cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transgender microaggressions in the context of friendship: Patterns of experience across friends’ sexual orientation and gender identity.

Microaggressions are subtle forms of discrimination that occur daily and can manifest as behavioral, verbal, or environmental slights. Whether intentional or unintentional, these microaggressions shape the daily experience of transgender individuals and are central to the way in which they navigate their social and personal relationships. The present study investigated transgender microaggressions in the context of friendships. Participants included 207 adults who self-identified as transgender, transsexual, gender variant, or having a transgender history. Participants completed an online questionnaire and provided both qualitative and quantitative information regarding their experiences of microaggressions in their friendships. Results indicated that the frequency of microaggressions differ across the sexual orientation and gender identity of the friend. Participants reported that although transgender microaggressions were most frequently received from cisgender heterosexual friends, microaggressions were most hurtful when coming from an individual with a similar identity. From their written descriptions of transgender microaggressions, it was clear that the friendship context and the specific identities of the friend in question influenced the way microaggressions were received and interpreted by participants. Given that friendships provide support not often available to transgender individuals through families of origin and through the traditional health care system, discussion focused on the disruption of social support that occurs when microaggressions are present in the context of friendship.
Toxicity of O-alkyl Analogues of Azinphosmethyl and Other Insecticides to Resistant and Susceptible Predaceous Mites, Amblyseius fallacis

Toxicities of O-alkyl analogues of azinphosmethyl were determined for a susceptible and an azinphosmethyl resistant strain of the predaceous mite, Amblyseius fallacis (Garman). The resistance factor, R/S , decreased with the ethyl and n -propyl analogues, verifying previous findings that the glutathione transferases were responsible for resistance in this strain of mite. Cross-resistance is possible to various organophosphate insecticides, particularly those with O-methyl groups.
Weaning from mechanical ventilation: concept development

This article, the first in a series, is written to clarify the process of weaning from mechanical ventilation and to promote the development of a common language for understanding the complex weaning process. The Third National Study Group on Weaning From Mechanical Ventilation proposes a conceptual model and definitions that will provide a framework for future research on this important topic. This conceptual framework describes the preweaning phase, the weaning process, and the outcome phase of mechanical ventilation. Potential outcomes are completion of weaning, lack of completion, and terminal weaning. The weaning decision continuum incorporates: (1) when and how to begin the weaning process, (2) how to select therapies to assist with difficult weaning and chart progress during weaning, and (3) when to stop weaning if progress is no longer being made. An inherent assumption of this model is that each patient will display unique responses to the weaning process. The proposed conceptual framework and definitions provide a foundation for developing clinical practice guidelines and for guiding future ventilator weaning research.
Evolving Ethical Standards in the Digital Age

ABSTRACTEthical standards in social work have matured significantly since the formal inauguration of the profession in the late 19th century. This article traces the global evolution of ethical standards in social work, focusing especially on current challenges in the digital age. The author discusses changes over time in social workers’ understanding of ethical issues and development of conceptual frameworks and protocols for managing them. Social workers’ increasing use of digital technology poses novel and unprecedented ethical challenges pertaining to privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, professional boundaries, conflicts of interest, documentation, client abandonment, and professionalism, among others. The article outlines emerging ethical standards designed to help social workers manage ethical challenges in the digital age.
Growth rate inhibition metrics correct for confounders in measuring sensitivity to cancer drugs

Drug sensitivity and resistance are conventionally quantified by IC50 or Emax values, but these metrics are highly sensitive to the number of divisions taking place over the course of a response assay. The dependency of IC50 and Emax on division rate creates artefactual correlations between genotype and drug sensitivity, while obscuring valuable biological insights and interfering with biomarker discovery. We derive alternative small molecule drug-response metrics that are insensitive to division number. These are based on estimation of the magnitude of drug-induced growth rate inhibition (GR) using endpoint or time-course assays. We show that GR50 and GRmax are superior to conventional metrics for assessing the effects of small molecule drugs in dividing cells. Moreover, adopting GR metrics requires only modest changes in experimental protocols. We expect GR metrics to improve the study of cell signaling and growth using small molecules and biologics and to facilitate the discovery of drug-response biomarkers and the identification of drugs effective against specific patient-derived tumor cells.
Diversification of content of HPV-DNA virus in patient of condyloma acuminatum who treated with Imiquimod cream

[Objective] To observe the diversification of the content of HPV-DNA virus in the patient of Condyloma Acuminatum (CA) who treated with Imiquimod Cream. [Methods] First,the HPV DNA in condyloma acuminata paient who was treated local or every pore by immunity drug was amplified by polymerase chainreaction(PCR) with fluorescence. Then analyse the dissimilarity diversification. [Result] The treatment of the two methods can decrease contentment of HPV DNA virus in CA patient. The effect of local immunity drug treatment is more obvious. [Conclusion] The curative effect of local immunity drug is better than that of every pore drug.
Improved and expanded pharmacy care in rural Alaska through telepharmacy and alternative methods demonstration project.

Objectives To describe innovative use of technology to improve the level of pharmacy care in remote villages in rural Alaska. Study design Cross-sectional study. Methods The Alaska Native Medical Center and outlying health clinics formed the Southcentral Foundation Pharmacy Network to provide pharmacy services to Native and non-Native patients living in the rural Anchorage Service Unit. The Alaska Native Medical Center served as the central pharmacy, purchasing drugs on behalf of the network and dispensing those drugs to patients of the network. In April 2003, four remote pharmacies began a 6 month comparison of two different telepharmacy equipment systems. The systems were assessed for various factors such as hardware and software capabilities and the customer support offered. The program was then expanded to include 12 participating sites. Results During fiscal year 2006, 22665 prescriptions were processed utilizing telepharmacy and prospective pharmacist review. There were 990 documented pharmacist consultations and interventions (4.4% of all prescriptions processed). Conclusions Incorporation of recent technological advancements enabled the pharmacy department of the Alaska Native Medical Center to improve and expand the provision of pharmacy services to rural, isolated communities. Based upon the success of the program, future sites are being targeted for telepharmacy inclusion.
CSLSI Character: Emotional Awareness

A high degree of CSLSI maturity requires emotional intelligence and the ability to identify and regulate the emotions in others and ourselves. It begins with our heartfelt desire to give a precious gift to others—our time and attention through the active listening process. The goal is to develop a high degree of emotional empathy. Conversely, the workplace is a powerful source of negative emotions such as guilt, shame, embarrassment, and humiliation that are linked to a pernicious spiritual stronghold, that of people pleasing and affirmation anxiety. This chapter summarizes the risk factors and the remedies for gaining victory over the various forms of the “fear of man.”
Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis of the Ankle: A Distinct Clinical Entity Requiring New Research Approaches

The diagnosis of ankle osteoarthritis (OA) is increasing as a result of advancements in non-invasive imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, improved arthroscopic surgical technology and heightened awareness among clinicians. Unlike OA of the knee, primary or age-related ankle OA is rare, with the majority of ankle OA classified as post-traumatic (PTOA). Ankle trauma, more specifically ankle sprain, is the single most common athletic injury, and no effective therapies are available to prevent or slow progression of PTOA. Despite the high incidence of ankle trauma and OA, ankle-related OA research is sparse, with the majority of clinical and basic studies pertaining to the knee joint. Fundamental differences exist between joints including their structure and molecular composition, response to trauma, susceptibility to OA, clinical manifestations of disease, and response to treatment. Considerable evidence suggests that research findings from knee should not be extrapolated to the ankle, however few ankle-specific preclinical models of PTOA are currently available. The objective of this article is to review the current state of ankle OA investigation, highlighting important differences between the ankle and knee that may limit the extent to which research findings from knee models are applicable to the ankle joint. Considerations for the development of new ankle-specific, clinically relevant animal models are discussed. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:440-453, 2017.
Queering the quality of desire: Perverse use-values in transnational Chinese cultures

ABSTRACTThis essay presents a queer Sinophone rethinking of Marx’s concept of value. Specifically, a queer theory informed by materialist critique can account for how certain bodies are rendered normative and valuable and others as devalued within neoliberal globalisation in contemporary China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I coin the term ‘perverse use-value’ to name the reification of queer bodies as risky, socially non-reproductive, and hence perverse; alternatively, a critical reckoning of how queer bodies assume perverse meanings can point to the ways queer subjects and cultural producers boldly occupy the negativity of perversion. Examining Cui Zi’en’s 2003 film Money Boy Diaries based in Beijing, Simon Chung’s 2009 Hong Kong film End of Love and the queer Taiwan poet Chen Kehua’s 2006 collection of poems called A Kind Man, this essay demonstrates the queer potentiality to remake lifeworlds within and against the developmental logics of neoliberalism and homonormative sexual respectability.
Defending Tennyson: Dorothy L. Sayers and the Art of Charitable Reading

Dorothy L. Sayers’s interactions with Tennyson’s poetry provide a powerful example of her theology of charitable reading. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Sayers refused to oversimplify Tennyson’...
The Logic of Mysticism

I argue that mystical experience essentially involves two aspects: (a) an element of direct encounter with God, and (b) an element of union with God. The framework I use to make sense of (a) is taken largely from William Alston’s magisterial book Perceiving God. While I believe Alston’s view is correct in many essentials, the main problem with the account is that it divorces the idea of encountering or perceiving God from the idea of being united with God. What I argue, on the contrary, is that because our experience of God is an experience of a relationship-seeking, personal being, it brings with it an important element of union that Alston overlooks.
New Host and Distributional Records for Parasites (Apicomplexa, Trematoda, Nematoda, Acanthocephala, Acarina) of Texas Herpetofauna

ABSTRACT: Between March 2004 and December 2006, and again between March 2010 and June 2013, we examined a total of 70 individual herpetofaunal members from 9 counties and 4 biotic provinces of Texas for coccidians, helminths, and ectoparasites. Twenty-three of 42 (55%) of the amphibians and four of 28 (14%) of the reptiles were infected/infested including Great Plains narrowmouth toad (Gastrophryne olivacea) with Aplectana incerta; Coastal Plain toad (Incilius nebulifer) with A. incerta and Mesocoelium cf. monodi; Rio Grande leopard frog (Lithobates berlandieri) and Plains leopard frog (Lithobates blairi) with Hannemania dunni; spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) with acuariid larvae; prairie kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster calligaster) with Caryospora duszynskii; Texas blind snake (Rena dulcis) with Parapharyngodon sp.; Texas banded gecko (Coleonyx brevis) with Spauligodon sp.; and Texas patchnose snake (Salvadora grahamiae lineata) multiply infected with Renifer aniarum, Spauligodon goldbergi, and a...
Fractionation and Analysis of Mycobacterial Proteins

The extraction and isolation of native bacterial proteins continue to be valuable technical pursuits in order to understand bacterial physiology, screen for virulence determinants, and describe antigens. In this chapter, methods for the manipulation of whole mycobacterial cells are described in detail. Specifically, the concentration of spent culture filtrate media is described in order to permit separation of soluble, secreted proteins; several discrete separation techniques, including precipitation of protein mixtures with ammonium sulfate and separation of proteins by hydrophobic chromatography are also provided. Similarly, the generation of whole cell lysate and facile separation of lysate into subcellular fractions to afford cell wall, cell membrane, and cytosol enriched proteins is described. Due to the hydrophobic nature of cell wall and cell membrane proteins, several extraction protocols to resolve protein subsets (such as extraction with urea and SDS) are also provided, as well as a separation technique (isoelectric focusing) that can be applied to separate hydrophobic proteins. Lastly, two commonly used analytical techniques, in-gel digestion of proteins for LC-MS and analysis of intact proteins by MALDI-ToF MS, are provided for rapid analysis of discrete proteins within subcellular or chromatographic fractions. While these methods were optimized for the manipulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cells, they have been successfully applied to extract and isolate Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium ulcerans, and Mycobacterium avium proteins. In addition, a number of these methods may be applied to extract and analyze mycobacterial proteins from cell lines and host derived samples.
Abstract A09: Decomposing Oncogenic Transcriptional Signatures to Generate Maps of RAS/MAPK Cellular States

The systematic sequencing of the cancer genome has provided a powerful framework for identifying genetic alterations in cancer. However, a deeper understanding of the functional consequences of these alterations is necessary to guide appropriate therapeutic strategies. Here, we describe Onco-GPS (OncoGenic Positioning System), a data-driven analysis framework, and associated experimental and computational methodology, to organize individual tumor samples with shared oncogenic alterations onto a reference map defined by their underlying cellular states. Using this approach, we generated series of RAS/MAPK sub-signatures that reflect known and novel downstream pathways. These sub-signatures were then used to classify KRAS and BRAF mutant cancers into sub groups or cell states, as represented in the novel visual paradigm OncoGPS map. The approach not only accurately classified three groups of BRAF mutant cancers that aligned with sensitivity to BRAF inhibitors, but also identified resistance mechanisms associated with each state. OncoGPS also identified four major cell states associated with KRAS mutant cancers. Further characterization of the four cell states showed that multiple molecular features representing epithelial-EMT states and activation of NF-κB pathway delineated two major axes of KRAS mutant cancers. In addition to the pathways and cell states defined in each group, the OncoGPS approach is able to identify effective drug combinations which was experimentally tested and confirmed. These results show that the Onco-GPS is an effective analytic framework to explore the complex landscape of oncogenic cellular states across cancers, and a powerful framework to summarize knowledge, establish relationships, and generate more effective disease models for research or as part of individualized precision medicine paradigms. Citation Format: Jongwook William Kim, William C. Hahn, Jill Mesirov, Pablo Tamayo. Decomposing Oncogenic Transcriptional Signatures to Generate Maps of RAS/MAPK Cellular States [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Opportunities and Challenges of Exploiting Synthetic Lethality in Cancer; Jan 4-7, 2017; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2017;16(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A09.
Experimental and Human Anti-Tubular Basement Membrane Nephritis

In Chapter 19, a review of the salient features of the model of anti-tubular basement membrane (TBM) nephritis in guinea pigs was given. This discussion will focus upon certain additional aspects of this model and also comment briefly on experimental anti-TBM disease in rats. Finally, current knowledge of the role of anti-TBM antibodies in human renal disease will be reviewed.
First-principles calculations of lattice dynamics and thermodynamic properties for Yb14MnSb11

Systematic first-principles calculations were performed to study the lattice dynamics of Yb14MnSb11 and hence to obtain a wide range of its thermodynamic properties at high temperatures. The calculated results were analyzed in terms of the lattice contribution and the electronic contribution, together with a comparison with a collection of experimental thermochemical data. At 0 K, the electronic density of states showed the typical feature of a p-type semiconductor—a small amount of unoccupied electronic states exclusively made of the major spin by a range of ∼0.6 eV above the Fermi energy. It showed that the Mn atom had a ferromagnetic spin moment of ∼4 μB. As a semiconductor, it was found that the electronic contribution to the heat capacity was substantial, with an electronic heat capacity coefficient of ∼0.0006 J/mole-atom/K2.
Rents and entitlements: reassessing Africa’s urban pasts and futures

This article considers recent literature on contemporary urbanization in Africa that is united in its 'post-normative' orientation, firmly discarding the 'expectations' of modernization that so deeply shaped twentieth-century research on African cities. Best typified by the work of urban anthropologists such as Abdoumaliq Simone, this scholarship instead focuses on the 'vernacularization' of urban structures and strategies in Africa. While such work has developed a host of new insights into the idiosyncratic nature of African urbanization, it has largely eschewed comparative analysis of enduring economic strategies that lie at the heart of the massive growth of African cities. By focusing on the longer-term historical role of such processes – namely urban rents and urban price regulations – this article suggests a more comparative framework for the study of urban Africa that still accounts for the otherwise seemingly hyper-local and idiosyncratic forms of urban livelihoods and strategies. Key words: urban history, urbanization, consumption, rent, price controls
Sources of Moral Distress

Since Andrew Jameton defined the concept of moral distress over three decades ago, clinicians and ethicists have sought to define the phenomenon and understand its impact on professionals, patients, and organizations. Moral agency, a hallmark of professional practice, is essential for high-quality, person-centered health care. Identifying the root causes of moral distress, distinguished from other emotional stressors inherent in health care, is necessary to develop and study strategies to mitigate or prevent its negative consequences. First identified as a phenomenon nurses experienced in acute care practice, moral distress is now known to be experienced in a wide variety of clinical settings and by all professional groups. Descriptive studies have revealed root causes of moral distress that extend beyond institutional constraints and power hierarchies. As researchers have studied the phenomenon in other disciplines and practice norms have evolved, additional root causes have been identified through qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method studies. Clinicians and researchers continue to explore the phenomenon, proposing expanded definitions and revealing internal factors, practice patterns, and cultural norms and changing professional roles that contribute to our evolving understanding of this significant phenomenon. There is a relational aspect to moral distress; although experienced by individuals, it is shaped not only by the characteristics of each individual but also by the multiple contexts within which the individual is operating. It is imperative to understand the sources of moral distress to address the negative consequences for the health of professionals, patients, organizations, and communities.
Perceived Stress, Its Physiological Correlates, and Quality of Life in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic, common disorder of the gastrointestinal tract associated with high psychological comorbidity and diminished quality of life. Patients with IBS display a heightened sensitivity to stress, although the literature is inconsistent as to whether they have a dysregulated stress response. The purpose of the present investigation, a substudy of a larger research effort, was to examine physiological correlates of perceived stress in patients with IBS (cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone) and to explore associations between perceived stress and quality of life. A total of 101 participants (35 with IBS [predominant subtypes IBS-constipation and IBS-diarrhea] and 66 healthy controls [HCs]) completed self-report inventories regarding perceived stress and quality of life, and fasting peripheral blood was drawn. Participants with IBS did not differ from the HC in demographic or physiological measures but did differ in psychological measures, reporting significantly higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of quality of life. Perceived stress and quality of life were not significantly associated in IBS participants. However, differential findings of the stress response were found within IBS participants by sex, race, and subtype. These findings illustrate the heterogeneity of the IBS patient population, underscore the necessity of evaluating larger sample sizes and increasing the diversity of such samples to include males and ethnic minorities, and demonstrate the importance of taking an individualized approach to evaluation and treatment in the IBS patient population.
Development of a Local Cloud-Based Bioinformatics Architecture

Cloud computing has become increasingly popular as a means of providing computational resources to ubiquitous computing tasks. Our research specifically defines computing resource needs while developing an architecture for processing and analyzing microbiome data sets. We propose a specialized cloud architecture with processing capabilities defined by various toolchains and bioinformatics scripts. This “Bioinformatics-as-a-Service” cloud architecture, named BioCloud, is in the optimization stage for processing bioinformatic requests, and allowing multi-tenant access of resources through a simple to use web-based graphical user interface. We’ll be compiling a list of Bioinformatics tools, some of which will be discussed in this paper, that will be optional components in our Biocloud platform. These tools will become apart of the plug-and-play system envisioned by the BioCloud team.
Serial Echocardiographic Measurement of Left Ventricular Dimensions During Subacute and Acute Circulatory Stress

Eight normal male and 12 normal female volunteers were bed-rested for periods of two weeks to simulate the weightlessness of space flight. Serial echocardiograms assessed cardiac dimensions in the control state (C), after bed-rest (BR) and during lower bodv negative pressure (LBNP) circulatory stress. Changes of 10% magnitude, which were statistically significant, between C and BR values for end-diastolic volume and end-systolic volume were observed in the males. The C and BR comparison in females showed changes in stroke volume and cardiac output as well as enddiastolic volume. Dramatic changes were observed at the onset, during and with release of LBNP in both groups. These studies show that serial echocardiography measurements of left ventricular dimensions may give insight into cardiac changes during unstable circulatory states.
Mathematical Methods in Dna Topology: Applications to Chromosome Organization and Site-Specific Recombination

In recent years, knot theory and low-dimensional topology have been effectively used to study the topology and geometry of DNA under different spatial constraints, and to solve the topological mechanisms of enzymes such as site-specific recombinases and topoisomerases. Through continuous collaboration and close interaction with experimental biologists, many problems approached and the solutions proposed remain relevant to the biological community, while being mathematically and computationally interesting. In this paper, we illustrate the use of mathematical and computational methods in a variety of DNA topology problems. This is by no means an exhaustive description of techniques and applications, but is rather intended to introduce the reader to the exciting applications of topology to the study of DNA. Many more examples will be found throughout this book.
Artificial Neural Networks in Medical Monitoring: A Primer for Physicians

Humans excel at certain tasks. However, we perform some tasks poorly. For example we are: Excellent pattern recognizers (you can always recognize an old friend’s face). Fast estimators (“Duck! The ball is coming right at you!”). Poor calculators (Multiply 37 × 16).
Dividendenpolitik im Spektrum der Literatur

Seit uber 30 Jahren wird die Rolle der Dividendenpolitik von Aktiengesellschaften in der Literatur vieler Lander eingehend diskutiert. Die Meinungen bei diesem Thema divergieren, wie bei vielen wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Problemstellungen, sehr stark, so das bis heute die Frage nach einer optimalen Dividendenpolitik nicht umfassend beantwortet werden konnte.
Evaluating the Child with Short Stature

Short stature is a common pediatric problem that requires us to decide whether a child’s small size represents only normal variation or indicates the presence of an underlying disease. In a population of children two standard deviations (SD) below the mean for height (below the third percentile), about 20 per cent may be expected to have pathologic short stature with the remaining 80 per cent about equally divided between familial short stature and constitutional growth delay. In contrast, most children three SD below the mean for height have pathologic short stature. Set forth in this article is an orderly approach to identify normal variants of short stature and to investigate the causes of pathologic short stature.
Belief and Responsibility

Few would deny that folk psychology embodies some essential components of our view of ourselves as persons. The specific element of personhood that interests me is moral agency, the feature that grounds judgments of moral responsibility. An agent is morally responsible for a state of affairs only if he is the sort of being who can generally direct his behavior towards (and away from) states of affairs. Thus, we need a psychological theory that permits effort directed to an end or action guided by an intention. This would certainly not be possible unless human beings have beliefs and behavior is a function of belief.
Reactive Oxygen Species in Normal Physiology, Cell Injury and Phagocytosis

This presentation will examine major processes by which biological systems cope with reactive oxygen species (ROS). Peroxidation of membrane lipids will be considered as one example of the destructive processes that occur when ROS are not controlled by the protection systems that detoxify reactive species. In contrast, enzymatic peroxidation of arachidonic acid initiates the biosynthesis of chemotactic leukotrienes. Phagocytic cell formation of ROS by the “oxidative burst” will be examined because of its important role in the defense against invading organisms. The focus will be on the processes that stringently control activation of the NADPH oxidase of phagocytic cells.
Effect of chronic atropine administration on the rat urinary bladder.

Abstract Micturition is accomplished via a coordinated contraction of the urinary bladder body mediated primarily by muscarinic receptor stimulation. Theoretically, bladder function may be modified by pharmacologically altering either the muscarinic receptor density and/or the magnitude of the response to receptor activation. In the central nervous system, autonomic receptor density can be modified by chronic administration of specific receptor agonists and antagonists. The chronic administration of receptor agonists induces a decrease in the specific receptor density whereas the chronic administration of antagonists induces an increase in the specific receptor density. Although these induced alterations in receptor density occur in the CNS, there have been few studies on peripheral tissue. For the current study, we have administered L-atropine chronically to rats (five mg./kg./day) using implanted osmotic pumps. Using direct radioligand binding techniques, the muscarinic receptor density of the rat brain (cortex) and urinary bladder were determined following six hours, 12 hours, one, two, four, seven, 11 and 14 days of atropine administration. In addition, we have also determined the effect of atropine administration on bladder weight and the response of isolated strips of the bladder to bethanechol, a specific muscarinic agonist. For both the brain and the bladder, the receptor density increased progressively and reached a maximum by seven days. At 14 days of atropine administration, the density of muscarinic receptors in rat brain increased significantly (p This study demonstrates that the urinary bladder can respond to the chronic administration of atropine with a significant increase in the density of muscarinic receptors. The magnitude of the increase observed was slightly greater than the magnitude observed for muscarinic receptors isolated from the brain cortex.
The road less traveled: strategies to enhance the frequency of homology-directed repair (HDR) for increased efficiency of CRISPR/Cas-mediated transgenesis

Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), and to a lesser extent, the error-free pathway known as homology-directed repair (HDR) are cellular mechanisms for recovery from double-strand DNA breaks (DSB) induced by RNA-guided programmable nuclease CRISPR/Cas. Since NHEJ is equivalent to using a duck tape to stick two pieces of metals together, the outcome of this repair mechanism is prone to error. Any out-of-frame mutations or premature stop codons resulting from NHEJ repair mechanism are extremely handy for loss-of-function studies. Substitution of a mutation on the genome with the correct exogenous repair DNA requires coordination via an error-free HDR, for targeted transgenesis. However, several practical limitations exist in harnessing the potential of HDR to replace a faulty mutation for therapeutic purposes in all cell types and more so in somatic cells. In germ cells after the DSB, copying occurs from the homologous chromosome, which increases the chances of incorporation of exogenous DNA with some degree of homology into the genome compared with somatic cells where copying from the identical sister chromatid is always preferred. This review summarizes several strategies that have been implemented to increase the frequency of HDR with a focus on somatic cells. It also highlights the limitations of this technology in gene therapy and suggests specific solutions to circumvent those barriers. [BMB Reports 2018; 51(9): 437-443].
Differential Calculus of Zeon Functions

Analogous to real functions, zeon functions are defined as zeon-valued functions of a zeon variable. In this paper, formal criteria for continuity and differentiability of zeon functions are put on a rigorous footing and the “usual” differentiation rules are formally established. As special cases, zeon extensions of real functions and zeon functions of one real variable are considered.
Appendiceal cancer masked as inflammatory appendicitis in the elderly, not an uncommon presentation (Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare Analysis).

BACKGROUND The misdiagnosis of appendiceal cancer as inflammatory appendicitis is becoming of greater clinical concern because of the rise of nonoperative management especially in the elder population. To quantify this rate of misdiagnosis, we retrospectively reviewed SEER-Medicare data. METHODS The SEER-Medicare database was reviewed from 2000 to 2014. We identified patients older than 65 years old who were diagnosed with appendiceal cancer and then cross-referenced them for a diagnosis of inflammatory appendicitis. Demographic data and oncologic stage were collected. RESULTS Our results showed that 28.6% of appendiceal cancer patients received an incorrect initial diagnosis of inflammatory appendicitis. Patients older than 75 years of age were more likely to be misdiagnosed than those between ages 65 and 75 (risk ratio [RR]: 0.81; 95% confidence interval: 0.70-0.93; P = .003). We found that 42% of patients within the misdiagnosis group presented with an earlier stage of disease (stage 1 or 2) compared to 26% of those primarily diagnosed with appendiceal cancer (P < .001). CONCLUSION A significant proportion of patients older than 65 years old with appendiceal cancer were initially misdiagnosed with acute appendicitis. We suggest caution when considering a nonoperative approach for appendicitis in the elderly and follow-up imaging or an interval appendectomy should be part of the treatment plan.
Reintroduction of the European bison (Bison bonasus) in central-eastern Europe: a case study

European bison (Bison bonasus), a flagship species for the burgeoning re-wildling movement, faced challenges common to large mammals globally. These include deforestation, land use conversion, poac...
Chapter 32 – Atmospheres of the Giant Planets

The atmospheres of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are in many ways fundamentally different from the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets and they provide a variety of problems to test our understanding of how atmospheres work. These atmospheres are very deep and the internal energy for three of them (Uranus is the exception) is greater than the solar energy available to drive weather. Their rotation rates are fast and so the Coriolis force becomes more important, resulting in patterns of strong zonal (east–west) winds. Understanding the dominant physical processes that control the strengths, direction, and widths of the winds is still a very active area of research. This chapter highlights the salient features of the giant planet atmospheres, including their chemistry, clouds and colors, dynamics, and processes in the high atmosphere such as the aurora.
Exercise, Thyroid Secretion Rate and Lipid Metabolism in Rats

The effects of exercise on the thyroid hormone secretion rate (TSR) and lipid metabolism on young (2 months) and old (9 months) Sprague-Dawley rats were measured. TSR was effectively increased by exercise in both young and old animals. In the young TSR was increased by exercise, and in the old exercise negated the normal decline in TSR observed with advancing age. Serum cholesterol and serum and liver triglycerides (TG) were significantly higher in the older rats. Exercise lowered serum and liver TG in both age groups and lowered serum and liver cholesterol in the old animals and liver cholesterol in the young. All lipid levels studied were inversely correlated with TSR.
Detection and Quantification of Intergranular Corrosion Around Wing Skin Fasteners Using the Dripless Bubbler Ultrasonic Scanner

Corrosion in all its forms is detrimental to the structural integrity of an aircraft and the ability to detect and evaluate the extent of corrosion is of great importance to the airline maintenance community. The U.S. Air Force intends to extend the use of its transport aircraft well beyond their initial design lifetime and therefore has a need for nondestructive inspection (NDI) methods capable of corrosion detection and quantification. One area of concern in these aging aircraft is the corrosion originating from ferrous wing skin fasteners, particularly that which has progressed just beyond the perimeter of the fastener head but not yet visible as exfoliated material. In 1997, ARINC, Inc.[1] examined several NDI techniques for the Air Force Air Logistics Center in Oklahoma City, OK (OC-ALC) in an effort to identify those methods that demonstrate a high probability of detection (POD) and low probability of false alarms (POFA). Electromagnetic, ultrasonic and thermal techniques were applied to wing skin material samples containing corrosion around the fastener countersink [2].
Strategies to improve human papillomavirus vaccination rates among adolescents in family practice settings in the United States: A systematic review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To explore the interventions aimed at increasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates among adolescents in family practice settings. BACKGROUND HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, and the cause of thousands of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers annually. Although HPV infection can be prevented with recommended vaccination during adolescence, national HPV vaccine rates remain low. DESIGN Systematic review. METHODS Four databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library) were searched. The search was guided by PRISMA and by the question, 'What are targeted interventions that improve HPV vaccination rates among adolescents in family practice settings?' Articles were reviewed for study characteristics and appraised for quality using the revised Cochrane risk of bias tools. RESULTS Eleven studies met inclusion and exclusion criteria. Individual study size samples ranged from 749-147,294, with a combined total from all included studies of 276,205; the largest sample reviewed to date from family practice settings. Interventions used to increase HPV vaccination rates included reminder systems; provider and staff education; sensory incentives such as hitting a gong or petting a puppy; and iPad tailored messaging programmes. Studies that employed interventions pre-, during and postvisit were most effective in increasing HPV vaccination rates. CONCLUSIONS This review provides the largest data supporting multimodal strategies to increase HPV vaccination rates among adolescent populations. It provides strong evidence to suggest that vaccination rates can be improved using measures at varying times of the patient visit. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Adolescents seek health care in various settings. Many studies have examined interventions to increase HPV vaccination in paediatric settings, but few have examined interventions in family practice settings. This review suggests that family practices should implement multimodal measures before, during and after visits to increase HPV vaccination among adolescent patients.
Visual-vestibular mismatch correlates with headache.

BACKGROUND Dizziness affects 20-30%of the general population. A subgroup of dizzy patients with chronic migraine suffers vertigo implying that the migraine has a vestibular component. Vestibular migraine remains a diagnosis of exclusion based on history. OBJECTIVE A link between headaches and dizziness suggests that these individuals would demonstrate dizziness and instability in complex, dynamic visual environments as a result of an inability to correctly process conflicting visual and vestibular signals. METHODS A convenience sample of 74 patients (22 men and 52 women; average age 56.2 years) who presented with complaints of dizziness participated. Effects of Visual-Vestibular Mismatch (VVM) were measured using a modified VVM questionnaire. Visual dependence was measured as the error to subjective visual vertical using a computerized Rod and Frame test. RESULTS Forty-two participants (56.8%) tested positive for VVM. Of these, 68.9%were patients with concomitant complaints of headaches. Visual dependence was present in 41.5%of all patients but showed no significant correlation with headache. 22.2%of patients had visual dependence and complained of headaches. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that sensory reweighting occurs in patients experiencing dizziness and headache, supports the role of vestibular involvement in this disorder, and provides future direction for novel interventions.
Architecture-Level Energy Estimation for Heterogeneous Computing Systems

Due to the data and computation intensive nature of many popular data processing applications, e.g., deep neural networks (DNNs), a variety of accelerators have been proposed to improve performance and energy efficiency. As a result, computing systems have become increasingly heterogeneous, with application-specific processing offloaded from the CPU to specialized accelerators. To understand the energy efficiency of such systems, it is desirable to characterize holistically the energy consumption of the CPU, the accelerator, and the data transfers in between. We present a modularized architecture-level energy estimation framework that captures the energy breakdown across the various CPU and accelerator components with a unified energy estimation back-end that allows easy integration of accelerator modeling frameworks for emerging designs. Using DNN workloads as examples, we show that CPU-end preprocessing and data transfers to and from the accelerator can account for up to 45-50% of total energy when assessing the system as a whole. Related open-source code is available at https://accelergy.mit.edu.
Activity-Aware Deep Cognitive Fatigue Assessment using Wearables.

Cognitive fatigue has been a common problem among workers which has become an increasing global problem since the emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. While existing multi-modal wearable sensors-aided automatic cognitive fatigue monitoring tools have focused on physical and physiological sensors (ECG, PPG, Actigraphy) analytic on specific group of people (say gamers, athletes, construction workers), activity-awareness is utmost importance due to its different responses on physiology in different person. In this paper, we propose a novel framework, Activity-Aware Recurrent Neural Network (\emph{AcRoNN}), that can generalize individual activity recognition and improve cognitive fatigue estimation significantly. We evaluate and compare our proposed method with state-of-art methods using one real-time collected dataset from 5 individuals and another publicly available dataset from 27 individuals achieving max. 19% improvement.
A Rare Location of a Repeat Ectopic Pregnancy: A Case Report.

Ectopic pregnancies often recur in the same patients as its etiology is tubal damage, which is rarely unilateral. In the setting of a well-documented history of ectopic pregnancy in the past where a salpingectomy was performed, and the clinical picture now suggests another ectopic, it can be reasonably concluded that the ectopic is in the remaining tube. In the case we present here, the ultrasound findings also suggested a tubal pregnancy in the remaining tube. Therefore, it was a surprise to find a profusely bleeding ectopic gestation in the stump of the same tube (where salpingectomy was performed earlier) on laparoscopy.
Preparation and Characterization of Biofunctionalized Inorganic Substrates.

Integrating the function of biological molecules into traditional inorganic materials and substrates couples biologically relevant function to synthetic devices and generates new materials and capabilities by combining biological and inorganic functions. At this so-called “bio/abio interface,” basic biological functions such as ligand binding and catalysis can be co-opted to detect analytes with exceptional sensitivity or to generate useful molecules with chiral specificity under entirely benign reaction conditions. Proteins function in dynamic, complex, and crowded environments (the living cell) and are therefore appropriate for integrating into multistep, multiscale, multimaterial devices such as integrated circuits and heterogeneous catalysts. However, the goal of reproducing the highly specific activities of biomolecules in the perturbed chemical and electrostatic environment at an inorganic interface while maintaining their native conformations is challenging to achieve. Moreover, characterizing prot...
Does seeding after wildfires in rangelands reduce erosion or invasive species

Mitigation of ecological damage caused by rangeland wildfires has historically been an issue restricted to the western United States. It has focused on conservation of ecosystem function through reducing soil erosion and spread of invasive plants. Effectiveness of mitigation treatments has been debated recently. We reviewed recent literature to conduct a meta-analysis of seeding after wildfires to determine if seedings may (1) protect ecosystems against soil erosion and (2) reduce invasion or abundance of undesirable nonnative plant species. Effectiveness of postfire seedings was examined in 8 erosion and 19 invasive species cases. Seeding has little effect on erosion during the first year after fire and is highly dependent upon initial establishment and coverage of species in successive years. Among all seeding cases, 28% reduced, 67% were neutral, and 5% increased invasive species abundance. Older seedings were more likely to show reductions in invasives than younger seedings. Seedings with high plant establishment were more likely to reduce invasives than those with low establishment. Studies are needed that examine (1) frequency of adequate establishment of postfire seedings and causal factors of success or failure, (2) long-term impacts of seeding along a range of initial establishment and concomitant plant coverage over time as it relates to erosion and abundance of invasive plant species, and (3) auxiliary treatments designed to increase likelihood of germination and establishment given the inevitable variability of environmental conditions. These studies would aid land managers in deciding when postfire treatments are required and their likely level of success.
Diurnal excretion of estrogen and creatinine during pregnancy

Abstract Variation in renal clearance seems to be the most important cause for the diurnal variation of estrogen and creatinine excretion during pregnancy. The determination of the estrogen/creatinine ratio may allow the use of a single voided specimen to assess fetal well-being during the last trimester.