cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cultural and Other Morphological Studies of Sparassis Radicata and Related Species

SUMMARY Sparassis radicata Weir was found to be heterothallic with a bipolar type of mating system. Multiple alleles for incompatibility occur at the locus for heterothallism. Tests were negative for the production of extracellular oxidases on gallic or tannic acid media and with gum guaiac solution. The optimum temperature for growth on 3.0% malt extract agar medium was 23-25 C. Studies of some basidiocarps and cultures labeled Sparassis crispa Wulf. ex Fr. from Europe and Japan show they are conspecific with S. radicata. Specimens and isolates labeled S. crispa from southeastern United States differed from the European and Japanese specimens and from isolates labeled S. crispa. Apparent dikaryotization of single basidiospore isolates of S. radicata from Arizona by dikaryotic isolates labeled S. crispa from Europe and Japan offers additional evidence for the conspecificity of these fungi. Descriptions of basidiocarps and cultural characters are given for S. radicata and for specimens and cultures labeled S. crispa. Sparassis radicata Weir, a basidiomycete currently placed in the family Sparassidaceae (Aphyllophorales), was described by Weir in 1917. Weir studied some aspects of the life history and decay relationships of S. radicata, and found the fungus to be associated with a brown cubical decay of roots of some western conifer species. No other studies have been made on the fungus and most aspects of its biology are unknown. Field studies have revealed that S. radicata is rather common in coniferous forests of southern Arizona. The fungus has been collected on ponderosa pine (Pinns ponderosa Laws.), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), white fir (Abies concolor (Gord. et Glend.) Lindl.), and southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis Engelm.) in Arizona (Gilbertson et al., 1974). These tree species are important in
An Extension of Morley's Theorem

(1971). An Extension of Morley's Theorem. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 191-192.
Pituitary-Directed Drug Therapy for the Treatment of Cushing’s Disease

Pituitary-Directed Drug Therapy for the Treatment of Cushing’s Disease Cushing’s disease (CD) is usually the result of an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting pituitary adenoma. The result is overstimulation of the adrenal glands leading to chronic hypercortisolism. Individuals with CD have increased risks of hypertension, obesity, hyperglycemia, infections, and vascular damage. Transsphenoidal surgery of the pituitary adenoma is the preferred option in the treatment of CD. The success rates are 65- 90% for microadenomas; however, as many as 40% of patients will experience recurrence within 10 years.
Supporting Operations with Distributed Data Systems: Re-Architecture and Lessons Learned

The Multi-mission Instrument Processing Laboratory (MIPL) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) supports many deep space planetary (orbiter, fly-by, and in-situ) and observatory missions by processing and distributing instrument data, primarily in the form of science imagery and higher order data products which support operations/observation planning. As the MIPL support has extended to both mission critical and distributed operations, a re-assessment of architectural and hosting options was performed to address risk mitigation, improved reliability, extended availability, and changes in Mission Support Area (MSA) design requirements. In response to this paradigm shift from centralized to distributed operations, this paper will discuss the approach to: 1) re-architect MIPL-hosted data processing/distribution software builds and storage capabilities within an integrated development, test, and operations environment, 2) conversion to a service center to consolidate management of disparate funding sources for infrastructure data systems services, 3) lessons learned from moving MRO science data distribution services from the MIPL to a project managed environment, and 4) the challenges ahead.
372 PHARMACOLOGIC MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION STRESS TESTING TO DETECT SIGNIFICANT CARDIAC ALLOGRAFT VASCULOPATHY: IS IT WORTHWHILE?

Purpose Noninvasive testing to detect cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) has had poor sensitivity and specificity. The use of stress-testing has not been found to be sensitive due to the denervated state of the donor heart due to poor heart rate response. Therefore, the use of intravenous medications such as dobutamine, persantine, and adenosine has been considered for the adequate stressing of the donor heart. We evaluated the utility of adenosine nuclear stress testing in detecting CAV at a single center. Methods Between January 1994 and March 2002, we reviewed 487 patients. Twenty-three patients were assessed for CAV by coronary angiography and adenosine nuclear tests that were obtained within 90 days from one another. We determined the ability of nuclear stress testing to accurately predict hemodynamically significant coronary lesions, defined as 70% angiographic stenosis. Results The adenosine nuclear stress test was able to detect significant CAV in only 6 of 19 patients with significant coronary lesions. The test thus had a sensitivity of only 31.5% but a specificity of 50%, a positive predictive value of 75%, and a negative predictive value of 13%. The adenosine nuclear study was also not effective in identifying patients with small vessel disease. Conclusions Even with pharmacologic stress, nuclear perfusion imaging is a poor substitute for coronary angiography for the detection of CAV. The limitation in heart transplant patients is more likely due to the diffuse nature of the disease. Diffuse three-vessel disease may produce balanced ischemia and consequently a false-negative study.
Maintenance of the differentiated type II cell phenotype by culture with an apical air surface

The study of differentiated functions of alveolar type II cells has been hampered because of the lack of good in vitro systems. We report that culture of type II cells on collagen gels with an apical surface exposed to air promotes expression of differentiated type II cell characteristics. Cells cultured in this manner are cuboidal, contain lamellar bodies, and produce tubular myelin; in addition, they secrete phosphatidylcholine in response to exogenous ATP. Cultures contain mRNA for surfactant proteins A, B, and C and surfactant proteins A, B, and D. In contrast, when type II cells are cultured with an apical surface exposed to liquid rather than to air, the cells are squamous, do not express surfactant proteins or their respective mRNA, and do not contain lamellar bodies or produce tubular myelin. Type II cells cultured on plastic for 7 days, which no longer express mRNA for surfactant proteins, can be induced to express these mRNA by changing culture conditions to that of an air surface. The culture system described in this paper should be useful for studies of surfactant metabolism, regulation of alveolar epithelial phenotypic expression, and the processing of transiently expressed transgenes.
P075 Generation of an algorithm to standardize HLA typing information for UNOS

Aim The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the sole contractor for deceased-donor transplantation in the US, requires HLA type in serologic nomenclature. Currently, however, the vast majority of patients and donors are typed by molecular methods. The 2008 HLA dictionary (hla.alleles.org/dictionary), which lists serologic assignments for many HLA-A, B, C, DRB1, DRB3/4/5 and DQB1 alleles, is used to “translate” molecular typing to serologic equivalents. However, many HLA alleles have multiple or conflicting entries in the HLA dictionary, while many rare or newly-identified alleles are not present. Moreover, UNOS accepts many “serologic” designations that do not appear in the HLA dictionary. To overcome these limitations, we created an algorithm to compile an internal document for UNOS-specific HLA type. Methods The 2008 HLA dictionary and Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network standards were used as primary sources for HLA typing information. Predicted amino acid sequence was used to assign Bw4/w6 (Tissue Antigens 2001: 57: 474). Results The algorithm, summarized below, was used to determine serologic assignments, which we termed “UNOS equivalents.” Expressed DRB3, DRB4 or DRB5 alleles were listed as DR52, DR53, or DR51, respectively, regardless of HLA dictionary assignments. Similarly, HLA-C alleles with first-field numbers greater than 08 were assigned UNOS equivalents corresponding to their first-field numbers, regardless of HLA dictionary assignments. For other alleles, the “Expert” assignment was given precedence over the “WHO” assignment listed in the HLA dictionary. Alleles not appearing in the HLA dictionary were assigned UNOS equivalents based on the first-field number. For alleles with multiple or conflicting entries, an algorithm was written to result in a single UNOS equivalent. For B∗15 alleles with unknown Bw4/w6 assignments, a published algorithm was used. Conclusions The algorithm described here resulted in a document that standardizes the “translation” of HLA alleles to list in UNOS, so that a single UNOS equivalent can be obtained from any HLA-A, B, C, DRB1, DRB3/4/5, or DQB1 type. As subsequent serologic studies are published, this document can serve as a framework for determining typings to enter into UNOS, to facilitate efficient sharing of deceased donor organs.
Violent Obsessions Are Associated With Suicidality In An OCD Analog Sample Of College Students

The picture of suicide in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is unclear because previous research did not uniformly control for depressive symptoms when examining the relationship between OCD and suicidality. Specific links between OC symptom dimensions and suicidality were also not adequately studied. As such, we investigated specific associations between OC symptom dimensions and suicidality, beyond the contribution of depressive symptoms, in an OCD analog sample of college students, a group traditionally at risk for suicide. One hundred and forty-six college students (103 females; 43 males) who exceeded the clinical cut-off for OC symptoms on the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, Revised (OCI-R) were recruited. Participants completed an online questionnaire containing measures that assessed suicidality and OC and depressive symptom severity. Total OC symptom severity, unacceptable thoughts, and especially violent obsessions exhibited significant positive zero-order correlations with suicidality. However, analyses of part correlations indicated that only violent obsessions had a significant unique association with suicidality after controlling for depressive symptoms. Our findings support the hypothesis that violent obsessions have a specific role in suicidality beyond the influence of depressive symptoms in an OCD analog sample of college students. A strong clinical focus on suicide risk assessment and safety planning in college students reporting violent obsessions is therefore warranted. Future related research should employ longitudinal or prospective designs and control for other possible comorbid symptoms in larger and more representative samples of participants formally diagnosed with OCD in order to verify the generalizability of our findings to these groups.
A Balance between Secreted Inhibitors and Edge Sensing Controls Gastruloid Self-Organization.

The earliest aspects of human embryogenesis remain mysterious. To model patterning events in the human embryo, we used colonies of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) grown on micropatterned substrate and differentiated with BMP4. These gastruloids recapitulate the embryonic arrangement of the mammalian germ layers and provide an assay to assess the structural and signaling mechanisms patterning the human gastrula. Structurally, high-density hESCs localize their receptors to transforming growth factor β at their lateral side in the center of the colony while maintaining apical localization of receptors at the edge. This relocalization insulates cells at the center from apically applied ligands while maintaining response to basally presented ones. In addition, BMP4 directly induces the expression of its own inhibitor, NOGGIN, generating a reaction-diffusion mechanism that underlies patterning. We develop a quantitative model that integrates edge sensing and inhibitors to predict human fate positioning in gastruloids and, potentially, the human embryo.
A 24-Month Evaluation of Aflibercept for Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Patients Previously Receiving Ranibizumab or Bevacizumab

Purpose To report the 24-month results and predictive factors for outcomes in patients transitioned from other anti–vascular endothelial growth factor agents to aflibercept for the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Design A prospective, single arm, investigator-initiated study. Participants A total of 24 patients participated in the study and 87.5% (n = 21) completed the 24 month assessments. Patients were included if they had an active exudative AMD confirmed by fluorescein angiography, presence of fluid on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) or new hemorrhage on clinical examination, Electronic Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study vision of 25 to 80 letters (Snellen equivalent of approximately 20/25–20/320), prior bevacizumab or ranibizumab injections within 3 months of enrollment, and an initial response on OCT defined as a decrease of retinal edema and/or subretinal fluid to anti–vascular endothelial growth factor injections. Methods Patients were treated the first 3 months with 2 mg of intravitreal aflibercept monthly, followed by a fixed bimonthly schedule for 24 months. At each study visit, visual acuity and a spectral-domain OCT scanning of both eyes were performed. Main Outcome and Measures The mean absolute change from baseline in central subfield thickness at month 24, mean change from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) score, change from baseline in macular volume, and cube average thickness by spectral-domain OCT. Additionally, predictive factors associated with final visual and anatomic outcomes at month 24. Results A mean decrease in central subfield thickness of −41 μm (P = 0.004) was observed with a mean increase in ETDRS BCVA of +10.4 letters (P Conclusions In nonnaive patients with active exudative AMD, treatment with a fixed intravitreal aflibercept dosing regimen for 24 months demonstrated sustained improvements in anatomy and vision in patients transitioned from other anti–vascular endothelial growth factor agents and stability when compared with 12-month outcomes. Patients who benefited most were those with worse vision at entry and longer duration of disease.
The limits of pedagogy: diaculturalist pedagogy as paradigm shift in the education of adult immigrants

AbstractPedagogy develops through the interventions of scholars who believe injustice should not be normalised. Such interventions nonetheless subsume monoculturalist assumptions constructed within the US social and academic narrative. The top-down paradigm of ‘designing pedagogy’ is inappropriate for educating adult immigrants, whose cultural ways of being and knowing differ from other learners. Even pedagogies comprising explicit political agendas emerge from the US academy’s ideological tradition, which invisible-ises adult immigrant learners. Using sociocultural theory, psychology and philosophy, I propose diaculturalist pedagogy, which prioritises the dialogic creation of pedagogy vis-a-vis adult immigrants’ cultural ways of being and knowing as a necessary ontological distinction. Diaculturalist pedagogy challenges the reification of monoculturalism, whose authority derives from US cultural categories and ‘pre-’/‘post-’ status distinctions. This new educational scholarship disrupts traditional perce...
Inhibition of cAMP-Dependent PKA Activates β2-Adrenergic Receptor Stimulation of Cytosolic Phospholipase A2 via Raf-1/MEK/ERK and IP3-Dependent Ca2+ Signaling in Atrial Myocytes.

We previously reported in atrial myocytes that inhibition of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) by laminin (LMN)-integrin signaling activates β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) stimulation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2). The present study sought to determine the signaling mechanisms by which inhibition of PKA activates β2-AR stimulation of cPLA2. We therefore determined the effects of zinterol (0.1 μM; zint-β2-AR) to stimulate ICa,L in atrial myocytes in the absence (+PKA) and presence (-PKA) of the PKA inhibitor (1 μM) KT5720 and compared these results with atrial myocytes attached to laminin (+LMN). Inhibition of Raf-1 (10 μM GW5074), phospholipase C (PLC; 0.5 μM edelfosine), PKC (4 μM chelerythrine) or IP3 receptor (IP3R) signaling (2 μM 2-APB) significantly inhibited zint-β2-AR stimulation of ICa,L in–PKA but not +PKA myocytes. Western blots showed that zint-β2-AR stimulation increased ERK1/2 phosphorylation in–PKA compared to +PKA myocytes. Adenoviral (Adv) expression of dominant negative (dn) -PKCα, dn-Raf-1 or an IP3 affinity trap, each inhibited zint-β2-AR stimulation of ICa,L in + LMN myocytes compared to control +LMN myocytes infected with Adv-βgal. In +LMN myocytes, zint-β2-AR stimulation of ICa,L was enhanced by adenoviral overexpression of wild-type cPLA2 and inhibited by double dn-cPLA2S505A/S515A mutant compared to control +LMN myocytes infected with Adv-βgal. In–PKA myocytes depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores by 5 μM thapsigargin failed to inhibit zint-β2-AR stimulation of ICa,L via cPLA2. However, disruption of caveolae formation by 10 mM methyl-β-cyclodextrin inhibited zint-β2-AR stimulation of ICa,L in–PKA myocytes significantly more than in +PKA myocytes. We conclude that inhibition of PKA removes inhibition of Raf-1 and thereby allows β2-AR stimulation to act via PKCα/Raf-1/MEK/ERK1/2 and IP3-mediated Ca2+ signaling to stimulate cPLA2 signaling within caveolae. These findings may be relevant to the remodeling of β-AR signaling in failing and/or aging heart, both of which exhibit decreases in adenylate cyclase activity.
Nanostructure-Textured Surfaces with Low Friction and High Deformation Resistance

ABSTRACTNanotextured surfaces can effectively reduce friction and adhesion, especially in applications with micro- and nanoscale contact interactions. However, for these surfaces, a common weakness is a lack of structural integrity of the individual nanotextures when subjected to contact loading, resulting in permanent deformation at even the moderate contact forces encountered in microscale systems. Nanostructure-textured surfaces (NSTSs), composed of arrays of novel Al/a-Si core–shell nanostructures (CSNs), have been developed with a desirable combination of low friction and high deformation resistance. When subjected to nanoscratch testing, these surfaces are shown to have extremely low coefficients of friction (as low as ∼0.015), as well as no detectable nanostructure deformation at contact forces up to 8,000 μN (estimated contact pressure greater than 1 GPa). In addition, the NSTSs have low adhesion (pull-off) forces on the order of less than 1 μN. The unique properties of these NSTSs provide avenues...
Bounded-Degree Connected Approximations of Stochastic Networks

We propose a method to find optimal sparse connected approximations for large complex networks of nodes interacting over time. Optimality is measured by Kullback–Leibler divergence. The sparsity is controlled by the user through specifying the in-degrees. The approximations have spanning tree subgraphs, enabling them to depict flow through a network. They can also depict feedback. The approximations can capture both significant statistical dependencies in, and preserve salient topological features of, the full (unknown) network. The proposed method can be applied to networks without restrictions on the dynamics beyond stationarity. We analyze computational and sample complexity. We demonstrate their efficacy using a large-scale simulation of the turtle visual cortex and experimental data from the primate motor cortex.
Teen-Robot Interaction: A Pilot Study of Engagement with a Low-fidelity Prototype

Today's teens will most likely be the first generation to spend a lifetime living and interacting with both mechanical and social robots. Although human-robot interaction has been explored in children, adults, and seniors, examination of teen-robot interaction has been minimal. Using human-centered design, our team is developing a social robot to gather stress and mood data from teens in a public high school. As part of our preliminary design stage, we conducted a interaction pilot study in the wild to explore and capture teens' initial interactions with a low-fidelity social robot prototype. We observed strong engagement and expressions of empathy from teens during our qualitative, interaction studies.
The Dependent Origination of Whiteness

The Buddhist teachings on dependent origination describe how the process of rebirth—also known as becoming—is caused by a deluded consciousness feeding on a person’s body and mind, as well as on external objects of craving and aversion. The process of racial formation that turns European American bodies into white people who feed off of the land, labor, and life force of people of color can be seen as an example of dependent origination. This article argues that whiteness is a deeply rooted existential experience in the bodies and minds of European Americans that serves as a firewall against perpetrator guilt and trauma; it also explains why the threat white people perceive in demographic shifts triggers an existential fear of annihilation. The Buddhist teachings in this article correspond with the concepts of racial formation and racial project articulated by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, and the concept of the possessive investment in whiteness articulated by George Lipsitz. The article then uses the Buddhist antiracist lens formed from these connections to analyze past and present white supremacist behavior in the United States, as well as past and present antiracist behavior in the United States, paying particular attention to Martin Luther King’s involvement in the Chicago Freedom Movement. Although not the primary focus of this article, connections are also made between the Buddhist elements of this analysis and clinical trauma therapy in order to ground this discussion in a secular, empirical, trauma-informed context.
Cultural Considerations in Behavioral Health Service Delivery with LGBT Populations

In the USA, the LGBT community has grown significantly and continues to grow. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals encounter a range of stressors throughout their lifetime. Compared to heterosexuals the LGBT community reports higher prevalence rates of anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse, and suicide. Minority stress has been linked to increased psychological distress among sexual minorities, specifically prejudice and discrimination. Several evidence-based treatments have been adapted to address the specific needs of the LGBT community, including addressing minority stress, specifically cognitive behavioral therapy. In this chapter we discuss prevalence’s rates of psychological distress among the LGBT community, adapted treatments for working with LGBT, and describe several guidelines and principles to assist in working with the LGBT community.
Resolving ambiguity: Negative interpretation biases

Abstract Cognitive theories propose that resolving ambiguous information in a consistently negative manner (i.e., negative interpretation biases) plays a critical role in psychopathology. This chapter reviews direct and indirect measures of interpretation biases and provides a brief overview of negative interpretation biases in psychological and health conditions. Evidence from research using direct measures has consistently demonstrated the presence of negative interpretation biases in various conditions, particularly in social anxiety and depression. Although results from research using indirect measures are mixed, evidence suggests that negative interpretation biases precede the onset of psychopathology and play a causal role in anxiety and depression. A number of limitations of existing research have been identified, and recommendations for future research are provided.
Effects of simulated hail damage manifested by stem cutoff on seed yield and agronomic traits in Brassica napus L.

A simulated hail-damage study was conducted in North Dakotaacross 2 years. The experiment was conducted in a randomizedcomplete block design with two factors, viz., five levels of stemcutoff and fo...
Hospitalization and definitive radiotherapy in lung cancer: incidence, risk factors and survival impact.

Unplanned hospitalization during cancer treatment is costly, can disrupt treatment, and affect patient quality of life. However, incidence and risks factors for hospitalization during lung cancer radiotherapy are not well characterized. Patients treated with definitive intent radiation (≥45 Gy) for lung cancer between 2008 and 2018 at a tertiary academic institution were identified. In addition to patient, tumor, and treatment related characteristics, specific baseline frailty markers (Charlson comorbidity index, ECOG, patient reported weight loss, BMI, hemoglobin, creatinine, albumin) were recorded. All cancer-related hospitalizations during or within 30 days of completing radiation were identified. Associations between baseline variables and any hospitalization, number of hospitalizations, and overall survival were identified using multivariable linear regression and multivariable Cox proportional-hazards models, respectively. Of 270 patients included: median age was 66.6 years (31–88), 50.4% of patients were male (n = 136), 62% were Caucasian (n = 168). Cancer-related hospitalization incidence was 17% (n = 47), of which 21% of patients hospitalized (n = 10/47) had > 1 hospitalization. On multivariable analysis, each 1 g/dL baseline drop in albumin was associated with a 2.4 times higher risk of any hospitalization (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2–5.0, P = 0.01), and baseline hemoglobin ≤10 was associated with, on average, 2.7 more hospitalizations than having pre-treatment hemoglobin > 10 (95% CI 1.3–5.4, P = 0.01). After controlling for baseline variables, cancer-related hospitalization was associated with 1.8 times increased risk of all-cause death (95% CI: 1.02–3.1, P = 0.04). Our data show baseline factors can predict those who may be at increased risk for hospitalization, which was independently associated with increased mortality. Taken together, these data support the need for developing further studies aimed at early and aggressive interventions to decrease hospitalizations during treatment.
Stakeholder Perceptions of Clinical Immersion in Athletic Training Programs

Context Multiple concepts contribute to effective clinical education practice, such as professional socialization, mentoring, and intergenerational learning differences. As the professional degree ...
CHAPTER 8 – Procedural Programming

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the use of Mathematica as a block-structured language with the usual control structures of an imperative language. The language of while-programs is an abstract version of such a language. It consists of exactly four kinds of commands: assignment commands, if_then_else_ commands, composition commands, and while_do_ commands. These commands work in a different way than the operations in a functional or rewrite rule language. The language of while-programs with values in the set V = N of natural numbers consists of the following structures: arithmetic terms, predicates or Boolean terms, and commands. The basic operations in Mathematica consist of assignments and compositions, conditional operations, and loops. Modules and blocks are mechanisms that create such local variables. A module expression takes two arguments, the first being a list of local variables and the second being any expression. Blocks are like modules except in the way that they handle name clashes. In blocks, local variables have unique values but not unique names.
Chapter 9 – Lake Sediments

Lakes accumulate sediments from their surrounding environment and so sediment cores recovered from lakes can provide a continuous record of environmental change. Accumulation rates in lakes are often high, so lake sediments offer the potential for high-resolution records of past climate, providing they can be adequately dated. However, no two lakes are identical so the environmental conditions in each lake basin, and the water properties of each lake must be carefully evaluated in order to make a meaningful paleoclimatic interpretation of the sediments. A great deal of basic information about Changes in climatic conditions can be derived from relatively simple measurements on the sedimentary and inorganic geochemical characteristics of lake sediments. Biological productivity in lakes is, in part, climatically-dependent and so the remains of organisms that lived in the water column can be of paleoclimatic significance. Siliceous microfossils are an important component of many lake and wetland sediments, and account for the bulk of biogenic deposition in many lakes. Isotopes of oxygen, carbon (and to a minor extent nitrogen) have provided valuable insights into paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions. Oxygen isotopes in carbonates are especially important. Biomarkers are organic compounds that are produced by specific organisms; when preserved in sediments they can provide a molecular proxy for the paleoclimatic or paleoenvironmental conditions which influenced the life of the organism.
Neural excitability of lower extremity musculature in individuals with and without chronic ankle instability: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract This systematic review and meta-analysis examined differences in lower extremity neural excitability between ankles with and without chronic ankle instability (CAI). We searched the literature for studies that compared corticomotor or spinal reflexive excitability between a CAI group and controls or copers, or between limbs of a CAI group. Random effects meta-analyses calculated pooled effect sizes for each outcome. Nineteen studies were included. Meta-analyses of motor thresholds of the fibularis longus (Z = 1.17, P = 0.24) and soleus (Z = 0.47, P = 0.64) exhibited no differences between ankles with and without CAI. Pooled data indicate that ankles with CAI had reduced soleus spinal reflexive excitability (Z = 2.18, P = 0.03) and significantly less modulation of the soleus (Z = 6.96, P
A conversation with Sherri Rose, winner of the 2020 health policy statistics section mid-career award

Sherri Rose, Ph.D. is an associate professor at Stanford University in the Center for Health Policy and Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research as well as Co-Director of the joint Harvard–Stanford Health Policy Data Science Lab. A renowned expert in machine learning methodology for causal inference and prediction, her applied work has focused on risk adjustment, algorithmic fairness, health program evaluation, and comparative effectiveness research. Dr. Rose’s leadership positions include current roles as Co-Editor of Biostatistics and Chair of the American Statistical Association’s Biometrics Section. She is also a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Dr. Rose earned a BS in Statistics from The George Washington University and a PhD in Biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley before completing an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining the faculty at Stanford University, she was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Health Care Policy. Below, an interview of Dr. Rose, conducted by her colleague, Dr. Laura Hatfield, on the occasion of her 2020 Mid-Career Award from the Health Policy Statistics Section (HPSS) of the American Statistical Association. This award recognizes leaders in health care policy and health services research who have made outstanding contributions through methodological or applied work and who show a promise of continued excellence at the frontier of statistical practice that advances the aims of HPSS.
Racial Battle Fatigue: The Experiences of Black/African American, Biracial Black, and Multiracial Black Identified Graduate Students:

Black students attending historically White institutions of higher education experience racism, racial microaggressions, racial stress, and consequent racial battle fatigue (RBF; Franklin et al., 2...
The Roles of Identity Conflict, Emotion, and Threat in Learning from Refutation Texts

It is common for individuals to have misconceptions across a range of subject matters. Although interventions to correct misconceptions are largely successful, at times they may fail. The current study explores how corrections may be perceived to conflict with aspects of personal or social identity and engender experience of negative emotions and threat as potential explanations for why and how corrections fail. To test this assumption, purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants online that resided in geographic regions with reported beliefs or behaviors that were consistent with misconceptions about immigration and crime or vaccination safety. Participants reported their prior knowledge and attitudes. Depending on the topic, participants were presented with a refutation text that was designed to correct common misconceptions about one of the two topics and were asked to report the degree of identity conflict, emotions, and threat experienced and completed a posttest of knowledge. Results showed that participants reported a non-zero degree of identity conflict and threat, which together with negative emotions in turn negatively predicted learning from refutation texts. Findings demonstrate potential explanations for why and how misconception correction may fail that may be useful in the design of educational interventions.
Projecting complex interactions between forest harvest and succession in the northern Acadian Forest Region

Abstract Preventing declines of native and historically-abundant tree species is an important aspect of sustainable forest management, but predicting future forest composition is challenging when succession does not tend to follow a well-defined path. We evaluated the implications of site-level interactions between timber harvesting and forest succession on the regional landscape dynamics of the complex and species-rich northern Acadian Forest Region. Our expectation was that forest composition would trend away from long-lived and shade-tolerant species, because rates of landscape disturbance from timber harvesting are high relative to historic rates of natural disturbance. We used a novel modeling approach that combined Landsat-derived time series of forest disturbance to inform realistic simulations of timber harvesting across many individual commercial forest landowners using LANDIS-II, and evaluated changes in tree species’ distributions and abundance with and without harvesting. Detailed descriptions of initial forest conditions were derived from maps of relative tree species abundance, developed using Landsat satellite imagery, regional inventory data, and an innovative machine learning algorithm. If recent harvest rates persist, simulations suggest timber harvesting will generally be sustainable in our study area; however, projected rates of site-level species turnover were high, predominantly favoring species that were less abundant under the region's natural disturbance regime. As a result, broad-scale patterns of projected species co-occurrence shifted, destabilizing important regional forest types. Our results highlight both the region's capacity for forest growth and the importance of accurately capturing the local effects of land management when projecting forested regions dominated by commercial ownership.
Nuclear receptor 4A1 (NR4A1) antagonists target paraspeckle component 1 (PSPC1) in cancer cells.

Paraspeckles compound 1 (PSPC1) is a multifunctional protein that plays an important role in cancer cells, where PSPC1 is a master regulator of pro-oncogenic responses that includes activation of TGFβ (TGFβ1), TGFβ-dependent EMT, and metastasis. The pro-oncogenic activities of PSPC1 closely resembled those observed for the orphan nuclear receptor 4A1 (NR4A1, Nur77) and knockdown of NR4A1 decreased expression of PSPC1 in MDA-MB-231 breast, H1299 lung, and SNU449 liver cancer cells. Similar results were observed in these same cell lines after treatment with bisindole-derived (CDIMs) NR4A1 antagonists. Moreover, PSPC1-dependent regulation of TGFβ, genes associated with cancer stem cells and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) were also downregulated after NR4A1 silencing or treatment of breast, lung, and liver cancer cells with CDIM/NR4A1 antagonists. Results of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays suggest that NR4A1 regulates PSPC1 through interaction with an NBRE sequence in the PSPC1 gene promoter. These results coupled with in vivo studies showing that NR4A1 antagonists inhibit breast tumor growth and downregulate PSPC1 in tumors indicate that the pro-oncogenic nuclear PSPC1 factor can be targeted by CDIM/NR4A1 antagonists.
Slippery Wenzel State.

Enhancing the mobility of liquid droplets on rough surfaces is of great interest in industry, with applications ranging from condensation heat transfer to water harvesting to the prevention of icing and frosting. The mobility of a liquid droplet on a rough solid surface has long been associated with its wetting state. When liquid drops are sitting on the top of the solid textures and air is trapped underneath, they are in the Cassie state. When the drops impregnate the solid textures, they are in the Wenzel state. While the Cassie state has long been associated with high droplet mobility and the Wenzel state with droplet pinning, our work challenges this existing convention by showing that both Cassie and Wenzel state droplets can be highly mobile on nanotexture-enabled slippery rough surfaces. Our surfaces were developed by engineering hierachical nano- and microscale textures and infusing liquid lubricant into the nanotextures alone to create a highly slippery rough surface. We have shown that droplet m...
Numerical evaluation of image homogeneity, signal‐to‐noise ratio, and specific absorption rate for human brain imaging at 1.5, 3, 7, 10.5, and 14T in an 8‐channel transmit/receive array

PURPOSE To predict signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) trends and absorbed energy in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain up to 14T. MATERIALS AND METHODS A human head in an eight-channel transmit/receive coil was simulated with Maxwell and Bloch equations to determine excitation homogeneity with radiofrequency (RF) shimming, image homogeneity, SNR, and absorbed energy in MRI from 1.5 to 14T considering realistic field distributions and relaxation properties. RESULTS RF shimming alone achieved a standard deviation in excitation flip angle less than 10° in mid-brain up to 14T, but produced a small region with low excitation on a lower slice. Current reconstruction methods may produce shading artifacts at 14T. SNR increases with a greater-than-linear rate for gradient recalled echo (GRE) sequences having short (2 msec) echo time (TE) and long relaxation time (TR) (∼2.3-fold increase from 7T to 14T), but a less-than-linear rate if TE is 10 msec (∼1.6-fold increase from 7T to 14T). Depending on the sequence, SNR per square root of imaging time may produce a less-than-linear increase with B0 . Whole-head absorbed energy shows a less-than-quadratic increase with B0 (1.7-fold increase from 7T to 14T). CONCLUSION Numerical simulations indicate that with proper preparation and precautions, imaging of the human brain at up to 14T could be performed safely, with advantages in SNR.
Pathophysiology of the diabetic kidney.

Diabetes mellitus contributes greatly to morbidity, mortality, and overall health care costs. In major part, these outcomes derive from the high incidence of progressive kidney dysfunction in patients with diabetes making diabetic nephropathy a leading cause of end-stage renal disease. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism involved and of the early dysfunctions observed in the diabetic kidney may permit the development of new strategies to prevent diabetic nephropathy. Here we review the pathophysiological changes that occur in the kidney in response to hyperglycemia, including the cellular responses to high glucose and the responses in vascular, glomerular, podocyte, and tubular function. The molecular basis, characteristics, and consequences of the unique growth phenotypes observed in the diabetic kidney, including glomerular structures and tubular segments, are outlined. We delineate mechanisms of early diabetic glomerular hyperfiltration including primary vascular events as well as the primary role of tubular growth, hyperreabsorption, and tubuloglomerular communication as part of a “tubulocentric” concept of early diabetic kidney function. The latter also explains the “salt paradox” of the early diabetic kidney, that is, a unique and inverse relationship between glomerular filtration rate and dietary salt intake. The mechanisms and consequences of the intrarenal activation of the renin-angiotensin system and of diabetes-induced tubular glycogen accumulation are discussed. Moreover, we aim to link the changes that occur early in the diabetic kidney including the growth phenotype, oxidative stress, hypoxia, and formation of advanced glycation end products to mechanisms involved in progressive kidney disease. © 2011 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 1:1175-1232, 2011.
A Lexicon for Historic Plains Indian Rock Art: Increasing Interpretive Potential

AbstractHistoric period Northern Plains Indian rock art consists of well-drawn biographic compositions showing warfare and hunting scenes. In style and content this art closely resembles the hide p...
Pattern recognition based on time-frequency distributions of radar micro-Doppler dynamics

Radar micro-Doppler signatures are of great potential for identifying properties of unknown targets. An effective tool to extract information from the signatures is time-frequency analysis, based on which target identification and object recognition can be extended. In this paper, a method has been proposed for feature extraction and selection from simulated time-frequency distribution of micro-Doppler dynamics. Experimental results have shown that a highly discriminative feature set can be established by using this method. With this feature set, high classification performances both in training and testing stages for different classifiers have been achieved.
Cross-sectional and Test-Retest Characterization of PET with [(18)F]FP-(+)-DTBZ for β Cell Mass Estimates in Diabetes.

The vesicular monoamine transporter, type 2 (VMAT2) is expressed by insulin producing β cells and was evaluated as a biomarker of β cell mass (BCM) by positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]fluoropropyl-dihydrotetrabenazine ([18F]FP-(+)-DTBZ). We evaluated the feasibility of longitudinal pancreatic PET VMAT2 quantification in the pancreas in two studies of healthy controls and patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes. VMAT2 binding potential (BPND) was estimated voxelwise using a reference tissue method in a cross-sectional study, followed by assessment of reproducibility using a test-retest paradigm. Metabolic function was evaluated by stimulated c-peptide measurements. Pancreatic BPND was significantly decreased in patients with type 1 diabetes relative to controls and the test-retest variability was 9.4 %. Pancreatic VMAT2 content is significantly reduced in long-term diabetes patients relative to controls and repeat scans are sufficiently reproducible to suggest the feasibility clinically VMAT2 measurements in longitudinal studies of new onset diabetes.
Sex Differences in Relationships between Verbal Fluency and Personality

The Thurstone Verbal Fluency Test, Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test, and NEO-FFI personality test were administered to 182 university participants (126 female, 56 male). The men scored higher than the women on the spatial test, and the women scored higher than the men for the verbal fluency test, as reported by others. Women reported more extraversion and agreeableness than men. Extraversion was correlated with verbal fluency for both sexes. For the men, verbal fluency was also positively associated with agreeableness, and for the women, verbal fluency was associated with openness and conscientiousness. No relationships between personality and spatial ability were found. Thus, the relationships between cognitive variables and personality factors differed between the sexes. These findings are discussed in terms of the common frontal neural substrate of verbal fluency and these aspects of personality, as well as the inherently social nature of language as a communication tool.
Experimental, Theoretical, and Computational Investigation of Separated Nozzle Flows

A detailed experimental, theoretical, and computational study of separated nozzle flows has been conducted. Experimental testing was performed at the NASA Langley 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel Complex. As part of a comprehensive static performance investigation, force, moment, and pressure measurements were made and schlieren flow visualization was obtained for a sub-scale, non-axisymmetric, two-dimensional, convergent- divergent nozzle. In addition, two-dimensional numerical simulations were run using the computational fluid dynamics code PAB3D with two-equation turbulence closure and algebraic Reynolds stress modeling. For reference, experimental and computational results were compared with theoretical predictions based on one-dimensional gas dynamics and an approximate integral momentum boundary layer method. Experimental results from this study indicate that off-design overexpanded nozzle flow was dominated by shock induced boundary layer separation, which was divided into two distinct flow regimes; three- dimensional separation with partial reattachment, and fully detached two-dimensional separation. The test nozzle was observed to go through a marked transition in passing from one regime to the other. In all cases, separation provided a significant increase in static thrust efficiency compared to the ideal prediction. Results indicate that with controlled separation, the entire overexpanded range of nozzle performance would be within 10% of the peak thrust efficiency. By offering savings in weight and complexity over a conventional mechanical exhaust system, this may allow a fixed geometry nozzle to cover an entire flight envelope. The computational simulation was in excellent agreement with experimental data over most of the test range, and did a good job of modeling internal flow and thrust performance. An exception occurred at low nozzle pressure ratios, where the two-dimensional computational model was inconsistent with the three-dimensional separation observed in the experiment. In general, the computation captured the physics of the shock boundary layer interaction and shock induced boundary layer separation in the nozzle, though there were some differences in shock structure compared to experiment. Though minor, these differences could be important for studies involving flow control or thrust vectoring of separated nozzles. Combined with other observations, this indicates that more detailed, three-dimensional computational modeling needs to be conducted to more realistically simulate shock-separated nozzle flows.