cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using FDG and NaF PET/CT imaging to investigate the relationship between inflammation and microcalcification in the aorta

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been the leading global cause of death for the last 15 years. In 2016, CVD, and resulting sudden and severe medical emergencies, accounted for 15.2 million deaths globally (1). Early CVD pathophysiology is characterized by both inflammation and microcalcification of vasculature. Currently, detection and observation of the disease at this stage are difficult. Additionally, the cause-effect relationships among symptoms remain unknown (2, 3, 4, 5). Nevertheless, inflammation and calcification have independently been connected to CVD risk (1, 6). Moreover, studies have shown that calcification specifically in the aorta is associated with an increased risk of death from CVD (7). For these reasons, this study aims to establish a method to examine and quantify the relationship between inflammation and plaque microcalcification in the descending thoracic aorta, and develop a strategy to better detect these CVD risk factors. PET/CT imaging with 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and 18-Sodium Fluoride (NaF) radiotracers were used to detect plaque inflammation and vascular microcalcification, respectively. The thoracic aorta was then manually segmented on PMOD, and inflammation/microcalcification in each participant’s aorta were quantified by calculating the mean standard uptake value (SUV) for both radiotracers. The relationship between inflammation and microcalcification, as well as how both contribute to CVD, were analyzed by comparing SUVs for control participants and patients. It was found that participants with CVD have significantly more inflammation and microcalcification in this area than that among controls and that aortic inflammation and microcalcification are positively correlated with each other and with age.
Cone Spacing Correlates With Retinal Thickness and Microperimetry in Patients With Inherited Retinal Degenerations.

Purpose To determine whether high-resolution retinal imaging measures of macular structure correlate with visual function over 36 months in retinal degeneration (RD) patients and normal subjects. Methods Twenty-six eyes of 16 RD patients and 16 eyes of 8 normal subjects were studied at baseline; 15 eyes (14 RD) and 11 eyes (6 normal) were studied 36 months later. Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) was used to identify regions of interest (ROIs) with unambiguous cones at baseline to measure cone spacing. AOSLO images were aligned with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and fundus-guided microperimetry results to correlate structure and function at the ROIs. SD-OCT images were segmented to measure inner segment (IS) and outer segment (OS) thickness. Correlations between cone spacing, IS and OS thickness and sensitivity were assessed using Spearman correlation coefficient ρ with bootstrap analyses clustered by person. Results Cone spacing (ρ = 0.57, P Conclusions Cone spacing increased and macular sensitivity declined significantly in RD patients over 36 months. High resolution images of cone structure correlated with retinal sensitivity, and may be appropriate outcome measures for clinical trials in RD.
Importance of iatrogenic immunosuppression in the treatment of patients with high-grade glioma with immunotherapy

Treatment-related lymphopenia is a poor prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with high-grade glioma and predicts suboptimal response to immune therapies. Immunotherapy is conceptually an appealing approach in adults with high-grade glioma given that effector lymphocytes are capable of penetrating the blood–brain barrier. However, 40% of these patients develop severe lymphopenia (CD4 counts
A review of mathematical representations of biomolecular data

Recently, machine learning (ML) has established itself in various worldwide benchmarking competitions in computational biology, including Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP) and Drug Design Data Resource (D3R) Grand Challenges. However, the intricate structural complexity and high ML dimensionality of biomolecular datasets obstruct the efficient application of ML algorithms in the field. In addition to data and algorithm, an efficient ML machinery for biomolecular predictions must include structural representation as an indispensable component. Mathematical representations that simplify the biomolecular structural complexity and reduce ML dimensionality have emerged as a prime winner in D3R Grand Challenges. This review is devoted to the recent advances in developing low-dimensional and scalable mathematical representations of biomolecules in our laboratory. We discuss three classes of mathematical approaches, including algebraic topology, differential geometry, and graph theory. We elucidate how the physical and biological challenges have guided the evolution and development of these mathematical apparatuses for massive and diverse biomolecular data. We focus the performance analysis on protein-ligand binding predictions in this review although these methods have had tremendous success in many other applications, such as protein classification, virtual screening, and the predictions of solubility, solvation free energies, toxicity, partition coefficients, protein folding stability changes upon mutation, etc.
Risk factors for complications in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy: A NSQIP analysis with propensity score matching.

Background Reports on the safety of minimally invasive pancreaticoduodenectomy compared to open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD) have demonstrated mixed results. One study comparing robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy (RPD) vs OPD demonstrated decreased complications associated with RPD. Objectives To evaluate the morbidity of RPD vs OPD using a national data set. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study from 2014 to 2017. Factors associated with complications in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression (MVA) and propensity score matching (PSM). Results Of 13 110 PDs performed over the study period, 12 612 (96.2%) were OPD and 498 (3.8%) were RPD. Patients who underwent RPD vs OPD were less likely to have any complications (46.8% vs 53.3%; P = .004), surgical complications (42.6% vs 48.6%; P = .008), wound complications (6.2% vs 9.1%; P = .029), clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistulas (11.9% vs 15.6%; P = .026), sepsis (6.2% vs 9.3%; P = .019), and pneumonia (1.6% vs 3.8%; P = .012). On MVA, OPD was associated with increased complications compared with RPD. On PSM analysis, OPD remained a significant predictor for any (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.03-1.61; P = .029) and surgical (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.00-1.58; P = .048) complications. Conclusions This is the largest multicenter study to evaluate the impact of RPD on morbidity and suggests RPD is associated with decreased morbidity.
Infant and Toddler Child-Care Quality and Stability in Relation to Proximal and Distal Academic and Social Outcomes

This study considered the quality and stability of infant and toddler nonparental child care from 6 to 36 months in relation to language, social, and academic skills measured proximally at 36 months and distally at kindergarten. Quality was measured separately as caregiver-child verbal interactions and caregiver sensitivity, and stability was measured as having fewer sequential child-care caregivers. This longitudinal examination involved a subsample (N = 1,055) from the Family Life Project, a representative sample of families living in rural counties in the United States. Structural equation modeling revealed that children who experienced more positive caregiver-child verbal interactions had higher 36-month language skills, which indirectly led to higher kindergarten academic and social skills. Children who experienced more caregiver stability had higher kindergarten social skills.
Transcriptome Analyses in BV2 Microglial Cells Following Treatment With Amino-Terminal Fragments of Apolipoprotein E

Despite the fact that harboring the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele represents the single greatest risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), the exact mechanism by which ApoE4 contributes to disease progression remains unknown. Recently, we demonstrated that a 151 amino-terminal fragment of ApoE4 (nApoE41-151) localizes within the nucleus of microglia in the human AD brain and traffics to the nucleus causing toxicity in BV2 microglia cells. In the present study, we examined in detail what genes may be affected following treatment by nApoE41-151. Transcriptome analyses in BV2 microglial cells following sublethal treatment with nApoE41-151 revealed the upregulation of almost 4,000 genes, with 20 of these genes upregulated 182- to 715-fold compared to untreated control cells. The majority of these 20 genes play a role in the immune response and polarization toward microglial M1 activation. As a control, an identical nApoE31-151 fragment that differed by a single amino acid at position 112 (Cys→Arg) was tested and produced a similar albeit lower level of upregulation of an identical set of genes. In this manner, enriched pathways upregulated by nApoE31-151 and nApoE41-151 following exogenous treatment included Toll receptor signaling, chemokine/cytokine signaling and apoptosis signaling. There were unique genes differentially expressed by at least two-fold for either fragment. For nApoE31-151, these included 16 times as many genes, many of which are involved in physiological functions within microglia. For nApoE41-151, on the other hand the number genes uniquely upregulated was significantly lower, with many of the top upregulated genes having unknown functions. Taken together, our results suggest that while nApoE31-151 may serve a more physiological role in microglia, nApoE41-151 may activate genes that contribute to disease inflammation associated with AD. These data support the hypothesis that the link between harboring the APOE4 allele and dementia risk could be enhanced inflammation through activation of microglia.
In Defense of Mass-Produced Original Paintings

The criticisms of mass-produced original paintings (Chap. 4) are addressed by pointing out that museum paintings have their limitations too (some knowledge of art history is useful) and that similarities and parallels exist between the two kinds of art (both are a source of pleasure). The advantages of mass-produced paintings, offsetting their limitations, are discussed, including comprehensibility; physical and psychological accessibility; ease of study; acting as a gateway to museum works; and offering a fresh look at questions about paintings, art in general, the popular arts, and the importance of originality.
Experimental and calculational investigation of laser-heated additive manufactured foams

Foam materials are starting to find application in laser-heated Hohlraums used to drive inertial confinement fusion implosions. Foams made using additive manufacturing (AM) techniques are now available and may have advantages over traditional chemical (aerogel) foams. Here, we present new experimental data on laser-heated AM foams. Samples of four different types of printed AM foams were heated using a single 527 nm laser beam at the Jupiter Laser Facility. The laser pulse was ∼180 J square pulse with an FWHM of 1.6 ns and a peak intensity of 3–4 × 1014 W/cm2. The foam densities ranged from 12 to 93 mg/cc (all supercritical for 527 nm light). We measured the backscattered light (power and spectrum), the transmitted light, side-on x-ray images, and the Ti K-shell emission that was used to infer the time-integrated temperature. The fraction of backscattered light was 6%–15% of the input laser energy. The pure carbon foam sample had less backscatter than a C8H9O3 foam of similar density, which was consistent with multi-fluid calculations that predicted less ion heating for the C8H9O3 foam. The level of backscatter and the thermal front speeds for the AM foams were similar to values measured for stochastic (aerogel) foams under similar conditions.
Effect of high phosphate diet on the formation of dentin in Fam20c-deficient mice

FAM20C (family with sequence similarity 20-member C), a kinase that phosphorylates secretory proteins, plays essential roles in various biological processes. In humans, mutations in FAM20C gene cause Raine syndrome, an autosomal recessive hereditary disease manifesting a broad spectrum of developmental defects including skeletal and craniofacial deformities. Our previous studies revealed that inactivation of Fam20c in mice led to hypophosphatemic rickets and that high phosphate (hPi) diet significantly improved the development of the skeleton in Fam20c-deficient mice. In this study, we evaluated the effects of hPi diet on the formation of dentin in Fam20c-deficient mice, using plain x-ray radiography, micro-computed tomography (µCT), histology, and immunohistochemistry. Plain x-ray radiography and µCT analyses showed that the hPi diet improved the dentin volume fraction and dentin mineral density of the Fam20c-deficient mice. Histology analyses further demonstrated that the hPi diet dramatically improved the integrity of the mandibular first molars and prevented pulp infection and dental abscesses in Fam20c-deficient mice. Our results support that the hPi diet significantly increased the formation and mineralization of dentin in Fam20c-deficient mice, implying that hypophosphatemia is a significant contributor to the dentin defects in Fam20c-deficient subjects.
Oral epithelium response of healthy electronic cigarette smokers to electronic cigarette smoking

Rationale: Smoking electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is increasing in popularity, but there is little information available as to the biologic consequences to the cell populations impacted by the e-cigarette smoke. Based on the knowledge that the oral epithelium is the initial site exposed to e-cigarette smoke, we assessed the hypothesis that e-cigarette smoking modifies the biology of oral epithelium of healthy e-cigarette smokers. Methods: Oral biopsies of n=23 healthy nonsmoker controls and n=24 healthy e-cigarette smokers (e-cigarette smokers for an average of 2.0 ± 1.0 years) matched for age, gender and ethnicity, were compared based on pathology and RNA transcriptome (mRNA and miRNA) using Illumina Hi-Seq 2000 sequencing. The mRNA data were assessed in e-cigarette smokers compared to nonsmokers genome-wide (n=19,724);genes previously identified as significantly dysregulated in the oral epithelium of e-cigarette smokers vs nonsmokers (n=758);genes previously identified as significantly dysregulated in the small airway epithelium of nonsmokers following an acute exposure to e-cigarettes (n=71);and genes related to the initial steps of COVID-19 infection, including ACE2, the COVID-19 receptor (n=9). The miRNA of e-cigarette smokers and nonsmokers was compared on a genome-wide basis (n=1,100 mature and human miRNAs). All comparisons were performed using ANOVA, Benajmini-Hochberg corrected p value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The morphology of the epithelium and lamina propria in e-cigarette smokers was normal, with no thickening of the epithelium, dysplasia, basilar hyperplasia, dyskeratosis, and no abnormal vascularity, or inflammatory infiltration. The basilar layer in ecigarette smokers appeared normal, with normal mitotic activity and no nuclear pleomorphism. Assessment of the transcriptome, both on mRNA and miRNA levels, based on all gene lists did not identify any genes significantly modified in the oral epithelium of e-cigarette smokers compared to nonsmokers. Conclusions: The oral epithelium pathology and transcriptome of e-cigarette smokers are not modified in response to e-cigarette smoking.
Retrograde Endovascular with Intimal Re-entry through Endarterectomy: The REWIRE Technique

Abstract Objective Hybrid lower extremity revascularization has been well described, typically consisting of common femoral endarterectomy (CFE) followed by direct patch puncture and endovascular treatment of any distal disease. We describe a modified technique that obviates the need for endovascular re-entry and simplifies treatment at the proximal and distal endpoints. Methods The REWIRE technique begins with retrograde arterial access via a patent tibial, pedal or femoropopliteal vessel. The diseased segment is crossed in the subintimal plane. Once the wire reaches the common femoral artery (CFA), the vessel is surgically exposed. Arteriotomy is performed and the wire is externalized during standard CFE. With through-wire access achieved, a sheath is inserted and the distal disease is treated. The proximal extent of the endovascular revascularization is incorporated into a standard CFE with patch angioplasty. Results Seven patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia were treated with this approach, all with long segment occlusions of the SFA and significant CFA disease. The SFA disease was stented and bovine pericardial patch was used for CFE in all. Technical success was achieved in all patients. There were no complications related to the retrograde puncture site, which was controlled with manual pressure (4) or excluded with a covered stent (3). Thirty-Day freedom from major adverse limb events was 100%. Conclusions The REWIRE technique is an effective approach to hybrid revascularization involving the CFA. By crossing the occluded segment in a retrograde fashion and surgically externalizing the wire during CFE, the proximal and distal endpoints can be addressed with ease, the profunda femoris is protected under direct visualization, and the need for endovascular re-entry is eliminated.
Addressing the Challenges of Providing Accommodations for Pharmacy Students With Disabilities Across Learning Environments.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standards 2016, schools and colleges are required to provide reasonable disability-related accommodations for eligible students enrolled in a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Strategies for providing reasonable and effective accommodations in didactic classrooms have been well defined. In contrast, PharmD programs often grapple with supporting learners requiring disability-related accommodations during skills-based laboratory and experiential learning performance assessments. A process that supports individualized accommodation planning, spans the breadth of the curriculum, aligns with course-level goals and learning objectives, and supports achievement of the 2013 Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education Educational Outcomes at the PharmD program level is essential to a student’s successful academic progression. This commentary discusses challenges that arise when developing accommodation plans in patient-care skills laboratories and offers methods for bridging skills-based accommodation needs to experiential settings, while managing accommodations in an ever-evolving practice landscape.
Meninas Desamparadas? A Pastoral da Mulher Marginalizada e o nascimento do movimento brasileiro de prostitutas | Helpless Girls? The Pastoral da Mulher Marginalizada and the birth of the Brazilian prostitutes’ movement

Resumo Este artigo aborda o nascimento do movimento de prostitutas no Brasil partindo de uma analise da Pastoral da Mulher Marginalizada, uma iniciativa da Igreja Catolica que realizou um trabalho assistencialista e de conscientizacao politica com mulheres prostitutas no Brasil a partir da decada de 1970. Minha pesquisa examina as tensoes entre as participantes e os agentes da Pastoral que deram origem a um movimento autonomo de profissionais do sexo em meados da decada de 1980. Eu argumento que a Rede Brasileira de Prostitutas (RBP) foi influenciada nao so pelo clima politico da democratizacao, mas tambem pelo discurso de autoestima e do valor intrinseco do individuo pregado pela Pastoral. Finalmente, eu considero o Primeiro Encontro Nacional de Prostitutas, realizado em 1987, destacando como a RBP acabou rejeitando o tropo da prostituta-como-vitima e as crencas abolicionistas do ramo progressista da Igreja. Palavras-chave: Prostituicao. Igreja Catolica. Movimentos sociais. Abertura politica. Abstract This article examines the birth of the Brazilian sex-worker movement by foregrounding an analysis of the Pastoral da Mulher Marginalizada, a ministry of the Catholic Church that conducted outreach and political consciousness-raising among prostitutes in Brazil starting in the 1970s. My research explores the tensions between ministry participants and agents that eventually led to the founding of an autonomous movement of sex workers in the mid-1980s. I argue that the Rede Brasileira de Prostitutas (RBP) was influenced not only by the political climate of Brazil’s democratization process, but also by the discourse of self-esteem and the intrinsic value of the individual espoused by the Pastoral. Finally, I consider the Primeiro Encontro Nacional de Prostitutas, held in 1987, highlighting how the RBP came to the trope of the prostitute-as-victim and the abolitionist beliefs of the progressive branch of the Catholic Church. Keywords: Prostitution. Catholic Church. Social Movements. Political opening.
FBI Independence as a Threat to Civil Liberties: An Analogy to Civilian Control of the Military

At a time when the President is under investigation, and in the wake of a controversial dismissal of the FBI Director, the need for an "independent" FBI has appeared to many more important than ever. Indeed, the Senate would not have confirmed the new FBI Director if he had not promised to be independent of the President and the Attorney General. However, this Article argues that calls for an independent FBI are misguided and dangerous. It analogizes presidential control of the FBI to civilian control of the military by demonstrating that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the FBI and the military share the same purpose. It then explores in depth how the FBI has often infringed on civil liberties in the same way that the framers worried an out-of-control military might do so. And it explains why the independence that the FBI often enjoyed was a cause of those civil-liberty violations. Finally, it concludes that if it is necessary to preserve the FBI's investigative independence, the solution is to split the FBI to reflect the model of many western democracies-creating an independent agency to investigate crime (like Britain's New Scotland Yard) and a separate agency to continue the FBI's national-security functions (like Britain's MI5).
A Social Network Model of Alcohol Behaviors

Alcohol use is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in all areas of the world (Ezzati et al., 2002). In the developed world alcohol consumption is one of the primary risk factors for the burden of disease; it ranks as the second leading risk factor (after tobacco) for all disease and premature mortality in the United States (Said and Wegman, 2007). Alcohol is such a potent risk factor because it is widely used, inexpensive, and causes both acute and chronic consequences. A major difficulty in developing and assessing alcohol-related public health interventions is that drinking behaviors and their consequences form, in effect, a complex ecological system of individual behaviors embedded in socio-cultural settings and interactions that are distributed over space and time. Interventions focused on any specific aspect of this system (e.g., drinking and driving) may result in unintended consequences (e.g., a potential increase in domestic violence as the result of high volume drinkers spending more time at home due to the anti-drinking-driving programs). Another example of unintended consequences is alcohol-related promiscuous behavior resulting in infections with sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Proliferation Independent Activation of Programmed Cell Death as a Novel Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Since the work of Charles Huggins in the 1940s, it has been known that prostatic cancer often retains an androgen responsiveness for stimulation of its growth. Prostatic cancer is thus often highly responsive to androgen ablation therapy. Based upon this, patients with non-organ confined disease eventually require systemic androgen ablation therapy. Nearly all men with metastatic prostatic cancer treated with surgically or chemically induced castration have an initial, often dramatic, beneficial response to such androgen withdrawal therapy1. While this initial response is of substantial palliative value, essentially all treated patients eventually relapse to an androgen-insensitive state and succumb to the progression of their cancer unless they die of intercurrent disease first; cures, if any, are rare2. Because of this nearly universal relapse phenomenon, the annual death rate from prostatic cancer has not decreased at all over the subsequent 50 years since androgen withdrawal has become standard therapy3. Over the last 50 years, the superficially benign nature of androgen withdrawal therapy has tended to disguise the fact that metastatic prostatic cancer is still a fatal disease for which no therapy is available which effectively increases survival2,4.
Bayesian predictive inference under a Dirichlet process with sensitivity to the normal baseline

Abstract It is well known that the Dirichlet process (DP) model and Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) model are sensitive to the specifications of the baseline distribution. Given a sample from a finite population, we perform Bayesian predictive inference about a finite population quantity (e.g., mean) using a DP model. Generally, in many applications a normal distribution is used for the baseline distribution. Therefore, our main objective is empirical and we show the extent of the sensitivity of inference about the finite population mean with respect to six distributions (normal, lognormal, gamma, inverse Gaussian, a two-component normal mixture and a skewed normal). We have compared the DP model using these baselines with the Polya posterior (fully nonparametric) and the Bayesian bootstrap (sampling with a Haldane prior). We used two examples, one on income data and the other on body mass index data, to compare the performance of these three procedures. These examples show some differences among the six baseline distributions, the Polya posterior and the Bayesian bootstrap, indicating that the normal baseline model cannot be used automatically. Therefore, we consider a simulation study to assess this issue further, and we show how to solve this problem using a leave-one-out kernel baseline. Because the leave-one-out kernel baseline cannot be easily applied to the DPM, we show theoretically how one can solve the sensitivity problem for the DPM as well.
Ultrabright Laser-based MeV-class Light Source

We report first light from a novel, new source of 10-ps 0.776-MeV gamma-ray pulses known as T-REX (Thomson-Radiated Extreme X-rays). The MeV-class radiation produced by TREX is unique in the world with respect to its brightness, spectral purity, tunability, pulse duration and laser-like beam character. With T-REX, one can use photons to efficiently probe and excite the isotope-dependent resonant structure of atomic nucleus. This ability will be enabling to an entirely new class of isotope-specific, high resolution imaging and detection capabilities.
Evaluation, Description and Invention: Paradigms for Human-Computer Interaction

Publisher Summary The race between function and usability has made the area of human computer interaction (HCI) a high-profile research area within computer science and within the computer industry: it is difficult to develop usability science and technology fast enough, but it is also critical to do so. The chapter identifies three distinct paradigms, or orientations, to HCI research and application: evaluation, description, and invention. Structured programming and direct manipulation are important theoretical concepts and they surely carry empirical consequences. Direct empirical measurement is still the only adequate means of assessing the usability of software techniques and computing artifacts. The cognitive description paradigm in HCI provided independent conceptual foundations for the psychology of HCI that made it possible to develop useful theory. The human factors evaluation and cognitive description paradigms share basic assumptions about the position of psychological analysis in HCI. They assume that psychology operates outside the development process, outside even the research prototyping process. HCI is about designing new software tools and user interfaces.
Class Actions in Mississippi: To Be or Not to (B)(3)

This paper argues that a mandatory class action rule - mandatory both in automatic certification and no opt-out - offers the most effective means of accomplishing the deterrence and compensation objectives of the civil liability system in Mississippi. Class action adjudication would proceed by decoupling the deterrence and compensation functions: at the deterrence stage, the court would determine total aggregate liability and assess damages equal to the total level of sanctionable harm; at the compensation stage, the court would distribute damages to class members based on relative severity of loss in accord with the general theory and practice of insurance. This decoupled structure overcomes the endemic conflict between deterrence and compensation objectives, enabling the civil liability system not only to motivate mass production defendants to invest optimally in precautions, but also to promote the goal of optimal insurance. The paper goes on to discuss several core questions concerning the design and management of mandatory class actions, including the timing and scope of aggregation, settlement-only versus litigation class certification, multi-state class actions, and the problems of "blackmail" and "sweetheart" settlements. We also examine instrumental and individualistic arguments opposing mandatory collectivization and favoring opt-out class actions, such as Rule 23(b)(3), Fed. R. Civ. P. Our overall conclusion is this: nothing short of complete, mandatory collectivization of all claims assures that the civil liability system can maximize individual welfare by optimally deterring unreasonable risk and optimally compensating harm from residual, reasonable risk.
The Origins of the Civil War

Although President Abraham Lincoln recognized slavery as the cause of the Civil War, historians have offered a multitude of interpretations. Some have emphasized differences between the sections, arguing that North and South were culturally distinct from each other or possessed clashing economic interests that led to war. In addition, scholars have studied those people in each section – abolitionists in the North and fire-eaters in the South – who pointed out and even exacerbated the differences and tensions between the sections. Other historians have seen the conflict between the sections as fundamentally political. Political issues, especially concerning the territories in the 1850s, accelerated hostilities between the sections. Politicians failed to avert the crisis, and may even have contributed to bringing it on. Fundamentally, however, slavery remains at the root of many of these cultural, economic, and political issues.
Factors regulating the transcriptional elongation activity of RNA polymerase II

The synthesis of mature and functional messenger RNA by eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is a complex, multistage process requiring the cooperative action of many cellular proteins. This process, referred to collectively as the transcription cycle, proceeds via five stages: preinitiation, initiation, promoter clearance, elongation, and termination. During the past few years, fundamental studies of the elongation stage of transcription have demonstrated the existence of several families of Pol II elongation factors governing the activity of Pol II. It is now clear that the elongation stage of transcription is a critical stage for the regulation of gene expression. In fact, two of these elongation factors, ELL and elongin, have been implicated in human cancer. This article will review the proteins involved in the regulation of the elongation stage of transcription by Pol II, describing the recent experimental findings that have propelled vigorous research on the properties and function of the elongatin...
The Long-Term Employment Impacts of Gentrification in the 1990s

This paper explores the degree to which gentrification impacts local labor markets. It begins by describing the nature of employment change in one archetypical gentrifying neighborhood — Chicago's Wicker Park — to motivate the central hypothesis that gentrification is associated with industrial restructuring. Next, a detailed analysis is presented on the long-term employment changes in neighborhoods that have experienced gentrification during the 1990s across a sample of 20 large central cities. This analysis shows that employment grew slightly faster in gentrifying neighborhoods than other portions of the central city. However, jobs in restaurants and retail services tended to replace those lost in goods-producing industries. This process of industrial restructuring occurred at a faster rate in gentrifying areas. Thus gentrification can be considered a contributory and catalytic factor in accelerating the shift away from manufacturing with urban labor markets.
The Carman-Kirklin ulcer revisited: computed tomographic correlation.

Abstract A patient with ulcerating gastric adenocarcinoma presented with the classic features of a Cayman-Kirklin meniscus sign on an upper GI series. Clinical staging with computed tomography (CT) provided an opportunity to examine the anatomic appearance of this often confusing finding.
DEFINING COMPETENCE IN LEGAL PRACTICE: REPORT OF A NATIONAL SURVEY OF SOLO AND SMALL FIRM PRACTITIONERS

As a part of a project concerned with identifying factors that are considered in evaluating the performance of attorneys working in organizations employing large numbers of lawyers, a national sample of solo and small firm practitioners was asked to rate the appraisal factors used by large organizations with respect to their appropriateness in evaluating the performance of attorneys in practices like theirs. The sample was also asked to rate (1) the degree of importance of selected skills or tasks to their own practice situations, (2) the level of difficulty of various problems in terms of accomplishing what should be done in their practice, and (3) the degree of importance of certain deficiencies of other lawyers based on their assessment of how other lawyers perform. All of the large organization evaluation factors were felt to be at least “probably appropriate” by more than two-thirds of the respondents. Overall, the results suggest that there is a set of skills and characteristics that a majority of the sample considers important to competent practice, with relatively few variations based on practice setting, region, type of practice, date of admission to the bar, and firm size.
NADPH oxidases in the kidney.

NADPH oxidases have a distinct cellular localization in the kidney. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in the kidney by fibroblasts, endothelial cells (EC), vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), mesangial cells (MCs), tubular cells, and podocyte cells. All components of the phagocytic NADPH oxidase, as well as the Nox-1 and -4, are expressed in the kidney, with a prominent expression in renal vessels, glomeruli, and podocytes, and cells of the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle (TAL), macula densa, distal tubules, collecting ducts, and cortical interstitial fibroblasts. NADPH oxidase activity is upregulated by prolonged infusion of angiotensin II (Ang II) or a high salt diet. Since these are major factors underlying the development of hypertension, renal NADPH oxidase may have an important pathophysiological role. Indeed, recent studies with small interference RNAs (siRNAs) targeted to p22 phox implicate p22 phox in Ang II-induced activation of renal NADPH oxidase and the development of oxid...
Leukemia fusion target AF9 is an intrinsically disordered transcriptional regulator that recruits multiple partners via coupled folding and binding.

Mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) fusion proteins cause oncogenic transformation of hematopoietic cells by constitutive recruitment of elongation factors to HOX promoters, resulting in overexpression of target genes. The structural basis of transactivation by MLL fusion partners remains undetermined. We show that the ANC1 homology domain (AHD) of AF9, one of the most common MLL translocation partners, is intrinsically disordered and recruits multiple transcription factors through coupled folding and binding. We determined the structure of the AF9 AHD in complex with the elongation factor AF4 and show that aliphatic residues, which are conserved in each of the AF9 binding partners, form an integral part of the hydrophobic core of the complex. Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation measurements show that AF9 retains significant dynamic behavior which may facilitate exchange between disordered partners. We propose that AF9 functions as a signaling hub that regulates transcription through dynamic recruitment of cofactors in normal hematopoiesis and in acute leukemia.
The uniqueness of the one-dimensional paraboson field

A paraboson analog of the one-dimensional boson field is discussed and a uniqueness result similar to a result of Putnam is obtained. It is shown that the paraboson operators must be unbounded. Introduction. Green first introduced the parafermion and paraboson field algebras in 1953 [2]. Much is known about the representation of the parafermion field operators but there has been little mathematical work concerning representations in the paraboson case due to the unbounded nature of the operators. No bounded relations corresponding to the Weyl relations for bosons have been found so the paraboson operators must be treated in unbounded form. In one dimension the paraboson relations reduce to the single relation C*C2 C2C* = 2C, where C is a creation operator and its adjoint C* is an annihilation operator. This relation cannot be taken literally but must be given a suitable interpretation. We will prove a uniqueness result parallel to the ones proved by Putnam and Tillmann for bosons. As a corollary to the proof it will be shown that there are no bounded operators satisfying the paraboson relations. This is clear when the polar decomposition of C yields a self-adjoint operator with discrete spectrum, an assumption which is usually made but is not necessarily satisfied. Uniqueness of the paraboson field. Let C be a closed, densely defined linear operator on a Hilbert space K satisfying (1) C*C = CC* + I. Putnam [5] proved that C*C then has purely discrete spectrum consisting of the nonnegative integers. Tillmann [8, p. 263] also showed that {C, K} is unitarily equivalent to a direct sum of one-dimensional free boson fields. See also [6, Theorem 4.4.1]. Received by the editors March 21, 1974 and, in revised form, June 18, 1974. AMS (MOS) subject classifications (1970). Primary 47B25, 47B47; Secondary 81A20, 81A57.
A study of hydrogen embrittlement in 4340 steel II: Positron aspects

Abstract Hydrogen charged discontinuously and repetitively into 4340 steel causes an initial decrease in the positron Doppler parameter P/W as screened protons decrease the probability of defects trapping positrons. As the generation of new defects predominates, P/W rises and the process becomes cyclical. Continuous charging depresses P/W to a fixed level with no cyclic behavior. The amount of this latter decrease is inversely related to the fugacity of the hydrogen. Aging after charging causes P/W to increase as hydrogen leaves defect traps, freeing them once again to trap positrons. Increasing the tempering temperature results in an initial rise in the P/W positron Doppler parameter as carbon leaves potential positron traps to form carbides. P/W then decreases with increasing tempering temperature with the exception of small submaxima in the ranges for temper embrittlement and alloy carbide formation. P/W goes through a maximum during the cold rolling of annealed 4340, and local surface softening, decreasing P/W, and transmission electron microscopy near-surface observations confirm similar earlier findings done with 4340 in tension and with positron lifetime, i.e. a near-surface substructure forms which is different from the mid-thickness structure.
Effects of an emotion control treatment on academic emotions, motivation and achievement in an online mathematics course

We designed and developed an emotion control treatment and investigated its effects on college students’ academic emotions, motivation, and achievement in an online remedial mathematics course. The treatment group showed more positive emotions of enjoyment and pride than the control group. The treatment group also showed a higher level of motivation than the control group but there was no difference between the two groups in achievement. Implications for the design and development of interventions or systems for students’ emotion control are discussed.
Optimal sequencing of test conditions in 2k factorial experimental design for run-size minimization

The exponential growth of the number of test conditions (i.e., the ''run size'') of a 2^k factorial design makes the design prohibitively expensive for a large k. When only m of the 2^k effects/interactions are non-zero, only m test conditions are required for their estimation. However, both fractional factorial design and Taguchi method require 2^n test conditions, for some n=
545 HETEROGENEITY OF CARDIAC FINDINGS IN NOONAN'S SYN-343 DROME: NINE CASES WITH A FAMILIAL EXAMPLE

Since Noonan's syndrome was described (J. Ped. 63:468, 1963), more than 200 cases have been reported. Although pulmonic stenosis is generally thought of as the classical cardiac finding, many such patients have cardiac anomalies other than pulmonic stenosis. Of the 9 cases seen by us, 5 are males and 4 are females. Hypertelorism and low-set ears were present in all, as was short stature with one exception. Three cases were mentally retarded. All males presented cryptorchidism. Pulmonic stenosis was found or suspected in 5 patients; transposition of great vessels in one. In a mother and daughter with the Noonan phenotype the mother had an atrial septal defect, but cardiological evaluation was refused in the daughter. A boy showed pseudoco-arctation of the aorta, bicuspid aortic valve and cardiomyopathy Another boy showed unusual bleeding at surgery, neonatal macro-somia and adolescent gynecomastia. An autosomal dominant mode of inheritance has been postulated. However, several examples of male to male transmission as well as phenotypic overlap with 45,X Turner's syndrome suggest the possibility of inheritance via the homologous regions of the X and Y chromosomes (partial sex-linkage).
Library serials budgets: Publishers and the twenty percent effect

(1988). Library serials budgets: Publishers and the twenty percent effect. Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 211-219.
The catalytic function of bovine lysyl oxidase in the absence of copper

Bovine lysyl oxidase (BLO) contains two different cofactors, copper (Kagan, H. M. (1986) in Biology of Extracellular Matrix (Mecham, R. P., ed) Vol. 1, pp. 321-398, Academic Press, Orlando, FL) and lysine tyrosyl quinone (LTQ) (Wang, S. X., Mure, M., Medzihradszky, K. F., Burlingame, A. L., Brown, D. E., Dooley, D. M., Smith, A. J., Kagan, H. M., and Klinman, J. P. (1996) Science 273, 1078-1084). By a combination of UV-visible spectroscopy, metal content analysis, and activity measurements, we find that copper-depleted BLO reacts in an irreversible manner with phenylhydrazine, an amine substrate analog, and catalyzes multiple turnovers of the substrate benzylamine. After removal of the majority of enzyme-bound copper, apoBLO exhibits a decrease in the LTQ content, as evidenced by the drop of the 510-520-nm absorbance, suggesting that the copper may play a structural role in stabilizing the LTQ. The remaining intact LTQ in the apoBLO reacted with phenylhydrazine, both in the presence and absence of the chelator, 10 mm 2,2'-dipyridyl. When benzylamine was used as the substrate, the apoBLO turned over at a rate of 50-60% of the native BLO (after correction for the residual copper and the change of LTQ content). Copper contamination from the assay buffer was ruled out by comparison of enzyme activity using different apoBLO concentrations. These studies demonstrate that the mature form of lysyl oxidase retains many of its functions in the absence of copper.
First principles density functional study of the adsorption and dissociation of carbonyl compounds on magnesium oxide nanosurfaces.

The adsorption and dissociation of three carbonyl compounds, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acetone, on the magnesium oxide nanosurface, consisting of four stacked (MgO)3 hexagons, is investigated by first principles density functional theory (DFT). In the case of formaldehyde, strongly chemisorbed species, with carboxylate-like structures, are initially formed. These may subsequently undergo heterolytic cleavage of an aldehyde CH bond to form formate ions involving a surface oxide ion and a hydride ion adsorbed over the magnesium dication [(MgH+)(HCOO-)]. For acetaldehyde, besides this reaction leading to the formation of acetate, the methyl hydrogen of the adsorbed species also tends to attach itself to a surface oxide ion, yielding surface hydroxyl ions and adsorbed [CH2C(H)OMg]+. These results are in accord with our previous experimental and theoretical results. In particular, the shift of the aldehyde CH vibration band to higher frequency and the appearance of OH bands in the infrared spectrum are c...
On Racial Frontiers: The New Culture of Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, and Bob Marley

Introduction 1. Interraciality in historical context 2. Frederick Douglass as integrative ancestor: the consequences of interracial co-creation 3. Invisible community: Ralph Ellison's vision of a multiracial ideal democracy 4. Bob Marley's Zion: a trans-racial 'blackman redemption'.
Acceptance of family member presence during pediatric resuscitations in the emergency department : Effects of personal experience

ObjectiveOpinions remain polarized on allowing family member presence during pediatric resuscitations (FMP). Reluctance to adopt FMP may stem from preconceived notions on this practice. This study evaluates the effect of prior experience with FMP and on its acceptance by emergency department personn
Experimental Production of Magnesium Deficiency in Lambs on a Diet containing Roughage

HYPOMAGNESAEMIC tetany occurs (a) in young ruminants raised exclusively on milk diets and (b) in adult ruminants near the time of parturition, when grazing in certain areas, in the spring and autumn. The latter conditions are difficult to produce experimentally and the causative factor(s) are not well understood. The former type is readily reproduced1–5 but has been done only under conditions which inhibit normal rumen development, that is, the abnormally prolonged feeding of a roughage-free diet. In this communication, we wish to report the experimental production of hypomagnesaemia in lambs, on a roughage-containing diet of composition as given in Table 1 (diet 1). This diet contains only 0.02 per cent (magnesium air-dry basis, but is adequate in other respects. Reagent grade chemicals were used in preparation of the mineral mix and dicalcium phosphate as the calcium source.