cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cerebral Capillary Endothelial Cell Mitogenesis and Morphogenesis Induced by Astrocytic Epoxyeicosatrienoic Acid

Background and Purpose—Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are products of cytochrome P450 epoxygenation of arachidonic acid. We have previously demonstrated that astrocyte-conditioned medium induced mitogenesis in brain capillary endothelial cells. The goals of the present studies are to further define the mechanism through which this can occur and to confirm that EETs are derived from astrocytes, through which astrocytic activity can regulate cerebral angiogenesis in response to neuronal activation. Methods—Astrocytes and cerebral capillary endothelial cells in primary cultures were cocultured to examine the interaction of the 2 cell types. We used multiple immunohistochemical techniques to characterize the multicellular nature of the capillaries, which is not simply an artifact related to the culture conditions. The mitogenic effect of EETs was determined by 3 H-thymidine incorporation and cell proliferation assay. Endothelial tube formation was examined in vitro and in vivo with the use of a reconstituted basement membrane (Matrigel) assay. Results—In cocultures of astrocytes and capillary endothelium, we observed morphological changes in both cell types such that each assumed certain physiological characteristics, ie, endothelial networks and astrocytes with “footlike” projections as well as intermittent gap junctions forming within the endothelial cells. EETs from astrocytes as well as synthetic EETs promoted mitogenesis of endothelial cells, a process sensitive to inhibition of tyrosine kinase with genistein. Treatments with exogenous EETs were sufficient for endothelial cells to differentiate into capillary-like structures in culture as well as in vivo in a Matrigel matrix. Conclusions—The 2 major conclusions from these data are that astrocytes may play an important role in regulating angiogenesis in the brain and that cytochrome P450 – derived EETs from astrocytes are mitogenic and angiogenic. (Stroke. 2002;33:2957-2964.)
Fungal Surfaces: Effects of Interactions with Phagocytic Cells

Fungal surfaces undergo profound changes during morphogenesis that modify host responses. For example, inhaled spores or conidia of Rhizopus or Aspergillus lose their surface hydrophobic outer layers, initially swell, and then germinate to form mycelia that may invade tissues. These various fungal forms not only elicit differing responses from host phagocytic cells but also differ in their susceptibilities to cellular microbicidal mechanisms. In addition, studies comparing neutrophil activation responses to opsonized and unopsonized Candida hyphae indicate that the presence or absence of antibody or complement on fungal surfaces determines distinct patterns of the early responses of neutrophils to stimulation, such as membrane depolarization, cytosolic increase in calcium, and phosphoinositide turnover. These initial events in the neutrophil activation sequence are followed by release of both fungicidal granule constituents and oxidants from the respiratory burst. The quantity and specificity of delivery of these toxic neutrophil products ultimately determine the relative efficiency of fungicidal activity versus inflammatory cytotoxicity to host cells.
Do performance appraisals of registered nurses reflect a relationship between hospital size and caring

PROBLEM Patients and family members expect nurses to demonstrate caring during their contact with patients. If caring is so important, it should be measured on the performance appraisals of registered nurses. METHODS Watson's carative factors. A review of performance appraisals, for evidence of Watson's carative factors, for medical-surgical nurse positions from 87 hospitals in one Midwestern state. FINDINGS Facility size did not seem to be associated with the appearance of Watson's carative factors. Size of facility was only significant between small hospitals and Watson's carative factor two, sustaining faith and hope. CONCLUSIONS Although caring is important to the profession of nursing, it is not measured as a part of nursing performance appraisals.
A Simulation Model for Defining Three Different Solar Accesses in Site Planning

This paper presents a simulation model to define quantitatively the available solar access and energy gain, considering maximum shadows interaction cast over a built- up site for planning purposes. The application of the model provides the solar access availability in percent out of the total exposed area, for three different types of solar access, for each building separately and for the entire site. The model could be applied at the site-design stage, where it allows improvement in its energy conserving qualities. The improvement can be performed by changing the location of buildings in the site (in order to change the shadow interaction), or by changing their future utilization. The model offers a practical tool to quantify the solar energy gain on a site over a specific exposure period. The model is applied to design a site which contains twenty structures with different dimensions. Four different designs are analyzed, considering three different types of solar access. The results are then discussed a...
Insulinlike activity of serum from normal and hypophysectomized monkeys.

Changes in the rate of the net gas exchange of rat adipose tissue have been used to measure the insulinlike activity of sera from normal and hypophysectomized monkeys. The activity of normal serum when assayed undiluted corresponds on the average to that given by 97 μU insulin/ml of incubation medium, while the corresponding value for the serum of hyphophysectomized animals is 44 μU/ml. If the serum is diluted 1:3 for assay, then the average values for normal and hypophysectomized sera are 198 and 54 μU of insulin/ml, respectively. Thus, sera from hypophysectomized animals not only tend to show an insulinlike activity lower than that of sera from normal animals, but also fail to display the marked increase in values seen upon dilution of normal sera. The results are discussed in relation to the presence in normal sera of an insulin antagonist, the elaboration of which is dependent upon an intact pituitary.
The inconsistency of expected utility theory with certain classes of single-peaked preference functions

The “psychophysics of gambling” model, in which a person is assumed to have a single-peaked or monotonic preference function on each of the primary psychological dimensions of a gamble, is compared to the expected utility model for two-outcome gambles. Two theorems are proved, the first of which shows that expected utility (EU) theory is inconsistent with single-peaked preference functions on both skewness and variance, while the second shows that subjectively-expected utility (SEU) theory is inconsistent with single-peaked preference functions on both skewness and range. The applicability of the theorems is discussed and a weak test of SEU theory is made employing the second theorem.
Helping on the Highway: The Effects of Dependency and Sex1

A series of three naturalistic field experiments are reported which investigated the norm of social responsibility by examining the effects of dependency and sex on helping. Experiment I examined the effect of physical disability on the likelihood of passing motorists helping with a flat tire. Females were helped significantly more than males, but the dependency manipulation was only minimally effective. In Experiment II the same disability cues were used in a hitchhiking context. Again females were helped significantly more than males, but surprisingly the dependency cues significantly reduced the number of ride offers. Experiment III used hitchhiking as the behavior of interest, but this time the dependency cues involved a disabled vehicle. This dependency manipulation significantly increased help offers. In addition, females were again helped significantly more than males. In all three experiments, almost all help offers were made by males. Other variables that appeared to influence helping rates were the perceived cost of helping, the attractiveness of the solicitors, and whether they were seen as responsible for their state of dependency. The present field results complemented previous laboratory work on the Same variables.
Graphite fiber composites interlayered with single-walled carbon nanotubes

A scalable processing method was used to fabricate graphite fiber composites with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and the microstructures and properties of the fabricated laminates were inv...
Applying link-based classification to label blogs

In analyzing data from social and communication networks, we encounter the problem of classifying objects where there is an explicit link structure amongst the objects. We study the problem of inferring the classification of all the objects from a labeled subset, using only the link-based information amongst the objects.We abstract the above as a labeling problem on multigraphs with weighted edges. We present two classes of algorithms, based on local and global similarities. Then we focus on multigraphs induced by blog data, and carefully apply our general algorithms to specifically infer labels such as age, gender and location associated with the blog based only on the link-structure amongst them. We perform a comprehensive set of experiments with real, large-scale blog data sets and show that significant accuracy is possible from little or no non-link information, and our methods scale to millions of nodes and edges.
Data and knowledge bases as integral parts of a distributed object infrastructure

Atlas is a prototype of an object infrastructure. It is designed to support hundreds of millions of objects, distributed in a heterogeneous wide area network of thousands or millions of computers. Atlas is implemented mainly as a vehicle for experimenting with distributed office and information systems. Atlas supported much finer-granularity objects than traditional client/server networking models. Atlas provides location-transparent method invocation and dynamic creation, deletion, and migration of persistent and non-persistent objects. Iris is an object-oriented database management system, supporting OSQL as its main implementation language. KBMS1 is a knowledge-base management system supporting kbProlog as its implementation language. Both these databases have been integrated with Atlas. The purpose of the integration is to demonstrate that object-oriented technology is appropriate for integration of heterogeneous sources of information and information processing facilities. Atlas objects can be implemented in OSQL and reside in Iris or implemented in kbProlog and reside in KBMS1. Atlas objects can also be implemented in traditional programming language such as C. Objects implemented in any of the two databases or in traditional programming languages can communicate uniformly with each other. >
Design of a fiber optic based solar simulator (for solar cell testing)

A solar simulator which combines three light sources to produce an output beam that can closely match a desired solar spectrum is described. The three selected light sources are suitably filtered, and their output beams are mixed by means of a trifurcated, randomized fiber cable to produce a highly uniform intensity distribution of the output beam. The criteria for selecting sources, filters, and other optical elements required to produce an AM 1.5 spectrum are discussed. The output spectrum is compared with the reference AM 1.5 spectral irradiance, and the results of single and multijunction solar cells tested under this simulator are compared with those from other simulators. >
Humility and relationship outcomes in couples: The mediating role of commitment.

We examined the role of humility in romantic relationships in this study. Specifically, we tested a theoretical model in which perceptions of humility are associated with commitment in romantic relationships, which in turn are associated with positive relationship outcomes. Participants (N 459) who reported being involved in romantic relationships completed measures of perceptions of their partners’ humility, as well as their levels of commitment to the relationships, relationship satisfaction, and forgiveness of their partners. Perceptions of humility were positively related to relationship outcomes (i.e., relationship satisfaction and forgiveness), and these associations were partially mediated by commitment. We conclude by providing implications for research and practice.
Geographical sampling bias and its implications for conservation priorities in Africa

Aim To design and apply statistical tests for measuring sampling bias in the raw data used to the determine priority areas for conservation, and to discuss their impact on conservation analyses for the region. LocationSub-Saharan Africa. Methods An extensive data set comprising 78,083 vouchered locality records for 1068 passerine birds in sub-Saharan Africa has been assembled. Using geographical information systems, we designed and applied two tests to determine if sampling of these taxa was biased. First, we detected possible biases because of accessibility by measuring the proximity of each record to cities, rivers and roads. Second, we quantified the intensity of sampling of each species inside and surrounding proposed conservation priority areas and compared it with sampling intensity in non-priority areas. We applied statistical tests to determine if the distribution of these sampling records deviated significantly from random distributions. Results The analyses show that the location and intensity of collecting have historically been heavily influenced by accessibility. Sampling localities show dense, significant aggregation around city limits, and along rivers and roads. When examining the collecting sites of each individual species, the pattern of sampling has been significantly concentrated within and immediately surrounding areas now designated as conservation priorities. Main conclusions Assessment of patterns of species richness and endemicity at the scale useful for establishing conservation priorities, below the continental level, undoubtedly reflects biases in taxonomic sampling. This is especially problematic for priorities established using the criterion of complementarity because the estimated spatial costs of this approach are highly sensitive to sampling artefacts. Hence such conservation priorities should be interpreted with caution proportional to the bias found. We argue that conservation priority setting analyses require (1) statistical tests to detect these biases, and (2) data treatment to reflect species distribution rather than patterns of collecting effort.
Index-Based Dietary Patterns and Colorectal Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in both men and women in the United States. Various a priori dietary patterns that take into account diet complexity have been associated with CRC risk. This systematic review augments the evidence for an association between CRC risk and the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) and the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), and provides new evidence for a novel Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII). Human studies published in English after 31 December 2008 were reviewed. Five case-control studies and 7 prospective cohort studies conducted in the United States and Europe were identified. Five of the studies examined the MDS, 4 examined the HEI, and 4 examined the DII. Comparing highest to lowest score groups, higher MDSs were associated with an 8-54% lower CRC risk, and higher HEI scores were associated with a 20-56% lower CRC risk. More proinflammatory diet scores were associated with a 12-65% higher CRC risk compared with more anti-inflammatory diets in studies that used the DII. The results reported by sex suggested similar associations for men and women. This review builds upon the evidence supporting the association between higher overall diet quality and lower risk of CRC. Increasing scores of MDS and HEI and anti-inflammatory DII scores are characterized by high intake of plant-based foods and low intake of animal products. Future studies in more diverse populations and with consistent scoring calculations are recommended.
Inhibitory Effect of Termite Fecal Pellets on Fungal Spore Germination

The dampwood termite Zootermopsis angusticollis lines nest chambers and galleries with fecal pellets. The antifungal properties of feces were tested by recording germination rates of spores of the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae that had been incubated with various concentrations of fecal material. The presence of fecal pellet material significantly decreased the germination rates of spores relative to those of control spore solutions lacking fecal material. Spore germination rates were inversely proportional to the amount of fecal matter present in the spore–feces suspensions but were independent of incubation time. The fungistatic effect of the fecal material is virtually immediate and does not require prolonged contact with spores to inhibit germination. This mechanism of biochemical protection may reduce risks of fungal infection in termite nests.
"The Dean Of Chicago's Black Lawyers": Earl Dickerson And Civil Rights Lawyering In The Years Before Brown

This book review engages recent scholarship on the nature of civil-rights lawyering in the African-American bar in the generation before Brown v. Board of Education. Using the recent biography of Earl Burrus Dickerson, one of the leaders of the African-American bar before World War II, as its vehicle, the review finds support for the emerging thesis that, in the years before Brown, the African-American civil-rights bar was not focused on ending de jure segregation in public institutions, but rather on building up African-American institutions. Contrary to recent scholarship, however, the review suggests that Dickerson personally preferred a more integrationist strategy, and his efforts to build up African-American institutions was less a conscious strategy than an adaptation to the limitations on his ability to practice law as he wished. Freedom of action, rather than racial equality, was Dickerson's great motivator.
An Alternative to a Strictly Materialist Perspective: A Review of Historical Archaeology, Ethnoarchaeology, and Symbolic Approaches in African Archaeology

Over the last three decades archaeologists of Africa have developed distinctive perspectives in their use of oral traditions in historical archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. Many of these innovations reflect the cultural attitudes of Africans about their own history and have lead to an archaeology that is increasingly sensitive to questions of an African historical identity free from the Western structure of thought. The African archaeological tradition accepts, with materialist interpretations and explanations, the importance of symbolic subsystems in a synthetic and systemic approach. Consequently, the application of structural and symbolic analysis to interrelated archaeological and ethnographic information is an integral part of an anthropological approach to the later prehistory and history of Africa.
Holy ghosts: the Christian century in modern Japanese fiction

In Holy Ghosts, Rebecca Suter examines the ways in which a variety of texts and media of the twentieth century, ranging from Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s Kirishitan (Christian) mono to the video game Samu...
Crowdsourcing Human Annotation on Web Page Structure: Infrastructure Design and Behavior-Based Quality Control

Parsing the semantic structure of a web page is a key component of web information extraction. Successful extraction algorithms usually require large-scale training and evaluation datasets, which are difficult to acquire. Recently, crowdsourcing has proven to be an effective method of collecting large-scale training data in domains that do not require much domain knowledge. For more complex domains, researchers have proposed sophisticated quality control mechanisms to replicate tasks in parallel or sequential ways and then aggregate responses from multiple workers. Conventional annotation integration methods often put more trust in the workers with high historical performance; thus, they are called performance-based methods. Recently, Rzeszotarski and Kittur have demonstrated that behavioral features are also highly correlated with annotation quality in several crowdsourcing applications. In this article, we present a new crowdsourcing system, called Wernicke, to provide annotations for web information extraction. Wernicke collects a wide set of behavioral features and, based on these features, predicts annotation quality for a challenging task domain: annotating web page structure. We evaluate the effectiveness of quality control using behavioral features through a case study where 32 workers annotate 200 Q&A web pages from five popular websites. In doing so, we discover several things: (1) Many behavioral features are significant predictors for crowdsourcing quality. (2) The behavioral-feature-based method outperforms performance-based methods in recall prediction, while performing equally with precision prediction. In addition, using behavioral features is less vulnerable to the cold-start problem, and the corresponding prediction model is more generalizable for predicting recall than precision for cross-website quality analysis. (3) One can effectively combine workers’ behavioral information and historical performance information to further reduce prediction errors.
Adolescent Alcohol Exposure: Burden of Epigenetic Reprogramming, Synaptic Remodeling, and Adult Psychopathology

Adolescence represents a crucial phase of synaptic maturation characterized by molecular changes in the developing brain that shape normal behavioral patterns. Epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in these neuromaturation processes. Perturbations of normal epigenetic programming during adolescence by ethanol can disrupt these molecular events, leading to synaptic remodeling and abnormal adult behaviors. Repeated exposure to binge levels of alcohol increases the risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and comorbid psychopathology including anxiety in adulthood. Recent studies in the field clearly suggest that adolescent alcohol exposure causes widespread and persistent changes in epigenetic, neurotrophic, and neuroimmune pathways in the brain. These changes are manifested by altered synaptic remodeling and neurogenesis in key brain regions leading to adult psychopathology such as anxiety and alcoholism. This review details the molecular mechanisms underlying adolescent alcohol exposure-induced changes in synaptic plasticity and the development of alcohol addiction-related phenotypes in adulthood.
Muscle specific nucleus ambiguus neurons isolation and culturing.

Abstract Background Peripheral nerve injury leads to a regenerative state. However, the reinnervation process is highly non-selective. Growing axons are often misrouted and establish aberrant synapsis to abductor or adductor muscles. Determining the complex properties of abductor and adductor motoneurons in a neuron culture, may lay the groundwork for future studies on axon guidance, leading to a clinical treatment for a selective reinnervation. New method In the present study we develop a neuron culture protocol to isolate recurrent laryngeal nerve abductor and adductor motoneurons in order to study their unique properties. Comparison with existing methods the best period to perform the present protocol for postnatal rat cranial motoneurons isolation was determined. In addition, the method allows identification of specific motoneurons from other primary motoneurons and interneurons within brainstem. Conclusion The present protocol will allow investigators to perform targeted and novel studies of the mechanisms of peripheral nerve regeneration.
How the hydrophobic factor drives protein folding

How hydrophobicity (HY) drives protein folding is studied. The 1971 Nozaki-Tanford method of measuring HY is modified to use gases as solutes, not crystals, and this makes the method easy to use. Alkanes are found to be much more hydrophobic than rare gases, and the two different kinds of HY are termed intrinsic (rare gases) and extrinsic (alkanes). The HY values of rare gases are proportional to solvent-accessible surface area (ASA), whereas the HY values of alkanes depend on special hydration shells. Earlier work showed that hydration shells produce the hydration energetics of alkanes. Evidence is given here that the transfer energetics of alkanes to cyclohexane [Wolfenden R, Lewis CA, Jr, Yuan Y, Carter CW, Jr (2015) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(24):7484-7488] measure the release of these shells. Alkane shells are stabilized importantly by van der Waals interactions between alkane carbon and water oxygen atoms. Thus, rare gases cannot form this type of shell. The very short (approximately picoseconds) lifetime of the van der Waals interaction probably explains why NMR efforts to detect alkane hydration shells have failed. The close similarity between the sizes of the opposing energetics for forming or releasing alkane shells confirms the presence of these shells on alkanes and supports Kauzmann's 1959 mechanism of protein folding. A space-filling model is given for the hydration shells on linear alkanes. The model reproduces the n values of Jorgensen et al. [Jorgensen WL, Gao J, Ravimohan C (1985) J Phys Chem 89:3470-3473] for the number of waters in alkane hydration shells.
Evolutionary and heuristic methods applied to problems in optimal control

About two decades ago years researchers began to apply a new approach, using evolutionary algorithms or metaheuristics, to solve continuous optimal control problems. The evolutionary algorithms use the principle of “survival of the fittest” applied to a population of individuals representing candidate solutions for the optimal trajectories. Metaheuristics optimize by iteratively acting to improve candidate solutions, often using stochastic methods. Because of certain compromises that are usually necessary when transcribing the problem for solution by these methods it has been thought that they were not capable of yielding accurate solutions. However that is a misconception as is demonstrated by examples in this work.
Salivary cortisol and cognitive development in infants from low-income communities.

Early stress exposure is proposed to have significant lasting effects on cognitive development. The glucocorticoid hormone cortisol, a product of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, is a...
Faculty Publications from a Research University: The Scholarly Impact of Open Access versus Non-Open Access

ABSTRACTWe used the faculty publications published in fully open access and non-open access journals that are indexed in the Web of Science core collections to study the extent our researchers are publishing in these fully open access journals and to identify the relative impact of their open access (OA) versus non-OA publications, to identify their h-indexes, and to explore the citation advantages. Overall, the average citation is higher for non-OA papers. When the data were examined by year of publication, citations were higher for non-OA papers six of the eleven years under study. The other years show no citation advantage. On examination of the science and technology material in the Web of Science and Google Scholar databases, the field of physics had a citation advantage for non-OA articles for all the years under study, and in entomology, except for one year, non-OA also had a citation advantage. For biological sciences, in Web of science, five of the eleven years OA citations were higher, and in Go...
The hemodynamic impact of acute nasal continuous positive airway pressure treatment in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: is it safe?

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an important genetically inherited form of cardiomyopathy (1). In its obstructive form, dynamic left ventricular tract (LVOT) obstruction is a salient feature of the disease, and has been shown to be a strong independent predictor of progression to New York Heart Association functional III or IV heart failure, and increased mortality (2).
Development of VA Geriatrics Programs

The Veterans Administration has had a large and credible influence on the development of Geriatrics as a field in the United States. Generally within the Veterans Health Administration, service needs align with the finances and program delivery to meet performance objectives and accountability within a single payer system. Responding to accountability to the public following a 2014 failure to provide access to primary care, contributed to by falsified reports and a flawed incentive system, a large portion of VA leadership was replaced and given new quality performance metrics: SAIL, the Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning Value Model. Many VA hospitals achieved remarkably low ratings, and new managers have been put on notice to improve quality through value-based healthcare transformation. These managers are listening to potential Geriatric care models which help them achieve these objectives.
Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Uptake before and after the Affordable Care Act: Variation According to Insurance Status, Race, and Education (NHANES 2006-2014)

Abstract Study Objective The purpose of the study was to compare human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates before and after Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation among women, and examine differences according to insurance status and other sociodemographic variables. Design, Setting, and Participants This was a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey questionnaire data. Participants (n = 4599) were from a random sample of the United States population. Interventions and Main Outcome Measures HPV vaccination status and number of doses received according to age, income, education, race, and insurance coverage. Results Over time, the proportion of women reporting HPV vaccination increased from 16.4% to 27.6%, and reporting vaccination completion (3 doses) increased from 56.8% to 67.2%. After ACA implementation, respondents were 3.3 times more likely to be vaccinated compared with before ACA implementation (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.0-5.5) adjusting for age, race, and insurance coverage. Similarly, respondents were more likely to have received 2 (odds ratio, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.5-5.3) or 3 doses (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% CI, 2.5-13.6). Conclusion Vaccination uptake increased in a comparison of waves of data from before and after ACA implementation. This increase in vaccination coverage could be related to the increased preventative service coverage, which includes vaccines, required by the ACA. Future studies might focus on the role insurance has on vaccination uptake, and meeting Healthy People 2020 objectives for vaccination coverage.
Viral Tools for Protein Expression and Purification

Abstract Effective protein expression is a major challenge in research and manufacturing of protein-based biologicals. Over the years, various viral components and knowledge about viral processes have been utilized to achieve high levels of controlled protein expression in the context of various biological environments. This chapter focuses on viral components commonly utilized in vectors directing protein expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and virus-based expression systems. The E. coli pET expression system, the baculovirus expression system, and plant molecular farming principles are discussed in detail.
Rational Method to Determine Investment Amount for Making Roadways Resilient to a Changing Climate

AbstractThe increase in maximum air temperature and annual rainfall caused by climate change can shorten the lives of pavements and hence increase the mileage of roads that would require rehabilita...
Hypertonic Saline, Electrolytes, and Insulin

Hypertonic saline, insulin and electrolyte replacement are commonly used in the intensive care unit.1-3 Hypertonic saline has several beneficial effects including ­volume-expanding properties, increased cardiac output, and intracranial pressure reduction.4,5 The electrolytes play a pivotal role in maintaining several metabolic functions and processes.1,6 Appropriate glucose management in the critically ill using insulin infusions has been associated with beneficial outcomes.7-9
Thirst and Dehydration in the Elderly

Thirst is defined as a strong desire or craving to drink liquid, usually associated with a feeling of discomfort. Dehydration refers to the excessive loss of body water, usually resulting from a negative balance between fluid intake and output.
Protecting Life and Limb in Peripheral Artery Disease

Article, see p 338 Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is prevalent, affecting 8 to 10 million persons in the United States and >200 million persons worldwide.1,2 As a clinical manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis, it has a foreboding prognosis because it often coexists with coronary artery disease or cerebrovascular disease. The risk of death among patients with PAD is 2- to 4-fold higher than in those without PAD depending on its severity,3 and the incidence of myocardial infarction, stroke, or cardiovascular death is ≈5% to 6% each year.4 Also, PAD adversely affects quality of life by impairing walking capacity and threatening limb viability: ≈1% to 2% of patients with symptomatic PAD suffer major limb amputations annually.4 Despite the fact that it is relatively easy to diagnose, physicians often fail to detect PAD when it is present. This is unfortunate because treatment with preventive therapies, such as statins and antiplatelet agents, can mitigate the risk of PAD. Yet these drugs are used much less frequently in patients with PAD than in those with coronary artery disease.1,5 This may be, in part, because the magnitude of clinical trial evidence in the population with PAD, compared with that in patients with coronary artery disease, is relatively scant. The beneficial effect of statin therapy on reducing cardiovascular and limb events in patients with PAD was demonstrated in 1 major prospective, randomized clinical trial, the HPS (Heart Protection Study), and observed in several cohort studies and registries. The HPS found that among the subset of patients with PAD, simvastatin compared with placebo …
Di(hydroperoxy)cycloalkanes Stabilized via Hydrogen Bonding by Phosphine Oxides: Safe and Efficient Baeyer–Villiger Oxidants

The syntheses of two new representatives of di(hydroperoxy)cycloalkane adducts of phosphine oxides, Cy3PO·(HOO)2C(CH2)4 and Cy3PO·(HOO)2C(CH2)6, and the new hydroperoxy(hydroxy)alkane adduct Cy3PO·(HOO)(HO)C(CH2)5 are described. Different synthetic routes were explored. The formation of the adducts proceeds from hydrogen peroxide adducts of phosphine oxides in the presence of cyclic ketones. Additionally, the direct addition of Cy3PO to free di(hydroperoxy)cycloalkanes results in the desired adducts. A mechanism for the formation is proposed, which is supported by generating and identifying the monoperoxy adduct Cy3PO·(HOO)(HO)C(CH2)5. All adducts are fully characterized with single-crystal X-ray crystallography, NMR, and IR spectroscopy. All adducts are safe and solid and have shelf lifetimes of months. They are highly soluble in organic solvents, which allows for homogeneous reactions in nonaqueous media. This was demonstrated by selectively oxidizing Ph2P–PPh2 to the moisture-sensitive Ph2P(O)–P(O)Ph2....
Automatic heuristic construction for general game playing

Introduction Creating programs that can play games such as chess, checkers, and backgammon, at a high level has long been a challenge and benchmark for AI. While several game-playing systems developed in the past, such as Deep Blue (Campbell, Jr., & Hsu 2002), Chinook (Schaeffer et al. 1992), and TD-gammon (Tesauro 1994) have demonstrated competitive play against human players, such systems are limited in that they play only one particular game and they must be supplied with large amounts of expert knowledge. While their performance is impressive, it could be argued that the demonstrated intelligence is that of the system’s designers more so than that of the system itself. General Game Playing is the more challenging problem of designing an agent capable of playing many different previously unseen games (Pell 1993). The first AAAI General Game Playing Competition was held at 2005 AAAI meeting in Pittsburgh in order to promote research in this area (Genesereth & Love 2005). We were one of nine participants in that competition. We survey some of the issues involved in creating a general game playing system and introduce our entry to that event. The main feature of our approach is a novel method for automatically constructing effective search heuristics based on the formal game description. Our agent is fully implemented and tested in a range of different games.
Modernizing the mythical man-month

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering [4] by Dr. Fred Brooks is often required reading in many software engineering classes and recommended by practitioners throughout industry as a text with which computer scientists should be familiar. Yet, while many of the conceptual ideas that were first presented decades ago are still applicable today, aspects of the presentation of the material are lacking in inclusivity, posing additional challenges for faculty who are trying to increase diversity within the discipline. Thus, we propose a student-developed portrayal of some of the concepts in a modernized fashion, presented as a menu and incorporating ideas from the food-service industry, a model that more college students are directly familiar with than the surgical team.
The Art-Science Project: Researching the Cross Section between the Visual Arts and Biological Sciences

The created portfolio explores the area of academic art and how it can be translated into the fields of fine art and biological science. The sculptural specimens were created to further understand how art is used in scientific exploration today compared to that of antiquity.During the period of enlightenment, science and art were codependent. Studio art was employed as a form of research and communication. In light of this, the thirty-five spider models were created in the Entomology and Nematology Lab at the University of Florida. The works of art encompass a diverse range of species, scales, and functions. The works were designed to serve three purposes: life size models were printed and painted to serve as decoys for reproductive research; medium scale models were distributed to international geocaches to gage public opinion on arachnids; and large scale models were utilized as educational tools. The range of models serves different functions but they all answer to principles of art. Thus defining the interdisciplinary nature of art as it relates to scientific study.
Using a Hybrid Model to Prepare Special Educators to Teach Students Identified with ASD

This paper describes a hybrid graduate study program used to train special educators to use research-based interventions with students on the autism spectrum (ASD) and provides satisfaction data from both graduate students and instructors. The program consisted of five courses leading to a graduate certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Each course included a combination of face-to-face, asynchronous online, and synchronous online instruction. Special education teachers from several different school districts across the state participated. The purpose of describing this program model (including the coursework, instructional formats, and feedback from the special educators who completed the program and the instructors who taught the courses) is to assist others in creating similar programs as the numbers of children identified with ASD increase dramatically. More children identified with ASD are going to need more educators who are trained to teach them effectively.
Attenuating Cholinergic Transmission Increases the Number of Satellite Cells and Preserves Muscle Mass in Old Age

In addition to driving contraction of skeletal muscles, acetylcholine (ACh) acts as an anti-synaptogenic agent at neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). In this study, we hypothesized that moderately and chronically reducing ACh could attenuate the deleterious effects of aging on NMJs and skeletal muscles. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed NMJs and muscle fibers from heterozygous transgenic mice with reduced expression of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VKDHet), which present with approximately 30% less synaptic ACh compared to control mice. Because ACh is constitutively decreased in VKDHet, we first analyzed developing NMJs and muscle fibers. We found no obvious morphological or molecular differences between NMJs and muscle fibers of VKDHet and control mice during development. In contrast, we found that moderately reducing ACh has various effects on adult NMJs and muscle fibers. VKDHet mice have significantly larger NMJs and muscle fibers compared to age-matched control mice. They also present with reduced expression of the pro-atrophy gene, Foxo1, and more satellite cells in skeletal muscles, two molecular and cellular features that may partially explain the increased size of NMJs and muscle fibers. These and other data in this manuscript indicate that moderately reducing ACh may be a therapeutic strategy to prevent the loss of skeletal muscle mass that occurs with advancing age.
Enhanced ambulatory male urethral surgery: a pathway to successful outpatient urethroplasty

Background: Length of stay following anterior urethroplasty (AU) surgery has progressively shortened over the past two decades with most patients discharging the day of surgery or following overnight observation. We sought to assess overall analgesia and patient satisfaction with same-day discharge after AU surgery. Methods: Our prospectively maintained anterior urethroplasty database was reviewed. Men were identified who underwent anterior urethroplasty surgery by a single surgeon (B.R.V.) with the Enhanced Ambulatory Male Urethral Surgery (EAMUS) protocol followed by same-day discharge. Patients were contacted within 3 weeks of surgery and completed validated assessment tools to characterize satisfaction with the outpatient experience and with analgesia management. A statistical analysis was performed to assess predictors of overall satisfaction with same-day discharge following AU surgery. Results: Fifty-seven patients with median age 52.2 years underwent same-day AU surgery between August 2017 and October 2018. In total, 46 patients (80.7%) responded to post-discharge surveys assessing overall outpatient satisfaction and satisfaction with analgesia. Median satisfaction with outpatient experience (scale 1–5) was 5 (IQR 4, 5) with 93.4% of patients indicating they were satisfied to very satisfied (4 or 5). Median patient satisfaction with analgesia (scale 1–6) was 6 (IQR 5, 6) with 93.4% of patients indicating a satisfaction with analgesia score of ≥5 (satisfied to very satisfied). Median number of 5 mg oxycodone tablets used following discharge was 3 (IQR 0.75, 5). Postoperative complications occurred in 14 patients (25%) with 12 (86%) being low grade complications (Clavien-Dindo Classification ≤ II). Conclusions: With appropriate preoperative education and peri-operative analgesia, anterior urethroplasty surgery can be performed with same-day discharge with comparable postoperative complication rates while maintaining excellent patient satisfaction. Additional high volume, prospectively collected studies are necessary to verify short-term satisfaction rates while confirming long-term urethroplasty success rates remain comparable to AU surgery performed with next day discharge.
The Mother-Infant Nexus Revealed by Linear Enamel Hypoplasia: Chronological and Contextual Evaluation of Developmental Stress Using Incremental Microstructures of Enamel in Late/Final Jomon Period Hunter-Gatherers

This study uses incremental microstructures of enamel (perikymata) and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) to explore the mother-infant nexus in prehistoric hunter-gatherers associated with the Late/Final (ca. 4300 to 2300 BP) Jomon period, Japan. High-resolution impressions were collected from 31 individuals and used to produce replicas of the enamel surface. LEH was identified based on accentuated perikymata. Age-at-defect formation was estimated using constants for tooth crown and perikymata formation. Frequencies of LEH at each age were collated using box plots and bar graphs. Risk of death and formation of future LEH as a function of age-at-first-defect formation in each individual were evaluated using Cox’s proportional hazards analysis. The highest frequencies of LEH were found between 2 and 4 years of age. Earlier forming LEH increases the risk of mortality and future defect formation. Higher frequencies of LEH between 2 and 4 years were associated with social and socioecological maturation. Mortality risks associated with early-life adversity reflect the physiological constraints associated with investment in surviving stress at these stages of life. Additionally, when interpreted within the framework of the mother-infant nexus, the association among early forming LEH, mortality, and future growth disruption illustrate the dire consequences of disrupting these bonds at early stages. These results further demonstrate that incremental microstructures of enamel are useful for studying the mother-infant nexus and provide an index for the conditions that may disrupt this relationship.
Clearing Time Considerations for dc Arc-Flash Hazards: An Analysis of Battery Banks

Because empirical calculation methods OF arc flash for dc systems do not yet exist, several types of models and equation approaches are available for use with varying degrees of success in estimating a conservative thermal incident energy (IE) estimate for dc power systems. One of the unknown variables for any of these calculations is the clearing time of any protective devices, which may relate to the system configuration.
Unique N170 signatures to words and faces in deaf ASL signers reflect experience-specific adaptations during early visual processing.

Abstract Previous studies with deaf adults reported reduced N170 waveform asymmetry to visual words, a finding attributed to reduced phonological mapping in left-hemisphere temporal regions compared to hearing adults. An open question remains whether this pattern indeed results from reduced phonological processing or from general neurobiological adaptations in visual processing of deaf individuals. Deaf ASL signers and hearing nonsigners performed a same-different discrimination task with visually presented words, faces, or cars, while scalp EEG time-locked to the onset of the first item in each pair was recorded. For word recognition, the typical left-lateralized N170 in hearing participants and reduced left-sided asymmetry in deaf participants were replicated. The groups did not differ on word discrimination but better orthographic skill was associated with larger N170 in the right hemisphere only for deaf participants. Face recognition was characterized by unique N170 signatures for both groups, and deaf individuals exhibited superior face discrimination performance. Laterality or discrimination performance effects did not generalize to the N170 responses to cars, confirming that deaf signers are not inherently less lateralized in their electrophysiological responses to words and critically, giving support to the phonological mapping hypothesis. P1 was attenuated for deaf participants compared to the hearing, but in both groups, P1 selectively discriminated between highly learned familiar objects – words and faces versus less familiar objects – cars. The distinct electrophysiological signatures to words and faces reflected experience-driven adaptations to words and faces that do not generalize to object recognition.