cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Calcium, why and how much ?

Although calcium (Ca) is pivotal for the prevention of osteoporosis, its role in the prevention of other unrelated diseases such as arterial hypertension, cancer of the colon and nephrolithiasis is perplexing. No unitarian hypothesis explaining these unrelated effects of Ca has been postulated. Cytosolic Ca concentration is 10,000-fold lower than in the extracellular space, and this gradient is tightly maintained. Abnormal elevation of cytosolic Ca causes cell damage and death. Parathyroid hormone is a Ca agonist and the suppression of its secretion by Ca could explain the beneficial role of Ca intake in multiple diseases. Thus, parathyroid ablation improves hypertension in rats and cardiomyopathy in hamsters. Since anthropologic data suggests a higher Ca intake, of approximately 1,600 mg/day, in preneolithic than in modern diets, it is likely that our levels of PTH would be higher than in our ancestors. The Ca agonist effect of PTH on genetically predisposed subjects with a loose cellular Ca control may aggravate frequent modern diseases and the process of aging. A higher Ca intake in both sexes should be one of the goals of preventive medicine of our time.
Formal Tools and the Philosophy of Mathematics

In this chapter, I won’t try to defend a particular philosophical view about mathematics, but, in the spirit of New Waves, I would instead like to think about how we can hope to make real progress in the field. And to do that it seems best to think about what in the field as it is now is holding up progress. What in the field should change so that we can hope to do better than what has been done before? Having considered the question, I propose the following answer: The single biggest obstacle to real progress in the philosophy of mathematics is a lack of reflection on which questions should be addressed with what methods. And this is particularly apparent in the role that formal tools have in the discipline as it is today. Formal tools encompass paradigmatically formal, artificial languages, formal logic expressed with such languages, and mathematical proofs about such languages. These tools were developed during the rise of logic over 100 years ago, and they are ubiquitous in the philosophy of mathematics today. But even though formal tools have been used with great success in other parts of inquiry, in the philosophy of mathematics they have done a lot of harm, besides quite a bit of good. In my contribution to this volume, I would thus like to think a bit about what role formal tools should have in the philosophy of mathematics. I will argue that they should have merely a secondary role, unless one holds certain substantial views in the philosophy of mathematics, ones that very few people hold.
A novel 3D approach for determination of frontal and coronal plane tibial slopes from MR imaging.

Abstract Background The proximal tibia is geometrically complex, asymmetrical, and variable, is heavily implicated in arthrokinematics of the knee joint, and thus a contributor to knee pathologies such as non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injury. Medial, lateral, and coronal tibial slopes are anatomic parameters that may increase predisposition to knee injuries, but the extent to which each contributes has yet to be fully realized. Previously, two-dimensional methods have quantified tibial slopes, but more reliable 3D methods may prove advantageous. Aims (1) to explore the reliability of two-dimensional methods, (2) to introduce a novel three-dimensional measurement approach, and (3) to compare data derived from traditional and novel methods. Methods Medial, lateral, and coronal tibial slope geometry from both knees (left and right) of one subject were obtained via magnetic resonance images and measured by four trained observers from two-dimensional views. The process was repeated via three-dimensional approaches and data evaluated for intra- and inter-rater reliability. Results The conventional method presented a weaker Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for the measured slopes (ranging from 0.43 to 0.81) while the resultant ICC for the proposed method indicated greater reliability (ranging from 0.84 to 0.97). Statistical analysis supported the novel approach for production of more reliable and repeatable results for tibial slopes. Conclusions The novel three-dimensional method for calculating tibial plateau slope may be more reliable than previously established methods and may be applicable in assessment of susceptibility to osteoarthritis, as part of anterior cruciate ligament injury risk assessment, and in total knee implant design.
The "New Realities" of Peer Review

This editorial outlines the procedures used by Journal of Neurophysiology during the peer review of articles, and the increasing challenges in making rapid and fair editorial decisions on submissions. Mechanisms that the Journal is using to improve the peer review process, and steps that authors can take to facilitate the process, are also described. Additionally, considerations for improving the peer review process in the future are discussed.
The Basic Scheme for the Evaluation of Functional Logic Programs

Functional logic languages provide a powerful programming paradigm combining the features of functional languages and logic languages. However, current implementations of functional logic languages are complex, slow, or both. This thesis presents a scheme, called the Basic Scheme, for compiling and executing functional logic languages based on non-deterministic graph rewriting. This thesis also describes the implementation and optimization of a prototype of the Basic Scheme. The prototype is simple and performs well compared to other current implementations.
The Global Fifth Amendment? Nafta's Investment Protections and the Misguided Quest for an International 'Regulatory Takings' Doctrine

NAFTA's investment chapter provides foreign investors from Mexico, Canada and the United States with a number of protections against the actions of the governments that are parties to NAFTA. One such provision - requiring host governments to compensate foreign investors for acts of "direct or indirect expropriation" or "measures tantamount to expropriation" - is the basis for several major "regulatory takings" claims filed against NAFTA governments. To date, four such claims have been decided on the merits by NAFTA arbitral tribunals, and while it is too early to tell how broadly the tribunals will interpret the expropriation provision, these claims have generated considerable concern among environmentalists that the investor protections will stifle environmental and land-use regulation. The article addresses two issues central to the increasingly heated debate over NAFTA's expropriation provision. First, it examines the relationship between the NAFTA tribunals' decisions on expropriation claims and U.S. domestic law on regulatory takings. Although many have argued that NAFTA "exports" the U.S. regulatory takings standard into international law, the article demonstrates that, in fact, the tribunals' decisions significantly exceed U.S. Fifth Amendment takings protections in several respects. The tribunal decisions broaden the definition of compensable property interests, extend the compensation requirement to "judicial" takings, and bypass the ripeness and exhaustion requirements of U.S. takings doctrine. Second, the article asks whether this expansion of compensation for regulatory takings under international investment agreements such as NAFTA is justified under the leading rationales for a compensation requirement: the internalization of the costs of government regulation; the extension of fair treatment to regulated investors; the provision of ex post insurance to regulated investors; and the need to attract foreign investment to developing countries. Our analysis shows that none of these arguments supports the expansion compensation requirements to embrace "regulatory takings" in the international investment context. While there is no viable case to be made for expanding international compensation requirements, such expansion involves a number of significant costs: It gives foreign investors a competitive advantage over domestic firms, redistributes wealth between domestic taxpayers and foreign firms, and may deter efficient regulation. In light of the tenuous benefits and potentially serious costs of an international "regulatory takings" doctrine, we conclude that the United States and other sponsors of international investment agreements should eschew the expansion of compensation requirements, instead limiting expropriation provisions to the traditional concerns of investor protections: physical invasions and seizures, direct nationalization, and governmental assumption or transfer of control of foreign property.
Photothrombotic Induction of Capillary Ischemia in the Mouse Cortex during in vivo Two-Photon Imaging

Photothrombosis of blood vessels refers to the activation of a circulating photosensitive dye with a green light to induce clotting in vivo (Watson et al., 1985). Previous studies have described how a focused green laser could be used to noninvasively occlude pial arterioles and venules at the brain surface (Schaffer et al., 2006; Nishimura et al., 2007; Shih et al., 2013). Here we show that small regions of the capillary bed can similarly be occluded to study the ischemic response within the capillary system of the mouse cerebral cortex. The advantage of this approach is that the ischemic zone is restricted to a diameter of approximately 150-250 μm. This permits higher quality two-photon imaging of degenerative processes that would be otherwise difficult to visualize with models of large-scale stroke, due to excessive photon scattering. A consequence of capillary occlusion is leakage of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Here, through the use of two-photon imaging data sets, we show how to quantify capillary leakage by determining the spatial extent and localization of intravenous dye extravasation.
Power spectrum of dark matter substructure in strong gravitational lenses

Studying the smallest self-bound dark matter structure in our Universe can yield important clues about the fundamental particle nature of dark matter. Galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing provides a unique way to detect and characterize dark matter substructures at cosmological distances from the Milky Way. Within the cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm, the number of low-mass subhalos within lens galaxies is expected to be large, implying that their contribution to the lensing convergence field is approximately Gaussian and could thus be described by their power spectrum. We develop here a general formalism to compute from first principles the substructure convergence power spectrum for different populations of dark matter subhalos. As an example, we apply our framework to two distinct subhalo populations: a truncated Navarro-Frenk-White subhalo population motivated by standard CDM, and a truncated cored subhalo population motivated by self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). We study in detail how the subhalo abundance, mass function, internal density profile, and concentration affect the amplitude and shape of the substructure power spectrum. We determine that the power spectrum is mostly sensitive to a specific combination of the subhalo abundance and moments of the mass function, as well as to the average tidal truncation scale of the largest subhalos included in the analysis. Interestingly, we show that the asymptotic slope of the substructure power spectrum at large wave number reflects the internal density profile of the subhalos. In particular, the SIDM power spectrum exhibits a characteristic steepening at large wave number absent in the CDM power spectrum, opening the possibility of using this observable, if at all measurable, to discern between these two scenarios.
Abstract 2129: Assessing the efficacy of targeting mitochondrial respiration in delaying lung tumor growth by using subcutaneous xenografts in mouse models

Previously, studies have focused mainly on the precept that tumors depend on glycolysis for energy and growth (the Warburg effect) and that the mitochondria are dysfunctional in cancer cells. However, there is mounting evidence that some cancer cells exhibit elevated mitochondrial respiration. Recent studies in our lab have demonstrated that Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) cells exhibit intensified mitochondrial respiration and oxygen consumption. We further demonstrated that targeting increased mitochondrial respiration by a therapeutic agent effectively hampers proliferation of Non-Small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells in vitro. The purpose of the study is to determine to what extent mitochondrial respiration is affected by the therapeutic agent in vivo. In order to achieve this goal, NSCLC cells were transduced with lentiviral particles carrying luciferase sequence. NSCLC cells expressing luciferase cells were implanted on the right flank of 4-6 weeks old female NOD/SCID mice to generate subcutaneous xenografts. The therapeutic agent was administered intravenously. Tumor implantation and growth were monitored by bioluminescence imaging (BLI) using Perkin Elmer’s IVIS Lumina III Imager. On sacrificing the mice, the tumors were harvested, formalin fixed and paraffin embedded for Immunohistochemistry (IHC). Our BLI data suggest that there is a considerable reduction in radiance (total flux in photons per second) in the group of mice that were treated with therapeutic agent in comparison to control. Further, there is a significant reduction in tumor volume in mice that received treatment. Our IHC data suggest that there is a reduction in expression of a vital enzyme involved in heme synthesis and hemoproteins involved in mitochondrial respiration. Our BLI and IHC data suggest that the therapeutic agent affects mitochondrial respiration by affecting mitochondrial complexes in vivo. Additional experiments to corroborate the results are underway. Citation Format: Sarada Preeta Kalainayakan, Poorva Ghosh, Sanchareeka Dey, Li Zhang. Assessing the efficacy of targeting mitochondrial respiration in delaying lung tumor growth by using subcutaneous xenografts in mouse models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2129. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2129
Atypical presentations of dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNETs) are World Health Organization grade 1 neoplasms, typically present as isolated cortical lesions with no associated edema. We present 3 rare cases of DNETs that were atypical in location (all were subcortical and 1 was bilateral), 2 of which displayed substantial growth over time. All 3 cases presented with seizures that were not well controlled on medications, followed by a successful cure of the epilepsy when these lesions were removed. These cases uniquely illustrate that DNETs can be present throughout the brain and may generate seizures even in a subcortical location, possibly due to containing neurons with the potential for aberrant microcircuitry. The slow, nonmalignant proliferation of these lesions may engage epileptogenic networks, leading to the onset of seizures. These cases carry implications for the management of these surgically treatable lesions. Thus far, there have only been a handful of cases of growth reported in nonmalignant DNETs, and 2 of these cases displayed growth over the interval of monitoring.
Life at extreme elevations on Atacama volcanoes: the closest thing to Mars on Earth?

Here we describe recent breakthroughs in our understanding of microbial life in dry volcanic tephra (“soil”) that covers much of the surface area of the highest elevation volcanoes on Earth. Dry tephra above 6000 m.a.s.l. is perhaps the best Earth analog for the surface of Mars because these “soils” are acidic, extremely oligotrophic, exposed to a thin atmosphere, high UV fluxes, and extreme temperature fluctuations across the freezing point. The simple microbial communities found in these extreme sites have among the lowest alpha diversity of any known earthly ecosystem and contain bacteria and eukaryotes that are uniquely adapted to these extreme conditions. The most abundant eukaryotic organism across the highest elevation sites is a Naganishia species that is metabolically versatile, can withstand high levels of UV radiation and can grow at sub-zero temperatures, and during extreme diurnal freeze–thaw cycles (e.g. − 10 to + 30 °C). The most abundant bacterial phylotype at the highest dry sites sampled (6330 m.a.s.l. on Volcan Llullaillaco) belongs to the enigmatic B12-WMSP1 clade which is related to the Ktedonobacter/Thermosporothrix clade that includes versatile organisms with the largest known bacterial genomes. Close relatives of B12-WMSP1 are also found in fumarolic soils on Volcan Socompa and in oligotrophic, fumarolic caves on Mt. Erebus in Antarctica. In contrast to the extremely low diversity of dry tephra, fumaroles found at over 6000 m.a.s.l. on Volcan Socompa support very diverse microbial communities with alpha diversity levels rivalling those of low elevation temperate soils. Overall, the high-elevation biome of the Atacama region provides perhaps the best “natural experiment” in which to study microbial life in both its most extreme setting (dry tephra) and in one of its least extreme settings (fumarolic soils).
Toxicology of upper aerodigestive tract pollutants.

The field of environmental toxicology has become quite important to the study of environmental health in human beings. The stability of the ecosystem in which we live is threatened by the nearly 5 million chemical compounds that have been synthesized worldwide, many of which have real or potentially toxic effects on the environment and on life forms. Four major groups of chemicals--metallic elements, nonmetallic elements, organic compounds and inorganic compounds--have certain agents within them that are known toxins to human beings. Some of these agents have an as yet unknown effect, whereas others have been well characterized. They can be found in the workplace, home, and outdoors, and many are unseen and odorless. In the past, most agents have been described in terms of their carcinogenic potential or major toxic effects on organ systems. It is now likely that the important characterization of some of these agents referrable to the upper aerodigestive tract should be at their receptor sites and identify the very discrete and small effects on these sites and their cumulative effects. The concept of threshold is probably an arbitrary one because to date these discrete effects have not been studied. Susceptibility on an individual basis probably variesmore » from low to high, depending on the patient's immunologic and defense mechanisms and the existence of congenital or acquired risk factors. New attention must be given to more subtle effects on the upper aerodigestive tract (i.e., sinusitis and laryngitis) in view of the potential effects of certain toxic agents on these tissues.« less
Overview of anatomy and physiology of the vestibular system

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews that the vestibular system helps to maintain spatial orientation and stabilize vision for the purpose of maintaining balance, especially during movement. Vestibular end organs sense angular and linear acceleration, and transduce these forces to electrochemical signals that can be used by the central nervous system. It discusses that the central nervous system integrates the information from the vestibular system to stabilize gaze during head motion by means of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and to modulate muscle tone by the vestibulocollic and vestibulospinal reflexes. The vestibular system detects angular and linear acceleration through five end organs of the membranous labyrinth on each side: the saccule; the utricle; and the anterior, posterior, and lateral semicircular canals. The saccule and the utricle, the otolith organs, transduce linear accelerations, be they from the pull of gravity or from translation of the head. Each of the semicircular canals has a different spatial orientation; the summation of signals from the semicircular canals allows one to detect rotation of the head in any direction.
Botulinum Toxin for LES Spastic Disorders

Botulinum toxin is one of the most potent neurotoxins available, blocking vesicular mediated neurotransmitter release from nerve endings and causing a paralysis or reduction in tone of the targeted muscle. Endoscopic injection of botulinum toxin has now been used for achalasia for nearly two decades, with grade I evidence for its efficacy. The experience with other spastic disorders of the esophagus is considerably more limited. Its main advantage is its simplicity and relative safety. On the other hand, its drawbacks include the limited duration of its effects and hence the requirement for repeat injections. Further, it is not very effective in younger patients. While not considered first-line therapy in most patients, it has nevertheless emerged as an alternative therapy for this condition in patients who are considered at high risk for more invasive methods of treatment such as pneumatic dilation or surgery. It is also of some value as a therapeutic trial in patients with equivocal clinical or manometric measures to assess the contribution of lower esophageal tone to symptoms.
Vector polarized 6Li scattering from 12C and 16O.

The elastic scattering vector analyzing powers for /sup 6/Li+/sup 16/O at 25.7 MeV and /sup 6/Li+/sup 12/C at 30 MeV have been measured. In addition, measurement of the vector analyzing power for inelastic /sup 6/Li scattering has been made for the 2/sup +/ (4.44 MeV) state in /sup 12/C. Excitation function data for /sup 6/Li+/sup 16/O elastic and inelastic scattering have also been measured at five angles for /sup 6/Li lab energies through the range 15--28 MeV in 375 keV steps. These data show the system to be resonance free at 25.7 MeV. The data have been analyzed in the coupled channels framework, employing the double folding model for the real part of the nuclear scattering potential. The coupling strengths in the coupled channels calculations were determined from inelastic scattering cross-section data directly. The elastic scattering vector analyzing powers arise from a complicated interference between channel coupling and spin-orbit contributions, whereas the /sup 12/C, 2/sup +/ inelastic vector analyzing power arises from the spin-orbit potential only. Inelastic scattering analyzing powers may allow the shape and strength of heavy-ion spin-orbit potentials to be investigated more clearly than do the elastic scattering analyzing powers. The normalization of the double-folded real potential wasmore » found to be in the range 0.85--1.00 in the coupled channel calculations, thus bringing the normalization of /sup 6/Li scattering into agreement with other projectiles.« less
Reporting on Condensed Financial Statements, Selected Financial Data, and Supplemental Information

The objective of the auditor of the financial statements, when engaged to perform audit procedures and report on supplemental information that accompanies audited financial statements, is to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to express an opinion on whether the supplemental information is fairly stated, in all material respects, in relation to the financial statements as a whole.
Latino Immigrant Youth and Interrupted Schooling: Dropouts, Dreamers and Alternative Pathways to College, by Lukes, M.

While the high dropout rate of young Latino immigrant high school students and their low graduation rates have been the focus of current education concerns, there has been less discussion of the ch...
Downstream Effects of Dispositional Inferences on Confirmation Biases

Although research has given substantial attention to understanding the antecedents of dispositional inferences, less attention has been directed at the consequences of these inferences, such that e...
EFFECT OF ELECTRONIC AND CONVENTIONAL CIGARETTE SMOKE EXTRACT ON IPS-DERIVED CARDIOMYOCYTES

Cigarette smoking is an important etiology for cardiac diseases. In the current study, we sought to assess the effect of electronic cigarette extract (ECE) and cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on cardiomyocyte gene expression and function. Human cardiomyocytes derived from iPSCs were used. Acute and
Understanding the anharmonic vibrational structure of the carbon dioxide dimer.

Understanding the vibrational structure of the CO2 system is important to confirm the potential energy surface and interactions in such van der Waals complexes. In this work, we use our previously developed mbCO2 potential function to explore the vibrational structure of the CO2 monomer and dimer. The potential function has been trained to reproduce the potential energies at the CCSD(T)-F12b/aug-cc-pVTZ level of electronic structure theory. The harmonic approximation, as well as anharmonic corrections using vibrational structure theories such as vibrational self-consistent field, vibrational second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation, and vibrational configuration interaction (VCI), is applied to address the vibrational motions. We compare the vibrational results using the mbCO2 potential function with traditional electronic structure theory results and to experimental frequencies. The anharmonic results for the monomer most closely match the experimental data to within 3 cm-1, including the Fermi dyad frequencies. The intermolecular and intramolecular dimer frequencies were treated separately and show good agreement with the most recent theoretical and experimental results from the literature. The VCI treatment of the dimer vibrational motions accounts for vibrational mixing and delocalization, such that we observe the dimer Fermi resonance phenomena, both in the intramolecular and intermolecular regions.
Research on the Healing Power of Distant Intercessory Prayer: Disconnect between Science and Faith:

Interest in non-medical treatments for illness has grown exponentially in recent years as evidenced by the expansion of health psychology and establishment of the National Center for Complementary ...
Computational fluid dynamics and discrete element simulation of the formation of inorganic syngas contaminants during lignocellulosic biomass gasification

We report in this study the development of a computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM) model to predict the yield of deleterious nitrogen and sulfur contaminants (NH3, HCN, H2S, COS, and SO2) during biomass gasification. Additionally, the yields of major producer gas species (CO, CO2, CH4, and H2) were predicted. The formation of nitrogen contaminants was assumed to follow a heterogeneous reaction producing HCN, which was later hydrolyzed to form NH3. Similarly, the formation of sulfur contaminants was assumed to follow a heterogeneous reaction producing H2S, which was later oxidized to form COS and SO2. The effects of two important gasification process variables (temperature and equivalence ratio) were evaluated. The results of the CFD-DEM simulation were validated against experimental data in the literature. The CFD-DEM model yield predictions for the main syngas species (CO, CO2, H2, and CH4) compares well with the experimental results. Also, the predicted yields of NH3 and H2S generally fit within a 95% confidence interval of the experimental data. However, the predicted yields of HCN were about 20–50% lower than the experimental data. The main outcome of this work is a computational tool that can be used to gain in-depth knowledge to better understand how to optimize process variables for mitigating the formation of nitrogen and sulfur contaminants during gasification.
The Role of Temporal Distance Perception in Narrative vs. Non-Narrative Persuasion Related to E-Cigarettes.

Research has long identified narrative persuasion as an effective health communication strategy. This study explores temporal distance perception, which is the perceived distance of a health threat...
Automated Diagnosis of Lightning Faults on Transmission Lines

Lightning faults are the main faults of transmission lines. Accurate and effective diagnosis of lightning fault can effectively improve the reliability of transmission lines. At present, the determination of lightning strike fault and the location of the lightning strike are determined by manually inquiring the lightning locating system after the lightning strike. In order to improve the real - time determination of lightning fault, the accuracy of lightning strike point positioning and to shorten the outage time due to the lightning strike fault, research on the automatic fault diagnosis technology of the lightning failure of transmission line. According to the lightning fault of the transmission line, the information such as the relevant information of the lightning location system, the GIS information, fault recorder data, the scheduling automation data and the multi-terminal fault location information are used to realize the accurate positioning of the tower and the automatic fault diagnosis function of the transmission line fault. The rapid detection and overhaul of lightning failure is of great significance to the safe and stable operation of power grid.
A critical literature review of the advances in methane dehydroaromatization over multifunctional metal-promoted zeolite catalysts

Abstract The drastic rise in shale gas production has encouraged the quest for alternative uses of methane as a chemical feedstock in the manufacturing industry. While two-step syngas routes for methane valorization are deployed commercially, direct one-step routes for methane conversion are attracting much attention. As steam cracking installations have shifted from using oil-based naphtha to shale-based natural gas liquids, production of aromatics has dropped. Methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) is a one-step reaction capable of valorizing methane to hydrogen and benzene. Challenges with the MDA reaction are two-fold: the reaction is thermodynamically limited with low one-pass methane conversion and even the best catalytic systems, Mo/zeolites, suffer rapid deactivation from coking. A catalyst design strategy to improve stability is the use of multifunctional Mo-X/zeolite systems where X is a dopant capable of modulating the stability. In this paper we provide a complete overview of the main Mo-X/zeolite systems used in MDA and critically draw connections among the different types of dopants (X) employed, as a function of the role they play in the reaction/deactivation pathway. We have also dedicated a section to emerging trends with non-Mo based catalysts. The goal of this review article is to establish a basis that will facilitate the identification of useful multifunctional catalytic systems, and recognize gaps in the knowledge of these systems that deserve more attention. Improving MDA systems to the point to which they can be commercially deployed requires a multifaceted approach that combines optimization of the designs of both the catalyst and the reactor configuration. We therefore also provide a brief overview of the most recent advances in process intensification strategies employed with different reactor configurations.
Improving the speed of volumetric density map generation via cubic spline interpolation.

Abstract Visualizing data generated from molecular dynamics simulations can be difficult, particularly when there can be thousands to millions of trajectory frames. The creation of a 3D grid of atomic density (i.e. a volumetric map) is one way to easily view the long-time average behavior of a system. One way to generate volumetric maps is by approximating each atom with a Gaussian function centered on that atom and spread over neighboring grid cells. However the calculation of the Gaussian function requires evaluation of the exponential function, which is computationally costly. Here we report on speeding up the calculation of volumetric maps from molecular dynamics trajectory data by replacing the expensive exponential function evaluation with an approximation using interpolating cubic splines. We also discuss the errors involved in this approximation, and recommend settings for volumetric map creation based on this.
Cost-effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccines among adults over 50 years old in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

This systematic review aims to provide a critical summary of economic evaluations of pneumococcal vaccines for adults aged 50 years or older in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): a 23-valent...
Coping with Dementia Clinical Trial Interruption: Virtual Support Group for Participants and Study Partners

Introduction Biopsychosocial benefits of participation in longitudinal research – increased access to specialized physicians, frequent medical supervision, social support from research staff, a sense of purpose and routine, etc. – have been documented and are valuable contributors to patient wellbeing. An important but lesser-examined consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the sweeping disruption of ongoing clinical trials – in particular, those investigating the safety and efficacy of disease-modifying therapeutics for dementia, as older adults have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Methods To address the potential negative outcomes of clinical trial interruption, we initiated weekly virtual clinician-led support groups: one for dementia clinical trial participants and one for their study partners. Each group met once weekly for 5 weeks via Zoom, and content included coping strategies, sharing resources, voicing challenges, and answering questions about the future. Results According to feedback gathered anonymously, support group participants found the aspect of listening to and sharing experiences to be highly useful and overall felt that participation in the group had helped them cope with the negative effects of the pandemic. Conclusions The positive impact and feedback gathered from the pilot of this support group can help to inform our understanding of the complex ways in which longitudinal clinical trials participation affects the lives of participants and their families, and how best we can support them even after the research has paused or ended.
Expected Informativeness of Performance Measures and Incentives

This paper proposes "expected informativeness," an ex-ante counterpart of a likelihood ratio, in principal-agent models. The principal has an easy task and a difficult task to delegate. The difficult task requires high ability and high effort. It is the first-best outcome to assign tasks according to abilities and incentivize high-ability agents to exert high effort. Given unobservable abilities and efforts, this separating equilibrium can be achieved by incentive pay. Yet, it is not the second-best when the performance measure is insufficiently informative about abilities and efforts on average. A pooling outcome, in which all agents do the easy task, is efficient.
Challenge of diagnosing splenic torsion in a paediatric patient with gastroschisis.

Gastroschisis is an uncommon congenital defect of the abdominal wall resulting in intestinal prolapse, most commonly associated with short gut syndrome or bowel obstruction. Wandering spleen, movement of the spleen due to the underdevelopment of splenic ligaments, has a prevalence of 0.25% and is asymptomatic in 15% of paediatric cases. An 11-year-old patient, admitted with a history of gastroschisis repaired at birth, presents with 18 months of intermittent, worsening abdominal pain. Imaging demonstrated splenomegaly and tortuosity of the splenic vein with abnormal positioning of the superior mesenteric artery and vein. The patient was found to have a wandering spleen with subacute splenic infarct secondary to splenic torsion, necessitating emergent surgical intervention. This patient experienced an extremely rare complication of gastroschisis that has not previously been reported. This complication is caused by a lack of appropriate abdominal fixation points for the spleen.
Hydroxylation of Actin Impairs Cell Motility Through Blocking its’ Histidine Methylation

Protein hydroxylation is a post translational modiﬁcation happens on various amino acids, which is catalyzed by the oxoglutarate and oxygen dependent dioxygenases. The best characterized hydroxylated protein is the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), which is degraded by VHL/elongin C/elongin B/cullin 2/RBX1 (VCB/CR) E3 complex under normal oxygen conditions. Hypoxia or inhibitors (including FG4592 and MK8617) of PHDs stabilize HIF1a and regulate its downstream targets. Prolyl hydroxylase, including PHD2 and PHD3 has been reported in regulating actin polymerization and cell motility. Here, we found MK8617 regulated cell motility in Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) dependent manner. Through the protein hydroxylation proteome experiment upon MK8617 treatment, we identified Pro70 in actin could be hydroxylated and near to His73, which has been reported be methylated and stabilize actin polymerization. Through the biochemical assay, we found that hydroxylated actin (Pro70) binds to VHL and decrease the His73 methylation through blocking the interaction of actin with SETD3, the His73 methyltransferase, and further regulated actin polymerization and cell motility. In summary, our study revealed that hypoxia and deficiencies in the VHL, in a HIF independent and prolyl hydroxylation dependent manner, regulate actin polymerization and cell motility.
NgCAM and VAMP2 Reveal that Direct Delivery and Dendritic Degradation Maintain Axonal Polarity

Neurons are polarized cells of extreme scale and compartmentalization. To fulfill their role in electrochemical signaling, axons must maintain a specific complement of membrane proteins. Despite being subject of considerable attention, the trafficking pathway of axonal membrane proteins is not well understood. Two pathways, direct delivery and transcytosis, have been proposed. Previous studies reached contradictory conclusions about which of these mediates delivery of axonal membrane proteins to their destination, in part because they evaluated long-term distribution changes and not vesicle transport. We developed a novel strategy to selectively label vesicles in different trafficking pathways and determined the trafficking of two canonical axonal membrane proteins, NgCAM and VAMP2. Results from detailed quantitative analyses of transporting vesicles differed substantially from previous studies and found that axonal membrane proteins overwhelmingly undergo direct delivery. Transcytosis plays only a minor role in axonal delivery of these proteins. In addition, we identified a novel pathway by which wayward axonal proteins that reach the dendritic plasma membrane are targeted to lysosomes. These results redefine how axonal proteins achieve their polarized distribution, a crucial requirement for elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms. [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text] [Media: see text].
Role of Thymosin and other Thymic Factors in the Development, Maturation, and Functions of Lymphoid Tissue

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of thymosin and other thymic factors in the development, maturation, and functions of lymphoid tissue. The thymus is the central organ in regulating the development and expression of cell-mediated immunity and general host resistance. The present evidence supports the concept that the thymus functions as both a donor of cell to the peripheral lymphoid system and by the production and secretion of one or more humoral factors. The mechanism by which the thymus exerts this apparent endocrine role and the number of hormones secreted by the thymus is in the early stages of exploration. The responses to partially purified thymic fractions of those functions of lymphoid tissue which are fundamental to host immunological competence suggests that several of the diverse crude thymic fractions may contain a single biologically active substance similar to or identical with thymosin. It is also established that the thymus is a major source of lymphocytes for the peripheral lymphoid tissues and circulation. Thus, the thymus exerts a dual function, namely, as an endocrine gland and as a progenitor of lymphoid cells.
Fluid Regulation for Life and Human Performance

Fluid regulation for life and performance is examined in this chapter. First, however, the nature and function of water in human physiology as it pertains to maintaining fluid balance on a daily basis must be examined. The relation of water to human performance is also examined as the body’s requirement for this fluid before, during, and after exercise is explored. In addition, other fluid sources, such as carbohydrate drinks, are examined for their efficacy, including specifically formulated beverages marketed for use during exercise. Finally, recommendations for application in the athletic environment are given.
A universal entropy-driven mechanism for thioredoxin–target recognition

Cysteine residues in cytosolic proteins are maintained in their reduced state, but can undergo oxidation owing to posttranslational modification during redox signaling or under conditions of oxidative stress. In large part, the reduction of oxidized protein cysteines is mediated by a small 12-kDa thiol oxidoreductase, thioredoxin (Trx). Trx provides reducing equivalents for central metabolic enzymes and is implicated in redox regulation of a wide number of target proteins, including transcription factors. Despite its importance in cellular redox homeostasis, the precise mechanism by which Trx recognizes target proteins, especially in the absence of any apparent signature binding sequence or motif, remains unknown. Knowledge of the forces associated with the molecular recognition that governs Trx–protein interactions is fundamental to our understanding of target specificity. To gain insight into Trx–target recognition, we have thermodynamically characterized the noncovalent interactions between Trx and target proteins before S-S reduction using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Our findings indicate that Trx recognizes the oxidized form of its target proteins with exquisite selectivity, compared with their reduced counterparts. Furthermore, we show that recognition is dependent on the conformational restriction inherent to oxidized targets. Significantly, the thermodynamic signatures for multiple Trx targets reveal favorable entropic contributions as the major recognition force dictating these protein–protein interactions. Taken together, our data afford significant new insight into the molecular forces responsible for Trx–target recognition and should aid the design of new strategies for thiol oxidoreductase inhibition.
New Perspectives on Ubiquitous Computing from Ethnographic Study of Elders with Cognitive Decline

A rapidly growing elder population is placing unprecedented demands on health care systems around the world. Cognitive decline is one of the most taxing health problems in terms of both its relation to elders’ overall functioning and the cost of care. The needs of elders with cognitive decline – for invisible, intuitive support and assessment – invite a reconsideration of the assumptions behind and specifications for ubiquitous computing solutions. This paper describes findings and implications of ethnographic research conducted with cognitively impaired individuals and their informal care networks in 45 households in 5 U.S. regions. Key themes regarding needs and barriers to successful aging are addressed through a set of design principles which apply across the stages of cognitive decline. To convey stage-specific findings and associated challenges for ubiquitous computing, case studies of four representative households and example concept solutions are presented. The design principles and technology challenges outlined in this paper may generalize to other contexts for ubiquitous computing.
Notes on the Deconfining Phase Transition

I review the deconfining phase transition in an SU(N) gauge theory without quarks. After computing the interface tension between Z(N) degenerate vacua deep in the deconfined phase, I follow Giovannangeli and Korthals Altes, and suggest a new model for (discrete) Polyakov loop spins. Effective theories for (continuous) Polyakov loop spins are constructed, including those with Z(N) charge greater than one, and compared with Lattice data. About the deconfining transition, the expectation values of Z(N) singlet fields (“quarkless baryons”) may change markedly. Speculations include: a possible duality between Polyakov loop and ordinary spins in four dimensions, and how Z(N) bubbles might be guaranteed to have positive pressure.
Review of Optimization in ℝd

This chapter presents a brief summary of the standard terminology and basic results related to characterizing the maximal and minimal values of a real valued function f defined on a set D in Euclidean space. With the possible exception of the remarks concerning convexity ((0.8) and (0.9)), this material is covered in texts on multidimensional calculus; the notation is explained at the end of §1.5.
Modulation of Phagocytosis by Tumor Promoters and Epidermal Growth Factor in Normal and Transformed Macrophages

Abstract The effects of the potent tumor promoter, 12- O -tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), on the phagocytosis of opsonized and unopsonized chromated sheep red blood cells (SRBC) by thioglycollate- and divinyl ether maleic anhydride copolymer-recruited mouse peritoneal macrophages, and the transformed macrophage-like cell line, P388D 1 , were studied. With thioglycollate and divinyl ether maleic anhydride copolymer macrophages, phagocytosis of opsonized SRBC was inhibited 50 to 60% by concentrations of TPA in the range of 17 nm while lower concentrations in the range of 0.017 nm produced a 20 to 30% stimulation of phagocytosis. With the P388D 1 cell line, a dose-related stimulation of phagocytosis up to 80% above control was observed with TPA in the range of 0.017 to 17 nm. In all three cell types, phagocytosis of unopsonized SRBC was stimulated by TPA reaching a maximum of 40 to 75% above controls in the range of 17 nm. With a series of macrocyclic diterpenes related to TPA, a correlation was found between their ability to modulate phagocytosis in each of the cell types and their potencies as promoters in mouse skin carcinogenesis. Epidermal growth factor, which shares several effects with TPA, at 0.16 to 16 nm stimulated phagocytosis of unopsonized SRBC by 20 to 60% in all three types of macrophages. On the other hand, with opsonized SRBC, although epidermal growth factor stimulated phagocytosis in P388D 1 cells up to 60% above controls at 1.6 nm, it had no effect on thioglycollate or divinyl ether maleic anhydride copolymer macrophages. The responses produced by TPA and epidermal growth factor were due to a direct effect on the macrophages and not to an opsonic effect on the SRBC. These results provide additional evidence that tumor promoters exert highly pleiotropic effects on cell surface and membrane functions.
Some New Old-Fashioned Modular Identities

This paper uses modular functions on the theta group to derive an exact formula for the sum $$\sum\limits_{\left| j \right| \le {n^{1/2}}} {\sigma \left( {n - {j^2}} \right)} $$ in terms of the singular series for the number of representations of an integer as a sum of five squares. (Here σ (k) denotes the sum of the divisors of k if k is a positive integer and σ (0) = -1/24.)
QFT Limit of the Casimir Force

High precision measurements of the Casimir effect and recent applications to micro electromechanical systems raise the question of how large the Casimir force can be made in an arbitrarily small device. Using a simple model for the metal boundary in which the metal is perfectly conducting at frequencies below plasma frequency omega_p and perfectly transparent above such frequency, I find that the Casimir force for plate separations a<lambda_p/2, where lambda_p is the plasma wavelength is given by -(h omega_p^4)/(24 pi^2 c^3) which is independent of a. This result is considered the maximum value of the Casimir force for non-ideal metallic boundaries as calculated by quantum field theory. It differs from predictions of non retarded Van der Waals theory. Implications of this result for geometries different from the planar one and in particular for the hollow metallic sphere are discussed.