cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Genistein Increases the Sensitivity of Cardiac Ion Channels to β-Adrenergic Receptor Stimulation

Abstract —The whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used to monitor the effects of genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, on membrane currents recorded from isolated guinea pig ventricular myocytes. Under control conditions, genistein (50 μmol/L) did not activate the latent cAMP-regulated Cl − current ( I Cl ). However, in the presence of a subthreshold concentration (1 nmol/L) of the β-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol (Iso), genistein caused a near-maximal activation of this current. In the absence of genistein, Iso activated I Cl with an EC 50 of 5 nmol/L. In the presence of genistein, Iso activated I Cl with an EC 50 of 0.3 nmol/L. This facilitatory effect was not observed in the presence of daidzein (50 μmol/L), an analogue of genistein that only weakly inhibits tyrosine kinase activity. Furthermore, peroxovanadate, a potent inhibitor of phosphotyrosine phosphatase activity, inhibited I Cl activated by Iso alone, and it blocked the stimulatory effect of genistein in the presence of Iso. To determine whether the stimulatory effect of genistein was specific for I Cl , we also studied its action on the cAMP-regulated delayed rectifier K + current ( I K ) and L-type Ca 2+ current ( I Ca-L ) present in these cells. Basal I K and I Ca-L were partially (≈30% to 40%) inhibited by genistein. However, this inhibitory effect was mimicked by daidzein, suggesting that inhibition of tyrosine kinase activity is not involved. In addition to the nonspecific inhibitory effect, genistein also caused a significant increase in the β-adrenergic sensitivity of the unblocked cationic currents. In the absence of genistein, 1 nmol/L Iso had no effect on either I K or I Ca-L . However, in the presence of genistein, 1 nmol/L Iso significantly increased the magnitude of both currents. These results suggest that tyrosine kinase activity may play an important role in regulating β-adrenergic responsiveness of the heart.
Coarse-to-fine manifold learning [image processing example]

In this paper we consider a sequential, coarse-to-fine estimation of a piecewise constant function with smooth boundaries. Accurate detection and localization of the boundary (a manifold) is the key aspect of this problem. In general, algorithms capable of achieving optimal performance require exhaustive searches over large dictionaries that grow exponentially with the dimension of the observation domain. The computational burden of the search hinders the use of such techniques in practice, and motivates our work. We consider a sequential, coarse-to-fine approach that involves first examining the data on a coarse grid, and then refining the analysis and approximation in regions of interest. Our estimators involve an almost linear-time (in two dimensions) sequential search over the dictionary, and converge at the same near-optimal rate as estimators based on exhaustive searches. Specifically, for two dimensions, our algorithm requires O(n/sup 7/6/) operations for an n-pixel image, much less than the traditional wedgelet approaches, which require O(n/sup 11/6/) operations.
Spectral analysis of vacuum ultraviolet emission from pulsed atmospheric discharges

Summary form only given. It is commonly accepted that vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation, corresponding to emission from 180 nm to 115 nm and below, is responsible for photoionization contributing to streamer propagation during the initial stages of atmospheric discharges. An experimental setup was constructed to observe the VUV emission of pulsed surface flashover along a dielectric surface between atmosphere and vacuum. However, VUV radiation is highly attenuated in the atmosphere, which makes observation of detailed spectra difficult. For VUV transmission down to 115 nm the light emitted by surface flashover across an MgF2 window (front side of window in air, backside in vacuum) was focused by an MgF2 lens onto the entrance slit of the spectrograph. The high speed detection scheme consists of a VUV sensitive ICCD camera and a photomultiplier, both with nanosecond temporal resolution. Spectra were measured in various gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure with a flashover spark length of about 8 mm with a 35 kV pulsed excitation, and spectral calibration was done utilizing a VUV calibration lamp with a known emission spectrum. Virtually all lines from 115 to 180 nm can be identified as atomic oxygen and nitrogen transitions during flashover in dry air, with most VUV emission occurring during the initial breakdown stage (current rise). The extremely fast decay of VUV emission intensity following this initial stage is evidence of radiationless quenching of the excited energy levels associated with the observed spectral lines. Flashover studies were also performed in pure oxygen and nitrogen environments to reinforce the observed emission trends. Spectroscopy must be carefully detailed, for instance, the Oxygen-I line at 130.2 nm (which corresponds to a ground level transition) is shown to be strongly self absorbed in the atmospheric spark when compared to a similar oxygen emission line at 130.4 nm. Full spectra were simulated using SpectraPlot, a temperature dependent spectral software suite developed at Texas Tech. It has been concluded from the comparison of simulated and measured Nitrogen spectra between 140 and 150 nm that the electronic temperature is about 4.5 eV, assuming that the electronic nitrogen energy level population density is Boltzmann distributed. The measured spectra will be discussed in relation to the physics of surface flashover and volume breakdown at atmospheric pressure.
Research progress in toughening modification of poly(lactic acid)

Renewable poly(lactic acid) (PLA) exhibits high strength and stiffness. PLA is fully biodegradable and has received great interest. However, the inherent brittleness of PLA largely impedes its wide applications. In this article, the recent progress in PLA toughening using various routes including plasticization, copolymerization, and melt blending with flexible polymers, was reviewed in detail. PLA toughening, particularly modification of impact toughness through melt blending, was emphasized in this review. Reactive blending was shown to be especially effective in achieving high impact strength. The relationship between composition, morphology, and mechanical properties were summarized. Toughening mechanisms were also discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011.
ParaMor: Minimally Supervised Induction of Paradigm Structure and Morphological Analysis

Paradigms provide an inherent organizational structure to natural language morphology. ParaMor, our minimally supervised morphology induction algorithm, retrusses the word forms of raw text corpora back onto their paradigmatic skeletons; performing on par with state-of-the-art minimally supervised morphology induction algorithms at morphological analysis of English and German. ParaMor consists of two phases. Our algorithm first constructs sets of affixes closely mimicking the paradigms of a language. And with these structures in hand, ParaMor then annotates word forms with morpheme boundaries. To set ParaMor's few free parameters we analyze a training corpus of Spanish. Without adjusting parameters, we induce the morphological structure of English and German. Adopting the evaluation methodology of Morpho Challenge 2007 (Kurimo et al., 2007), we compare ParaMor's morphological analyses with Morfessor (Creutz, 2006), a modern minimally supervised morphology induction system. ParaMor consistently achieves competitive F1 measures.
Health Disparities in African American Males

This article focuses specifically on health disparities among African American men. It offers insight into the historic and socioeconomic factors upon which their health care paradigms are based, and discusses the link between their perceptions and the gap in health disparities that they experience. The article reviews the literature on African American men's health and describes the importance of continual attention to this issue.
Cosmic microwave background anisotropies from outflows in Lyman break galaxies

Thomson scattering of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on moving electrons in the outflows of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at redshifts 2–8 contributes to the small-scale CMB anisotropies. The net effect produced by each outflow depends on its level of deviation from spherical symmetry, caused either by an anisotropic energy injection from the nuclear starburst or quasar activity, or by an inhomogeneous intergalactic environment. We find that for plausible outflow parameters consistent with spectroscopic observations of LBGs, the induced CMB anisotropies on arcminute scales reach up to ~1 μK, comparable to the level produced during the epoch of reionization.
Cleveland women in government and allied fields

Public service offers an expanding field for women, justifying college specialization in social science courses
Ambient mass spectrometry for the intraoperative molecular diagnosis of human brain tumors

The main goal of brain tumor surgery is to maximize tumor resection while preserving brain function. However, existing imaging and surgical techniques do not offer the molecular information needed to delineate tumor boundaries. We have developed a system to rapidly analyze and classify brain tumors based on lipid information acquired by desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS). In this study, a classifier was built to discriminate gliomas and meningiomas based on 36 glioma and 19 meningioma samples. The classifier was tested and results were validated for intraoperative use by analyzing and diagnosing tissue sections from 32 surgical specimens obtained from five research subjects who underwent brain tumor resection. The samples analyzed included oligodendroglioma, astrocytoma, and meningioma tumors of different histological grades and tumor cell concentrations. The molecular diagnosis derived from mass-spectrometry imaging corresponded to histopathology diagnosis with very few exceptions. Our work demonstrates that DESI-MS technology has the potential to identify the histology type of brain tumors. It provides information on glioma grade and, most importantly, may help define tumor margins by measuring the tumor cell concentration in a specimen. Results for stereotactically registered samples were correlated to preoperative MRI through neuronavigation, and visualized over segmented 3D MRI tumor volume reconstruction. Our findings demonstrate the potential of ambient mass spectrometry to guide brain tumor surgery by providing rapid diagnosis, and tumor margin assessment in near-real time.
Control of Contractility in Spirostomum by Dissociated Calcium Ions

The freshwater protozoan, Spirostomum ambiguum, exhibits generalized contraction when electrically stimulated with a DC pulse. Light and electron microscopic studies show a subcortical filamentous network, believed responsible for generating contractile tension, in association with vesicles which were shown to accumulate calcium oxalate precipitates. Organisms microinjected with the calcium-sensitive, bioluminescent protein, aequorin, emit light when stimulated to contract. Analyses of cinefilm records of electrically induced contraction indicate that contraction may occur up to 25 msec after the onset of stimulation at a point when the calcium-aequorin light emission is at a peak. The evidence shows that calcium release from an interval compartment is directly associated with the onset of contraction in Spirostomum, and that the removal of calcium, through some internal sequestering mechanism, signals relaxation.
The Reeded Edge and the Phillips Curve: Money Neutrality, Common Knowledge, and Subjective Beliefs☆

Abstract I present a simple two-person auction model in which a seller and a buyer make bids in terms of money; however, the value of a unit of money is uncertain. I show: (1) a monetary revaluation has purely nominal effects if and only if it is common knowledge; (2) if seller and buyer have identical beliefs, making the value of money common knowledge maximizes total gains from trade; (3) if seller and buyer are equally well informed and have identical beliefs, then monetary revaluations have no net effect; (4) when the seller knows the value of money but the buyer does not, the expected utilities of both seller and buyer are proportional to 1/(1+ σ 2 ), where σ is the standard deviation of the value of money expressed as a fraction of the mean; and (5) when beliefs are subjective, monetary policy can improve total gains from trade, as in Friedman's explanation of the Phillips curve, and an optimal level of inflation can be determined. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C78, E52.
Radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors: influence of technique and tumor size.

Abstract Background. Radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFA) of liver tumors is done by both radiologists and surgeons by using various techniques for a variety of indications. This report describes our initial experience with RFA in 45 patients with hepatic malignancies. Methods. Patients with primary or secondary hepatic malignancies who were not candidates for resection underwent ultrasound-guided RFA under general anesthesia. End points were recurrence within or adjacent to the ablation zone or new hepatic or extrahepatic lesions. Product limit survival estimates for both ablation site recurrence-free survival and disease-free survival were calculated and compared for tumor size (less than 4 cm or 4 cm or greater), operative approach (percutaneous, laparoscopy, or open), and tumor type (hepatocellular cancer, colorectal cancer, or other metastatic disease). Results. Patients with hepatocellular cancer (n = 11) and with secondary hepatic malignancies (n = 34) had 84 lesions ablated with a median follow-up of 12 months. Largest ablated tumor size of 4 cm or greater ( P P P =.06). The 15 patients with colorectal cancer had worse disease-free survival compared with other tumor types ( P Conclusions. RFA of hepatic malignancies can be done by using a percutaneous, laparoscopic, or open approach. Local control appears superior for tumors less than 4 cm and when an open surgical approach is used. The difficulty in achieving prolonged disease-free survival, especially in colorectal cancer, underscores the need to investigate multimodality approaches that include local ablative techniques. Future RFA studies should consider tumor size, operative technique, and tumor type in trial design. (Surgery 2002;132:605-12.)
Spatial frequency maps in cat visual cortex.

Neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) respond preferentially to stimuli with distinct orientations and spatial frequencies. Although the organization of orientation selectivity has been thoroughly described, the arrangement of spatial frequency (SF) preference in V1 is controversial. Several layouts have been suggested, including laminar, columnar, clustered, pinwheel, and binary (high and low SF domains). We have reexamined the cortical organization of SF preference by imaging intrinsic cortical signals induced by stimuli of various orientations and SFs. SF preference maps, produced from optimally oriented stimuli, were verified using targeted microelectrode recordings. We found that a wide range of SFs is represented independently and mostly continuously within V1. Domains with SF preferences at the extremes of the SF continuum were separated by no more than ¾ mm (conforming to the hypercolumn description of cortical organization) and were often found at pinwheel center singularities in the cortical map of orientation preference. The organization of cortical maps permits nearly all combinations of orientation and SF preference to be represented in V1, and the overall arrangement of SF preference in V1 suggests that SF-specific adaptation effects, found in psychophysical experiments, may be explained by local interactions within a given SF domain. By reanalyzing our data using a different definition of SF preference than is used in electrophysiological and psychophysical studies, we can reproduce the different SF organizations suggested by earlier studies.
"How Are We Doing?" Tracking Efficiency, Utilization, and Productivity

Productivity gains lead to competitive advantages. To achieve success, managers need to know if they are making the most effective use of resources. Understanding how well a business is performing compared to other firms in an industry is vital. Efficiency and Utilization are two measures that can be used to answer the question "How are we doing?" Once you have defined key variables and established benchmarks, programs like Microsoft Excel make it easy to set up the necessary calculations and track performance over time. A spreadsheet application is demonstrated that illustrates the concepts discussed. Formulas are included and explained.
Conflict Resolution in Marriage: Toward a Theory of Spousal Strategies and Marital Dissolution Rates

THERE are four strategies spouses may attempt to employ in cases of political conflict to elicit a desired outcome: authority, control, influence, and manipulation. These strategies differ in three ways: the costs involved in their use, their reward potentials, and the amount of support provided by institutional sources external to the marital relationship. Employing conflict and exchange perspectives, it is hypothesized that the four strategies are identically rank ordered (as presented above) on each of these; the higher the reward potential, the lower the cost and the greater the external support. Class and culture influence the strategies available for use by husbands compared to their wives. Also, long-term socioeconomic changes have affected the relative abilities of each spouse to employ the different strategies. Rates of marital dissolution are a function of the relative equality between spouses in terms of the types of conflict-resolution strategies they are able to employ; the more equal they ar...
Renewable fuels: An automotive perspective

Carbon-neutral liquid fuels, in the form of biofuels and fuels synthesized using renewable energy, provide a route to mitigating the climate change and energy security concerns, which currently challenge the transport sector without the paradigm shifts in vehicle technology and infrastructure required by electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to a hydrogen economy. The low-carbon-number alcohols and, where necessary, synthesized and biodiesel and kerosene offer the prospect of continued high levels of affordable mobility through the gradual evolution of the vehicle fleet and fuel distribution infrastructure to one which is broadly compatible with that which pervades today.
Breast Cancer Statistics

Among U.S. women, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer (excluding skin cancers) and the second leading cause of cancer death, following lung cancer. In 2012, an estimated 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 39,510 breast cancer deaths are expected to occur among U.S. women. Breast cancer rates vary largely by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES), and geographic region. Death rates are higher in African American women than in whites, despite their lower incidence rates. Historically, breast cancer was recognized as a disease of western countries. However, over the past 20 years, breast cancer incidence and mortality rates have been increasing rapidly in economically less developed regions. According to 2008 GLOBOCAN estimates, half of the new worldwide breast cancer cases (1.38 million) and 60 % of the breast cancer deaths (458,000) occurred in developing countries. This chapter reviews breast cancer incidence and mortality patterns among women in the U.S. and worldwide, and the possible explanations for these patterns.
Physical design of optoelectronic system-on-a-chip/package using electrical and optical interconnects: cad tools and algorithms

Current electrical systems are faced with the limitation in performance by the electrical interconnect technology determining overall processing speed. In addition, the electrical interconnects containing many long distance interconnects require high power to drive. One of the best ways to overcome these bottlenecks is through the use of optical interconnect to limit interconnect latency and power. This research explores new computer-aided design algorithms for developing optoelectronic systems. These algorithms focus on place and route problems using optical interconnections covering system-on-a-chip design as well as system-on-a-package design. In order to design optoelectronic systems, optical interconnection models are developed at first. The CAD algorithms include optical interconnection models and solve place and route problems for optoelectronic systems. The MCNC and GSRC benchmark circuits are used to evaluate these algorithms.
Outcomes after the Fontan procedure.

Over the past two decades, advances in congenital heart surgery, pediatric cardiology, and intensive care medicine have dramatically increased the survival of infants with critical congenital heart disease. The group of patients that has perhaps benefited the most from this progress has been the sin
Sodium-ion nanomachining to shape microcrystals into nanostructures and tune their properties

It is still a challenging task to develop facile top-down methods to carve microparticles into nanostructures on a large scale. We demonstrate a top-down electrochemical method based on a sodium-ion battery system to machine rhombohedral microparticles into hierarchical flower-like nanostructures on a large scale, using Fe2O3 as a model. Electrochemical parameters, such as current, and number of cycles can be employed to tune the morphology of the as-derived nanostructures, which can be used to tune magnetization properties. This Na-ion electrochemical nanomachining (ECNM) provides an alternative top-down route to manipulate microparticles into substructures. Particularly interesting, the magnetic properties could be tuned by this ECNM method. It will be interesting to further study electrochemically induced reorganization to change material properties. The concept and methods outlined here could be extended to use other ion-based ECNM, including Mg2+, Ca2+, Al3+, for electrochemical manipulation of structures, opening up additional opportunities for functional materials.
Countermeasures Against Security and Stability Problems of Receiving-end Grid Located UHV Transmission Corridor

UHV AC and DC are planned to access Chongqing Power Grid in the"12th Five-year Plan"of China,which highlight the characteristics of Chongqing grid as a receiving-end grid in the long-chain UHV transmission corridor,thus the security and stability characteristics and the corresponding countermeasures of such system urgently need to be studied.Taking Chongqing power grid containing UHV transmission as example,we studied its security,stability,and countermeasures.The results reveal that the grid's security and stability issues are classified into some major problems,including the line overload,the transient voltage drop and the transient instability caused by power flow transfer while breaking 1 000 kV/500 kV electromagnetic loops,the over-voltage caused by sudden power drops on UHV AC corridor,and the power grid islanding caused by cascading out-of step.Furthermore,based on completing the 3 defense systems,a voltage flexible control method integrating DC power modulation for long-chain transmission corridor and active defense measures preventing the cascading loss of synchronization are presented and validated by simulations.
Epidemiology of lower extremity injuries presenting to the emergency room in the United States: Snow skiing vs. snowboarding.

PURPOSE: To quantify and compare the incidence of lower extremity injuries in skiers and snowboarders who present to emergency rooms in the United States. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of lower extremity injuries in skiers and snowboarders that were evaluated in emergency rooms in the United States. The National Electric Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database was queried from January 1st, 2014 and December 31st, 2014 and the reported cases of lower extremity injuries in skiers and snowboarders were examined. RESULTS: An estimated total of 13,381 snow skiing and 6061 snowboarding lower extremity injuries presented to the emergency department in 2014 representing a national incidence of 42 injuries per 1,000,000 person-years for skiers and 19 injuries for snowboarders. The most common region of the lower extremity that was injured was the knee for skiers (47%) and the lower trunk (e.g. pelvis, hip, lumbar spine) for snowboarders (34%). The incidence of injuries in the pediatric and young adult population in skiers (62 per 1,000,000 person-years) and snowboarders (40 per 1,000,000 person-years) was significantly higher than the incidence of these injuries in adult population (35 and 12 per 1,000,000 person-years respectively) (PCONCLUSION: The incidence of lower extremity injuries in skiers was higher than that of snowboarders in 2014, with the 0-19year old age group and males being those most likely to sustain an injury. The most common region of the lower extremity that was injured was the knee for skiers and the lower trunk (e.g. pelvis, hip, lumbar spine) for snowboarders. Physicians and consumers alike should be aware of this data when considering participation in these sports as well as strategies for injury prevention.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Language: en
An Unsupervised Collaborative Approach to Identifying Home and Work Locations

There is a growing interest in leveraging geo-spatial data to provide location-aware services. With a large amount of collected geo-spatial data, a crucial step is to identify important "base" locations (e.g., home or work) and understand users' behavior at these locations. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised collaborative learning approach to identifying home and work locations of individuals from geo-spatial trajectory data. Our approach transforms user trajectory records into intuitive and insightful user-location signatures, clusters these signatures, and then identifies location types based on cluster characteristics. This clustering model can be used to identify base locations for new users. We validate this approach using Open Street Map and Foursquare location tags and obtain an accuracy of 80%.
WeChat and civil society in China

As the most widely used social media platform in China, WeChat has penetrated into daily life and has broad implications for the development of civil society. This article assesses the impact of WeChat in three aspects. The small closed networks on WeChat provide a comfortable space for discussions and cultivate a series of alternative public spheres. In addition, it promotes online debates and popular protests in spite of strengthened Internet censorship. Finally, WeChat creates new ways for ordinary people to be associated with one another and to build solidarity. Apart from these positive implications, this article also emphasizes the unstable character of WeChat. Since WeChat is a platform where market, state, and civil society merge and compete, WeChat can be used to facilitate civil society as well as to constitute obstacles for it.
Biochemical and Spectroscopic Characterization of the Non-Heme Fe(II)- and 2-Oxoglutarate-Dependent Ethylene-Forming Enzyme from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola PK2.

The ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE) from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola PK2 is a member of the mononuclear non-heme Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenase superfamily. This enzyme is reported to simultaneously catalyze the conversion of 2OG into ethylene and three CO2 molecules and the Cδ hydroxylation of l-arginine (l-Arg) while oxidatively decarboxylating 2OG to form succinate and carbon dioxide. A new plasmid construct for expression in recombinant Escherichia coli cells allowed for the purification of large amounts of EFE with activity greater than that previously recorded. A variety of assays were used to quantify and confirm the identity of the proposed products, including the first experimental demonstration of l-Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate and guanidine derived from 5-hydroxyarginine. Selected l-Arg derivatives could induce ethylene formation without undergoing hydroxylation, demonstrating that ethylene production and l-Arg hydroxylation activities are not linked. Similarly, EFE ...
Localisation of epidermal growth factor (EGF), its specific receptor (EGF-R) and aromatase at the materno-fetal interface during placentation in the pregnant mare.

Abstract Introduction Implantation and placentation in the mare does not commence until as late as day 40 after ovulation. The reasons for this and the growth factors and/or hormones which drive placentation when it does finally occur are of considerable academic and practical interest. Method Placental interface tissues recovered from 11 accurately aged and perfused-fixed horse uteri between 20 and 68 days of gestation were stained immunocytochemically for Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), its specific receptor (EGF-R) and for the steroid hormone enzyme, aromatase. Results EGF was present in endometrial gland and lumenal epithelia from day 20 but staining intensity increased noticeably for the protein between days 30 and 40, coincidentally with the commencing secretion of equine Chorionic Gonadotrophin (eCG) from the endometrial cups and immediately prior to attachment and commencing interdigitation between the allantochorion and endometrium. EGF-R, on the other hand, was expressed strongly on the cell surface membrane of both non-invasive and invasive trophoblast and it similarly increased in staining intensity between days 30 and 40. Aromatase, the enzyme necessary for conversion of C-19 androgens to C-18 oestrogens, was expressed strongly and constantly from as early as day 12 in the non-invasive trophoblast of the allantochorion, but not the invasive trophoblast of the chorionic girdle, the progenitor tissue of the endometrial cups. Discussion The findings support the hypothesis that, in equine pregnancy, the maternal growth factor EGF synergises with maternally and fetally secreted oestrogens to drive the rapid growth and extensive vascularisation of the non-invasive, epitheliochorial, microcotyledonary placenta which results in the birth of the precocious foal after only 11 months gestation.
Differences in morning-evening type and sleep duration between Black and White adults: Results from a propensity-matched UK Biobank sample

Biological evidence suggests that ethno-racial differences in morning-evening type are possible, whereby Blacks may be more likely to be morning type compared to Whites. However, population-level evidence of ethno-racial difference in morning-evening type is limited. In an earlier study, we reported that morning type was more prevalent in Blacks compared to Whites in the United Kingdom (UK) Biobank cohort (N = 439 933). This study aimed to determine if these ethno-racial differences persisted after accounting for an even broader range of social, environmental and individual characteristics and employing an analytic approach that simulates randomization in observational data, propensity score modeling. Data from UK Biobank participants whose self-identified race/ethnicity was Black/Black British or White; who did not report daytime napping, shift work or night shift work; who provided full mental health information; and who were identified using propensity score matching were used (N = 2044). Each sample was strongly matched across all social, environmental and individual characteristics as indicated by absolute standardized mean differences <0.09 for all variables. The prevalence of reporting nocturnal short, adequate and long sleep as well as morning, intermediate and evening type among Blacks (n = 1022) was compared with a matched sample of Whites (n = 1022) using multinomial logistic regression models. Blacks had a 62% greater odds of being morning type [odds ratio (OR) = 1.620, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.336-1.964, p < .0001] and a more than threefold greater odds of reporting nocturnal short sleep (OR = 3.453, 95% CI: 2.846-4.190, p < .0001) than Whites. These data indicate that the greater prevalence of morning type and short nocturnal sleep in Blacks compared to Whites is not fully explained by a wide range of social and environmental factors. If sleep is an upstream determinant of health, these data suggest that ethno-racially targeted public health sleep intervention strategies are needed.
In Vivo Analysis of the Neurovascular Niche in the Developing Xenopus Brain

The neurovascular niche is a specialized microenvironment formed by the interactions between neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and the vasculature. While it is thought to regulate adult neurogenesis by signaling through vascular-derived soluble cues or contacted-mediated cues, less is known about the neurovascular niche during development. In Xenopus laevis tadpole brain, NPCs line the ventricle and extend radial processes tipped with endfeet to the vascularized pial surface. Using in vivo labeling and time-lapse imaging in tadpoles, we find that intracardial injection of fluorescent tracers rapidly labels Sox2/3-expressing NPCs and that vascular-circulating molecules are endocytosed by NPC endfeet. Confocal imaging indicates that about half of the endfeet appear to appose the vasculature, and time-lapse analysis of NPC proliferation and endfeet-vascular interactions suggest that proliferative activity does not correlate with stable vascular apposition. Together, these findings characterize the neurovascular niche in the developing brain and suggest that, while signaling to NPCs may occur through vascular-derived soluble cues, stable contact between NPC endfeet and the vasculature is not required for developmental neurogenesis.
Do donors matter? Short telomeres and survival after lung transplant.

One of the great challenges of lung transplantation is the development of progressive small airway fibrosis leading to pulmonary function decline and allograft loss. Termed as chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD), it is the leading cause of shortened long-term survival among lung transplant recipients and estimated to affect at least half of all recipients within 5 years after transplant.1 Risk factors for CLAD include type of transplant (single vs bilateral), infections, gastro-oesophageal reflux, graft ischaemic time, ischaemia–reperfusion injury, air pollution exposure, acute cellular rejection (ACR) episodes and specific antibody development.2 In this issue of Thorax , Faust and colleagues propose a new risk factor for CLAD: short donor telomere length (TL).3 Telomeres consist of repetitive DNA sequences bound to shelterin protein complex at chromosome ends to provide protection from degradation during cell division. Short TL has been identified as a major contributor to lung disease, most notably as a genetic mediator of a subset of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). In particular, mutations in multiple telomere-related genes that code for components of the telomerase enzyme complex are known to be associated with familial idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP), as well as a smaller subset of patients with sporadic …
Homeostatic Control of Hpo/MST Kinase Activity through Autophosphorylation-Dependent Recruitment of the STRIPAK PP2A Phosphatase Complex

The Hippo pathway controls organ size and tissue homeostasis through a kinase cascade leading from the Ste20-like kinase Hpo (MST1/2 in mammals) to the transcriptional coactivator Yki (YAP/TAZ in mammals). Whereas previous studies have uncovered positive and negative regulators of Hpo/MST, how they are integrated to maintain signaling homeostasis remains poorly understood. Here, we identify a self-restricting mechanism whereby autophosphorylation of an unstructured linker in Hpo/MST creates docking sites for the STRIPAK PP2A phosphatase complex to inactivate Hpo/MST. Mutation of the phospho-dependent docking sites in Hpo/MST or deletion of Slmap, the STRIPAK subunit recognizing these docking sites, results in constitutive activation of Hpo/MST in both Drosophila and mammalian cells. In contrast, autophosphorylation of the Hpo/MST linker at distinct sites is known to recruit Mats/MOB1 to facilitate Hippo signaling. Thus, multisite autophosphorylation of Hpo/MST linker provides an evolutionarily conserved built-in molecular platform to maintain signaling homeostasis by coupling antagonistic signaling activities.
Spatiotemporal range pattern queries on large-scale co-movement pattern datasets

Thanks to recent prevalence of location sensors, collecting massive spatiotemporal datasets containing moving object trajectories has become possible, providing an exceptional opportunity to derive interesting insights about behavior of the moving objects such as people, animals, and vehicles. In particular, mining patterns from co-movements of objects (such as players of a sports team, joints of a person while walking, and cars in a transportation network) can lead to the discovery of interesting patterns (e.g., offense tactics of the sports team, gait signature of the person, and driving behaviors causing heavy traffic). With our prior work, we proposed efficient algorithms to mine frequent co-movement patterns from trajectory datasets. In this paper, we focus on the problem of efficient query processing on massive co-movement pattern datasets generated by such pattern mining algorithms. Given a dataset of frequent co-movement patterns, various spatiotemporal queries can be posed to retrieve relevant patterns among all generated patterns from the pattern dataset. We term such queries “pattern queries”. Co-movement patterns are often numerous due to combinatorial complexity of such patterns, and therefore, co-movement pattern datasets grow very large, rendering naive execution of the pattern queries ineffective. In this paper, we propose novel index structures and query processing algorithms for efficient answering of two families of range pattern queries on massive co-movement pattern datasets, namely, spatial range pattern queries and temporal range pattern queries. Our extensive empirical studies with three real datasets have demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed methods.
Who Shares What with Whom? Information Sharing Preferences in the Online and Offline Worlds

Today people reveal a substantial amount of personal information both online and offline. Although beneficial in many aspects, this exchange of personal information may pose privacy challenges if the information is disseminated outside the originally intended contexts. Through an online survey, this study investigates people’s online and offline information sharing preferences in a comparative fashion. Our analysis reveals that people generally have similar sharing preferences in online and offline contexts, except that they have different preferences for sharing information with their friends and family offline than they do for sharing with personal networks online. We also found that people share their gender and ethnicity less online than offline. Moreover, sharing religious affiliation was similar to sharing daily activities offline, whereas it was similar to sharing political beliefs online. Our findings corroborate Nissenbaum’s (2011) theory of contextual integrity and shed light on preferences for sharing certain information with certain recipients.
Using the Force: Three-Dimensional Printing a π-Bonding Model with Embedded Magnets

Three-dimensional printing was used to prepare a π-bonding model with embedded magnets. The model enables students to have a kinesthetic experience that simulates the energetics of bonding, antibonding, and nonbonding p-orbital interactions.
Total Thyroidectomy and Thyroid Lobectomy

The key to a safe thyroidectomy is to dissect in the correct cervical planes using absolutely meticulous, bloodless technique. This optimizes the surgeon’s ability to identify and preserve delicate perithyroidal structures such as the recurrent laryngeal nerve and parathyroid glands, as well as minimize the risk of life-threatening postoperative neck hematoma. This chapter describes the technique of a conventional thyroidectomy performed via an anterior cervical incision. An overview of preoperative workup and postoperative care is also included.
Antibiotics and Survival of the Fittest

“Flexner’s serum” had a significant and dramatic impact on the uniformly poor prognosis associated with meningococcal meningitis in the early decades of the twentieth century, reducing the overall mortality by more than 50 % and providing the first real glimmer of therapeutic hope in the century-long history of this disease. Similarly, serum therapy for pneumococcal disease—the most lethal of the common bacterial diseases of the time—showed substantial early promise during the 1920s and 1930s. It seemed at that juncture as if this would be the path towards managing some of the most dangerous bacterial infections of the era. However, an abrupt shift—a paradigm shift—was about to take place in medical science, one that would lead to a transformational change in the way in which infectious diseases were treated. In the late 1930s, this revolution would not only alter the prognosis of patients suffering from these maladies but would also alter the history of medical science—at least temporarily.
Taking the bait: species taking oral rabies vaccine baits intended for raccoons

Raccoon rabies in eastern USA is managed by strategically distributing oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits. The attractiveness, palativity, density, and non-target species bait take affect ORV effectiveness. We examined raccoon and non-target species differences in investigating/removing fish-meal polymer and coated sachet baits applied to simulate two aerial bait distribution densities. Bait densities of 150 baits/km2 and 75 baits/km2 were evaluated, respectively, in zones expected to have high and low raccoon densities. Three primary non-target species visited baits: coyotes, white-tailed deer, and feral swine. The proportion of bait stations visited by raccoons during 1 week observation periods ranged from 50 to 70%, exceeding non-target species visitation. Raccoon take rates for visited baits averaged from 59 to 100%. Raccoon visitation was similar for both bait densities, indicating a proportionally greater quantity of baits were taken in the higher bait density zone. Coyote visitation rates ranged from 16 to 26%, with take rates for visited baits between 46 and 100%. Coyotes were expected to take baits intended for raccoons, because similar baits are applied to vaccinate coyotes. Deer regularly investigated but rarely took baits. Feral swine were in low abundance in the high bait density zone (higher human density) and visited ≤ 1% of baits there but visited baits at frequencies similar to coyotes and deer in the low-density zone and were likely to take encountered baits (63–100%). Non-target bait consumption could be a concern in some circumstances for achieving sufficient raccoon sero-conversion rates.
The decline of yuck: Moral judgment in the anthropocene

Abstract The status and development of disgust as a moral emotion is gaining attention from scholars. This increased consideration largely rests on the question of whether disgust can and should play a role—even a decisive role—in moral judgment. Some ethicists believe that disgust manifests the emotional expression of a “deep wisdom,” and in this respect may constitute the last bulwark against eroding social norms associated with technological development. Others see the transformation or displacement of disgust as an appropriate human adaption to the times. This essay investigates the precarious status of disgust in the Anthropocene, a global age of artifice and engineering that increasingly challenges the “natural order” of things. The decline of disgust as a moral emotion presents a critical challenge to ethicists, legal theorists, and scholars of society, culture and technology.
Prior Knee Arthroscopy Is Associated With Increased Risk of Revision After Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Abstract Background Knee arthroscopy (KA) is frequently performed to provide improved joint function and pain relief. However, outcomes following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) after prior KA are not fully understood. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between prior KA within 2 years of TKA on revision rates after TKA. Methods Data were collected from the Humana insurance database using the PearlDiver Patient Records Database from 2006 to 2017. Subjects were identified using Current Procedural Terminology and International Classification of Diseases procedure codes to identify primary TKA. Patients were stratified into 2 groups based upon a history of prior KA. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine association between KA and outcomes at 2-year postoperative period. Results In total, 138,019 patients were included in this study, with 3357 (2.4%) patients receiving a KA before TKA and 134,662 (97.6%) patients who did not. The most common reason for KA was osteoarthritis (40.0%), followed by medial tear of the meniscus (26.0%) and chondromalacia (21%.0). After adjustment, prior KA was associated with increased revision rate (odds ratio [OR], 1.392; P = .003), postoperative stiffness (OR, 1.251; P = .012), periprosthetic joint infection (OR, 1.326; P Conclusion Prior KA is significantly associated with increased 2-year TKA revision rate. The most common etiology for arthroscopy was osteoarthritis. The results of the study, showing that arthroscopy before TKA substantially increases the rates of revision, PJI, aseptic loosening, and stiffness, lend further credence to the idea that patients may be better served by nonsurgical management of their degenerative pathology until they become candidates for TKA. Subjecting this population to arthroscopy appears to offer limited benefit at the cost of poorer outcomes when they require arthroplasty in the future. Level of Evidence Level III therapeutic study.
An expert consultation system for frontline health workers in primary eye care.

In developing countries, blindness is a major health problem whose control depdens on the application of simple measures by frontline workers because, inmany of these countries, specialist medical care is not readily available. To assist primary health workers in the management of common and potentially blinidng eye disorders, we have developed a prototype computer program for a hand-held computer that incorporates a set of guidelines for diagnosis and treatment. This eye treatment program will help evaluate the potential of such devices for improving health care delivery in developing countries. This approach is now feasible because of recent advances in expert system and portable computer technology.
Stiff isotropic lattices beyond the Maxwell criterion

Materials with a stochastic microstructure, like foams, typically exhibit low mechanical stiffness, whereas lattices with a designed microarchitecture often show notably improved stiffness. These periodic architected materials have previously been designed by rule, using the Maxwell criterion to ensure that their deformation is dominated by the stretching of their struts. Classical designs following this rule tend to be anisotropic, with stiffness depending on the load orientation, but recently, isotropic designs have been reported by superimposing complementary anisotropic lattices. We have designed stiff isotropic lattices de novo with topology optimization, an approach based on continuum finite element analysis. Here, we present results of experiments on these lattices, fabricated by additive manufacturing, that validate predictions of their performance and demonstrate that they are as efficient as those designed by rule, despite appearing to violate the Maxwell criterion. These findings highlight the enhanced potential of topology optimization to design materials with unprecedented properties.