cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clutch Size Reduction and Host Discrimination in the Superparasitizing Gregarious Endoparasitic Wasp Pediobius foveolatus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae)

Pediobius foveolatus (Crawford) that were superparasites of their host, the Mexican bean beetle, Epilachna varivestis Mulsant, discriminated parasitized from unparasitized hosts and reduced their clutch sizes when they parasitized single-parasitized hosts. Prior host experience also affected their clutch size reduction because experienced superparasites (those having oviposited one clutch of eggs into an unparasitized host) reduced their clutch sizes more than inexperienced ones. Host experience, however, did not significantly affect oviposition durations or clutch sizes of wasps when they subsequently acted as primary parasites. Adult female P. foveolatus emerged with a mean of 50.87 ready-to-lay eggs. Their emergent clutch size is correlated with their adult size. Hence, P. foveolatus reduced their clutch sizes in response to their hosts’ parasitized condition, not in response to egg limitation. Superparasites can discriminate parasitized hosts as early as 1 h after initial host parasitization. The duration of the primary parasitization affected the degree of superparasitization curtailment. No statistical difference in the oviposition durations of superparasites was detected when they oviposited into conspecifically versus self-parasitized hosts.
Lower Parietal Encoding Activation Is Associated with Sharper Information and Better Memory

Mean fMRI activation in ventral posterior parietal cortex (vPPC) during memory encoding often negatively predicts successful remembering. A popular interpretation of this phenomenon is that vPPC reflects "off-task" processing. However, recent fMRI studies considering distributed patterns of activity suggest that vPPC actively represents encoded material. Here, we assessed the relationships between pattern-based content representations in vPPC, mean activation in vPPC, and subsequent remembering. We analyzed data from two fMRI experiments where subjects studied then recalled word-face or word-scene associations. For each encoding trial, we measured 1) mean univariate activation within vPPC and 2) the strength of face/scene information as indexed by pattern analysis. Mean activation in vPPC negatively predicted subsequent remembering, but the strength of pattern-based information in the same vPPC voxels positively predicted later memory. Indeed, univariate amplitude averaged across vPPC voxels negatively correlated with pattern-based information strength. This dissociation reflected a tendency for univariate reductions to maximally occur in voxels that were not strongly tuned for the category of encoded stimuli. These results indicate that vPPC activity patterns reflect the content and quality of memory encoding and constitute a striking example of lower univariate activity corresponding to stronger pattern-based information.
Metabolism of Ca45 in blood, bones, and young of lactating rats treated with estradiol.

SummaryEstrogen, in an amount estimated to equal that secreted in late pregnancy, was injected daily into lactating rats for 4 days along with Ca45. On the 5th day, radioactivity of blood serum, bones and young was compared to a similar group of lactating rats not treated with estrogen. Average gain in weight of the litters of the 2 groups was similar. However, radioactivity in serum and bones of treated group was significantly higher than in the controls. The radioactivity in litters of the 2 groups was similar. These data indicate that estrogen plays a role in the retention of calcium by the animal body.
Ionic currents in rat pulmonary and mesenteric arterial myocytes in primary culture and subculture

The electrophysiological properties of cultured single vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells from rat pulmonary (PA) and mesenteric (MA) arteries were studied using the whole cell patch-clamp techniqu...
Early versus delayed lymph-node dissection versus no lymph-node dissection in carcinoma of the penis.

SUMMARY Assessment of the inguinal lymph nodes for metastases in patients with penile cancer is inaccurate. About 50 per cent of patients with node enlargement have no tumor on histologic examination, and 20 per cent of patients with clinically negative nodes have micrometastases. Lymph-node biopsies, including sentinal-node biopsy, are of limited staging value. Patients with lesions that do not invade the corpora and who have no palpable nodes should be followed carefully after excision of the primary tumor at 2- to 3-month intervals. If compliance with such a follow-up is doubtful, bilateral superficial groin-node dissection seems appropriate. Those with persistent adenopathy should undergo superficial lymph-node dissection first, and if positive nodes are found, bilateral deep-node dissection should then be performed. Bilateral inguinal and pelvic lymphadenectomy is recommended for patients with lesions invading the corpora with clinically negative or positive nodes because of the high incidence of lymph-node metastases in such cases. Where adenopathy persists after excision of the primary tumor, we advocate first limited pelvic dissection. If the pelvic nodes are negative or are not extensively involved, bilateral groin dissection should be performed, preferably in two stages. Percutaneous fine-needle aspiration of palpable or nonpalpable nodes can improve preoperative staging in patients with penile cancer.
Reagan’s Sunbelt, Reagan’s America

The Sunbelt’s social, cultural, and economic development from the 1940s through the 1970s foreshadowed the region’s emergence as a nationally dominant political force during the 1980s and beyond. From roughly 1945 until the close of the 1970s, the Sunbelt was transformed into an economically vibrant, culturally diverse, and bitterly contested battleground on which many of the most divisive and important political struggles of the postwar era were waged. The Sunbelt’s development also correlated with an important trend in American politics – one in which the nation’s political culture, over time, came to resemble and reflect the Sunbelt’s. Put another way, by the 1980s, the Sunbelt seemed to encapsulate the very essence of American politics, if not American history more broadly – sentimentally patriotic, nostalgic, and dedicated to middle-class expansion on the one hand, divisive, polarized, and passionately contested on the other. These were not necessarily new characteristics in the history of American politics, but so far as the twentieth century was concerned, it was the contested but predominantly conservative nature of the Sunbelt’s development that entrenched these characteristics at the forefront of the nation’s political stage. If the first three decades following the end of World War II were a story about the Sunbelt’s remarkable rise from obscurity (or nonexistence) to prominence and power, then the last two decades of the twentieth century were a story about how the rest of the United States came to see the Sunbelt not as an anomaly, but as a pacesetter and role model.
T-Cell Development

The study of ontogeny of T cells or of any other function has three aspects: the descriptive timing of appearance since inception, the quantitative evaluation of cell numbers, and the functional studies to detect if early functions are qualitatively different from those of the adult (Stutman 1985). The T-cell “deficiency” during the perinatal period has been explained as a consequence of: (a) simple quantitative deficits of the various components involved in the response tested, which may or may not include T cells; (b) some qualitative intrinsic properties of the responding T cells; (c) some peculiar excess of down-regulating influences, and (d) various combinations of the above (Stutman 1985). For a given function, the deficiency is usually multifactorial (see Sect. 4). Although the actual comparisons between species have problems, there is agreement that the onset of immunological functions follows the same sequence in all species, as lymphocytes appear during ontogeny and this is independent of the gestation time or life span of a given species (Solomon 1978). Due to space limitations, I will address only three related aspects of T-cell ontogeny: What is the consensus on T-cell development? What does the thymus export? and What is the nature of postthymic development?
Quality Improvement: Enhanced Recovery Pathways for Open Surgery

Patients undergoing open colectomy are frequently subjected to severe metabolic stress and dramatic alterations of their normal physiology during the perioperative period. These changes contribute to prolonged pain, immobility, and gut dysfunction which require extended hospitalization. In recent years efforts have been made to accelerate recovery, by minimizing stress, optimizing pain control, and shortening the time to resumption of normal activities, with the goal of returning patients to their normal lives and avoiding perioperative complications. The logical secondary benefit of decreasing length of stay and complications is a reduction in health care costs. The combination of multiple modalities to achieve this goal has been referred to as fast-track surgery, multimodal recovery, enhanced recovery pathways (ERP), or enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS).
Introduction and Overview: STEM and Social Justice: Teaching and Learning in Diverse Settings

Over the last half-century, there have been many dramatic social, historical, cultural, demographic, and political changes worldwide. National boundaries have dissolved or shifted to the extent that society is conceptualized not only on a national level, but also on an international one. The global economy is based on information, invention, and innovation deriving from science and technology. Competing successfully in today’s global economy necessitates developing a well-educated and well-trained science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. In the global knowledge-based economy, the most important resources are human resources. Bringing together people with a variety of perspectives to address problems results in better solutions and enhances both innovation and creativity (Medin, Lee, and Bang, 2014; Phillips, 2014).
Validity of the Braden Scale in grading pressure ulcers in trauma and burn patients.

Abstract Background Pressure ulcers are a costly hospital-acquired condition in terms of clinical outcome and expense. The Braden Scale was developed in 1987 as a risk scoring method for pressure ulcers and uses six different risk factors: sensory perception, moisture, activity, mobility, nutrition, and friction and shear. A score of ≤18 is considered high risk. To date, research on the utility of the Braden Scale has focused on general medicine and nontrauma/burn surgery patients. We hypothesize that the Braden Scale does not accurately discriminate who will get a pressure ulcer among trauma and burn patients. Methods We collected data from medical records regarding documented Braden scores and presence of pressure ulcers regardless of staging. Patients with ulcers present on admission were excluded from analysis. For each patient, the lowest Braden score documented before the occurrence of the pressure ulcer was determined. A logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and associated 95% confidence intervals for the association between pressure ulcer likelihood and lowest Braden Scale measurement. To determine the discriminatory ability of the Braden Scale on pressure ulcer risk, four measures of performance (i.e., sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio) were calculated for four nonmutually exclusive groups: a Braden Scale measurement ≤18, ≤14, ≤12, and ≤9. Results From 2011 through 2014, a total of 2660 patients were admitted to the trauma/burn intensive care unit. Of these patients, 63 (2.3%) subsequently developed a pressure ulcer. A Braden Scale of ≤18 as the threshold for being at-risk of pressure ulcer had a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 6%, whereas a Braden Scale of ≤9 had a sensitivity of 28.6% and a specificity of 90%. For all Braden Scale measurements, the positive likelihood ratio never reached the value of 10 that suggests high likelihood of an ulcer. Conclusions The Braden scale has mediocre discriminatory ability among the trauma/burn population. In addition, the low positive likelihood ratio suggests that the Braden scale may not be a useful clinical tool as it may result in unnecessary expenditure of time and personnel resources in preventing pressure ulcer formation.
Exposure to naturally occurring mineral fibers due to off-road vehicle use: A review.

Abstract Background The use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) is a popular source of outdoor recreation in the United States. While personal injury has been the focus of most epidemiologic investigations regarding ORV use to date, other health effects associated with ORV use have not been adequately examined. ORVs have been designed to operate in rugged, unpaved terrain, and ORVs can produce copious amounts of fugitive dust. ORV use in geographic regions with naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) and erionite (NOE) may result in the liberation of these minerals from underlying rocks and soil, which may put ORV participants at risk to potentially hazardous inhalation exposures. Methods A comprehensive narrative review of existing literature and reports relevant to off-road recreation and mineral fiber exposure was conducted. Manuscripts and reports included in the review were limited to those that contained quantitative data regarding concentrations of mineral fibers recorded during vehicular traffic on an unpaved road and publication in a peer-reviewed journal, official report composed by a government agency, or a report generated under the endorsement of a government agency. In addition, the potential public health impact of ORV use in regions with NOA/NOE was estimated by calculating the proximity of known mineral fiber occurrences to areas of ORV use. Results A total of 15 publications met inclusion criteria. Exposures to NOA/NOE observed from personal sampling in the included studies ranged from less than 0.01–5.6 f/cc. ORV position while riding in a group and vehicle speed were frequent determinants of measured concentrations. Multiple studies also suggest that children may experience higher exposures to mineral fibers in comparison to adult ORV riders. Information on ORV trails and 665 known occurrences of NOA/NOE was available for five states located in the western United States. Of these 665 known occurrences, approximately 80% (n = 515) were located within 20 miles of an ORV trail, and nearly a third were located within one mile. Conclusions Individuals who operate ORVs in regions where NOA/NOE is a component of the underlying soil or unpaved road may experience elevated exposures to mineral fibers. Given the prevalence of ORV trails in close proximity to these natural fiber occurrences, epidemiologic and surveillance studies of individuals who frequently engage in ORV use are recommended. Public health initiatives should concentrate on increasing awareness of these risks, allowing ORV users to make informed choices and take appropriate measures to limit these risks where possible.
Modeling and cooling rate control in laser additive manufacturing: 1-D PDE formulation

Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) is becoming a versatile tool to manufacture parts with complex geometry. However, controlling the thermal history to optimize the microstructure property of the manufactured part remains challenging and highly experience-based. This paper investigates the real-time control of cooling rate, a commonly-used metrics of the thermal history during the LAM process. We use a one-dimensional Partial Differential Equation (PDE) to predict the conductive heat transfer in a single laser scan, with ambient cooling as a heat sink. Two approaches — based on the perspective in the inertial vs. body frames — are used to analyze the PDE. In the inertial frame, the PDE is projected to the eigenfunctions of the heat equation. In the laser frame, the PDE is transformed to an advection-diffusion-reaction equation, and approximated using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method. For the control objective, we consider and compare two possible definitions of the cooling rate. Cooling rate control consists of two parts: 1. A feedforward control based on the steady-state temperature profile ensures melting and maximize the cooling rate. 2. a proportional-integral (PI) feedback controller regulates the setpoint in the presence of external thermal disturbance and modeling error.
Optimism, Pessimism, Coping, and Depression: A Study on Individuals With Parkinson’s Disease:

Few published studies exist on how individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) deal with their disease. We conducted this study to examine the relationship between optimism, pessimism, coping strategies, and depressive symptoms in individuals with PD. Specifically, we assessed the possible mediator role of optimism and pessimism on the relation between coping strategies and depressive symptoms in those with PD. Seventy individuals with PD (35 females and 35 males) were assessed with the Brief COPE scale, Life Orientation Test-Revised, and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Findings showed that individuals with PD used similar amounts of problem-focused coping strategies and emotion-focused coping strategies, and they reported more optimism than pessimism. There was only one gender difference: Females reported more problem-focused coping than males. Optimism was positively related to both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping, and pessimism was negatively related to emotion-focused and problem-focused coping. Optimism and pessimism fully mediated the relation between coping strategies and depressive symptoms.
A descriptive study on selected growth parameters and growth hormone receptor gene in healthy young adults from the American Midwest.

Abstract Context The first study of growth hormone receptor (GHR) genotypes in healthy young adults in the United States attending a Midwestern university and impact on selected growth parameters. Objective To describe the frequency of GHR genotypes in a sample of healthy young adults from the United States attending a university in the Midwest and analyze the relationship between GHR genotypes and selected growth parameters. Design Saliva was collected from 459 healthy young adults (237 females, 222 males; age range = 18–25 y) and DNA isolated for genotyping of GHR alleles (fl/fl, fl/d3, or d3/d3). Selected growth parameters were collected and GHR genotype data examined for previously reported associations (e.g., height, weight or bone mass density) or novel findings (e.g., % body water and index finger length). Results We found 219 participants (48%) homozygous for fl/fl, 203 (44%), heterozygous fl/d3 and 37 (8%) homozygous d3/d3. The distribution of GHR genotypes in our participants was consistent with previous reports of non-US populations. Several anthropometric measures differed by sex. The distribution of GHR genotypes did not significantly differ by sex, weight, or other anthropometric measures. However, the fl/d3 genotype was more common among African-Americans. Conclusions Our study of growth and anthropometric parameters in relationship to GHR genotypes found no association with height, weight, right index finger length, BMI, bone mass density, % body fat or % body water in healthy young adults. We did identify sex differences with increased body fat, decreased bone density, body water and index finger length in females.
The multipliers for commutative H*-algebras

An H*-algebra is a Banach algebra A with involution* which is a Hilbert space under a scalar product such that a) \(\left\| x \right\| = \sqrt {\left\langle {x,x} \right\rangle }\) , that is, the Hilbert space norm agrees with the Banach algebra norm, b) \(\left\| {{x^*}} \right\| = \left\| x \right\|\)c) x* x ≠ 0 if x ≠ 0 and d) = for all x, y, z∈A. The standard example of an H*-algebra is the algebra L2(G) for a compact group G with the usual convolution multiplication and scalar product. A general discussion of H*-algebras can be found in Loomis [1] and Naimark [1].
The Domain of Parental Discretion in Treatment of Neonates: Beyond the Impasse between a Sanctity-of-Life and Quality-of-Life Ethic

Treatment decisions for severely compromised neonates raise important questions about what lives should be saved, at what social and economic cost, and whether there are certain lives that are not worth living. Deliberation on these issues can be framed from the perspective of an individual involved in the care (micro-ethics), a religious or cultural community that would provide guidance for such an individual (inter-ethics), or from a broader social or policy perspective (macro-ethics). The resolutions given at these diverse levels can be in tension with one another, and each by itself is incomplete. Values of parents, culture, religion, and society may compete, and each level (micro-, inter- and macro-) may weight these values differently. In modern societies there are also pressures to discount more traditional religious or family values in favor of social or medical values that influence the current configurations of healthcare. Often the tension between these value systems is not even appreciated by the health care workers who make treatment decisions. In the face of these complex realities of medical decision-making, questions need to be asked about who should make decisions and how they should be made. Should treatment decisions on behalf of neonates be made by parents, family, physician, a cultural or religious group, or society? And what ethical frameworks can be used to guide deliberation?
Isthmic ectopic pregnancy and salpingitis isthmica nodosa

Two hundred eighty-five charts were reviewed from patients who underwent surgery for ectopic pregnancy. Excluded were patients with previous tubal reparative surgery, linear salpingotomy, or failed sterilization. The incidence of isthmic ectopic pregnancy in the remaining 255 cases was 15.3%. The association of salpingitis isthmica nodosa (SIN) and isthmic ectopic pregnancy was determined by review of resected tubal segments. SIN was noted in 17 of 37 cases (45.9%) of isthmic ectopic pregnancy. SIN places the patient at risk for recurrent ectopic pregnancy or infertility. Recommended conservative management of isthmic ectopic pregnancy is segmental resection with postoperative emphasis on documentation of SIN when present. Postoperative hysterosalpingography is recommended with an abnormal contralateral tube or when SIN is noted in the resected tubal segment. Management options after an isthmic ectopic pregnancy when future fertility is desired are presented.
Active Learners: Redesigning an Intelligent Tutoring System to Support Self-regulated Learning

Supporting students' self-regulated learning SRL is an important topic in the learning sciences. Two critical processes involved in SRL are self-assessment and study choice. Intelligent tutoring systems ITSs have been shown to be effective in supporting students' domain-level learning through guided problem-solving practice, but it is an open question how they can support SRL processes effectively, while maintaining or even enhancing their effectiveness at the domain level. We used a combination of user-centered design techniques and experimental classroom research to redesign and evaluate an ITS for linear equation solving so it supports self-assessment and study choice. We added three features to the tutor' Open Learner Model OLM that may scaffold students' self-assessment self-assessment prompts, delaying the update of students' progress bars, and providing progress information on the problem type level. We also designed a problem selection screen with shared student/system control and game-like features. We went through two iterations of design and conducted two controlled experiments with 160 local middle school students to evaluate the effectiveness of the new features. The evaluations reveal that the new OLM with self-assessment support facilitates students' learning processes, and enhances their learning outcomes significantly. However, we did not find significant learning gains due to the problem selection feature. This work informs the design of future ITS that supports SRL.
DNA vaccines and immunity to herpes simplex virus

Infections by herpes simplex virus (HSV) represent an expensive public health problem. Although only rarely a cause of mortality, HSV infections usually cause painful and often distressing lesions and are particularly troublesome since symptomatic recurrent disease is a common outcome once an individual has been infected. Recurrent lesions on the face and genitalia are the most common expression but in some locations, such as the eye, distressing results such as blindness can occur. As regards HSV infections, in 1985 the Committee on Issues and Priorities for New Vaccine Development of the Institute of Medicine set the following goals: a 50% reduction in symptomatic primary infection, a 75% reduction in the number of recurrences and a 60% reduction in the severity of episodes.
The experiences of new graduate nurses hired and retained in adult intensive care units

Abstract Background It is a common practice that new graduate Registered Nurses are hired into adult intensive care units as initial entry into practise. There exists a practice readiness gap between nursing curricula and actual clinical practise expectations at adult intensive care settings; this has led to negative consequences and subsequent nurse turnover, a concern nationwide. Nonetheless, some new graduate nurses survived their initial transition and continue to practise in adult settings. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses who were hired into adult intensive care as a new graduate and survived their transition from novice to competent, starting the third year of practise. Methodology The study used the hermeneutic phenomenology research approach. Findings Data analysis revealed the overall meaning of the experience: coming to terms with being comfortable with being uncomfortable . The six themes associated with being comfortable with being uncomfortable were: confidence and uncertainty, gaining experiences and forever learning, intuitive knowing and intuition, difficult and stressful, being courageous and assertive, and the team and support people. Conclusion New graduate nurses can survive to become competent adult intensive care nurses. This study reveals the need to promote exposure to a variety of clinical situations early, to promote resilience and self-care, and to foster unit teamwork and mentoring to ensure successful transition and overall retention of new nurses hired into in adult intensive care.
Affinity Maturation Is Impaired by Natural Killer Cell Suppression of Germinal Centers.

Summary Somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin sequences in germinal center (GC) reactions must be optimized to elicit high-affinity, protective antibodies after vaccination. We expose natural killer (NK) cells as robust negative regulators of somatic hypermutation in antigen-reactive B cells. NK cells restrict follicular helper T cell (TFH) and GC B cell frequencies and titers of antigen-specific immunoglobulin after administration of alum-adjuvanted hapten-protein conjugate vaccines. This inhibition is perforin dependent, suggesting that NK cells kill one or more cells critical for GC development. In the presence of perforin-competent NK cells, antigen-specific GC B cells acquire fewer mutations, including less frequent generation of non-synonymous substitutions and mutations associated with increased antibody affinity. Thus, NK cells limit the magnitude of GC reactions and thereby restrain vaccine elicitation of high-affinity antibodies. Circumventing this activity of NK cells during vaccination has strong potential to enhance humoral immunity and facilitate vaccine-elicited prevention of disease.
Navigating genetic diversity by painting the bacteria red

A new era of high-throughput biological exploration is upon us, fueled by an ever-expanding toolkit to generate genetic and biological diversity. However, for most engineering applications, this approach necessitates an increased throughput for metabolite detection. In this regard, the primary bottleneck of most high-throughput metabolic engineering approaches is detecting the desired product, not creating genetic diversification. Indeed, this presents an interesting deviation from the traditional paradigms of metabolic engineering espoused several decades ago when genetic modifications were the bottleneck. To this end, detection of metabolites, especially those that are central and active intermediates in metabolism such as malonyl-CoA, can be especially challenging. The field has been exploring biosensors to transduce the concentrations of such intermediates into readily detectable outputs, such as color or fluorescence. However, application of this work has been stymied by malonyl-CoA biosensors that invoke multistep transduction and are self-limited to Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae . In their recent report, Yang et al. (1) repurpose a red pigment-producing enzyme to create a single-step malonyl-CoA biosensor for rapid detection that can function in several different industrially relevant bacteria. This versatile, direct approach facilitated rapid library screening, resulting in improved production of malonyl-CoA–derived polyketide products. Detection of active intermediates, such as the central metabolite malonyl-CoA, poses unique challenges for the field. Unlike a downstream product that accumulates to ease detection, CoA species are highly labile and, thus, obtaining an accurate cellular concentration can be difficult due to rapid conversion to various downstream products. Moreover, although determining precise measurements via analytical techniques such as LC-MS/MS are possible, they are time-consuming and particularly challenging due to the complex chemical mixture found within cells (2). However, even measurements of total concentrations alone (either through binding-based biosensors or chromatography) do not measure what is of most importance to a metabolic engineer: metabolite availability. … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: halper{at}che.utexas.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Narcotrafficking in the U.S.-Mexico Border in the Post-Nafta Years

The U.S.-Mexico border, which is hailed as the world's most frequently traversed international border in the world is also one of the planet's most crime-ridden areas. Drug-trafficking networks operate here with hard core linkages with US gangs in the north and the drug cartels of Columbia in the south. The tide of liberalization that set in with the enforcement of the NAFTA on 1 January 1994, only soared crimes in the region and while the spur in the narco-cities helped complete the Columbianization of Mexico in recent years.
Arthur Rubloff and the Grinding Politics of Renewal in Chicago, 1947 to 1986:

Between the 1940s and 1960s, Arthur Rubloff established a formidable presence in Chicago real estate development and in the city’s urban renewal programs. And yet, not even a skilled operator like ...
Two New Species of Halictophagidae (Strepsiptera) from Costa Rica, with a Discussion of Differences between the Genera Halictophagus and Coriophagus

Two new species of Halictophagidae, Halictophagus crassiartus n. sp. and Coriophagus hansoni n. sp. are described from material collected in Malise traps in Costa Rica. Coriophagus hansoni n. sp. is the first in that genus from Central America and the second Coriophagus species from the New World. Halictophagus crasiartus n. sp. is the second species described from Costa Rica in this genus and the third in Central America. The characters used to separate Coriophagus and Halictophagus are discussed in light of the new species descriptions.
Abstract B48: Targeting the semaphorin 4D-plexin B axis to augment FOLFIRINOX in a murine model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with dismal 5-year prognosis of 8%, in part due to poor response to available therapies. Thus, new systemic cancer control therapies are in dire need. Semaphorin 4D (SEMA4D) is a soluble and membrane bound glycoprotein that binds its cognate Plexin B1/B2 receptors, expressed on monocytic and granulocytic leukocytes. Prior work has shown that increased expression of SEMA4D and Plexin B in resected PDAC patients is associated with lymph node and distant metastasis, as well as a worse prognosis. Additionally, SEMA4D blockade has conferred improved immune checkpoint blockade response in murine models of colorectal carcinoma and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma via abrogation of myeloid-derived suppressor cell recruitment and function, as well as enhanced T-cell recruitment and activity within the tumor microenvironment. Here we study the effects of SEMA4D blockade in a murine model of PDAC. Methods: C57b/6 mice were orthotopically injected with murine PDAC line (KP2) derived from KRASG12D,TP53Flox/Wt;P48-Cre autochthonous tumors. Mice were treated with Folfirinox (5-FU, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, weekly), immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) (anti-PD1, anti-CTLA-4 mAbs bi-weekly), and anti-SEMA4D mAB (biweekly). Peripheral blood and tumor-infiltrating leukocytes from patients with PDAC undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy were assessed for Plexin B1 via flow cytometry. Results: Human PDAC demonstrates penetration of Plexin B1 positive leukocytes, most notably tumor-associated macrophages, neutrophils, and monocytes. Mice injected with KP2 developed tumors detectable via high-frequency ultrasound and exhibited longer survival when treated with the combination of Folfirinox, ICB, and anti-SEMA4D antibody, compared to Folfirinox alone, Folfirinox plus ICB, or Folfirinox plus anti-SEMA4D antibody. Conclusions: Plexin B1+ myeloid subsets penetrate human PDAC tumors, and treatment with SEMA4D-blocking antibody improved response to ICB in combination with standard-of-care Folfirinox in preclinical murine studies. Future work will focus on understanding the immune mechanism of improved therapeutic response, as well as further characterization of the prevalence and prognostic ramifications of the SEMA4D-Plexin B axis in PDAC. Citation Format: Luis I. Ruffolo, Katherine M. Jackson, Nicholas Ullman, Alexander Chacon, Alexa Melucci, Paul Burchard, Mary Georger, Rachel Jewell, Peter Prieto, Brian Belt, Crystal Mallow, Elizabeth Evans, Terrence Fisher, Maurice Zauderer, Christina Wu, Brian Olson, Gregory B. Lesinski, David C. Linehan. Targeting the semaphorin 4D-plexin B axis to augment FOLFIRINOX in a murine model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Advances in Science and Clinical Care; 2019 Sept 6-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(24 Suppl):Abstract nr B48.
Recent advances in modulating the microbiome.

We are in the midst of “the microbiome revolution”—not a day goes by without some new revelation on the potential role of the gut microbiome in some disease or disorder. From an ever-increasing recognition of the many roles of the gut microbiome in health and disease comes the expectation that its modulation could treat or prevent these very same diseases. A variety of interventions could, at least in theory, be employed to alter the composition or functional capacity of the microbiome, ranging from diet to fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). For some, such as antibiotics, prebiotics, and probiotics, an extensive, albeit far from consistent, literature already exists; for others, such as other dietary supplements and FMT, high-quality clinical studies are still relatively few in number. Not surprisingly, researchers have turned to the microbiome itself as a source for new entities that could be used therapeutically to manipulate the microbiome; for example, some probiotic strains currently in use were sourced from the gastrointestinal tract of healthy humans. From all of the extant studies of interventions targeted at the gut microbiome, a number of important themes have emerged. First, with relatively few exceptions, we are still a long way from a precise definition of the role of the gut microbiome in many of the diseases where a disturbed microbiome has been described—association does not prove causation. Second, while animal models can provide fascinating insights into microbiota–host interactions, they rarely recapitulate the complete human phenotype. Third, studies of several interventions have been difficult to interpret because of variations in study population, test product, and outcome measures, not to mention limitations in study design. The goal of microbiome modulation is a laudable one, but we need to define our targets, refine our interventions, and agree on outcomes.
Use of Sonomyographic Sensing to Estimate Knee Angular Velocity During Varying Modes of Ambulation

Ultrasound (US) imaging of muscle has been introduced as a promising sensing modality for assistive device control. Ten able-bodied subjects completed level, incline and decline walking on a treadmill in a motion capture laboratory while wearing reflective markers on upper- and lower-body. A wearable US transducer was affixed to subjects’ anterior thigh, and time-intensity features were extracted from transverse US images of the knee extensor muscles. These features were used to train and test Gaussian process regression models for continuous estimation of knee flexion/extension angular velocity. Four regression models were evaluated: (1) subject-dependent/task-specific, (2) subject-dependent/pooled-tasks, (3) subject-independent/task-specific, and (4) subject-independent/pooled-tasks. Subject-independent models were "tuned" with up to six strides of the test subject’s data to boost performance. A two-factor analysis of variance test was used to assess the effect of each approach on root mean square error (RMSE) of estimated knee angular velocity (α=0.05). Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was completed to compare actual vs. estimated knee angular velocity as a function of the gait cycle (α=0.05). For incline and level walking, the subject-dependent/pooled-tasks model resulted in the lowest error while the subject-dependent/task-specific model resulted in the lowest error for decline walk. Impressively, the two-factor test revealed no difference between task-specific and pooled-task models. Furthermore, despite capturing many important features of knee velocity across individuals there were, as expected, significant differences between subject-dependent and subject-independent models. Collectively, these results are promising for potential assistive device control with error rates <10% for all regression models that were tested.Clinical Relevance—This work is the first study to demonstrate the feasibility of using ultrasound-based sensing for estimation of knee angular velocity during multiple modes of ambulation.
What is the correct stoichiometry of Kv2.1:Kv6.4 heteromers?

Moller et al. (1) propose that the predominant native stoichiometry of Kv2.1:Kv6.4 heteromeric K+ channels is 2:2, a finding that is unexpected based on past analyses which support a 3:1 stoichiometry for Kv2.1:KvS regulatory subunit heteromers, including Kv6.4 and Kv9.3 (2⇓-4). Like Moller et al. (1), we used a combination of total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and electrophysiology to examine the native stoichiometry of Kv2.1:Kv6.4 heterotetramers (5). However, we reached the conclusion that 3:1 heteromers are the predominant functional species for these heteromers. We suspect the differences in our findings result primarily from the TIRF data collection strategies. We note that both studies find support for … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: tjj3{at}psu.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Islamic Scholars: The Glue That Held Volga-Ural Muslims Together in the Russian Empire*

После российского завоевания Волго-Уральского региона в XVI веке местная мусульманская элита была практически уничтожена. В условиях отсутствия политически активной элиты исламские ученые стали фактором, объединяющим мусульманское население региона. В отличие от крестьян и сезонных кочевников, редко выходивших за пределы собственных деревень или торговых городов, ученые в поисках знаний много путешествовали. Во время своих путешествий они устанавливали прочные связи с другими студентами и учеными. Расселившись после окончания учебы по региону и занимая должности деревенских имамов, они поддерживали сложившиеся контакты благодаря родственным узам, переписке, суфийским братствам и богословским дискуссиям. Некоторые ученые также участвовали в более масштабных мусульманских ученых сетях, как правило, охватывавших территорию от Мавераннахра до Османской империи. Таким образом, исламские ученые стали социальным слоем, связующим между собой волго-уральских мусульман на уровне регионального мусульманского домена, одновременно интегрируя это региональное сообщество в трансрегиональный мусульманский домен.
Example-Driven Intent Prediction with Observers

A key challenge of dialog systems research is to effectively and efficiently adapt to new domains. A scalable paradigm for adaptation necessitates the development of generalizable models that perform well in few-shot settings. In this paper, we focus on the intent classification problem which aims to identify user intents given utterances addressed to the dialog system. We propose two approaches for improving the generalizability of utterance classification models: (1) example-driven training and (2) observers. Example-driven training learns to classify utterances by comparing to examples, thereby using the underlying encoder as a sentence similarity model. Prior work has shown that BERT-like models tend to attribute a significant amount of attention to the [CLS] token, which we hypothesize results in diluted representations. Observers are tokens that are not attended to, and are an alternative to the [CLS] token. The proposed methods attain state-of-the-art results on three intent prediction datasets (banking77, clinc150, hwu64) in both the full data and few-shot (10 examples per intent) settings. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed approach can transfer to new intents and across datasets without any additional training.
Distinct T cell receptor diversity and integrative analyses of clinically defined high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Objectives: To characterize distinct T cell repertoires between clinically well-defined groups of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) patients, we obtained pre- treatment tumor samples via a laparoscopic triage algorithm. Methods: Pre-treated frozen tumor samples (one primary and two metastatic sites) were collected from patients with HGSC based on a laparoscopic triage algorithm: 1) patients who underwent complete gross resection after primary surgery (R0, n=10), 2) patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) with excellent response (NACT-ER, n=10), or 3) patients who received NACT with poor response (NACT-PR, n=10). These samples were subjected to high-throughput TCR sequencing analysis and integrative analyses, with immune assessments and high-depth whole-genome sequencing from the matched samples among the groups. Results: We identified a rearranged complementary-determining region 3 (CDR3) of the T-cell receptor b (TCRb) gene using a total of 90 samples. Importantly, we identified higher TCR b-chain CDR3 diversity (i.e., a higher number of unique productive sequences, less clonal relatedness, and higher TCR convergence) in the R0 group than in the NACT groups. We also found enrichment of specific variable (V), diversity (D), and joining (J) genes usage in each group and significant unique mutual exclusivity and co-occurrence of V, D, and J genes in all three groups. In addition, we also found significant positive correlations between clonal relatedness and neoantigens (R=0.31, p=0.007), copy number variations (R=0.43, p Conclusions: Our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of TCR repertoire diversity in clinically defined HGSC subgroups, and could have prognostic and therapeutic strategies in HGSC.
Effectiveness of a culturally competent care intervention in reducing disparities in Hispanic live donor kidney transplantation: A hybrid trial.

Hispanic patients receive disproportionately fewer living donor kidney transplants (LDKTs) than non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs). The Northwestern Medicine Hispanic Kidney Transplant Program (HKTP), designed to increase Hispanic LDKTs, was evaluated as a nonrandomized, implementation-effectiveness hybrid trial of patients initiating transplant evaluation at two intervention and two similar control sites. Using a mixed method, observational design, we evaluated the fidelity of the HKTP implementation at the two intervention sites. We tested the impact of the HKTP intervention by evaluating the likelihood of receiving LDKT comparing pre-intervention (January 2011-December 2016) and postintervention (January 2017-March 2020), across ethnicity and centers. The HKTP study included 2063 recipients. Intervention Site A exhibited greater implementation fidelity than intervention Site B. For Hispanic recipients at Site A, the likelihood of receiving LDKTs was significantly higher at postintervention compared with pre-intervention (odds ratio [OR] = 3.17 95% confidence interval [1.04, 9.63]), but not at the paired control Site C (OR = 1.02 [0.61, 1.71]). For Hispanic recipients at Site B, the likelihood of receiving an LDKT did not differ between pre- and postintervention (OR = 0.88 [0.40, 1.94]). The LDKT rate was significantly lower for Hispanics at paired control Site D (OR = 0.45 [0.28, 0.90]). The intervention significantly improved LDKT rates for Hispanic patients at the intervention site that implemented the intervention with greater fidelity. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov registered (retrospectively) on September 7, 2017 (NCT03276390).
Overpressure and Lateral Stress in Sedimentary Formations

One of the substantial hazards occurring during the drilling process is caused by overpressure and/or horizontal stress. Both of these factors can damage and even destroy the well. Therefore an estimation of the probable formation pressure is of great importance. The estimations are especially important in exploration while drilling “wildcats”, when one does not have any information from neighboring wells. In this case, in order to get some assessment on the relevant parameters, we have used the results of basin modelling. 2-D models of the South Caspian Basin development have been constructed to estimate overpressure along two crossing profiles and passing across some structures which are the focus of interests of oil companies. At the same time 1-D modelling has been done with the purpose of contouring overpressure for different types of conditions in an area.
Mathematical Models of Bioheat Transfer

Publisher Summary It is noted that mathematical modeling of the complex thermal interaction between the vasculature and tissue has been a topic of interest for numerous physiologists, physicians, and engineers. The first quantitative relationship describing heat transfer in human tissue including the effects of blood flow on tissue temperature on a continuum basis was presented by Harry H. Pennes. This chapter presents the original work of Pennes. It examines the subsequent research that questioned Pennes' theory, and provided alternate and more sophisticated analyses of bioheat transfer. It reviews an alternate analysis of heat transfer developed by Weinbaum and colleagues in detail. The chapter concludes with the discussion of the characteristics of the original Pennes theory that are still being used today in bioheat transfer research, along with the current understanding and future prospects for advances in bioheat transfer via a bioheat transfer equation. One of the most significant results of Pennes' experiment was that, while there was some asymmetry in the temperature profiles the maximum muscle temperature was located very close to or at the axis of the limb.