cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clarifying Definitions for the Massage Therapy Profession: the Results of the Best Practices Symposium

Background: Massage therapists are at times unclear about the definition of massage therapy, which creates challenges for the profession. It is important to investigate the current definitions and to consider the field as a whole in order to move toward clarity on what constitutes the constructs within the profession. Purpose: To determine how a sample of experts understand and describe the field of massage therapy as a step toward clarifying definitions for massage and massage therapy, and framing the process of massage therapy practice. Setting: A two-day symposium held in 2010 with the purpose of gathering knowledge to inform and aid in the creation of massage therapy best practice guidelines for stress and low back pain. Participants: Thirty-two experts in the field of massage therapy from the United States, Europe, and Canada. Design: Qualitative analysis of secondary crosssectional data using a grounded theory approach. Results: Three over-arching themes were identified: 1) What is massage?; 2) The multidimensional nature of massage therapy; and 3) The influencing factors on massage therapy practice. Discussion: The data offered clarifying definitions for massage and massage therapy, as well as a framework for the context for massage therapy practice. These clarifications can serve as initial steps toward the ultimate goal of creating new theory for the field of massage therapy, which can then be applied in practice, education, research, and policy. Conclusions: Foundational research into how experts in the profession understand and describe the field of massage therapy is limited. Understanding the potential differences between the terms massage and massage therapy could contribute to a transformation in the profession in the areas of education, practice, research, policy and/or regulation. Additionally, framing the context for massage therapy practice invites future discussions to further clarify practice issues.
The prognostic significance of supradiaphragmatic lymphadenopathy identified on preoperative computed tomography scan in patients undergoing primary cytoreduction for advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer

e16512 Background: It has been hypothesized and shown in animal studies that the supradiaphragmatic lymph nodes serve as the principal nodes for lymphatic drainage of the entire peritoneal cavity. ...
Leadership and Moral Behavior

Even though leadership theories are diverse, one notable commonality among leadership theories is that they inculcate the importance of moral behavior. This chapter explores moral leadership by providing brief contextual considerations regarding morals, outlines the most commonly used moral theories, examines each moral theory’s strength and weakness, discusses the connection between moral theories and leadership theories by examining contextual considerations for the discussion, and discusses the central role of pro-social values in both morals and leadership theories, and then the chapter resolves with a case study and a simple moral test. This chapter will promote the idea that moral leaders act in ways that seek the welfare of others, even at personal cost.
Words: Freud on Dreams

Ideas of James Paul Gee on how we use words and their situated meanings are dealt with. Oppositional nature of concepts is explained. Words are shown to be reflections of unconsciously held cultural models in the way people speak.
The Mechanism of Regulation of TRPV6 Channels by PI(4,5)P2

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 6 (TRPV6) is a Ca2+ selective ion channel playing important roles in intestinal Ca2+ absorption, male fertility and cancer development. TRPV6 is a member of the highly diverse TRP ion channel family. The only known common functional feature among TRP channels is their dependence on, and modulation by phosphoinositides, mostly phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2]. Most TRP channels require factors other than PI(4,5)P2 to open, which are often in complex interaction with PI(4,5)P2 regulation, which hinders understanding of the molecular mechanism of how PI(4,5)P2 opens these channels. TRPV6 is constitutively active, thus devoid of these complexities, and therefore is an ideal model to gain molecular insight into regulation by PI(4,5)P2. We computationally docked PI(4,5)P2 to both TRPV6, and the heat and capsaicin sensitive TRPV1. We find that PI(4,5)P2 binds to TRPV1 mainly in the proximal C-terminus and in the S4-S5 linker, consistent with earlier predictions, and experimental data. In TRPV6, however, the closest interacting residues were in the proximal N-terminus, close to the first transmembrane region and, similar to TRPV1, in the S4-S5 linker. Introduction of a positive charge in the S4-S5 linker that is missing from TRPV6, but present in TRPV1, markedly increased the affinity of TRPV6 to PI(4,5)P2. Neutralizing a proximal N-terminal positively charged residue predicted to interact with PI(4,5)P2 markedly reduced current TRPV6 amplitudes, but neutralizing neighboring positively charged residues had no effect. Our data will provide mechanistic insight into PI(4,5)P2 regulation of TRPV6.
Breaking Bad News: A Survey of Radiology Residents' Experiences Communicating Results to Patients.

Abstract Purpose The practice of radiology often includes routine communication of diagnostic test results directly to patients in breast imaging and interventional radiology. There is increasing interest in expanding direct communication throughout radiology. Though these conversations can substantially affect patient well-being, there is limited evidence indicating that radiology residents are specifically taught methods to effectively convey imaging results to patients. Our purpose is to evaluate resident experience communicating imaging results to patients. Materials and Methods An IRB-approved study with a total of 11 pilot-tested questions was used. Surveyed programs included radiology residents (PGY2-PGY5) at 2 urban residency programs. Online surveys were administered using SurveyMonkey and e-mailed to residents at both programs (starting November 20, 2015, completed March 31, 2016). Demographics were obtained with survey proportions compared using logistic regression ( P Results A total of 73 residents responded (93.6% response rate) with similar response rates at each institution ( P = 0.689). Most were male (71.2%) with 17.8% planning to go into breast imaging (21.9%, interventional radiology (IR)). Furthermore, 83.6% described no training in communicating radiology results to patients; 91.8% of residents communicated results with patients (87.7% diagnostic imaging tests and 57.5% biopsies). Residents most commonly communicated results in person (75.3%) followed by phone (64.4%), and 79.4% agreed or strongly agreed that additional training relaying results would be helpful. Conclusions A large majority of radiology residents have communicated test results to patients, yet few have received training in how to communicate these results. A large majority of residents expressed interest in obtaining additional communication training. Additional research is required to determine ideal methods to educate residents on communicating test results.
Giant Cell Arteritis: Biopsy After Corticosteroid Initiation.

Corticosteroid therapy in patients with suspected giant cell arteritis should not degrade the accuracy of temporal artery biopsy if the biopsy is performed within four weeks of corticosteroid initiation. Temporal artery biopsy can be performed up to four weeks after starting high-dose corticosteroid therapy.
Prostaglandins for the control of pulmonary hypertension in the postoperative cardiac surgery patient: nursing implications.

Pre-existing pulmonary hypertension and right-sided heart failure may be exacerbated after cardiopulmonary bypass. Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), through a constant intravenous infusion, may be initiated as a treatment after other conventional methods of treatment have failed. PGE1 acts as a potent vasodilator on the systemic and pulmonary vasculature. The pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension and right-sided heart failure, pharmacokinetics of PGE1, nursing management of the child and adult, and two case reports are discussed in this article.
Client Likeability in Auditor Fraud Risk Judgments: The Mitigating Influence of Task Experience, the Review Process, and a “Consider the Opposite” Strategy

SUMMARY Auditors contend with an array of management personalities during the course of an audit engagement. Some clients by their nature are more likeable, while others create a stressful or unple...
High-Throughput Techniques for Analyzing Complex Bacterial Communities

A more complete understanding of microbial diversity and the environmental processes they control will require much more than a biotic inventory. It will require a deeper understanding of the basic features of systems organization and inter-population interactions. Communities, not total biomass, control net process rates driving the biogeochemical cycles sustaining the biosphere. Although the general patterns of macro-organismal diversity are relatively well known, spatial and temporal patterns of micro- organismal diversity are essentially unknown. Having tools capable of resolving these patterns is a prerequisite to developing an understanding of the relationship between community structure and function.
Endovascular aneurysm repair is not the treatment of choice in most patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) results in more than 15,000 deaths annually. The condition has a prehospitalization mortality rate of 59% to 83% and a mortality rate of 30% to 80% in patients who present for medical care.1 Improvements in perioperative care during the past 5 decades have yielded only some improvement in outcomes after open surgical repair.
A Proposal to Withhold Divorce Decrees on Grounds of Equity

This article discusses several issues in connection with refusal of a husband to grant a get to his wife in order to permit her to remarry in compliance with Jewish law. Although it is contended that a get is a rescission of a contract rather than a religious act, secular courts have found constitutional impediments to enforcing agreements to execute a get. The article argues that, as a court of equity, a divorce court may withhold a civil decree in the face of non-cooperation of one of the spouses regarding a get. Such power can certainly be conferred upon a court by means of statute. The article proposes legislation empowering a court to withhold a decree of divorce in circumstances in which such a decree would result in an inequity to one of the parties. Refusal to remove an impediment to remarriage of a spouse is one such inequity.
Long-Term Survival After Arterial Versus Atrial Switch in d-Transposition of the Great Arteries.

Background The arterial switch operation (ASO) became the procedure of choice for dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) nearly 30 years ago, but the long-term results of this operation are unknown. We aimed to compare the long-term transplant-free survival of patients with d-TGA who underwent ASO versus atrial switch in the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of d-TGA patients undergoing ASO or atrial switch in the United States between 1982 and 1991. Long-term transplant-free survival was obtained by linking Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium data with the National Death Index and the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network. Kaplan-Meier survival plots were constructed, and multivariable regression was used to compare long-term transplant-free survival. Results Of 554 d-TGA patients who underwent ASO (n = 259) or atrial switch (n = 295), the 20-year overall transplant-free survival was 82.1% for those undergoing ASO and 76.3% for those who had atrial switch procedure. Adjusted overall transplant-free survival beyond 10 years after operation was superior for ASO compared with atrial switch (hazard ratio 0.07, 95% confidence interval: 0.01 to 0.52, p = 0.009). During this period, the ASO had higher in-hospital mortality than the atrial switch (21.6% versus 12.9%, p = 0.007). After excluding patients with in-hospital mortality, the transplant-free survival 20 years after repair was 97.7% for the ASO patients versus 86.3% for the atrial switch patients. Conclusions Despite initial higher in-hospital mortality for ASO during the study period, there is a significant long-term transplant-free survival advantage for ASO as compared with atrial switch for d-TGA surgery. Ongoing monitoring is required to assess late risk of cardiovascular disease.
MRI gadolinium dosing on basis of blood volume.

PURPOSE Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) for MRI are generally administrated in direct relationship to body weight. Instead, we propose a model for GBCA dosing on the basis of blood volume. The new method was tested by exploring the associations between MRI T1 mapping indices and weight in the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. METHODS Empirically derived methods based on sex and body habitus were used to calculate blood volumes. GBCA dose (in mL) in blood (in L) was calculated as the injected volume divided by the blood volume (i.e., DBV). Of the 1219 participants with cardiac MRI T1 mapping, 845 studies had standard dose of 0.15 mmol/kg (cohort 1) and 166 studies had 30 mL of GBCA regardless of weight (cohort 2). We also created a specific cohort with similar DBV (N = 357; cohort 3). RESULTS Postcontrast blood relaxation rate R1blood and DBV were significantly correlated (R = 0.641; P < 0.001). R1blood was significantly associated with weight in cohort 1 and 2, but the correlation coefficient was positive for cohort 1 and negative for cohort 2, indicating GBCA overdosing in cohort 1 and underdosing in cohort 2 in heavy relative to lean subjects. R1blood was not associated with weight in cohort 3. Simulated results demonstrated that less contrast should be administrated for heavy subjects compared to the conventional weight-based dose. CONCLUSION GBCA dosing on the basis of blood volume could improve the efficacy and safety of contrast-enhanced MRI studies. This method could be implemented to standardize dose and augment precision in study comparisons.
Albumin-Binding PSMA Ligands: Implications for Expanding the Therapeutic Window

Despite significant gains in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer by radioligands targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), 30% of patients never respond to therapy. One possible explanation is insufficient dose delivery to the tumor because of suboptimal pharmacokinetics. We have recently described RPS-063, a trifunctional ligand targeting PSMA with high uptake in LNCaP xenograft tumors but also in kidneys. We aimed to use structural modifications to increase the tumor-to-kidney ratio through increased albumin binding and tumor uptake and reduction of kidney activity. Methods: Four structurally related trifunctional PSMA-targeting small molecules were prepared by either varying the albumin-binding group or inserting a polyethylene glycol 8 linker into a common structure. The compounds were ranked by PSMA affinity and albumin affinity and were radiolabeled with 68Ga and 177Lu. Tissue kinetics were determined in male BALB/C nu/nu mice bearing LNCaP xenograft tumors. Results: Each of the compounds binds PSMA with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of no more than 10 nM. The albumin-binding group had a minimal effect on PSMA affinity but changed albumin affinity by an order of magnitude. However, the addition of a polyethylene glycol 8 spacer weakened affinity for albumin in each case. Increased affinity for albumin corresponded with delayed blood clearance and modified uptake kinetics in the tumor and kidney. Uptake of 177Lu-RPS-072 (34.9 ± 2.4 %ID/g) and 177Lu-RPS-077 (27.4 ± 0.6 %ID/g) increased up to 24 h after injection, and washout by 96 h was not significant. As a result, the area under the curve (AUC) in the tumor was in the following order: 177Lu-RPS-072 > 177Lu-RPS-077 > 177Lu-RPS-063 > 177Lu-RPS-071. Increased linker length corresponded to more rapid clearance from kidneys. Consequently, the ratio of tumor AUC and kidney AUC was 4.7 ± 0.3 for 177Lu-RPS-072. Conclusion: The tumor AUC and tumor-to-kidney ratio of 177Lu-RPS-072 are significantly enhanced compared with any small molecule investigated in a LNCaP xenograft model to date. In comparison to other PSMA-targeting radioligands that have been evaluated in a PC3-PIP model, activity in kidneys is reduced and activity in tumors compares favorably when the different PSMA expression levels in LNCaP and PC3-PIP cells are considered. RPS-072 therefore exhibits an increased therapeutic index, shows the potential to increase the dose delivered to tumors, and is a highly promising candidate for targeted radioligand therapy.
RCP and RAA Measurements of Identified and Unidentified Charged Particles at High pT in Au + Au Collisions at sNN=7.7,11.5,19.6,27,39,and62.4GeV in STAR

Abstract The suppression of high p T hadrons in 200 GeV Au + Au collisions at RHIC has been seen as a signature for a partonic medium being formed. The evolution of this key QGP signature is a powerful tool for studying the QCD phase structure in the RHIC Beam Energy Scan. In these proceedings, we present measurements of identified π + , K + , and p, as well as unidentified charged particles in Au + Au collisions at s N N = 7.7 , 11.5 , 19.6 , 27 , 39 , and 62.4 GeV . We report nuclear modification factors R C P and R A A where published p + p references are available. These results offer insight into the s N N dependence of high p T suppression in nuclear collisions.
Geometric Properties of Shipbuilding Structural Profiles in Probabilistic Terms to Be Used in Elastic Bending Strength Calculations

As a result of the corrosion wear, which is treated as a random phenomenon, the geometric properties of shipbuilding structural profiles (bulb plates, inverted angles/L-profiles, channels, symmetric or asymmetric Fundia T-bulbs, symmetric or asymmetric builtup T-bars, and flat bars) are presented as random functions of the ship’s age. Evenly distributed corrosion wear along each cross section’s dimension is assumed (different corrosion wear may be considered along each of the cross section’s dimensions). Taylor series approximation method is applied to present the geometric properties used for assessment of elastic bending strength in probabilistic terms. The proposed method allows for comparison between different structural profiles using as a criterion the probability that these structural profiles will meet given Renewal Criteria requirements throughout the ship’s lifetime. Based on its calculation, one can select the most reliable structural profile. The method also allows for better planning of ship repair and maintenance work. The method can also be used to reveal the already implemented risk in the existing empirical Renewal Criteria through analysis of the structural components, their location, ship’s type and size. This is one of the first steps towards development of Reliability-based Rules for building and classing of steel ships.
Critical discourse analysis and critical qualitative inquiry: data analysis strategies for enhanced understanding of inference and meaning

This manuscript describes an approach to critical qualitative data analysis that combines (1) Carspecken’s critical qualitative methodological framework with (2) the conceptual resources of critica...
Presto scales Wilcoxon and auROC analyses to millions of observations

The related Wilcoxon rank sum test and area under the receiver operator curve are ubiquitous in high dimensional biological data analysis. Current implementations do not scale readily to the increasingly large datasets generated by novel high-throughput technologies, such as single cell RNAseq. We introduce a simple and scalable implementation of both analyses, available through the R package Presto. Presto scales to big datasets, with functions optimized for both dense and sparse matrices. On a sparse dataset of 1 million observations, 10 groups, and 1,000 features, Presto performed both rank-sum and auROC analyses in only 17 seconds, compared to 6.4 hours with base R functions. Presto also includes functions to seamlessly integrate with the Seurat single cell analysis pipeline and the Bioconductor SingleCellExperiment class. Presto enables the use of robust classical analyses on big data with a simple interface and optimized implementation.
Land-use and climatic causes of environmental novelty in Wisconsin since 1890.

Multiple global change drivers are increasing the present and future novelty of environments and ecological communities. However, most assessments of environmental novelty have focused only on future climate and were conducted at scales too broad to be useful for land management or conservation. Here, using historical county-level data sets of agricultural land use, forest composition, and climate, we conduct a regional-scale assessment of environmental novelty for Wisconsin landscapes from ca. 1890 to 2012. Agricultural land-use data include six cropland types, livestock densities for four livestock species, and human populations. Forestry data comprise biomass-weighted relative abundances for 15 tree genera. Climate data comprise seasonal means for temperature and precipitation. We found that forestry and land use are the strongest cause of environmental novelty (NoveltyForest = 3.66, NoveltyAg = 2.83, NoveltyClimate = 1.60, with Wisconsin's forests transformed by early 20th-century logging and its legacies and multiple waves of agricultural innovation and obsolescence. Climate change is the smallest contributor to contemporary novelty, with precipitation signals stronger than temperature. Magnitudes and causes of environmental novelty are strongly spatially patterned, with novelty in southern Wisconsin roughly twice that in northern Wisconsin. Forestry is the most important cause of novelty in the north, land use and climate change are jointly important in the southwestern Wisconsin, and land use and forest composition are most important in central and eastern Wisconsin. Areas of high regional novelty tend also to be areas of high local change, but local change has not pushed all counties beyond regional baselines. Seven counties serve as the best historical analogues for over one-half of contemporary Wisconsin counties (40/72), and so can offer useful historical counterparts for contemporary systems and help managers coordinate to tackle similar environmental challenges. Multi-dimensional environmental novelty analyses, like those presented here, can help identify the best historical analogues for contemporary ecosystems, places where new management rules and practices may be needed because novelty is already high, and the main causes of novelty. Separating regional novelty clearly from local change and measuring both across many dimensions and at multiple scales thus helps advance ecology and sustainability science alike.
Periodontal Homeostasis: From Vienna to Texas-A Century of Periodontal Research in the Spirit of Bernhard Gottlieb.

The foundation of our knowledge about periodontal homeostasis was established almost a century ago in the laboratory of the Viennese oral biologist Bernhard Gottlieb. His insights provide the found...
Optimality of the Plug-in Estimator for Differential Entropy Estimation under Gaussian Convolutions

This paper establishes the optimality of the plugin estimator for the problem of differential entropy estimation under Gaussian convolutions. Specifically, we consider the estimation of the differential entropy h(X + Z), where X and Z are independent d-dimensional random variables with $Z{\sim}\mathcal{N}\left( {0,{\sigma ^2}{{\text{I}}_d}} \right)$. The distribution of X is unknown and belongs to some nonparametric class, but n independently and identically distributed samples from it are available. We first show that despite the regularizing effect of noise, any good estimator (within an additive gap) for this problem must have an exponential in d sample complexity. We then analyze the absolute-error risk of the plug-in estimator and show that it converges as $\frac{{{c^d}}}{{\sqrt n }}$, thus attaining the parametric estimation rate. This implies the optimality of the plug-in estimator for the considered problem. We provide numerical results comparing the performance of the plug-in estimator to general-purpose (unstructured) differential entropy estimators (based on kernel density estimation (KDE) or k nearest neighbors (kNN) techniques) applied to samples of X + Z. These results reveal a significant empirical superiority of the plug-in to state-of-the-art KDE- and kNN-based methods.
Design and Statistical Analysis of Tapered Coprime and Nested Arrays for the Min Processor

Coprime and nested arrays are sparse sensor arrays that provide $\mathcal {O}(MN)$ degrees of freedom using only $\mathcal {O}(M+N)$ sensors. The signals sampled by these sparse arrays contain the aliasing artifact; the min processor is used to disambiguate this aliasing artifact. The min processor beampattern has the same main lobe width and resolution as the beampattern of a full uniform linear array (ULA) with many more sensors. However, the peak side lobe (PSL) height of the min processor beampattern is higher than the PSL height of a full ULA with the same taper and resolution if the sparse arrays are not extended. Extending the sparse arrays, while keeping the intersensor spacing fixed, can reduce the PSL height to the level of the full ULA. Until now, the analytical expressions of the extension factor required to match the PSL height have not been found for the min processor. Also, the analytical expressions of the probability density function (PDF), mean, and variance of the min processor output for non-uniform tapers have not been derived. In this paper, we derive both of these analytical expressions. We consider the uniform, Hamming, Hann, Blackman-Harris, and Dolph-Chebyshev tapers for both coprime and nested arrays. We use the derived PDF in evaluating detection performance metrics such as receiver operation characteristic, Kullback Leibler divergence, and symmetric Kullback Leibler divergence. Our results show that min processing is superior to conventional beamforming and product processing in Gaussian signal detection for a given extended coprime or nested array.
CLINICAL SPECTRUM, COMPLICATIONS AND OUTCOME OF ATYPICAL HEMOLYTIC UREMIC SYNDROME

Objective: To Determine the clinical spectrum, complications and outcome of atypical Hemolytic uremic Syndrome (aHUS). Study Design: Case series study. Place and Duration of Study: The Children’s Hospital & The Institute of Child Health Lahore, from Mar 2017 to Jun 2018. Methodology: Twenty five Children fulfilled the inclusive and exclusive criteria of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. Their demographics, clinical characteristics, investigations and treatment modalities used, were docu-mented on the specially designed proforma. Results: Out of twenty five cases, 15 (60%) were male and 10 (40%) were female with mean age of presentation being 8.47 ± 3.8 years. Seven children (28%) each with preceding history of respiratory tract infection (RTI) and family history of HUS. Twenty four (96%) children presented with anemia, hematuria in 15 (60%). Respiratory distress in 9 (36%) children and seizure in 7 (28%). Fragmented RBCs were present in all children, with throm-bocytopenia in 22 (88%). Plasma therapy in 23 (92%) patients and plasma exchange was offered to 2 (8%) while peritoneal dialysis was done in 18 (72%) and hemodialysis was continued in 10 (40%) subjects. Hypertension was persistent in both acute and chronic phase of illness. Conclusion: Although not uncommon, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome have variable presentation with high mortality rate. Therefore one should be vigilant in prompt diagnosis as early detection can improve outcome of disease.
Increasing agility in orthogonal reaction wheel attitude control systems

Abstract The orientation of reaction wheels and their individual maximum torque capacity limits the agility of a rigid body. However, maximizing the isotropic torque envelope can underestimate the true capability of the system because the inertia properties are not fully considered. This is true even when performing eigenaxis maneuvers with isotropic acceleration and rate limits. Improvement in agility is possible when compared to conventional principal axis orientation of three orthogonal reaction wheels. Reorienting the reaction wheels while maintaining orthogonality can increase agility available for slew maneuvers. This paper uses the agility envelope as a tool in developing analytical equations for the optimal reaction wheel orientation to maximize agility, which can be up to 36% more than conventional methods. The equations and corresponding design curves are also presented for any system based on the normalized Inertia Ratios.
Hermitian Metrics on the Resolvent Set and Extremal Arc Length

For a bounded linear operator A on a complex Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\), the functions gx(z) = ∥(A − z)−1x∥2, where \(x\in {\mathcal H}\) with ∥x∥ = 1, defines a family of Hermitian metrics on the resolvent set ρ(A). Thus the arc length of a fixed circle C ⊂ ρ(A) with respect to the metric gx is dependent on the choice of x. This paper derives an integral equation for the extremal values of the arc length. Solution x of the equation, if exists, has particular properties as related to A. In the case A is the unilateral shift operator on the Hardy space \({ H}^2({\mathbb D})\), the paper proves that the arc length of C is maximal if and only if x is an inner function.
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists

Hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a decapeptide that stimulates pituitary synthesis and secretion of gonadotropins and, therefore, gonadal hormones. GnRH antagonists, of which thousands have been formulated, inhibit the hormone from binding to its receptor, inducing a pharmacological hypophysectomy. Peptide derivations of GnRH and non-peptide compounds are both in clinical trials or approved for assisted reproduction. As these compounds reach the market, the use of antagonists might expand to treatment of other hormonally dependent diseases, hormonal male contraception and growth inhibition of extra-pituitary cancer cells expressing GnRH receptors.
Burnout assessment at a college of pharmacy, college of optometry, and school of physician assistant studies

Abstract Introduction There is limited research on burnout among students and faculty of health professions programs. This study was designed to assess burnout among students and faculty at a college of pharmacy (COP), college of optometry (COO), and school of physician assistant studies (SPAS). Methods The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) was distributed to faculty and students at Marshall B Ketchum University (MBKU) COP, COO, and SPAS. Scores for burnout, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress were compared between programs, faculty, and students. Results Median secondary traumatic stress scores were statistically higher for respondents (students and faculty) in the SPAS (24 [interquartile range (IQR) 17-27]) vs. respondents in the COP (20 [IQR 18-26]) and COO (19 [IQR 16-22]). Faculty had statistically higher median compassion satisfaction scores (41 [IQR 34-44]) vs. students (36 [IQR 32-40]), while students had statistically higher median burnout scale scores compared to faculty (27 [IQR 23-32] vs. 21 [IQR 17-26]). There was no difference in secondary traumatic stress between students and faculty, and there were no differences in compassion satisfaction or burnout between programs. Conclusions This study demonstrated that students in the COP, COO, and SPAS had higher burnout scores when compared to faculty at the study institution. These results suggest that efforts to address burnout should first focus on students. SPAS students and faculty may require specific efforts to address secondary trauma.
In-situ monitoring and ex-situ elasticity mapping of laser induced metal melting pool using ultrasound: Numerical and experimental approaches

Abstract This study presents novel in-situ monitoring of the melting pool behavior and ex-situ inspection of the heat-affected softening in gallium metal using an ultrasonic technique. In the laser welding and laser melting additive manufacturing process, understanding the melting pool's behavior is necessary but challenging. Optical, thermal, and radiational imaging methods provide valuable information but are limited due to the lack of depth and material properties information. An ultrasonic time of flight measurement monitoring technique is numerically and experimentally used to study the behavior of laser-induced melting pools, including phase transition, pool initialization and growth, and solidification in real-time. Besides, a dynamic bulk modulus elastography scan was demonstrated to visualize the laser-heating induced mechanical property reduction as an ex-situ inspection process which can be an in-situ process in the future. The laser softened area had a drop in the elasticity resembling a melt pool's shape. With the continuous development, the unique technique would be suitable and helpful to be used as a diagnostic tool to monitor laser welding, laser melting-based additive manufacturing, and other melt-solidify processing systems.
Segmentation and Evaluation of Adipose Tissue from Whole Body MRI Scans

Accurate quantification of total body and the distribution of regional adipose tissue using manual segmentation is a challenging problem due to the high variation between manual delineations. Manual segmentation also requires highly trained experts with knowledge of anatomy. We present a hybrid segmentation method that provides robust delineation results for adipose tissue from whole body MRI scans. A formal evaluation of accuracy of the segmentation method is performed. This semi-automatic segmentation algorithm reduces significantly the time required for quantification of adipose tissue, and the accuracy measurements show that the results are close to the ground truth obtained from manual segmentations.
Gastric inhibitory polypeptide immunoneutralization attenuates development of obesity in mice

Previous reports have suggested that the abrogation of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) signaling could be exploited to prevent and treat obesity and obesity-related disorders in humans. This study was designed to determine whether immunoneutralization of GIP, using a newly developed specific monoclonal antibody (mAb), would prevent the development of obesity. Specific mAb directed against the carboxy terminus of mouse GIP was identified, and its effects on the insulin response to oral and to intraperitoneal (ip) glucose and on weight gain were evaluated. Administration of mAb (30 mg/kg body wt, BW) to mice attenuated the insulin response to oral glucose by 70% and completely eliminated the response to ip glucose coadministered with human GIP. Nine-week-old C57BL/6 mice injected with GIP mAbs (60 mg·kg BW(-1)·wk(-1)) for 17 wk gained 46.5% less weight than control mice fed an identical high-fat diet (P < 0.001). No significant differences in the quantity of food consumed were detected between the two treatment groups. Furthermore, magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated that subcutaneous, omental, and hepatic fat were 1.97-, 3.46-, and 2.15-fold, respectively, lower in mAb-treated animals than in controls. Moreover, serum insulin, leptin, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglycerides were significantly reduced, whereas the high-density lipoprotein (HDL)/TC ratio was 1.25-fold higher in treated animals than in controls. These studies support the hypothesis that a reduction in GIP signaling using a GIP-neutralizing mAb might provide a useful method for the treatment and prevention of obesity and related disorders.
Structure and expression of the Drosophila melanogaster gene for the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle 70K protein.

Abstract A genomic clone encoding the Drosophila U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle 70K protein was isolated by hybridization with a human U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle 70K protein cDNA. Southern blot and in situ hybridizations showed that this U1 70K gene is unique in the Drosophila genome, residing at cytological position 27D1,2. Polyadenylated transcripts of 1.9 and 3.1 kilobases were observed. While the 1.9-kilobase mRNA is always more abundant, the ratio of these two transcripts is developmentally regulated. Analysis of cDNA and genomic sequences indicated that these two RNAs encode an identical protein with a predicted molecular weight of 52,879. Comparison of the U1 70K proteins predicted from Drosophila, human, and Xenopus cDNAs revealed 68% amino acid identity in the most amino-terminal 214 amino acids, which include a sequence motif common to many proteins which bind RNA. The carboxy-terminal half is less well conserved but is highly charged and contains distinctive arginine-rich regions in all three species. These arginine-rich regions contain stretches of arginine-serine dipeptides like those found in transformer, transformer-2, and suppressor-of-white-apricot proteins, all of which have been identified as regulators of mRNA splicing in Drosophila melanogaster.
Using traffic phase shifting to improve AFDX link utilization

The Avionic Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX) is a data network certified for avionic operations. AFDX closely follows the IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) standard for packet forwarding. On top of that, bandwidth enforcement using traffic shaping is performed to provide deterministic delivery guarantees. The design of an AFDX network, however, imposes that bandwidth enforcement is performed at a coarse granularity. This, together with the tight requirements on transmission jitter, determines a low utilization of the physical links. In this work, we propose traffic phase shifting (TPS) as a way to increase the granularity of bandwidth assignment to nodes of an AFDX network using logic time synchronization among traffic sources. Specifically, we leverage the periodic nature of real-time traffic and use phase-shifing to prevent link congestion. This in turns allows a more fine-grained bandwidth control via the AFDX protocol. We show that TPS leads to significant improvements in terms of per-link utilization without violating predictability.
Oat Consumption Does Not Affect Resting Casual and Ambulatory 24-h Arterial Blood Pressure in Men with High-Normal Blood Pressure to Stage I Hypertension

The results of epidemiologic studies suggest that increased intake of dietary fiber is associated with lower levels of arterial blood pressure (BP). However, there is little information available addressing the possibility that increased oat consumption may reduce arterial BP in individuals with elevated arterial BP. To test this hypothesis, middle-aged and older men (n = 36; body mass index, 25-35 kg/m(2); aged 50-75 y) with elevated BP (systolic BP 130-159 mmHg and/or diastolic BP 85-99 mmHg) were randomly assigned to consume an additional 14 g/d of dietary fiber in the form of oat (5.5 g beta-glucan, n = 18) or wheat cereals (no beta-glucan, n = 18) for 12 wk. Casual resting arterial BP was measured at baseline and after 4, 8 and 12 wk of intervention. The 24-h ambulatory arterial BP was measured at baseline and after 12 wk of intervention. There were no differences in casual resting or 24-h ambulatory BP at baseline in the two groups. Casual systolic BP (SBP) did not change as a result of the 12-wk intervention in the oat (138 plus minus 2 vs. 135 plus minus 3 mmHg) or wheat (142 plus minus 2 vs. 140 plus minus 3 mmHg) groups, respectively (all P > 0.05). Casual diastolic BP (DBP) also did not change in the oat (89 plus minus 2 vs. 88 plus minus 2 mmHg) or wheat (90 plus minus 2 vs. 91 plus minus 2 mmHg) group during this period (all P > 0.05). Further, 24-h, daytime and nighttime SBP and DBP did not decrease with the intervention. Therefore, the results of the present study suggest that any cardioprotective benefit of regular oat consumption may not be conferred via an arterial BP-lowering effect.
Studies towards the Leucetta‐Derived Alkaloids Spirocalcaridine A and B – Possible Biosynthetic Implications

An exploration of an abiotic approach to spirocalcaridines A and B is described centered on electrophile-induced dearomatizing spirocyclization of aryl enyne derivatives. Elaboration of the α-iodoenone via an Ullmann-like, copper-catalyzed amidation provided a formamide which upon treatment with methylamine undergoes a dienol-arene rearrangement, providing the corresponding kealiinine-like framework. This observation suggests a possible biosynthetic links between the spirocalcaridines and the naphthimidazole group of Leucetta alkaloids.
Particle motion is broadly represented in the vestibular medulla of the bullfrog across larval development

In their shallow-water habitats, bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) tadpoles are exposed to both underwater and airborne sources of acoustic stimulation. We probed the representation of underwater particle motion throughout the tadpole’s dorsal medulla to determine its spatial extent over larval life. Using neurobiotin-filled micropipettes, we recorded neural activity to z-axis particle motion (frequencies of 40–200 Hz) in the medial vestibular nucleus, lateral vestibular nucleus, dorsal medullary nucleus (DMN), and along the dorsal arcuate pathway. Sensitivity was comparable in the medial and lateral vestibular nuclei, with estimated thresholds between 0.016 and 12.5 μm displacement. Neither best responding frequency nor estimated threshold varied significantly over larval stage. Transport of neurobiotin from active recording sites was also stable over development. The DMN responded poorly to z-axis particle motion, but did respond to low-frequency pressure stimulation. These data suggest that particle motion is represented widely and stably in the tadpole’s vestibular medulla. This is in marked contrast to the representation of pressure stimulation in the auditory midbrain, where a transient “deaf period” of non-responsiveness and decreased connectivity occurs immediately prior to metamorphic climax. We suggest that, in bullfrogs, sensitivity to particle motion and to pressure follows different developmental trajectories.
Characteristics of sulfhydryl oxidase isolated by a simple chromatographic procedure.

Abstract Permeation chromatography of whey or centrifugally clarified solutions of (NH4)2SO4-whey precipitates on controlled-pore glass (3000 A pore diameter) yielded a substantially purified form of the enzyme which eluted in the void volume. This fraction obtained directly from whey appeared to have the least protein contamination as demonstrated by various types of gel electrophoresis, lack of detectable reactivity with rabbit antibovine xanthine oxidase antibody and high specific activity.
Perhalobenzenesulfinates as reagents in the determination of inorganic mercury in various media by gas-liquid chromatography.

Abstract Inorganic mercury and organomercurials present in water, urine and serum are evaluated by gas—liquid chromatography and the use of perhalobenzenesulfinates which react with inorganic mercury to yield a perhalophenyl mercury. Best results are obtained with lithium pentafluorobenzenesulfinate as arylating agent for inorganic mercury. Recovery and precision (percent S.D.) data include: water, 70.5% (6.8); urine, 81.4 (10.5); serum, 51.0 (9.4). Lower detection limit of inorganic mercury, as the pentafluorophenyl analyte, is 20 ng of mercury per milliliter of sample. Optimal chromatographic results were obtained with 10% Dexsil-300 on Anakrom SD, 70–80 mesh, and Durapak Carbowax 400 (low Kovats index) on Porasil F.
Urokinase expression during the epithelial-mesenchymal transformation of the avian somite.

Early events in the morphogenesis of the axial skeleton involve an epithelial-mesenchymal transformation of the somites. Cells of the ventromedial wall of the somite (the sclerotome) migrate to regions surrounding the notochord and neural tube and condense to form the cartilage model of the vertebrae. Urokinase activity in the axial region of the quail embryo trunk was found to increase during these stages. In situ hybridization localized urokinase mRNA expression in this region and suggests an important role for this protease in the process of cell migration and matrix remodeling during development of the axial skeleton. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
TH-A-9A-01: Active Optical Flow Model: Predicting Voxel-Level Dose Prediction in Spine SBRT

Purpose: To predict voxel-level dose distribution and enable effective evaluation of cord dose sparing in spine SBRT. Methods: We present an active optical flow model (AOFM) to statistically describe cord dose variations and train a predictive model to represent correlations between AOFM and PTV contours. Thirty clinically accepted spine SBRT plans are evenly divided into training and testing datasets. The development of predictive model consists of 1) collecting a sequence of dose maps including PTV and OAR (spinal cord) as well as a set of associated PTV contours adjacent to OAR from the training dataset, 2) classifying data into five groups based on PTV's locations relative to OAR, two “Top”s, “Left”, “Right”, and “Bottom”, 3) randomly selecting a dose map as the reference in each group and applying rigid registration and optical flow deformation to match all other maps to the reference, 4) building AOFM by importing optical flow vectors and dose values into the principal component analysis (PCA), 5) applying another PCA to features of PTV and OAR contours to generate an active shape model (ASM), and 6) computing a linear regression model of correlations between AOFM and ASM.When predicting dose distribution of a new case in the testing dataset, the PTV is first assigned to a group based on its contour characteristics. Contour features are then transformed into ASM's principal coordinates of the selected group. Finally, voxel-level dose distribution is determined by mapping from the ASM space to the AOFM space using the predictive model. Results: The DVHs predicted by the AOFM-based model and those in clinical plans are comparable in training and testing datasets. At 2% volume the dose difference between predicted and clinical plans is 4.2±4.4% and 3.3±3.5% in the training and testing datasets, respectively. Conclusion: The AOFM is effective in predicting voxel-level dose distribution for spine SBRT. Partially supported by NIH/NCI under grant #R21CA161389 and a master research grant by Varian Medical System.