cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increase in CD4+ T-Cell Count at the Time of HIV Diagnosis and Antiretroviral Treatment Initiation Among Persons With HIV in New York City.

BACKGROUND Trends in CD4+ T-cell count at human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection diagnosis and antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation can be characterized using laboratory tests from surveillance. METHODS We used CD4+ T-cell counts and viral loads from New York City for persons who received a diagnosis of HIV infection during 2006-2012. RESULTS From 2006 to 2012, the median CD4+ T-cell count increased from 325 to 379 cells/µL at diagnosis and from 178 to 360 cells/μL at ART initiation. CD4+ T-cell counts were consistently lower in women, blacks, Hispanics, persons who inject drugs, and heterosexuals. DISCUSSION Increases in CD4+ T-cell count at diagnosis and ART initiation suggest that the time from HIV infection to ART initiation has been reduced substantially in New York City.
A Quantitative Analysis on E-Books Sampling Optimization

E-book sales have seen a slow growth in recent years. A major issue is how to attract consumers and promote sales. Motivated by the marketing strategy of free sampling, retailers start to offer free partial sampling of e-books. We propose a quantitative model for retailers to optimize the selection of e-books for sampling in their promotion campaign with a limited budget. Simulation-based numerical analysis shows that our model increases retailers' profit by around 8% when the free partial sampling strategy can double the e-book demand. We also develop a dynamic programming model to help retailers better utilize a budget in relatively long period of time. An experiment analysis reflects an improvement of retailer's profit of around 7%. Our model can be extended to other information goods such as digital music, video, and newspaper.
Hepatic Artery Rupture in a Young Man with Abdominal Pain and a Testicular Mass

Abstract Background Male patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with abdominal pain accompanied by a testicular mass should be evaluated for the presence of hernia, epididymitis, orchitis, and testicular torsion. When a patient presents with an asymptomatic testicular nodule or mass, the emergency physician should consider testicular carcinoma, a diagnosis that typically warrants no more than prompt urologic outpatient referral. Case Report We present a case involving a young male whose presenting complaint was abdominal pain. Despite his reluctance to initially discuss any genitourinary (GU) complaints, careful questioning and thorough examination revealed a large left testicular mass. Despite having a benign abdomen, the patient experienced a rapid clinical deterioration in the ED after a previously undiagnosed metastatic lesion to his liver eroded into his hepatic artery. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? This case highlights the importance of performing a GU examination in all patients presenting with abdominal pain and discusses a rare presentation of a relatively common male condition. We also discuss the prioritization of emergent interventions and diagnostic studies specific to this case.
Clinical Outcome of Aspergillus-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes for Refractory Invasive Aspergillosis in Patients with Hematological Malignancies.

Invasive aspergillosis has high mortality in patients with hematological malignancies after chemotherapy or allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) due to usually low response rate to current antifungal agents and relatively poor tolerance to the toxicities of the antifungal medicines. In this pilot clinical study, we explore to manage the patients with refractory invasive aspergillosis with aspergillus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (aspergillus CTL). Ten patients who were either no longer response to antifungal medicines or have to stop antifungal agents due to severe toxicities were included in this clinical study. Diagnosis are ALL (2 cases), AML (5 cases), and CML (3 cases). The median age was 37 (10 to 62) years old. Seven of them received allogeneic SCT (unrelated 3 cases, haploidentical 3 cases, identical sibling 1 case), and 3 patients were after chemotherapy. Aspergillus CTLs were either donor origin (5 cases) or patient origin (5 cases) if original donor was not available. Patients received 1 to 3 infusions of aspergillus CTLs. The median CTLs infused were 3.61 (0.28–40.00) x 10 5 /kg. No infusion-related reactions were noted. No pre-existed graft-versus-host disease deteriorated. With aspergillus CTL therapy, one of them (10%) achieved complete response, 6 patients (60%) improved significantly, 1 case was stable, and 2 patients became worse. Our preliminary data has shown that aspergillus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte is a safe and promising mean to manage refractory invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematological malignancies.
Latent structure of cognitive performance in the adult children study.

ABSTRACTObjective: The Adult Children Study (ACS) at the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center is a longitudinal investigation designed to identify and validate potential biomarkers of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in cognitively normal individuals with and without a family history of AD. The purpose of the current study was to validate the proposed latent structure of the ACS psychometric battery. Method: Confirmatory factor analyses of baseline data in a sample of 229 (75 men) cognitively normal middle-aged to older adult individuals assessed a hypothesized 4-factor model of cognitive performance. Measurement invariance was investigated as a function of family history of AD and apolipoprotein E (APOE) status. Results: This study confirmed a priori hypotheses of 4 latent cognitive domains in a unique longitudinal sample of cognitively normal adults. In addition, there was evidence of a similar factor structure for family history and APOE status groups. Conclusion: These robust indicators of a...
Impact of care at NCI comprehensive cancer centers (NCICCC) on cancer outcome: Results from a population-based study.

6541 Background: Despite advances in therapy and supportive care, prognosis for certain cancers remains poor. Rigorous processes ensure quality of research, clinical care and education at NCICCC. H...
Hybrid control strategy to extend the ZVS range of a dual active bridge converter

This paper presents a hybrid control strategy for a dual active bridge (DAB) based dc-dc converter which combines the benefits of traditional phase shift and burst mode modulation schemes. The advantage of using such a control strategy stems from the fact that it can extend the zero voltage switching (ZVS) range of all power switches in both the primary and secondary bridges when there is a wide variation in input or output voltage. In addition, the hybrid control strategy improves the light load efficiency of the DAB converter. The paper focuses on the development of the average and small signal models for the DAB converter with the hybrid modulation scheme. Digital implementation considerations of the hybrid control scheme are discussed. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy has been tested and validated through simulations and experiments.
Critical pedagogy meets transformation: creating the being of communication activists

Critical communication scholarship and pedagogy are vitally important for creating awareness, unpacking social, ideological, and environment forces, and engaging beyond theory (Freire, 1972). The c...
Abstract 167: Age and Gender Differences in Pulse Pressure Response to Repeat Blood Pressure Measurement After Brief Patient Rest Period

BACKGROUND: Increased pulse pressure (PP) is an independent determinant of cardiac disease. The effect of rest period on office-based systolic blood pressure has been previously reported, but not on PP in particular. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of age and gender on repeat PP measurement after a brief rest period in an outpatient cardiology clinic. METHODS: Patient charts reviewed in University-based cardiology clinic identified 170 encounters which contained BP re-measurement data due to elevated initial BP of > 130/80 mmHg. BP was measured initially by a nurse, with the patient in a sitting position and the arm resting at the level of the heart. If BP was > 130/80 mmHg, it was repeated by physician after resting the patient for 15 minutes. There were 112 (66%) elderly patients ≥ 60 years of age and 58 (34%) younger patients RESULTS: Among all encounters, after a brief rest period, initial PP of 67 ± 2 mmHg decreased to 62 ± 1 mmHg (5 mmHg; P
A robust scheme for distributed control of power converters in DC microgrids with time-varying power sharing

This paper addresses the problem of output voltage regulation for multiple DC/DC converters connected to a microgrid, and prescribes a scheme for sharing power among different sources. This architecture is structured in such a way that it admits quantifiable analysis of the closed-loop performance of the network of converters; the analysis simplifies to studying closed-loop performance of an equivalent single-converter system. The proposed architecture allows for the proportion in which the sources provide power to vary with time; thus overcoming limitations of our previous designs in [1]. Additionally, the proposed control framework is suitable to both centralized and decentralized implementations, i.e., the same control architecture can be employed for voltage regulation irrespective of the availability of common load-current (or power) measurement, without the need to modify controller parameters. The performance becomes quantifiably better with better communication of the demanded load to all the controllers at all the converters (in the centralized case); however guarantees viability when such communication is absent. Case studies comprising of battery, PV and generic sources are presented and demonstrate the enhanced performance of prescribed optimal controllers for voltage regulation and power sharing.
V-band rotary joint with low loss over wide bandwidth

We describe a rotary joint that offers < 0.5 dB insertion loss within a 13% bandwidth about 60 GHz. The joint is comprised of two mode converters arranged back-to-back that transform the dominant TE10 mode in standard WR-15 rectangular waveguide to TE01 mode in circular cylindrical waveguide at which rotation occurs. We present data that show that wideband performance depends on stringent quality control in manufacturing the part.
Predictive Analytics for Comprehensive Energy Systems State Estimation

Overview Chapter Energy sustainability is a subject of concern to many nations in the modern world. It is critical for electric power systems to diversify energy supply to include systems with different physical characteristics, such as wind energy, solar energy, electrochemical energy storage, thermal storage, bio-energy systems, geothermal, and ocean energy. Each system has its own range of control variables and targets. To be able to operate such a complex energy system, big-data analytics become critical to achieve the goal of predicting energy supplies and consumption patterns, assessing system operation conditions, and estimating system states—all providing situational awareness to power system operators. This chapter presents data analytics and machine learning-based approaches to enable predictive situational awareness of the power systems.
Disparities in injury morbidity among young adults in the USA: individual and contextual determinants

Background Injuries have been recognised as important public health concerns, particularly among adolescents and young adults. Few studies have examined injuries using a multilevel perspective that addresses individual socioeconomic status (SES) and health behaviours and local socioeconomic conditions in early adolescence. We offer a conceptual framework incorporating these various components. Methods We test our conceptual framework using population data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Wave 4 when respondents were young adults and linked them to contextual level data from when they were middle-schoolers. We use logistic and multilevel regression models to examine self-reported injury risk in young adults by sex (n=14 356). Results Logistic regression models showed that men were more likely to experience serious injuries than women (OR 1.75, P Conclusions These findings highlight the importance of investigating mechanisms that link early-life contextual conditions to early adult SES and health behaviours and their linkage to injury risk, particularly for women.
Incentivizing Exploration by Heterogeneous Users

We consider the problem of incentivizing exploration with heterogeneous agents. In this problem, bandit arms provide vector-valued outcomes equal to an unknown arm-specific attribute vector, perturbed by independent normally distributed noise. Agents arrive sequentially and choose arms to pull based on their own private and heterogeneous linear utility functions over attributes and the estimates of the arms' attribute vectors derived from observations of other agents' past pulls. Agents are myopic and selfish and thus would choose the arm with maximum estimated utility. A principal, knowing only the distribution from which agents' preferences are drawn, but not the specific draws, can offer incentive payments for pulling specific arms in order to encourage agents to explore underplayed arms. The principal seeks to minimize the total expected cumulative regret incurred by agents relative to their best arms, while also making a small expected cumulative payment. We propose an algorithm that incentivizes arms played infrequently in the past whose probability of being played in the next round would be small without incentives. Under the assumption that each arm is preferred by at least a fraction \(p>0\) of agents, we show that this algorithm achieves expected cumulative regret of \(O(N\exp(2/p) + N \log^3(T))\), using expected cumulative payments of \(O(N^2\exp(2/p))\). If \(p\) is known or the distribution over agent preferences is discrete, the exponential term \(\exp(2/p)\) can be replaced with suitable polynomials in \(N\) and \(1/p\). For discrete preferences, the regret dependence on \(T\) can be eliminated entirely, giving constant (depending only polynomially on \(N\) and \(1/p\) expected regret and payments. This constant regret stands in contrast to the \(\Theta(\log(T))\) dependence of regret in standard multi-armed bandit problems. It arises because even unobserved heterogeneity in agent preferences allows exploitation of arms to also explore arms fully; succinctly, heterogeneity provides free exploration.
Quality of Life in Pediatric Psychiatry: A New Outcome Measure

Chronic medical illness in childhood and adolescence is an increasingly prevalent contributor to psychiatric and behavioral disturbances encountered by child and adolescent psychiatrists, yet the traditional clinical tools of categorical psychiatric diagnosis and treatment do not adequately address the needs of this population. The child and adolescent psychiatrist is an essential contributor to the comprehensive care of the chronically ill child and his or her family. The "quality of life" construct represents both an advance in the development of newer tools of diagnosis and treatment for this unique population, and perhaps more importantly, a recognition in the area of clinical investigation that the emotional life of a child is as important a measure of the success of medical treatment as the response of a tumor mass to chemotherapy or the reduction in blood urea nitrogen following dialysis. Crucial advances in psychoneuroimmunology, group and family psychotherapy, pediatric psychopharmacology, and related disciplines can now be more effectively applied to chronically ill children and their families with the advent of novel outcome measures such as "quality of life" and related approaches to this unique population.
Maintenance and Evolution of Software Products

Publisher Summary This chapter determines that maintenance and evolution are natural, inevitable processes in the life of a software product. It describes a process of change and the importance of high-quality feedback in the management change. It explains how to analyze feedback and how to make decisions based on feedback. This includes process, product, and business considerations. The chapter discusses strategies for problem resolution and product evolution, and ways of finding a proper balance between maintenance and further development activities. It explains current work in understanding software and what this means for successful maintenance and evolution. While cognition is at the heart of all work with existing code, it is usually implied and only rarely recognized as a major factor. The chapter describes all activities of change with an emphasis on cognitive abilities and limitations for the software engineer. It presents guidelines and techniques for making changes in designs and regression testing of these changes. The effects of changes and cognitive abilities on reverse engineering and reuse are discussed.
Magnetically responsive release of 5-FU from superparamagnetic egg albumin coated iron oxide core-shell nanoparticles

Abstract The present study aimed at preparing egg albumin coated iron oxide (EAIO) core shell nanoparticles and evaluating their ability to release 5-FU drug under applied external magnetic field. EAIO nanoparticles were prepared by simultaneous co-precipitation and emulsion crosslinking technique and characterized by FTIR, DSC, TEM, XRD, particle size analysis and surface potential measurements. The influence of chemical composition of EAIO nanoparticles, pH and temperature of release media, presence of simulated biological fluids as the release media, and applied magnetic field was investigated on the release profiles of 5-FU drug. The drug release was analyzed kinetically using Fickan power law, zero order, first order and Korsmeyer-Peppas models and the amount of released drug was correlated and the relation was drawn between the quantity of released drug and water holding capacity of nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were judged for in vitro cytotoxicity and the chemical integrity of the drug was also accessed.
Autonomous self-powered water meter

Advanced water metering infrastructure, which includes remote sensing technologies, networks, and data management, will require the development of smart water flow sensors at many locations in a network. Powering these sensors and associated transmitters or receivers remains a challenge. Local energy harvesting presents the opportunity as an enabling technology that can negate or reduce the impact of this challenge. We develop a multi-functional harvester/sensor device that can be used to sense and transmit data about flow rates in a pipe during specified periods by using the power it harvested during other periods. The harvested power could also be used to power other sensors to measure additional properties such as the temperature, pressure or chemical properties of water. Details of the proposed system are presented and data about voltage levels, harvested power, and current are discussed.
Sleep, Physical Activity, and General Health Status: US Pediatricians and the General US Adult Population.

Abstract Objective To examine US pediatricians and US adults on 3 self-reported health measures (sleep, physical activity, and general health status) and to assess factors related to these measures for each group. Methods Pediatrician data were collected through a 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics Periodic Survey (response rate = 64.0%). US population data originated from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (response rate = 61.2%). Analytic samples included those currently working and ≥30 years old and were restricted to post-trainees (pediatricians; n = 854) and US adults with at least a bachelor's degree (n = 5447). Accounting for sample demographic differences, predicted probabilities compared the proportions reporting ≥7 hours of sleep, meeting physical activity recommendations, and reporting very good or excellent health. Multivariable logistic regression examined characteristics associated with health measures for pediatricians and US adults separately. Results When the US population demographic profile was adjusted to resemble the pediatrician sample, 7 in 10 pediatricians (71.2%; confidence interval [CI], 68.0–74.5) and US adults (69.9%; CI, 67.8–72.0) reported ≥7 hours of sleep. Pediatricians were more likely than US adults to meet physical activity recommendations (71.4%; CI, 68.0–74.8 vs. 62.9%; CI, 60.6–65.2) and less likely to report very good or excellent health (74.3%; CI, 71.2–77.3 vs. 80.2%; CI, 78.3–82.1). In pediatrician and US population multivariable models, self-identified Asians and those working ≥50 hours were less likely to get ≥7 hours of sleep (P Conclusions Most US pediatricians and US adults reported getting the recommended amounts of sleep and physical activity and rated their health as very good or excellent. Those working fewer hours reported more sleep. Organization-directed approaches may be needed to help physicians maintain and improve their health.
Unplanned 30-Day Encounters After Ureterorenoscopy for Urolithiasis.

Abstract Objective: To identify avoidable predictors of postureteroscopy (URS) unplanned encounters and to minimize 30-day encounters. Materials and Methods: We performed retrospective chart review...
The Impact of Relationship Wellness Checkups With Lesbian Couples

Relationship health impacts many facets of both physical and mental well-being, including depression, heart health, and even children’s health. For a variety of reasons, distressed couples often de...
Automated identification of Cell Types in Single Cell RNA Sequencing

Cell type identification is one of the major goals in single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Current methods for assigning cell types typically involve the use of unsupervised clustering, the identification of signature genes in each cluster, followed by a manual lookup of these genes in the literature and databases to assign cell types. However, there are several limitations associated with these approaches, such as unwanted sources of variation that influence clustering and a lack of canonical markers for certain cell types. Here, we present ACTINN (Automated Cell Type Identification using Neural Networks), which employs a neural network with 3 hidden layers, trains on datasets with predefined cell types, and predicts cell types for other datasets based on the trained parameters. We trained the neural network on a mouse cell type atlas (Tabula Muris Atlas) and a human immune cell dataset, and used it to predict cell types for mouse leukocytes, human PBMCs and human T cell sub types. The results showed that our neural network is fast and accurate, and should therefore be a useful tool to complement existing scRNA-seq pipelines.
Phenomenology in the bleachers: Heidegger and the truth of sport

ABSTRACTPhenomenologies of sport predominantly focus on an analysis of the experience of participating in sport, either as a part of a team or individually. In this essay, the author argues that a ...
Hemobilia Leading to a Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hemobilia from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is rare and is usually noted in established cases of HCC after invasive procedures. Hemobilia can present with serious complications including acute pancreatitis and cholangitis. We describe an unusual case of hemobilia causing obstructive jaundice with suspected cholangitis and acute pancreatitis with subsequent workup revealing HCC.
Frameworks and Methodologies for Understanding Arts Integration with Culturally Diverse and Struggling Learners

“Disruptive engagement” is a term that means to dare to re-humanize education (Brown, 2015). I hope to inspire “disruptive engagement” by proposing a conceptual framework with applications for research to explore how arts integration can re-humanize education for culturally diverse students. First, I review the literature on academic achievement and arts education across countries and on arts integration with culturally diverse populations. To introduce my theoretical framework, I discuss the relationship between creativity, curiosity, vulnerability, and disruptive engagement. Next, I describe the arts integrated learning contexts and how it aligns to the Universal Design for Learning guidelines (CAST in Universal design for learning proving valuable in advancing education reform nationwide 2009), providing multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement. Finally, I explain how these art integrated learning contexts, which provide much recognition, re-humanize education by facilitating positive self-beliefs and resiliency which motivates students to be vulnerable and curious throughout the creative learning process; thus, increasing student behavioral and cognitive engagement leading to school success. In addition, I reflect on my own research that helped to shape the development and refinement of AIEM and discuss limitations.
A Practice Change to Eliminate Prophylactic Antibiotics for Elective Percutaneous Nephrostomy Tube Exchanges in Low-Risk Outpatients: A Retrospective Review on Risk for Infection

Abstract The purpose of this project was to determine if evidence-based practice change related to antibiotic administration criteria for outpatients receiving percutaneous nephrostomy tube exchanges implemented by a medical center's Vascular and Interventional Radiology department impacted hospital admission rates for infection in these patients. The 2017 practice change was based on 2010 guidelines from the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), stating that outpatients with a low risk of acquiring infection did not need to receive a perioperative antibiotic, as evidence has shown prophylactic therapy has no significant effect on infection rates for this population. Using a retrospective review design, 1 year of data before and after the practice change were collected and analyzed using the repeated measures generalized estimating equation (GEE) model with a binomial output by Liang & Zeger. Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate demographic variables by level of risk of infection. Data included 493 procedural events for 126 outpatients. The mean number of events per patient was 3.91 (SD: 4.15; median: 2; interquartile range: 3). Admission and infection criteria within thirty days of the event and infection risk factors were collected for each patient. Age, sex, and race were the variables that had a significant relationship with risk level of infection. Due to sample size, the GEE model could not be run using risk level (high/low) to predict admissions before or after the practice change. The relationship between the number of risk factors (0-5) and the odds of admission for infection was the same regardless of the practice change (before: odds ratio [OR] = 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19-3.95; after: OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.12-3.22, pinteraction = .67). For every increase in a patient's number of risk factors, the odds of developing an infection would be expected to increase by almost 90% (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.27-2.84). Although it was not possible to determine efficacy of the practice change, the predictive analysis indicated that risk level is a significant predictor of admission for infection regardless of antibiotic therapy. The results suggest that demographic indicators should be considered when determining appropriate therapies for this procedure; however, research studies should evaluate this relationship with larger samples to design specific recommendations. Our project results support the 2010 SIR antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines and their more recently updated antibiotic parameter guidelines from 2018.
Occurrence and risk assessment of 3- and 2-monochloropropanediol (MCPD) esters in vegetable oils and related products from Zhejiang market

3- And 2-monochloropropanediol fatty acid esters (3- and 2-MCPD esters) are contaminants of processed vegetable oils. In this study, vegetable oils and related products available 486 food samples f...
Problems with the problem list: challenges of transparency in an era of patient curation

In recent years, the OpenNotes movement and other changes in healthcare have driven institutions to make medical records increasingly transparent. As patients have begun to question and request changes to their Problem Lists, clinicians have come to face the ever more frequent challenge of discerning which changes to make and which to refuse. Now clinicians and patients together choose the list of problems that represent the patient's current state of health and illness. As the physician's role slides closer to consultant and the medical paternalism of the twentieth century falls further into the background of our technology-infused present, who holds the power of delineating a patient's clinical identity? This paper examines the ethical and practical dimensions of this question and proposes a research agenda that aims to answer it. Such explorations are essential to ensuring that the physician remains relevant to patient's notions of health, illness, intervention, and healing.
Principled Improvisation to Support Novice Teacher Learning

BackgroundA significant body of scholarship has highlighted the importance of improvisation in teaching, particularly the interactional and responsive creativity that is required for teachers to co...
Fully Automated Mitral Inflow Doppler Analysis Using Deep Learning

Echocardiography (echo) is an indispensable tool in a cardiologist’s diagnostic armamentarium. To date, almost all echocardiographic parameters require time-consuming manual labeling and measurements by an experienced echocardiographer and exhibit significant variability, owing to the noisy and artifact-laden nature of echo images. For example, mitral inflow (MI) Doppler is used to assess left ventricular (LV) diastolic function, which is of paramount clinical importance to distinguish between different cardiac diseases. In the current work we present a fully automated workflow which leverages deep learning to a) label MI Doppler images acquired in an echo study, b) detect the envelope of MI Doppler signal, c) extract early and late filing (E- and A-wave) flow velocities and E-wave deceleration time from the envelope. We trained a variety of convolutional neural networks (CNN) models on 5544 images of 140 patients for predicting 24 image classes including MI Doppler images and obtained overall accuracy of 0.97 on 1737 images of 40 patients. Automated E and A wave velocity showed excellent correlation (Pearson R 0.99 and 0.98 respectively) and Bland-Altman agreement (mean difference 0.06 and 0.05 m/s respectively and SD 0.03 for both) with the operator measurements. Deceleration time also showed good but lower correlation (Pearson R 0.82) and Bland-Altman agreement (mean difference: 34.1ms, SD: 30.9ms). These results demonstrate feasibility of Doppler echocardiography measurement automation and the promise of a fully automated echocardiography measurement package.
Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants by convalescent and vaccinated serum

We tested human sera from large, demographically balanced cohorts of BNT162b2 vaccine recipients (n=51) and COVID-19 patients (n=44) for neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants B.1.1.7 and B.1.351. Although the effect is more pronounced in the vaccine cohort, both B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 show significantly reduced levels of neutralization by vaccinated and convalescent sera. Age is negatively correlated with neutralization in vaccinee, and levels of variant-specific RBD antibodies are proportional to neutralizing activities.
Analysis of Age-Friendly Cancer Care Readiness.

Objectives Cancer care attuned to meeting the needs of older adults is imperative to ensure that they receive appropriate levels of treatment in accordance with their goals of care. Achieving age-friendly systems and geriatric-competent workforces require rethinking current models of cancer care delivery. This article reports on a descriptive study on the readiness of U.S. cancer programs to provide age-friendly cancer care. Sample & setting A survey was sent to 567 ambulatory oncology leaders in the United States. Of the 81 respondents, 61 answered all questions. Methods & variables The authors developed and administered an online survey assessing cancer programs' age-friendly cancer care practices and readiness. Survey questions were based on the elements of the 4Ms framework. Results were analyzed using frequencies and percentages for categorically measured survey items and measures of central tendency for continuously scaled survey items. Results 67% of respondents reported that their program could deliver age-friendly cancer care within five years. Respondents less frequently indicated that they employed specific 4Ms elements. Implications for nursing The results of this study suggest gaps in readiness to implement age-friendly cancer care. Recommendations to improve readiness include increasing awareness, expanding workforce preparation, and improving cancer program leadership engagement.
Generation and analysis of Prss28 and Prss29 deficient mice using CRISPR‐Cas9 genome‐editing

Glands of the uterus are essential for the establishment of pregnancy in mice and their products regulate embryo implantation and stromal cell decidualization critical for pregnancy establishment. Forkhead box A2 (FOXA2) is expressed specifically in the glands and a critical regulator of their differentiation, development and function. Progesterone and FOXA2 regulate members of a serine proteinase gene family (Prss28 and Prss29). Here, CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing was used to create mice with a heterozygous or homozygous deletion of Prss28 or/and Prss29 to determine their biological roles in uterine function. Female mice lacking Prss28 and Prss29 or both developed normally and were fertile without alterations in uterine histoarchitecture, uterine gland number, or and gene expression. Thus, Prss28 and Prss29 are dispensable for female fertility and do not impact endometrial gland development or uterine function mice.
Skill Matters

Skill is a challenging topic for archeologists because it requires balancing the biases of cultural relativity with the commonsense understanding that some humans are more able than others. Using the content and results model of technology, this paper identifies skill as a variable of technological knowledge with recognizable material results. Late Paleolithic Japanese blade and microblade assemblages suggest that skill differentials exist on the cognitive, operational, and motor levels. These examples, together with ethnoarcheological consideration of modern potters suggest material reflections of technical skill. These include regularity in performance and product, skilled tools, and obvious signs of practice.
Implementation of a Frailty Assessment and Targeted Care Interventions and Its Association with Reduced Postoperative Complications in Elderly Surgical Patients

Background Older patients with frailty syndrome have a greater risk of poor postoperative outcomes. In this study, we used a RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to implement an assessment tool to identify frail patients and targeted interventions to improve their outcomes. Study Design We implemented a 5-question frailty assessment tool for patients 65 years and older admitted to the general and vascular surgery services from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019. Identified frail patients received evidence-based clinical orders and nursing care plan interventions tailored to optimize recovery. A RE-AIM framework was used to assess implementation effectiveness through provider and nurse surveys, floor audits, and chart review. Results Of 1,158 patients included in this study, 696 (60.1%) were assessed for frailty. Among these, 611 patients (87.8%) scored as frail or intermediately frail. After implementation, there were significant increases in the completion rates of frailty-specific care orders for frail patients, including delirium precautions (52.1% vs 30.7%; p Conclusions A frailty assessment was able to identify elderly patients for provision of targeted, evidence-based frailty care. Despite limited uptake of the assessment by providers and completion of care plan components by nursing staff, implementation of the assessment and care interventions was associated with substantial decreases in complications among elderly surgical patients.
Unconditional tests for association in 2 × 2 contingency tables in the total sum fixed design

The asymptotic approach and Fisher's exact approach have often been used for testing the association between two dichotomous variables. The asymptotic approach may be appropriate to use in large samples but is often criticized for being associated with unacceptable high actual type I error rates for small to medium sample sizes. Fisher's exact approach suffers from conservative type I error rates and low power. For these reasons, a number of exact unconditional approaches have been proposed, which have been seen to be generally more powerful than exact conditional counterparts. We consider the traditional unconditional approach based on maximization and compare it to our presented approach, which is based on estimation and maximization. We extend the unconditional approach based on estimation and maximization to designs with the total sum fixed. The procedures based on the Pearson chi-square, Yates's corrected, and likelihood ratio test statistics are evaluated with regard to actual type I error rates and powers. A real example is used to illustrate the various testing procedures. The unconditional approach based on estimation and maximization performs well, having an actual level much closer to the nominal level. The Pearson chi-square and likelihood ratio test statistics work well with this efficient unconditional approach. This approach is generally more powerful than the other p-value calculation methods in the scenarios considered.
Modeling and emulation of internet paths

Network emulation subjects real applications and protocols to controlled network conditions. Most existing network emulators are fundamentally link emulators, not path emulators: they concentrate on faithful emulation of the transmission and queuing behavior of individual network hops in isolation, rather than a path as a whole. This presents an obstacle to constructing emulations of observed Internet paths, for which detailed parameters are difficult or impossible to obtain on a hop-by-hop basis. For many experiments, however, the experimenter's primary concern is the end-to-end behavior of paths, not the details of queues in the interior of the network. End-to-end measurements of many networks, including the Internet, are readily available and potentially provide a good data source from which to construct realistic emulations. Directly using such measurements to drive a link emulator, however, exposes a fundamental disconnect: link emulators model the capacity of resources such as link bandwidth and router queues, but when reproducing Internet paths, we generally wish to emulate the measured availability of these resources. In this paper, we identify a set of four principles for emulating entire paths. We use these principles to design and implement a path emulator. All parameters to our model can be measured or derived from end-to-end observations of the Internet. We demonstrate our emulator's ability to accurately recreate conditions observed on Internet paths.
Coordinating User and Device Behavior in Wireless Grids

Summary. The evolution of computing is characterized by decentralization and decreasing institutional control over resources. Wireless Grids, that is, fixed and mobile ad-hoc resource sharing networks, are challenging environments in which users strategic behaviors are crucial to system performance. We review the mechanisms employed to regulate strategic behavior online‐technical, social, legal and economic‐and discuss trends in their operation and application in distributed wireless grid computing.
7.2.3 Early Findings from Interviewing Systems Engineers who Support the U.S. Department of Defense

Helix, which is focused on examining the “DNA” of the systems engineering workforce, is a project of the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC). It is a multi-year longitudinal study designed to build an understanding of the landscape of the systems engineering workforce, of what enables and inhibits the effectiveness of systems engineers, and of how organizations are attempting to improve their effectiveness. At the time of submission, the team has interviewed 112 individuals from 7 organizations. This paper outlines early findings based on these interviews. Insights include a characterization of the systems engineers in the study including career paths for senior systems engineers; the most important characteristics and competencies for systems engineers; what systems engineers believe their greatest contributions are; and what factors make systems engineers most and least effective.
An Overview of Food Chain Impacts from Municipal Waste Combustion

Human exposure to pollutants emitted from a municipal waste combustor (MWC) can occur via inhalation, ingestion of contaminated food items, infant consumption of mother’s milk, and dermal absorption. Of particular concern, however, are potential exposures from ingesting contaminated food items. The food chain has been shown to be the primary source of human exposure to a large class of organics, including DDT, dioxin, pentachlorophenol, benzo(a)pyrene, and most pesticides (Beck et al., 1989;Hattemer-Frey and Travis, 1989b;Lioy et al., 1988;Travis and Arms, 1987;Travis and Hattemer-Frey, 1987).
Education after residency.

The task of educating a house officer to care for infants, children, and adolescents in a 36-month time frame is difficult. With the advent of new technologies and the spiraling accumulation of scientific knowledge, it becomes increasingly more complicated to accomplish this goal. The Residency Review Committee (Pediatrics) addressed this issue and recently, once again, modified its requirements for residency training. These requirements have been widely discussed and, although they do address the broad needs of resident training, criticism of them persists. One area not addressed in these guidelines, or by the American Board of Pediatrics, is the continuing education of pediatricians after their residency.
Gene polymorphism in natural populations of Drosophila persimilis

ABSTRACT Genetic variation at 43 loci has been studied in six different populations of Drosophila persimilis by electrophoresis of enzymes and proteins. In D. persimilis the mean proportion of polymorphic loci is 0.362, the mean proportion of heterozygous loci per individual is 0.100 and the average number of alleles per locus is 1.651. In all populations, the loci coding for the hydrolytic and other nonspecific enzymes are much more variable than the loci coding for the enzymes of the glycolytic pathway, Kreb9s cycle, other specific enzymes and larval proteins. Most loci have similar allele frequency in all populations except the two loci, Amylase and Pt-12 , which show a pattern of associations of different alleles with different third chromosome inversions.
Electromagnetic Radiation: Emission and Propagation

The basic phenomena of classical electromagnetic radiation are described. After a brief introduction of the equations of Maxwell and Lorentz for electromagnetism in vacuum, the general theory of integration of these equations is discussed. Applications include the Larmor formula for radiation by a Hertzian dipole, radiation by a confined source, multipole radiation, radiation by an arbitrarily moving point charge, synchrotron radiation, and radiation reaction. The Maxwell equations of electromagnetism in the presence of matter are then introduced together with a brief discussion of their integration. Waves in isotropic and anisotropic material media are described together with their propagation in layered media and waveguides. Applications include radiation by a dipole above a half-space, Cherenkov radiation, and energy loss by charged particles traversing matter. Keywords: electromagnetic radiation; Maxwell equations; Hertzian dipole; multipole radiation; Lienard–Wiechert potentials; synchrotron radiation; Fresnel formula; surface plasmons; Cherenkov radiation
Modeling and realizing biological mechanisms on FPGA chip

We explore the feasibility of the study by considering a simplified blood-pressure regulation mechanism done by the kidney. The concept of this mechanism is illustrated as follows. If the blood pressure (bp) decreases, the activity of the sympathetic neural (sn)system increases, the renal blood flow (rf) decreases, the sodium excretion (Na/sup +/) decreases which leads to an increase (stabilization) in the blood pressure. A VHDL-behavioral modeling of the mechanism is shown below. In the modeling, the normal value of the blood pressure is assumed to be 17 units (any other value could have been assumed). To show that sn increases if bp decreases, we use a simple formula sn=(constant/sup 1/-bp)+constant/sup 2/. The simulation shows that the mechanism is working successfully. The simulation has been downloaded into a Xilinx FPGA XC4005. The chip behaves identically to the simulation.
Prolonged pulmonary support after cardiac surgery: incidence, risk factors and outcomes: a retrospective cohort study ☆,☆☆,★

Abstract Background Post–cardiac surgery pulmonary dysfunction may be underreported. Therefore, we evaluated associated risk factors for prolonged pulmonary support after cardiac surgery. Methods and materials We conducted a retrospective, observational study of consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting or coronary artery bypass grafting plus valve repair/replacement between Jan 1, 2005, and Dec 31, 2010, at an academic medical center. Using multivariate logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards modeling, we identified risk factors associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation and supplemental O 2 support as well as in-hospital mortality. Results Overall, 33% (1298/3881) of patients required more than 2 days of mechanical ventilation and/or more than 5 days of supplemental O 2 (prolonged support). Independent risk factors included age, weight, pre-existing lung disease, cardiac or renal dysfunction, emergent status, transfusion and cardiopulmonary bypass duration. Prolonged support was associated with increased mortality (OR, 4.75; 95% CI, 2.95-7.95; P Conclusions We identified risk factors for prolonged mechanical ventilation and supplemental O 2 use, described an association with increased adverse outcomes, and determined that persistent pulmonary edema on day 2 was the most likely radiological finding.
Selective targeting of Mycobacterium smegmatis with trehalose-functionalized nanoparticles

Silica and iron oxide nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 6 to 40 nm were functionalized with trehalose. The trehalose-conjugated nanoparticles showed strong interactions with Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis) and minimal interactions with macrophage (RAW 264.7) or A549 cells. In addition, trehalose-conjugated silica nanoparticles selectively interacted with M. smegmatis on M. smegmatis-treated A549 cells, demonstrating high potential of trehalose in developing targeted therapy for treating mycobacterial infection.