cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Generation of EST and cDNA Microarray Resources for the Study of Bovine Immunobiology

Recent developments in expressed sequence tag (EST) and cDNA microarray technology have had a dramatic impact on the ability of scientists to study the responses of thousands of genes to external stimuli, such as infection, nutrient flux, and stress. To date however, these studies have largely been limited to human and rodent systems. Despite the tremendous potential benefit of EST and cDNA microarray technology to studies of complex problems in domestic animal species, a lack of integrated resources has precluded application of these technologies to domestic species. To address this problem, the Center for Animal Functional Genomics (CAFG) at Michigan State University has developed a normalized bovine total leukocyte (BOTL) cDNA library, generated EST clones from this library, and printed cDNA microarrays suitable for studying bovine immunobiology. Our data revealed that the normalization procedure successfully reduced highly abundant cDNA species while enhancing the relative percentage of clones representing rare transcripts. To date, a total of 932 EST sequences have been generated from this library (BOTL) and the sequence information plus BLAST results made available through a web-accessible database http://gowhite.ans.msu.edu . Cluster analysis of the data indicates that a total of 842 unique cDNAs are present in this collection, reflecting a low redundancy rate of 9.7%. For creation of first generation cDNA microarrays, inserts from 720 unique clones in this library were amplified and microarrays were produced by spotting each insert or amplicon 3 times on glass slides in a 48-patch arrangement with 64 total spots (including blanks and positive controls) per patch. To test our BOTL microarray, we compared gene expression patterns of concanavalin A stimulated and unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In total, hybridization signals on over 90 amplicons showed upregulation (>3×) in response to Con A stimulation, relative to unstimulated cells. A second experiment with PBMCs from a different group of animals was performed to test reproducibility of microarray results. There was a high correlation between the 2 experiments (r = 0.72, P < 0.001). Resources described in this publication offer a highly efficient and integrated system to study gene expression changes in bovine leukocytes.
Impacts of Metals and Metalloids on Soil Microbial Diversity and Ecosystem Function

Metal and metalloid concentrations in soil exert an enormous influence on the diversity, composition, and activity of soil microorganisms that carry out essential ecosystem services. At low concentrations, microorganisms can compete for essential trace elements that are required to support their growth and in this manner affect plant nutrition and disease through the production of metal chelators. At high concentrations, the toxic effects of metals result in reduced microbial diversity and altered rates of key biological processes that underlie ecosystem function. The latter is now of great concern as large land areas across the globe have become contaminated with metals from land application of wastes and atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. An understanding of how plants, soils, organic matter, and microorganisms influence metal transformations in the rhizosphere is thus critical for managing soils to assure the long term protection of soil quality, food safety, and ecosystem function. One of the major difficulties in making practical management decisions with respect to metal pollution for different types of soils has been our inability to derive bioindicators of soil quality that can provide indices of soil quality across the landscape at different scales and over time. Ecosystems respond very differently to acute and chronic metal toxicities depending on their chemical properties and prior exposure histories. Toxicities are particularly influenced by physico-chemical conditions in soils that influence the bioavailability of metals and metalloids to plants and microorganisms. Nonetheless, the dynamic nature of microbial communities, which respond much faster to changes in management practices than do soil physical and chemical properties enables us to use bioindicators as a sensitive tools for predicting possible long term changes in soil properties. From a land management perspective, it is critical that soil microbiologists offer appropriate bioindicators for use in measuring the impacts of soil pollution on soil biological properties and extend knowledge as to how specific bioindicators may reflect long term changes in soil quality that can be used to guide land management practices and remediation of contaminated soils. Responses of Microbial Communities to Metal Contamination The microbial community concept is based on the interactions among in all of the various species of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and microfauna that carry out the various broad level functions of the soil, ranging from nutrient cycling to organic matter formation, and plant disease protection. Differences in the species composition of various soils are linked to changes in soil biological properties that in turn affect the long term chemical and physical properties and ability to support plant growth. Among the most basic functions are respiration
Independent per path congestion control for reliable data transmission between multi-homed hosts

A multi-homed host can be reached through multiple paths. With the popularity of multi-homed hosts, a new challenge arises on how to efficiently and simultaneously use multiple paths between multi-homed communication hosts to explore potential benefits of multi-homing feature, such as improved reliability, higher throughput etc. Standard SCTP (stream control transmission protocol) cannot support the multi-homing feature efficiently due to its per association congestion control structure. The per association congestion control structure also makes it unfeasible to extend SCTP for load sharing, load balancing and other multi-homing applications. In this paper, we illustrate limitations of the congestion control mechanism of the standard SCTP in the case of simultaneously using multiple paths. Simultaneously using multiple paths is inherent in the multi-homing feature. We proposed an independent per path congestion control principle for SCTP to overcome these limitations. SCTP with independent per path congestion control not only overcomes existing flaws of standard SCTP in supporting the multi-homing feature but also demonstrates its applicability to various multi-homing applications.
Exploiting heap symmetries in explicit-state model checking of software

Detecting symmetries in the structure of systems is a well known technique falling in the class of bisimulation (strongly) preserving state space reductions. Previous work in applying symmetries to aid model checking focuses mainly on process topologies and user specified data types. We applied the symmetry framework to model checking object-based programs that manipulate dynamically created objects, and developed a linear-time heuristic for finding the canonical representative of a symmetry equivalence class. The strategy was implemented in the object-based model checker dSPIN and some experiments, yielding encouraging results, have been carried out.
Door velocity and occupant distance affect lateral thoracic injury mitigation with side airbag

Abstract The relationship between thoracic injury risk and parameters of door velocity and occupant distance was delineated in blunt lateral impact with side airbag deployment. A sled impact model was exercised with the validated MADYMO fiftieth percentile facet occupant model and a generalized finite element torso side airbag. Impact velocity was incremented from 4.0 to 9.0 m/s; occupant–airbag distance (at time of airbag activation) was incremented from 2.0 to 24.0 cm; simulations without airbag were also examined. Using compression, deflection rate, and the Viscous Criterion, airbag performance was characterized with respect to occupant injury risk at three points of interest: occupant distance of most protection, distance of greatest injury risk, and the newly defined critical distance. The occupant distance which demonstrated the most airbag protection, i.e., lowest injury risk, increased with increasing impact velocity. Greatest injury risk resulted when the occupant was nearest the airbag regardless of impact velocity. The critical distance was defined as the farthest distance at which airbag deployment exacerbated injury risk. This critical distance only varied considering chest compression, between 3 and 10 cm from the airbag, but did not vary when the Viscous Criterion was evaluated. At impact velocities less than or equal to 6 m/s, the most protective occupant location was within 2 cm of the critical distance at which the airbag became harmful. Therefore, injury mitigation with torso airbag may be more difficult to achieve at lower ΔV.
Severe Mycoplasma Pneumonia in Young Children with Down Syndrome

Three young children with Down syndrome developed fever, cough, wheezing, irritability, and tachypnea. They had bilateral infiltrates on their chest radiographs and developed respiratory distress, which required their hospitalization. Laboratory studies suggested that the children had mycoplasma pneumonia. These children may have experienced severe mycoplasma infections early in life because of their Down syndrome-associated immune abnormalities. When young children with Down syndrome develop pneumonia, physicians should consider Mycoplasma pneumoniae as the possible etiologic agent.
Nearest-Neighbor Thermodynamics and NMR of DNA Sequences with Internal A·A, C·C, G·G, and T·T Mismatches†

Thermodynamic measurements are reported for 51 DNA duplexes with A·A, C·C, G·G, and T·T single mismatches in all possible Watson−Crick contexts. These measurements were used to test the applicability of the nearest-neighbor model and to calculate the 16 unique nearest-neighbor parameters for the 4 single like with like base mismatches next to a Watson−Crick pair. The observed trend in stabilities of mismatches at 37 °C is G·G > T·T ≈ A·A > C·C. The observed stability trend for the closing Watson−Crick pair on the 5‘ side of the mismatch is G·C ≥ C·G ≥ A·T ≥ T·A. The mismatch contribution to duplex stability ranges from −2.22 kcal/mol for GGC·GGC to +2.66 kcal/mol for ACT·ACT. The mismatch nearest-neighbor parameters predict the measured thermodynamics with average deviations of ΔG°37 = 3.3%, ΔH° = 7.4%, ΔS° = 8.1%, and TM = 1.1 °C. The imino proton region of 1-D NMR spectra shows that G·G and T·T mismatches form hydrogen-bonded structures that vary depending on the Watson−Crick context. The data reported ...
Willingness to Pay for Food Safety: Sensitivity to Duration and Severity of Illness

The vast majority of foodborne-illness cases result from exposure to pathogens and cause only short term illness, yet research on economic valuation of health risk is dominated by the study of mortality risk. To help fill this gap, we provide new stated preference estimates of the value of reducing the risk of illness from foodborne pathogens with a focus on short term morbidity. Our survey was administered over the internet to a panel randomly recruited from the adult United States population by Knowledge Networks and yielded about 3,500 completed surveys. Illness was described by a full factorial design that varied duration (1, 3, or 7 days), severity (three levels ranging from upset stomach to an illness requiring hospitalization), mortality risk conditional on illness (zero, 1/10,000, 1/1,000), and food type (chicken, ground beef, packaged deli meat). The reduction in risk associated with purchasing a safer brand of food varied between 1/10,000 and 3/10,000 per meal. Estimated median WTP per case avoided ranges from about $8,300 to $16,400 to reduce risk to the adult respondent and from $23,600 to $30,500 to reduce risk to his or her child. Estimated WTP increases with duration and severity of illness, reduction in risk, and is higher for chicken than for ground beef and packaged deli meat. WTP to reduce mortality risk is estimated imprecisely but is comparable to accepted estimates. WTP is larger for women, respondents who observe safe food handling practices, perceive their own risk to be higher than average, and older respondents, but smaller for those who have primary responsibility for preparing households meals.
Chronic hypoxia impairs the differentiation of 3T3-L1 fibroblast in culture: Role of sustained protein kinase C activation

The effect of hypoxia on 3T3-L1 cell differentiation was examined in confluent cultures incubated with differentiation medium (DM) followed by incubation in growth medium (GM). Control cultures remained in GM throughout the incubation period. Eight days after the incubation, cells were assessed either for changes in morphology by staining with Oil Red O/hematoxylin or harvested to measure protein kinase C activity. Morphological examination of stained cells showed almost complete differentiation of normoxic cells to adipocytes when exposed to DM. By contrast hypoxia caused a dramatic inhibition of differentiation under similar media conditions with only 34 ± 4% of cells accumulating fat deposits. Cultures sustained in GM under normoxic or hypoxic conditions were devoid of any fat deposits, reflecting an undifferentiated phenotype. Normoxic cells exposed to DM exhibited a significantly lower membrane to cytosolic ratio of protein kinase C in comparison with cells maintained in GM, which is consistent with differentiated and undifferentiated phenotypes, respectively. In comparison with normoxic cells incubated in DM, cells exposed to hypoxia under similar media conditions exhibited a significantly higher membrane to cytosolic ratio of protein kinase C, indicating sustained activation of the enzyme. In addition, cells in differentiation medium exposed to hypoxia in the presence of the protein kinase C inhibitors staurosporine or H7 exhibited a significant increase in the number of fat accumulating cells when compared with hypoxic controls. These studies indicate that chronic hypoxia impairs the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells to adipocytes in association with the sustained activation of protein kinase C, which appears to play a role in mediating this process. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Chapter 8. Hypertension Therapy: What Next?

Publisher Summary Essential hypertension can no longer be considered simply a state of elevated blood pressure. It is a syndrome of multiple abnormalities often characterized by cardiac and vascular restructuring. Lipid abnormalities and defects in carbohydrate metabolism associated with insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia. New anti-hypertensive therapy will need to control hypertension more effectively, with fewer side effects, once-a-day dosing and neutral/positive impact on known cardiovascular risk factors. Requisite morbidity–mortality trials should be initiated early to establish the advantages of the new agents. Advances in anti-hypertensive therapy in the past three decades have significantly reduced cerebrovascular accidents and improved the overall cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The link between insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertension is currently a very active area in hypertension research. This area was highlighted by the recent disclosure of the anti-hypertensive actions of two distinct classes of agents that enhance insulin sensitivity. Anti-hypertensive agents targeted at second messenger systems may allow regulation of multiple endpoints in the hypertensive process. Protein kinase C is an important regulator of the vascular tone, vascular and cardiac growth, fluid balance, and blood pressure. Hypertension is a complex disorder arising from the interplay of environmental and genetic factors. A clear understanding of the genetic foundations of hypertension may offer a new approach to the prevention or reversal of this disease process. Use of gene mapping/linkage analysis (association between the disease and a marker genotype— that is, polymorphism) and transgenic animal models may reveal candidate genes as the therapeutic targets.
Inhibition of Mitochondrial Complex II by the Anticancer Agent Lonidamine

The antitumor agent lonidamine (LND; 1-(2,4-dichlorobenzyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxylic acid) is known to interfere with energy-yielding processes in cancer cells. However, the effect of LND on central energy metabolism has never been fully characterized. In this study, we report that a significant amount of succinate is accumulated in LND-treated cells. LND inhibits the formation of fumarate and malate and suppresses succinate-induced respiration of isolated mitochondria. Utilizing biochemical assays, we determined that LND inhibits the succinate-ubiquinone reductase activity of respiratory complex II without fully blocking succinate dehydrogenase activity. LND also induces cellular reactive oxygen species through complex II, which reduced the viability of the DB-1 melanoma cell line. The ability of LND to promote cell death was potentiated by its suppression of the pentose phosphate pathway, which resulted in inhibition of NADPH and glutathione generation. Using stable isotope tracers in combination with isotopologue analysis, we showed that LND increased glutaminolysis but decreased reductive carboxylation of glutamine-derived α-ketoglutarate. Our findings on the previously uncharacterized effects of LND may provide potential combinational therapeutic approaches for targeting cancer metabolism.
3D Printing for Liver Tissue Engineering: Current Approaches and Future Challenges

Recent developments in 3D printing have greatly accelerated progress in the field of liver tissue engineering by enabling the fabrication of more tissue-mimetic structures capable of restoring function. A variety of 3D printing and additive manufacturing techniques ranging from stereolithography to direct ink writing have shown great promise in liver tissue engineering and the study of cellular interactions. Despite these advances, however, there is significant room for improvement. Furthermore, because of the enormous capabilities of 3D printing, methods to analyze complex heterogeneous tissues in vitro have yet to be perfected. Investigations into the ability of 3D printing to recreate the macro- and microstructural components of the liver are still in their infancy. These specific issues need to be addressed in combination with massive scale up if 3D-printed tissue-engineered livers are to reach clinical relevance.
Evolution of Texture and Microstructure in Rough Polycrystalline Silicon for Advanced Dram Applications

This study investigates the morphology, roughness and electrical performance of rough polysilicon films deposited by LPCVD process. The deposition duration was varied over a broad range to study the evolution of microstructural texture in terms of nuclei formation, growth and grain coalescence. The area enhancement factor (AEF) of rough polysilicon film, expressed as the ratio of cell capacitance incorporating textured film to that of a smooth polysilicon film is observed to range from 1.4 to 2.4 for the above conditions. It is observed that the AEF shows a strong dependence on the microstructural texture and correlates with the surface roughness. A model for electrical AEF based on grain morphology attributes from AFM is included. The dependence of rough polysilicon nucleus cluster density on silane flow rate and deposition temperature is also presented.
28-Gbaud PAM4 and 56-Gb/s NRZ Performance Comparison Using 1310-nm Al-BH DFB Laser

We have developed a high-speed 1310-nm Al-MQW buried-hetero laser having 29-GHz bandwidth (BW). The laser was used to compare 28-Gbaud four-level pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM4) and 56-Gb/s nonreturn to zero (NRZ) transmission performance. In both cases, it was possible to meet the 10-km link budget, however, 56-Gb/s NRZ operation achieved a 2-dB better sensitivity, attributable to the wide BW of the directly modulated laser and the larger eye amplitude for the NRZ format. On the other hand, the advantages for 28-Gbaud PAM4 were the reduced BW requirement for both the transmitter and the receiver PIN diode, which enabled us to use a lower bias to the laser and a PIN with a higher responsivity, or conversely enable the possibility of high temperature operation with lower power consumption. Both formats showed a negative dispersion penalty compared to back-to-back sensitivity using a negative fiber dispersion of −60 ps/nm, which was expected from the observed chirp characteristics of the laser. The reliability study up to 11 600 h at 85 °C under accelerated conditions showed no decrease in the output power at a constant bias of 60 mA.
Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated With Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Lesion Phenotypes in the Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials.

Importance Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the CFH, ARMS2, C3, LIPC, CFB, and C2 genes are associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD); however, the association of these SNPs with angiographic features of neovascular AMD has been inconsistent in previous studies, and to date, no studies have addressed their association with features on optical coherence tomography. Objective To evaluate the influence of genotype of SNPs previously associated with AMD on the phenotype of neovascular lesions. Design, setting, and participants Participants for this cross-sectional study were recruited from the 1185 patients enrolled in the Comparison of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatments Trials (CATT), a randomized clinical trial. Eligibility criteria for CATT specified that eyes have choroidal neovascularization and visual acuity between 20/25 and 20/320. A subgroup of 835 patients provided blood samples from July 2010 through September 2011 and were genotyped for the SNPs rs1061170 (CFH), rs10490924 (ARMS2),rs2230199 (C3), rs10468017 (LIPC), rs4151667 (CFB), rs547154 (C2) using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays. Data analysis was initiated in November 2013 and completed in January 2016. Main outcomes and measures Pretreatment ocular characteristics on fluorescein angiography (lesion type, area of neovascularization and total lesion, retinal angiomatous proliferation) and on time-domain optical coherence tomography (presence of intraretinal, subretinal, and subretinal pigment epithelium fluid; thickness at the foveal center of the retina, subretinal fluid, and subretinal tissue complex), visual acuity, and age. Results A total of 835 (73%) of 1150 CATT patients were genotyped. Mean age decreased with the number of risk alleles for CFH (P Conclusions and relevance CFH, ARMS2, and C3 were associated with specific features of neovascularization at the time patients were enrolled in CATT. Previously identified associations of ARMS2 and CFH with type of choroidal neovascularization on fluorescein angiography were not confirmed. New associations with OCT features identified in CATT need confirmation to establish whether a true association exists. Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00593450.
Tutorial: Understanding residual stress in polycrystalline thin films through real-time measurements and physical models

Residual stress is a long-standing issue in thin film growth. Better understanding and control of film stress would lead to enhanced performance and reduced failures. In this work, we review how thin film stress is measured and interpreted. The results are used to describe a comprehensive picture that is emerging of what controls stress evolution. Examples from multiple studies are discussed to illustrate how the stress depends on key parameters (e.g., growth rate, material type, temperature, grain size, morphology, etc.). The corresponding stress-generating mechanisms that have been proposed to explain the data are also described. To develop a fuller understanding, we consider the kinetic factors that determine how much each of these processes contributes to the overall stress under different conditions. This leads to a kinetic model that can predict the dependence of the stress on multiple parameters. The model results are compared with the experiments to show how this approach can explain many features of stress evolution.
Heat stress ameliorates ATP depletion-induced sublethal injury in mouse proximal tubule cells

The role of prior heat stress (HS) in ameliorating changes in the actin cytoskeleton and the loss of tight junction integrity that accompany ATP depletion was examined. Mouse proximal tubule cells in primary culture were exposed to sodium cyanide (CN) in the absence of dextrose for 1 h, a maneuver that produced equivalent degrees of ATP depletion in control and in HS cells. After ATP depletion, actin stress fibers were completely disrupted in control cells. In contrast, HS cells with elevated HSP-72 content showed preservation of stress fibers after CN exposure. ATP depletion in control and HS cells produced similar and reversible depletion of the G-actin pool without altering total actin content. Integrity of the tight junction was assessed by transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) and unidirectional flux of lucifer yellow (LY, mol wt 482). After CN alone, the nadir in TER was lower than that of HS + CN cells (51.6 +/- 2.5 vs. 96.2 +/- 3.2 omega x cm2, respectively; P 0.05), whereas CN did not (165 +/- 7.3 vs. 227 +/- 6.6 omega x cm2; P < 0.05). Changes in LY flux paralleled those in TER. HS is associated with preservation of the actin cytoskeleton and improved integrity of the tight junction after sublethal ATP depletion injury. These protective effects may contribute to the preservation of epithelial cell polarity and function following an ischemic insult.
The skin microbiome in allergen-induced canine atopic dermatitis.

Background Studies focusing on next-generation sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene have allowed detailed surveys of skin bacterial populations (microbiota) of the skin. Hypothesis/objectives This study evaluated temporal changes in the skin microbiota in a canine model of atopic dermatitis. Animals Eight atopic dogs previously sensitized with house dust mites (HDM). Methods The dogs were topically challenged on the right groin with HDM allergens. Swabs were collected from the challenged and the contralateral nonchallenged sites prior to provocation (pre-challenge; baseline sample) and on days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 after allergen challenge. The 16S rRNA gene was amplified, sequenced and analysed. Staphylococcus spp. and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius were quantified with quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Results Skin lesions developed in all dogs on the challenged sites. Differences in bacterial groups were observed on the challenged site over time. Relatively lower abundances of Fusobacteriaceae on Day 7, and, based on LEfSe, increased abundances of Corynebacteriaceae on Day 1, and Staphylococcaceae on days 7, 14 and 21, were observed on the challenged site, compared to the contralateral site. Results of RT-qPCR correlated with those of next-generation sequencing, with significantly increased numbers of Staphylococcus spp. and S. pseudintermedius on Day 21, and days 7 and 21 on the challenged site compared to the contralateral site, respectively. Conclusions and clinical importance This study demonstrates that an allergen challenge in sensitized dogs leads to bacterial dysbiosis with increased abundance of S. pseudintermedius at the site of lesion induction.
Geochemical characteristics of igneous rocks associated with epithermal mineral deposits—A review

Abstract Newly synthesized data indicate that the geochemistry of igneous rocks associated with epithermal mineral deposits varies extensively and continuously from subalkaline basaltic to rhyolitic compositions. Trace element and isotopic data for these rocks are consistent with subduction-related magmatism and suggest that the primary source magmas were generated by partial melting of the mantle-wedge above subducting oceanic slabs. Broad geochemical and petrographic diversity of individual igneous rock units associated with epithermal deposits indicate that the associated magmas evolved by open-system processes. Following migration to shallow crustal reservoirs, these magmas evolved by assimilation, recharge, and partial homogenization; these processes contribute to arc magmatism worldwide. Although epithermal deposits with the largest Au and Ag production are associated with felsic to intermediate composition igneous rocks, demonstrable relationships between magmas having any particular composition and epithermal deposit genesis are completely absent because the composition of igneous rock units associated with epithermal deposits ranges from basalt to rhyolite. Consequently, igneous rock compositions do not constitute effective exploration criteria with respect to identification of terranes prospective for epithermal deposit formation. However, the close spatial and temporal association of igneous rocks and epithermal deposits does suggest a mutual genetic relationship. Igneous systems likely contribute heat and some of the fluids and metals involved in epithermal deposit formation. Accordingly, deposit formation requires optimization of source metal contents, appropriate fluid compositions and characteristics, structural features conducive to hydrothermal fluid flow and confinement, and receptive host rocks, but not magmas with special compositional characteristics.
Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Training Results in Physician-Level Success for Emergency Department Technicians

Objectives To report our success and complication rates with emergency department (ED) technician–performed ultrasound (US)-guided peripheral intravenous (IV) catheter placement and to compare our results to similar studies in the literature. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of a prospective database of patients who underwent US-guided peripheral IV catheter placement attempts for clinical care in the ED. All patients meeting difficult IV access criteria who had a US-guided peripheral IV catheter placement attempted by a trained ED technician were included. Average attempts per success and overall success rates were compared to similar published studies. Results There were 830 participants, with an overall success rate of ED technician– performed US-guided peripheral IV catheter placement of 97.5%. Clinicians categorized 82.6% of participants as having difficult IV access and reported that in 46.5%, a central venous catheter would have been necessary if the US-guided peripheral IV catheter failed. Of successful catheter attempts, 86.8% were placed on the first attempt; 11.6% were placed on the second attempt; and 1.6% were placed on the third attempt. For this study, the average number of attempts per success was 1.15 (95% confidence interval, 1.12–1.18), which was lower than in 6 other published studies, ranging from 1.27 to 1.70. The overall success rate of our ED technician-performed attempts was 0.970 (95% confidence interval, 0.956–0.983), which was higher than that reported in previous ED technician studies (0.79–0.80), and closer to that reported for physicians or nurses (0.87–0.97). The arterial puncture complication rate was 0.8%, which was also lower than in other published studies (1.25%–9.80%). Conclusions With brief but comprehensive training, ED technicians can successfully obtain US-guided peripheral IV catheter access in patients with difficult IV access.
Using Language Processing to Evaluate the Equivalency of the FASB and IASB Standards

ABSTRACT: The passage of the Data Transparency and Accountability Act in the United States Congress will necessitate that government agencies provide more data in transparent formats. The issue of how to interpret such data remains an open question. The accounting profession has continued to struggle with common formats since the inception of balance sheets and income statements. The original FASB Conceptual Framework was developed to help construct consistent GAAP standards. XBRL was developed to provide a consistent representation of the data contained in financial statements and other financial documents. This research explores the use of two codifications (U.S. GAAP and IFRS) of GAAP standards in both their syntactic representation through XBRL taxonomies and their semantics through their authoritative references back to their own standards and codification. The research uses language theory to model the codifications in terms of the strings used to represent lexical content in the financial statement...
Beyond the diploma: dimensions of success for teenage mothers in high school*

AbstractResearch has shown how dominant narratives about teenage mothers in high school situate them as a problem population because they are at risk of dropping out of school without promising employment opportunities. Illustrating the narratives of three Latina and Black women who graduated from high school as mothers, this qualitative study responds to these dominant narratives. Data were collected through three in-depth, semi-structured interviews with each participant and one focus group interview with all participants. Guided by work on narrative portraits, this study explores the participants’ counternarratives with regard to success and failure in school. Findings show that participants expressed resolve and flexibility in the face of difficult and unforgiving life circumstances, and they articulated new ways of envisioning success that challenge traditional notions of achievement. By documenting the participants’ counternarratives, this study makes a case for renegotiating the physical, socio-eco...
Vagueness and Fuzziness in Words and Predication

In philosophical debate, how to best understand the vagueness of predicates remains a controversial matter. A renewed defense of epistemic interpretations, in terms of deficient states of knowledge with insufficient information or a semantic relation of indeterminacy of interpretation (whether as content or predicate), has been met with a critical reaction and prompted a defense of vagueness’ objective character. On objectivist views such as the one Smith has recently defended, vagueness is not a semantic relation, but an ontic feature of the things denoted by the subject of predication. The feature is then expressed by a semantic relation of partial truth to the predicative proposition, in accordance with fuzzy set theory.
Optimal Loyalty‐Based Management

We study an agency model in which an entrepreneur selects a manager from a candidate set. The selected manager's effort improves the project's potential environment, and is a hidden action. The realized project environment is the entrepreneur's private information. A manager's utility has two components — (i) loyalty, with which the manager values the organization's profit, and (ii) selfishness, with which the manager values the monetary transfer he receives from the entrepreneur. We find that if the manager's task is easy enough, it is optimal to use a purely loyal manager. Otherwise, it can be optimal to use a manager with mixture of loyalty and selfishness — the manager's mixed motivation alleviates the entrepreneur's misrepresenting incentive, and as a result, the output distortion in the optimal contract can be reduced. In addition, when it is optimal to use a manager with mixed motivations, the entrepreneur selects someone who is more selfish than loyal.
Comparison of Male vs Female Resident Milestone Evaluations by Faculty During Emergency Medicine Residency Training

Importance Although implicit bias in medical training has long been suspected, it has been difficult to study using objective measures, and the influence of sex and gender in the evaluation of medical trainees is unknown. The emergency medicine (EM) milestones provide a standardized framework for longitudinal resident assessment, allowing for analysis of resident performance across all years and programs at a scope and level of detail never previously possible. Objective To compare faculty-observed training milestone attainment of male vs female residency training Design, Setting, and Participants This multicenter, longitudinal, retrospective cohort study took place at 8 community and academic EM training programs across the United States from July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2015, using a real-time, mobile-based, direct-observation evaluation tool. The study examined 33 456 direct-observation subcompetency evaluations of 359 EM residents by 285 faculty members. Main Outcomes and Measures Milestone attainment for male and female EM residents as observed by male and female faculty throughout residency and analyzed using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression modeling. Results A total of 33 456 direct-observation evaluations were collected from 359 EM residents (237 men [66.0%] and 122 women [34.0%]) by 285 faculty members (194 men [68.1%] and 91 women [31.9%]) during the study period. Female and male residents achieved similar milestone levels during the first year of residency. However, the rate of milestone attainment was 12.7% (0.07 levels per year) higher for male residents through all of residency (95% CI, 0.04-0.09). By graduation, men scored approximately 0.15 milestone levels higher than women, which is equivalent to 3 to 4 months of additional training, given that the average resident gains approximately 0.52 levels per year using our model (95% CI, 0.49-0.54). No statistically significant differences in scores were found based on faculty evaluator gender (effect size difference, 0.02 milestone levels; 95% CI for males, −0.09 to 0.11) or evaluator-evaluatee gender pairing (effect size difference, −0.02 milestone levels; 95% CI for interaction, −0.05 to 0.01). Conclusions and Relevance Although male and female residents receive similar evaluations at the beginning of residency, the rate of milestone attainment throughout training was higher for male than female residents across all EM subcompetencies, leading to a gender gap in evaluations that continues until graduation. Faculty should be cognizant of possible gender bias when evaluating medical trainees.
Immiscible Contaminant Transport in Soils and Groundwater with an Emphasis on Petroleum Hydrocarbons: System of Differential Equations vs Single Cell Model

Soil and groundwater contamination resulting from leaks of petroleum products, from faulty storage tanks and pipelines has become a recent environmental concern. A generalized mathematical model, incorporating the physical, chemical and biological processes which collectively describe the transport of a reactive and immiscible contaminant in soils and groundwater is presented. The problem is one of multiphase transport, that is, the contaminant can be transported as solutes in water, vapors in air and as unreacted constituents in an immiscible phase. Additionally, it may be adsorbed onto the soil surface. Conservation principles lead to a system of nonlinear partial differential equations governing the phenomenon. As an alternative, a single cell model as a simplified version of this generalized system is also presented. The whole system is represented by a single element. Such an approach yields conservative estimates of a single constituent contaminant as only advective solute transport is allowed. The model has been applied to study the fate and transport of individual hydrocarbon constituents in an unsaturated zone. The results predict the concentrations of each hydrocarbon in all phases in space and time allowing the user to estimate the amounts of hydrocarbons which enter the underlying aquifer or which leave the soil via volatilization into the atmosphere. Such predictions are presented for selected cases. Comparisons of the single cell model with the generalized one are also given.
Sampling and Interpolation

We will consider one of the most fundamental applications of Fourier analysis. If you turn on your stereo, listen to the radio, talk on your cell phone, or use the internet today, you will be utilizing the fundamental applications of this chapter. Sampling and interpolation are fundamental to modern life.
Cancer biology: sense out of missense.

The p53 protein is notorious for its involvement in many cancers. Studies in mice are helping to clarify how mutations in the human p53 protein produce a wide variety of tumours.
X-Ray Photoemission from γ- and α-Cerium and from γ- and α-Ce0.731Th0.269

We report X-ray photoemission valence band and Ce 4d core level spectra for the α- and γ-phases of cerium metal and Ce0.731Th.269 alloy. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA) is being used to study the electronic structure of cerium metal in an effort to better understand the complex nature of the Ce 4f electronic states and how it changes between the magnetic, fee γ-Ce phase at room temperature and the 14% contracted, nonmagnetic, fcc α-Ce phase at low temperatures. Many quite different and incompatible models exist which attempt to explain the differences in physical properties of α- and γ-Ce.1 From the variety of theories that presently exist it is seen that the basic question of whether an f electron is promoted to an (sd) level in the α-phase is as yet controversial.
Clinical Diagnosis of Pneumonia in Children

Pneumonia remains a common source of morbidity and mortality in children. A key question in the diagnostic evaluation of children with acute respiratory illness is whether chest radiography should be performed to rule in or rule out the diagnosis of pneumonia. Radiologically, pneumonia is defined as an infiltrate seen on chest radiography in a child with symptoms of an acute respiratory illness.
Impact of Quantum Mechanics on Human Values

Philosophers have tried doggedly for three centuries to understand the role of mind in the workings of a brain conceived to function according to principles of classical physics. We now know no such brain exists: no brain, body, or anything else in the real world is composed of those tiny bits of matter that Newton imagined the universe to be made of. Hence it is hardly surprising that those philosophical endeavors were beset by enormous difficulties, which led to such positions as that of the ‘eliminative materialists’, who hold that our conscious thoughts must be eliminated from our scientific understanding of nature; or of the ‘epiphenomenalists’, who admit that human experiences do exist, but claim that they play no role in how we behave; or of the ‘identity theorists’, who claim that each conscious feeling is exactly the same thing as a motion of particles that nineteenth century science thought our brains, and everything else in the universe, were made of, but that twentieth century science has found not to exist, at least as they were formerly conceived. The tremendous difficulty in reconciling consciousness, as we know it, with the older physics is dramatized by the fact that for many years the mere mention of ‘consciousness’ was considered evidence of backwardness and bad taste in most of academia, including, incredibly, even psychology and the philosophy of mind.
Critical Evaluation of the Concept of Mental Aging

The reality of finite existence is that every living species is programed for self-destruction. An endogenous lethal mechanism is demonstrated superbly by the death of the Pacific salmon: A heavy rain or spate is generally required to drive the salmon upstream. At this time they are in prime condition, their bodies fat and oily, muscles taut, eyes keen. When they finally reach their destination the salmon prepare for the supreme ordeal of their lives. Every phase of their adventurous existence has led to this climax. After spawning both males and females live but a few days — none survives. Their spent, discolored, and rotting carcasses line the river or lake banks and are gnawed by wild animals and birds, drift downstream, or disintegrate where they perished, providing nutrients for the aquatic life the hatchedout fish will need to sustain their existence. (Netboy, 1974.)
Reducing levels of medical device contamination through package redesign and opening technique.

Objectives The goal of this research was to evaluate how material curl, package structure and handling of pouches containing medical devices affect rates of contact between non-sterile surfaces and sterile devices during aseptic transfer. Methods One hundred and thirty-six individuals with practical experience in aseptic technique were recruited. Participants were asked to present the contents of four different pouch designs (a standard, one designed to curl in, another to curl out and one that incorporated a tab) using two transfer techniques. During the first block of trials “standard technique” was used; participants presented using their typical methods to the sterile field. Trials in the second block employed “modified technique”; participants were instructed to grab the package at the top center and present package contents using a single, fluid motion. The outside of the pouch and the backs of the participants’ hands were coated using a simulated contaminant before each trial. The simulant was undetectable in the visible spectrum, but fluoresced under a black light. The dependent variable was recorded in a binary fashion and analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model. Results Participants were between 20–57 and the averaged year 5.1 years of experience in aseptic technique. The data analysis was based on generalized linear mixed effects (GLMM) model, which accommodates the repeated measurements within the same participant. The effect of the pouch design was significant (P‹0.001), but the effect of aseptic technique did not suggest significance (P = 0.088). Specifically, pouches designed with the material curled outward resulted in significantly fewer contacts with non-sterile surfaces than the other styles, including the inward, tab, and standard styles; this was true regardless of the used aseptic technique, standard (P = 0.0171, P = 0.0466, P = 0.0061, respectively) or modified (P‹0.0001 for all comparisons)). Conclusion Results presented here contribute to a growing body of knowledge that investigates packaging as a potential route of contamination for sterile devices during aseptic presentation. Specifically, we provide insights regarding how both package design and opening technique can be informed in ways that build safety into the healthcare system.
The Renewable Power of the Mine

Access to affordable and reliable energy is key for the mining sector and with rising demand for minerals and falling ore grades, energy demand is estimated to increase by 36% by 2035. Today, energy produced and procured by mining companies is mostly fossil fuel based. This will have to change if the sector is to contribute to the decarbonization of the world economy, needed for countries to meet the target adopted at the Paris Agreement of keeping global temperatures from rising more than 1.5-2 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the costs of solar, wind and battery storage systems have been falling at an unprecedented scale, which has encouraged an increasing number of mining companies to test these technologies at their mine sites. The Renewable Power of the Mine report, launched at the Energy and Mines World Congress in Toronto and prepared with the support from the German Cooperation, is the most comprehensive study to date on how the sector has been integrating renewables in their mining operations, the roadblocks that still exist, and the future trends that are likely to further drive the roll-out of renewables to supply electricity to mine sites. 38 case studies are included to highlight practical examples and lessons learned. Recommendations to address the outstanding roadblocks are included for governments, mining companies, independent power producers and donors.
Child and adolescent suicide: contributing risk factors and new evidence-based interventions

Our goal of this special issue is to detail and describe the current epidemiology of suicide among children and adolescents, as well as highlight important risk factors and evidence-based treatment...