cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Media Appropriateness in the Conduct and Discovery of Deceptive Communication: The Relative Influence of Richness and Synchronicity

We investigate the role that media synchronicity and media richness play in the particular communication context of deception. Hypotheses are developed based on prior models of mediated-deception as well as media richness theory and channel expansion theory. Two survey-based studies were conducted to look at this construct from the separate standpoints of the deceiver and the receiver. Study 1 (the deceiver) provided respondents with a detailed scenario and asked them to select a medium to use to accomplish a specific deceptive act. Results indicate a general preference for highly synchronous (and non-reprocessable) media. Study 2 (the receiver) focused each respondent on a specific medium and used 4 short scenarios to investigate how confidence in their ability to detect deception was affected by synchronicity, media richness, media familiarity, and co-participant (deceiver) familiarity. When making media selections, results indicate that synchronicity and media familiarity are relatively less important to receivers; instead, receivers engaged in deception detection clearly value rich media and co-participants with whom they have more experience and familiarity.
Combined spatial and subband block coding of images

This paper describes a low-memory cache efficient hybrid block coder (HBC) for images in which an image subband decomposition is partitioned into a combination of spatial blocks and subband blocks, which are independently coded. Spatial blocks contain hierarchical trees spanning subband levels, and are each encoded using the SPIHT algorithm. Subband blocks contain a block of coefficients from within a single subband, and are each encoded by the SPECK algorithm. The decomposition may have the dyadic or a wavelet packet structure. Rate is allocated amongst the sub-bitstreams produced for each block and they are packetized. The partitioning structure supports resolution embedding. The final bitstream may be progressive in fidelity or in resolution.
Childhood peer rejection and aggression as predictors of stable patterns of adolescent disorder

The significance of childhood peer rejection and aggression as predictors of adolescent disorder was tested on 1147 children who were followed longitudinally from Grade 3 through Grade 10. Growth curve analyses of parent- and self-reported problems suggested that boys who were both aggressive and rejected in third grade had profiles of increasingly severe internalizing and externalizing problems across three assessment points in adolescence. Other groups showed either decreasing symptom patterns from Grade 6 to 10 or had consistently lower problem profiles. The longitudinal patterns were more complex for the girls. Childhood peer rejection was the only predictor of stable disorder as reported by parents, whereas self-reported externalizing problems were best predicted by childhood aggression.
Inflation Pressures for Ex Vivo Lung Biopsies After Application of Graduated Compression Staples.

Objective To compare 2 graduated compression staples (Tri-Staple™, Covidien, Norwalk, CT) and standard staples (Endo GIA™, Covidien) for lung biopsy in dogs. Study Design Ex vivo experimental study, randomized, unblocked. Animals Lung lobes (n = 18) from 4 canine cadavers. Methods Eighteen lung lobes were harvested from 4 dogs immediately after euthanasia and randomized to 1 of 3 staples (n = 6 per stapler type). Each lung lobe was intubated and maintained inflated at 10 cmH2O. A biopsy of the periphery of each lung lobe was taken approximately 3 cm from the edge with a stapling device; the Tri-Staple™ medium/thick (TST), Tri-Staple™ vascular/medium (TSV), and Endo GIA™ 45-2.5 (EG). Each lobe was inflated to a maximum of 45 cmH2O of water to determine the pressure at which air leakage occurred (leak pressure). Results The mean (95% confidence interval) leak pressure was 38.0 cmH2O (33.1–42.9) for EG, 29.2 (24.3–34.0) for TSV, and 26.0 (21.1–30.9) for TST. The mean leak pressure was significantly higher for EG than TSV (P = .016) and for EG than TST (P = .002), but was not different between TSV and TST (P = .344). One TSV leaked at 20 cmH2O and 1 TST leaked at 17 cmH2O. The surface area of the biopsy samples was not significantly different for staple types (P = .183). Conclusion Both TST and TSV leaked at significantly lower airway pressures than EG and may not be suitable for canine lung biopsy as some specimens leaked at pressures of 20 cmH2O or less.
THE LOVABLE, THE LOATHSOME, AND THE LIMINAL: EMOTIONALITY IN ETHNOZOOLOGICAL COGNITION

ABSTRACT In this paper we demonstrate the interrelationship between emotional meaning and ethnozoological cognition in American culture. Data were obtained from 101 undergraduates who freelisted the names of the animals they like as well as the names of those they dislike. Respondents also rated the five ethnozoological life forms (birds, snakes, fish, mammals, and “wugs”) according to personal preference. We found a significant correlation between the evaluation of each life form (e.g., the relative order of preference) and the cognitive salience of the life form on the freelists. Concordance was also found between the evaluation of each life form and the respective proportion of each life form on the freelists. In addition, we discovered a strong level of intragroup agreement among the ratings of the five life forms. Our conclusions support the growing body of evidence suggesting that culturally programmed orientations toward living creatures constitute a powerful component in ethnobiological informatio...
Predicting Demand for Engineered Facilities

Recent decades have witnessed an exponential growth in the size and complexity of planning and transportation models. Associated with these model building activities has been the desire to accurately forecast demand, which in turn, involved complex predictions of population, income, land use, and a variety of variables, all of which affect future use of engineered facilities. The degree of attempted sophistication of these modeling activities has frequently been at odds with the accuracy or reliability of the given data or with the final use of the results. Less sophisticated procedures that are transparent (intuitively obvious) to a wide range of community participants are needed, and they must be based upon an understanding of how accurate we need to be.
Substance use disorder in adolescence: a review for the pediatric dentist

Substance use during puberty has become a serious public health issue with significant morbidity and mortality in many countries. Approximately half of American youth have tried an illicit substance by the time they graduate from high school. Drug addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use. Substance use disorders are maladaptive patterns of use accompanied by clinically significant impairment or distress, causing reduced functioning in major areas of life, risk-taking behavior, exposure to hazardous situations, and an increase in the likelihood of legal problems due to possession. In 2008, there was an annual prevalence of drug use of approximately 7% for eighth graders, 11% for 10th graders, and 18% for 12th graders. The pediatric dentist is in a good position to help prevent and detect suspicious cases of substance use because of the age of patients seen in the pediatric dental practice as well as the many behavioral and oral aspects present in adolescents who use illicit substances.
A pre-partitioned adaptive chemistry methodology for the efficient implementation of combustion chemistry in particle PDF methods

Abstract Large Eddy Simulation/particle Probability Density Function (LES/PDF) approaches are now well developed, and can be applied to turbulent combustion problems involving complex flows with strong turbulence–chemistry interactions. However, these methods are computationally expensive, restricting their use to simple fuels with relatively small detailed chemical mechanisms. To mitigate the cost in both CPU time and storage requirements, an adaptive strategy tailored for particle PDF methods is presented here, which provides for each particle a specialized reduced representation and kinetic model adjusted to its changing composition. Rather than performing chemical reduction at runtime to determine the optimal set of equations to use for a given particle, an analysis of the composition space likely to be accessed during the combustion simulation is performed in a pre-processing stage using simple Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) computations. In the pre-processing stage, the composition space is partitioned into a user-specified number of regions, over which suitable reduced chemical representations and kinetic models are generated automatically using the Directed Relation Graph with Error Propagation (DRGEP) reduction technique. A computational particle in the combustion simulation then carries only the variables present in the reduced representation and evolves according to the reduced kinetic model corresponding to the composition space region the particle belongs to. This region is identified efficiently using a low-dimensional binary-tree search algorithm, thereby keeping the run-time overhead associated with the adaptive strategy to a minimum. The performance of the algorithm is characterized for propane/air combustion in a PaSR with pairwise mixing. The results show that the reduction errors are well controlled by the specified error tolerance, and that the adaptive framework provides significant gains in cost and storage compared to traditional non-adaptive reduction approaches.
Data Lakes and Data Visualization: An Innovative Approach to Addressing the Many Challenges of Health Workforce Planning

Background: There are a variety of challenges to health workforce planning, but access to data is critical for effective evidence-based decision-making. Many agencies and organizations throughout Mississippi have been collecting quality health data for many years. Those data have historically resided in data silos and have not been readily shared. A strategy was developed to build and coordinate infrastructure, capacity, tools, and resources to facilitate health workforce and population health planning throughout the state. Objective: Realizing data as the foundation upon which to build, the primary objective was to develop the capacity to collect, store, maintain, visualize, and analyze data from a variety of disparate sources -- with the ultimate goal of improving access to health care. Specific aims were to: 1) build a centralized data repository and scalable informatics platform, 2) develop a data management solution for this platform and then, 3) derive value from this platform by facilitating data visualization and analysis. Methods: We designed and constructed a managed data lake for health data from disparate sources throughout the state of Mississippi. A data management application was developed to log and track all data sources, maps and geographies, and data marts. With this informatics platform as a foundation, we use a variety of tools to visualize and analyze data. Results: Samples of data visualizations that aim to inform health planners and policymakers are presented. Many agencies and organizations throughout the state benefit from this platform. Conclusion : The overarching goal is that by providing timely, reliable information to stakeholders, Mississippians in general will experience improved access to quality care.
The Management Tactics of the Internet-bar

Conbining with the practically details of the internet-bar in Luoyang ,this article discussed that the management tactics of the internet-bar are: manage the internet-bar accordance with the national laws and statutes which we try to implement; government departments manage the internet-bar harmoniously according to their own duties; improve the qualities of the managers of the internet-bar so as to manage high quality internet-bar; strengthen the developments of the hardware facilities in order to offer superior quality internet-bar; enjoy purified internet-bar by ways of enhancing the internet-barizens' moral education; develop safe internet-bar by means of enhancing the health education of the internet-barizens.
Behavioral momentum theory fails to account for the effects of reinforcement rate on resurgence

The behavioral-momentum model of resurgence predicts reinforcer rates within a resurgence preparation should have three effects on target behavior. First, higher reinforcer rates in baseline (Phase 1) produce more persistent target behavior during extinction plus alternative reinforcement. Second, higher rate alternative reinforcement during Phase 2 generates greater disruption of target responding during extinction. Finally, higher rates of either reinforcement source should produce greater responding when alternative reinforcement is suspended in Phase 3. Recent empirical reports have produced mixed results in terms of these predictions. Thus, the present experiment further examined reinforcer-rate effects on persistence and resurgence. Rats pressed target levers for high-rate or low-rate variable-interval food during Phase 1. In Phase 2, target-lever pressing was extinguished, an alternative nose-poke became available, and nose-poking produced either high-rate variable-interval, low-rate variable-interval, or no (an extinction control) alternative reinforcement. Alternative reinforcement was suspended in Phase 3. For groups that received no alternative reinforcement, target-lever pressing was less persistent following high-rate than low-rate Phase-1 reinforcement. Target behavior was more persistent with low-rate alternative reinforcement than with high-rate alternative reinforcement or extinction alone. Finally, no differences in Phase-3 responding were observed for groups that received either high-rate or low-rate alternative reinforcement, and resurgence occurred only following high-rate alternative reinforcement. These findings are inconsistent with the momentum-based model of resurgence. We conclude this model mischaracterizes the effects of rein-forcer rates on persistence and resurgence of operant behavior.
Cellular Organization of Neuroimmune Interactions in the Gastrointestinal Tract

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the largest immune organ; in vertebrates, it is the only organ whose function is controlled by its own intrinsic enteric nervous system (ENS), but it is additionally regulated by extrinsic (sympathetic and parasympathetic) innervation. The GI nervous and immune systems are highly integrated in their common goal, which is to unite digestive functions with protection from ingested environmental threats. This review discusses the physiological relevance of enteric neuroimmune integration by summarizing the current knowledge of evolutionary and developmental pathways, cellular organization, and molecular mechanisms of neuroimmune interactions in health and disease.
Book Review: Taking People Seriously

The Intelligible Constitution by Joseph Goldstein. Oxford University Press. 1992.The subtitle of Professor Goldstein's timely and important book is "The Supreme Court's Obligation to Maintain the Constitution as Something We the People Can Understand." Essentially, Professor Goldstein contends that the Court must explain its constitutional decisions in a manner that is comprehensible to the public because continuing public consent is the true source of the Court's legitimacy and authority. Professor Goldstein analyzes several relatively recent and significant Supreme Court opinions to illustrate how the Court has frequently neglected this responsibility. He concludes by offering a short set of canons of opinion writing which, if heeded, would improve the Court's performance. Influenced by Professor Robert Nagel's trenchant analysis of the Court's increasing inability to explain its decisions in a comprehensible manner, and my having previously addressed the issue by contrasting the Court's famous flag salute opinion with one of its more recent flag burning cases, I must admit great sympathy toward Professor Goldstein's thesis. Like Professor Goldstein, I believe that the Court is obliged to make a serious effort to ensure popular understanding of, and at least the possibility of consent to, its decisions and decision making process. Further, I agree with Professor Goldstein that improving the clarity of the Court's opinions should generally not affect case outcomes. However, in certain instances in which I am skeptical about his application of his canons to specific cases, I wonder whether his criticisms of the opinions are not more related to disagreement with the Court's substantive principles than with its rhetoric.
Abstract 3130: Adiponectin, Leptin, IGF1 and TNFα serum biomarker as noninvasive diagnosis of colon adenoma

Background and Aim: The potential role of Adiponectin, Leptin, IGF1 and TNFα as biomarker in colon adenoma has not been studied. Therefore, we investigated the blood serum levels of these biomarkers in colorectal adenoma. Method: The case-control study consisted of 198 African American patients with colon adenoma (cases) and 198 healthy individuals (controls) at Howard University Hospital. We used Elisa for biomarkers detection. Statistical analysis was performed by t-test and multivariate logistic regression. Results: The differences in median leptin, Adiponectin, IGF1 and TNFα levels between control and case groups (6.7 vs.16.4), (11.3 vs.46.0), (4.5 vs.12.9) and (71.4 vs. 130.8) were statistically significant (p Conclusion: These data support the hypothesis that serum Adiponectin, IGF1 and TNFα are risk biomarkers for noninvasive detection of colorectal adenomas. Citation Format: Hassan Ashktorab, Akbar Soleimani, Alexandra Nichols, Komal Sodhi, Lakshmi Kannan, Laiyemo Adeyinka, Mehdi Nouraie, Hassan Brim. Adiponectin, Leptin, IGF1 and TNFα serum biomarker as noninvasive diagnosis of colon adenoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3130.
Sleep in Adolescents With Bipolar I Disorder: Stability and Relation to Symptom Change

Sleep disturbances are common features of bipolar disorder (BD), yet little is known about trajectories of sleep disturbances in youth with BD. Using longitudinal data, this study assessed the stability of sleep disturbances and their ability to predict symptom progression in adolescents diagnosed with BD compared to controls. Thirteen- to 19-year-olds meeting diagnostic criteria for BD I (n = 19, 16.2 ± 1.75 years, 57.9 % female, 68.4% Caucasian) and psychiatrically healthy age-comparable controls (n = 21, 15.7 ± 1.48 years. 52.4% female, 57.1% Caucasian) were assessed for sleep onset latency, number of awakenings, and wake time, separately for weekdays and weekends using a self-report questionnaire. Sleep indices and symptoms of mania (Young Mania Rating Scale) and depression (Children’s Depression Rating Scale) were assessed at two time points, T1 and T2, approximately 12 months apart. Correlations were used to examine stability of sleep indices across time points and regression models to examine the e...
Nano-scale Investigation of Microstructural Phenomenon Contributing to Toughening of Nanoparticulate Reinforced Polymers

The objective of the current study is to employ precise and detailed nano-scale investigation to determine the physical mechanisms that contribute to the mechanical performance benefits of nano-particulate inclusions in polymer and polymer composite materials. A significant amount of work by the research community has experimentally illustrated the effective property benefits of nano-inclusions, thus the current work has elucidated some of the phenomenological causes behind these enhancement observations in a controlled fashion through a combination of micromechanical modeling and nano-scale experimentation under SEM observation. Nano-scale Mode I and Mode II fracture specimens have been designed to allow direct observation of crack growth in a nanoparticulate-reinforced epoxy system. Modeling employing the X-FEM node enrichment scheme for investigation of arbitrary-path crack propagation has been performed. Considerations critical to the accuracy of representation as well as the tractability of computation have been developed.
A framework for quantitatively assessing the repurpose potential of existing industrial facilities as a biorefinery

Constructing a commercial biorefinery involves significant financial and technical risks that may affect investor willingness to commit funds. Repurposing existing industrial facilities has been proposed as a means to lessen the investment risk in constructing a new biorefinery through reduced financial requirements and startup costs. This research provides a decision-making tool for estimating the repurpose potential of existing industrial facilities considered for conversion to a biorefinery. It applies well-established techniques for capital cost estimation of Greenfield biorefinery and pulp mill infrastructure and assets to determine their repurpose potential as a biorefinery. It demonstrates how capital cost reduction is highly dependent on the process technology present in the subject facility. A factored approach is employed to assign valuation to the major capital cost components of a Greenfield biorefinery. Existing facilities are then assessed for their compatibility through an infrastructure and asset analysis to determine an estimated capital percent savings that may be realized through repurposing into a biorefinery. Private and public databases and general facility process designs are used to determine the presence of equipment in each facility assessed. A yes/no analysis is performed to assign full cost to facility infrastructure and assets not present in the biorefinery and no cost to those that are present. This methodology provides an economic valuation tool for facility assessments as a metric for facility comparisons, and may be used to assist in decision-making regarding the suitability of a facility for repurposing. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Weight Status as a Mediator of the Association Between Preschool Extraversion and Adolescent Restrained Eating.

Objectives To determine the longitudinal association between preschool extraversion and weight/dieting outcomes in adolescence. Methods Children (N = 180) were recruited as part of a longitudinal study, with child temperament assessed in preschool (age 5.25 years), weight assessed in 2nd grade and early adolescence, and eating outcomes assessed in early adolescence (mean age = 12.02 years). Results Preschoolers high in extraversion were significantly more likely to have higher body mass index z-scores (zBMI) and more restrained eating behaviors in adolescence. zBMI was found to mediate the relationship between extraversion and restrained eating, such that children with high levels of extraversion were more likely to have higher zBMI in adolescence and, owing to this higher weight status, to engage in more restrained eating. Conclusions Temperament is an important predictor of later maladaptive weight/dieting outcomes in adolescence, making it a potentially important early factor to consider in weight management interventions.
Self-Knowledge and the Science of the Soul in Buridan’s Quaestiones De Anima

Buridan holds that the proper subject of psychology (i.e., the science undertaken in Aristotle’s De Anima) is the soul, its powers, and characteristic functions. He takes it as obvious, moreover, that such a science is possible. To the extent that the science of psychology includes the human or intellective soul, however, Buridan’s claim regarding its possibility is far from obvious. After all, the human soul is immaterial and, hence, neither it nor any of its acts is accessible to the senses. And yet, on Buridan’s broadly empiricist theory of knowledge, all knowledge takes its start in the senses and in what can be derived from the senses. How, then, is a science of the human soul possible? The closest Buridan comes to addressing this question is a single question in Book III, in which he considers how—despite its inaccessibility to the senses—we come to form a concept of the (human) intellect. Even here, however, crucial details of the account remain obscure. The chapter argues that, on Buridan’s account our general concept of intellect is inferentially derived from our experience of our own intellective states and rational activities. According to the author, Buridan’s notion of experience is a non-conceptual, non-discursive mode of self-awareness. On that interpretation, then, it turns out that, for Buridan, our concept of the intellect itself and, hence, the science of (human) psychology in general, is ultimately grounded in the phenomenal experience of our own intellective states.
Abstract 354: Acetylation Regulates miR-133a Expression In Cardiac Hypertrophy

Background: The expression level of several microRNAs (miRNAs) is affected by pressure overload hypertrophy and has an impact on cardiac function. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate the transcription of many genes whose expression is altered in hypertrophy. Therefore, we hypothesize that acetylation regulates the expression of some miRs during cardiac hypertrophy . Methods: Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) was performed to initiate cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload. Mice were treated with the Class I and IIb HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) in the drinking water post-TAC for 2 and 4 weeks. miRNAs expression normalized to RNU6B was determined by qRT-PCR. Echocardiography was performed at baseline and post-TAC endpoints to assess physiological parameters. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was used to identify HDACs and transcription factors associated with miR-133a promoter. Results: Based on previous studies, we selected 8 miRNAs that play major roles in hypertrophy and assessed the effect of SAHA treatment on their expression level. The expression of one of the miRNAs, miR-133a was significantly (P Conclusion: We show that HDAC2, a Class I HDAC, plays a role in the regulation of miR-133a expression in cardiac hypertrophy. HDACs and miRNAs are key regulators of the events mediating cardiac pathology. Our work demonstrates that HDAC inhibition may be an attractive therapeutic strategy for the regulation of some miRNAs in heart disease.
A new statistical method for characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets

By detecting light from extrasolar planets,we can measure their compositions and bulk physical properties. The technologies used to make these measurements are still in their infancy, and a lack of self-consistency suggests that previous observations have underestimated their systemic errors.We demonstrate a statistical method, newly applied to exoplanet characterization, which uses a Bayesian formalism to account for underestimated errorbars. We use this method to compare photometry of a substellar companion, GJ 758b, with custom atmospheric models. Our method produces a probability distribution of atmospheric model parameters including temperature, gravity, cloud model (fsed), and chemical abundance for GJ 758b. This distribution is less sensitive to highly variant data, and appropriately reflects a greater uncertainty on parameter fits.
Mast cell-derived histamine is necessary for platelet-activating factor mediated systemic immunosuppression (IRC4P.606)

Platelet-activating Factor (PAF) activates many cell types via the G-protein coupled PAF-receptor (PAF-R). Systemic PAF-R activation exerts acute pro-inflammatory, as well as delayed systemic immunosuppressive effects in vivo . PAF enzymatic synthesis and degradation is tightly regulated, but reactive oxygen species from oxidative stressors, such as UVB, chemotherapy and cigarette smoke, generate PAF-like species via the unregulated oxidation of membrane lipids. The systemic immunosuppressive effects of these pro-oxidative stressors are due to PAF-R signaling. This work establishes the role of the mast cell (MC) and the soluble mediators involved in PAF-R-mediated immunosuppression. Using a contact hypersensitivity model, we show that PAF loses its immunosuppressive effects in MC-deficient (Wsh) mice, a phenotype rescued by dermal reconstitution of Wsh mice with WT bone marrow derived MCs. Use of PAF-R-deficient Wsh mice suggests that the MC PAF-R is necessary and sufficient to mediate PAF-R systemic suppression, in a process attenuated by COX-2 and TGF-β inhibitors. Finally, by transplanting histamine (histidine decarboxylase-null) deficient MCs, we demonstrate that this pathway requires MC-derived histamine release. These studies fit with the hypothesis that MC PAF-R activation with resultant histamine release mediates PAF-R systemic immunosuppression.
Bone Pain Associated with Cancer Metastasis

In 2005, cancer was second only to heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States. There are 1.4 million new cases of cancer diagnosed each year resulting in over one-half of a million deaths. Due to improvements in detection and treatment, longer patient survival after diagnosis is now possible. Unfortunately, the quality of life in patients dealing with advanced cancer is significantly reduced. A major contributor to the overall decreased quality of life in such patients is bone cancer pain [12, 45].
The mechanisms of K. lactis Cdc13 in telomere DNA-binding and telomerase regulation.

Abstract Eukaryotic chromosome ends, or telomeres, are essential for genome stability and are protected by an intricate nucleoprotein assembly. Cdc13, the major single-strand telomere-binding protein in budding yeasts, mediates critical functions in both telomere protection and telomere elongation by telomerase. In particular, the interaction between S. cerevisiae Cdc13 and telomerase subunit Est1 has long served as a paradigm for telomerase regulation. However, despite extensive investigations, the role of this interaction in regulating telomerase recruitment or activation remains controversial. In addition, budding yeast telomere repeat sequences are extraordinarily variable and how Cdc13 orthologs recognize diverse repeats is not well understood. In this report, we examined these issues using an alternative model, K. lactis. We reconstituted a direct physical interaction between purified K. lactis Cdc13 and Est1, and by analyzing point mutations, we demonstrated a close correspondence between telomere maintenance defects in vivo and Cdc13-Est1 binding defects in vitro, thus supporting a purely recruitment function for this interaction in K. lactis. Because mutations in well aligned residues of Cdc13 and Est1 in S. cerevisiae and K. lactis do not cause identical defects, our results also point to significant evolutionary divergence in the Cdc13-Est1 interface. In addition, we found that K. lactic Cdc13, unlike previously characterized orthologs, recognizes an unusually long and non-G-rich target sequence, underscoring the flexibility of the Cdc13 DNA-binding domain. Analysis of K. lactis Cdc13 and Est1 thus broadens understanding of telomere and telomerase regulation in budding yeast.
Improbable Big Birds

Darwin's finches, a group of 18 species endemic to the Galapagos archipelago, are a classic example of adaptive radiation—the process whereby a single ancestral species multiplies in number to produce divergent species, often in rapid succession ( 1 ). These birds are evolutionary biologists' most celebrated example of natural selection in action. On page 224 of this issue, Lamichhaney et al. ( 2 ) have succeeded in observing a process even more elusive than natural selection—the formation of a new species (speciation). Because speciation typically takes place on time scales that are too long for direct human observation, before now it was only in organisms with very fast generation times, such as viruses and bacteria, that scientists had directly observed this process [for example, ( 3 )]. Lamichhaney et al. show through direct observation and DNA sequencing that new species can form very rapidly: within three generations. The key, in this case, is hybridization between different species.
National and State-Specific Unit Sales and Prices for Electronic Cigarettes, United States, 2012-2016.

Introduction Few studies have explored patterns of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) sales and prices by product type over time. We used US retail scanner data to assess national and state-specific trends in e-cigarette unit sales and prices for 4 product types sold from 2012 through 2016. Methods Using retail scanner data from the 48 contiguous states and Washington, DC, for convenience stores; supermarkets; mass merchandisers; drug, dollar, and club stores; and military commissaries, we assessed data on monthly unit sales and inflation-adjusted prices by 4 products (rechargeables, disposables, prefilled cartridges, and e-liquids) sold during the 5-year study period. We evaluated national and state trends by using Joinpoint regression (P Results From 2012 through 2016, average national monthly unit sales significantly increased for all products, while average monthly prices of rechargeables, disposables, and prefilled cartridges significantly decreased. In 2016, prefilled cartridges had the highest average sales (766 units per 100,000 people) and the lowest average price ($14.36 per unit). By state, average monthly sales significantly increased for at least 1 of 4 e-cigarette products in all 48 states and Washington, DC. However, during the same period, average monthly prices significantly decreased in 39 states for rechargeables, in 31 states for disposables, in 20 states for prefilled cartridges, and in 8 states for e-liquids. Conclusion Overall, US e-cigarette unit sales generally increased as product prices decreased. These findings demonstrate the rapidly evolving landscape of US e-cigarette retail marketplace. Ongoing surveillance of e-cigarette unit sales and price is critical for informing and evaluating evidence-based tobacco control strategies.
Funnel-Guided Positioning of Multicellular Microtissues to Build Macrotissues

The field of tissue engineering is developing new additive manufacturing technologies to fabricate 3D living constructs for use as in vitro platforms for the testing of drugs and chemicals, or to restore lost function in vivo. In this article, we describe the funnel-guide (FG), a new additive manufacturing strategy for the noncontact manipulation and positioning of multicellular microtissues and we show that the FG can be used to build macrotissues layer by layer. We used agarose micromolds to self-assemble cells into toroid-shaped and honeycomb-shaped microtissues, and observed that when falling in cell culture medium, the microtissues spontaneously righted themselves to a horizontal orientation. We fabricated a funnel to guide these falling toroids and honeycombs into precise positions and stack them, wherein they fused to form tubular structures. We tested multiple cell types and toroid sizes, and ultimately used the FG to create a stack of 45 toroids that fused into a tube 5 mm long with an inner diam...
A Theory of Enzyme Chemotaxis: From Experiments to Modeling

Enzymes show two distinct transport behaviors in the presence of their substrates in solution. First, their diffusivity enhances with an increasing substrate concentration. In addition, enzymes perform directional motion toward regions with a high substrate concentration, termed as chemotaxis. While a variety of enzymes has been shown to undergo chemotaxis, there remains a lack of quantitative understanding of the phenomenon. Here, we derive a general expression for the active movement of an enzyme in a concentration gradient of its substrate. The proposed model takes into account both the substrate-binding and catalytic turnover step, as well as the enhanced diffusion of the enzyme. We have experimentally measured the chemotaxis of a fast and a slow enzyme: urease under catalytic conditions and hexokinase for both full catalysis and for simple noncatalytic substrate binding. There is good agreement between the proposed model and the experiments. The model is general, has no adjustable parameters, and onl...
Familism and inflammatory processes in African American, Latino, and White youth.

Objective: African Americans and Latinos make up the two largest minority groups in the United States, and compared with Whites, these ethnic minority groups face disproportionate risk for certain physical health problems. However, factors that may protect these groups against early risk for poor health are not entirely understood. Familism, which emphasizes family interdependence and commitment, and is more prevalent among Latino and African American families, may be one such factor. The current study examined whether values and behaviors related to familism were differentially associated with inflammatory processes among White, African American, and Latino youth. Method: Participants were 257 youth who completed measures of familism values and behaviors and whose parents reported on their ethnicity. Participants also provided blood samples for the assessment of proinflammatory cytokine responses to bacterial challenge and of sensitivity to anti-inflammatory features of cortisol and interleukin (IL)-10. Results: Significant familism values and behaviors by ethnicity interactions were observed. For Latino and African American youth but not for White youth, more familism values were associated with greater sensitivity to IL-10. Additionally, for African American youth, more familism behaviors were associated with decreased cytokine responses to bacterial challenge and greater sensitivity to cortisol and IL-10. By contrast, familism behaviors were associated with lower sensitivity to cortisol in White youth and were not associated with any inflammatory outcomes in Latino youth. Conclusion: This pattern of findings suggests that for African American youth and to some extent for Latino youth, familism values and behaviors may be protective against the elevated risk for poor health they face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Prolonged PR Interval and Outcome in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Caro editor Lemos com grande interesse o artigo “Intervalo PR Basal Prolongado e Desfecho da Terapia de Ressincronizacao Cardiaca: Revisao Sistematica e Meta-Analise” de Rattanawong et al., Os autores investigaram o efeito do intervalo PR prolongado no desfecho composto nos pacientes que receberam terapia de ressincronizacao cardiaca. Os autores concluem que o PR prolongado esta associado a uma pior evolucao nessa populacao. […] Intervalo PR Prolongado e Desfecho na Terapia de Ressincronizacao Cardiaca
Cellular Cognition: Sequential Logic in a Giant Protist

Summary Quantitative analysis of the giant ciliate Stentor roeselii shows that a single cell can make decisions, based on the ability to switch between several different behaviors in a non-random order.
An Information-Theoretic Quantification of Discrimination with Exempt Features

The needs of a business (e.g., hiring) may require the use of certain features that are critical in a way that any discrimination arising due to them should be exempted. In this work, we propose a novel information-theoretic decomposition of the total discrimination (in a counterfactual sense) into a non-exempt component, which quantifies the part of the discrimination that cannot be accounted for by the critical features, and an exempt component, which quantifies the remaining discrimination. Our decomposition enables selective removal of the non-exempt component if desired. We arrive at this decomposition through examples and counterexamples that enable us to first obtain a set of desirable properties that any measure of non-exempt discrimination should satisfy. We then demonstrate that our proposed quantification of non-exempt discrimination satisfies all of them. This decomposition leverages a body of work from information theory called Partial Information Decomposition (PID). We also obtain an impossibility result showing that no observational measure of non-exempt discrimination can satisfy all of the desired properties, which leads us to relax our goals and examine alternative observational measures that satisfy only some of these properties. We then perform a case study using one observational measure to show how one might train a model allowing for exemption of discrimination due to critical features.
Between-tumor and within-tumor heterogeneity in invasive potential.

For women with access to healthcare and early detection, breast cancer deaths are caused primarily by metastasis rather than growth of the primary tumor. Metastasis has been difficult to study because it happens deep in the body, occurs over years, and involves a small fraction of cells from the primary tumor. Furthermore, within-tumor heterogeneity relevant to metastasis can also lead to therapy failures and is obscured by studies of bulk tissue. Here we exploit heterogeneity to identify molecular mechanisms of metastasis. We use “organoids”, groups of hundreds of tumor cells taken from a patient and grown in the lab, to probe tumor heterogeneity, with potentially thousands of organoids generated from a single tumor. We show that organoids have the character of biological replicates: within-tumor and between-tumor variation are of similar magnitude. We develop new methods based on population genetics and variance components models to build between-tumor and within-tumor statistical tests, using organoids analogously to large sibships and vastly amplifying the test power. We show great efficiency for tests based on the organoids with the most extreme phenotypes and potential cost savings from pooled tests of the extreme tails, with organoids generated from hundreds of tumors having power predicted to be similar to bulk tests of hundreds of thousands of tumors. We apply these methods to an association test for molecular correlates of invasion, using a novel quantitative invasion phenotype calculated as the spectral power of the organoid boundary. These new approaches combine to show a strong association between invasion and protein expression of Keratin 14, a known biomarker for poor prognosis, with p = 2 × 10−45 for within-tumor tests of individual organoids and p < 10−6 for pooled tests of extreme tails. Future studies using these methods could lead to discoveries of new classes of cancer targets and development of corresponding therapeutics. All data and methods are available under an open source license at https://github.com/baderzone/invasion_2019.
Integrating connectivity theory within watershed modelling part II: Application and evaluating structural and functional connectivity

Integrating connectivity theory within watershed modelling is one solution to overcome spatial and temporal shortcomings of sediment transport prediction, and Part I and II of these companion papers advance this overall goal. In Part II of these companion papers, we investigate sediment flux via connectivity formula discretized over many catchments and then integrated via sediment routing; and we advance model evaluation technology by using hysteresis of sensor data. Model evaluation with hysteresis indices provides nearly a 100% increase in model statistics. Hysteresis loop evaluation shows a shift from near linear behavior at low to moderate events and then clock-wise loops for larger events indicating the importance of proximal sediment sources. Catchment-scale sediment flux varies as function of the probability of timing and extent of connectivity of an individual catchment. Watershed-scale sediment flux shows self-similarity for the main stem of the river channel as the 181 catchments are integrated moving down gradient. Sediment flux varies from event-to-event as a function of the most sensitive connected pathways, including ephemeral gullies and roadside ditches in this basin. These sensitive pathways contribute disproportionately large amounts to overall sediment yield regardless of the total rainfall depth. Prediction requires the connectivity formula, erosion formula and sediment routing formula; and the probability of connectivity alone was a poor predictor for sediment transport. The result highlights the importance of coupling connectivity simulations with sediment transport formula, and our method provides one such approach.
Expansion of TAVR into Low-Risk Patients and Who to Consider for SAVR

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has revolutionized the treatment of severe aortic stenosis (AS) over the last decade. The results of the Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves (PARTNER) 3 and Evolut Low Risk trials demonstrated the safety and efficacy of TAVR in low-surgical-risk patients and led to the approval of TAVR for use across the risk spectrum. Heart teams around the world will now be faced with evaluating a deluge of younger, healthier patients with severe AS. Prior to the PARTNER 3 and Evolut Low Risk studies, this heterogenous patient population would have undergone surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). It is unlikely that TAVR will completely supplant SAVR for the treatment of severe AS in patients with a low surgical risk, as SAVR has excellent short- and long-term outcomes and years of durability data. In this review, we outline the critical role that SAVR will continue to play in the treatment of severe AS in the post-PARTNER 3/Evolut Low Risk era.
Evaluating the Impact of Spinal Osteotomy on Surgical Outcomes of Thoracolumbar Deformity Correction.

Background In cases of adult spinal deformity (ASD) with severe sagittal malalignment, the use of osteotomies may be necessary in addition to posterior fusion. However, few data exist describing the impact of osteotomies on complications and quality outcomes during ASD surgery. Methods We queried the MarketScan database to identify patients who underwent ASD surgery in 2007–2016. Patients were stratified according to whether or not an osteotomy was used in the index operation. Propensity score matching was used to mitigate intergroup differences between osteotomy and nonosteotomy groups. Patients Results Of 7423 patients who met the inclusion criteria of this study, 2700 (36.4%) received an osteotomy. After propensity score matching, baseline comorbidities and approach type were similar between cohorts. The overall 90-day complication rate was 43.2% in the nonosteotomy group and 52.8% in the osteotomy group (P Conclusions This analysis confirms high costs and complication, readmission, and reoperation rates until 2 years after ASD surgery in general, which are even higher in cases where an osteotomy is required. Future research should explore strategies for optimizing patient outcomes following osteotomy.
Evaluation of a New Intersection Design, “Shifting Movements”:

Several unconventional designs have been suggested to enhance traffic operation and safety at intersections. However, the operational benefits of implementing some of them are achieved only under c...
A Consensus-Based Educational Approach for Large Lecture Classes

Peer learning is an active learning technique that has been used for students to internalize difficult concepts. We have developed a method of peer learning, a consensus-based education approach, which allows for discussion and class consensus in large lecture classes. We tracked student success on concepts that employed the consensus-based education approach and found that students significantly improved on their mastery of a majority of these concepts. Students who mastered these concepts also performed better overall throughout the class. Finally, this consensus-based educational approach can easily be adapted to remote synchronous learning platforms which have been necessitated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.