cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere: Panel Report

Few radar developments promise to have greater impact on the atmospheric sciences than VHF/UHF radar. Able to monitor motions in the clear air, these instruments provide an unprecedented look at the small-scale structures (in both space and time) of atmospheric winds and the temperature/humidity fluctuations that scatter the electromagnetic radiation. These structures reveal important processes, including instability; atmospheric wave generation, propagation, interaction, and decay; severe weather development and associated mesoscale wind features such as outflow boundaries and midlevel inflows; coupling of the lower and middle atmosphere; and atmospheric turbulence. In addition to their intrinsic kinematic interest, these processes often dominate atmospheric transports and budgets of dynamic and thermodynamic variables such as momentum and energy, water vapor and other trace gases, liquid water, ice, and other aerosols. In the atmosphere, such processes are often event-driven, placing a premium on our ability to observe them with fine spatial and temporal resolution. Already, exploratory use of VHF/UHF radars has provided important new insights to our understanding of atmospheric structure and dynamics. Harnessing such observing systems in the future will significantly improve weather services and expand the possibilities for atmospheric research.
Proteins of the castor bean—Their preparation, properties, and utilization

This article is a review of technical papers and information that are now available on the proteins of the castor bean. Included among the various aspects of the subject are the following: The chemical composition of castor bean seeds and castor cake; the preparation and properties of their proteins, including the toxic albumin riein, its properties, physiological reactions and amino acid content; the allergenic properties of castor bean protein; the utilization of castor bean cake or pomace for feeding, fertilizer and industrial purposes. An extensive bibliography is appended.
Relationship of luteinizing hormone, pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, and estriol-16-glucuronide in urine of infertile women with endometriosis *

The concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), pregnanediol-3-glucuronide (PGD), and estriol-16-glucuronide (E 3 G) were measured in daily morning urine specimens from 53 infertile women. In 26 of 29 women with various degrees of proven endometriosis, two distinct midcycle peaks of LH were found 2 or 3 days apart. Patients with LH peaks separated by 3 days had significantly more severe endometriosis than those with a single peak. Maximum concentrations of E 3 G were found to be delayed until after the first LH peak in these patients, and PGD concentrations did not rise until the time of the second LH peak, making actual luteal function of shorter duration than normal. From the data on LH, it appears that an inappropriate hormonal feedback mechanism is operative in endometriosis.
Analysis of hyaluronic acid capsule expression in group A streptococci.

Strains of Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococci) have the ability to express a hyaluronic acid capsule, a high molecular weight glycosaminoglycan composed of repeating subunits of glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine, The polymer is synthesized by the alternate addition of UDP-glucuronic acid and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine by the streptococcal membrane-associated enzyme hyaluronate synthase. The chromosomal locus necessary for the production of the hyaluronic acid capsule, the has operon, has recently been identified and is conserved in all strains of group A streptococci and encapsulated group C streptococci3. The has operon is composed of three genes identified as hasA (hyaluronate synthase), hasB (UDP-glucose dehydrogenase), and hasC (UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase). A single 4.1-kb mRNA product was observed by Northern blot analysis confirming that these genes are components of an operon.
[Quasi-eleven year modulation of global and spectral features of geomagnetic disturbances].

Variations in spectral characteristics of the Kp-index of geomagnetic activity during the solar activity cycle were studied in order to assess the role of its rhythms in the formation of temporal structure of biological objects. It is shown that most spectral components of the Kp-index are modulated by the 10.5-year periodic rhythms in solar activity variations, while its circasemiseptan component (3.5 days) exhibits an 11-year rhythm. Since it is a circasemiseptan rhythm that is characteristics of biological objects (e.g., unicellular algae), it can be assumed that geophysical rhythms played a substantial role in the formation of biological rhythms during evolution.
Forest Ecology in India: Pre-Colonial Maharashtra

Recent concern for sustainable development has made it necessary for us to examine the consequences of our actions upon the environment. The overuse of natural resources has become a major international concern. The focus of this unit is the land distribution and forest management practices of the Maharashtra that were under Maratha control, namely the Maval region (part of Western Ghats), the high and arid plains of the Desh region, and the Konkan costal area. Marathas, beginning with the Bhosle dynasty, and later, the Peshwas, ruled this region from 1640 to 1818. This type of study must consider the geographical diversity, and various political, socio-economic, cultural and religious influences present in modern-day India. In order to understand a society's relationship with nature, one must first analyse the socio-political and economic conditions that existed within its borders. As we reconstruct the environmental history of this region, it is important to note that the area is comprised of three distinct geographical zones: the high, arid plains; the mountainous region and the wet, coastal areas. Hence, each area differs in terms of its available resources, farming practices, political history, and its interactions with outsiders. However, one can also see significant similarities between the populations of each geographical area, i.e. they share comparable socio-economic systems and common religious practices. These variables will serve as recurring themes in the pre-colonial history of this region. Village Structure and Distribution of Land The village was a self-supporting unit, whose patterns of agriculture were largely determined by its specific requirements. Since most agricultural production catered to the local needs, the activities of a given area were directed towards fulfilling the individual needs.
The collaboration capability of global virtual teams: relationships with functional diversity, absorptive capacity, and innovation

Global virtual teams (GVTs) are increasingly utilized in industry given their ability to bring together diverse knowledge and experience from individuals who are not geographically proximal. Having...
Spatiotemporal event sequence mining from evolving regions

In this paper, we introduce methods for mining spatiotemporal event sequences from event datasets with evolving region objects. Spatiotemporal event sequences are the ordered lists of event types whose event instances frequently follow each other in spatiotemporal context. Two Apriori-based algorithms are designed for the task of spatiotemporal event sequence mining. We provide explanations for interestingness measures we employed. We present extended experimental results that demonstrate the computational efficiency of our methods.
CBF-1 promotes the establishment and maintenance of HIV latency by recruiting Polycomb repressive complexes, PRC1 and PRC2, at HIV LTR

The C-promoter binding factor-1 (CBF-1) is a potent and specific inhibitor of the HIV-1 LTR promoter. Here we demonstrate that the knockdown of endogenous CBF-1 in latently infected primary CD4+ T cells, using specific small hairpin RNAs (shRNA), resulted in the reactivation of latent HIV proviruses. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays using latently infected primary T cells and Jurkat T-cell lines demonstrated that CBF-1 induces the establishment and maintenance of HIV latency by recruiting Polycomb Group (PcG/PRC) corepressor complexes or Polycomb repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2). Knockdown of CBF-1 resulted in the dissociation of PRCs corepressor complexes enhancing the recruitment of RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) at HIV LTR. Knockdown of certain components of PRC1 and PRC2 also led to the reactivation of latent proviruses. Similarly, treatment of latently infected primary CD4+ T cells with the EZH2 inhibitor, 3-deazaneplanocin A (DZNep), led to their reactivation.
A multi-level slow intelligence system for visualizing personal health care

Abstract This paper describes the design of an experimental multi-level slow intelligence system for visualizing personal health care, called the TDR system, consisting of interacting super-components each with different computation cycles specified by an abstract machine model. The TDR system has three major super-components: Tian (Heaven), Di (Earth) and Ren (Human), which are the essential ingredients of a human-centric psycho-physical system following the Chinese philosophy. Each super-component further consists of interacting components supported by an SIS server. This experimental TDR system provides a platform for exploring, visualizing and integrating different applications in personal health care, emergency management and social networking.
Probing the metastable state of influenza hemagglutinin

Viral entry into host cells is mediated by membrane proteins in a metastable state that transition to a more stable state upon a stimulus. For example, in the influenza envelope protein hemagglutinin (HA), the low pH in the endosome triggers a transition from the metastable prefusion conformation to the stable fusion conformation. To identify probes that interfere with HA function, here we screened a library of H7 HA peptides for inhibition of H7 HA-mediated entry. We discovered a peptide, PEP87 (WSYNAELLVAMENQHTI), that inhibited H7 and H5 HA-mediated entry. PEP87 corresponds to a highly conserved helical region of the HA2 subunit of HA that self-interacts in the neutral pH conformation. Mutagenesis experiments indicated that PEP87 binds to its native region in the HA trimer. We also found that PEP87 is unstructured in isolation but tends to form a helix as evidenced by CD and NMR studies. Fluorescence, chemical cross-linking, and saturation transfer difference NMR data suggested that PEP87 binds to the neutral pH conformation of HA and disrupts the HA structure without affecting its oligomerization state. Together, this work provides support for a model in which PEP87 disrupts HA function by displacing native interactions of the neutral pH conformation. Moreover, our observations indicate that the HA prefusion structure (and perhaps the metastable states of other viral entry proteins) is more dynamic with transient motions being larger than generally appreciated. These findings also suggest that the ensemble of prefusion structures presents many potential sites for targeting in therapeutic interventions.
Anti-essentialism in multicultural societies: facilitating multicultural discourse through tolerance of cultural pluralism

Approaching anti-essentialism from the perspective of multiculturalism this article reexamines the value of tolerance in dealing with inter-cultural conflicts and in facilitation of multicultural discourses. It asserts that tolerance can be a potentially useful practice in specific local contexts, but it is not an ideal in itself. The article questions the role of public administration in building tolerance for cultural diversity and argues that providing visible forms of public recognition of cultural practices could be one possible role for government agencies.
Designing Carbon-Neutral Investment Portfolios

As climate change and global warming are addressed by tougher regulation, global investors are increasingly treating climate risks as a key aspect when pricing financial assets and deciding the allocation of their investment portfolios. However, the current approaches to embed the environmental profile in the investment process—exclusion lists, environmental ratings, active ownership, and carbon risk -adjusted valuation metrics—may not address effectively the concern that portfolios are exposed to growingly material risks associated to climate change. This chapter discusses to what extent financial hedging of institutional investment portfolios is feasible and how policy-making could shape markets and instruments to make the financial global system more resilient to possible climate-related regulatory shocks.
Artificial Intelligence and Radiology: Have Rumors of the Radiologist's Demise Been Greatly Exaggerated?

Artificial intelligence is a rapidly evolving computerized technology affecting multiple aspects of our lives. It is predicted that artificial intelligence will lead to a fundamental change in practice of many professional fields, including medicine. One of the most significant advances in artificial intelligence involves digital imaging and image recognition. Consequently, radiologists, who work in the most digitalized field of medicine, need to be familiar with this rapidly progressing technology. “Artificial intelligence,” “machine learning,” and “deep learning” are terms that tend to be used interchangeably in terms of advanced computer algorithms, but each has a different meaning. Objectives for this article are to demystify these terms for radiologists and to establish a basic understanding of this topic for the reader. We also discuss the impact that artificial intelligence might have on the field of radiology in the foreseeable future. Although artificial intelligence is unlikely to replace radiologists any time soon (if ever), we explore how this technology could be beneficial to radiologists.
Analysis of Solar Cell Quality Using Voltage Metrics: Preprint

The highest efficiency solar cells provide both excellent voltage and current. Of these, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is more frequently viewed as an indicator of the material quality. However, since the Voc also depends on the band gap of the material, the difference between the band gap and the Voc is a better metric for comparing material quality of unlike materials. To take this one step further, since Voc also depends on the shape of the absorption edge, we propose to use the ultimate metric: the difference between the measured Voc and the Voc calculated from the external quantum efficiency using a detailed balance approach. This metric is less sensitive to changes in cell design and definition of band gap. The paper defines how to implement this metric and demonstrates how it can be useful in tracking improvements in Voc, especially as Voc approaches its theoretical maximum.
A Clustering Approach to Constrained Binary Matrix Factorization

In general, binary matrix factorization (BMF) refers to the problem of finding two binary matrices of low rank such that the difference between their matrix product and a given binary matrix is minimal. BMF has served as an important tool in dimension reduction for high-dimensional data sets with binary attributes and has been successfully employed in numerous applications. In the existing literature on BMF, the matrix product is not required to be binary. We call this unconstrained BMF (UBMF) and similarly constrained BMF (CBMF) if the matrix product is required to be binary. In this paper, we first introduce two specific variants of CBMF and discuss their relation to other dimensional reduction models such as UBMF. Then we propose alternating update procedures for CBMF. In every iteration of the proposed procedure, we solve a specific binary linear programming (BLP) problem to update the involved matrix argument. We explore the relationship between the BLP subproblem and clustering to develop an effective 2- approximation algorithm for CBMF when the underlying matrix has very low rank. The proposed algorithm can also provide a 2-approximation to rank-1 UBMF. We also develop a randomized algorithm for CBMF and estimate the approximation ratio of the solution obtained. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithm for UBMF finds better solutions in less CPU time than several other algorithms in the literature, and the solution obtained from CBMF is very close to that of UBMF.
Issues in Urban Public Economics

In the next two chapters four topics of both recent and long-standing interest in the field of urban public economics are examined. Although the discussion is primarily focused on theoretical and conceptual issues, it is prompted by very practical and critical fiscal issues in cities. In this chapter I examine the incidence of the property tax, fiscal federalism, and the impact of intergovernmental grants, such as revenue sharing, on local govenment decision making, In the next chapter, I examine various aspects of the Tiebout model, especially as it relates to the process of fiscal fragmentation of metropolitan areas, or the formation of “bedroom” suburbs. Although the various topics are treated separately, they are closely linked, as will become apparent.
A Rapid Method for Predicting the Potential Shelf-Life of Fresh Chicken

Most chicken marketed in the United States is sold fresh. Fresh foods such as poultry, beef, pork, fish, and milk are susceptible to spoilage. Spoilage defects eventually become organoleptically detectable due to the growth of bacteria on these foods after a specified period of time.
Educating Psychotherapy Supervisors

What do we know clinically and empirically about the education of psychotherapy supervisors? In this paper, I attempt to address that question by: (1) reviewing briefly current thinking about psych...
The Use of GIS Technologies within the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s FEWS-NET Program

Geographical Information Systems applications are used daily within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS-NET) to provide relevant meteorological and climatic information to support weather-related natural disaster management efforts (Love, 2004). It is through the use of GIS technologies that a more user friendly, value-enhanced, and distinctly directed set of information may be created and disseminated to the end user. However; the data flow cycle does not end there. Users will ingest this information and modify it for their own purposes, resulting in a new product possibly benefiting the original institution. It is the purpose of this paper to inform the disaster management community of our experience with weather and climate related GIS technology in order to gain critical feedback in the direction of improving the data and services we provide and to add to the common pool of GIS knowledge. Within this document, examples of manual and automated Climate Prediction Center’s FEWS-NET products will form the base of the discussion. History of GIS use within FEWS-NET will provide background information, while a discussion of our experience determining user requirements will give a view into the task at hand. A summary of possible future directions will culminate the report.
Microtubule disruption modulates the Rho-kinase pathway in vascular smooth muscle.

Microtubules constitute one of the main cytoskeletal components in eukaryotic cells. Recent studies have shown that microtubule disruption induced significant vasoconstriction or enhanced agonist-induced contraction in vascular smooth muscle. However, the underlying mechanisms are not clear. We hypothesize that microtubule disruption may affect contractile signaling in vascular smooth muscle and lead to the enhanced contraction. The present study demonstrates that both colchicine and nocodazole induced a small but sustained contraction (4–6% P 0) in rat aortic rings. This microtubule disruption-induced contraction was abolished by co-treatment with either HA 1077 or Y-27632, both of which are relatively specific Rho-kinase inhibitors. However, co-treatment with ML-9, an inhibitor of myosin light chain kinase, (MLCK) did not have a significant effect on the colchicine-induced contraction. The enhanced KCl-induced contraction due to treatment with colchicine was also blocked by inhibition of Rho-kinase, but not by inhibition of MLCK. These results indicate that microtubule disruption modulates contractile signaling in vascular smooth muscle, mainly through the Rho-kinase pathway, but not MLCK. Interestingly, the colchicine-enhanced, phenylephrine-induced contraction was not completely blocked by inhibition of Rho-kinase suggesting that other signaling pathways might also be involved.
Warring for America: Cultural Contests in the Era of 1812. Edited by Nicole Eustace and Frederika J. Teute. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. viii, 502. $59.95.)

This volume contains fourteen essays on a series of cultural conflicts that played out in and around North America between the 1780s and the 1830s. The authors highlight issues of race, slavery, ge...
Maintainence chemotherapy in metastatic gastro-esophogeal junction and gastric tumors.

e15576Background: Maintenance therapy is an evolving field in medical oncology. The role of maintenance therapy in gastroesophogeal junction (GEJ) and gastric cancers remains elusive. The purpose o...
Characterization of prototype highly-multiplexed, multi-chroic pixels for balloon-borne platforms (Conference Presentation)

EBEX-IDS is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to characterize the polarization of foregrounds and to detect the primordial gravity waves through their B-mode signature on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). EBEX-IDS will operate 20,562 transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers distributed among 3,427 polarization sensitive sinuous antenna multichroic pixels (SAMP) to observe the CMB in 7 frequency bands between 150 and 360 GHz. In order to maximize the sensitivity of the telescope and take advantage of the lower power emission and absorption of the atmosphere at float, we decrease the average thermal conductance of the bolometers by a factor of 10 compared to ground-based telescopes and observe within higher frequency bands. We use a meandered design with thinner legs to reduce the thermal conductance. We present prototype pixels which improve the technology readiness for the use of SAMPs in balloon and satellite platforms. We fabricated and tested 150/250/320, 180/250/320 and 220/280/350 GHz SAMPs suitable for EBEX-IDS with specified average thermal conductance of 9 pW/K designed to absorb as little as 0.2 pW at 150 GHz. We report on the characterization of the average thermal conductance, the critical temperature and the time-constant of these pixels as well as the measurement of their noise and optical properties. We also report on the fabrication and testing of a new inductor-capacitor chip operated at 4 K to read out up to 105 bolometers with two wires using the frequency domain multiplexing ICE readout boards. This factor represents an increase of 60% compared to the highest factor used to date with this readout system.
Screening Tools to Predict the Development of Chronic Low Back Pain: An Integrative Review of the Literature.

Objective To identify and describe available instruments that can be used to screen patients with acute or subacute low back pain for a chronic low back pain trajectory. Design Integrative literature review. Methods An electronic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and PsychINFO databases took place from May through July of 2014 using systematic search strategies to identify screening instruments developed to identify people at risk of chronic low back pain. After screening for inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as quality indicators, the identified studies were categorized based on whether the instrument measured psychological, clinical, or functional measures to predict chronic low back pain. Results Initial searches identified 2,274 potential articles. After assessing for duplicates, title, and abstract content, there were 129 remaining articles. Articles were further excluded after analysis of the text, for a total of 42 studies reviewed. Most instruments reviewed were unable to provide evidence of predictive power for developing chronic low back pain. Conclusions This review identified numerous instruments developed to assess the likelihood of chronic low back pain in acute and subacute low back pain populations. Of the instruments reviewed, the STarT Back Screening Tool and the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire demonstrated superior predictive power compared with other instruments. Both screening tools offer evidence of validation, translation into different languages and international application, and usage in various health care settings and provide data on predictive power.
Loss of DksA leads to multi-faceted impairment of nitric oxide detoxification by Escherichia coli.

Abstract Human immune cells use a battery of toxic chemicals to eliminate invading bacteria. One of those compounds is nitric oxide (NO) and pathogens have evolved various strategies to defend themselves against this immune effector. Enzymatic detoxification is a common approach used by many bacteria, and Escherichia coli employs several enzymes to deal with NO, such as Hmp a flavohemoprotein. In addition to nitrosative stress, nutrient deprivation has been found to play an important role in phagosomal antimicrobial activity. Interestingly, recent work in Salmonella has suggested that DksA, a transcription regulator associated with the stringent response, is a molecular node for integration of nutritional and nitrosative stress signals. Here, we found that, in E. coli, loss of DksA profoundly impairs aerobic NO detoxification, approaching the detoxification capacity of Δhmp, which exhibits little-to-no NO detoxification within aerobic conditions. Investigation of this phenotype revealed that under NO stress ΔdksA suffered from low hmp transcript levels, considerably impaired protein output from the hmp promoter, and reduced catalysis by Hmp when present. These data demonstrate that DksA is critical for NO detoxification by E. coli and that loss of this regulator leads to NO defense deficiencies that span multiple levels.
David Oliver: Ageing, risk, and public perception.

In last week’s column I discussed some issues raised by the BBC One drama Care .12 The show highlighted different perceptions and attitudes about risk and autonomy in older people who have difficulty managing at home. Hospital staff were portrayed as desperate to get Jenny’s mother, Mary (Alison Steadman), back into her home after being disabled by a stroke and cognitive impairment. They clearly saw this as the right thing for Mary and for a system under pressure. But, in Jenny’s view, Mary was clearly no longer safe—and short, episodic visits from home care staff, who didn’t know her well, wouldn’t make her so. A nursing home seemed the least bad option. In 2014 a BBC Two documentary …
Knowledge-Guided Bayesian Support Vector Machine for High-Dimensional Data with Application to Analysis of Genomics Data

Support vector machine (SVM) is a popular classification method for the analysis of wide range of data including big data. Many SVM methods with feature selection have been developed under frequentist regularization or Bayesian shrinkage frameworks. On the other hand, the importance of incorporating a priori known biological knowledge, such as gene pathway information which stems from the gene regulatory network, into the statistical analysis of genomic data has been recognized in recent years. In this article, we propose a new Bayesian SVM approach that enables the feature selection to be guided by the knowledge on the graphical structure among predictors. The proposed method uses the spike-and-slab prior for feature selection, combined with the Ising prior that encourages group-wise selection of the predictors adjacent to each other on the known graph. Gibbs sampling algorithm is used for Bayesian inference. The performance of our method is evaluated and compared with existing SVM methods in terms of prediction and feature selection in extensive simulation settings. In addition, our method is illustrated in the analysis of genomic data from a cancer study, demonstrating its advantage in generating biologically meaningful results and identifying potentially important features.
Kinetics mechanism and regulation of native human hepatic thymidine phosphorylase

Thymidine phosphorylase (TP; EC 2.4.2.4) catalyzes the reversible phosphorolysis of thymidine, deoxyuridine, and their analogues to their respective nucleobases and 2-deoxy-α-d-ribose-1-phosphate (dRib-1-P). TP is a key enzyme in the pyrimidine salvage pathways. Activity of the enzyme is crucial in angiogenesis, cancer chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and tumor imaging, Nevertheless, a complete set of kinetic parameters has never been reported for any human TP. This study describes the kinetic mechanism and regulation of native human hepatic TP. The liver is a main site of pyrimidine metabolism and contains high levels of TP. Initial velocity and product inhibition studies demonstrated that the basic mechanism of this enzyme is a sequential random bi-bi mechanism. Initial velocity studies showed an intersecting pattern, consistent with substrate-enzyme-co-substrate complex formation, and a binding pattern indicating that the binding of the substrate interferes with the binding of the co-substrate and vice versa. Estimated kinetic parameters were KThymidine = 284 ± 55, KPi = 5.8 ± 1.9, KThymine = 244 ± 69, and KdRib-1-P = 90 ± 33 μM. Thymine was a product activator, but becomes a substrate inhibitor at concentrations eight times higher than its Km. dRib-1-P was a non-competitive product inhibitor of the forward reaction. It bounded better to the Enzyme●Pi complex than the free enzyme, but had better affinity to the free enzyme than the Enzyme●Thymidine complex. In the reverse reaction, dRib-1-P enhanced the binding of thymine. The enhancement of the thymine binding along with the fact that dRib-1-P was a non-competitive product inhibitor suggests the presence of another binding site for dRib-1-P on the enzyme.
Splenic cyst diagnosed by percutaneous needle aspiration and splenography. Report of a case.

Splenic cyst was demonstrated preoperatively by percutaneous splenic aspiration and splenography. This technique has been employed in a number of previously reported cases. The procedure has been found to be helpful in the preoperative diagnosis of splenic cysts, exposes the patient to little risk, and thus far has been free from complications. The procedure should be included in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with splenomegaly of obscure origin.
Noninvasive Programmed Ventricular Stimulation-Guided Management Following Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation

Abstract Objectives This study sought to determine the impact of repeat catheter ablation (CA) prior to hospital discharge based on inducibility of clinical ventricular tachycardia (VT) during noninvasive programmed ventricular stimulation (NIPS). Background Inducibility of clinical VT during NIPS performed several days after CA identifies patients at high risk of recurrence. The impact of NIPS-guided repeat CA has not been reported. Methods Consecutive patients with structural heart disease undergoing CA of VT followed by NIPS were studied. Clinical VT was defined by comparison with 12-lead electrocardiograms and stored implantable cardioverter-defibrillator electrograms from spontaneous VT episodes. Among those with inducible clinical VT at NIPS, VT-free survival was compared between those in whom ablation was repeated (group 1) versus those in whom ablation was not repeated (group 2) prior to hospital discharge. Results Among 469 patients (64 ± 12 years of age; 85% males; 60% ischemic), 216 patients (46%) underwent NIPS 3 days (interquartile range: 2 to 4 days) after CA. Clinical VT was induced in 45 patients (21%). Among those 45, CA was repeated in 11 patients (24%). There were no significant differences in baseline clinical or index CA characteristics between groups 1 and 2. Over a median 36-month follow-up, only 1 patient (9%) in group 1 experienced VT recurrence compared to 24 patients (71%) in group 2 (p Conclusions In patients with inducible clinical VT during post-ablation NIPS, repeat CA was associated with significantly lower risk of subsequent recurrence.
Sustainable practices in the bed and breakfast industry

The trend of moving towards more environmentally friendly and community based operations, for reasons such as to showcase corporate social responsibility and for improved public image, has been found within hotel industry. However, research within the B &B industry on this subject is lacking, making it unclear if this sector of the lodging industry is aware of implementing such practices. This study utilized an online questionnaire to participants of a Midwest B&B conference in order to better understand what sustainable practices their establishments have implemented and the barriers that are keeping from implementing in the future.
High-throughput screening system for inhibitors of human Heat Shock Factor 2

Development of novel anti-cancer drug leads that target regulators of protein homeostasis is a formidable task in modern pharmacology. Finding specific inhibitors of human Heat Shock Factor 1 (hHSF1) has proven to be a challenging task, while screening for inhibitors of human Heat Shock Factor 2 (hHSF2) has never been described. We report the development of a novel system based on an in vivo cell growth restoration assay designed to identify specific inhibitors of human HSF2 in a high-throughput format. This system utilizes a humanized yeast strain in which the master regulator of molecular chaperone genes, yeast HSF, has been replaced with hHSF2 with no detrimental effect on cell growth. This replacement preserves the general regulatory patterns of genes encoding major molecular chaperones including Hsp70 and Hsp90. The controlled overexpression of hHSF2 creates a slow-growth phenotype, which is the basis of the growth restoration assay used for high-throughput screening. The phenotype is most robust when cells are cultured at 25 °C, while incubation at temperatures greater than 30 °C leads to compensation of the phenotype. Overexpression of hHSF2 causes overexpression of molecular chaperones which is a likely cause of the slowed growth. Our assay is characterized by two unique advantages. First, screening takes place in physiologically relevant, in vivo conditions. Second, hits in our screen will be of medically relevant potency, as compounds that completely inhibit hHSF2 function will further inhibit cell growth and therefore will not be scored as hits. This caveat biases our screening system for compounds capable of restoring hHSF2 activity to a physiologically normal level without completely inhibiting this essential system.
Metabolic regulation of Kv channels and cardiac repolarization by Kvβ2 subunits

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels control myocardial repolarization. Pore-forming Kvα proteins associate with intracellular Kvβ subunits, which bind pyridine nucleotides with high affinity and differentially regulate channel trafficking, plasmalemmal localization and gating properties. Nevertheless, it is unclear how Kvβ subunits regulate myocardial K+ currents and repolarization. Here, we tested the hypothesis that Kvβ2 subunits regulate the expression of myocardial Kv channels and confer redox sensitivity to Kv current and cardiac repolarization. Co-immunoprecipitation and in situ proximity ligation showed that in cardiac myocytes, Kvβ2 interacts with Kv1.4, Kv1.5, Kv4.2, and Kv4.3. Cardiac myocytes from mice lacking Kcnab2 (Kvβ2-/-) had smaller cross sectional areas, reduced sarcolemmal abundance of Kvα binding partners, reduced Ito, IK,slow1, and IK,slow2 densities, and prolonged action potential duration compared with myocytes from wild type mice. These differences in Kvβ2-/- mice were associated with greater P wave duration and QT interval in electrocardiograms, and lower ejection fraction, fractional shortening, and left ventricular mass in echocardiographic and morphological assessments. Direct intracellular dialysis with a high NAD(P)H:NAD(P)+ accelerated Kv inactivation in wild type, but not Kvβ2-/- myocytes. Furthermore, elevated extracellular levels of lactate increased [NADH]i and prolonged action potential duration in wild type cardiac myocytes and perfused wild type, but not Kvβ2-/-, hearts. Taken together, these results suggest that Kvβ2 regulates myocardial electrical activity by supporting the functional expression of proteins that generate Ito and IK,slow, and imparting redox and metabolic sensitivity to Kv channels, thereby coupling cardiac repolarization to myocyte metabolism.
Contextualism, skepticism, and invariantism

Michael Williams and Keith DeRose defend their different versions of contextualism on the grounds that contextualism gives a better account of the ordinary use of epistemic terms than invariantist competitors. One aim of this paper is to explain why their arguments do not succeed. A further aim is to show that the dispute between contextualists and invariantists portrayed by Williams and DeRose is a narrow interpretation of the dispute: there are important contextualist and invariantist positions which fall outside the scope of their arguments and which a full defense of contextualism should consider. DOI:10.5007/1808-1711.2010v14n3p375
Addressing the HIPAA-Potamus Sized Gap in Wearable Technology Regulation Note

Wearable technology is wildly popular. It is also wildly unregulated. Millions of consumers buy and use these devices, which can constantly track and transmit a variety of users’ health information. Although this health information is similar to, and in many cases more abundant than, information collected by doctors and health insurers, it generally has no privacy or security protections under federal law. This leaves most wearable technology companies free to sell or share their users’ health information without liability and leaves consumers without a remedy when their health information is compromised by a data breach. The types of information collected, stored, and transmitted by these wearable devices could be considered “protected health information” (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). However, HIPAA only applies to the PHI created, held, and transmitted by “covered entities,” such as doctors and health insurers, and their “business associates.” This means that if a HIPAA covered entity, such as an insurer, provides a wearable technology device to its policyholders, then the data from said device falls under HIPAA’s purview. But if the same devices are purchased directly by the consumer, they are not protected by HIPAA despite collecting and transmitting the same amounts and types of highly sensitive information. This Note advocates for equal regulation and protection of personal health information, regardless of how that information is initially collected. It proposes an expanded definition of “covered entities” to draw wearable technology companies into HIPAA’s regulatory purview, reflecting the modern reality that personal health information is created, collected, stored, and transmitted by devices far removed from the traditional health care system.
Local climate and habitat continuity interact to alter contemporary dispersal potential

Understanding the evolution of dispersal under changing global environments is essential to predicting a species ability to track shifting ecological niches. Two important, but anthropogenically altered, sources of selection on dispersal are climate and habitat continuity. Despite the likelihood these global drivers of selection act simultaneously on plant populations, their combined effects on dispersal are rarely examined. To understand the interactive effect of climate and habitat continuity on dispersal potential, we study Geum triflorum - a perennial grassland species that spans a wide range of environments, including both continuous prairie and isolated alvar habitats. We explore how the local climate of the growing season and habitat continuity (continuous vs isolated) interact to alter dispersal potential. We find a consistent interactive effect of local climate and habitat continuity on dispersal potential. Across continuous prairie populations, an increased number of growing degree days favors traits that increase dispersal potential. However, for isolated alvar populations, dispersal potential tends to decrease as the number of growing degree days increase. Our findings suggest that under continued warming, populations in continuous habitats will benefit from increased gene flow, while isolated populations will become increasingly segregated, with reduced potential to track shifting fitness optima.
Social Media Text Mining Framework for Drug Abuse: Development and Validation Study With an Opioid Crisis Case Analysis

Background: Social media are considered promising and viable sources of data for gaining insights into various disease conditions and patients’ attitudes, behaviors, and medications. They can be used to recognize communication and behavioral themes of problematic use of prescription drugs. However, mining and analyzing social media data have challenges and limitations related to topic deduction and data quality. As a result, we need a structured approach to analyze social media content related to drug abuse in a manner that can mitigate the challenges and limitations surrounding the use of such data. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evaluate a framework for mining and analyzing social media content related to drug abuse. The framework is designed to mitigate challenges and limitations related to topic deduction and data quality in social media data analytics for drug abuse. Methods: The proposed framework started with defining different terms related to the keywords, categories, and characteristics of the topic of interest. We then used the Crimson Hexagon platform to collect data based on a search query informed by a drug abuse ontology developed using the identified terms. We subsequently preprocessed the data and examined the quality using an evaluation matrix. Finally, a suitable data analysis approach could be used to analyze the collected data. Results: The framework was evaluated using the opioid epidemic as a drug abuse case analysis. We demonstrated the applicability of the proposed framework to identify public concerns toward the opioid epidemic and the most discussed topics on social media related to opioids. The results from the case analysis showed that the framework could improve the discovery and identification of topics in social media domains characterized by a plethora of highly diverse terms and lack of a commonly available dictionary or language by the community, such as in the case of opioid and drug abuse. Conclusions: The proposed framework addressed the challenges related to topic detection and data quality. We demonstrated the applicability of the proposed framework to identify the common concerns toward the opioid epidemic and the most discussed topics on social media related to opioids.
The State of the Netherlands v. Respondents & Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica

The July 2019 decision of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands constitutes the final act of a long litigation arising from the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica. After Bosnian Serb militias attacked the safe area of Srebrenica, members of the Dutch battalion (Dutchbat), which was responsible for safeguarding the enclave under a UN mandate, permitted between 8,000 and 10,000 men and boys to be taken away by Bosnian Serb forces. Those men and boys were eventually killed by forces commanded by General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadžic, president of the autonomous Republika Srpska. This Supreme Court decision and related rulings involve issues of international responsibility for the conduct of peacekeepers—in particular, attribution of conduct to the United Nations and its member states and immunity of international organizations.
Tripartite efficacy and behavior of clients working with a personal trainer

Personal trainers are a common social agent in the exercise workforce. However, little is known about their impact on the psychosocial or behavioral outcomes of their clients. This two-study projec...
Sequential Perturbation-based Attack Detection using DERs for Unbalanced Distribution System

The power distribution system with its reliance on automated monitoring and control infrastructure makes it a complicated cyber-physical system and vulnerable to various cyber-attacks. This paper proposes a moving target defense inspired false data injection attack (FDIA) detection mechanism for an unbalanced distribution system. In the proposed grid diagnosis service framework, the distribution system operator judiciously manipulates power outputs of a subset of inverter-based distribution energy resources (DERs) to create secret low magnitude voltage perturbations which are inconsequential to the normal operation of the grid. A mixed-integer-linear-programming algorithm is developed to select the optimal set of DERs that can create a voltage perturbation signal of the required magnitude at each sensor location at a minimum cost. Then, a sequential detector is applied that detects for the FDIA as measurements are received from individual sensors. The performance of the proposed perturbation-based FDIA detection framework is demonstrated via simulation of the IEEE 123 bus test system.
A Novel Approach to Pharmacy Practice Law Instruction.

Pharmacy law instruction is often taught as a didactic course; however practical application of pharmacy law is a main component of pharmacy practice. Technology-based simulations are becoming more frequently used to enhance didactic pharmacy education. The goal of this study was to evaluate the utility of and student perceptions on the usefulness of MyDispense community pharmacy simulation for additional law instruction that if successful might prompt curricular revamping. This Institutional Review Board–approved, two-year, qualitative, prospective, survey study was conducted in a case study class where students completed MyDispense exercises focused on common legal issues that arise in practice, both individually before and within groups during class. Participating students completed a qualitative survey directed at use of MyDispense for pharmacy law review, which included a series of close-ended questions graded on a Likert scale and open-ended questions thematically grouped. Thirty-eight (41%) and twenty-eight (31%) students completed surveys in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The majority of respondents felt exercises improved their understanding of pharmacy laws, focused on challenging areas, and were more interesting than additional lectures. However, certain topics were reported as irrelevant based on practice experiences or not ideal for simulation, and students desired exercises on state laws versus pharmacy policies. Students reported the MyDispense simulation exercises helped them to recall pharmacy laws and focus on topics that were challenging. These study results prompted curricular revamping to incorporate MyDispense throughout the curriculum for practice in recognizing and solving legal scenarios, along with didactic course changes.
An Instrument to Assess Self-Perceived Competencies in End-of-Life Care for Health Care Professionals: The End-of-Life Care Questionnaire:

Purpose:We describe the development and the psychometric properties of an instrument to assess self-perceived EOL care competencies for healthcare professionals: The End-of-Life Care Questionnaire ...