cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lower Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Associated with Reduced Diversity of the Colonic Microbiota in Healthy Adults

In the United States, there are persistent and widening socioeconomic gaps in morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases. Although most disparities research focuses on person-level socioeconomic-status, mounting evidence suggest that chronic diseases also pattern by the demographic characteristics of neighborhoods. Yet the biological mechanisms underlying these associations are poorly understood. There is increasing recognition that chronic diseases share common pathogenic features, some of which involve alterations in the composition, diversity, and functioning of the gut microbiota. This study examined whether socioeconomic-status was associated with alpha-diversity of the colonic microbiota. Forty-four healthy adults underwent un-prepped sigmoidoscopy, during which mucosal biopsies and fecal samples were collected. Subjects' zip codes were geocoded, and census data was used to form a composite indicator of neighborhood socioeconomic-status, reflecting household income, educational attainment, employment status, and home value. In unadjusted analyses, neighborhood socioeconomic-status explained 12-18 percent of the variability in alpha-diversity of colonic microbiota. The direction of these associations was positive, meaning that as neighborhood socioeconomic-status increased, so did alpha-diversity of both the colonic sigmoid mucosa and fecal microbiota. The strength of these associations persisted when models were expanded to include covariates reflecting potential demographic (age, gender, race/ethnicity) and lifestyle (adiposity, alcohol use, smoking) confounds. In these models neighborhood socioeconomic-status continued to explain 11-22 percent of the variability in diversity indicators. Further analyses suggested these patterns reflected socioeconomic variations in evenness, but not richness, of microbial communities residing in the sigmoid. We also found indications that residence in neighborhoods of higher socioeconomic-status was associated with a greater abundance of Bacteroides and a lower abundance of Prevotella, suggesting that diet potentially underlies differences in microbiota composition. These findings suggest the presence of socioeconomic variations in colonic microbiota diversity. Future research should explore whether these variations contribute to disparities in chronic disease outcomes.
The fossil record of the sixth extinction

Comparing the magnitude of the current biodiversity crisis with those in the fossil record is difficult without an understanding of differential preservation. Integrating data from palaeontological databases with information on IUCN status, ecology and life history characteristics of contemporary mammals, we demonstrate that only a small and biased fraction of threatened species (< 9%) have a fossil record, compared with 20% of non-threatened species. We find strong taphonomic biases related to body size and geographic range. Modern species with a fossil record tend to be large and widespread and were described in the 19(th) century. The expected magnitude of the current extinction based only on species with a fossil record is about half of that of one based on all modern species; values for genera are similar. The record of ancient extinctions may be similarly biased, with many species having originated and gone extinct without leaving a tangible record.
Mechanical characterization of the mouse diaphragm with optical coherence elastography reveals fibrosis-related change of direction-dependent muscle tissue stiffness

The diaphragm, composed of skeletal muscle, plays an important role in respiration through its dynamic contraction. Genetic and molecular studies of the biomechanics of mouse diaphragm can provide great insights into an improved understanding and potential treatment of the disorders that lead to diaphragm dysfunction (i.e. muscular dystrophy). However, due to the small tissue size, mechanical assessment of mouse diaphragm tissue under its proper physiological conditions has been challenging. Here, we present the application of noncontact optical coherence elastography (OCE) for quantitative elastic characterization of ex vivo mouse diaphragm. Phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography was combined with a focused air-puff system to capture and measure the elastic wave propagation from tissue surface. Experiments were performed on wildtype and dystrophic mouse diaphragm tissues containing different levels of fibrosis. The OCE measurements of elastic wave propagation were conducted along both the longitudinal and transverse axis of the muscle fibers. Cross-correlation of the temporal displacement profiles from different spatial locations was utilized to obtain the propagation time delay, which was used to calculate the wave group velocity and to further quantify the tissue Young’s modulus. Prior to and after OCE assessment, peak tetanic force was measured to monitor viability of the tissue during the elasticity measurements. Our experimental results indicate a positive correlation between fibrosis level and tissue stiffness, suggesting this elastic-wave-based OCE method could be a useful tool to monitor mechanical properties of skeletal muscle under physiological and pathological conditions.
Ground-based growth of HgZnTe in a magnetic field

Hgo.g4Zno.igTe crystals were grown vertically by directional solidification in a 5 Tesla axial magnetic field. The effects of magnetic damping on the buoyancy-driven convective flows in the melt were investigated by measuring the composition variations along the axial and radial directions of the grown ingots and comparing them with those of ingots grown without a field.
Characterization of Erythrocytes in the Sickle Cell Trait

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows for high-resolution topography studies of biological cells, measurement of their mechanical properties, and quantification of protein-protein interactions in physiological conditions. In this work, AFM was employed to investigate morphological, material, and chemomechanical properties of red blood cells from human subjects with sickle cell trait. We measured the stiffness of the cells and demonstrated that the Young’s modulus of pathological erythrocytes was three times greater than in normal cells. A single molecule AFM method was employed to report that erythrocytes from human subjects with the sickle cell trait express a greater number of the laminin receptors BCAM/Lu (p < 0.05) than erythrocytes from normal human subjects. Observed differences indicate the effect of sickle hemoglobin in the erythrocyte and possible changes in the organization of the cell cytoskeleton and membrane proteins associated with the sickle cell trait.
Water Quality and Hydrologic Performance of a Permeable Pavement-Modular Bioretention Treatment Train and a Stormwater Filter Box in Fayetteville, North Carolina

Impervious land cover in urban developments is commonly responsible for degraded water quality and potentially erosive flow rates on downstream water bodies. Many environmental products have recently been developed to satisfy the niche in the market for easy-to-retrofit stormwater practices; however, data on the field performance of these novel stormwater control measures to reduce runoff and improve water quality are limited. Given tight site constraints, retrofitting traditional pavement with pervious pavement provides numerous water quality and hydrologic benefits. This, coupled with other treatment devices as part of a “treatment train”, is becoming a valuable option to reduce a site’s stormwater footprint. A permeable interlocking concrete paver (PICP) system which drains to a 1.2 m by 1.2 m Filterra® bioretention retrofit was installed at an Amtrak parking lot in Fayetteville, North Carolina. With a catchment-to-footprint ratio of 2.5:1, the system is designed to mitigate the 10 year storm, and filter any runoff that does not infiltrate into the sandy-loam subsoil of the PICP. Additionally, a standalone, conventional Filterra® modular bioretention cell was installed on the property to mitigate impervious runoff through a curb throat. Water quality, flow, and ponding level will be monitored at five locations, including: (1) impervious asphalt before the PICP, (2) underdrain leaving the PICP and entering the Filterra, (3) underdrain leaving the Filterra, (4) impervious asphalt before the conventional Filterra, and (5) the underdrain pipe leaving the conventional Filterra. Using flow-paced automatic sampling, the above locations will be monitored for total phosphorus, ortho phosphorus, total soluble phosphorus, nitrate and nitrite, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, total ammoniated nitrogen, total nitrogen, particle size distribution, total suspended solids, suspended sediment concentration, specific gravity, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and total petroleum hydrocarbons. The goal of this study is to assess the pollutant-removal performance and hydrologic mitigation ability of both proprietary treatment devices, and to use these data to model PICP dynamics. 3042 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2013: Showcasing the Future © ASCE 2013
Application of DMF Ore for Sintering of Cr-Bearing Vanadium and Titanium Magnetite

Low grade and cheap hematite ore( DMF) was researched for sintering of Cr-bearing vanadium and titanium magnetite( V-Ti-Cr) via sessile drop measuring setup,miniature sintering setup and sintering pot tests. The results showed that DMF has a good fluidity with a wide melting range,a long melting time,and the beginning and ending temperature that liquid generated are low along with a small value of security liquid velocity(0. 125 mm / min). Therefore,DMF can be used as a matching ore in V-Ti-Cr mixture to make up the disadvantage that V-Ti-Cr sinter owns an insufficient liquid content. Sinter pot tests showed that the optimal additive ratio of DMF is 10%,which is helpful to stabilize the blast furnace operation.
Reexamine the Relationship between Internet Use and Political Participation:An Empirical Analysis Based on 2012 TCS Data

Based on 2012 TCS data,this study examines the relationship between Internet use and political participation in the context of Taiwan society.Results show that online political news use is not a significant predictor of individual-level political opinion expression when the factors of demographical backgrounds,political antecedents,and traditional media use are controlled.Online political news use is negatively associated with campaign participation and willingness to vote in the study.Internal political efficacy is found to interact with online political news use to shape these two forms of political participation.Interaction effects suggest that the relationship between online political news use and campaign participation is more negative among people with higher internal political efficacy,while the relationship between online political news use and willingness to vote is less negative among this group of people.
Socioscope: spatio-temporal signal recovery from social media (extended abstract)

Counting the number of social media posts on a target phenomenon has become a popular method to monitor a spatiotemporal signal. However, such counting is plagued by biased, missing, or scarce data. We address these issues by formulating signal recovery as a Poisson point process estimation problem. We explicitly incorporate human population bias, time delays and spatial distortions, and spatiotemporal regularization into the model to address the data quality issues. Our model produces qualitatively convincing results in a case study on wildlife roadkill monitoring.
Effects of electrical stimulation and postmortem storage on changes in titin, nebulin, desmin, troponin-T, and muscle ultrastructure in Bos indicus crossbred cattle

The effects of electrical stimulation (ES) on degradation of titin, nebulin, desmin, and troponin-T (TN-T) and on structural changes in the longissimus muscle (LM) from Brahman x Simmental (B x S) cattle (Bos indicus cross) were determined. The left side of seven B x S beef carcasses was stimulated (200 V, 20 Hz) within 1 h of death, and the right side was the nonstimulated (NS) control. Myofibrils for SDS-PAGE and samples for transmission electron microscopy were prepared from the LM at 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 d postmortem (PM). The SDS-PAGE results showed that the T1 band of titin was absent by 7 d in two animals, by 14 d in four animals, and by 28 d in one animal in both NS and ES samples. By SDS-PAGE, intact nebulin was gone by 7 d in two animals and by 14 d in five animals, but in blots, nebulin decreased by 7 d and was absent by 14 d in both NS and ES samples. The desmin band could still be seen as a light band at 28 d in Western blots of both NS and ES samples. A decrease in TN-T and a concomitant increase in the 30-kDa polypeptide were observed in both NS and ES samples. Western blots with a monoclonal antibody to TN-T confirmed that TN-T decreased at similar rates in NS and ES samples but showed that the 30-kDa polypeptide was more heavily labeled in ES samples from 7 to 28 d. Contraction nodes were present in O-d ES samples and were still observed in 28-d ES samples. Narrow, intermediate, and wide I-band fractures were seen earlier and at a greater frequency in ES than in NS samples. Overall, ES had no detectable effect on titin, nebulin, desmin, or TN-T degradation but accelerated the appearance and enhanced the frequency of three types of I-band fractures in the LM from Bos indicus crossbred cattle.
Electronic cigarette explosion associated with extensive intraoral injuries

With the rise in popularity of usage of various electronic smoking devices, there have been increasing reports of explosions, often resulting in complex injuries to the head and neck. To promote the awareness of this new phenomenon, a case report is provided regarding an 18-year-old male who had an electronic cigarette explode in his mouth. He presented with severe damage to the anterior dentition (fractured teeth, avulsions, luxation), had fractured the premaxilla and anterior nasal spine, and sustained lacerations to the upper lip, labial mucosa, gingivae, tongue, hard palate, and facial skin.
ACM Undergraduate Curricular Guidance in Computer Science: The First Two Years

Under the auspices of the ACM Education Board, the Committee for Computing Education in Community Colleges (CCECC) is updating the 2009 ACM associate-degree curricular guidance in computer science with inclusion of contemporary cybersecurity concepts. The CCECC convened a task force of community college educators to develop the initial draft of the updated guidance, called StrawDog, using CS2013 as a starting point. CS2013 includes a new knowledge unit on information assurance and security. To inform the work, a survey on CS2013 foundational knowledge deemed appropriate for the first two years of a computer science (CS) education was administered to a global audience of CS educators. Preliminary survey results are presented for feedback and critique by the international community.
The Scientist, the Moralist, and the Historian

In a general sense, the goal of theory in international relations may be said to be similar to the goal of theory in any other field: we want generalized propositions from which, by deduction, we can explain particular facts. In all fields, the “facts” by themselves are chaos; we strive to put an end to this chaos by shaping the interrelations which exist among the facts. However the very notion of how much generalization is possible in the theory of international relations itself presupposes certain very fundamental assumptions. Those who stress the scientific approach, and feel that numerous and significant generalizations are possible, stress the uniformities which characterize international relations. Because they are convinced that significant uniformities exist, they feel we can go quite a long way toward assimilating this area to a pattern of analysis appropriate to the study of natural phenomena. Those who challenge the scientific approach take issue with the possibility of such assimilation. Thus the very adoption of a method of approach to the study of international relations already presupposes an important judgment about the substantive nature of the field.
Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis

Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis is one of the most common conditions requiring surgery in the first six months of life. It most commonly affects Caucasian infants with a male to female ratio of 5:1. While the etiology is unknown, it likely involves both genetic and perinatal environmental exposure components. The pathophysiology is thought to be related to alterations in the enteric nervous system, gastrointestinal hormones, and local gastrointestinal cell changes, which when combined lead to an abnormally thickened and elongated pylorus causing a gastric outlet obstruction. The majority of infants with HPS present with a several-day-to-week history of non-bilious, non-bloody emesis often described as projectile in nature. Infants with HPS frequently require aggressive resuscitation due to a significant loss of gastric fluids, which classically leads to a hypochloremic, hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis, a hallmark of this condition. Once resuscitated, the babies can safely undergo an open or laparoscopic Ramstedt pyloromyotomy.
Effects of a meal replacement system alone or in combination with phentermine on weight loss and food cravings.

Objective To examine the effects of phentermine combined with a meal replacement program on weight loss and food cravings and to investigate the relationship between food cravings and weight loss. Methods In a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 77 adults with obesity received either phentermine or placebo. All participants were provided Medifast® meal replacements, were instructed to follow the Take Shape for Life® Optimal Weight 5&1 Plan for weight loss, and received lifestyle coaching in the Habits of Health program. The Food Craving Inventory and the General Food Cravings State and Trait Questionnaires were used to measure food cravings. Results The phentermine group lost 12.1% of baseline body weight compared with 8.8% in the placebo group. Cravings for all food groups decreased in both groups; however, there was a greater reduction in cravings for fats and sweets in the phentermine group compared with the placebo group. Percent weight loss correlated significantly with reduced total food cravings (r = 0.332, P = 0.009), cravings for sweets (r = 0.412, P < 0.000), and state food cravings (r = 0.320, P = 0.007). Conclusions Both phentermine combined with a meal replacement program and meal replacements alone significantly reduced body weight and food cravings; however, the addition of phentermine enhanced these effects.
Necessity of Feature Selection when Augmenting Tweet Sentiment Feature Spaces with Emoticons

Tweet sentiment classification seeks to identify the emotional polarity of a tweet. One potential way to enhance classification performance is to include emoticons as features. Emoticons are representations of faces expressing various emotions in text. They are created through combinations of letters, punctuation marks and symbols, and are frequently found within tweets. While emoticons have been used as features for sentiment classification, the importance of their inclusion has not been directly measured. In this work, we seek to determine if the addition of emoticon features improves classifier performance. We also investigate how high dimensionality impacts the addition of emoticon features. We conducted experiments testing the impact of using emoticon features, both with and without feature selection. Classifiers are trained using four different learners and either emoticons, unigrams, or both as features. Feature selection was conducted using five filter based feature rankers with four feature subset sizes. Our results showed that the choice of feature set (emoticon, unigram or both) had no significant impact in our initial tests when using no feature selection; however, with any of the tested feature selection techniques, augmenting unigram features with emoticon features resulted in significantly better performance than unigrams alone. Additionally, we investigate how the addition of emoticons changes the top features selected by the rankers.
Plant-Based Production, Purification, and Characterization of Oxidation-Resistant Alpha-1 Antitrypsin

Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) is an acute phase protease inhibitor. Currently, the only available treatment for patients with COPD caused by AAT deficiency is replacement therapy, requiring weekly infusions of human plasma-derived AAT. While AAT has shown potential when inhaled to treat both emphysema and cystic fibrosis, the oxidation susceptibility of methionine residues at positions 351 and 358 in the reactive site loop have led to difficulties in maintaining AAT activity and stability when aerosolized. Using a novel cucumber mosaic virus-based inducible transient expression system, we have produced a biobetter plant recombinant AAT (prAAT) in Nicotiana benthamiana . This variant replaces the oxidation-susceptible methionine residue at position 358 with a valine residue to increase resistance to oxidation. N. benthamiana plants were vacuum infiltrated as detached leaves with two strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens : one carrying the biobetter AAT gene and one carrying a gene for the tomato bushy stunt virus p19 viral RNA silencing suppressor driven by a constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Leaves were incubated in humidity chambers at 20°C in the dark for 6 days before flash freezing in liquid nitrogen, grinding, and protein extraction in a 20 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, and 0.01% (v/v) Tween-80 AAT stability buffer. Purification was achieved using Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Select Affinity Chromatography (GE Healthcare) with a 58.1±8.1% yield of active AAT. Activity of purified AAT was confirmed via a band shift in a Western blot after incubation with excess porcine pancreatic elastase, however, degradation of prAAT was also observed in all purified extracts. Purified prAAT was tested against an analytical standard (Calbiochem) and Prolastin-C (Griffols), a common therapeutic formulation of human AAT, to determine its activity and oxidation resistance. 41±11% of purified prAAT and 71.9±5.5% of Prolastin-C showed activity against porcine pancreatic elastase as determined by a residual elastase activity inhibitory assay. Under oxidation with 48.9 mM H 2 O 2 for 60 minutes at room temperature, prAAT was found to retain 102.8±20.4% of its original anti-elastase activity, while Prolastin-C retained 13.8±5.0% anti-elastase activity and analytical standard AAT retained 11.6±7.5% anti-elastase activity. Future work will include determinations of oxidation resistance to OCl – /HOCl and development of more optimal isolation and purification processes.
Characteristics and outcomes of acute pediatric blunt torso trauma based on injury intent.

Abstract Introduction Blunt trauma is a leading cause of pediatric morbidity. We compared injuries, interventions and outcomes of acute pediatric blunt torso trauma based on intent. Methods We analyzed de-identified data from a prospective, multi-center emergency department (ED)-based observational cohort of children under age eighteen. Injuries were classified based on intent (unintentional/inflicted). We compared demographic, physical and laboratory findings, ED disposition, hospitalization, need for surgery, 30-day mortality, and cause of death between groups using Chi-squared or Fisher's test for categorical variables, and Mann-Whitney test for non-normal continuous factors comparing median values and interquartile ranges (IQR). Results There were 12,044 children who sustained blunt torso trauma: Inflicted = 720 (6%); Unintentional = 9563 (79.4%); Indeterminate = 148 (1.2%); Missing = 1613 (13.4%). Patients with unintentional torso injuries significantly differed from those with inflicted injuries in median age in years (IQR) [10 (5, 15) vs. 14 (8, 16); p-value Conclusions Children who sustain acute blunt torso trauma due to unintentional causes have a significantly higher risk of pelvic fractures and are more likely to be hospitalized compared to those with inflicted injuries.
Elucidating sequence and solvent specific design targets to protect and stabilize enzymes for biocatalysis in ionic liquids

For many different frameworks, the structure, function, and dynamics of an enzyme is largely determined by the nature of its interactions with the surrounding host environment, thus a molecular level understanding of enzyme/host interactions is essential to the design of new processes and applications. Ionic liquid (IL) solvents are a popular class of solvents in which to study enzyme behavior, yet it is still not possible to predict how a given enzyme will behave in a given IL solvent. Furthermore, a dearth of experimental data with which to evaluate simulation force fields has prevented the full integration of experimental and computational techniques to gain a complete picture of enzyme/IL interactions. Utilizing recently published crystallographic data of an enzyme in complex with an IL, this study aims to validate the use of current molecular force fields for studying enzyme/IL interactions, and to provide new mechanistic insight into enzyme stabilization in IL solvents. Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed on both the folded and unfolded state of Bacillus subtilis lipase A and a quadruple-mutant version of lipase A, in solutions of aqueous 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride. Results show classical MD simulations can predict the preferred surface binding locations of IL cations as well as reductions in IL anion binding to mutated surface residues with high accuracy. The results also point to a mechanistic difference between IL binding to the folded and unfolded state of an enzyme, which we call the "counter-ion effect". These findings could have important implications for future rational design efforts to stabilize enzymes in non-conventional media.
Immunity, Inflammation, and Oxidative Stress in Heart Failure: Emerging Molecular Targets

Heart failure (HF) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although various therapies developed over the last two decades have shown improved long term outcomes in patients with established HF, there has been little progress in preventing the adverse cardiac remodeling that initiates HF. To fill the gap in treatment, current research efforts are focused on understanding novel mechanisms and signaling pathways. Immune activation, inflammation, oxidative stress, alterations in mitochondrial bioenergetics, and autophagy have been postulated as important pathophysiological events in this process. An improved understanding of these complex processes could facilitate a therapeutic shift toward molecular targets that can potentially alter the course of HF. In this review, we address the role of immunity, inflammation, and oxidative stress as well as other novel emerging concepts in the pathophysiology of HF that may have therapeutic implications. Based on the experimental and clinical studies presented here, we anticipate that a better understanding of the pathophysiology of HF will open the door for new therapeutic targets. A one-size-fits-all approach may not be appropriate for all patients with HF, and further clinical trials utilizing molecular targeting in HF may result in improved outcomes.
Incidence, risk factors, and prognostic impact of re-exploration for bleeding after cardiac surgery: A retrospective cohort study

Abstract Background Postoperative re-exploration for bleeding (RB) is a frequent complication following cardiac surgery. We aim to assess incidence, risk factors, and prognostic significance of RB in a large cohort of cardiac patients. Materials and methods We reviewed prospectively collected data for all patients who underwent cardiac surgery at our institution from 2007 to 2015. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of RB and specific outcomes. Propensity matching using a 1:1-ratio compared outcomes of patients who had RB with patients who did not. Results During the study period, 7381 patients underwent cardiac operations. Of them, 189 (2.6%) underwent RB. RB was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (Odds Ratio (OR):2.62 Confidence Interval (CI):1.38–4.96; p = 0.003), major adverse events (OR:3.94, CI:2.79–5.62; p Conclusions RB significantly increases in-hospital mortality and morbidity after cardiac surgery.
Distinct impact of SIV infection in interstitial and alveolar lung macrophages on the pathogenesis of lung disease in rhesus macaques (VIR9P.1147)

Declining CD4 + T cells during HIV infection contributes to immunodeficiency, but we recently reported that increasing monocyte turnover better predicted onset of terminal disease progression to AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques. Here we describe the kinetics of SIV infection on distinct lung macrophage subsets and on monocyte/macrophage turnover rates in relation to pulmonary disease progression in rhesus macaques. Monocyte and tissue macrophage turnover were monitored by in vivo BrdU injection and cell uptake. Cell-associated SIV DNA in lung tissue was quantified by qPCR and in situ hybridization. Massive SIV infection was associated with increasing death rate of shorter-lived lung interstitial macrophages (IM) with elevated monocyte turnover and progression to AIDS. Conversely, the turnover of alveolar macrophages (AM) and decreasing numbers of CD4+ T cells in lung tissue did not directly correlate with disease progression. SIV DNA levels within IM and AM of the lung increased as monocyte turnover increased, but did not change within lung CD4+ T cells regardless of the stage of disease. These data suggest that SIV infection and concurrent destruction of lung IM contribute to pulmonary pathogenesis during AIDS progression while the longer-lived AM that become infected may contribute to establishing a virus reservoir. Also, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens contain AM but not IM, so may be insufficient for fully evaluating macrophage-mediated responses in the lung.
Transcriptomic and physiological studies identify cues for germination stage oxygen deficiency tolerance in rice

Abstract Submergence during germination imposes germination stage oxygen deficiency (GSOD). Natural variation in anaerobic germination potential (AGP), manifested by their differences in GSOD tolerance, is available in rice. Present study was performed to understand differential responses of two rice cultivars, Naveen and AC41620 (susceptible and tolerant to GSOD, respectively) subjecting them to 48-h continuous submergence during germination. Transcriptome analysis revealed more elaborate regulation of gene expression in AC41620 compared to Naveen. Validation of transcriptome data through q-PCR of selected genes and biochemical analysis related to carbohydrate metabolism, anaerobic respiration and oxidative stress tolerance were more significant in AC41620, than Naveen. The time-course enzyme assays for continued submergence suggested that the activity of α-amylase, pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase increased under continuous submergence. Efficient nitrogen metabolism supported by increased nitrate and nitrite reductase activities and better handling of reactive oxygen species (ROS) because of increased antioxidant enzyme activities were found to be associated with GSOD in AC41620. Increased ethylene production along with action of ABA, GA and G-proteins aided in GSOD tolerance of AC41620. The differentially expressed genes identified in the present study will serve as a useful genomic resource for extending our understanding of molecular mechanism of anaerobic germination vis-a-vis GSOD tolerance in rice.
Selecting Tools to Model Integer and Binomial Multiplication

Mathematics teachers frequently provide concrete manipulatives to students during instruction; however, the rationale for using certain manipulatives in conjunction with concepts may not be explored. This article focuses on area models that are currently used in classrooms to provide concrete examples of integer and binomial multiplication. The innovation of combining the representations for negative numbers with both algebra tiles and Algeblocks is provided, with a mathematical justification for its development. Teachers’ effective integration of tools such as these in mathematics instruction can help students develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
Childhood socioeconomic status and risk in early family environments: predictors of global sleep quality in college students

Abstract Objective Low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood associates with poor sleep quality in adulthood. Separately, childhood family environments shape health into adulthood. Here, we investigated whether these early life factors independently or interactively inform global sleep quality in college students. Design Cross-sectional. Participants College students at a state university (N = 391). Measurements As a measure of childhood SES, we asked participants to consider their families’ socioeconomic standing relative to the rest of the society during their childhood. We used the Risky Family questionnaire to measure adversity and the presence of warmth and affection in the family environment during childhood, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index as a measure of current global sleep quality. We used linear regressions adjusting for age and sex to examine relationships between childhood SES, risk in childhood family environments, and global sleep quality. Results Lower childhood SES and greater risk in childhood family environments independently predicted poor sleep quality. Importantly, in low-risk family environments, there was no significant difference in sleep quality as a function of childhood SES. However, students who were from low childhood SES backgrounds who also reported high levels of risk in their early family environments had the worst sleep quality. Conclusions Findings highlight the importance of considering socioeconomic and family environments in childhood as informants of sleep quality across the lifespan. Compromised sleep quality in college students could affect academic performance and health over time.
Primary Care Providers' Intended Use of Decision Aids for Prostate-Specific Antigen Testing for Prostate Cancer Screening.

Decision aids are tools intended to help people weigh the benefits and harms of a health decision. We examined primary care providers’ perspective on use of decision aids and explored whether providers’ beliefs and interest in use of a decision aid was associated with offering the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for early detection of prostate cancer. Data were obtained from 2016 DocStyles, an annual, web-based survey of U.S. healthcare professionals including primary care physicians (n = 1003) and nurse practitioners (n = 253). We found that the majority of primary care providers reported not using (patient) decision aids for prostate cancer screening, but were interested in learning about and incorporating these tools in their practice. Given the potential of decision aids to guide in informed decision-making, there is an opportunity for evaluating existing decision aids for prostate cancer screening for clinical use.
U.S. Energy Ecosystem: Entering a New Era?

The idea that the physical infrastructure used to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to the sockets and outlets in the walls of homes and business throughout the U.S. needs a digital transformation and two-way communications in order to improve its efficiency, and reliability has been near the top of the country’s energy policy agenda for several years. Grid modernization is needed to address a range of issues, from how to forestall another blackout similar to what occurred in the Northeastern U.S. in 2003 to how to accommodate the increasing amounts of wind and solar power that are coming onto the grid. The vision of deploying a “smart grid” is the driving idea behind Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, for instance.
Pseudo-stationary separation materials for highly parallel separations.

Goal of this study was to develop and characterize novel polymeric materials as pseudostationary phases in electrokinetic chromatography. Fundamental studies have characterized the chromatographic selectivity of the materials as a function of chemical structure and molecular conformation. The selectivities of the polymers has been studied extensively, resulting in a large body of fundamental knowledge regarding the performance and selectivity of polymeric pseudostationary phases. Two polymers have also been used for amino acid and peptide separations, and with laser induced fluorescence detection. The polymers performed well for the separation of derivatized amino acids, and provided some significant differences in selectivity relative to a commonly used micellar pseudostationary phase. The polymers did not perform well for peptide separations. The polymers were compatible with laser induced fluorescence detection, indicating that they should also be compatible with chip-based separations.
Dilation (UES, Esophagus, LES) Balloon Dilations, Bougies

Benign esophageal strictures result from a variety of injuries causing local or diffuse narrowing of the lumen and compromising swallowing. Subsequently, nutritional health becomes impaired necessitating mechanical treatment (dilation) of the stricture.
Anesthesia for Thoracic and Abdominal Aneurysms

Thoracic aortic lesions occur in two major types; saccular and fusiform aneurysms and aortic dissections. The most common sites for fusiform and saccular aneurysms are just distal to the left subclavian artery, but they may occur in the ascending, arch, or descending thoracic aorta. Among the causes of saccular and fusiform aneurysms are syphilis, atherosclerosis, trauma, aortic valve disease, coarctation, infection, aortitis, or cystic medial degeneration. The elastica of the aorta is weakened so that the pressure of blood causes dilatation of the wall. Stagnant and turbulent blood flow next to the wall may line the aneurysm with clot. Thoracic aortic dissections result from cystic medial necrosis, with mucoid and cystic degeneration of the elastic fibers in the media of the aorta. Diseases such as hypertension, Marian’s syndrome, Takayasu’s disease, coarctation, or aortic hypoplasia are often associated with thoracic aortic dissection. Trauma, pregnancy, or atherosclerosis are less common etiologies. The dissection begins with a large tear in the aortic intima through which dissecting blood disrupts the media and peels the intima from the adventitia over a varying length of aorta. Aortic dissections are classified according to location: type I begins in the ascending aorta, but the dissection may extend throughout the aorta; type II is limited to the ascending aorta; type III begins in the descending aorta (Figure 18.1) (27).
Shame and Wrong: Is There a Common Morality Among Young People in France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and the USA?

The chapter analyzes morality as a dependent variable measured by survey responses of some 10,000 children in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade participating in the ISRD3 project in the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA. The chapter empirically describes differences and commonalities in the values and norms of native-born pupils and their migrant counterparts, and it tests the hypothesis that the effect of migration status, parents, school, religion, and friends on morality will be similar in France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and the USA. Psychometric analysis of the measures of morality (Pro-Social Values Index and Shame Index) supports cross-national measurement equivalence of the measures. We find broadly similar patterns of morality across these five countries, with some country-level variations in degree of moral consensus across children. Multivariate analysis shows higher levels of morality among girls, lower grades, and those who care about opinion of parents, and teachers, among all five youth samples. Religious affiliation is only of minor importance: Muslim pupils in the Netherlands and the UK score slightly lower on morality scales, but in the US, French, and German samples, this is not the case. The effects of being native-born and first- or second-generation immigrant on morality are weak and inconsistent, suggesting the need for country-specific analysis.
When safety climate is not enough: Examining the moderating effects of psychosocial hazards on nurse safety performance.

Aim To examine the association between components of safety climate and psychosocial hazards with safe work behaviours and test the moderating effects of psychosocial hazards on the safety climate-safety performance relationships. Background The effects of a strong safety climate on safety performance are well cited, however, the conditions that have an impact on this relationship warrant attention. While the psychosocial hazards commonly reported by nurses are predictors of well-being and job attitudes, evidence suggests that these may also place boundaries on the effects of safety climate on safe work practices. Design This study used a cross-sectional design to collect data from 146 nurses. Methods Participants were recruited through convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods in 2017. Nurses completed an online questionnaire and received a $5 e-gift card as compensation. SPSS v.23 and PROCESS v3.0 were used to analyse the data. Results/findings A strong safety climate was positively associated with nurses' safety performance. While psychosocial hazards did not predict safety performance, they did moderate the safety climate-performance relationship. High levels of perceived stressors weakened the association between promoting two-way safety communication, the use and implementation of procedures to promote safe work practices and management's endorsement of health and safety with safe work performance. Conclusion The positive effects of safety climate on nurses' safety performance are contingent on the levels of psychosocial hazards nurses experience. When aiming to improve safety performance among nurses, it is important for efforts to also focus on the psychosocial conditions of the work environment.
Abstract 879: Nicotine-induced oxidative stress causes epigenetic alterations during malignant transformation of human kidney epithelial cells

Nicotine is a component of cigarette smoke and mounting evidence implicates tobacco smoking in kidney cancer development. Whether nicotine alone can cause kidney cancer is not clear. Moreover, the underlying molecular mechanisms for nicotine-induced carcinogenesis is still not well-understood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if chronic exposure to nicotine results in malignant transformation of HK-2 kidney epithelial cells. The data revealed that chronic exposure to nicotine induced growth and malignant transformation in HK-2 cells. Additionally, the nicotine-exposed cells had inherently increased levels of intracellular ROS, and acquired stem cell-like sphere formation, as well as epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT) changes during malignant transformation. Treatment with antioxidant NAC resulted in abrogation of EMT and stem cell-like sphere in HK-2 cells, suggesting the role of nicotine-induced ROS in these morphological changes. Additionally, epigenetic reagents 5-aza-29-deoxycytidine and trichostatin A also diminished stem cell-like sphere in nicotine-exposed HK-2 cells. The nicotine also induced changes in the expression of epigenetic genes (DNMT3a, DNMT3b, and HMT1) and these changes were reversed by NAC treatment. This further supports the role of nicotine-induced ROS in epigenetic changes during malignant transformation of HK-2 cells. The altered levels of pAKT in low dose nicotine exposed cells were restored after NAC treatment, suggesting that nicotine-induced ROS, through regulation of AKT pathway, controls the EMT and stemness during early stages of carcinogenesis. In summary, to our knowledge, this is the first report showing that chronic exposure to nicotine induces malignant transformation in human kidney epithelial cells through ROS-mediated epigenetic modifications. Citation Format: Yuwei Chang, Kamaleshwar Singh. Nicotine-induced oxidative stress causes epigenetic alterations during malignant transformation of human kidney epithelial cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 879.
David Oliver: Radical pragmatism and medical leadership.

My recent column on the paucity of doctors as NHS hospital chief executives brought an interesting postbag, sparking more reflection on my part.1 Clinically active doctors can often assume management, educational, and leadership roles that stop short of full time organisational executive. Perhaps the lack of doctor chief executives isn’t a big deal if we’re influential in other ways.2 One of my Twitter respondents, Jill Aylott, argued that medical leadership is indivisible from practice because delivering continuous quality improvement for patients was what counted, requiring concrete actions.3 The implication was that a serious focus on clinical quality and safety requires more doctors and other clinicians in charge and fewer career managers. I’m not sure that career managers are less committed to quality than clinicians, but I understand …
A Novel Communication Pathway Between Lysosomes and Mitochondria Is Disrupted in Alzheimer’s Disease:

A growing body of evidence supports the idea that organelles talk to each other. This communication is characterized by either physical interactions, functional associations mediated by signaling m...
People's Intuitions About Innateness.

Few questions in science are as controversial as the origins of knowledge. Whether knowledge (e.g., “objects are cohesive”) is partly innate has been debated for centuries. Here, we ask whether our...
ROLATIN: Robust Localization and Tracking for Indoor Navigation of Drones

In many drone applications, drones need the ability to fly fully or partially autonomously to carry out their mission. To enable such fully/partially autonomous flights, the ground control station that is supporting the drone’s operation needs to constantly localize and track the drone, and send this information to the drone’s navigation controller to enable autonomous/semiautonomous navigation. In outdoor environments, localization and tracking can be readily carried out using GPS and the drone’s Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs). However, in indoor areas or GPS-denied environments, such an approach is not feasible. In this paper, we propose a localization and tracking scheme for drones called ROLATIN (Robust Localization and Tracking for Indoor Navigation of drones) that was specifically devised for GPS-denied environments. Instead of GPS signals, ROLATIN relies on speakergenerated ultrasonic acoustic signals to estimate the target drone’s location and track its movement. Compared to vision and RF signal-based methods, our scheme offers a number of advantages in terms of performance and cost.