cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Drug Therapy in Neonates and Pediatric Patients

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses drug therapy in neonates and pediatric patients. The use of drugs in newborns, infants, and children is often based on safety, efficacy, and pharmacological data generated in adults. The practice of scaling adult drug doses to infants and children based on body weight or body surface area (BSA) does not account for the developmental changes that affect drug pharmacokinetics (PK) or target tissue and organ sensitivity to the drug. The ratio of absorptive surface area to BSA is greater in infants and children than in adults. Although pancreatic enzyme excretion is low in newborns, malabsorption does not occur and no effect on drug absorption has been observed. The newborn intestine is colonized with bacteria within days of birth, but the spectrum of bacterial flora may change over the first few years of life. The capacity of the liver to metabolize drugs is lower at birth, and the rate of development of various metabolic pathways is highly variable and may be influenced by exposure to drugs in utero and postnatally. The administration of cisapride to premature infants for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux illustrates the clinical relevance of the ontogeny of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). Clinical experience shows that dosing according to BSA usually results in more uniform plasma drug concentrations across a broad age range.
Paradigms, Assumptions, and Strategies: Royce and Method

In the 2002 movie, "Adaptation," the screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, made his own efforts to write the screenplay the subject of the screenplay itself and made himself a major character in the movie. An analogous postmodern move would be for me to write about my own efforts to find a thread through Josiah Royce's address, "War and Insurance, rather than simply to present the fruits of those efforts. In doing so, I risk the plausible charge of being far less entertaining or imaginative and much more tedious than Kaufman or Spike Jonze, the movie's director. Royce's address is singularly problematic. Readers are likely to see its ideas as both clairvoyant and obsolete, both subtle and naive. It might be said that most significant philosophical works, when they are reappropriated after a few generations or more, can easily give rise to such paradoxes. Their style and many of their methodological assumptions are often superceded. Their ideas, however, clothed in different terms, can be made viable and provocative. But Royce's philosophical corpus has long been in limbo. He is rarely read or taught. He is often seen as having written the final chapter of a closed book insofar as he is the final legatee of the American version of Hegelian idealism. If we are tempted to see him as relevant and even clairvoyant, we may need to justify that response. Does his way of thinking have valuable insights that were overlooked in much of the twentieth century? Is it an approach that is newly relevant in the circumstances of this fledgling century? Or are we simply drawn to accidental and coincidental similarities between his concerns and ours? In the latter case, we may nod in recognition of these adventitious parallels and find his lessons momentarily intriguing but stillborn.
Effects of the interparental relationship on adolescents’ emotional security and adjustment: The important role of fathers.

We examined the mediational roles of multiple types of adolescents' emotional security in relations between multiple aspects of the interparental relationship and adolescents' mental health from ages 13 to 16 (N = 392). General marital quality, nonviolent parent conflict, and physical intimate partner violence independently predicted mental health. Security in the father-adolescent relationship, over and above security with the mother and security in regard to parent conflict, mediated the link from general marital quality to adolescents' mental health. With 2 exceptions, paths were stable for boys and girls, biological- and stepfathers, and Anglo- and Mexican Americans. The findings reveal the need to expand the traditional foci on parent conflict and relationships with mothers to include general marital quality and relationships with fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record
The good life: Unifying the philosophy and psychology of well-being

Well-being exists, and most of us want more of it. We know when we have experienced it, we care about experiencing it in the future, and we desire that our loved ones have it. We even sometimes ena...
Abstract B145: Small molecule inhibition of cyclic GMP-AMP synthase reduces interferon expression in macrophages from an autoimmune mouse model

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) plays a central role in sensing aberrantly localized cytoplasmic dsDNA. Upon binding dsDNA, cGAS synthesizes the cyclic dinucleotide cGAMP, which acts as a second messenger to initiate a signaling pathway for the induction of interferon genes. Given that cytoplasmic DNA can originate from bacteria or virus, cGAS is essential for innate immunity against pathogenic infection. Conversely, cGAS detection of mislocalized nuclear or mitochondrial DNA can lead to hyper-inflammation. Recent studies indicate that cGAS can potentiate autoimmunity in cases of lupus, Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome, and other related diseases—suggesting that targeting cGAS activity may be therapeutically beneficial. We report the discovery of a first-in-class generation of cGAS small molecule inhibitor, RU.365, identified in a high-throughput screen. Its structure-activity relationship, and selectivity and potency in cellular assays, was characterized. Moreover, we solved the structure of cGAS in complex with dsDNA and RU.365 or its close structural analog within the active site. Finally, we demonstrate that the inhibitor can reduce constitutive expression of interferonin macrophages derived from a mouse model of autoimmunity. RU.365 will be useful towards understanding the biological roles of cGAS and can serve as a molecular scaffold for development of future autoimmune therapies. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Pu Gao. Small molecule inhibition of cyclic GMP-AMP synthase reduces interferon expression in macrophages from an autoimmune mouse model [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B145.
A branch-and-bound algorithm for instrumental variable quantile regression

This paper studies a statistical problem called instrumental variable quantile regression (IVQR). We model IVQR as a convex quadratic program with complementarity constraints and—although this type of program is generally NP-hard—we develop a branch-and-bound algorithm to solve it globally. We also derive bounds on key variables in the problem, which are valid asymptotically for increasing sample size. We compare our method with two well known global solvers, one of which requires the computed bounds. On random instances, our algorithm performs well in terms of both speed and robustness.
The effect of image enhancements and dual observers on proximal caries detection.

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine if the use of certain image enhancements and dual observers had an effect on the detection of caries, dentin extension, and cavitation. Study Design Seven observers viewed unenhanced and enhanced images taken on photostimulable phosphor plates (PSP) and Schick 33 sensors and were asked to determine whether proximal caries lesions, dentin extension, and cavitation were present. Pairs of observers also evaluated the unenhanced PSP images and recorded their confidence. Micro-computed tomography was used as the gold standard. Results For caries lesion detection, PSP outperformed Schick sensors, although the differences are most likely not clinically significant. Observers (single and dual) and filters had no effect on any of the diagnostic tasks. Schick sensors and unfiltered images were more specific for dentin extension. Conclusions Caries detection was statistically greater with the PSP plate, but both detectors allowed for high accuracy. Expensive software or time-consuming consultations did not improve outcomes.
Morphogenetic, Histochemical and Ultrastructural Effects of Plant Growth Substances in Vitro

Summary Terminal segments of tomato ( Lycopersicum esculelltum M ill .) roots were cultured in liquid W hites medium in the presence of indoleacetic acid (IAA), kinetin, or gibberellic acid. IAA and kinetin cause cessation of extension growth while gibberellic acid supports such growth. IAA induces formation of numerous lateral root primordia and causes vacuolation in cells of the meristematic region of the root. Kinetin also disorganizes the meristematic region of the root tip like IAA, induces vascular differentiation up to the tip, and causes prominent storage of starch. Gibberellic acid appears to deplete storage starch. Seeds of sweet pea ( Lathyrus odoratus L.) grown on M urashige and S koog's synthetic nutrient medium with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) undergo extensive cell proliferation in the pericyclic region of the hypocotyl, giving rise to a massive callus tissue. 2,4-D causes a two-fold enlargement of the nuclei and nucleoli and seems to activate the synthesis of ribonucleic acid in the nucleolus. The central fibrillar and the peripheral granular regions of the nucleolus become markedly segregated in the presence of 2,4-D. The granular region in 2,4-D treated tissues is quite extensive and shows a large population of granular ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles. The RNP particles serve as precursor particles for the assembly of ribosomes. Actinomycin D blocks callus formation and nucleolar activity in the presence of 2,4-D. The role of auxins, cytokinins and gibberellins, particularly the auxins, in plant growth and development is discussed.
Exploring a new quantitative image marker to assess benefit of chemotherapy to ovarian cancer patients

Accurately assessing the potential benefit of chemotherapy to cancer patients is an important prerequisite to developing precision medicine in cancer treatment. The previous study has shown that total psoas area (TPA) measured on preoperative cross-section CT image might be a good image marker to predict long-term outcome of pancreatic cancer patients after surgery. However, accurate and automated segmentation of TPA from the CT image is difficult due to the fuzzy boundary or connection of TPA to other muscle areas. In this study, we developed a new interactive computer-aided detection (ICAD) scheme aiming to segment TPA from the abdominal CT images more accurately and assess the feasibility of using this new quantitative image marker to predict the benefit of ovarian cancer patients receiving Bevacizumab-based chemotherapy. ICAD scheme was applied to identify a CT image slice of interest, which is located at the level of L3 (vertebral spines). The cross-sections of the right and left TPA are segmented using a set of adaptively adjusted boundary conditions. TPA is then quantitatively measured. In addition, recent studies have investigated that muscle radiation attenuation which reflects fat deposition in the tissue might be a good image feature for predicting the survival rate of cancer patients. The scheme and TPA measurement task were applied to a large national clinical trial database involving 1,247 ovarian cancer patients. By comparing with manual segmentation results, we found that ICAD scheme could yield higher accuracy and consistency for this task. Using a new ICAD scheme can provide clinical researchers a useful tool to more efficiently and accurately extract TPA as well as muscle radiation attenuation as new image makers, and allow them to investigate the discriminatory power of it to predict progression-free survival and/or overall survival of the cancer patients before and after taking chemotherapy.
The ‘Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram’

A long line of work summarized by Cassidy et al. (2011) attempts to extend the idea of a fundamental diagram for a single road to a full transport network.
High-Frequency Transformer Design for Modular Power Conversion From Medium-Voltage AC to 400 VDC

This paper presents a high-frequency modular medium-voltage AC (4160 VAC or 13.8 kVAC) to low-voltage DC (400 VDC) system that is scalable in order to be used for different scale microgrids. A 15 kW, 500 kHz DC/DC converter is demonstrated as the most important stage of the system overall, which can be scalable to a 225 kW 4160 VAC to 400 VDC system. Motivation of a CLLC resonant converter and its design parameters determination is carefully illustrated. The high-frequency transformer is the key element for the DC/DC converter. Then, the paper focuses on high-frequency transformer design to realize high-voltage insulation, high efficiency, and high density at the same time. Based on a split winding UU core transformer structure, transformer insulation materials and dimension parameters are determined referring to the IEEE insulation standard. The transformer magnetic loss model is reviewed based on which loss design tradeoff is carefully analyzed. Different working frequency impact on transformer design over three different core materials is also presented. Finally, a 500 kHz transformer prototype has been developed and demonstrated with the IEEE standard required insulation tests. A whole CLLC resonant converter is also present with experiments results. The converter holds outstanding 98% efficiency and 2.9 kW/L power density.
Tensor Train Neighborhood Preserving Embedding

In this paper, we propose a tensor train neighborhood preserving embedding (TTNPE) to embed multidimensional tensor data into low-dimensional tensor subspace. Novel approaches to solve the optimization problem in TTNPE are proposed. For this embedding, we evaluate a novel tradeoff gain among classification, computation, and dimensionality reduction (storage) for supervised learning. It is shown that compared to the state-of-the-arts tensor embedding methods, TTNPE achieves superior tradeoff in classification, computation, and dimensionality reduction in MNIST handwritten digits, Weizmann face datasets, and financial market datasets.
Gower's Serpent and the Carbuncle

Neville responds to Leo Henkin's suggestion in "The Carbuncle in the Adder's Head," that the story of "Aspidis the Serpent" from Book 1 of the CA is based on two separate legends from folklore. Neville demonstrates that the combination of these stories did not originate with Gower, but with Brunetto Latini's "Li Livres dou Tresor," Gower's immediate source. [CvD]
Isotopic Equilibrium/Disequilibrium and Diffusion Kinetics in Feldspars

The use of isotopes as tracers in diffusion kinetics measurements on feldspars is discussed with particular emphasis on oxygen and cations. The effect of feldspar composition, temperature, fugacity of water, ftigacity of oxygen, anisotropy of diffusion, and sub-sclidus phases are treated, with a view toward understanding the diffusion mechanisms and to predict diffusion coefficients where measured data are lacking. The strong dependence of oxygen diffusion on fH2O is suggested to derive from having H+ act to aid in breaking the Si-O bonds, and H2O aid in the transport through the crystal. The lack of such dependence by cations, together with their systematic behavior as a function of cation charge, and, secondarily, on ionic radius has led to a diffusion model utilizing a vacancy mechanism for most of the cations in feldspars, with Na transport being by an interstitial mechanism. The ionic porosity prediction model can predict oxygen diffusion under hydrothermal conditions, but fails for cations.
Simultaneous inhibition of FXR and TGR5 exacerbates atherosclerotic formation

Simultaneous activation of bile acid receptors farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and G protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1 (TGR5) by INT-767 significantly reduces atherosclerotic formation. In this study, we investigated the effect of simultaneous inactivation of these bile acid receptors in atherosclerosis and which bile acid receptor mediates the anti-atherogenic effect of INT-767. To investigate the role of simultaneous inactivation of FXR and TGR5 in vivo, we generated LDL receptor knockout (LDLR) KO mice with FXR and TGR5 dual deficiency, which exhibited severe atherosclerosis and aortic inflammation through nuclear factor κΒ activation. The lipid-lowering effects of INT-767 were completely blocked by FXR single deficiency but not TGR5 single deficiency. INT-767 was able to block atherosclerotic formation and decrease levels of aortic cytokines and chemokines in LDLR KO mice under either FXR or TGR5 single deficiency. Dual deficiency of FXR and TGR5 completely blocked the anti-atherogenic and anti-inflammatory effects of INT-767 in LDLR KO mice. We demonstrated that 1) FXR and TGR5 dual deficiency exacerbated the development of atherosclerosis and 2) the anti-atherogenic effect of INT-767 requires the anti-inflammatory effect but not the lipid-lowering effect through the simultaneous activation of FXR and TGR5. Our results indicate that dual activation of FXR and TGR5 is a promising strategy for treating atherosclerosis.
Constraint network modeling for concurrent engineering

Abstract This paper presents a broad review of current research activities of Concurrent Engineering. Three classes of techniques supporting concurrent engineering are discussed. The constraint network modeling technique and its way of modeling concurrent engineering are illustrated by an example of resource constrained project planning.
Melt shear viscosity of original and recycled PET in wide range shear rate

Among the plastic materials, the PET is the most often used one. The collecting of the material to be recycled is partially solved. This way we have great quantity of reground PET. During the regrinding the structure of molecules changes and these properties can be measured by rheology methods. Polymer melts are -Newtonian fluids and the flow curves of the materials can be used to characterize the molecular weight and the molecular weight distribution. This research is focused on the characterization of original and ground PET materials. Inherent viscosities were determined to characterize the materials. Flow curves of pure and blended materials were measured at different temperatures.
Sex-specific hippocampus volume changes in obstructive sleep apnea.

Abstract Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients show hippocampal-related autonomic and neurological symptoms, including impaired memory and depression, which differ by sex, and are mediated in distinct hippocampal subfields. Determining sites and extent of hippocampal sub-regional injury in OSA could reveal localized structural damage linked with OSA symptoms. Methods High-resolution T1-weighted images were collected from 66 newly-diagnosed, untreated OSA (mean age ± SD: 46.3 ± 8.8 years; mean AHI ± SD: 34.1 ± 21.5 events/h;50 male) and 59 healthy age-matched control (46.8 ± 9.0 years;38 male) participants. We added age-matched controls with T1-weighted scans from two datasets (IXI, OASIS-MRI), for 979 controls total (426 male/46.5 ± 9.9 years). We segmented the hippocampus and analyzed surface structure with “FSL FIRST” software, scaling volumes for brain size, and evaluated group differences with ANCOVA (covariates: total-intracranial-volume, sex; P Results In OSA relative to controls, the hippocampus showed small areas larger volume bilaterally in CA1 (surface displacement ≤0.56 mm), subiculum, and uncus, and smaller volume in right posterior CA3/dentate (≥ − 0.23 mm). OSA vs. control males showed higher bilateral volume (≤0.61 mm) throughout CA1 and subiculum, extending to head and tail, with greater right-sided increases; lower bilateral volumes (≥ − 0.45 mm) appeared in mid- and posterior-CA3/dentate. OSA vs control females showed only right-sided effects, with increased CA1 and subiculum/uncus volumes (≤0.67 mm), and decreased posterior CA3/dentate volumes (≥ − 0.52 mm). Unlike males, OSA females showed volume decreases in the right hippocampus head and tail. Conclusions The hippocampus shows lateralized and sex-specific, OSA-related regional volume differences, which may contribute to sex-related expression of symptoms in the sleep disorder. Volume increases suggest inflammation and glial activation, whereas volume decreases suggest long-lasting neuronal injury; both processes may contribute to dysfunction in OSA.
Time-Optimal Input-Shaping Control of a Saturating Inductor DC-DC Converter

This paper compares the step-change-in-load switching behavior of a linear inductor boost converter circuit to that of a boost converter containing a non-linear or saturable inductor. The transition time between load states is minimized when the converter switch is controlled to be fully on or fully off (bang-bang) for pre-determined periods of time. The results show the saturating inductor converter switches nearly three times faster, is approximately an order of magnitude smaller in size, exhibits less load voltage droop during load transition and has lower inductor (copper) losses. These benefits however, come at the cost of higher peak switching currents.
HIV Tat causes synapse loss in a mouse model of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder that is independent of the classical complement cascade component C1q.

Microglial activation, increased proinflammatory cytokine production, and a reduction in synaptic density are key pathological features associated with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Even with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), more than 50% of HIV-positive individuals experience some type of cognitive impairment. Although viral replication is inhibited by cART, HIV proteins such as Tat are still produced within the nervous system that are neurotoxic, involved in synapse elimination, and provoke enduring neuroinflammation. As complement deposition on synapses followed by microglial engulfment has been shown during normal development and disease to be a mechanism for pruning synapses, we have tested whether complement is required for the loss of synapses that occurs after a cortical Tat injection mouse model of HAND. In Tat-injected animals evaluated 7 or 28 days after injection, levels of early complement pathway components, C1q and C3, are significantly elevated and associated with microgliosis and a loss of synapses. However, C1qa knockout mice have the same level of Tat-induced synapse loss as wild-type (WT) mice, showing that the C1q-initiated classical complement cascade is not driving synapse removal during HIV1 Tat-induced neuroinflammation.
Gradual increase of perturbation load induces a longer retention of locomotor adaptation in children with cerebral palsy.

Abstract The goal of this study is to determine whether the size and the variability of error have an impact on the retention of locomotor adaptation in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Eleven children with CP, aged 7–16 years old, were recruited to participate in this study. Three types of force perturbations (i.e., abrupt, gradual and noisy loads) were applied to the right leg above the ankle starting from late stance to mid-swing in three test sessions while the subject walked on a treadmill. Spatial-temporal gait parameters were recorded using a custom designed 3D position sensor during treadmill walking. We observed that children with CP adapted to the resistance force perturbation and showed an aftereffect consisting of increased step length after load release. Further, we observed a longer retention of the aftereffect for the condition with a gradual load than that with an abrupt load. Results from this study suggested that the size of error might have an impact on the retention of motor adaptation in children with CP with a longer retention of motor adaptation for the condition with a small size of error than that with a large error. In addition, enhanced variability of error seems facilitate motor learning during treadmill training. Results from this study may be used for the development of force perturbation based training paradigms for improving walking function in children with CP.
DEFIBRILLATORS FOLLOWING RECENT ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: A META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIALS

Patients with recent myocardial infarction (MI) and low ejection fraction (EF) are at highest risks of sudden cardiac death. The benefits of early cardioverter-defibrillators in this population remains unclear. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the
Juggalos - Whoop! Whoop! A Family or A Gang? A Participant-Observation Study on an FBI Defined ‘Hybrid’ Gang

This study examines the Juggalos and their controversial gang designation as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Juggalos are devoted fans of the music group Insane Clown Posse, but...
A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions to increase stroke thrombolysis.

Although the efficacy of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for acute ischemic stroke is well established, rates of tPA use remain low. For clinicians, advocates, and policy-makers seeking to increase tPA treatment rates, it is important to understand what interventions exist and their relative effectiveness. We searched PubMed and EMBASE to identify all studies published between 1995 and January 8, 2015 documenting interventions to increase the use of tPA with broadly inclusive criteria. The principal summary measure was the percentage change in rate of tPA administration. Random effects meta-analytic models were built to summarize the effect of intervention compared to control overall and for intervention characteristics. The search yielded 1457 results of which 25 met eligibility criteria. We identified 14 pre-post studies, ten randomized controlled trials, and one quasi-experiment. Included studies targeted their interventions at emergency medical services (EMS) (n = 14), telemedicine (n = 6), and public education (n = 6). In a random effects model, tPA administration was significantly higher in the intervention arm across all studies limiting enrollment to ischemic stroke patients (n = 16) with a risk ratio (RR) of 1.80 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45–2.22). A trend towards increased tPA administration was observed for all intervention approaches: risk ratio of 1.73 (95% CI, 1.44–2.09) for EMS, 1.58 (95% CI, 0.72–3.47) for telemedicine, and 1.89 (95% CI, 0.77–4.65) for public education, the latter not restricted to ischemic stroke patients. Interventions to increase tPA use appear to have considerable effectiveness. Our findings support the use of such interventions to improve stroke outcomes.
Abstract LB-323: Atrx deletion delays tumor formation and increases radiosensitivity of a primary mouse model of soft tissue sarcoma

Soft tissue sarcomas are tumors of the connective tissue that account for an estimated 12,000 new cancer cases annually and carry a poor prognosis with a five year survival rate of 50% despite treatment. An important research objective in improving therapy for soft tissue sarcoma patients is to understand how genetic mutations affect soft tissue sarcoma development and radiation response. Intriguingly, next-generation sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and other massive cancer sequencing efforts have identified Alpha Thalassemia and Mental Retardation X-linked, or ATRX, as the second most frequently mutated gene in soft tissue sarcoma. The vast majority of these ATRX mutations are frameshift mutations. To dissect the role of ATRX in soft tissue sarcoma development and therapeutic response, we generated a primary mouse model of soft tissue sarcoma. This model utilizes Cre-LoxP technology to conditionally activate oncogenic KrasG12D, delete p53, and delete both alleles of Atrx (KPA) in mouse hindlimb Pax7+ muscle satellite cells. When compared to mice with activation of oncogenic KrasG12D, deletion of p53 and at least one wild-type Atrx allele (KP), KPA mice showed a significant delay in time to tumor formation (35 vs. 58 days median), but no significant difference in tumor growth rate as measured by time to tumor quintupling. Next, we generated primary soft tissue sarcoma cell lines from our KP mouse model, and performed CRISPR-Cas9 mediated knockout of Atrx to generate isogenic cell lines. Testing of these isogenic cell lines revealed that Atrx deletion in soft tissue sarcoma cells increased sensitivity to double strand break inducing chemotherapeutics and ionizing radiation, but not to single strand break inducing chemotherapeutics in vitro. In clonogenic assays, Atrx deletion increased radiosensitivity of soft tissue sarcoma cell lines more than fourfold across all radiation doses tested. We next used our KP and KPA models to test the effect of Atrx deletion on radiosensitivity in vivo. Results showed that, relative to the KP model, Atrx deletion improved the response of soft tissue sarcomas to radiation therapy in vivo, increasing the time to tumor quintupling after radiation by 20%. Further analysis demonstrated that Atrx deletion significantly increases mitotic segregation defects after ionizing radiation, suggesting a potential mechanism for the radiosensitivity observed in our studies. Our in vivo study provides the first insight into how ATRX alters the development and therapeutic response of soft tissue sarcoma. Citation Format: Robert W. Floyd, Lixia Luo, David Kirsch. Atrx deletion delays tumor formation and increases radiosensitivity of a primary mouse model of soft tissue sarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-323.
SafeFlow-x: An Efficient and Complete Strategy for Multiparty Trust Negotiation Over Distributed Networks

Multiparty Trust Negotiation (MTN) is an emerging methodology for establishing trust between peers by gradually requesting and disclosing digitally signed credentials. However, a MTN strategy must be utilized to search for a successful negotiation based on the Access Control Policies (ACP). Previous work in this area focused on establishing trust between two parties (ATN), yet real life scenarios involved more than two parties in the negotiation process. Even if multiparty is involved, the Access Control Policies (ACP)proposed are either Identity based Access control policies (IBAC)as well as static policies, where the client has no say in decisions, like in the single sign-on systems, Shibboleth [11], and OpenID [14]; or the process is state full and has a high communication cost like in Zhang and Winslett work [9]. This paper provides a formal definition for the multiparty trust negotiation problem and proposes a novel MTN strategy, SafeFlow- $x$ . SafeFlow-x is a stateless, safe, efficient and complete strategy. In the worst case, its communication complexity is $O(n)$ , where $n$ is the total number of credentials requested, and its computational complexity is $O(k)$ , where $k$ is the total size of peer's ACP when no cyclic dependencies occur.
Sugar as a therapeutic target for the cognitive restoration following traumatic brain injury.

Purpose of reviewThis review aims to discuss examples of changes in glucose (sugar) metabolism after traumatic brain injury (TBI). It will attempt to provide an understanding of what changes in glucose metabolism mean for the injured brain. It will further identify potential therapeutic target(s) em
Rhodium(III)-Catalyzed Three-Component 1,2-Diamination of Unactivated Terminal Alkenes.

We report a three-component diamination of simple unactivated alkenes using an electrophilic nitrene source and amine nucleo­philes. The reaction provides rapid access to 1,2-vicinal diamines from terminal alkenes through a one-pot protocol. The transformation proceeds smoothly with excellent tolerance for a broad array of primary and secondary amines, affording the desired products in good yield and regioselectivity. The mechanism is proposed to proceed through a Rh(III)-catalyzed aziridination of alkenes with subsequent ring opening by primary or secondary amines.
Effect of ultrasonic energy on the spot weldability of aluminum alloy AA6061

Abstract This study investigates the effects of superimposed ultrasonic vibration on resistance spot welding (RSW) of aluminum alloy AA6061-T6. A novel ultrasonically assisted resistance spot welding process, referred to as ultrasonic resistance welding (URW), is applied to weld AA6061 at various conditions and compared with the results from RSW. Lap shear tensile tests of URW welds show significantly improved mechanical properties, including higher strength, better ductility and higher amount of energy absorbed prior to failure compared with RSW welds. Optical micrographs of the weld cross section show that the ultrasonic vibration enhances nugget formation and minimizes porosities defects. Besides, equiaxed crystal structure is generally observed in the nugget center of URW welds whereas the majority of RSW fusion zone is dominated with columnar grain structure. In situ thermal imaging of the two processes shows a lower temperature distribution, smaller heating and cooling rates during URW. This is attributed to the ultrasonically assisted fracture and breakdown of surface oxides and contaminates, which reduces the contact resistance and accordingly heat generation rate.
Algorithms for Optimal Power Flow in Isolated Distribution Networks Using Different Battery Energy Storage Models

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are crucial for remote communities operating isolated distribution networks (IDNs) that are transitioning from dependence on diesel generators to renewable energy sources for their energy needs. Since renewable energy sources are variable, these isolated communities still depend on diesel generators during periods when the output of renewable resources are lower than the demand or not available. In order to minimize the dependence on high-cost diesel fuel it is necessary to accurately model the BESS for grid optimization in IDNs. This paper employs existing BESS models, including linear, convex nonlinear, and nonlinear, in a 17 bus test system extracted from the IEEE-123 bus feeder model with the inclusion of network constraints. The optimal power flow problem formulated with each of the three BESS models shows that convex relaxation of the non-convex equation for a non-linear BESS model significantly reduces the computation time with comparable results.
High-Performance Parallel Radix Sort on FPGA

Sorting is a key part in database operators (like duplicate elimination, sort-merge joins and group-by aggregations). Sorting billions of records in a fast and energy efficient manner has become a key research challenge. In this work, we explore sorting in-memory using a parallel version of Radix Sort to build a high-performance hardware accelerator, called HARS (Hardware Accelerated Radix Sort). Our design enables dividing the unsorted dataset among parallel engines without the need for a merge step. HARS is implemented on Micron’s SB-852 FPGA board. The proposed accelerator provides high throughput in-memory sorting at a rate of 44 Million 128-bit records per second. HARS is 1.4x faster than CPU and 1.36x faster than GPU when GPU bandwidth is normalized. Projected performance of a proposed board with a more capable FPGA chip would yield 1.25x higher throughput.
Differential Aggregation Properties of Mutant Human and Bovine Rhodopsin

Rhodopsin is the light receptor required for the function and health of photoreceptor cells. Mutations in rhodopsin can cause misfolding and aggregation of the receptor, which leads to retinal degeneration. Bovine rhodopsin is often used as a model to understand the effect of pathogenic mutations in rhodopsin due to the abundance of structural information on the bovine form of the receptor. It is unclear whether or not the bovine rhodopsin template is adequate in predicting the effect of these mutations occurring in human retinal disease or in predicting the efficacy of therapeutic strategies. To better understand the extent to which bovine rhodopsin can serve as a model, human and bovine P23H rhodopsin mutants expressed heterologously in cells were examined. The aggregation properties and cellular localization of the mutant receptors were determined by Forster resonance energy transfer and confocal microscopy. The potential therapeutic effects of the pharmacological compounds 9-cis retinal and metformin were also examined. Human and bovine P23H rhodopsin mutants exhibited different aggregation properties and responses to the pharmacological compounds tested. These observations would lead to different predictions on the severity of the phenotype and divergent predictions on the benefit of the therapeutic compounds tested. The bovine rhodopsin template does not appear to adequately model the effects of the P23H mutation in the human form of the receptor.
A National Survey of postgraduate physician assistant fellowship and residency programs

The development of postgraduate programs for physician assistants (PAs) began in 1973 and by 2020 there were approximately 72 programs spread across a broad range of medical and surgical disciplines. PA Post-graduate education programs are voluntary and available to American licensed PAs. Therefore, an assessment of the characteristics of PA post-graduate fellowships and residencies programs was initiated. A non-experimental, descriptive research study was designed to obtain information on the characteristics of PA postgraduate education programs in the US. The source of information was from surveyed members of the Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs (APPAP). Questions were drawn from consensus discussions. Directors of postgraduate programs that were operational in 2020 were eligible to participate. Seventy-two postgraduate program directors were invited to the survey and 34 program directors replied. These programs are geographically distributed across the US in 13 states. The respondents represent a wide range of medicine: surgery, emergency medicine, critical care, orthopaedics, hospitalist, psychiatry, oncology, primary care, pediatrics, and cardiology. Most programs are associated with an academic medical center and some institutions have more than one postgraduate specialty track. The curriculum includes bedside teaching, lectures, mentorship, assigned reading, procedures, simulation, and conferences. An average program length is 12 months and awards a certificate. Stipends for PA fellows are $50,000–80,000 (2020 dollars) and benefits include paid time off, health and liability insurance. About half of the programs bill for the services rendered by the PA. Over 90% of graduates are employed within 2 months of completing a PA postgraduate training program. A trend is underway in American medicine to include PAs in postgraduate education. PA postgraduate training occurs across a broad spectrum of medical and surgical areas, as well as diverse institutions and organizations overseeing these programs. Most PA postgraduate programs are in teaching hospitals where the PA resident or PA fellow also serves as a house officer alongside a categorical resident. This study sets the stage for more granular economic and social research on this growing phenomenon in American medicine.
The Mexico City Runaround: Temporal Barriers to Rebuilding Life After Deportation

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Mexican nationals seek to re-establish their lives in Mexico following deportation from the United States. When they do, deportees encounter arduous bureaucratic requirements for Mexican identity documents, social programs, government and private services, and dual citizenship for U.S.-born children. As they attempt to gather the documentation to satisfy these requirements, deportees discover that Mexican officials show little respect for their time, and they encounter inexplicable delays, inattention and indifference, unannounced office closures, inefficiency, and misinformation. All of this stalls deportees’ efforts to rebuild their lives and suggests that systemic theft of migrants’ time is not limited to nation-states of destination but also foments experiences of abandonment in nation-states of origin/return (see Khosravi, Shahram. 2018a. Introduction. In Life After Deportation: Ethnographic Perspectives, edited by Shahram Khosravi, 1–14. Palgrave Macmillan.).
T7Max transcription system

Efficient cell-free protein expression from linear DNA templates has remained a challenge primarily due to template degradation. Here we present a modified T7 RNA polymerase promoter that acts to significantly increase the yields of both transcription and translation within in vitro systems. The modified promoter, termed T7Max, recruits standard T7 RNA polymerase, so no protein engineering is needed to take advantage of this method. This technique could be used with any T7 RNA polymerase- based in vitro protein expression system. Unlike other methods of limiting linear template degradation, the T7Max promoter increases transcript concentration in a T7 transcription reaction, providing more mRNA for translation.
New insights into the biology of osteocalcin

Osteocalcin is among the most abundant proteins in bone and is produced exclusively by osteoblasts. Initially believed to be an inhibitor of bone mineralization, recent studies suggest a broader role for osteocalcin that extends to the regulation of whole body metabolism, reproduction, and cognition. Circulating undercarboxylated osteocalcin, which is regulated by insulin, acts in a feed-forward loop to increase β-cell proliferation as well as insulin production and secretion, while skeletal muscle and adipose tissue respond to osteocalcin by increasing their sensitivity to insulin. Osteocalcin also acts in the brain to increase neurotransmitter production and in the testes to stimulate testosterone production. At least one putative receptor for osteocalcin, Gprc6a, is expressed by adipose, skeletal muscle, and the Leydig cells of the testes and appears to mediate osteocalcin's effects in these tissues. In this review, we summarize these new discoveries, which suggest that the ability of osteocalcin to function both locally in bone and as a hormone depends on a novel post-translational mechanism that alters osteocalcin's affinity for the bone matrix and bioavailability. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Bone and diabetes.
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI URBAN RUNOFF MODEL

THE PURPOSE OF THIS MODEL IS TO PROVIDE A RELIABLE METHOD FOR OBTAINING THE HYDROGRAPH OF RUNOFF AT ANY SELECTED POINT IN A SEWER SYSTEM FOR ANY GIVEN RAINFALL. THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED BY SIMULATING SEPARATELY THE PROCESSES INVOLVED DURING A RAINFALL: INFILTRATION, DEPRESSION STORAGE, OVERLAND FLOW, GUTTER FLOW, AND ROUTING THROUGH SEWERS. THE MODEL HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY USING INDEPENDENT HYDRAULIC AND HYDROLOGIC PRINCIPLES AND EQUATIONS, AND BY COMBINING THE PRECESSES SEQUENTIALLY. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE OUTPUT OF THIS MATHEMATICAL MODEL MAY BE HELPFUL IN THE MANAGEMENT OF EXISTING SEWER SYSTEMS. IT ALSO SHOULD BE USEFUL IN THE DESIGN OF NEW SEWER SYSTEMS. THE MODEL IS INTENDED FOR AN URBAN WATERSHED OF AT LEAST SEVERAL HUNDRED ACRES OR MORE IN AREA; HOWEVER, IT MAY BE APPLIED TO ANY SIZE BY APPROPRIATE SCALING. THE MAIN INPUT INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR THE SIMULATION OF THE RATE OF HYDROLOGIC RUNOFF INCLUDES A RAINFALL HYETOGRAPH AND DATA FROM TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS OR AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS, OR BOTH.
Recruiting community faculty.

The success of community-based resident education depends on a partnership between a residency program and a variety of individuals, physician and non-physician, in the community. The process of recruiting community faculty in the education of pediatric residents begins with selection of learning objectives. Next, characteristics of effective teachers and teaching sites should be listed so that appropriate faculty may be identified and recruited. A residency program's existing physician network of both referring physicians and graduates of the residency is a good beginning point for making contacts. Selection of specific educational goals, objectives, and activities will lead to identification of potential non-physician participants. Understanding why community colleagues might want to become part of the training program leads to techniques for contacting and recruiting them.
Aerosols from Exploding Wires

A large fraction of an exploded wire can be recovered reproducibly from the solid aerosol disperse phase produced by explosions at various voltages (1 to 18 kv) on a 20-µf capacitor bank. Typical smokes consisting of oxide particles are produced by explosions of base metals in air and fine metallic particles are produced by the explosion of Ag, Au, and Pt in air or by A1 and Cu exploded in argon. Primary particle size and size distribution are related to the voltage used for explosion. Aerosol yield curves for copper and uranium are discussed in the light of previously described exploding wire phenomena. The method is well suited for the production of small quantities of solid aerosols.
Image representation and tomographic reconstruction using spherically-symmetric volume elements

Spherically symmetric volume elements are alternatives to the more conventional voxels for the construction of volume images in the computer. The use of these volume elements instead of the conventional voxels introduces additional parameters which enable the user to control the smoothness properties of the represented image. The authors have investigated the relationship between the values of these parameters and the properties of the image representation. They also report on their experience with iterative reconstruction algorithms that use these volume elements for the image representation. Experiments with ideal data show that the reconstruction using a blob basis function shows better behavior (mean value, standard deviation, maximum overshoot) in comparison with the classical voxels for objects of dimensions greater than the blob diameter. In the case of X-ray data consistent with the blob model the overshoot is practically eliminated for the blob reconstruction and substantially reduced for the voxel case, and the reconstruction noise is reduced as well. >
Extended Kalman Filter Based Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

This paper formulates a nonlinear model predictive control algorithm based on successive linearization. The extended Kalman filter (EKF) technique is used to develop multi-step prediction of future states. The prediction is shown to be optimal under an affine approximation of the discrete state / measurement equations (obtained by integrating the nonlinear ODE model) made at each sampling time. Connections with previously available successive linearization based MPC techniques by Garcia (NLQDMC, 1984) and Gattu & Zafiriou (1992) are made. Potential benefits and shortcomings of the proposed technique are discussed using a bilinear control problem of paper machine.
A Review of “Open Source Web Applications for Libraries”

In the introduction to Open Source Web Applications for Libraries, the authors express a concern that librarians have created excuses for not using open-source Web applications. These excuses inclu...
Remarks on Free Entropy Dimension

We prove a technical result, showing that the existence of a closable unbounded dual system in the sense of Voiculescu is equivalent to the finiteness of free Fisher information. This approach allows one to give a purely operator-algebraic proof of the computation of the non-microstates free entropy dimension for generators of groups carried out in an earlier joint work with I. Mineyev. The same technique also works for finite-dimensional algebras. We also show that Voiculescu's question of semi-continuity of free entropy dimension, as stated, admits a counterexample. We state a modified version of the question, which avoids the counterexample, but answering which in the affirmative would still imply the non-isomorphism of free group factors.