cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Progressive tracheal obstruction.

Eighteen cases of progressive tracheal obstruction seen at the Santa Clara County Medical Center, San Jose, over the last 8 years are described and analyzed. In 15 of the cases the obstruction was related to tracheal stenosis secondary to the trauma of tracheostomy or endotracheal intubation. The other three cases were the result of carcinoma. The literature on etiology, diagnosis, and operative approach is briefly reviewed. The importance of expeditious action is stressed, as is the need to be prepared for serious complications at all stages. A case is made for tracheal resection rather than dilation or debridement. In discussing the etiology of the cases, it is suggested that some patients have a hyperirritable tracheal mucosa and that the toxins of Staphylococcus or Pseudomonas may directly stimulate the proliferation of granulation tissue.
The Divine Essence and the Conception of God in Spinoza

I argue against a prevailing view that the essence of Godis identical with the attributes. I show that given what Spinoza says in 2d2 – Spinoza'spurported definition of the essence of a thing – the attributes cannot be identical withthe essence of God (whether the essence of God is understood as the distinct attributesor as a totality of indistinct attributes). I argue that while the attributes do notsatisfy the stipulations of 2d2 relative to God, absolutely infinite and eternal power does satisfythose stipulations. Hence, I conclude that absolutely infinite and eternal power is God'sessence and that the attributes are expressions of that power.
Communicating With Dying Patients and Their Families: Multimedia Training in End-of-Life Care.

Background:The need for end-of-life (EOL), high-impact education initiatives to prepare medical students to communicate with dying patients and their families and to cope with issues of death and dying, is well recognized.Methods:Third-year medical students (n = 224), during their ambulatory rotation, completed a multimedia EOL curriculum, which included pre-/posttests, an online case-based module, didactic presentation, and a tablet computer application designed to demonstrate the signs and symptoms seen in the last hours of life for families of dying patients. Pre- and posttests were compared using Pearson χ2 or Fisher exact test, and improvement was measured by weighted κ coefficient.Results:On preintervention surveys, the majority of students demonstrated positive attitudes toward the care of dying patients and their families. Despite this high pretest positive attitude, there was a statistically significant overall positive attitude change after the intervention. The lowest pretest positive attitudes...
Postmenopausal Endogenous and Exogenous Hormones, Degree of Obesity, Thiazide Diuretics, and Risk of Osteoporosis

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the relationship among thiazide diuretics, estrogen, both endogenous and exogenous, and the degree of obesity with bone mass and fractures among postmenopausal women. All of these factors may be interrelated to each other. Obese women have higher levels of circulating estrogens, reflecting the aromatization of androstenedione to estrone in fat tissue. When evaluating these relationships to bone mass and fracture risk, it is critical to consider the underlying factor of obesity. Thiazide diuretics may prevent hip fractures, but the underlying mechanisms for this effect are not known. More data are needed in normotensives before thiazide diuretics can be advocated for the prevention of osteoporotic fractures. Not only data on the efficacy of thiazide diuretics on fracture but also careful documentation of the risks and side effects of this therapy are needed. Obesity may be in the causal pathway among endogenous estrogens, bone mass, and fractures. In addition, there are other mechanisms for an effect of obesity on osteoporotic risk. Future research needs to identify this causal pathway to improve our understanding of the etiology of osteoporotic risk.
Biophysical and hydrological effects of future climate change including trends in CO2, in the St. Joseph River watershed, Eastern Corn Belt

Abstract Future climate change has the potential to significantly impact crop growth, both directly due to CO2 enhancement and indirectly, through temperature and moisture impacts. This work investigates the biophysical and hydrological effects of future climate change, including trends in CO2, in the St. Joseph River watershed, Eastern Corn Belt. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was first modified to take dynamic CO2 concentration as input. A regional crop leaf development curve from Landsat TM imagery was also used to adjust model performance in corn leaf area development for the historical period. A multi-objective calibration strategy was employed to ensure acceptable simulation of streamflow, seasonal crop growth and interannual crop yield simultaneously. The model was then driven by future climate change and CO2 data from three Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCMs), which are GFDL-CM2.1.1, NCAR-PCM1.3, and UKMO-HADCM3.1, under three Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES), including B1, A1 B and A2 to investigate crop and streamflow response in two future periods: the near future (2021–2050) and the far future (2061–2090). The St. Joseph River watershed is expected to experience more winter and spring precipitation, but slightly decreasing summer precipitation. Due to increasing temperature and decreasing summer moisture, more drought stress is predicted. Both annual total aeration and drought stress are projected to be more variable in both future periods. Although future CO2 enhancement will benefit the crop growth and final yield by improving radiation use efficiency (RUE) and reducing drought stresses, simulated corn yield still decreased by 6% in the near future period, and 16% in the far future period due to the combined effect of both climate change and CO2 enhancement. Streamflow redistribution is also predicted in the future. Stream discharge is projected to increase for the whole flow range in the near future period. For the far future period, high flows are expected to decrease, while low flows are expected to increase, indicating more hydrologic drought and flood events in the St. Joseph River watershed.
Broadband millimeter wave networks: Architectures and applications

The millimeter (mm) wave band from 60-95 GHz has the potential of transforming the broadband landscape by enabling multiGigabit indoor and outdoor wireless links, thus essentially closing the gap in speed between wireless and wireline communication technologies. In particular, the 60 GHz ldquooxygen absorptionrdquo band is ideally suited for short-range indoor (up to 10 meters range) and outdoor (up to 500 meters range) links at rates ranging from 1-5 Gbps, while the 70-95 GHz band enables long-range outdoor links (up to several kilometers range) whose rates can reach up to optical speeds of 40 Gbps. While mm wave technology has been employed in the past for military communication and radar, what makes it commercially interesting today is that implementation of mm wave transceivers in low-cost silicon semiconductor technology is now on the cusp of feasibility. In this paper, we illustrate the potential impact of mm wave communication technology on the telecom infrastructure in the context of two possible applications: last mile ldquowireless fiberrdquo links, and multiGigabit metro mesh networks.
Context-Aware Online Spatiotemporal Traffic Prediction

With the availability of traffic sensors data, various techniques have been proposed to make congestion prediction by utilizing those datasets. One key challenge in predicting traffic congestion is how much to rely on the historical data v.s. The real-time data. To better utilize both the historical and real-time data, in this paper we propose a novel online framework that could learn the current situation from the real-time data and predict the future using the most effective predictor in this situation from a set of predictors that are trained using historical data. In particular, the proposed framework uses a set of base predictors (e.g. A Support Vector Machine or a Bayes classifier) and learns in real-time the most effective one to use in different contexts (e.g. Time, location, weather condition). As real-time traffic data arrives, the context space is adaptively partitioned in order to efficiently estimate the effectiveness of each predictor in different contexts. We obtain and prove both short-term and long-term performance guarantees (bounds) for our online algorithm. Our experiments with real-world data in real-life conditions show that the proposed approach significantly outperforms existing solutions.
Ocular Infection in Children

Ocular infections in children are related to environmental factors and exposures that are age and developmentally dependent. Thus the site of infection may vary and be tissue dependent, whether it involves the orbit, conjunctiva, cornea, or retina, all giving clues to the etiology and time of primary inoculation. Age of presentation along with the site of infection helps to determine the most likely cause and location. Primarily, infectious ocular diseases in children can be divided in four broad categories. These include intrauterine and perinatal infections, ophthalmia neonatorum, conjunctivitis, and orbital and adnexal infections. Intrauterine and perinatal infections covered in this chapter include the TORCHES (toxoplasmosis; rubella; cytomegalovirus (CMV); herpes viruses, including Epstein-Barr; syphilis) and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. The section on ophthalmia neonatorum will primarily cover Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis. Viral and bacterial conjunctivitis will be discussed. Finally how to differentiate between preseptal and orbital cellulitis including treatments will be emphasized.
Managing Urban Growth in Oregon and California

The population of the West Coast exploded in the second half of the twentieth century, fueling building booms and industrial expansion. Concomitant with this spectacular urban growth were innovative attempts to manage it. The chapter examines the history of urban growth, environmental policies, and the social demographics in California and Oregon. In California, a string of medium-sized cities extending from the Central Coast to the periphery of Los Angeles were examined. The different policy avenues to Smart Growth are assessed and the context is established for a more in-depth analysis of the projects themselves.
Domestication of Animals

The domestication of animals is one of mankind’s most impactful inventions. When, where, and how did this important process begin and what impact has it left on our animals, environment, and our societies? Through the combined tools of modern archeology and genetics, more and more of the mysteries surrounding this critical choice are being uncovered. Seeing this invention as a process in the coevolution of species has become critical to our understanding of the biology of these animals as well as our own.
Trial by Jury in the New Russia: A Travelogue

This article is about the author's visit to Russia to teach criminal defense advocacy and the observations of a trial jury in the Moscow oblast.
An Investigation of Electrical and Dielectric Parameters of Sol–Gel Process Enabled $\beta $ -Ga2O3 as a Gate Dielectric Material

In this paper, $\beta $ -Ga2O3 thin films were grown on a p-Si substrate using the sol–gel method. Structural characterization of the films was performed using X-ray diffraction. Electrical parameters such as breakdown field, interface traps density ( ${D}_{\text {it}}$ ), and series resistance ( ${R}_{s}$ ) were investigated at room temperature. The interface trap density was found to be $10^{12}$ eV $^{-1}$ cm $^{-2}$ using the Hill–Coleman method. This result is valuable for MOS capacitor applications. Dielectric parameters were investigated in the wide frequency range (20 kHz–1 MHz) at room temperature. We observed that these parameters have a strong dependence on frequency and voltage.
Controls on Bacterial Cell Envelope Sulfhydryl Site Concentrations: The Effect of Glucose Concentration During Growth

Bacterial sulfhydryl sites can form strong complexes with chalcophilic metals such as Hg and Cd, thereby affecting the fate, transport, and bioavailability of these metals in both natural and engineered systems. In this study, five bacterial species were cultured in M9 minimal media containing a range of glucose concentrations as carbon source and in a high-nutrient TSB medium enriched with 50 g/L of glucose, and the sulfhydryl site concentrations of the obtained biomass samples were determined through selective sulfhydryl site-blocking, potentiometric titrations, and surface complexation modeling. The experimental results show that the glucose concentration in the M9 minimal media strongly affects the concentration of sulfhydryl sites that are present on the bacteria, with higher glucose concentrations yielding higher bacterial sulfhydryl site concentrations for each species studied. In contrast, although adding 50 g/L of glucose to the TSB medium significantly increases the sulfhydryl site concentration...
Management of Residual Tumor After Limited Subtotal Resection of Large Vestibular Schwannomas: Lessons Learned and Rationale for Specialized Care.

Background In an era where subtotal resection (STR) is increasingly used, we have encountered a growing number of patients referred to our institution with limited resection of large vestibular schwannomas (VSs), sometimes associated with grave complications. Our aim was to highlight lessons learned in the management of large VSs and provide a rationale for specialized care. Methods A prospectively maintained database of >2000 patients with VSs evaluated at our institution between 2000 and 2016 was reviewed. Details of 10 patients with residual tumor after limited subtotal resection were reviewed, with 3 presented in detail to illustrate key aspects of management. Results All but 1 patient underwent initial surgery at private hospitals without a designated skull base team. The median posterior fossa tumor diameter at the time of initial operation was 4.0 cm, whereas median diameter of residual tumor at the time of our evaluation was 3.5 cm. Before referral, 3 patients had undergone fractionated radiation therapy after their initial operation; 1 had undergone stereotactic radiosurgery. Four patients had moderate to severe facial weakness; 2 had permanent sequelae from stroke, including hemiparesis and blindness; and 7 had ongoing symptomatic brainstem compression and/or hydrocephalus. Conclusions Management of large VSs remains challenging, including treating presenting hydrocephalus, maximizing extent of resection while optimizing facial nerve outcome, and avoiding complications. Most cases should be approached with the intent of complete resection, realizing that subtotal resection may become necessary based on intraoperative findings.
Effects of Climate Change on Cold-Water Fish in the Northern Rockies

Decreased snowpack with climate warming will shift the timing of peak streamflows, decrease summer low flows, and in combination with higher air temperature, increase stream temperatures, all of which will reduce the vigor of cold-water fish species. Abundance and distribution of cutthroat trout and especially bull trout will be greatly reduced, although effects will differ by location as a function of both stream temperature and competition from non-native fish species. Increased wildfire will add sediment to streams, increase peak flows and channel scouring, and raise stream temperature by removing vegetation.
Social Media in Disaster Communication

This chapter surveys the rapid rise of social media in a range of disaster experiences, reviewing topics of citizen reporting, community-oriented computing, distributed problem solving, and digital volunteerism as forms of socio-technical innovation, as well as topics of situational awareness and veracity as opportunities and challenges that arise from the social media data deluge. The chapter also reviews the research that examines the inclusion of social media technology and data in existing emergency management work. In reflecting on the decade-old field of research, the authors warn of the danger of inadvertently collapsing all “crisis” experiences together without distinction, which tends to happen because social media platforms cross-cut all emergency situations. In an attempt to isolate what social media newly contributes, the tendency is to fail to consider how non-technological factors strongly influence the use of social media itself on collective socio-behavioral scales.
Older Adults Undergoing Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty: Chronicling Changes in Their Multimorbidity Profile in the Last Two Decades.

Abstract Background Despite the ubiquitous use of total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in older adults, little is known about the multimorbidity (MM) profile of this patient population. This study evaluates the temporal trends of MM, hypothesizing that patients with MM have had an increasingly greater representation in THA and TKA patients over time. Methods Data on a US representative sample of older adults from the linked Health and Retirement Study and Medicare data from 1993 to 2012 were used. The Health and Retirement Study is a biennial survey that collects data on a broad array of measures, including self-reported chronic conditions and geriatric syndromes, which were used to account for MM. Medicare data were used to identify fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries who underwent THA (n = 479) or TKA (n = 998) during the study years, which were grouped into 3 periods: 1993-1999, 2000-2006, and 2007-2012. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to obtain age-, gender-, and race-adjusted time trends for MM. Results Compared to the earliest study period, and for both THA and TKA patients, there were significantly fewer patients with stroke and/or poor cognitive performance in the most recent study period. In addition, more TKA than THA patients presented with 2+ chronic conditions. Nearly 70% presented with co-occurring chronic conditions and geriatric syndromes, and this percentage did not change significantly over time. Conclusion The high representation of THA and TKA patients presenting with co-occurring chronic conditions and geriatric syndromes in this patient population warrants detailed exploration of the effects of geriatric syndromes on postoperative outcomes.
The Effects of Reviewer Expertise On Future Reputation, Popularity, and Financial Performance of Hotels: Insights From Data-Analytics

Although the impacts of reviews provided by reviewers with expertise are well documented, the literature lacks empirical research on how such reviews are longitudinally linked to performance indicators and whether management responses to such reviews lead to differential impacts on these indicators. This study investigates the effects of reviewer expertise on hotels’ online reputation, online popularity, and financial performance. Using a large data set of management responses and online reviews from 730 hotels over 26 quarters, matched with quarterly financial performance data, the authors found that the effects of average ratings and the number of reviews on hotels’ subsequent financial performance are attenuated when reviewer expertise increases. The study also demonstrates that business benefits are enhanced if hotels target reviewers of higher expertise when providing management responses to online reviews. Results suggest that when managing electronic word-of-mouth, practitioners should take strateg...
The Form of Concentration

ONE OF THE MORE TALKED ABOUT contemporary poems of this decade has been Robert Hass's "Meditation at Lagunitas." Hass in a single poem weaves "the luminous clarity of a general idea" with a childhood memory, with a primer on semiotics, with a tale of sexual love, with a densely musical catalog of particulars. These threads, clashing it would seem in content, create a tightly interlaced fabric. As the Hass poem exem plifies, the meditative poem is a hybrid of the lyric and the narrative, cer tainly taking the strengths of those two methods of speaking, but resem bling itself more than either of its parents. The meditation is most easily recognized as zform by its marriage of dissociated contents toward the analysis of an idea. If we look at "Meditation at Lagunitas," we see that the meditation is not a form of ornamentation, structured by patterns of sound, but a form of concentration, structured by patterns of thought. To call the meditation a form is, perhaps, a wrong step, considering the commerce in the term formalism these days. The shape I hope to discuss is not easily described or prescribed. There are no beats, syllables or lines to count. There is no predetermined pattern to fulfill. This^orm is not a vessel into which any fluid can be poured. Like the ode and the elegy, the shape we see of the meditation is the shape of that which fills it. If we look at the Hass poem we see that the shape is in the intertwinings of the rhetoric, the stories, and the images. The poem's machinery, its argument, works with a grace and subtlety. At its best a meditative poem attempts to confront intellectual, philosophical, or spiritual concerns. And, as T. S. Eliot says in his essay on The Metaphysical Poets, "our only condition is that . . . [the poet] . . . turn them into poetry, and not merely meditate upon them poetically." II
Views of Testicular Function from Antiquity to the Present

Interestingly enough, the earliest references to alteration of the testis have to do with varicocele. Celsus (Born ca. 25 AD) spoke of cirsocele (varicocele): “When the disease has spread also over the testicle and its cord, the testicle sinks a little lower and becomes smaller than its fellow inasmuch as its nutrition has become defective.”
Temperature Dependence of the Electron Bubble Mobility Below 0.3°K

The temperature dependence of the mobility of the electron bubble in superfluid helium has been calculated1 using a hydrodynamic approach for the phonon-bubble scattering cross section. This calculation explains the observed T −3 dependence of previous experimental data2 in the range 0.33–0.5°K as arising from a prominent s-wave resonance in the bubble cross section for thermal phonons. Furthermore, this calculation predicts that the mobility at lower temperatures should rise more sharply than T −3. At very low temperature (T < 80 m°K) the mobility should vary as T −8. This behavior is characteristic of Rayleigh scattering. We have extended the measured temperature range down to 0.15°K and have observed that the mobility indeed increases faster than T −3.
APOPTOSIS OF PHOTORECEPTORS AND LENS FIBER CELLS WITH CATARACT AND MULTIPLE TUMOR FORMATION IN THE EYES OF TRANSGENIC MICE LACKING THE P53 GENE AND EXPRESSING THE HPV 16 E7 GENE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE IRBP PROMOTER

Because of the clinical heterogeneity of human inherited retinal degenerations, we have initiated a study to seek common themes in the pathogenesis of cell death of photoreceptors by apoptosis. The interstitial retinol binding protein (IRBP) promoter was used to drive expression of the human papilloma virus 16 (HPV 16) E7 gene in the retina and other ocular tissues in mice. The result is the death of photoreceptors as they undergo terminal differentiation. Lens fiber cells also die after a period of inappropriate proliferation and abnormal differentiation to form cataracts. Cross-breeding these transgenic mice to mice lacking the p53 gene leads to formation of several ocular tumors by one month of age if both copies of the p53 gene are missing. With one copy of the gene, the mice develop retinal tumors after a much longer latency and at a lower incidence; the tumors that do arise have lost their normal copy of the gene. The lack of the p53 gene does not eliminate apoptosis of either the retina or the lens in these transgenic mice although the rate of destruction of photoreceptors is slightly delayed. The retinal tumors apparently arise from precursors that survive amid a dying cell layer.
Severing Ties: Different Responses of Larval and Adult Aquatic Insects to Atrazine and Selenium.

Aquatic insects link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through their metamorphosis and subsequent transition from water to land. Chemical stressors in freshwater, such as agricultural contaminants, can potentially disrupt insect life cycles and reduce the number of insects emerging as terrestrial adults, thereby damaging or severing this linkage. Atrazine and selenium, though frequently detected in waterways and often co-occurring, have not been previously studied together in controlled experiments. We conducted a six-week mesocosm experiment to measure the responses of larval and emerging aquatic insects to treatments of atrazine (15 μg/L), selenium (10 μg/L), and a direct combination of the two. Peak adult insect abundance was reduced in all treatments by 35% to 45% relative to the control. Further, cumulative adult emergence in the combined treatment was 33% lower than in the control. However, no reductions in primary production were observed with treatments, and consistent reductions in benthic insec...
Structures of Biological Minerals

The basic chemical and physical properties of ionic crystals reside in their structures. Structures of the following compounds of biological interest are described: calcium phosphates, a urate, calcium carbonates, and calcium oxalates. To a considerable degree their properties are affected by the presence of impurities and lattice defects in the crystals. In keeping with this, the kinds and locations of impurities and defects in hydroxyapatite are discussed, with special reference to how these affect the transport of ions along the hexagonal channels of hydroxyapatite. The crystal structure of octacalcium phosphate, which has a special relationship to that of hydroxyapatite, is described. The ways in which octacalcium phosphate may affect the growth mechanisms, impurity-defect content, morphology, stoichiometry, and chemical properties of hydroxyapatite are described. It is shown that much of the variability in the chemistry of the β-Ca3(PO4)2-whitlockite series of compounds resides in one of the 21 calciums in a unit cell. It is suggested that the hydrated compounds in all these series of biominerals may have special roles during the nucleation stage, and subsequently because they usually grow more rapidly than the anhydrous forms. The structure of CaCO3·6H2O contains CaCO3 ion pairs entirely isolated from each other by surrounding water molecules; this structural unit may participate in various important biochemical processes.
Compact Rare-Earth-Doped Microring Lasers Monolithically Integrated on Silicon Chips

Rare-earth-doped waveguide lasers have shown significant promise for silicon photonics lasers for their inexpensive, straightforward, and monolithic integration methods [1,2]. In an effort to reduce the device size and threshold, high quality factor whispering gallery mode cavities have been shown in microtoroid and microdisk lasers [3]. However, such lasers require external fiber coupling and total isolation on the chip surface. In this paper, we report a novel integration scheme to demonstrate a true monolithic, sub-milliwatt threshold and single-mode erbium and ytterbium laser operation by 980 nm pump. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of pulley-coupled design for 1480 nm pump for erbium-doped microring laser.
Recovery of Innate Lymphoid Cells after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant in a Pediatric Population: A Single Institution Pilot Study.

Background Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a subset of innate immune cells that mimic the functions of T lymphocytes, but lack rearranged antigen receptors or clonal expansion in response to antigens. They are characterized in human peripheral blood as Lin− (CD3, CD1a, CD4, CD14, CD16, CD19, CD34, CD94, CD303, FceRI) CD127+ cells. ILCs are divided into three sub-groups: ILC type 1, 2 and 3. The recovery of these cells after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) in the pediatric population has not been described. Objectives The primary objective is to study the recovery of ILCs after aHSCT in pediatric patients. The secondary objective was to determine if recovery of ILCs correlated with the incidence or severity of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Methods We are conducting a prospective study, enrolling consecutive patients undergoing aHSCT at our institution. After approval from local IRB, the study opened in May 2019. Blood samples are drawn from patients prior to the conditioning regimen, and then weekly starting on day 0 until day +30 (+/- 3 days except day 0), then on day +60, day +90 and day +180. All blood samples are analyzed on the same day by flow cytometry along with a healthy control (thawed frozen peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMCs]), serving as the positive control. Results All eligible patients have consented to the study. Six have been enrolled through September 2019; with the following demographics: median age is 9 years (range 21 months-18 years); 2 malignant, 4 non-malignant; matched sibling (n = 1), unrelated (n = 4 complete match, n=1 mismatched 9/10). All patients received donor bone marrow. Conditioning regimens were variable depending on the indication for transplant, with fludarabine, busulfan and individualized dose rATG being the most commonly utilized regimen (67%). GVHD prophylaxis for all patients was tacrolimus with mini-methotrexate. We observed substantial drop in number of ILCs in response to conditioning regimen in all patients, with nadir on day +14 that plateaued through day +30, followed by recovery by day +60 (figure 1). The one patient who has day +90 sample had a complete recovery of total number of ILCs. Similar trend was seen in type 2 ILCs (Lin− CD127+ CRTH2+) and Type 3 ILCs (Lin− CD127+ CRTH2-ve CD117+) while type 1 ILCs (Lin− CD127+ CRTH2− CD117−) showed a slower drop, reaching a nadir on day +21 with slow recovery by day +60. Interestingly, patients who had GVHD (n = 3), had a higher number of ILCs compared to patients who did not develop GVHD (n = 3) on day 0 (p = 0.0781, 2way ANOVA) (Figure 2). This pattern was statistically significant in type 1 ILCs between the two groups of patients on day 0 (p = 0.0062, 2way ANOVA) (Figure 3). Conclusion It is feasible to prospectively study the recovery of ILCs in the post aHSCT pediatric population. We plan to enroll additional patients allowing us to better evaluate a possible correlation between ILCs and GVHD.
Flow Visualization of the Leading Edge Vortices on Slender Wings Undergoing Large Amplitude Unsteady Motions

An experimental wind tunnel investigation was performed using a 70° sweep delta wing. Flow visualization and surface pressure tests were conducted in order to relate the aerodynamic loads to the vortex flow characteristics for both steady and unsteady cases. For ranges of motion precluding the occurrence of vortex breakdown, quasi-steady behavior was seen. For ranges including very high angles of attack, large unsteady effects were measured. The unsteady breakdown location was then correlated with the unsteady surface pressure data.
Psychometric evaluation of condition-specific instruments used to assess health-related quality of life and related constructs in aphasia

Aphasia affects approximately one-third of stroke survivors and has a significant impact on their health-related quality of life (HRQL). This study assessed the psychometric properties of HRQL inst...
Thyroid-stimulating hormone reference ranges for moderate-to-late preterm infants.

Background Identifying congenital hypothyroidism through newborn screening (NBS) is higher among moderate-to-late preterm (MLPT) infants. Currently, the same thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) cutoffs are used for term and preterm infants. TSH reference ranges for MLPT infants are not currently available. Objective To determine TSH reference ranges for MLPT infants. Methods We analyzed 10,987 TSH levels on NBS samples performed on 8499 MLPT infants born between 32 and 36 weeks gestation. Results TSH median, 5th, 25th, 75th, 95th, and 99th percentiles were defined from day 1 until day 14 of life. TSH levels gradually decreased after birth and reached a plateau around day 6. Conclusion Using a state-wide cohort, we constructed TSH reference charts from day 1 until day 14 for MLPT infants. Relationship between age-adjusted TSH percentiles and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes should be determined in future studies to define optimal TSH cutoffs for MLPT infants.
A theoretical and empirical assessment of authoritarianism’s effects on behavior, attendance, and performance in urban school systems

Authoritarian school safety measures have become commonplace in efforts to promote safety in today’s schools. This paper attempts to examine the effects of student engagement with authoritarianism ...
Water levels affect photosynthesis and nutrient use more than salinity in a scrub Red Mangrove forest of the southeastern Florida Everglades

Photosynthesis is an essential process to mangrove forest carbon cycling, which plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle. We investigated how differences in mangrove island micro-elevation (i.e., habitat) affect tree physiology in a scrub mangrove forests of the southeastern Everglades. We measured leaf gas exchange rates of scrub Rhizophora mangle trees monthly during 2019, hypothesizing that CO2 assimilation (Anet) and stomatal conductance (gsw) would decline with increases in water level and salinity, with larger differences at mangrove islands edges than centers, where inundation and salt stress are greatest. Water levels varied between 0 and 60 cm, rising during the wet season (May-October) relative to the dry season (November-April). Porewater salinity ranged from 15 to 30 ppt, being higher at mangrove island edges compared to centers. Anet maximized at 15.1 μmol m-2 s-1, and gsw was typically
Laparoscopic optical coherence tomography system for 3D bladder tumor detection

Early and accurate detection of neoplastic changes remains a critical challenge in bladder cancer diagnosis and treatment. Using existing cystoscopy guided techniques, direct visualization of the tumor is limited to the surface of the bladder. Assessment of sub-surface three-dimensional (3D) tumor extension and sub-surface tumor margin is a challenge. In our study, we developed a laparoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging platform based on a rigid Gradient Index (GRIN) lenses (diameter ~ 4.5 mm) for imaging subsurface bladder tissues. Bladder tissues from UPII-SV40T mice models were imaged by this system ex vivo and algorithm was developed to quantify sub-surface tumor extension.
Integral line-of-sight path following control of magnetic helical microswimmers subject to step-out frequencies

Abstract This paper investigates the problem of straight-line path following for magnetic helical microswimmers. The control objective is to make the helical microswimmer to converge to a straight line without violating the step-out frequency constraint. The proposed feedback control solution is based on an optimal decision strategy (ODS) that is cast as a trust-region subproblem (TRS), i.e., a quadratic program over a sphere. The ODS-based control strategy minimizes the difference between the microrobot velocity and an integral line-of-sight (ILOS)-based reference vector field while respecting the magnetic saturation constraints and ensuring the absolute continuity of the control input. Due to the embedded integral action in the reference vector field, the microswimmer will follow the desired straight line by compensating for the drift effect of the environmental disturbances as well as the microswimmer weight.
Definition and time course of pericavity edema after minimally invasive endoscopic intracerebral hemorrhage evacuation.

Background Perihematomal edema (PHE) volume correlates with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) volume and is associated with functional outcome. Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for ICH decreases clot burden and PHE. MIS may therefore alter the time course of PHE, mitigating a critical source of secondary injury. Objective To describe a new method for the quantitative measurement of cerebral edema surrounding the evacuated hematoma cavity, termed pericavity edema (PCE), and obtain details of its time course following MIS for ICH. Methods The study included 48 consecutive patients presenting with ICH who underwent MIS evacuation. Preoperative and postoperative CT scans were assessed by two independent raters. Hematoma, edema, cavity, and pneumocephalus volumes were calculated using semi-automatic, threshold-guided volume segmentation software (AnalyzePro). Follow-up CT scans at variable delayed time points were available for 36 patients and were used to describe the time course of PCE. Results Mean preoperative, postoperative, and delayed PCE were 21.0 mL (SD 15.5), 18.6 mL (SD 11.4), and 18.4 mL (SD 15.5), respectively. The percentage of ICH evacuated correlated significantly with a decrease in postoperative PCE (r=−0.46, p Conclusions We present a detailed and accurate method for measuring PCE volume with semi-automatic, threshold-guided segmentation software in the postoperative patient with ICH. Decrease in PCE after MIS evacuation correlated with evacuation percentage, and relative PCE remained stable after minimally invasive endoscopic ICH evacuation.
The 'Essential' Second Amendment

Constitutional litigation over the Second Amendment has followed a familiar pattern. In the decade since Heller and McDonald, countless cases have turned on a foundational question: how much danger does the weapon pose? But in 2020, the courts were suddenly presented with a novel constitutional question: how much danger does obtaining the weapon pose? During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments enacted complete prohibitions on the acquisition of firearms. Willing buyers were ready to comply with all extent gun-control regulations. But these governments shuttered firearm stores completely. These policies were adopted not to stop the sale of guns, but to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. In short order, these governments deemed the Second Amendment as “non-essential.” The ability to purchase firearms was treated no differently than the ability to purchase other conveniences. Still, the practices in the overwhelming majority of the states reflected what should be a basic tenet of constitutional law: enumerated fundamental constitutional rights must be “essential” rights. And the state cannot impose an absolute and arbitrary prohibition on the exercise of the essential Second Amendment. This article proceeds in four parts. Part I considers what the word “essential” really means. Part II undertakes a fifty-state survey of restrictions imposed on the right to keep and bear arms during the pandemic. Part III analyzes another metric to decide whether the right to keep and bear arms is essential: the people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, gun sales surged. In times of civil unrest, millions of Americans viewed the acquisition of firearms as essential. Part IV revisits two district court decisions that upheld restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms during the pandemic. These cases followed the framework Chief Justice Roberts established in South Bay Pentecostal Church v. Newsom. These courts should have followed the framework Justice Kavanaugh established Calvary Chapel v. Sisolak, and the Supreme Court formally adopted in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo. If any businesses are treated as “essential,” firearm stores must presumptively be afforded that same status. The right to keep and bear arms ought to be afforded “most-favored status.” And the state must justify its decision to deprive people of their right to keep and bear arms. The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated once again that in times of crisis, the government will forcibly separate the people and their arms. The people must be vigilant to protect this “essential” right.
Liver Dysfunction Associated With In-Hospital Mortality in Adult Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Support.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support is a powerful clinical tool that is currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Wider use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support is limited by its significant risk profile and extreme consumption of resources. This study examines the role of markers of liver dysfunction in predicting outcomes of adult patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support. DESIGN Retrospective review. SETTING Large extracorporeal membrane oxygenator center, Chicago, IL. PATIENTS This study reports a single institution experience examining all adult patients for whom extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support was used over an 8-year period. Data were collected regarding patient demographics, details of extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support provided, laboratory data, and outcomes. Trends in liver function were examined for their ability to predict survival. INTERVENTION Extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support, critical care. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Mean age was 50 years (range, 19-82 yr). There were 86 male patients (56.6%) and 66 female patients (43.4%). Indications for initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support included cardiac 76 patients (50.0%), respiratory 48 patients (31.6%), extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation 21 patients (13.3%), and combined cardiac/respiratory seven patients (4.6%). Mean duration of extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support was 17 days (range 1-223 d) or median 8 days (interquartile range, 4-17 d). Overall, in-hospital mortality was 56% (86/152). Forty-five percent of adult patients (68/152) surpassed at least one of the following established liver dysfunction thresholds: total bilirubin greater than 15 mg/dL, aspartate aminotransferase greater than 20× upper limit of normal, and alanine aminotransferase greater than 20× upper limit of normal. The multivariable logistic analysis yielded three significant findings associated with in-hospital mortality: highest total bilirubin greater than 15 (adjusted odds ratio = 4.40; 95% CI, 1.19-21.87; p = 0.04), age (adjusted odds ratio = 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.05; p = 0.04), and highest lactate (adjusted odds ratio = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.06-1.26; p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Increases in age, highest total bilirubin, and lactate all correlated with in-hospital mortality in multivariable analysis of patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenator support.
Chapter 12 Diffusion in rare earth metals

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses diffusion in rare earth metals. Diffusion studies offer an insight into the interaction between the atoms in a metal with various defects such as vacancies, interstitials, and dislocations. The rare earth elements constitute about one fourth of all existing metals. They form a group of elements closely related in their chemical, physical, and metallurgical properties. In particular, most rare earth metals possess a similar electronic structure while other relevant properties vary in a gradual, systematic manner. Thus, it appears that the rare earth metals constitute, potentially at least, favorable systems for the study of some of the basic factors that determine diffusion mechanisms in metallic systems. Experimental techniques using radioactive tracer methods are considered as being the most reliable and accurate for the determination of self or solute diffusion coefficients in metals. The great majority of the diffusion studies in rare earth metals is carried out using the thin layer sectioning or grinding of samples, which had previously been coated by a surface layer of radioactive tracers.
Microcomputer Control of a Robotic Arm in a Distributed Computing Environment

Current trends in automation indicate a proliferation of programmable robotic arms in manufacturing plants. These arms typically have small local control computers and also are tied into larger computer systems for purposes of coordination and global control. This paper (1) analyzes such networks in terms of the principles of hierarchically intelligent control, (2) derives some design principles for a local control node in such network and (3) reports the implementation details and results for a prototype microcomputer control node.
Long-Range Electron Transfer across Cytochrome−Hematite (α-Fe2O3) Interfaces†

Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy was used to assess the distance dependence of electron transfer facilitated by a bacterial multiheme cytochrome to a single crystal iron oxide surface. We measured tunneling current-distance (I-s) profiles across the nanoscale space between Au STM tips and the basal (001) surface of a hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) crystal and compared them to the case in which an intervening small tetraheme cytochrome (STC) from Shewanella oneidensis was covalently linked to the end of the Au tip. Tunneling profiles were collected at constant surface potentials in solutions having a range of ionic strengths. For the case without intervening cytochrome, at short tip-sample separation, the distance dependence of the tunneling current shows a quasi-linear behavior, whereas at longer distances, near-exponential decay is observed. The different regions can be understood first in terms of reduction of interfacial water and ion layers in the electrical double layer associated with the hematite surface, followed by electron tunneling through bulk water. The effective tunneling range and the transition between the two conduction mechanisms are substantially increased when STC is present in the tunneling junction, suggesting that cytochrome molecules provide enhanced tunneling pathways and stronger electronic coupling to the hematite surface. On the basis of these results, cytochrome-mediated electron transfer during bacterial metal reduction may be possible at distances farther than originally speculated. In addition, as multiheme cytochromes and other similar molecules gain attention for their promising role in fuel cells and molecular electronics, we demonstrate that the solution conditions and surface properties of the substrate must be carefully considered.
Three Laboratory Methods for Measuring Thermal Resistivity Dryout Curves of Coarse-Grained Soils

Thermal resistivity dryout curves (TRDCs) are measured for twelve sandy soils representing a range of grain characteristics and grain size distribution. Experiments are conducted using three laboratory methods for comparison: (i) an instrumented hanging column apparatus for concurrent measurement of the TRDC and soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) during drainage, (ii) a staged-drying method involving a single specimen subject to discrete drying increments in a 50°C oven, and (iii) a multiple-specimen method involving compaction of multiple specimens prepared at different water contents for independent thermal resistivity measurements. TRDCs obtained using the three methods were comparable (within ∼10 %). The instrumented hanging column method produces the most robust TRDCs, but potentially overestimates thermal resistivity at relatively high saturations. The staged-drying method may produce slightly lower resistivity due to elevated soil temperature at the time of the measurement. The multiple-specimen and staged-drying methods potentially overestimate thermal resistivity at low saturation due to contact resistance and sample disturbance resulting from probe insertion and removal. TRDCs using the multiple-specimen, staged-drying, and hanging column method were obtained in about 1 day, 10 days, and 23 days, respectively.