laparoscopy: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Background: There is a big concern regarding transmission of Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during laparoscopy and using energy devices through the carbon dioxide (CO2) pneumoperitoneum. So, we decided to use a novel indigenous innovative closed-circuit system (CCS) to avoid this contamination in operation theatre. Methods: We set out to do a prospective study in the safety of this innovative closed-circuit system in elective surgeries over 3 consecutive months of May to July 2020, during the peak of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a tertiary teaching hospital. We recruited 52 patients undergoing elective laparoscopic surgery in a single laparoscopy unit. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status was unknown, so we presumed all patients to be potential carriers of SARS-CoV-2. However, we followed the Indian council for medical research (ICMR) and Government of Karnataka (GOK) guidelines of clinical screening before surgery. We observed the postoperative outcome regarding COVID-19 symptoms in Health care workers (HCW) involved in the operation theatre. If required, we do a real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to find the true positives. Results: Of the total 52 (basic and advanced) laparoscopic surgeries performed during this period, only 2 (3.84%) patients turned positive in the postoperative period. They developed COVID-19 symptoms and were tested positive by RT-PCR. None (100%) of the HCW developed any symptoms of COVID-19. Conclusion: Closed circuit system is a safe and promising technique during laparoscopy.
Observations of low and intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacs above 100 GeV with VERITAS

Most of the ~ 50 blazars detected to date at TeV energies ( E > 0.1 TeV) are high-frequency-peaked BL Lacs (HBLs). Only a handful episodic detections of low- and intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacs (LBL/IBLs, with synchrotron peak frequencies in the infrared and optical regime) have been reported by ground-based gamma-ray telescopes, typically during high-flux states. The VERITAS array located in southern Arizona has observed five known TeV LBL/IBLs since 2009: 3C 66A, WComae, PKS 1424+240, S5 0716+714 and BL Lacertae, with exposures of 5-10 hours/year, which so far resulted in the detection of a bright, sub-hour timescale gamma-ray flare of BL Lacertae in June 2011. We also report the detection and characterization of two new IBLs: VER J0521+211 and B2 1215+30.
Leaf temperature impacts canopy water use efficiency independent of changes in leaf level water use efficiency.

Abstract Canopy water use efficiency (above-ground biomass over lifetime water loss, WUEcanopy) can influence yield in wheat and other crops. Breeding for WUEcanopy is difficult because it is influenced by many component traits. For example, intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi), the ratio of net carbon assimilation (Anet) over stomatal conductance, contributes to WUEcanopy and can be estimated from carbon isotope discrimination (Δ). However, Δ is not sensitive to differences in the water vapor pressure deficit between the air and leaf (VPDleaf). Alternatively, measurements of instantaneous leaf water use efficiency (WUEleaf) are defined as Anet over transpiration and can be determined with gas exchange, but the dynamic nature of field conditions are not represented. Specifically, fluctuations in canopy temperature lead to changes in VPDleaf that impact transpiration but not Anet. This alters WUEleaf and in turn affects WUEcanopy. To test this relationship, WUEcanopy was measured in conjunction with WUEi, WUEcanopy, and canopy temperature under well-watered and water-limited conditions in two drought-tolerant wheat cultivars that differ in canopy architecture. In this experiment, boundary layer conductance was low and significant changes in leaf temperature occurred between cultivars and treatments that correlated with WUEcanopy likely because of the effect of canopy temperature on VPDleaf driving T. However, deviations between WUEi, WUEleaf, and WUEcanopy were present because measurements made at the leaf level do not account for variations in leaf temperature. This uncoupled the relationship of measured WUEleaf and WUEi from WUEcanopy and emphasizes the importance of canopy temperature on carbon uptake and transpired water loss.
On the Tightness of the Lagrangian Dual Bound for Alternating Current Optimal Power Flow.

We study tightness properties of a Lagrangian dual (LD) bound for the nonconvex alternating current optimal power flow (ACOPF) problem. We show an LD bound that can be computed in a parallel, decentralized manner. Specifically, the proposed approach partitions the network into a set of subnetworks, dualizes the coupling constraints (giving the LD function), and maximizes the LD function with respect to the dual variables of the coupling constraints (giving the desired LD bound). The dual variables that maximize the LD are obtained by using a proximal bundle method. We show that the bound is less tight than the popular semidefinite programming relaxation but as tight as the second-order cone programming relaxation. We demonstrate our developments using PGLib-OPF test instances.