cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A follow‐up survey of clinical practices for the use of heparin, warfarin, and aspirin

Objective: To determine whether anticoagulation practices have changed when heparin and warfarin are used to treat cerebrovascular disease, and to determine the dosage of aspirin used to treat carotid territory transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). Background: A 1987 study documented that neurologists and neurology house officers were using excessive amounts of heparin and warfarin. Recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of low-intensity anticoagulation for preventing strokes, but no data are available on how these findings have affected the treatment practices of clinicians. Design/Methods: Questionnaires were sent to neurology staff at 10 medical centers. The questions dealt with the use of heparin, warfarin, and aspirin in stroke/transient ischemic attack patients. The nonparametric Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for analyzing the responses. Results: Ninety-three physicians responded compared with 52 in the prior study. Most (56 of 92; 61%) did not use an IV heparin bolus. The mean partial thromboplastin time (PTT) was 55 seconds, which was significantly less than the mean PTT of 62 seconds ( p = 0.006) in the prior study. The mean prothrombin time (PT) fell to 16.0 seconds (range, 12.5 to 20.0) compared with a mean of 19.9 seconds (range, 15.0 to 27.0; p p Conclusions: At the centers studied, neurologists and neurology house officers are using less intense anticoagulation when treating stroke patients now than in 1986. This concurs with recent studies demonstrating the efficacy and safety of low-intensity anticoagulation in some clinical settings. The use of 325 mg/d of aspirin is common, although the data supporting its efficacy compared with higher doses are unclear.
Epidemiology of hypertensive kidney disease

The prevalence of hypertension, chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) attributable to hypertension continues to rise worldwide. Identifying the precise prevalence of CKD attributable to hypertension is difficult owing to the absence of uniform criteria to establish a diagnosis of hypertensive nephropathy. Despite the increasing prevalence of CKD-associated hypertension, awareness of hypertension among individuals with CKD remains suboptimal and rates of blood-pressure control remain poor. Targeted subgroups involved in studies of CKD seem to reach better rates of blood-pressure control, suggesting that this therapeutic goal can be achieved in patients with CKD. Elevated blood-pressure levels are associated with CKD progression. However, the optimal blood-pressure level and pharmacological agent remains unclear. Physicians treating patients with CKD must recognize the importance of maintaining optimal salt and volume balance to achieve blood-pressure goals. Furthermore, agents that modify the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis can be an important adjunct to therapy and physicians must monitor expected changes in serum creatinine and electrolyte levels after their administration. Hypertension remains a common factor complicating CKD. Future investigations identifying early signs of hypertension-related CKD, increasing awareness of the effects of hypertension in CKD and determining optimal therapeutic interventions might help reduce the incidence of hypertensive nephropathy.
Extinction cascades and catastrophe in ancient food webs

A model is developed to explore the potential responses of paleocommunities to disruptions of primary production during times of mass extinction and ecological crisis. Disruptions of primary production are expected to generate bottom-up cascades of secondary extinction, and these are predictable given species richnesses, functional diversity, and trophic link distributions. If, however, consumers are permitted to compensate for the loss of trophic resources by increasing the intensities of their remaining biotic interactions, top-down driven catastrophic increases of secondary extinction emerge from the model. Both bottom-up and top-down effects are themselves controlled by the geometry of the food webs. The general Phanerozoic trends of increasing taxonomic and ecological diversities, as well as the varying strengths of biotic interactions, have led to food webs of increasing complexity. The frequency of catastrophic secondary extinction increases as food web complexity increases, but increased complexity also serves to dampen the magnitude of the secondary extinctions. When intraguild competitive interactions are included in the model, competitively inferior taxa are observed to possess greater probabilities of survival if the guilds are embedded in simple subnetworks of the overall food web. The result is the emergence of postextinction guilds dominated by those inferior taxa. These results are congruent with empirical observations of “disaster taxa” dominance after some mass extinction events, and provide a mechanism for the reorganization of ecosystems that is observed after those events. The model makes the testable prediction that dominance by disaster taxa, however, should be observed only when bottom-up disruptions have caused ecosystems to collapse catastrophically.
Doing community-driven research: a description of Seattle Partners for Healthy Communities.

Seattle Partners, an Urban Research Center (URC) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a partnership of community agency representatives, community activists, public health professionals, academics, and health care providers whose mission is to improve the health of urban Seattle, Washington, communities by conducting community-based participatory research. This article describes the development and characteristics of Seattle Partners. Using primarily qualitative methods, including periodic in-depth interviews, evaluators identified the components necessary for Seattle Partners to maintain a collaborative and establish a research center driven by community interests. Seattle Partners is run by an unrestricted and inclusive board that has spent 5 years developing both an operating structure and various research interventions. Operating under Community Collaboration Principles, the board identified social determinants of health as the priority area in which to work. Collaboration, “small and concrete” accomplishments, skilled individuals, and funder support directly influence the success of the center. Decision making, project selection, and board composition have all been, challenges to work through. Learning how to do and sustain the work are lessons, being learned as Seattle Partners matures.
Sorghum mutant RG displays antithetic leaf shoot lignin accumulation resulting in improved stem saccharification properties.

Background Improving saccharification efficiency in bioenergy crop species remains an important challenge. Here, we report the characterization of a Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) mutant, named REDforGREEN (RG), as a bioenergy feedstock.
Serpentinite and the dawn of life

Submarine hydrothermal vents above serpentinite produce chemical potential gradients of aqueous and ionic hydrogen, thus providing a very attractive venue for the origin of life. This environment was most favourable before Earth's massive CO2 atmosphere was subducted into the mantle, which occurred tens to approximately 100 Myr after the moon-forming impact; thermophile to clement conditions persisted for several million years while atmospheric pCO2 dropped from approximately 25 bar to below 1 bar. The ocean was weakly acid (pH ∼ 6), and a large pH gradient existed for nascent life with pH 9–11 fluids venting from serpentinite on the seafloor. Total CO2 in water was significant so the vent environment was not carbon limited. Biologically important phosphate and Fe(II) were somewhat soluble during this period, which occurred well before the earliest record of preserved surface rocks approximately 3.8 billion years ago (Ga) when photosynthetic life teemed on the Earth and the oceanic pH was the modern value of approximately 8. Serpentinite existed by 3.9 Ga, but older rocks that might retain evidence of its presence have not been found. Earth's sequesters extensive evidence of Archaean and younger subducted biological material, but has yet to be exploited for the Hadean record.
Arc length asymptotics for multivariate time series

This paper quantifies the asymptotic behavior of sample arc lengths in a multivariate time series. Arc length is a natural measure of the fluctuations in a data series and can be used to quantify volatility. The idea is that processes with larger sample arc lengths exhibit larger fluctuations and hence suggest greater volatility. Here, a Gaussian functional central limit theorem for sample arc lengths is proven under finite second moment conditions. With equally spaced observations, the theory is shown to apply when the first differences of the series obey many of the popular stationary time series models in today's literature, including autoregressive moving-average, generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic, and stochastic volatility model classes. A cumulative sum statistic is introduced to identify series regimes of differing volatilities. Our applications consider log prices of asset series. Specifically, the results are used to detect nonstationary periods of stock prices. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The person reference process in spontaneous trait inferences.

People are remarkably good at spontaneously making inferences about others. Even when viewing 120 novel faces, each paired with a different behavior, people unintentionally and incidentally extracted specific trait information about each person (Todorov & Uleman, 2002). This occurs even when people’s attention is divided and when the presentation of the information is very rapid (Todorov & Uleman, 2003). What is the nature of these spontaneous trait inferences “about” others? Does the trait become one of the logical predicates about the actor (as in “Jill is honest”) or is it merely associated with the actor because of their co-occurrence (“Jill– honest”)? Put another way, does the trait become part of the identity and representation of the person or is only the simple perceptual co-occurrence of faces and behaviors remembered? Presumably, spontaneous social inferences occur under a greater variety of circumstances than intentional ones— certainly under a greater variety of goals and under a greater variety of observing and attentional conditions. You return from a party and remember that someone did something that was really gauche, but don’t recall who it was. You notice an exchange between strangers in the elevator and later recall that one of them was overbearing, but you’re not sure which one it was. While you’re making dinner and reading the mail, you can’t keep track of who is who in the BBC drama on TV; all those Brits look alike. To put these failures in terms of trait inferences, in some cases a trait is inferred but not associated with any particular actor. In other cases, it is associated with the wrong actor. There is good experimental evidence for both of these possibilities, as well as for getting it right spontaneously.
Enhancing communication reliability in hypercube networks

A hypercube-based network with high reliability and fault-tolerance capabilities is proposed and analyzed. The network is constructed by adding some redundant links to the structure of the standard hypercube. It is shown that communication link reliability and path reliability in the new network are substantially better than those of the standard hypercube. This improvement is obtained only at the expense of an asymptotically zero overhead. >
Dynamic Characterization of Distortion in Hybrid Silicon Evanescent Phase Modulators

We report the dynamic distortion of hybrid silicon phase modulators for three types of active layers. The third-order intermodulation distortion for each modulator was measured under various bias conditions by means of a two-tone technique. A peak phase input intercept point of 2.6pi for doped quantum-well modulators was achieved at a reverse bias of 4 V and a signal frequency of around 500 MHz.
Weak base pairing in both seed and 3′ regions reduces RNAi off-targets and enhances si/shRNA designs

The use of RNA interference is becoming routine in scientific discovery and treatment of human disease. However, its applications are hampered by unwanted effects, particularly off-targeting through miRNA-like pathways. Recent studies suggest that the efficacy of such off-targeting might be dependent on binding stability. Here, by testing shRNAs and siRNAs of various GC content in different guide strand segments with reporter assays, we establish that weak base pairing in both seed and 3' regions is required to achieve minimal off-targeting while maintaining the intended on-target activity. The reduced off-targeting was confirmed by RNA-Seq analyses from mouse liver RNAs expressing various anti-HCV shRNAs. Finally, our protocol was validated on a large scale by analyzing results of a genome-wide shRNA screen. Compared with previously established work, the new algorithm was more effective in reducing off-targeting without jeopardizing on-target potency. These studies provide new rules that should significantly improve on siRNA/shRNA design.
A “Pseudo-cavernoma” – an encapsulated Hematoma of the Choroid Plexus

We present the first report of an intraventricular encapsulated hematoma, mimicking cavernous malformation on imaging and gross lesion appearance. A 47-year-old female on anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation presented with left upper extremity apraxia, neglect, and mild gait imbalance. Her brain CT scan and MRI revealed multilobulated lesions involving the choroid plexus in the atria of both lateral ventricles. The intraoperative appearance was that of encapsulated mass, with blood clots at different stages of liquefaction and organization, all consistent with the gross appearance of a cavernous malformation. However, histopathologic examination demonstrated hematoma with components at different ages, and normal vessel infiltration without any hint of cavernous malformation histology, or underlying neoplasia. Encapsulated hematoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of hemorrhagic intraventricular masses.
Considerations for developing wolf harvesting regulations in the contiguous United States.

As gray wolves (Canis lupus) are removed from the federal Endangered Species List, management reverts to the states. Eventually most states will probably allow public wolf harvesting. Open seasons between about 1 November and 1 March accord more with basic wolf biology than during other times. Managers who consider wolf biology and public sensitivities, adapt public-taking regulations accordingly, and adjust harvest regulations as they learn will be best able to maximize the recreational value of wolf harvesting, minimize public animosity toward it, and meet their harvest objectives.
Control of closed kinematic chains: a comparative study

Unlike in the case of open kinematic chains (OKCs), where the stability results for many control schemes are well established, for general closed kinematic chains (CKCs), rigorous stability results are rare. In this paper, we compare our recently developed control method, namely the singular perturbation formulation (SPF), to a control method based on input-output linearization (IOL) of a differential algebraic equation (DAE) model of CKCs. We show the advantages and disadvantages of each method from a theoretical as well as an implementation standpoint. The comparison indicates that our SPF approach is superior in terms of large validity domain, ease of control, implementation, and good performance of the closed-loop system.
Thermodynamic Mixing Properties of Sodium‐Potassium β″‐ Aluminas

Measurements of the activities of Na+ and K+ ions in β″-alumina solid solutions revealed complicated nonideal behavior throughout the system. At sodium-rich compositions, activity coefficients for Na are less than unity, suggesting either some degree of order between Na+ and K+ or increased local order between Na+ and vacancies. The system shows a change in thermodynamic behavior near XK=0.15. This composition corresponds closely to that showing the lowest ionic conductivity in the Na-K β″-gallate system.
A six-country comparison of the internet shopper profile

As the Internet continues to evolve across the globe, the importance of understanding the similarities and dissimilarities among consumers in different regions is crucial for bothe marketing theory and practice. The authors report the characteristics of Internet shoppers in six countries (United States, England, New Zealand, China, Brazil, and Bulgaria). Internet shoppers and non-shoppers in these countries are profiled and compared on attitudes, motivations, and demographics. The work extends the research of Donthu and Garcia (1999) into an international realm and seeks to build on our current knowledge in this area. Findings show that online shoppers share many similar traits around the world. Internet shoppers in all the countries examined are similar with regard to their desire for convenience, are more impulsive, have more favorable attitudes towards direct marketing and advertising, are wealthier and are heavier users of both email and the Internet.
Recurrent personal memories during intoxication reported by patients with alcoholism.

BACKGROUND: Experimental studies have demonstrated that alcohol has state-dependent effects on learning and memory. We, therefore, sought to determine if alcohol intoxication triggers selective retrieval of memories which could alter patterns of alcohol use. METHODS: Eighteen alcoholic patients were studied as well as a comparison group of 12 patients who abused cocaine, a drug not associated with memory state-dependence. Patients underwent a semi-structured interview to elicit information about recurrent personal memories experienced when intoxicated. Recurrent memories experienced during craving were also studied as a comparison condition. RESULTS: The prevalence of recurrent personal memories during intoxication was reported to be much higher for alcoholic patients compared with the cocaine-abusing patients. These experiences occurred more frequently than during craving, generally reflected prior disturbing events and were often reported to promote continued drinking. CONCLUSIONS: The association of recurrently experienced personal memories with intoxication in alcoholic patients suggests, but does not establish, pharmacological state-dependence. Further studies of this memory phenomenon are indicated. Language: en
SPATIAL CONTROLS OF HISTORICAL FIRE REGIMES: A MULTISCALE EXAMPLE FROM THE INTERIOR WEST, USA

Our objective was to infer the controls of spatial variation in historical fire regimes. We reconstructed a multicentury history of fire frequency, size, season, and severity from fire scars and establishment dates of 1426 trees sampled on grids in four watersheds (-64 plots, over -1620 ha each) representative of the Blue Mountains, Oregon and Wash- ington, USA. The influence of regional climate, a top-down control, was inferred from among-watershed variation in fire regimes, while the influence of local topography, a bot- tom-up control, was inferred from within-watershed variation. Before about 1900, fire regimes varied among and within watersheds, suggesting that both top-down and bottom- up controls were important. At the regional scale, dry forests (dominated by ponderosa pine), burned twice as frequently and earlier in the growing season in southern watersheds than in northern watersheds, consistent with longer and drier fire seasons to the south. Mesic forests (dominated by subalpine fir or grand fir) probably also burned more frequently to the south. At the local scale, fire frequency varied with different parameters of topography in watersheds with steep terrain, but not in the watershed with gentle terrain. Frequency varied with aspect in watersheds where topographic facets are separated by significant barriers to fire spread, but not in watersheds where such facets interfinger without fire barriers. Frequency varied with elevation where elevation and aspect interact to create gradients in snow-cover duration and also where steep talus interrupts fuel continuity. Frequency did not vary with slope within any watershed. The presence of both regional- scale and local-scale variation in the Blue Mountains suggests that top-down and bottom- up controls were both important and acted simultaneously to influence fire regimes in the past. However, an abrupt decline in fire frequency around 1900 was much greater than any regional or local variation in the previous several centuries and indicates that 20th-century fire regimes in these watersheds were dramatically affected by additional controls such as livestock grazing and fire suppression. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of examining spatial variation in historical fire regimes across scales as a means for inferring their controls.
The Calculus of Dollarisation

Understanding dollarisation and related debates requires an appreciation of what might be called the "calculus of dollarisation," i.e., a tally of real and perceived costs and benefits of full dollarisation (the adoption of the foreign currency such as the dollar as legal tender in a given country or territory). This paper provides such an analysis from the perspectives of both a dollarising country (the country adopting the dollar) and the "anchor" country providing the currency.
Sustainable Engineering in the Global Energy Sector

The current age is one in dire need of teaching engineers of all branches about sustainability. The principle is that engineering choices have to be decided in the framework of constraints related to energy and materials and decreasing wastes. The federal government would be the most appropriate entity to take actions to drive the burgeoning of sustainable energy technologies. Coal is the most popular fuel globally used with the Rankine cycle for electric power generation. Most of the electric power produced in the world is generated via the Rankine cycle. One of the most efficient simple thermodynamic cycles for electric power generation currently is the gas cycle using natural gas, with the additional potential to decouple the energy sector from the water sector. The combined gas and Rankine cycle is an even more efficient cycle to generate electric power, but then couples the energy sector again to the water sector. Carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas with the longest half-life, is still produced with the gas turbine cycle, but to a lesser degree than the Rankine cycle using coal. The main components of the sustainability aspects of the energy sector are outlined. A number of themes related to sustainability in the energy sector are also presented.
Dynamic Learning Process for Selecting Storm Protection Investments

Increasingly aggressive weather events, such as hurricane-driven storm surges, threaten surface transportation systems and motivate defensive actions, including hardening. Decisions about the design and scale of hardening investments are informed by meteorological records. Historically based probabilities of severe storms are used in practice to define expected values of the intensity of weather assaults (e.g., the 100-year storm) and then to select defenses. The prospects of climate change and rising sea level suggest that assuming weather events are stationary may present added risks to surface transportation infrastructure, particularly in coastal environments. This paper proposes a dynamic, learning-based investment strategy, similar to the concept of real options, that updates estimates of storm surges on the basis of experience and recommends incremental hardening investments when observed trends indicate that additional defense is warranted. Monte Carlo simulation is used to compare and evaluate st...
The Effect of Financial Constraints on Income Shifting by U.S. Multinationals

ABSTRACT: When a U.S. multinational corporation shifts income from the U.S. to foreign jurisdictions, it incurs costs and reaps benefits. The benefits may be reduced if the shifted income must be returned to the U.S. as a dividend in the short term and face the same U.S. tax it would have if the income had not been shifted. Firms, then, have incentive to defer repatriation of earnings and to fund domestic cash needs with external financing. The cost of external financing, however, is increasing in financial constraints, leading to the prediction that constrained firms will be unable to defer repatriation and, therefore, will reap no benefits from shifting. Using a new methodology for measuring income shifting, we find, consistent with predictions, that financially constrained firms shift less income from the U.S. to foreign countries than their unconstrained peers. We estimate that financially constrained firms shift out 20 percent less of pre-shifted income than unconstrained firms. Translating this perc...
Changes in phylloquinone epoxidase activity related to prothrombin synthesis and microsomal clotting activity in the rat.

The oxidation of phylloquinone to the 2,3-epoxide (by phylloquinone epoxidase) was studied in liver from control and warfarin-resistant rats. The reaction requires microsomal fraction, soluble protein, a heat-stable soluble factor and O2. It is not inhibited by CO or CN−. Epoxidase activity was stimulated if plasma prothrombin was lowered either by anticoagulants or the absence of vitamin K. The activity of the enzyme rapidly returned to normal values after the administration of vitamin K to hypoprothrombinaemic rats. These differences in the activity of the enzyme occur in the microsomal fraction and not the cytosol. A thrombin-generating polypeptide that accumulates in microsomal fraction of hypothrombinaemic rats correlated directly with epoxidase activity. These data support the view that enzymic interconversion of phylloquinone and its 2,3-epoxide participates in the biological activity of vitamin K.
Influences of blank shape on the forming property of rectangular parts under segmented blank holder

Finite-element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA was applied to simulate the process of deep drawing for rectangular parts to analyze the influences of blank shape on the forming property under segmented blank holder.The result shows that blank shape has important effect on the forming property of the parts and optimized blank can significantly improve the formability of rectangular parts.
Chemodenitrification in the cryoecosystem of Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica.

Lake Vida, in the Victoria Valley of East Antarctica, is frozen, yet harbors liquid brine (~20% salt, >6 times seawater) intercalated in the ice below 16 m. The brine has been isolated from the surface for several thousand years. The brine conditions (permanently dark, -13.4 °C, lack of O2 , and pH of 6.2) and geochemistry are highly unusual. For example, nitrous oxide (N2 O) is present at a concentration among the highest reported for an aquatic environment. Only a minor 17 O anomaly was observed in N2 O, indicating that this gas was predominantly formed in the lake. In contrast, the 17 O anomaly in nitrate (NO3-) in Lake Vida brine indicates that approximately half or more of the NO3- present is derived from atmospheric deposition. Lake Vida brine was incubated in the presence of 15 N-enriched substrates for 40 days. We did not detect microbial nitrification, dissimilatory reduction of NO3- to ammonium (NH4+), anaerobic ammonium oxidation, or denitrification of N2 O under the conditions tested. In the presence of 15 N-enriched nitrite (NO2-), both N2 and N2 O exhibited substantial 15 N enrichments; however, isotopic enrichment declined with time, which is unexpected. Additions of 15 N-NO2- alone and in the presence of HgCl2 and ZnCl2 to aged brine at -13 °C resulted in linear increases in the δ15 N of N2 O with time. As HgCl2 and ZnCl2 are effective biocides, we interpret N2 O production in the aged brine to be the result of chemodenitrification. With this understanding, we interpret our results from the field incubations as the result of chemodenitrification stimulated by the addition of 15 N-enriched NO2- and ZnCl2 and determined rates of N2 O and N2 production of 4.11-41.18 and 0.55-1.75 nmol L-1 day-1 , respectively. If these rates are representative of natural production, the current concentration of N2 O in Lake Vida could have been reached between 6 and 465 years. Thus, chemodenitrification alone is sufficient to explain the high levels of N2 O present in Lake Vida.
Did Bankruptcy Reform Contribute to the Rise in Structured Finance

What caused the flooding of securitized products in the pre-crisis years? This paper presents evidence that demand for safe collateral in repo markets made it attractive for financial institutions to issue securitized products. Using the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) as a natural experiment that shocked demand for collateral, the paper establishes collateralized borrowing in short-term debt markets as a contributing factor to the rise of mortgage securitization. Hand-collected data on underlying collateral of over 900 repurchase contracts reveals underwriters of securitized products increased use of mortgage-based repos in the months following the law change. Highlighting an unintended consequence of bankruptcy law, the paper speaks to the debate on preferential treatment of financial contracts in bankruptcy.
Diabetic indicators are the strongest predictors for cardiovascular disease risk in African American adults.

African Americans have higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to other racial groups. Modifiable and non-modifiable factors play a role in the development of both diseases. This study assessed diabetes indicators in relation to other CVD risk factors taking into account confounders, among African American adults. This was a cross-sectional study in mid-life and older African Americans (≥45 years) who were recruited from the local churches. Fasting blood was collected and serum analyzed for diabetes indicators, apolipoproteins, adipokines, and lipid profile. CVD risk scores were determined using the American Heart Association and Framingham Risk Score assessments. Homeostasis Model Assessments (HOMAs) were calculated using glucose and insulin concentrations. Confounding variables were assessed by questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 21, and p<0.05 was deemed significant. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze continuous variables. Frequencies and percentages were used to examine categorical variables. T-tests compared different groups while Pearson correlations provided preliminary relationships and determined variables for multiple regression analyses. A total of n=79 participants were evaluated (69% women), 59.3±9.2 years, BMI=34.7±8.3 (mean ± SD). As expected, AA men had higher fasting blood glucose than women (123.6±54.9 mg/dL versus 99.0±21.8 mg/dL), and AA women had higher insulin (11.8±13.1 mg/dL versus 7.6±6.0 mg/dL). Our study confirmed that it is likely for AA men to have significantly lower adiponectin concentrations in comparison to AA women. Based on the CVD risk assessments, men had a significantly higher risk of developing CVD than women, which has been shown previously. Apolipoproteins, adipokines, and lipid profile also negatively influenced the cardiovascular health outcomes in men. Dietary intake, probably by influencing participants’ weight/adiposity, contributed to the differences in cardiovascular outcomes between men and women. In conclusion, the findings of this study revealed that diabetes and serum glucose appeared to be the leading factors for high CVD risk, on the contrary to some other indicators reported in some studies, e.g. hypertension or dyslipidemia.
Sensor-Enabled Geogrids for Stabilization and Performance Monitoring of Earth Structures: State of Development

The sensor-enabled geogrid (SEGG) technology has been introduced and developed by the authors in the past few years as a new category of geogrid products that possess built-in strain-sensing capability in addition to their conventional reinforcement/stabilization function in geotechnical and transportation applications. The SEGG strain-sensing function arises from their tensoresistivity, which is the sensitivity of their electrical conductivity to tensile strain. This paper reports the state of development of the SEGG technology and reports latest findings on both the in-isolation and in-soil tensoresistivity performance of SEGG specimens. Results indicate that the technology holds promise to serve as an alternative to conventional instrumentation for the performance monitoring of geotechnical structures.
Total Lagrangian Formulation for Large Deformation Modeling Using Uniform Background Mesh

Mesh generation difficulties can be avoided when a background mesh rather than a mesh that conforms to the geometry is used for the analysis. The geometry is represented by equations and is independent of the mesh and is immersed in the background mesh. The solution to boundary value problems is approximated or piece-wise interpolated using the background mesh. The main challenge is in applying the boundary conditions because the boundaries may not have any nodes on them. Implicit boundary method has been used for linear static and dynamic analysis and has shown to be an effective approach for imposing boundary conditions but has never been applied to nonlinear problems. In this paper, this approach is extended to large deformation nonlinear analysis using the Total Lagrangian formulation. The equations are solved using the widely used modified Newton-Raphson method with loads applied over many load steps. Several test examples are studied and compared with traditional finite element analysis software for verification.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Marine management affects the invasion success of a non-native species in a temperate reef system in California, USA.

Despite promises that ‘healthy’ marine systems show increased resilience, the effects of ecosystem management strategies on invasion success in marine systems is still unclear. We show that resistance to the invasive alga, Sargassum horneri, in a temperate reef system occurs through alternate mechanisms in different ecosystem states. In an old marine protected area (MPA), invasion of S. horneri was suppressed, likely due to competitive pressure from native algae, resulting from protection of urchin predators. In a nearby fished urchin barren, invasion of S. horneri was also suppressed, due to herbivory by urchins whose predators are fished. Within newer MPAs with intermediate levels of interacting species, S. horneri was abundant. Here, neither competition from native algae nor herbivory was sufficient to prevent invasion. We confirm that invasion in marine systems is complex and show that multiple mechanisms in single systems must be considered when investigating biotic resistance hypotheses.
Progress in Developing Novel Double-Shell Metal Targets Via Magnetron Sputtering

AbstractDouble-shell inertial confinement fusion targets represent a unique platform for achieving ignition. They consist of a low-Z outer ablator, a high-Z inner pusher layer, and a low-density foam layer sandwiched in between. There is the possibility that double-shell targets may achieve ignition at lower ion temperatures due to the containment of radiation and conduction losses as well as requiring smaller convergence ratios. We have explored using magnetron sputtering to make the inner high-Z pusher layers and have demonstrated a W-Cr bilayer inner-shell design. An Al-Be mixture was explored as one of the outer ablator materials. This material takes advantage of Al X-ray M-band absorption to reduce preheating and still retain Be high-ablation speeds. Typical commercial Al-Be materials suffer from phase separation. However, by using magnetron sputtering we have been able to demonstrate homogeneous Al-Be ablator coatings. The sputtered material forms with nanosized grains and has demonstrated excellent...
Maternal Sociodemographic Characteristics, Experiences and Health Behaviors Associated with Postpartum Care Utilization: Evidence from Maryland PRAMS Dataset, 2012-2013.

Objectives Postpartum visits are increasingly recognized as a window of opportunity for health care providers to counsel new mothers and promote healthy behaviors, including increasing contraceptive use and screening for postpartum depression. In Maryland, there is a lack of research on postpartum visit (PPV) attendance and the specific risk factors associated with not receiving postpartum care. In this study, we estimated the proportion of mothers in Maryland who attended a PPV and assessed maternal sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviors associated with PPV non-attendance. Methods Data were analyzed from the 2012 and 2013 Maryland Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (n = 2204). Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were performed to examine the association between covariates and PPV non-attendance. Results Overall, 89.6% of women reported PPV attendance. Bivariate analyses between maternal sociodemographic and health behavior characteristics and PPV non-attendance indicated that being unmarried (OR 3.03, 95% CI 2.12–4.31), experiencing infant loss (OR 7.17, 95% CI 2.57–19.97), working during pregnancy (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.31–0.63) and not receiving dental care (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.43–2.88) as significant risk factors for PPV non-attendance. After controlling for known and theoretical confounders, experiencing an infant loss (aOR 5.18, 95% CI 1.54–17.4), not receiving dental care (aOR 1.54, 95% CI 1.06–2.26) and working during pregnancy (aOR 0.61, 95% CI 0.41–0.93) emerged as strong predictors of PPV non-attendance. Conclusions for Practice Mothers who recently experienced an infant death were at greatest risk for not attending a PPV, suggesting the need to establish comprehensive support networks, including grief counseling and additional service reminders for mothers who experienced an infant death.
A Computer Assisted Diagnostic System for Mass Detection

Computer assisted diagnostic (CAD) methods have been proposed as a “second opinion” strategy for breast cancer screening using digital mammography. The reported methods have included the detection of either microcalcification clusters or masses [1]. Mass detection poses a more difficult problem compared to microcalcification cluster detection because masses are often: (a) of varying size, shape, and density, (b) exhibit poor image contrast, (c) are highly connected to the surrounding parenchymal tissue density, particularly for spiculated lesions, and (d) are surrounded by non-uniform tissue background with similar characteristics [2]–[4]. The segmentation of masses and the computation of related pixel intensity, morphological, and directional texture features poses difficult problems in terms of improved feature extraction methods, as required for classification methods that distinguish masses from normal tissues. Improved and robust feature extraction has not been emphasizes in the literature. Examples include features such as mass shape or mass margin analysis, or spiculations for spiculated lesions [5]. Mass detection is proposed here as a good clinical model for the motivation for proposing a new class of adaptive CAD methods for image preprocessing, to improve feature extraction. The methods proposed are useful for other CAD applications such as the detection of microcalcifications and lung nodules.
Sensor Fusion for Recognition of Activities of Daily Living.

Activity of daily living (ADL) is a significant predictor of the independence and functional capabilities of an individual. Measurements of ADLs help to indicate one’s health status and capabilities of quality living. Recently, the most common ways to capture ADL data are far from automation, including a costly 24/7 observation by a designated caregiver, self-reporting by the user laboriously, or filling out a written ADL survey. Fortunately, ubiquitous sensors exist in our surroundings and on electronic devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) era. We proposed the ADL Recognition System that utilizes the sensor data from a single point of contact, such as smartphones, and conducts time-series sensor fusion processing. Raw data is collected from the ADL Recorder App constantly running on a user’s smartphone with multiple embedded sensors, including the microphone, Wi-Fi scan module, heading orientation of the device, light proximity, step detector, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, etc. Key technologies in this research cover audio processing, Wi-Fi indoor positioning, proximity sensing localization, and time-series sensor data fusion. By merging the information of multiple sensors, with a time-series error correction technique, the ADL Recognition System is able to accurately profile a person’s ADLs and discover his life patterns. This paper is particularly concerned with the care for the older adults who live independently.
Mechanisms of physiological tissue remodeling in animals: Manipulating tissue, organ, and organism morphology

Tissue remodeling is broadly defined as the reorganization or restoration of existing tissues. Tissue remodeling processes are responsible for directing the development and maintenance of tissues, organs, and overall morphology of an organism. Therefore, studying the regulatory and mechanistic aspects of tissue remodeling allows one to decipher how tissue structure and function is manipulated in animals. As such, research focused on investigating natural tissue reorganization in animal model organisms has great potential for advancing medical therapies, in conjunction with tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Here we discuss the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for tissue remodeling events that occur across several animal phyla. Notably, this review emphasizes the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in embryonic and postnatal physiological tissue remodeling events, ranging from metamorphosis to bone remodeling during functional adaptation.
Pericardial complications and postcardiac injury syndrome after cardiovascular implantable electronic device placement : A meta-analysis and systematic review.

Postcardiac injury syndrome (PCIS) is an emerging condition including pericarditis with or without pericardial effusion after an injury to cardiac tissue. Data are lacking on its incidence and clinical predictors after cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) placement. We therefore performed this meta-analysis to determine the incidence of PCIS. Medline, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases were searched according to PRISMA guidelines from February 2007 to February 2017 for studies evaluating pericardial complications subsequent to CIED implantation. Primary outcome was the total number of cases of pericarditis, pericardial effusion, and cardiac tamponade documented. Of 2931 references, 22 articles (enrolling 188,944 patients) were included. Pooled estimates from random-effects analysis showed an overall incidence of 5.82 per 1000 patients (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.33–8.17) at 30 days, and 1.60 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.13–3.07) at 1 year. Advanced age and prior coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery were associated with increased rates of pericardial complications. Our analysis revealed that CIED implantations are associated with a low incidence (0.6%) of pericardial complications at 30 days. Patients with advanced age and prior CABG are high-risk patients for pericardial complications.
How the Speed and Latitude of the Jet Stream Affect the Downstream Response to Recurving Tropical Cyclones

AbstractRecurving tropical cyclones (TCs) that interact with the jet stream can trigger Rossby wave packets that amplify the flow far downstream, but the extent to which the jet stream modulates TC...
Statistical Software Output in the Classroom: A Comparison of R and SPSS:

The current study examines whether R or SPSS output induces greater initial anxiety in students and whether anxiety toward one or both changes after being taught one type of software output through...
Floppy eyelid syndrome: ocular and systemic associations

Purpose of reviewTo summarize the ocular and systemic associations of floppy eyelid syndrome (FES) as well as provide an up-to-date review on the pathogenesis and treatment strategies.Recent findingsVirtually all patients with FES have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, a significantly lower pr
The role of pulmonary resection in the management of metastatic gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: Two cases of durable remission following surgery for chemo-resistant disease.

Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is one of the most chemo-responsive and highly curative gynecologic malignancies. In selected patients with persistent or drug-resistant disease, surgical resection of metastatic foci can be critical. Here, we report two cases of durable remission following pulmonary wedge resection. These cases are unique due to their unusual initial presentations. 1.1. Case 1 Healthy 26 year-old G3P2012 (SAB at age 12, term SVD x2 with post-partum tubal ligation in 2013) presented with chest tightness and dyspnea in December 2016 (40 months from antecedent pregnancy). Chest X-ray (CXR) revealed a 3 cm ovoid mass at the periphery of the left upper lobe (LUL); chest computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed a 3.4 × 3.2 cm mass in the LUL, see Fig. 1. She was scheduled for outpatient Pulmonology follow-up; but re-presented to the ED weeks later with vaginal bleeding and nausea, last menstrual period (LMP) 3 months prior. CT abdomen/pelvis revealed only a cystic structure in the left adnexa. Her bHCG was 516 and no intra-uterine pregnancy was identified. She was given a dose of intramuscular methotrexate (IM MTX) by her gynecologist for presumed ectopic pregnancy (day#1, D1). Despite an additional dose on D9, her bHCG continued to rise and she was referred to Gynecology Oncology (GYO). Open in a separate window Fig. 1 Left upper lobe mass measuring 4.8 cm × 4.3 cm demonstrating enhancement at the periphery with a necrotic center.
The impact of ankle-foot-orthosis (AFO) use on the compensatory stepping response required to avoid a fall during trip-like perturbations in young adults: Implications for AFO prescription and design

Ankle-foot-orthoses (AFOs) are commonly prescribed to treat foot drop and enhance walking in fall-prone individuals (e.g. stroke). AFOs improve static balance but AFO-users are still at high fall risk. To our knowledge, no one has studied the biomechanical effect of AFO-use on the compensatory stepping response required to avoid falling during dynamic conditions such as trip, the leading cause of falls. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a semi-rigid thermoplastic AFO on the compensatory stepping response in young healthy individuals following trip-like treadmill perturbations. We found that the AFO on the stepping leg (AFO-step) decreased trunk stability (increased trunk angle and angular velocity), shortened the compensatory step length, and reduced dynamic stability (smaller COM-BOS). AFO on the support leg (AFO-support) was only marginally different from the No-AFO condition. Detrimental changes in compensatory stepping response (e.g. decreased trunk stability) were linearly correlated to diminished propulsive impulse of the step. In summary, AFO-use on the stepping leg is associated with impaired compensatory stepping response (e.g. reduced trunk stability) and decreased propulsive impulse in young adults. It is important to note that AFO-use enhances static stability and decreases the probability of a trip/stumble occurring indicating they are important for fall prevention. Still, our results suggest that AFO-use may impair the compensatory stepping response after a trip/stumble has occurred and may suggest that preserving plantarflexion function may support the compensatory stepping response. Further study of these devices and their impact on compensatory stepping response in fall-prone individuals is warranted.